Raehink: Responses to various posts

I have finally reached (well, almost...I still have to pass the final exam) the end of my precalculus class at BYU. It's been by far the most difficult for me. I have had to essentially shut out the world and my family for the last month to really have a chance to grasp anything in the class. I have such a difficult time with things geometric (my neurons just don't fire correctly in that area) and what with having to graph parabolas, ellipses, hyperbolas and such...I was having a rough time. And logarithms. They are a law unto themselves! But I did enjoy the stuff at the end about sequences and probability. There's nothing like a difficult class to make you see and feel all your inabilities. I guess that's why we major in things we're good at...or at the very least, interested in. Anyway, I'm back.

I have loved reading your posts about what books you have been enjoying. Believe it or not, even I get in reading ruts where nothing on my shelves is of interest and I need a recommendation. I wanted to comment on some of the titles you've each mentioned.

LULU: I have the Persian Pickle Club on my shelf, waiting to be read. I'm looking forward to it. It's still about ten titles away, however. I absolutely loved Marley and Me. I hope you do too. I passed it around to a lot of people.

ANNIE: Thank you for reading to your children. They will thank you for it one day. Coraline is one of the rare movies that both Papa and I would like to see. Eventually. And know that we are praying for your hubby and his men.

LYNNESS: I too enjoyed the Pollan books. In fact, they really helped us to make some changes in the way we eat around here. Not drastically, but gradually. I loved the fact that he isn't extreme. Just pragmatic. I have a stack of about fifteen "food" titles to read, based on what was in the bibliographies of his two titles. Have you read his book on gardening called Second Nature? I really enjoyed it also. Read it many years ago, before he became well-known for his food opinions. It might be a fun read for spring.

MIM: Oooh. I'm jealous about the OED. Someday. I remember how excited I was one year at Christmas to receive Grey's Anatomy as a gift. That feeling must be close to how you felt. Isn't it fun to think that our parents passed that gift of loving words on to us? I was at Dad's yesterday and we were trying to remember how many vertebra are in the spine. He just pulled out the old World Book and found out the answer. He says he often uses those encyclopedias.

I'm so glad you enjoyed The Professor and the Madman. It's one of those books you really can't describe to people. They might not read it. You just have to get them to start reading until they are hooked on the story. I am so glad that Mom recommended it to me. I don't know that I would have read it otherwise. She saw all the gospel applications in it and knew it would appeal to both of us. Good on her.

I'm also happy to hear that you liked the stroke and Lindbergh books. It thrills me to be able to pass on books that I just know will strike a chord with the person on the other end. It's a small joy in my life! I loved the quote you shared from Reeve's book. We know just what she was trying to express, don't we? I'm glad you're finding time to read. I know you're busy. Enjoy those last few months in Japan. Then on to Harvard. We hope.

In spite of the math, I have been reading a little. I loved a book called The Hunger Games. It's one of those books I mentioned above...if I tell you about it, you may be turned off and not read it. But please get a copy from your library and give it a try. I'd love to know what others think about it. Maren and I really enjoyed the story and have had quite a few discussions regarding some of the issues it raises. The author is Suzanne Collins.

My other recommended reads in the past month are A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel and The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi. I am still reading Sarah's Quilt (the sequel to These Is My Words). I was supposed to finish it for book group last night and didn't. They were amazed. I am looking forward to finding a title for the March assignment, too.

Happy reading!

Raehink: March Reading

Since March is Women's History Month we will do some reading around that subject matter. You are to choose a book (fiction or non, your choice) that is either:

• written by a female or
  
• about a female or
• about some aspect of womanhood

Make it as fun as you'd like. Enjoy. Report back.

Happy spring!

Happy reading!

Lynness- a couple of quick reads

    I just finished a couple of quick fantasy reads that I thoroughly enjoyed.  My sister gave us a bag of second-hand books for Christmas (she knows us well) and in it were 2 Robin McKinley books, The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown, neither of which I had ever heard of (even though The Blue Sword was a 1983 (?) Newberry Honor book).  They were satisfying, were not weighed down with so much...story, I guess, as the likes of Elantris or Eldest, etc, but still detailed.  In both you find yourself near the last few chapters, wondering if there are really enough pages to finish the story or if it's going to need a sequel, but they both finish, right on cue.  The second book is really a prequel to the first, but far enough back that the characters are ancient history to the people of The Blue Sword and really, you could read them in either order.
    If you ever want a quick, clean, satisfying, good-always-wins-but-it's-a-long, hard road-type-fantasy-story, these are a good place to start!  I was hoping that one or the other had been made into a movie to watch for this month, but no.  They probably would've ruined it, anyway.

scary strang book... strange movie!!

