Category: Book reviews

Little things this week

General Conference
I will really miss him.
Quilt group at our house this week.
These ideas for family history at a friend’s home were inspiring. It was an honor to see their family’s testimonies and how they celebrate their ancestors.
Loved it.
Tim has another black eye but declined to be photographed.
I kept the conference block tower for several days because Mark did a brilliant job.

I Read It Aloud

“Read the Gospel of Mark aloud,” I have been told several times in my life. “That’s the way it was meant to be experienced, aloud and during one sitting. It will take you a couple of hours.”

Well, today I did it, using Julie Smith’s rendition. It took less than two hours to finish. The King James Version is still awesome, but a modern language translation helped me see things I did not see before.

Her rendition is free on the Kindle. (LINK) If you have two hours alone, I recommend you read it aloud (or any way you like) and enjoy the good news.

A Quote and a Good Book

We infinitely wrong ourselves by laziness and confinement. All creatures in all nations, and tongues, and people praise God infinitely…You are never what you ought till you go out of yourself and walk among them.

Thomas Traherne, Centuries of Meditations

I recommend the book, Refugee by Alan Gratz. Mark had the option to read it and I was drawn to its subject matter. I read it in a few hours and loved it. I encouraged Mark to read it and talk about it with me. It follows the stories of three refugee kids, age 12, from three eras: Nazi Germany, 1990s Cuba, and 2015 Syria.

Books I Read in 2018

My top four books are in bold. The winners are a memoir, an economics book, a book about depression and anxiety, and a book of essays. It seems I liked books that challenged my way of thinking this year.

  1. The Girl With Seven Names: Escape From North Korea by Hyeonseo Lee (This was good, and eye opening)
  2. Emma by Jane Austen (I read this every few years.)
  3. No Life for a Lady by Agnes Morley Cleaveland (Memoir of ranch life in New Mexico 1870s-1930s)(Engaging, interesting, and made me want to go to New Mexico again.)
  4. You are Boring, but You are Uniquely Boring: 25 Models for Writing Your Memoir by Louise Plummer and Ann Cannon (a good, easy guide)
  5. The Book of Mormon
  6. The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman (pretty good)
  7. Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson by Gordon S. Wood (I liked the beginning and ending but the middle had a little too much political theory for me.)
  8. The Book of Mormon (This was our family reading that took us about two years this time, maybe longer.)
  9. The Book of Mormon (I focused on pulling out concise doctrines and phrases for a new project.)
  10. The Girl Who Wrote in Silk (Not recommended.)
  11. Queen Victoria: From Her Birth to the Death of the Prince Consort by Cecil Woodham-Smith (Minus the chapters about the Crimea and India, I liked it.)
  12. Unified: How Our Unlikely Friendship Gives Us Hope for a Divided Countryby Senator Tim Scott and Congressman Trey Gowdy (Not about politics, this book about friendship made me want to be a better neighbor.)
  13. Still Alice by Lisa Genova (I loved it.)
  14. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (A lot of the content made me uncomfortable, but it is quite a story.)
  15. Encyclopedia of Trouble and Spaciousness by Rebecca Solnit (I loved the variety of essays in this book. The essay on Thoreau and his sisters was my favorite. I loved the concept that sister is a verb…)
  16. The Gospel Comes With a House Key by Rosaria Butterfield (This is about the power of Christian hospitality. Unfortunately, I did not feel hospitality in her choice of language. It felt like she was writing to an exclusive group, with its own vernacular, which was somewhat unclear to me. I still loved her and I still felt inspired to open my home and my life to others to help bring people to Christ.)
  17. Who Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner? A Story of Women and Economics by Katherine Marcal (She introduced ideas that were completely new to me. I am still thinking about it. I didn’t agree with everything she said, but this is an important book.)
  18. The Book of Mormon (focus: ministering)
  19. My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead (The most comforting, familiar book I could think to read after Daniel left home.)
  20. America’s First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie (I couldn’t put it down.)
  21. Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression and Anxiety and the Unexpected Solutions by Johann Hari (This challenges everything I thought I understood about depression and anxiety. I didn’t agree with all of his proposed solutions, but so much of this made sense to me. Highly recommended.)
  22. Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days, Volume 1. The Standard of Truth, 1815-1846. (Really good.)
  23. Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist (Some good truths here.)
  24. The Book of Mormon (focus: references which include Christ)
  25. Mama’s Bank Account by Kathryn Forbes (I absolutely loved it.)
  26. The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas
  27. The Gift if the Magi by O Henry
  28. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickins

Memoir Project: Books!

