Thursday, January 31, 2008
Will We Be Snowed In?
The forecast is for 10 inches of snow to fall tonight. ES is hoping for no school so he can spend the day snowboarding. It has started to fall - thick flakes. We'll see. Tuesday night, I wanted to enter my last two book reviews, but we lost power in the middle of dinner (a first experience for my two youngest). Thankfully, the power came back on later that night, but I didn't want to risk getting on since the winds had been up to 80 mph in spots. I don't know why the photo isn't showing up for my last book review. I'll keep trying to figure this out.
Book Review: Diary of a Wimpy Kid
This book was incredibly fun. My ES, who is not a reader, spent almost a week visiting his old best friend from IL during his winter break. It is the first time we've allowed him to stay at someone else's house for more than an overnight and I had a tough time with it. Imagine my surprise, when I called to talk to him and he informed me that he was reading a book there ... of his own accord. He told me the title, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and I heard Michael in the background say, "Yeah, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, by B---- H----(my son's name)." HA! I laughed. Apparently, every night when Michael went to sleep, ES stayed up reading for twenty minutes, so he could finish this 217 page book before he went home.
Well, now I know what drew my non-reader to read this book. On the cover, it declares it "a novel in cartoons." O.K., given the fact that all but three pages in the book have some sort of cartoon on them, I suppose you could consider this a picture book for the middle school set. Don't get me wrong; it is not a graphic novel. The text is enhanced by cartoon drawings. It made me think of my friend, Kyle, who now heads up my old writers group in IL. This is the kind of book I could see him writing some day.
Despite the fact that the graphics were probably what initially attracted my son, I have to say, it was DOWNRIGHT HILARIOUS. From the very first page, where we learn that the narrator, Greg Heffley, is following his mom's idea and keeping a "JOURNAL, not a diary... I SPECIFICALLY told her to get one that didn't say 'diary' on it," it is one humorous tale after another. He deals with bullies, girls, gym class and reading class ("They don't come right out and tell you if you're in the Gifted group or the Easy group, but you can figure it out right away by looking at the covers of the books they hand out." - picture of two books, one Einstein as a Child, the other Bink Says Boo.) He writes about Halloween, the school play, running for treasurer and writing Christmas thank you notes (such boyish truth!). My son was right, I read the book in two days. I couldn't put it down. It was entirely entertaining, even to a boy who has said to me "Remember Mom, I've told you before, books don't entertain me." He's been proven wrong and he and I are both anxiously awaiting the sequel, to be called, Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Roderick Rules. Highly recommended. One of the best books for boys I've read in a long time.
If you want to see more of this book which some have called "the funniest book in 2007" head over to http://www.gregheffley.blogspot.com/ or go to the author's site at http://www.wimpykid.com/. On the author's site it said that the sequel was released on Jan. 15th. This is one I might just be willing to run out and buy for my ES - anything to get him reading. Plus, I could use another good chuckle myself.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Book Review: Piper Reed: Navy Brat
Piper Reed is the middle daughter, wedged between an older teenage sister and a kindergarten prodigy. Since her father is in the Navy, the family moves a lot. I selected this book because I moved plenty while growing up. Piper is a spunky girl and she will certainly get a following (a great book to suggest to a girl who is a middle child or is moving).
Perhaps, the book didn't appeal to me as much as I expected because it is in the 7-12 range and I tend more towards books in the 10-17 range - I don't know. I would recommend it to my sister's daughter, since they move a lot, but at 11, she's probably a bit too old for it, too. My MS enjoyed listening to it (the bits about getting a dog, a doorbell which played Yankee Doodle). I looked at another review of this book and they raved about the illustrations, so I'm really wishing I had read it instead of listening, this time.
