Pride and Prejudice continues...

I had to wait over a year for my turn to check this book out of the library,
and the wait was worth it.

 

Written by P.D. James, a woman who is known for her wonderful mystery books and who has studied Pride & Prejudice for years, Death Comes to Pemberly is a great mystery that takes you back to Jane Austen and her wonderful characters.

Against the Tide

This is an extremely late book review for Bethany Publishers, but here it is anyways.

Lydia Pallas works as a translator for the Navy, and her work involves her with Alexander Banebridge, an unusual man working hard against opium trade.  In doing so, Lydia gradually learns that she is addicted to opium, as she was given Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup in her childhood and has continued to take it for its calming effect as an adult.  This only strengthens her resolve to help Bane in all that his endeavors include...

I rather enjoyed this book.  The story lines of Lydia & her difficult life and Bane's mysterious one are ones that I have never come across before in Christian Romance literature.  While that was enjoyable, what I really liked was learning more about the history regarding opium.  Mrs. Winslow's syrup was a real medicine used with babies and children for years and years!  It was nice to be able to read fiction and yet learn true information.

*Please note that I received this book from the publisher in exchange for a review, but not necessarily a positive one.

A Great Resource

In my days at Northwestern College, I took two Bible courses from Dr. Daryl Aaron. Neither of them included fun games or fantastic personal anecdotes. Rather they both were focused on what the Bible tells us. I really enjoyed both of the classes, as Dr. Aaron had organized the class material in a very managable and understandable fashion.

So last month when Bethany Publishing House asked if I'd like to do a book review of one of his books, Understanding Theology in 15 Minutes a Day, I jumped at the opportunity. Reading through his book was a great refresher course of what I had learned in his Christian Theology class back in 2006.

Each chapter focuses on a different theological issue, such as “What are Angels and Demons?” or “How can Jesus be both God and Man?” or “Can Christians Lose Their Salvation?” I found that each chapter provided a thorough explanation of the different theological sides of the issue and numerous Bible verses that relate to the issue, all while remaining very understandable. While Dr. Aaron does include his own opinion in some instances, he does a good job at presenting both (or all) of the different thoughts.

I would recommend this book to any one who is looking for answers about the Christian faith. I know this is a resource book that we will keep on our shelf for a long time.

*I received a free copy of this book from Bethany Publishing House in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review - Whispers in the Wind

I recently signed up to do book reviews for Bethany House. They send you an email every 6-8 weeks with a list of books, you choose one that you would like to read and write an honest review for, and if you're picked, they send you that book for free! So, here's my first review:

I read Lauraine Snelling's Red River of the North series years ago and really liked it, so I was excited to read another one of her books. This book focuses on Cassie Lockwood, a former Wild West Show trick shooter, and her new life on a South Dakota ranch that her father had helped settle and later had dreamt of returning to. The Engstrom family, who have lived on the ranch from the beginning, take her & her companions in and help them settle into the community. The story tells of Cassie's gradual learning to rely on God to provide through various means and her various relationships with the Engstrom family members as they get used to the idea of the ranch not being their own.

Overall, I found the book's pace to be a little slow. There was lots of character development which I think will lead to a love triangle in the third book, but a strong ending which Snelling has had in at least some of her previous books was missing from this one. That being said, the character development did keep me reading and I probably will one day read book #3 to find out what happens with Cassie and the Engstroms.

Barbara Reid

We recently came across Barbara Reid's children's books.  Her illustrations are all made with plasticine clay, so they really stand out.  Here's my favorite page from her book "Two by Two".  Take a close look at it and you'll see Noah's wife collecting the chicken's eggs while standing on a turtle's shell and then handing them to a kangaroo.  There's just so much going on in the pages!

While reading her book "Zoe's Year", the illustrations just seemed a bit too familiar.  Turns out the author is from Toronto and so are her scenes! 

I was showing John the above picture and he named the location - High Park!  The nut seller, the trail, the trees, the black squirrels.  Here's the real spot:

The Hunger Games

Last night John & I got to go out on a date.  We saw the movie The Hunger Games and then got a drink at Starbucks.  One of John's colleagues was working there, and she paid for our order...it took us back to almost ten years ago when we had our very first outing.  We had gone to a used bookstore and then headed to Caribou.  John's roommate was working and he gave us our drinks for free.  So much has happened since then, but free drinks are always wonderful!

Anyways, I personally thought the movie was very well done.  But so much was missed from the book because Katniss's thoughts weren't in the movie.  Thus, as is almost always the case, the book is better than the movie, and you should read it!

