Spring Reading Thing - Done!

I'm ready to get rid of the the Spring Reading Thing button on my sidebar! Since Spring has been over now for about a week and over at Callapidder Days the Mr. Linky is very long because everybody else has already posted- I committed to catching up today! I actually read quite a bit while I was gone - I love to read in the car.

I didn't finish the all the books I had listed. I just couldn't get into Blue Like Jazz. I'm sure this makes me a super-square Christian but I wasn't interested. I haven't given up totally - I still have the book.

I finished Infidel before I left for Branson. It's a 7-day book at the library so I had to get it back before I was gone for 10 days. I really enjoyed this autobiography of a Somali woman who grew up Muslim (all Somalis are Muslim.) I didn't agree with all she grew to believe in her adulthood but the description of her youth is harrowing. The anger and hate she wrote about among her Muslim family, friends and neighbors is just frightening. A good read especially if you're interested in Islam or women's issues.

I sped though Water for Elephants. Great story. Told by 90-year-old (or 93, he can't remember) about the summer of 1931 and his time with the circus. I loved the way the author dealt with old age - she made it real. She made me want to be friends with all the old people. The circus story is intriguing, too. This is during the Great Depression and most of the circus folks were just happy to have a place to sleep and something to eat. Read this one.

Go here for my complete list of what I committed to read (but didn't quite finish.)

I also wanna tell about another book I read on my trip - The Android's Dream. I had seen this listed on my Dsytopian Challenge and when I saw it at the library, I picked it up. I truly loved this book! I kept trying to get Jim to read it. I could see the movie that would come it. It was a sci-fi thriller and I couldn't put it down! The author invented several alien species that went along with in the story and an entire religion that figured prominently in the story. I realize this isn't for everybody - some of you will be put off by the words sci-fi but it was wonderful!

Read On, Ye Joyful Pilgrims

In the interest of plowing though books, I'm finishing some. I did finish The Chili Queen and it wasn't at all what I expected. I knew that the chili queens were in San Antonio around the turn of the century. They were street vendors that sold chili and looked good while doing it. So I kinda expected some story about Texas, Hispanics, and for some reason, I thought it would be funny. It wasn't any of those things. It was set in New Mexico, the characters were Anglo (mostly,) and it wasn't that funny.

It was about thieves, cheats, and prostitutes and one of their cons. I would try another of Sandra Dallas's books but I'll know what I'm getting myself into.

Since finishing it, I've also read Glory in Death by J.D. Robb. I haven't read any of this popular series but I saw it on someone else's blog (of course) and decided to give it a try. It's a murder mystery set in 2058 so it has that futurist thing I love, too. I did enjoy the story but I was a little put off by the s*x scenes. I knew that JD Robb is a pseudonym for Nora Roberts of romance book fame so I wasn't too surprised by all the information, shall we say.

Now I'm on to my next SRT book - Infidel. I have this from the library and it's a 7-day book - so my nose is in it! Sarah asked me if I was feeling pressured to read all my SRT choice - heck, yeah! It's like a deadline at school - June 21st here I come.

Still Reading

Funny thing: The last two books I've read haven't been on my Spring Reading Thing Challenge. Duh. I did have The Road on my Dystopian Challenge but I'm really behind on the SRT Challenge. So I racing to finish some of the books....


I did finish The Twentieth Wife. My mom had recommended this book so I thought I should read it (Because I Said So!) I had already read it. Yep. I re-read it because it didn't end the way I thought it was going to. You know, I flipped over to the end and read the last page - I do that all the time. Jim thought it was humorous that I would re-read the whole thing but I so wanted to finish it!


Pretty good read. I had trouble keeping all the foreign names straight. I was bored with the battle sequences (sorry, Mom) but the love story was pretty good. That's all I've got to say about that.

Traveling Mercies - Review

I finished my first book in the Spring Reading Thing! I'm so happy to check something off my to-do list! I read Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott. I've mentioned before that I've been wanting to read this one - she's very popular. Yall know I love popular. The blurb on the front of the book says "Anne Lamott is walking proof that a person can be both reverent and irreverent in the same lifetime. Sometimes even in the same breath." (San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle) I feel like that so often - how could I not pick this book up? That about sums it up. This book is both - at the same time. It's funny and it made me cry and it made me think.

She's not your "traditional" Christian writer. She may not even be someone that I want my children to emulate but she's real. Real counts for something. The book is filled with essays that chronicle her walk with God and some of the truths she's learning on the way. I loved that she didn't have it all together when she became a Christian. I love it that she didn't have it all together by the end of the book. Isn't that what the Christian life is about? Aren't we all just walking (or crawling) towards the goal? Can't some of us be at different places on the path?

One of the passages I marked:

It's funny: I always imagined when I was a kid that adults has some kind of
inner toolbox, full of shiny tools: the saw of discernment, the hammer of
wisdom, the sandpaper of patience. But then when I grew up I found that
life handed you these rusty bent old tools - friendships, prayer, conscience,
honesty-and said, Do the best you can with these, they will have to do.
And mostly, against all odds, they're enough.

Books, Books, Books

It's Here! We are being encouraged to make a list of our reading for this spring - starting today!

What will it be? Romance, Business, Biography, Classic, Religion...? Have you given it any thought? Have you decided what your family should be reading? That's tougher for me - my hubby never follows my suggestions. He reads his books and I read mine. Kenny has just started the 6th Harry Potter book. He reads it with one of us every night.

I have a extensive list on Amazon that I will probably add to when I see what everyone else is reading but these are some of my favorites.

So on with the list!

Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamont - I expect to finish this soon. I'm actually reading it concurrently with Walk in the Woods (oops!) I'll probably pick up another of hers soon.

The Chili Queen by Sandra Dallas - Not an author I usually read by I saw this on someone else's blog and it sounded funny. I like funny.

The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresa - My mom read this and loved it. Sounds good.

Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller - I've had this on my list for awhile - sounds interesting.

Water for Elephants by Sara Greun - fiction

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali - autobiograpghy of a Somali Muslim

That's all for now. I will try to make it though these by June 21. Go over to Callapidder Days and check out her Mr. Linky to see what every one else has on their list....