Big Dog, Little Dog

I never talk about children's books here, although I read a TON because every night I read to Lindsey for 15-30 minutes and we read about 4 or 5 books a night. We've progressed way beyond simple board books, but we come back to this one every once in awhile because they are SO CUTE and FUNNY. I'm talking about the Big Dog, Little Dog series by Dave Pilkey. There are 5 different books in the series:

Big Dog and Little Dog
Big Dog and Little Dog Making a Mistake
Big Dog and Little Dog Going for a Walk
Big Dog and Little Dog Getting in Trouble
Big Dog and Little Dog Wearing Sweaters

There is also The Complete Adventures of Big Dog and Little Dog (all 5 books in one) which is what we have out from the library right now. One of my favorite parts is in the "Getting in Trouble" book, they want to play but have nothing to play with. Then, "Big Dog and Little Dog are playing. They are playing with the couch." They rip it all apart, get in trouble, but then..."Big Dog and Little Dog are sorry. They will be good from now on." The looks on their faces are so cute.

Let me know if you've read these!

P.S. I am LOVING Mudbound!!!!!

Thanks! And Library Visit Review

Thank you all for your kind comments encouraging me to continue blogging! I think I will do that, and just post when I can. I decided to just make some time right now to post (even though I should be doing other things! like getting the girls teeth brushed and their hair combed - well at least they've had breakfast and got dressed! Fyi it's 9:27 a.m. as I type this.)

Anyway......I've been to the library a bunch of times since I posted my list on March 1, but I'll start with the ones I listed then. I'm not going to be able to go back and catch up on books I've checked out since then, but I'm hoping to get my act together and keep current on this from now on (no promises of course LOL). Here are the books I had just checked out at that time:

Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier
Blessed are the Cheesemakers by Sarah-Kate Lynch
Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak
Peony in Love by Lisa See
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Snitch by Rene Gutteridge
Paula Deen: It Ain't All About the Cookin' by Paula Deen with Sherry Suib Cohen
Knitspeak: an A to Z Guide to the Language of Knitting Patterns by Andrea Berman Price

I loved Year of Wonders and The Virgin Blue! YOW is probably the best book I've read so far this year. The Paula Deen book wasn't bad, I enjoyed that one fairly well. All the rest I scrapped after anywhere from 10-50 pages or so. I loved so many of Rene Gutteridge's books, especially the Boo series, and I liked Scoop (the book before Snitch). So I don't know why I didn't care for Snitch.

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I made it through the, I hate to say this, somewhat boring books of the OT in The Message Bible, and am now in Psalms. MUCH better!

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These are the library books I have in my TBR pile right now:

Emil and Karl by Yankev Glatshteyn
Sacred Cows by Karen E. Olson
The Chatham School Affair by Thomas H. Cook
March by Geraldine Brooks
A Vineyard in Tuscany by Ferenc Mate
The Book of Jane by Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt (currently reading)
Gluten-free Girl by Shauna James Ahern (currently reading)

I WILL make time to report back on these books when I'm finished with all of them! :-)

Happy reading!

Broken for You

Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos was loved by Small World and Mommy Brain and Musings of a Bookish Kitty. I liked it in some ways, but overall I didn't care for it that much! I thought it was sort of strange, I didn't quite "get" most of the characters, I couldn't relate to them. When I had just over 100 pages left, I just wanted to finish. I give it a 3.5/5 stars. I like so many of the books the above bloggers recommend, I don't know why I have such a different opinion this time. I guess we can't always agree.

I started a more fluffy book this morning, well fluffier than Broken for You anyway - Catch a Rising Star by Tracey Bateman. I loved her Claire series, so far so good with this one (but I'm only on page 26).

Perfect day for reading today, they are predicting blizzard-like conditions today with up to a foot of snow. Just want I want after a very long winter already. Yeah right. Gotta just hang in there a little while longer! Spring will come eventually.

Have a great day!

1 Kings and Library Visit

So I finally finished 1 Kings. Of course then ahead of me is 2 Kings and 1 & 2 Chronicles. Can't say I'm super excited about this! I know all of the Bible has value and there are parts of these books that are very interesting. But there are other parts, well not so much! But I plod on.

I am really enjoying Split Ends.

