I have been consuming books by the boatload lately.

Three reasons.
1. I realized (again) that I learn from books – if I want to grow, be motivated, inspired, changed, challenged, etc. – I read on a topic. And I need to grow in a lot of, er, topics.

2. I miss fiction. I’d fallen out of the lovely habit of just savoring books, enjoying the pure pleasure of story. Too much academic reading, too much nonfiction (without the good stories alongside), too much literary fiction and too few rewards. I hate a snarky read. I hate bad writing. Where is the blessed book free of both?

Well – not always true, I’m sure – but I took Gretchen Rubin‘s commendation to heart and started reading YA fiction. Delicious. I probably won’t be satiated in YA alone – the appetite is enormous – but I do find YA to be a large, interesting room full of smart, deep, well-written books. Some duds, too, sure. But plenty of good ones to choose from.
Anyhow. Oh yes, and I do read fiction as a lovely way to procrastinate on doing the (nonfiction) things I’ve been reading about and learning to do…

3. Joe got me a Kindle for Christmas.

= fall in love all ovah again
= best gift ever
= so many benefits that even an old-school, paper-infatuated, Apple-resistant gal like me can’t deny the love, the absolute and utter thrill of being able to carry a room full of books with me wherever I go. Because, despite the rigors of getting three kids under four dressed, pottied, redressed, and loaded in the car on any sort of outing, the most stressful part of leaving is still the moment I stop in the library (aka bulk storage room full of books masquerading as home office), purse in hand, and ask myself, “Which book should I take?” Now: I take them all. Oh joy, joy, joy.

Joe came home with a stack of YA fiction I’d requested from the library. I started (after much deliberation between which to start with, which nearly resulted in an ugly treadmill incident) on Graceling by Kristin Cashore.

Her first novel. Lovely. (I’ve used that word too much in this post.) The prose is striking, original, ringing, vivid. I found myself wanting to copy lines down just to savor and share later, but didn’t because I was too interested in the story for a petty exercise like NOTE TAKING (which I happen to love, truly madly deeply).

Oh, the story. Right.

You don’t really need a plot summary. There’s a heroine, who is more than she seems and a hero with similar characteristics, and a villain as well… And the characters make you like them and the world draws you in, and my only complaint is that the final “downfall of the villain” scene is almost anti-climactic. It’s like Kristin (can I call you Kristin? Is that okay?) felt like she’d ventured into a sticky mess of conflict and she’d better RESOLVE, RESOLVE NOW before things got out of hand and there was no clear way to resolution. To which I’d say: Kristin, trust yourself a little more. You wrote the whole gorgeous story, created the whole world it contains, you’re not going to get lost at the end. Take your time.

Maybe it was getting close to her deadline.

At any rate, despite that single complaint, the book is a gem. Poetry-like prose, “I-like-you-will-you-be-my-friend” characters.
Read.
Enjoy.

5/5 stars.
Image by Ginnerobot.

As modern homemakers, we love lists—any type of list. If we didn’t, why would we make them daily? We have our to-do lists, our grocery lists, our school supply lists, our chore lists, our book club reading lists. Written in brief bullet points, rattling off the essential needs for the household to run smoothly; lists give us power. They show us that we are reasonable, rational beings who can minimize text for maximum efficiency and benefit.

We also cling to other important lists such as People’s 50 Most Beautiful People, Forbes‘ list of the most influential people, and perhaps the most intimidating (or at least for me) The New York Times bestseller list. Perhaps, we glance over this book list, go the local bookstore and peruse over the recommended titles. (Maybe the New York Times bestseller list is not one that you follow. Insert whatever book list whether it is romance novels, Christian devotionals, classic literature—whatever books’ lists, the specific list is not important.)

Books from self-help to postmodern novels to presidential memoirs stare down at us with their glossy dust jackets and $25.00 price tags. We may leave feeling disillusioned, disengaged, or worse: buy an expensive dust-collector for the ever growing collection of expensive dust-collectors. We return to the mundane, wishing to engage our minds, but despairing in our lack of fortitude since we did not follow the book list. All of these books come highly recommended by “the book list,” our fellow book club friends, everyone except us.

