For Such a Time as This

Hello, world.  This has been a crazy couple of weeks (or months, depending on where you live and when you’re reading this), hasn’t it?  Disease, economic downturn, fear and isolation have been the headlines of the day.  I’m usually one content enough to stay at home and go nowhere for a period of time, more than most perhaps.  But this has even me a little down and out, mainly because we have no idea how long this will continue.  But you didn’t come here to read that, I know.

One of the things I miss the most is my library right now.  But it’s thankful I am that I have collected and curated my own extensive home library.  I’ve documented my new additions throughout the years here on this blog on my Random Book Posts.  I’ve stressed and complained about the lack of room and my lack of self-control when it comes to buying more books (on all types of subjects from witnessing to Jehovah’s Witnesses to reading body language).  But I’m not complaining any longer!  I have plenty to read ’til the cows come home (or not).  Right now I’m reading “Germ,” by Robert Liparulo.  

The other day I was listening to the radio to Dr. Rosalie de Rosset, professor of literature, English, and Homiletics at Moody Bible Institute.  She recommended a Pandemic Reading Plan.  The constructive structure could help keep us all sane, educated and cultured!  I am particularly interested in “Wolf Hollow” by Lauren Wolk and “The Shadows,” by Nicholas Carr.  I wish she had recommended more fiction.  Of course, you can check out my Recommended Reading List!  🙂  Or, spend an afternoon and plan your own.  Have you always wanted to read the classics but never had the time?  Play a game where each book you read is by an author from a different continent.  Or decade.  Read children’s literary classics to your kids.  Find curated lists online of classic, thought-provoking novels that will take you to another world and work your way down the list!

Good books can take you to another place and point you to reality at the same time.

If you’re looking to relax while someone reads to you for a change, Voices of Calm provides short and free videos for both kids and adults.

 

 

My Reading Life Ahead of Me, 2020

Hi, guys!  Have you made your reading goals for 2020?  I have a couple of things I’d like to accomplish.  I seem to do well at the “2 books a month rate” and I have particular reason to change it, so I’ll just leave it at that.  Of course that doesn’t prevent my TBR to increase at an alarming exponential rate!  Sometimes I think I like collecting TBRs than I do actually reading.  Am I the only one like this, and what is the reason do you think?

I’ve made out my annual fiction list weeks ago, and some of the highlights I’m hoping to get to are as follows:

It looks like I have a lot of vintage mysteries in store for me!

Then, I have some non-fiction books I really want to get to this year:

My Word of the Year 2020 is ‘DWELL’, so a lot of the books I want to read has to do with being in the moment.  Another aspect of that is journaling, which I have made a renewed resolution to do.  My journaling life the last few years has felt rather blah.  I feel the desire to do things differently, and so I have checked a stack of books out of the library, as well as peruse my own home library, on books pertaining to the subject.  Something in line with art journaling is the direction I want to go in.  Right now, I’m reading “A Trail Through Leaves: The Journal as a Path to Place,”  by Hannah Hinchman and am really enjoying it!  I’m also having fun with a cute little coffee table read, “Cosy: The British Art of Comfort,” by Laura Weir.

What will be new on the blog?  At this point, I don’t foresee any changes on the horizon.  The good news is that I read a lot of books last year (for me, anyway), so there will be more book reviews coming.  Since I want to spend more time reading and journaling, I might spend less time blogging so there might be less of other types of posts, such as movie reviews.  I do love me a good movie, but I can’t do everything I’d like and some things need paring down.

One thing that has been helping me celebrate the completion of a good book is sharing via goodreads book groups.  There are a few games I partake in, and am currently playing my first team challenge reading game.  That means, I’d best get off the www and crack open the book on my nightstand!  Excuse me!

 

 

Anticipated Christian Fiction Reads, Fall 2019

I don’t know about you, but these new books coming this fall are looking pretty good to me!  You can view them and many more at the CBD catalog– and no, CBD does not stand for cannabis in this case.  That would be Christian Book Distributors!

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Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Fall 2019 TBR

This is a “Top Ten Tuesday” exercise…

I used to use the term ‘To Read Notebook’, meaning the very, very long list of book titles I planned on reading at some point in time.  I later found out this is called a ‘To Be Read’ list, or TBR for short.  But such a conundrum, I have: Do you call it a TBR list?  Or just TBR?  Because it doesn’t make sense to me to say my ‘To Be Read’.  But it sounds laborious to say TBR list.  Like, duh.

Anyway, here is a list of books I would read this fall IF I had all the free time in the world.  I make out lists of TBRs every year, organizing books according to what seems most seasonally hygge-appropriate.  I’m all about the atmosphere!  So this is my list of “Fall Reads” that I know I won’t make it through, and probably will only accomplish one or two from the list.  But maybe it will give someone else a crinkle down their spine (as LMM would say) just looking at them as well…

 

Random Books Post: French, Food, Fiction, Fun!

