Posted in Books on Jun 16th, 2008 2 Comments »
The first time I ever met my blogging friend, Heidi, in person, she brought me this book. And now that I’ve gotten to know her a little better, I can see why she liked it so much. It’s clever, it’s dry, and it’s ironic. I couldn’t help but imagine Heidi’s face when I read lines [...]
Posted in Books on May 19th, 2008 No Comments »
Harper Collins Publishing recently sent me the book, Mama Rock’s Rules: Ten Lessons for Raising a Household of Successful Children, by Rose Rock – mother to comedian Chris Rock. It’s a great, quick, entertaining read filled with simple wisdom, such as the benefits of eating dinner together as a family (“Feed Them and They Will [...]
Posted in Books on May 1st, 2008 4 Comments »
I’m sure there are many books on the market today for explaining this question to a preschooler, but I stumbled across an old one at my local library: Where Do Babies Come From? – written by Margaret Sheffield & illustrated by Sheila Bewley. It is beautifully illustrated with artful paintings – not at all cutesy [...]
Posted in Books on Apr 19th, 2008 2 Comments »
I just finished The Kitchen God’s Wife, by Amy Tan, for my book club. This was a great read, and rich with Chinese culture and history. The setting for most of the book is in China during the late 30′s and 40′s, as current-day Winnie tells her daughter about her life before coming to America. [...]
Posted in Books on Mar 5th, 2008 1 Comment »
This was a compelling read, but not at all delightful. It is sad, and tragic, and doesn’t really even have a hopeful ending. Yet for some reason, I still highly recommend it. Maybe because it’s not necessarily depressing, and there is humor to be found in it. The Scheeres family adopted an African American boy, [...]
Posted in Books on Feb 24th, 2008 3 Comments »
I finished Chaim Potok’s Davita’s Harp last weekend and loved it. I read it in less than a week, which is a big commitment to the 5% of free time I have left at the end of every day. The entire book is from the perspective of Ilana Davita Chandal, who is around eight years [...]
Posted in Books on Feb 14th, 2008 1 Comment »
After Annie Freeman’s Fabulous Traveling Funeral bombed and I quit reading in the middle of it, I switched over to a non-fiction book I had on my shelf: The Wonder of Girls, by Michael Gurien. This was a fascinating and informative book about the brain function and hormonal make-up of girls. Did you know that [...]
Posted in Books, Other Places to Find Me on Jan 30th, 2008 95 Comments »
It’s that time again, the time in which I give something away. For free. And it’s all her fault. Remember the last time I gave something away for free? It was awesome. It was like a party on This Pile with all those comments. Here’s your second chance if you missed all the hoopla before [...]
Posted in Books on Jan 9th, 2008 6 Comments »
So what do you do when a book you are reading is terrible? I’ve never walked out of the theater in the middle of a movie, and I quit watching only one rented movie that I can remember (for the record, I would have never picked Lethal Weapon IV, had it been up to me). [...]
Posted in Books on Dec 31st, 2007 1 Comment »
One of my best friends thought I would like All is Vanity, by Christina Schwartz. She told me it was about an aspiring writer who rips off her friend’s life and creates a novel out of it. I wondered if my friend was feeling…concerned? The author developed the character, Margaret, as an over achieving, self-centered [...]
Posted in Books on Dec 30th, 2007 1 Comment »
Though To Own A Dragon is written by a man for other fatherless men, this book appeals to the human race. I think we are all “fatherless” in some way, in that our parents are not capable of being perfect or giving us everything we need emotionally. We all missed out on something important growing [...]
Posted in Books on Dec 12th, 2007 1 Comment »
I showered, I did some laundry, I made an actual dinner, I picked up the house. Suddenly the world doesn’t seem so dark, and now I’m wondering if I’m just being hormonal. Or maybe this is what peace that passes understanding feels like. Who knows? I don’t want to think about it for too long, [...]
Posted in Books, Seen, Heard, Said on Dec 3rd, 2007 No Comments »
Here’s a fun site called Booking Through Thursday. A question is asked, and you answer it on your website with links all around. I like this idea for those times when I’m feeling blocked and burned out, but I still want to write for the discipline of it. Thanks to Writing and Living for the [...]
Posted in Books on Dec 2nd, 2007 2 Comments »
This Beautiful Mess, by Rick McKinley, made me uncomfortable. I feel pretty comfortable in my nice house with my nice husband who has a nice job and provides me with lots of nice things. McKinley’s book challenged me to consider my life’s agenda and priorities. As I read, I wondered if I cling to my [...]
Posted in Books, Seen, Heard, Said on Oct 18th, 2007 1 Comment »
I just read this post on Jeffrey Overstreet’s blog about “Christian Fiction” and the faith of J.K. Rowling and Sara Zarr. It’s a great little rant about Christians who oppose Harry Potter because magic is of the devil. But also in the post is an excerpt of an interview with Sara Zarr, author of Story [...]
Be warned: what you see here is not my best work. It is what Anne Lamott describes in Bird By Bird as a series of “shitty first drafts.” Blogging dragged me kicking and screaming out of creative constipation by getting me to actually write. So I do that. A lot. Without worrying about every word choice or comma placement.
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