Missionary Book

Another book from the Sonlight homeschool program, And the Word Came With Power is an absolutley amazing book about a Wycliffe Bible translator who went to the Phillipenes and translated the Bible. A span of about 20 years is covered in this book, and once I picked it up, I couldn't stop reading it. It was facinating as to everything that happened in this lady's life and during her time on the mission field!

What's for dinner? Pickles and Jello!

With WWII over, what do you do with all the left over canned meats? Why, you market them towards American housewives, of course! There was only one chapter in this book I didn't enjoy. I'd never heard of Poppy Cannon, and so her life didn't much interest me. The book Something From the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America was a facinating read, and one that would entertain anyone who likes to read about cooking, marketing, psychology, or the 1950s. I loved reading about some of the worst recipes from the era, such as strawberry jello and pickles. Or all the things mayo was added into. There were times I wondered how people actually ate some of the stuff described, but I suppose someone did! I'm glad I live in a time where you don't have to worry about going to a church pot-luck and maybe getting pickles or mayo in your jello! :) Or visiting someone and getting half a cinnamon doughnut with strawberry jam on it, covered in cottage cheese!

Eudora

When I say Eudora, most people likely think of the e-mail program called "Eudora". But I recently read a book by the program's namesake. I was required to read One Writer's Beginnings by Eudora Welty in my final English class in college. I wasn't too excited about the book before I started it, but I had skipped out on reading the book required the week before, and I had failed my quiz on it, and I couldn't afford any more bad grades. (I got an A in the class, by the way.) I remember so much of the literature assigned that semester. We read The Metamorphosis and The Lottery and George Orwell . Not all that we read was depressing. I loved the class so much I would say it was one of my top 10 favorite classes in college! But back to Ms. Welty. . . I was introducted to her in late fall of 1995, and didn't really want to read the book because it meant another book had to be purchased. (I decided to check it out of my home library.) Her writing is so vivid. I felt I was actually traveling down the road to Ohio with her and her family in their car. She spoke so highly of the series of books she had when she was a child, I looked them up on eBay to see what they looked like. I cried when her father died. She is an outstanding author, and while the re-read on this book wasn't *quite* as good as the first, it was only because it wasn't new to me.

I remember this book as such a lovely piece of writing, I asked when I entered Alabama recently if there was a museum for Eudora Welty. (My memory didn't serve me correctly. She was from Mississippi rather than Alabama.) Still the lady at the rest stop and I chatted for a minute about her, and when I asked if the rest stop had postcards, I came away with a huge stack. It was then I realized that if I could think of a writer just because I was entering the area of the country she lived in, it was certainly time for a re-read of this book.

Roald Dahl

I remember and LOVED Charlie and the Choclate Factory when I was a child, so I expected that the short book, The Vicar of Nibbleswicke would also be a delight to read. Unfortunately I was disappointed by the 'potty humor' in this. A village gets a new vicar, and he suffers from a form of dyslexia that causes him to say things backwards. Some of it is funny, like when he tells the women who knits, you STINK. But some of it is just potty humor, and while I'm sure some children enjoy that, I didn't. Stick with Charlie Bucket.

Realizing God isn't a "check counter"

I finished reading this book, and I've been wondering what I'm going to say about it. It parallels my journey so much. The author says when she was growing up during Sunday evening children's church they were given slips of paper and there were 8 things to check off -- things like did they read the Bible every day, etc. This book is about her journey from trying to live for preforming for God and earning "checks" to learning to love God and to enjoy His love. I know some people have considered her a feminist, but I have learned a lot from all her books, even if I don't agree with everything in them. I loved God's Joyful Surprise: Finding Yourself Loved because it was so much like my life. I remember I used to have a system where I graded myself each week on being a Christian. Know what? I failed almost every week. There are things that are good to do, but that's not going to make God love you more or less than He already does. I find her books slow reading, which is difficult for me since I'm usually a fast reader, but I still enjoy them.

More Skippy

This weekend was spend with Adventures of Skippy, Volume 2 . I must say I'm not in too huge a hurry for the third disk in the series. I really enjoyed the first volume, but this one got a little much. I suppose kids would enjoy it, but this volume was a bit too "Pollyanish" for me.

North to Alaska!

I just finished reading Travelers' Tales Alaska -- a collection of true stories of travel and life up north. This was certainly faster reading than the Australia book, but it still got slow at times. I think the problem with the Travelers' Tales books is the books about specific places aren't as varied as their theme books. For instance, the prevailing theme in the Australia book seemed to be man vs. the desert and in the Alaska book it was man vs. the cold and man vs. wildlife. The stories that were a bit different are the ones I remember, such as the story about camping at Wal-Mart. Still, since I'm hoping to go to Alaska this year, it was a good read.

Alrighty.

This is an example of why I enjoy CHRISTIAN diet books. This one took the most radical approach of any Christian diet book I've ever read. Just the title is an indication of it being a bit on the interestring side. Help Lord, the Devil Wants Me Fat is a book all about how if rebuke the devil and go on a 10 day fast you can lose weight. It does mention a bit of healthy eating and excercise in it, but it treats being overweight as a purely spiritual problem and that we don't know how to resist the devil, therefore people are fat. Really a bizarre book as it was a diet book but mainly on spiritual warfare.

Tamar Myers read again. . .

I finished another book in Tamar Myer's Pennsylvania Dutch mystery series this week. This time the book was Assault And Pepper . Someone has murdered Rev. Shrock, but who? I must say I'm thrilled with the changes in the storyline. I hate to see Rev. Shrock written out of the picture, but I certainly won't miss Lodema. I'm glad there's a change of characters coming. I'm looking forward to the next book, that's for sure! :)

Finally finished with this one.

I dont' always read only what I agree with. I don't always read what I disagree with. I think this book falls in the middle. It was interestring reading a different perspective of women and ministry. More than that, I'm happy to move it to my "read" pile. I picked this book up over a year ago, and recently when I was culling my bookshelves, I noticed I had a beautiful bookmark in it that needed liberated, so 25 Tough Questions About Women and the Church was delegated to my nightstand so I could finish it quickly. I finished it last night, and I'm so glad. I've been reading too many books lately that I find difficult to read straight through. Some of the travel books I enjoy are a collection of short stories, and it's hard to get into one of those books. It seems like my reading lately has been choppy, a chapter out of this, a chapter out of that, etc. I'm really needing to read something that I can read straight through. I'll have to sort through the books on my nightstand to see which one peaks my interest nest. (I only have about a dozen books on my night stand.) :)

Science class anyone?

Normally I love documentaries, but I'm not much of one for nature documentaries. Mom said she'd like to see March of the Penguins so I put it in the queue at Netflix. I didn't really enjoy the movie, but it wasn't too bad either. I'd still rather watch a DVD of a TV series than a regular movie or a travel documentary. Still the penguins were kind of cute, but I think I penguined out when I was growing up. I loved penguins and watched everything immgainable about them, so I think that's part of the reason I didn't enjoy this movie more. Also, the narrator reminded me of my 9th grade science teacher.