The words I read to our children are part of our collective memory, and helped forge our identity as a family. Can you name the books that inspired the style of writing in this piece?

Austin, TX; Sahuarita, AZ; Sandy, UT 1997-2017

Books!

Four little children went for a walk in a wide, wide world. Through the house they clambered, down the hall, to the bookshelf, and to the couch. When they got to the couch, they counted themselves: one, two, three, four. There were no poky little children when it was time to read aloud at the Ross house.

In the great tan family room there was a television and a red broom. There were picture books about dog parties, kittens with mittens, a toy house, and Chrysanthemum the mouse. There was a brush (often unused) and bowl full of goldfish.

The kids took their places

With giggles, motions, and kicks,

And with hops and big thumps,

The kids chose their picks.

And I thought,

I love how they come near

To hear these old stories

Whispered softly in their ears.

If my mother could see this,

She would give a great cheer.

“Oh, you are not my mother…You are a Snort!” My thoughts are interrupted by laughter. And later, “Fire, fire!” The big trucks scream from the firehouse. Years go by, as we chant, “Oh, Mother dear, see here, see here, our mittens we have found!” and learn about the “no-no fruit.” What does the owl say? “Whooo. Whooo.”

One year, two years, fun years, short years pass. “Do you like my hat?” is replaced with, “Fifteen men on the Dead Man’s Chest Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!” and Hobbit riddles in the dark with Gollum.

Then suddenly it was quiet. Slowly, dust settled on the picture books on the shelves. The smoke and steam cleared away, and there were four children all grown. Four children, neat and tall; four sets of legs, long and strong. And Mom and her books were left in the house. Hooray! Shouted the people! Hooray! Just look at the children grown! The time she spent reading to them felt like a very short day. Perhaps her girl and boys will have another good idea, “Why don’t we read just like this to our children someday?” So, it was decided, and everybody was happy. Now when you go to the Ross house, be sure to go down in the basement. There they’ll be, Mom and the books, she, sitting in her chair, with her books right beside her to welcome you back.

That’s the kind of house we lived in. And I hope you remember when you leave it.

 

 

 

(Creative license and/or quotes taken from The Poky Little Puppy, Goodnight Moon, Dr. Seuss, Are You My Mother?, Fire! Fire!, Three Little Kittens, My Baby and Me Story Bible, My First Book of Sounds, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, Go Dog. Go! Treasure Island, The Hobbit, Mike Mulligan and His Steamshovel, and There’s a Wocket in my Pocket.)

At the Pulpit

This book from the Church Historian’s Press addresses the dilemma that we face as we try to understand the role of women in Church history.  It allows women speak for themselves, and they trample stereotypes and popular assumptions of who Mormon women are. Their words and their lives are inspiring to me.

I have learned something from each woman in this volume, but these are a few favorite discourses:

The School of Experience by Mattie Horne Tingey, May 19, 1893 (World’s Congress of Representative Women address about motherhood, including doctrine of a Heavenly Mother)

The Religious Crisis of Today by Elsie Talmage Brandley, June 9, 1934 (Dealing with doubts; encouraging questions in the youth; being willing to grow)

My Yoke is Easy and My Burden is Light by Alice C. Smith, Oct 1, 1969 (The most beautiful message about visiting teaching I have ever read.)

Latter-Day Saint Women in Today’s Changing World by Belle S. Spafford, February 11, 1975 (I loved this because I was amazed at her understanding of women’s issues and Church history. She teaches that the Prophet Joseph turned the key for emancipation of all women.)

A Latter-day Saint Theology of Suffering by Francine R Bennion, March 28, 1986 (How we understand the sources and purpose of suffering in this life matters.)

Study Notes

Here are some of my notes from last month’s study of the Book of Mormon. You may have noticed that my scripture projects are always evolving. This last complete reading of the Book of Mormon, I chose to focus on four topics and write down references and quotes related to each. I chose the following topics: faith, prayer, family challenges, and the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Of the four topics, the biggest number of references were about the atonement. I wrote 11 pages of notes about it. The other topics supplied 6 pages of notes each.

