Book Reviews
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. - Mark Twain
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Not My Father’s Son: A Book Review
What’s the difference between a memoir and a biography? I really have no idea. I don’t read all that many of either category, but every time I do I realize that I probably should read more of them. They’re so interesting. It’s a look into another human’s psyche – their view of the world and of themselves and the stuff that went down in their own lives. I just finished actor Alan Cumming’s memoir Not My Father’s Son. I only know Cummings from Spy Kids, but he’s been in lots of other films. Obviously all more adult and edgier than Spy Kids, I’m sure. I literally saw this on the…
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All the Stars in the Heavens: A Book Review
It’s been a while since I’ve picked up a lighter fiction work. I find that time and life have a way of changing and shaping the type of reader I am. (Is that true of just me or does anyone else feel that too?) I’ve avoided most mainstream modern fiction this past year because it’s so frequently full of glamorizing the types of sin that are wrecking my current reality and I just can’t bring myself to be entertained by that. On our most recent library trip I stumbled across a name of an author I use to regularly enjoy – Adriana Trigiani. At least a decade has probably passed…
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Marley, A Dog Like No Other: A Book Review
The first dog I ever really loved was named Sadie Poe. She was a yellow labrador and she was the most well-trained canine to ever live under our roof. When she passed away after nearly a decade of a long, happy and adored life, I cried. She is buried under a cherry tree in Virginia. We go to the library regularly (Yes, Smandy and I have come to a truce. A truce helped along by the fact that I no longer have toddlers in tow. My library fine issue has not entirely been resolved, however, I suspect it will be a lifelong battle.) and at the library I wander the aisles…
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Above the Waterfall: A Book Review
Back in the old days of Virginia living, I attended a conference where I listened to my favorite Appalachian writers. Lee Smith. Sharyn McCrumb. Then I found myself in a room listening to a new-to-me writer. Ron Rash. And I liked him right away. He was a South Carolina man then but his words were pure home to me. Heavy on the Wendell Berry side with the land as a character in its own right. I think that was at least twelve, maybe more, years ago. I’ve read all of his novels – One Foot in Eden, Saints in the River, The World Made Straight, The Cove, Serena. (And I typed…
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Five Finds Friday (Saylor’s reading and Ryder got a haircut)
messy
share the good
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Look Homeward Angel: A Book Review
You know my reading routine? Fiction. Fiction. Non Fiction. Classic. And repeat. I picked Look Homeward Angel by Thomas Wolfe as my classic choice. He’s a local(ish) author from Asheville and he’s a classic that I avoided somehow throughout my illustrious college career. I’m not even certain if this will count as a valid book review, but hey – this blog might be the one and only place where I actually make all the rules so I’m going to call this whatever I feel like calling this. And I call this a book review. You see, I am not going to finish this novel. I struggle sometimes with guilt about…
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Wild in the Hollow: A Book Review
I both began and completed the memoir Wild in the Hollow during the same week. Yeah. That timeline right there probably says plenty already. (I can sense a headline from the mock news at The Onion —- Homeschooling Mother of Six Finishes a Non-Fiction Book in Under Four Days – And It Wasn’t an Audio Version.) Amber Haines was a speaker at, yes – you guessed it – Allume. Her talk was scheduled during one of the lunches and right there on our tables, beside that sweet tea, was one copy of her memoir – Wild in the Hollow – for each of us. Of all the novels (and the stack was high)…
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Go Set A Watchman: A Book Review
Since the dawn of the age of time I have made deals with myself about the books that I read. (It’s like I am always trying to trick myself into following some convoluted rules. Be careful. If you are my friend for long I will try to trick you into playing along.) After Allume, my stack of want-to-read books is on the verge of toppling across the floor so I decided to refocus my reading intentions. Generally my go-to reading pattern looks a little like this: fiction. fiction. non-fiction. fiction. classic. fiction. non-fiction. And then repeat. (This list is, of course, steadily interspersed with young adult fiction with the kids…
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How To Start Your Own Book Club
Two years ago I had an idea. I wanted my girls to look forward to talking about books. I wanted my daughters to discover that discussing ideas found in great books is actually fun. I wanted my daughters to see their friends, and their friends’ mothers, talking together about books and ideas instead of about boys and people’s clothes. I wanted to use inspiring literature to help me understand my girls better. I wanted inspiring literature to help my daughters understand themselves better. I wanted to spend time with my daughters. I was loaned this book – 100 Books for Girls to Grow On by Shireen Dodson. (Yes, I’ve already confessed that…
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Book Club: Homesick – My Own Journey
Monday night was Book Club night. This month we read Homesick: My Own Story by Jean Fritz. In this autobiographical work Jean Fritz tells about her experiences as an American growing up in China with parents who worked to bring the YMCA to China in the 1920’s. We happened to wait a little too late to snag the book from the library this month and I was forced to do what I rarely do – download the audio at a cost on iTunes. As it turned out, the audio book was a real treat because Jean Fritz herself was the narrator. Although I’m certain she wouldn’t qualify as a professional…
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Farmer Boy – You May Change Us Yet
We’ve just started to read Farmer Boy in our Little House on the Prairie Year. Farmer Boy covers the life of Almanzo, Laura’s husband, and his growing up years on a farm in Malone, New York. In the official series it actually appears as about book three I think, but our Prairie Primer suggests reading it at this juncture – right after These Happy Golden Years about Laura and Almanzo’s courtship. It helps with the flow of following Laura’s life first, plus Laura probably heard most of the Almanzo-grows-up stories during their long courtship and marriage. I’ve been infatuated with Laura Ingalls and her life and her words for decades…
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Elijah of Buxton: A Book Review
We listen to a lot of audio books. In the car. In the living room. In the school room. On the front porch. We like words. Stories. Thoughts well-placed and well-spoken. I choose the books we listen to in a variety of ways. Often they are suggested by one of my favorite homeschooling websites – Ambleside. Sometimes a friend suggests a good read. Frequently, I simply look over the stockpile at the library whenever we visit and just pick the next interesting book that we haven’t listened to yet. Elijah of Buxton fell into our laps in that manner. I recognized the author’s name – Christopher Paul Curtis –…
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Kids in the Kitchen: A Regular Plan
After London spent a day planning and creating all three meals for our family recently the other kids wanted to take a more active role in food preparation too. So I made a plan. I do love a plan. For now it’s primarily a plan for London, Mosely and Bergen since they can work more independently, but we’ll add in Piper and Otto as time allows. When I’m doing my weekly meal planning, usually Saturday sometime, I have the kids each choose a meal and a menu for one day the following week. To inspire them (and me) I check out cookbooks from the library and also use our own…
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Folks, This Ain’t Normal: A Book Review
Perhaps I was pre-disposed to like this book. The author – Joel Salatin – is a Virginia farmer. A good old country boy who attended college in South Carolina but returned home to his Shenandoah Valley roots and his family’s farm. He’s a Southerner with an education, a passion for real food and a vision to show people there is a way to manage land and animals appropriately and with good stewardship. And he loves Jesus. That’s my kind of guy. I waited about two month’s on our library’s interlibrary loan system to get a copy of Folks, This Ain’t Normal in my hands. It’s a popular book and it’s…
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an apology/not an apology
Grill. Master.
spring madness. it has descended upon us.