Peace Meals

I finished this book in January. Many of its contents have come back to me, now that Afghanistan & its people (rather than Afghanistan & the war) are front & center in the news. If you're looking for a book that will give you insights into the people, the culture, the history, the food and all the violence, this is a good one.

Where our reliance goes these days

If you have a question, where do you go? The screen of a computer to go for internet.

Where did you used to go? An encyclopedia, a book, a library. Or a person that you know & trust.

Anybody else think this is sad?

Maybe I'm just a little sad as we decided today to get rid of our dictionary (the book).

Fall Leaves Fall

Helena LOVES reading.  She happily sits in our laps while we read book after book after book to her.  Of course, she does that when the books are ones that interest her, as some definitely do not.  One book that never fails to capture her attention is Fall Leaves Fall.

Today we decided to enjoy the gorgeous weather by going out to Queen's Park and letting Helena do just what the boys do in the book - play in those leaves!

 There were so many dry crispy ones.

Helena did lots of inspecting in order to determine which kind of leaf each was.

As you can see, it was so much fun!

Our time in the park also provided ample opportunity to get on those hands and knees.  No crawling yet but she's trying hard to figure it out.  She's concentrating so hard her tongue is sticking out!

Room

I've found that the Toronto library has LONG wait lists for books. So, instead of reading I've been listening to the book "Room". It's a fun activity - makes me think of the days when listening to the radio was an evening event. Plus, the book is really good. It's a story of a boy who spent the first five years of his life held captive in a 11x11 foot room with his mom. Sad but good. I recommend it!

Recommendations

I love it when people recommend books or movies. Otherwise I go to the library, randomly pick something off the shelf, and half the time don't read/watch it. So since I've enjoyed some good ones lately, I thought I'd share.

About World War II
1) Sarah's Key - this book was recommended here by a friend. Check out what she said - it made me interested!
2) Katyn - In 1940 the Soviets took 12,000+ Polish officers and killed them despite not being at war with Poland. The Soviets refused to admit it happened until the 1990s. This movie tells this tragic story from the perspective of those left behind. (note: the movie is in Polish with English subtitles)


About Geisha
1) Memoirs of a Geisha - if you haven't read this book yet, you really need to. It provides a peek into the world of a Geisha through incredible writing. My older brother actually recommended this to me years ago!


2) Memoirs of a Geisha - maybe the book doesn't interest you but the movie does. This is one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen. The costumes, the sets, the cinematography - wow.
3) Geisha, A Life - this biography tells the true story of the best geisha in the 1960s. Not only does this book tell of the immense work it takes to be a geisha but it also corrects many of the incorrect beliefs of what being a geisha is all about.


Do you have any to recommend to me?

Menus are back!

Monthly menus haven't been around for awhile. But that doesn't mean we've been eating the same thing over and over again, as the cook of the house would be bored with that.

Instead of monthly themes, I've been working on cooking through a few cookbooks. The main one is Simple Suppers, a relatively new cookbook put out by the famous mostly vegetarian restaurant Moosewood.


This month I'm going to cook at least ten recipes from this cookbook. I'll share the best and keep the worst to myself :)

Silence

This fictional novel, set in the 17th century, tells the story of a Portuguese priest who travels to and in Japan to search for a father who is rumored to have committed apostasy. Christianity had been welcomed in Japan years earlier, when the father had been extremely successful in his ministry, but the power holders had changed, and extreme persecution was now occurring. Through his experience, the priest learns/questions much about God, apostasy, what Jesus would have done, Judas, true faith, and more.

This book is gripping and thought-provoking to say the least. My brother-in-law recommended it to me four years ago and I didn't read it until this month. Don't wait as long as I did to pick it up!

Book Recommendation

Three weeks in Toronto were survived without a library book and without much to read (The Case for Christ was really good though), so I was ecstatic when I got to finally check out this book. Amazingly the excitement just grew as the pages turned. This book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, is centered around a woman who starts to learn about Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands of Britain, and then continues to get more and more involved with the people there. As I read it, I found myself falling in love with the Guernsey community as well!

If you like letters, if you like history, if you like thinking about the joy found in reading, or if you simply like reading, you should read this book!

Book Recommendation

A coworker recently recommended John Steinbeck's last novel to me, The Winter of Our Discontent, and I'm really glad she did! It's quite different from his other novels, as this one is set on the East Coast. It is a great study on how money and greed can influence humans. If you're looking for a new book and want it to be a classic, check this one out!