I went to the library today and checked out 10 books - 8 fiction and 2 non-fiction. They are:

Broken for You - Kallas
The Giver - Lowry
The Stone Diaries - Shields
Design on a Crime - Aiken
Desperate Pastors Wives - Kolbaba & Scannell
Julia's Chocolates - Lamb
Love Me if You Must - Young (eeek, sounds like a trashy romance novel but it's not, LOL. It's a mystery written by a Christian author)
The Horizontal World - Marquart
Hattie Big Sky - Larson
10-20-30 Minutes to Sew for Your Home - Nancy Zieman

Most of these were recommended on various book blogs and a few of them I saw in CBD's Christian fiction catalog.

If you've read any of these books, tell me what you thought!

I actually made 2 trips into the library, first time I've ever done that. First I loaded up my book bag with books to read to my girls, and a few CDs for Lindsey. I checked those out, took them back to my car, then went back in and loaded my book bag up with books for myself. The same guy checked me out both times. He noticed it was me again the second time, LOL.

I had to laugh, as I was driving there I was thinking of my southern friends, and how the tiniest bit of snow shuts everything down. Here, it was snowing pretty good, and there was just as much traffic as always. It certainly wasn't going to stop me from making a trip to the library by myself! (HEAVEN!!!) When I got to the library I couldn't even find a place to park! It was packed! No, things do not shut down here in Wisconsin unless it's a blizzard. LOL

Happy reading!

Sigh

Back to your regularly scheduled reading....

I'm so disappointed that the Packers lost last night. Sadness in Packerland this morning. Hats off to the Giants though who deserved to win, and I hope they crush the Patriots in the Super Bowl. What a horrible game. They couldn't move the ball and they couldn't stop the Giants. Except for the 90 yard TD by Driver the whole game was miserable. But, life goes on. We didn't expect this season to go the way it did, we had a blast, it was a great ride. Too bad it didn't end better but what can you do.

I'm actually reading 4 different books at the same time right now. I used to do that quite a bit, at least have one fiction and one non-fiction book going. For the last several years though I've only liked to read one book at a time. But here's why I'm reading more than one. First of all I'm reading Every Sunday by Peter Pezzelli which I won from Lynne (thanks again Lynne!). I like it well enough, but I'm not enthralled with it. So I started reading other books along with it. Two of them I didn't keep reading, but then I read The Kite Runner. I loved that one so I wanted to read another great fiction book right away. So I started I Am the Messenger by Zusak (which is pretty good, I can't stand all the swearing though). I had another book in my TBR pile called Queen of the Oddballs that I just felt like starting. I like that one since she's talking about growing up in the 70's as I did (60's and 70's) but there are some things about it I don't like. I'll finish it though. Then a book I had put on hold at the library came in, and it is a short loan so I thought I would start it so I can finish it on time. That one is How Strong Women Pray by Bonnie St. John.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Sorry to bore you with all those details! I have to do something to work off the frustration of that game last night. :-) Or I could just yell......

THE PACKERS LOST!!!
I'M SOOOOOO MAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDD!!!
THEY COULD BE HEADED TO THE SUPER BOWL RIGHT NOW!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!

Okay, I'm better now (not really). Happy reading!

Harry Potter, one more time

I finished the first book last month and although I liked it okay, it didn't really thrill me all that much. (Controversial stuff aside, it wasn't that, I just really didn't care for the book that much.) I decided to at least read one more and decide where to go from there. Well I'm about 1/3 of the way through the second book and I still don't care for it. It just doesn't interest me.

So....one more time.....do you think there is still a chance I will like it eventually, should I keep plugging along for awhile yet? OR, if I don't like it by now, do you think I probably never will?

I know you can't know for sure if I will eventually get into it or not, but, take a guess! :-)

EDIT: Thanks to all who commented for your input on my questions. I think I will indeed bring this book back to the library unfinished. Maybe someday if I'm stranded on a deserted island with nothing but the Harry Potter series, I will read it then. Thanks again!

Hilarious Book!

If you are a knitter, you have to read this book! It's called Knitting Rules! The Yarn Harlot Unravels the Mysteries of Swatching, Stashing, Ribbing & Rolling to Free Your.....(the library put their sticker over the rest of this text!). It's by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, a/k/a The Yarn Harlot.

I've laughed out loud so many times. She has some other books too. One is called At Knit's End, Meditations for Women who Knit Too Much. I read parts of it at Barnes & Noble, very funny too.