Monday, January 28, 2008
I am a Different Person
Cardiogirl at http://www.cardiogirl.net has had me heading down memory lane these days. She did a meme recently about meeting famous people and I commented that I had the privelege of studying under Frederick Buechner while I was in college. It turns out CG's husband is a bit of a Buechner fan and so I tried to dig out my old syllabus and notebooks (of course, I still have them - I am a tremendous pack-rat, if you didn't know that already).
I ended up pulling out my college journals, as well, and have spent far too much time today walking down memory lane. What a curious thing it is to revisit our past through old journals. It brought all those old emotions and relationships right up to the foreground again. This is why I am a firm believer in journalling. I was such a different person then. I mean, I still see a lot of the core person, but life has rounded me out in such significant ways. Granted, I was a college student then. Typical life perspective from such a limited spere of existence. I had high ideals and intense spiritual yearnings. I sought hard after purity and genuine righteousness. But life hadn't really dealt all that many blows yet and I think my answers to life's questions were fairly trite, or at least, easily acquired.
Even now, I look at my life and realize that I haven't experienced much in the way of hardships when you hold my life up next to someone else's. I listened to a powerfully moving and convicting eulogy on You Tube tonight by a man named Rick Burgess, on behalf of his two year old son who drowned recently in their family pool. Then I look at the ideals and life goals I expressed as a young college student and I feel like I have not achieved what I sought to achieve. It was easy to have lofty dreams before life intervened with its roads less travelled and detours to the path I thought I was on.
I can remember talking with a professor in the last week of college and outlining what my plans were for the next five years. He commented that he wished he could see so clearly where the next five years would take him. He knew, didn't he, that there was no way in the world that my life was going to head off in the direction I planned for it, all nice and neat and tidy. He just couldn't explain that to me then. He couldn't communicate what only life experience can - that life often takes you in directions you never intended and brings along trials and opportunities you wouldn't have asked for. God's leading is mysterious and He works in ways that are so difficult to comprehend. He asks far more of us than we realize and He wants far more for us than we can grasp or attain on our own.
I wish I could be granted the opportunity to take Buechner's class again now. Perhaps I would get even more out of it than I did back then (and it was a phenomenal class - we read powerful literature and had deep conversations). In the summer following that class, I corresponded with a friend about Buechner and his books and his thoughts about the books that we had read. I discovered one of the letters this friend had sent me, tucked in my journal. He was trying to express the beauty of the way God reaches down to us and grants us grace in our weakest moments. Sadly, I hadn't had enough weak moments to truly know how weak I am. Reading his letter and realizing what I must have written to him made me aware of how different I am now.
It also made me aware of how different I wish I could be, even from the person I am now. I want to grow and become more than I am. I want deeper goals than I had back then. I want a richer experience of life and of God and of His purposes for my life. I want my faith to be founded on more than an autopilot mode. I want to read Buechner again and see his messages of the mystery of the way God works. I will have to write another post about this Buechner class because he taught us so much and the books we read were worth mentioning in more detail. For tonight, I had to reflect on my own journey and realize that God will never leave us standing still. He will take us into valleys and wildernesses and will make us a different person.
I ended up pulling out my college journals, as well, and have spent far too much time today walking down memory lane. What a curious thing it is to revisit our past through old journals. It brought all those old emotions and relationships right up to the foreground again. This is why I am a firm believer in journalling. I was such a different person then. I mean, I still see a lot of the core person, but life has rounded me out in such significant ways. Granted, I was a college student then. Typical life perspective from such a limited spere of existence. I had high ideals and intense spiritual yearnings. I sought hard after purity and genuine righteousness. But life hadn't really dealt all that many blows yet and I think my answers to life's questions were fairly trite, or at least, easily acquired.
Even now, I look at my life and realize that I haven't experienced much in the way of hardships when you hold my life up next to someone else's. I listened to a powerfully moving and convicting eulogy on You Tube tonight by a man named Rick Burgess, on behalf of his two year old son who drowned recently in their family pool. Then I look at the ideals and life goals I expressed as a young college student and I feel like I have not achieved what I sought to achieve. It was easy to have lofty dreams before life intervened with its roads less travelled and detours to the path I thought I was on.