I like Frenchophile books– can you tell?

A librarian friend had free copies to give away so I picked one up for a friend with a new baby, and one for myself. (I’m pretty sure I already had it in my stash around here somewhere but this one looks prettier.)

One of my favorite recent finds.

This looked like a fun, elegant read I picked up along the way somewhere.

Almost everyone knows a narcissist in their life.

Found along the yard sale trail.

I’ll be vulnerable here and admit that social anxiety has been debilitating for me. I’m thankful to come across this book.

The day I took my SAT test in high school, my mom took my friend and I to a bookshop in town and I remember this book (again, too much for my purse). I didn’t need to look at it twice when I came across it all the years later to know it was the same book, full of beautiful imaginative pictures.

I’m in the middle of this right now and it’s FASCINATING!

Won this beautiful copy off of goodreads!

This was a new-to-me book with an inspiring title.

HOW? WHY? I find the need to know so that I’ll recognize it and be careful in the modern world.

This looks like a thorough, complete tome.

Half my lifetime ago, I found this in a bookshop but it was too much for purse. I made a note down in a notebooks to find this again someday, and to only read “the illustrated version”. Now I have it for my own, and I think the cover looks enchanting!

This therapy, couple with other kinds of beneficial therapy has been amazing for me.

Genesis Trilogy #1

Another lucky win from goodreads. 🙂

This book had a lovely impact on my life and I’m thrilled to finally own it.

I’ve been enjoying Chesterton’s non-fiction essays lately.

I’ll have fun perusing this one.

I’m having second thoughts about this one.

Nourishing creativity and having fun any way I can.

#3 in Maisie Dobbs series.

I can’t wait to put this one to good use!

I haven’t heard of this author, but I can’t wait to read this intriguing title.

I’m a ruminative person by nature, so this one’s for me.

I have almost a small library of Stephen Lawhead books…

Nothing puts me in a more foul mood than clutter in life, so I’m looking forward to this one.

I’ve been wanting to get into this hobby for years and this looked like a neat little beginner’s guide.

 

Christian Fiction for Summer 2019!

Memorial Day is the traditional start of the summer season here in the US but first we honor our soldiers, especially those who gave their lives for our country.  It may seem odd many choose to do so by going on vacation, but however we choose to celebrate our freedom is a way to honor the sacrifices made.

If you’re in need of a beach read, a country read, a plane or car ride read or just any ol’ summer read, here are the latest I’m eyeing that were featured in the CBD Fiction catalog of Summer 2019 (view entirely here).  I believe there have been more books peaking my interest in this issue than ever before!

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Random Books Post: Featuring Lots of Hobbies!

My latest short stack of acquired reads includes a lot of hobby and artsy/craftsy type books.  I feel myself leaning more toward working with my hands this year, as I use creativity to celebrate each season.

I am an obsessive thrifter and will love being inspired by this.

Something I’d like to learn doing someday.

This looked like too much fun to leave there.

This will be so pleasurable learning from!

I’m not Ramsey’s biggest fan, but I have been learning from his Total Money Makeover and will probably from this one, too.

This was such a good book, I wanted to own it.

My kind of craft-stuff!

I can’t wait to read this series!

I’m really loving peeling paint and distemper lately.

A different inspirational author I hadn’t heard of before.

I’ve already used this book when I have my prayer time, to avoid having to use a screen to look up for inspiration.

 

 

Looking Forward in 2019

New Year’s resolutions, check! First though, I want to do a rundown of what did and didn’t work for me last year in the world of books. I know I usually do that in my annual year-in-review posts, but I forgot a few things…

I tried to join a couple of reading challenge groups on goodreads last year. The first one was a type of ‘Read a Book that Contains These Certain Elements’ type groups. Except, they had really stringent checklists. I really didn’t make it past one book. The reason was not that finding books was so difficult (I mean, I have 2500+ to choose from on my TBR!), but that I’m just too much of a list-lover and have always curated my yearly to-read schedule in such a way that I couldn’t let go of it. I tried, several times but it just wasn’t as much fun doing it any other way. So then I tried a group that has lists(!) of words you look for in whatever book you happen to choose to read. That’s working a bit better for me, and it’s fun to compare my findings with my mom at the end of the month as we work from the same scavenger hunt words.

But at the same time, I feel like I’m hunting for more, something different. I don’t know what it is yet but I think I’ll keep scouting around. Maybe I will decide to post my word lists every once in a while on the blog, if you’re interested.

Something I’ve been having LOADS of fun doing the past year, is creating playlists inspired by the books I read! Maybe I’m not the first person who’s thought of doing this, but I’m enjoying it so much and plan on sharing my music with all of you as I publish my book reviews. All you need is a free Spotify account to listen and I will have the link above my Plot Summaries to click on. I have over a dozen playlists built now, and I am starting to arrange them by mood genre.