I am slowly learning to knit. Still struggling with each stitch at times, other times things feel like it's going smoother. I still have a long way to go. You can visit my knitting blog if you want to see what I've made so far.

Harry Potter....so far

I posted this to the Sonlight forums and thought I'd do the same here.....

I'm almost through the first half of the first Harry Potter book. So far I'm not all that impressed! I was hoping to love this book and feel better about my misgivings about "should a Christian read these books?" If there wasn't such a hubbub (sp?) about these books, if I had never heard of the book and all the hoopla before I started reading it, I probably would have shelved the book by now.

I'm still wondering about all the witches, spells, robes, potions, magic, etc. in the book. I was led to believe this wasn't as big a part of the book as the naysayers think, that the book is more about character development and all those things. But so far I think the book is quite filled with all the "magic" stuff! I'm just not sure about this yet. I will finish the book and decide after that.

Please understand I'm not accusing or anything regarding the controversial aspect of the book. I'm seriously trying to understand how this is acceptable as a Christian. I'm still not sure!

Also, I am one chapter past where they got to the school and were sorted into houses. Will it pick up more from here? If you're a Harry Potter lover, did the book grab you from the beginning or did it take awhile to get "hooked"?

Library

Last weekend I was reading The Secret of Us by Roxanne Henke, got halfway through and just couldn't finish it. I loved her Brewster series (with the exception of Finding Ruth) but this one just didn't grab me. I tried for an entire half of the book! Oh well. After that I tried EIGHT more books and couldn't get into any of them! I am now 5 chapters into Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier (remember I really enjoyed Girl With a Pearl Earring, much to my surprise) and this one is pretty good so far too. But don't be surprised if I don't finish! I just don't know if it's the books, or if it's me, that I can't get into any books. I think it's the books but not sure. Well anyway.........

.......I went to the library last night, took back those 8 books and got a bunch more. These are the books I checked out:

-A Woman's Place by Lynn Austin (for my book club)

-To Love, Honor, and Vacuum by Sheila Wray Gregoire (funny title!)

-Firebird by Kathy Tyers (sci-fi, not usually my thing but it was recommended)

-Spirit and Flesh: life in a Fundamentalist Baptist church by James M. Ault, Jr.(I may use this as my substitute Non-Fiction Five Challenge book for August

-The Frazzled Mother's Guide to Inner Peace by Pat Baker

-The Tree of Red Stars by Tessa Bridal (recommended by BeckyB)

-Death Comes as Epiphany by Sharan Newman

-Confessions of a Slacker Mom by Muffy Mead-Ferro

-Confessions of a Slacker Wife by Muffy Mead-Ferro

-Kids Knit!: simple steps to nifty projects (I am going to learn to knit! I decided to get a kids book to make it easier LOL)

AND....yes I am finally going to see what the craze is all about....as a Christian I wasn't sure how I felt about these books, and they didn't really interest me that much anyway...but after reading various comments about the latest book including thoughts by Mommy Brain....I decided to give it a try (ready whenever you are BookBelle!)....

-Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

I'll post again after I read or don't read all these books and let you know how many I actually read all the way through. One never knows..........LOL

Winterdance

Yesterday I finished Winterdance by Gary Paulsen, my first book for the Non-Fiction Five Challenge. The book was about the author's experience training for and running the Iditarod.

I didn't like it as much as I expected I would. The book never really captured my attention. I never felt like I was inside the author's head. I didn't get a real sense of his relationship with his dogs. I don't have a really good mental picture of what the actual race is like. I don't know how to explain it, the book just didn't interest me all that much. The first half of the book was all about the events leading up to the race - how he got involved with dogs and preparations made for the race. The second half talked about his running the race. I may have liked the book better if more of it was devoted to the race itself.

I did enjoy some parts of the book. But I think I really just wanted to finish it and get back to Winter Wheat! I stopped halfway through that book so I could read Winterdance and write about it before I leave on Thursday. I am really enjoying Winter Wheat! I haven't seen it mentioned on any blogs. I got the recommendation from this site. It's a list of books recommended by author Roxanne Henke (she wrote the Brewster series including the first book, After Anne). I've gotten several great book ideas from her list including The Kindness of Strangers and The Amateur Marriage.

I rate Winterdance 3/5.

I LOVE THE LIBRARY!!!!!!!