Reread that last sentence (I helped you out with the wonders of copy/paste)– “All of these books come highly recommended by “the book list,” our fellow book club friends, everyone except us.” We disengage our minds because we are too busy comparing our desires, interests, and emotional responses to others. By comparing ourselves to others’, we set ourselves up to be disappointed.

engage your mind: quit comparing

The first step to engaging our minds is to give up comparing our likes/dislikes to our friends, co-workers, neighbors, and mostly importantly, the recommended book list. We must openly admit that there are books, blogs, magazines that we DON’T LIKE! I have a list of authors that I have tried, really, really hard to enjoy—Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Faulkner, D.H. Lawrence, Harriet Beecher Stowe—to name a few. This does not in any way negate those who do enjoy these writers from appreciating these texts. I would prefer to have my tongue nailed to the kitchen counter everyday before breakfast than read these authors’ works. I have learned to admit what I don’t like so that I can spend more of the precious time I have reading what I DO LIKE!

engage your mind: be enchanted

The second step to engaging our minds is to be enchanted with our reading. I believe Emily Dickinson in her poem best describes how we women should approach our minds/reading:

I think I was enchanted
When first a sombre Girl –
I read that Foreign Lady –
The Dark — felt beautiful –( Poem 593).

Enchantment. When was the last you time that you picked up a book, enthralled by its contents, smell, the feel of its pages, utterly absorbed in the emotional ecstasy of the written word? After we discover what we like to read, we must move to what we LOVE to read.
Books that we love should move us toward a higher plane, ignite within us a new curiosity, encourage us to think deeply. Books I love are the ones I read over and over just because I continually find new facets of the plot, characters, or the language itself. The books that have enchanted me always give me a reason to return to their well-worn, ink-marked pages.

engage your mind: join a community

The final step to engaging our minds is to find/create a community. Once we are enchanted with a book, poem, short story, blog, we need the support of others to keep our minds focused. There is no right or wrong way to find or create this community. Whether you choose to write a blog professing your love of zombie haiku, or gather other people who share your passion for cookbooks and create a five star worthy French bistro dinner—we need community. Community opens up dialogues, and dialogues reaffirm our enchantment with the written word.

Today, I am enchanted by Emily Dickinson’s poetry (if you couldn’t tell). My love for her poems has been rekindled. I’m enthralled, enchanted. I invite you to join me.

“There is No Frigate Like a Book”
Emily Dickinson

There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!(Poem 99)

What book has enchanted you?

Today’s 2 Cents Courtesy of:

Sarah Jessica grew up reading, thinking, musing which led her to pursue a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in English. This Virginian settled in the Carolinas where she lives with her husband Mark, two beautiful step-children AJ and Ashley, and three rambunctious English Springer Spaniels: Ginger Snap, Cupcake, and Ophelia (Ophelia was thus named when no one in Sarah’s family was hungry). She is currently writing blog posts for From Tolstoy to Tinkerbell, and you can follow her on Twitter.

We found the first open daffodils. We smelled them. We tried not to touch them.

Later we found lots more, so we picked a few and put them in a vase for Mommy. I love being Mommy.


I launched a Safe Herbs for Babies series and more in Parenting 101 series. I’m getting better at being focused. Yay, me! This is the part where I stop typing so I can pat myself on the back. Okay. Done now. Back to typing.

So the daffodils were great, and the sticking-to-the-editorial-calendar is great, but the real GREATNESS, the best, the genuinely awesome, the absolute HIGHLIGHT of our entire week (month) was when that gold Honda minivan pulled into the driveway. There was my sister and her three, and after the initial hugging and screaming and dancing and general mayhem died down, we had several lovely days of more hugging and screaming and dancing and general mayhem.

The girls went to the salon on Sunday afternoon. Aunt Katie worked her magic.

Ava’s hair got shorter.

Mara’s hair got shorter.

Mine got redder and Mileah’s got blonder.

We have just one thing to say: AUNT KATIE IS AWESOME.

We went to the park. Joe met us on his lunch hour.

We climbed and played and slid and twirled and swung (swang? swinged?).

The kids played inside and outside as much as possible, and my sister and I talked as much as possible. Then she packed up the minivan and headed back to Tennessee, and we waved from the front porch and walked into our eerily quiet house.

