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Teaching From Rest: A Book Review
Sarah Mackenzie. Mother. Writer. Homeschooler. Blogger. Speaker. Etc. She’s like the homeschool mom I would want to be if I wasn’t already the homeschool mom I actually am. (What I really mean by that is — I really like so much about Sarah Mackenzie and what I read and hear from her. Our styles (and some of our weaknesses) align well and I find her inspiring and interesting. I also want to be free from comparing myself to other women so in my effort to NOT compare, I want to say – I’m fine with me – but I really like Sarah Mackenzie’s words and writings and thoughts.) My friend…
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Book Review: Homecoming
There are some characters in novels that stick with you all of your life. Do you know what I mean? We all remember Ramona Quimby – right? People fall in love with Harry Potter and Frodo and Lucy Pevensie. Maybe you can’t forget Oliver Twist or that one big guy in Of Mice and Men. I remember a girl named Dicey as if we were next door neighbors or first cousins. She and her siblings are the main characters in a book series by Cynthia Voight. The first novel is Homecoming and the storyline shocked me as a kid and stuck right in my gut somewhere and I’ve never forgotten…
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For the Love: A(n audio) Book Review
So all of my friends are going to stop talking to me soon because I say the name “Jen Hatmaker” too often in conversation lately. For years I’ve told myself that I don’t have time to listen to audio books just for me or to listen to podcasts just for grown ups. And for years that’s kind of been true. But lately, as my Littles morph into Bigs, I find myself here and there standing in the kitchen alone. Folding laundry in the bedroom by myself. Baking cookies when no one else is around. How did this happen? I don’t know. They tell me it will keep happening more and…
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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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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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As You Wish
No more rhymes now, I mean it. Anybody want a peanut? I’m not a movie person per se. But I have an emotional attachment to a handful of films. One in particular. The Princess Bride. This attachment is based perhaps on my one hundred plus times viewing this film one summer in the the late 1980’s. I blame it on my framily. We watched it on VHS on a television that was placed on the floor. I think we watched it every day for one entire summer. (Not exactly watched so much as had it on for background noise.) We acted it out, dressed up as the characters, rolled down…
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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…
Keep Reading . . .
sacred sabbath & rest for the weary
leaving colorado.
a little this, a little that
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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 –…