I went to the library tonight to return Lindsey's videos which were due and to pick up 2 holds (one for me, one for the girls). Even though I have 5 library books at home already in my TBR pile, I HAD to get more! Once in awhile I just have to return things and don't have time to get any more books and it just kills me to leave the library with nothing. LOL I just love, love, love checking for available books online before I leave home, making a list, then going to the library and browsing the new books besides looking at the ones on my list. My book bag is usually quite heavy when I'm done. I always think to myself how I, once again, got more books that I can possibly read in a month's time (or more). I have a ritual of what I do with the books when I get home, that's for another post. :-)

So besides the books already in my pile, I now also have 6 or 7 more books, including:

The Birth House by Ami McKay

Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler

The Berenstain Bears and the week at grandma's (oops, that one's Lindsey's!)

I also picked up from on hold, Winterdance by Gary Paulsen (my first book for the Non-Fiction Five Challenge). I'll read that one as soon as I finish my current read, Winter Wheat by Mildred Walker (good so far!). I read about 100 pages of Sassy Cinderella that I wrote about in my last post but it never really grabbed me so I quit.

Next week Thursday-Sunday I'm going to North Carolina to visit a friend and attend the state's homeschool conference with her. I can't wait! I'm going alone, never done that before! The book I plan to bring along for the plane is Black Ice by Linda Hall. I love her books! I hope one book is enough. :-)

Happy reading!

Nahhh!

I read a few chapters of Keeping Faith and then decided to scrap it. Not my cup of tea again. I should probably give up on Jodi Picoult. :-)

So now I'm reading Quaker Summer by Lisa Samson. MUCH better! Loving it so far!

What I've Been Up To

I haven't been a very good blogger lately. :-( I started this blog to record what books I'm reading and comment on some of them. I have a few book reviews rolling around in my head but I'm having a hard time writing them down - I'm finding I'm not good at book reviews. I just don't have the way with words like so many of my fellow book bloggers have. I don't know how often I'll do much on this blog except update the lists on my sidebar, but I'll check in when I can.

Someday I really would like to review Rick Warren's Bible Study Methods because it has really helped me and I highly recommend it. Even though I've been a Christian for over 20 years, and I try to read the Bible every day (and don't always do that, sigh), I've really only done sporadic Bible study over the years. In my head I know of different ways to study, but this book has really helped me to get motivated, organized, and more consistent. He gives 12 different ways to study the Bible, from the least complicated method to the most in-depth. I'm going through the methods one by one. I'm still on the first one, LOL. But since the emphasis is on application I'm meditating on what I've learned from one passage for awhile before moving onto the next. I'm doing the passages/chapters/books that he gives as "assignments" at the end of every chapter. I wasn't going to do that, I was just going to study what I wanted, but I decided to use the ones he laid out because I think that will keep me more consistent. I won't spend time waffling back and forth, trying to decide what I want to study, I'll just do the next thing he lists. Some of the things I've been meditating on since starting this are the tongue and how we speak of other people, praising God, and taking refuge in Him. There, I just did a mini-review. :-)

I've been sick all week (still not feeling good today) so I haven't done much this week but read. I read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time in one day (Monday/Tuesday). Then I read a 390 page book, The Kindness of Strangers, in one day (Tuesday/Wednesday). Then I needed a break! The last book, by Katrina Kittle, was excellent, but a very heavy book. It deals with some difficult, disturbing subject matter and I think it will stay with me a long time. I couldn't put the book down (and didn't much of the time!) I did take care of my kids, didn't neglect them so don't worry! It also had quite a bit of swearing in it and other things I don't agree with, so that is also why I needed a break after reading it. I caught up on some magazines and my Sonlight catalog (I got it last Saturday - woo hoo! - and read it cover to cover this week). Thursday evening I had a little energy so I headed to the library because I was out of books! I started The Nazi Officer's Wife that night and finished it last night. So that's 3 different books I read in 24 hours each. I have been on a reading frenzy this year but that takes the cake! Today I'm starting a lighter book, a YA book called Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm. I also started Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes...in you and your kids! by Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller, and Reading with Babies, Toddlers and Twos by Susan Straub. I'm still not feeling too good so I won't be surprised if I finish all three of these books by the end of the weekend! I hope I can get back in the swing of things next week and get some work done around here. I just haven't had the energy all week to do anything but basic housework and childcare. My poor Allison has a cold too and a fever on and off, and chucked up her bottle this morning. :-( Lindsey has a cold also but it's not too bad (so far) and Ben is feeling miserable with a cold too. Jay is feeling so-so. Obviously you don't want to visit my house right now! Have a great weekend!