Here are a few basic things I gained from this exercise of seeking deeply by topic:

  • The Book of Mormon is what it claims to be: another [powerful] testament of Jesus Christ. There were nearly twice as many references about the atonement compared to the other topics I studied.
  • Abinadi is my new favorite Book of Mormon prophet because his message is so heavily centered on Jesus Christ. I wrote more of his words (and his Messianic quotes from Isaiah) under the topic of “atonement” than any other Book of Mormon prophet.
  • There are no ideal families in the Book of Mormon. What I found in Book of Mormon families was sometimes heartbreaking, but I focused on what parents did in response to the challenges. This was so helpful.
  • A common word used to describe how to pray is “pour”, e.g. we need to pour out our souls in prayer. The meaning of this grows as I ponder this simple word.
  • I saw that acts of faith always brought miracles, and always required incredible courage. Miraculous outcomes do not always manifest themselves as immediate physical protection. I need to embrace this concept.

These ideas seem simple and basic, but that’s how it is with profound things. Truth is simple. It’s deep, but discernable. I am learning to love the Book of Mormon this year more than I have before.

 

2016 Book Reviews

Here are my mini-reviews of the books that I read in 2016.

  1. The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey (I prefer the original Jane Eyre to this retelling, set in the 1950’s and 60’s.)
  2. The Book of Mormon (It’s a winner 😉 )
  3. Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker by Jennifer Chiaverini (Meh.)
  4. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (Couldn’t put it down)
  5. The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and their Epic Quest for Gold in the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown (Well written!)
  6. Jesus Christ and the World of the New Testament by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, Eric D. Huntsman, and Thomas A. Wayment (This was a 5 1/2 month study. I am so slow at this, but this was a good resource book for the New Testament.)
  7. The Wright Brothers by David McCullough (Loved it.)
  8. Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline (Recommended for adult readers. Lots of strong language and an explicit attempted rape. This book explored the life of an elderly immigrant, sharing her story with a troubled teen.)
  9. Somewhere Safe with Someone Good by Jan Karon (I have always loved Father Tim but I miss the old characters who have died.)
  10. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (Worth the length.)
  11. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (I mostly liked this.)
  12. Dressing Your Truth by Carol Tuttle (The author is a salesperson trying to get you to buy her program. Her approach to fashion is an interesting combination of psychology, energy levels, and physical features. I am very much a Type 4.)
  13. Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy (Very typical Thomas Hardy: a flawed heroine and a simple, honorable man; strong imagery, tragedy, but a happy ending. I liked it.)
  14. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande (Everyone should read this. Everyone.)
  15. The Power of Everyday Missionaries by Clayton M. Christensen (Very good.)
  16. The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George (Worldly, not recommended)
  17. Seven Women and the Secret to their Greatness by Eric Metaxas (a second reading; for inspiration)
  18. An Invisible Thread: The True story of an 11-Year-Old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny by Laura Shroff and Alex Tresniowski (Warm and fuzzy but also some tough realities.)
  19. Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson (So British, with some true satire. I loved the main character.)
  20. The Book of Mormon (Just keep reading, just keep reading…)
  21. As Iron Sharpens Iron: Listening to the Various Voices of Scripture edited by Julie M. Smith (I took my time on this one. I truly enjoyed the mental and spiritual exercise. My two favorite dialogues were between Nephi and Joseph, and Luke and Mark.)

Flag Day

1-DSC_13421-DSC_1340 1-DSC_1348 1-DSC_1350Flag Day is the inauguration of summer for me. It reminds me that it is time to put out my red, white, and blue plates on the shelves, and fill my containers with flags and flowers. It is a heavy reminder that June is almost half over. (Don’t waste your summer, Angie!) Richard has been gone quite a bit on Scout camp outs and trips to buy four wheelers, so I updated our living room while he was away.

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Summer reading for me always includes a biography. I can’t believe this has been out for twelve years and no one told me how good it is. I am also working through a book to help me with Isaiah, which isn’t nearly as good. No offense, Isaiah. Sincerely, a modern reader.

1-DSC_1337There are many summer projects. For Family Home Evening on Monday, we read Luke 2:52, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” Each of us made summer goals in the same four areas: wisdom, stature, in favor with God, and in favor with man.

I need these goals. Summer is my least productive time of year. My grandmother says it’s our Scandinavian genes that make it so difficult to do anything when it’s hot. I fight every day to stay active during the summer, even if it just means I am redecorating shelves, hemming new curtains, or taking notes on a book. When the day is over and I have contributed to the house and made some notes from my studies, I can call it a good day.