Now I’m depressed.

I will battle my depression with the one sure-fire cure I know. It always works for me.

Books! Reading! Yay! Just don’t go reading a depressing book if you’re trying to use books to battle depression. We’ll keep it on the light side this week.

Blogs

• FIMBY’s very honest, conversation-sparking post about feeling isolated. I guess this doesn’t exactly count as “light reading” but it’s definitely worth a visit. I think it touches on something more common than we realize, this feeling of being “on the outside.”
• The Ultimate Hack for Writing Productivity at Write to Done, a guest post by Bamboo Forest of Pun Intended. Great points. It’s the details that kill us. And the procrastination. And the distractions. And lack of focus… “We can be real. We can be writers.†We can do this. We can set a timer, commit ourselves to working non-stop until it sounds and feel proud at what we’ve accomplished.”

Books

• Grow Your Own Drugs: Easy Recipes for Natural Remedies and Beauty Fixes by James Wong. If you are interested in herbs, natural beauty and body products, and/or natural health, you should read this book. It’s great for beginners, as there is a glossary and lots of clear explanations of special terms, ingredients, supplies, etc. I love the collection of recipes and I’m going to be trying several in the next few weeks, so more on that as it materializes. Beautiful photos, too.
• A Stew or a Story , M.F.K. Fisher, editor. My favorite Fisher is still the big yellow collection. I can just lose myself in there for hours, though I always come out eventually because I have to go cook something. This shorter collection is nice, too, and it has several essays I hadn’t read. Fisher is my source of cooking inspiration when I’m just kind of tired of the kitchen.

And Otherwise

• Gigi, God’s Little Princess. I recently received and reviewed this children’s dvd from Thomas Nelson Publishers. Bottom line: cute, good message straight from the Bible, very girl-girly, my daughter was enraptured, but I wouldn’t want to watch it 20 times. But then, what children’s dvd would I want to watch 20 times?

What’s your recommended reading for the week?

Beautiful Things Happen When a Woman Trusts God

by Sheila Walsh

Thomas Nelson Publishers; 3 out of 5 stars

I like this book, I do, so I feel kind of guilty being harsh in my review. But repetition bores me, and the writing in this book is very formulaic. Each chapter follows the same format: personal story or anecdote, parallel drawn to Biblical character, more insight into Biblical character interspersed with additional personal anecdotes, conclusion, and then the “transitional sentence” to lead into the next chapter.

It’s the transitional sentence that really gets me. At the end of every chapter, it’s a little phrase concluding what we’ve just learned, but then telling in a semi-cliffhanger fashion that we better keep reading. It was just too predictable and annoying. That’s it, really: I was just annoyed by it. The repetitious format felt like being talked down to, though I can see clearly that’s not the author’s intent. And that’s why I feel semi-guilty about not writing a happy, fluffy review about the book.

What I can see from the content itself, once I step past the stylistic annoyances, is very good. Walsh is an excellent researcher and pulls out details about the various Biblical characters in a way that is both engaging and informative. She brings their stories to life, ties them into her own story, and pulls out practical applications for her readers. Walsh is a good teacher, and that’s what comes across in her book.

I have a hunch that there’s a junior editor to blame here (ahem, Thomas Nelson Publishers), someone who read the manuscript and said, “Sheila, this is great, but we need a little continuity here; why don’t you go back and create a transitional sentence at the end of every chapter, something like this…. And also, don’t tell your whole personal story up front; just give a little bit, and be vague, because that will keep the readers interested and pull them into the book.”

In my case, those strategies backfired. They were too obvious and they detracted from the content itself, which is relevant and, overall, well-written. My bottom line is this: it’s worth reading. It’s a thought-provoking message and it challenges us, women who tend to worry or fear or not really trust God, to let go of our hang-ups and trust a capable and loving God. Walsh intelligently and directly deals with those excuses and questions that always come up: “How can I trust God when He let … happen? How can I trust God when I don’t know Him?” Etc.

If you are a woman who struggles with trusting God and/or with trusting people, grab this book and use it as a Bible study. The book even includes a Bible Study Guide in the back for a group, which could be great for you and a couple of friends, a women’s prayer group, a Mom’s Day Out program. And as a group study book, the repetition in the format will work, I think, to create continuity in a way that doesn’t work just for a sit-down, read-through book.