As far as reading quantity goes, I don’t expect it will change much this year. Aiming for two books a month seems to be a realistic speed at this time in my life. And I am learning to be okay with that.

I have a couple of books I really, really want to read in particular sometime during this year. They are as follows:

“Polish Your Poise with Madame Chic,” by Jennifer L. Scott

“Relearning to See,” by Thomas Quackenbush (I’m getting progressively myopic and suffering bad eye strain.)

books by Richard Swenson

books on spiritual disciplines

Do you have any goals you would like to achieve in the books this year? Share them with me!

 

Random Books: Fall’s Hurrahs

And then… 🙂  I went to two more book sales over the weekend and came home with EVEN MORE!

I remember first reading this Jacques book all afternoon on a summer’s day in our front yard when I was a kid. This is actually the audiobook, which I got to hear the author’s accent.

This actually had a bio section on my family name!

Did you know that the first female millionaire in America was black? I can’t read to read this inspiring true story.

This book has interested me ever since I first read about it in BookPage. I would love to see a movie made of it.

There’s this woman I know– always so put together. Sigh… That’s why I bought the Nail book.

Because I do have other interests than just books.

I could deal with an easier life.

 

Random Books: Towering Stack

I love processing through my latest towering stack of new books.  By the time I get around to doing it, I’d forgotten what books I’d bought and it’s like Christmas all over again!

A small, older book, but one I think I can follow along with. There are many out there that are too advanced for me.

One of the select crafts I’m interested in is felting. I have the felt, now I just need to know how to use it!

I’ve always wanted to read a book on this subject that wasn’t too intellectually over my head. We shall see.

I haven’t opened this book yet, but just the title and cover have me intrigued. I just stuffed it into my bag at the tail end of a book sale.

I’ve been wanting to read this book for so long!

At first I was wary of this title, but then after looking closer I realized it was about the literary masterpiece of the Bible itself. Fascinating!

Has picture of vintage microphone on front cover. Might come in handy for VO marketing purposes in future…

I’m not sure I was aware that L. M. Montgomery wrote an autobiography. Just had to pick it up at the bag sale.

I just love books that give you delightful thrills when you read the book blurb. One of those.

Listening to an interview with the author on the radio was AMAZING! Finding his book was a gem.

I’ve been on LinkedIn for a while, but it’s tricky to know how to utilize well. Looking for some help.

I love this artist’s makeup ability and style.

#3 in the Ghormenghast series.

I didn’t grow up in a liturgical church, so the religious calendar was not in my realm of knowledge. But I would love to devote a year to delving into Lent, Advent, etc.

This is a keeper. I read it years ago when it first came out. The only drawback is that it can become a horror story for folks like me with OCD for real.

A cookbook that features the words: enchanting, dainties, French, Middle Eastern, Indian, Scottish… !!!!!!!

I loved Freeman’s book, “Simply Tuesday.” I believe this is her first published book.

There are a lot of different beliefs out there. Do you know what you believe and why? Do you have friends or family getting involved in something “off”? A great reference to have on hand…

How can you pass up a cookbook with a title such as this?

This vintage classic has been on my TBR and I keep seeing it floating around at book sales. I finally broke down and bought it.

Looks interesting…

Another book not to worry about with me. How am I to understand erroneous viewpoints if I don’t know a thing about them?

An early entry in my TBR notebook.

Our family has a story like this in it’s history, too. I would like to know more about the time period in which this sometimes happened.

A thick tome to add to my Lindbergh diaries.

Stuffed this into a bag sale. Still not sure what this yet, but it looks like a craft book right up my alley! I can’t wait!

I don’t know how good at this I’ll be, but it looks fun to try.

There was a time in my past where this true. And I think we all go through periods time and again. I want to have this on hand.

Mmm… What could be better?

TBR

This was a rare find. I saw this recommended on a book blog I used to follow years ago and have always wanted to get my hands on it.

I like to prayer-doodle, and am also interested in illumination as an art form. I would love to combine both using this lovely how-to guide on Celtic art. Oh, the things I could create!

I don’t take this title seriously. But I have heard it highly praised on some of the entrepreneur youtube channels I follow.

I’ve enjoyed listening to Glenn Beck on the air in the past. This looks like an interesting plot. I don’t know how I’ll like his fiction, so I’m sampling.

For someone who wants to get into the entertainment industry + someone who turns everything into a theology… Perfect!

Obvious reasons.

Oh! Oh! Yes, I need this book!

Growing up, our family didn’t have the latest in entertainment. But we had a tape recorder and a radio and often listened to old radio programs like Suspense, The Whistler, and Burns and Allen. I would love to read about the differences between past and present ways of “listening”.

A Christian classic that I want near because you just never know…

Don’t worry. This is one of those books I occasionally collect to figure out what acquaintances of mine believe.