I can remember talking with a professor in the last week of college and outlining what my plans were for the next five years. He commented that he wished he could see so clearly where the next five years would take him. He knew, didn't he, that there was no way in the world that my life was going to head off in the direction I planned for it, all nice and neat and tidy. He just couldn't explain that to me then. He couldn't communicate what only life experience can - that life often takes you in directions you never intended and brings along trials and opportunities you wouldn't have asked for. God's leading is mysterious and He works in ways that are so difficult to comprehend. He asks far more of us than we realize and He wants far more for us than we can grasp or attain on our own.
I wish I could be granted the opportunity to take Buechner's class again now. Perhaps I would get even more out of it than I did back then (and it was a phenomenal class - we read powerful literature and had deep conversations). In the summer following that class, I corresponded with a friend about Buechner and his books and his thoughts about the books that we had read. I discovered one of the letters this friend had sent me, tucked in my journal. He was trying to express the beauty of the way God reaches down to us and grants us grace in our weakest moments. Sadly, I hadn't had enough weak moments to truly know how weak I am. Reading his letter and realizing what I must have written to him made me aware of how different I am now.
It also made me aware of how different I wish I could be, even from the person I am now. I want to grow and become more than I am. I want deeper goals than I had back then. I want a richer experience of life and of God and of His purposes for my life. I want my faith to be founded on more than an autopilot mode. I want to read Buechner again and see his messages of the mystery of the way God works. I will have to write another post about this Buechner class because he taught us so much and the books we read were worth mentioning in more detail. For tonight, I had to reflect on my own journey and realize that God will never leave us standing still. He will take us into valleys and wildernesses and will make us a different person.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Kids Say the Darnedest Things
As I was up writing a letter late tonight, my MS came groggily out to the living room and said, "Can you whistle for me the two screensaver songs?" I have no idea what he is talking about. I headed him off to the bathroom (no doubt this is what caused him to stir). On his way back, after hearing me say for the third time that I just don't know the screen saver songs, he said "that's o.k., I'll just whistle them to myself until I fall back to sleep."
ES made me laugh today, too. This afternoon, I headed off to the library to pick up a book which I had requested. It is called Diary of a Wimpy Kid and I had requested it because my ES, who HATES to read (can he really be my child?) actually picked this book up at a friend's house and read the whole thing. So, THIS ... I had to see. When I arrived home, with the book, ES came out of his room and saw the book on the table. He says, "Oh, you got the book?" I said, "Yes, I just picked it up at the library now." He says, "Have you read it yet?" HA! I might like to read a lot, but I haven't mastered the art of being able to pick up a book from the library and read it in the ten minutes since I returned home. Then, he asked me to read it tonight, instead of watching a movie with my hubby. Sorry, not a chance! We'll keep you posted on this MOST APPEALING BOOK.
ES made me laugh today, too. This afternoon, I headed off to the library to pick up a book which I had requested. It is called Diary of a Wimpy Kid and I had requested it because my ES, who HATES to read (can he really be my child?) actually picked this book up at a friend's house and read the whole thing. So, THIS ... I had to see. When I arrived home, with the book, ES came out of his room and saw the book on the table. He says, "Oh, you got the book?" I said, "Yes, I just picked it up at the library now." He says, "Have you read it yet?" HA! I might like to read a lot, but I haven't mastered the art of being able to pick up a book from the library and read it in the ten minutes since I returned home. Then, he asked me to read it tonight, instead of watching a movie with my hubby. Sorry, not a chance! We'll keep you posted on this MOST APPEALING BOOK.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Book Review - When Crickets Cry
When Crickets Cry, by Charles Martin, takes place in Clayton, Georgia. It is the story of two intersecting lives: one, a 7 year old girl with a fragile, diseased heart; the other, a man hiding from his past and living with a broken heart. Dealing with intricate matters of the heart and heart surgery, it is not a fluff novel. At times it was a bit of a heady read, but the story did keep me wanting to read to the end. The characters were well-drawn and the location tantalizingly real. In fact, the details in this novel were amazing. I have a feeling this author did a lot of homework before he began writing. It was a tender story and an enjoyable read.