Bottom Line: Worth the read if you want to learn more about how to trust God completely.

*I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

From the feed reader…

• Abby at New Urban Habitat, Frugal isn’t cheap: “But frugality can be more fun than the mindless consuming many of us got in the habit of doing in the previous decade, because we end up spending money on what we really want.”
• Rachel at Small Notebook, My Real-Life, Practical Daily Routine: “Instead of having a schedule that would be ignored day after day in real life, I follow a daily routine of touchstones — key elements to mark a successful day.
• Philip Brewer at Wise Bread, What I’ve Been Trying to Say: “You can’t go back and change decisions that have already been made, but that doesn’t mean that the design for the rest of your life is immutable.  Start today to design the life that you want to be living.”

From the bookshelf…

• Eleanor Roosevelt, You Learn By Living

Read my full review here.

Mini Review: Practical advice for personal growth and a successful life, from the era before self-improvement was the big market share it is now. Roosevelt is easy to read and understand but profound. Her advice is practical, with personal examples, and I found myself copying lots of quotes and wanting to paste them all over the walls in my bedroom.
Find it on Amazon.

• Mindy Stearns Clark, The House That Cleans Itself

Mini Review: If you’re not a natural housekeeping/organizing goddess, you will love this book. The concept is that instead of fighting our naturally slobbish tendencies (or those of family members), we should identify them and create systems that work for us instead of against us. Brilliant! I love this! I always feel like housekeeping is a battle, and I’ve already used some of her ideas and seen some of the most irritating problems get much, much better. I’m going to be tackling more of my house this year and Clark’s book is my guide.
Find it on Amazon.

What’s your recommended reading this week?
Join in by linking up your post, or simply share in the comments below.

Heads Up! Recommended Reading coming today!

Here’s the deal: I love reading. I love reading great blogs and articles online, and I adore (as in, extreme twitterpation and heart palpitation) a great book.
On the other hand, I despise wasting my time on sub-par writing of any kind. I find, however, it’s sometimes hard to put your finger on that great article or post or book or magazine you’re wanting, when you’re ready for your next great read.

Thus Recommended Reading is born.

Every Friday I’ll be posting a list of what I’ve read lately that (I think) is worth reading: books, blogs, and otherwise which I can whole-heartedly recommend to you.

I’m hoping some of you smart women will join with me and either put up a post or leave a comment with your own recommended reading, because, see, this is all kind of self-serving. I get kind of, uh, tense (hyperventilating, spasms, hives, stuff like that), when I don’t know what I’m going to read next. So if I can get some great recommendations, I can keep myself from those ugly little episodes.
I will thank you.
My whole family will thank you.

Tune in tomorrow later today for the first issue of Recommended Reading! I’ll include a Mr Linky so you can link up if you’ve written a post. And here’s a bloggie icon you can use to link back if you’d like.

Happy Reading! See you tomorrow.

I think that having learned our letters we should read the best that is in literature, and not be forever repeating our a b abs, and words of one syllable, in the fourth or fifth classes, sitting on the lowest and foremost form all our lives. {Henry David Thoreau}

There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and a tired man who wants a book to read.  {G.K. Chesterton}

The stories of childhood leave an indelible impression, and their author always has a niche in the temple of memory from which the image is never cast out to be thrown on the rubbish heap of things that are outgrown and outlived.  {Howard Pyle}

More…

• Gotham Writers’ Workshop : recommended reading lists to “expand your knowledge of both the craft and business of writing.”

• Recommended reading lists for children.
• “What Should I Read Next?” website offers a personalized recommendation.
• Bartleby : great books online. A huge collection.
• NYTimes : best seller lists.
• Mortimer J. Adler’s list of books to read (the Western Canon).
• Harold Bloom’s list of books (the Western Canon).
• A whole collection of reading lists: Western Canon, Eastern literature, Columbia’s reading list, more.
• Gender-based selection? 75 Books Every Woman Should Read. Hmmm.
• Tips for reading more books: how to be a literary glutton.
• Create your virtual bookshelf, show off what you’re reading, get recommendations, be my friend on Shelfari.