Hello all you wonderful Ladies!! This is my first post but I have been following the blog since the summer and have had the opportunity to read some of the months. I finally read the first Harry Potter book and I’m looking forward to completing the series. For February I actually picked out the book before I knew the topic! : ) I read Coraline. It was the first book that I have read out loud to Lanycia! She really likes scary movies and from seeing the first movie trailer was excited by the movie. The book… is… strange. And a little scary!! A young girl is bored with her life and her family and becomes wooed but “the other mother” who created “the other world” where all things are fun and Coraline never has to be bored. All the other characters are strange in their own way. In the end she realizes that all things that seem better are not really the best and she has to fight for her old boring life and family!! The movie…. Different from the book and STRANGE!! Most books you can say it was sweet or nice or had a good moral to the story. But both the book and movie were strange.

Lynness: You are what you eat...

Just before Christmas I read a short book called "In Defense of Food:
An Eater's Manifesto" by Michael Pollen. I really enjoyed it- it
discusses the reasons why Americans are the most health-obsessed county
and the least healthy, how 'food science' has failed us, and gives some
rules for eating. (No prohibitions or 'bad' and 'good' labels, but some
good ideas for judging what you're really getting.) I found it highly
relevant, good advice, and well-written (and easily read).
After Christmas I reserved his previous book "The Omnivore's Dilemma"
which is much longer, though still well-written and very readable. I
took a hiatus during January during which I read the Mary Roach books
and "The Egg and I" and browsed several books on beans (I taught a food
storage class this month, not because I 'know beans' about beans, but
b/c it was a sure-fire way to learn). I recently returned to "The
Omnivore's Dilemma" and finished it. I recommend it to you and pretty
much anyone: it is a thought-provoking exploration about where our food
comes from and how society and food shape one another. This book
provides the underpinning knowledge for "In Defense of Food" and in it
the author pursues the 'histories' of four meals he eats in four
different food-chains: the industrial, the organic (which is often not
as far from industrial as they want us to believe), the local
sustainable farm-grown, and the hunted/gathered. He does this in depth,
with personality, and (I think) pretty evenhandedly. He does not judge
the reader for eating selections, but offers a good long look at things
connected with those eating decisions that most have never even thought
of before.

Lynness: re- dictionaries

I certainly married into the right family!  How many of you knew that Nathan and I got engaged with a dictionary?  (Here's the story.)  And homework took me forever when we had to define spelling words, because I would get lost in the dictionary looking up interesting words and etymologies.

Mim/Mom: From the Ridiculous to the Sublime

Hi All! I read a good deal of Calvin & Hobbes and finished Harry Potter #5 for my humorous books for January. One of you said Harry Potter wasn't exactly funny, but I found plenty to laugh at (like the potion made with gravy and bubotuber pus). And Calvin always makes me happy.

For February I'm actually somewhat challenged because our library is under construction, basically closed--so I needed a book made into a movie, and preferably both would be right under my own roof. I chose Longitude, by Dava Sobel. Blake has enjoyed both, and they've been on my wish list for some time. Not exactly a novel, but I think I'll like it (and the movie) if I can only get around to it.

I finished The Professor and the Madman, Simon Winchester's amazing story about the making of the Oxford Dictionary--the dictionary itself was intriguing enough, but the madman's story was fascinating. Winchester portrayed him in a way that made me love him, even with his lifetime of sexual addictions. I felt so much compassion for him and so much gratitude for the Atonement and the hope we have in Christ of overcoming addictions. I probably would never have noticed the book or thought I'd like it, but thanks to Rae's gift for recommending books to us, this was a real winner for me.

I read two others that Rae recommended--one of those was also highly recommended by Beccy--that joint recommendation was No More Words, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh's daughter Reeve Lindbergh (Reeve married but kept her maiden name). The book is a journal of Reeve's loss of her mother, Anne, over a period of years and of course it was immensely relevant for Rae, Beccy, and me. I finished it during the night after receiving the phone call on Thanksgiving telling us that Mother was much worse. Wow, what beautiful, poetic, comforting writing. Anne's children were all adults, like mother's children, and here's an excerpt that's poignant: "Maybe it's hard to die with your children in the room, so you try to slip away when they are near but not exactly with you. Maybe they pull at the heartstrings too much, make you doubt the wisdom and distract you from the work of your departure. You start to worry about how your dying will affect them, and whether they will be all right afterward. Oh, dear. Should I? Shouldn't I? Are they really ready? Is there anything I forgot to tell them before I go? Do they all have their mittens and their lunch money?"