I did have some issues with the book, however. Toward the end, it seemed like the pathos became too thick. The climax of the book included several disastrous turns in the story and there came a point where the "willful suspension of disbelief" was stretched too thin. There were moments where I found myself talking to the author out loud, saying "Yes, but wouldn't she have done this ... in that situation ... she had a cell phone," or "You can't expect me to believe that both of these bad things happened within a few days' time, do you?" So, I count this book as an educational experience for me, teaching me not to overwrite or try too hard to make a stirring denoument (I can still hear Ms. Karsh saying "day-noom-wahhhhhh"). I suppose I would still recommend it, but with reservations.
Actually, the book profited me in two other ways. First, it reminded me of another good book which I will recommend and may try to re-read this year: The Gift of Pain, by Dr. Paul Brand. When discussing the heart and the amazing things that can be done in transplantation, it made me think of Brand's book because Dr. Brand really drove home the magnificence of the human body and how awe-inspiring God's workmanship is. As he said, (my own words - not a direct quote) it is not amazing that things go wrong with the human body, but amazing that more things don't go wrong. How phenomenal that a human heart can be lifted from one body and packed in ice for several hours, then be placed into another body and resume beating. That is "A GOD THING!" And that brings me to the second benefit of this book. I am determined, when I finally get my IN license (sometime soon, I can't keep putting it off) to make sure that I have clearly noted that I would be an organ donor if anything were to happen to me. What an incredible gift people give when they die and leave someone else another chance at life!
If you purchase this book, When Crickets Cry, a heart-care fund has been set up so that a certain portion of each sale goes towards the cause of heart health in children.
I did have some issues with the book, however. Toward the end, it seemed like the pathos became too thick. The climax of the book included several disastrous turns in the story and there came a point where the "willful suspension of disbelief" was stretched too thin. There were moments where I found myself talking to the author out loud, saying "Yes, but wouldn't she have done this ... in that situation ... she had a cell phone," or "You can't expect me to believe that both of these bad things happened within a few days' time, do you?" So, I count this book as an educational experience for me, teaching me not to overwrite or try too hard to make a stirring denoument (I can still hear Ms. Karsh saying "day-noom-wahhhhhh"). I suppose I would still recommend it, but with reservations.
Actually, the book profited me in two other ways. First, it reminded me of another good book which I will recommend and may try to re-read this year: The Gift of Pain, by Dr. Paul Brand. When discussing the heart and the amazing things that can be done in transplantation, it made me think of Brand's book because Dr. Brand really drove home the magnificence of the human body and how awe-inspiring God's workmanship is. As he said, (my own words - not a direct quote) it is not amazing that things go wrong with the human body, but amazing that more things don't go wrong. How phenomenal that a human heart can be lifted from one body and packed in ice for several hours, then be placed into another body and resume beating. That is "A GOD THING!" And that brings me to the second benefit of this book. I am determined, when I finally get my IN license (sometime soon, I can't keep putting it off) to make sure that I have clearly noted that I would be an organ donor if anything were to happen to me. What an incredible gift people give when they die and leave someone else another chance at life!
If you purchase this book, When Crickets Cry, a heart-care fund has been set up so that a certain portion of each sale goes towards the cause of heart health in children.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Comments Welcome
Several of my friends and family have sent e-mails saying they could not post a comment on my blog without joining google. This was because, new to this venture, I specified incorrectly in the settings stage. I have since changed it, so if you try to comment, you may comment anonymously and merely add your name to the end if you wish. Hope to hear from you if something I write resonates with you.
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