Another No-Go

I just read through a bunch of reviews of The Shell Seekers on Amazon and they were almost all 5 star, glowing reviews. Hmmmm.....I really didn't give it much of a chance, I'll admit (2 chapters plus the prologue). But, it just wasn't doing a thing for me. Maybe I'm just not in the right mood? If anyone tells me I just HAVE to read more before giving up on it, I'll try it again at a later date. But for now, it's going back to the library and permanently off my TBR list. I'm reading Anne of Green Gables then I'll go on to my new pile of library books. (I read Anne in late junior high, the first 2 books, then the whole series in my early 20's - so this is a re-read for me.)

Now I'm off to watch the football games. GO PACKERS! (oh that's right, they're not playing, sigh) Go Saints! Go Colts!

Crow Lake and My Week of Reading

THANKS Becky! I loved Crow Lake! It's my favorite book read this year (though I've only read 4 so far!)

This quote really has nothing to do with the plot of the book but it stood out to me. "Considering that he's only thirty-four, he's very unfit. He has the kind of lean build that never runs to fat, but thin isn't necessarily healthy."

My sister and I have heard this silly comment many times when we have mentioned needing to exercise more: "YOU don't need to exercise!" They say this because neither one of us is overweight. As if the only reason to exercise is to lose weight. Everyone needs to exercise!

Anyway that is what I thought of when I read that quote. :-)

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I am currently reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. I read this in grade school and I loved it. I read it again to Ben when he was in grade school (homeschool). I've never read the rest of the series so I plan to read them this year. I started the book yesterday and will finish it sometime today.

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I also read Night by Elie Wiesel the other day. I bought it years ago at a used book sale or something and had never read it. I read it in one day. It was, good? It's hard to say a book like that is good, it's sad. It's similar to other books I've read on the Holocaust. Maybe it's good to read one once in awhile to remember.

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So yesterday morning I took my girls to storytime at the library. I didn't get myself any books because I had several library books at home yet waiting to be read, and also have Anne of Green Gables which I own on my TBR pile. I try not to check out more books until my TBR pile is down to one or two books, otherwise I want to read the new ones I just checked out before the ones I already have. But then I quit reading The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult (read a few chapters, turned off by the subject matter) and couldn't get into one other random book I picked off the library shelves and I was halfway through The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe already and that left just The Shell Seekers and Anne. I decided I had to go back to the library. My husband says "You were just there this morning." I told him if my TBR pile gets too low I get the shakes. LOL So I went back and checked out 7 books:

Vanishing Acts - Jodi Picoult
The Secret Life of Becky Miller - Sharon Hinck
A Vow to Cherish - Deborah Raney
Dear Enemy - Jack Cavanaugh
The Art of Mending - Elizabeth Berg
Dancing at the Rascal Fair - Ivan Doig
Something Beyond the Sky - Siri Mitchell

After I finish my current book, I can't decide if I want to read The Shell Seekers or not. It's been on my TBR list forever but now that I finally have it I'm not sure if I want to read it or not. I'm not sure if I'll like it. Guess I should read it and find out! Then do I read Anne of Green Gables, or move on to my pile of library books? Decisions, decisions!

Have a great day!

First book finished in 2007

I finished my first book of 2007 - Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. I really liked the book even though it is so not like what I normally read. It was an interesting book, though I could have done without a few scenes near the end and I totally did NOT like the ending at all. I thought it was very abrupt and I'm confused by the epilogue. I read some of the reviews on Amazon.com and it seems that many others felt the way I did about the ending. All in all I enjoyed it and rate it Very Good.

I'm now reading The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield that I've seen mentioned everywhere in the blogs. I actually never heard of it until recently. I'm only on page 22 but liking it so far.

I'm also reading The Message Bible from start to finish. I started it at the end of November and am just about 10 chapters into Exodus. I've read the Bible through maybe 3 times in my life. I've never read this version before. I have no goals as to when I'll finish it. It's not a Bible for serious Bible study but I'm reading it as an overall flavor of what the Bible has to say. I know some people are against this Bible - I look at is as no different than hearing a preacher or a commentary expound on different Bible passages. People put the Bible into their own words all the time.