Rae's other winning recommendation was My Stroke of Insight. I'd heard the story of its author, Jill Bolte Taylor, a Harvard neuroscience professor who, ironically, had a brain aneurysm and miraculously recovered enough in eight years to write her own story. Because of Mother and because of my keen interest in the brain and mind, this book gave me lots of insights and compassion, and confidence to help any stroke victim I might encounter thru visiting teaching or whatever. We already have distinct advantages as Saints because of what we know about individual worth and the eternity of the soul, but hearing a firsthand accound (from Mom and then from this book) added a lot to my understanding.

My Relief Society book group is re-focusing on the mission of Relief Society, trying to be sure our reading will increase faith, strengthen home and family, and promote service. Our February theme is black history. I've been enjoying a little collection of Great Speeches by African Americans, my favorites being the speeches of Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King, Junior. The book includes a speech by Barack Obama; I haven't read it, but it seems appropriate to include it. It seems premature to label him as great, but they did call the book Great Speeches, not Great African Americans. Time will tell, won't it. We must pray for him. LOTS, haha. For March my RS group will read something to strengthen marital or family relationships, even if it's something totally off that subject but they read it out loud with their husbands for quality time. I will read Beccy's esteemed selection, Bonds That Make Us Free, by C. Terry Warner.

Lastly, I have to share my excitement over my Christmas gift from Blake, especially since y'all are about the only people who can even begin to understand why I'd like such a gift. He gave me a two-volume set of the Oxford English Dictionary. And I love it. It's actually quite superior to the World Book Dictionary we've used all these years. And he gave it to me several weeks early (because he was excited too), when I was starting to read The Professor and the Madman with the story of the original OED. I have a dictionary stand and I'm into this dictionary all the time. HAPPY READING, ALL--Love, Mim/Mom

Lulu: January & February reads

Today I finished The Persian Pickle Club. It certainly made me laugh out loud, and I really did love it! Good recommendation, Abby! The characters were entertaining; I liked the main character's (narrator's, basically) tone throughout. It was fun to read something about women in Depression-era Kansas, especially since Phill has relatives in Kansas and I was able to summon memories of our visits there while I read. Besides that, the fact that these were women who quilt and sew made me think constantly of my Grandma Garmann while I read, and I liked that. I'm going to send her the book, now that I'm done.

For February, I finished Confessions of a Shopaholic a while ago (fun, but not stellar), and I have started on Marley & Me today. So far, so good.

Lulu: Quickly, here's what I'm reading

Reading The Mouse and the Motorcycle with Reed--absolutely loving it.

Will read The Persian Pickle Club (thanks, Abby!) and some P.G. Wodehouse for my January humor.

Reading Confessions of a Shopaholic and Marley & Me for February--which are two books I actually picked up out of curiosity before I saw what the February topic was. Funny how that works!

Lynness: nothing REALLY funny

Well, I have appreciated being over the I-have-to-nap-every-day part of my pregnancy, which means my seminary lessons are better prepared and I have some time to read again.  I read Stiff and Spook and am still trying to get through The Egg and I.  I thoroughly enjoyed Stiff and think that many of you might, or maybe I'm just weird: "Techniques in Human Dissection" was one of my all-time favorite classes- I have fond memories of dissecting for hours with friends while listening to "The Princess Bride" soundtrack ('this is where they're dueling at the tops of the Cliffs of Insanity!") or books on tape.  It also always made me hungry.  Spook wasn't as good- it was still well-written, with the author's characteristic style, but the subject matter was just too hokey for me most of the time.  I did laugh out loud a few times in each, mostly at the author's way of putting things and her asides to the reader.  But the books weren't the 'ha-ha' funny I hoped to find sometime in January.  Neither was The Egg and I.  In fact, I don't find it remotely funny and hardly amusing.  Reading it is like having one of those days where everything goes wrong and you just want to cry, and you end up consoling yourself by saying that it will be funny to look back on after a few years.  It still isn't funny, it just seems desperate.