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My Summer Reading List
09
June
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I’m not a big fan of summer, but one thing I do like about the season is the chance to be a little lazier and read more.  Since I still don’t have huge amounts of free time, I have to be somewhat selective about my reading list.  The other day I perused my shelves and assembled two stacks of books, one fiction and one non-fiction, that I’d like to try to make some dents in this summer.  Will I read all these books?  Probably not.  Will I read books that are not in this stack?  Probably.  But, regardless, this gives you a pretty good idea of what I’ll be doing with a little of my free time this summer.

Fiction…

Glimpses of Paradise by James Scott Bell

I just picked this one up at Good Will the other day.  It looked like it had an intriguing plot line.  It’s set around WWII, I believe, and I’m a sucker for good historical fiction.  I didn’t even realize this was a Christian author until I got it home and gave it a closer look.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

The last time I read this book was when Bonny Annie was an infant and did nothing but nurse and sleep.  I was bored out of my mind, and I loved this dark, brooding, romantic novel.  But it’s been so long since I’ve read it that I can’t even remember the main characters’ names.  Okay…Catherine and Heathcliff…but still, it’s been a long time, and I’ve been meaning to reread this for a while.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

I guess I’m on a bit of Bronte sister kick.  Again, it’s been so long since I read this, I barely remember the plot line.  And this time I seriously don’t.  I also have a wee confession about this book:  I didn’t actually read it.  I listened to an unabridged audio tape.

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

If I end up not reading one of these books, this one is the most likely.  I have intended to read this one for years.  YEARS.  As a former English teacher, it’s probably some kind of crime (get it?  CRIME?) that I haven’t read this one.  But it looks really nice on my shelf…

Darcy and Elizabeth:  Nights and Days at Pemberley by Linda Berdoll

This is one of the hundred or so Jane Austen knock-offs.  This one supposedly takes up where she left off in Pride and Prejudice.  I’ve purposely avoided these types of books because I feel pretty strongly about Jane Austen, but I read a few pages standing in the store, and thought the voice of this one sounded more authentic than most.  It was in the bargain book section, so I thought, “Oh well…why not?”  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Cane River by Lalita Tademy

This was another Good Will find.  It is an Oprah’s book club pick, and over the years, these have been hit or miss for me.  To be honest, mostly miss.  This one, however, intrigued me in that the author loosely based the plot on her genealogy research of her own family and their Louisiana slave roots.  I read about three chapters last night, and so far, it’s pretty good.

The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

This is another that has been on my “must read” list for too long.  I doubt that I read the entire thing this summer, but I plan to get through a few of the stories at least.  I’m already almost finished with “A Study in Scarlet,” and I’ve enjoyed it a lot.

Non-fiction…

The Journal of Charles Wesley by Charles Wesley…duh

A couple of years ago I read the journals of Jim Elliot and found myself extremely blessed and encouraged by a more personal look at one of the saints.  So, when I found this on our shelves I quickly added it to my stack.

Jane Austen by Peter Leithart

I’m actually almost done with this little biography.  It’s one that I’ve agreed to review for Thomas Nelson publishers here on my blog, so you’ll here more about this one shortly.

The Back Door to Your Teen’s Heart byMelissa Trevathan and Sissy Goff

A friend picked this up for me at conference that I had to miss a couple of years ago.  Seeing as how Bonny Annie is already thirteen, and I sometimes struggle with finding the front door to her heart, I figured it was high time I digested this material.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss

I read this humorous little gem about the importance of proper English and grammar a couple of years ago.  I want to reread it once more before I add it to Bonny Annie’s language arts curriculum for next year.

Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot

I started this last summer, I believe, but for some reason, never finished it.  I think I’m familiar enough with this classic missionary story to just pick up where I left off.

Wild Things by James and Thomas

This one is about raising boys.  Seeing as how I have two now, and they  are still somewhat a mystery to me, I figured this one better go in the stack.

Word Press for Dummies

I read this one last summer, but I didn’t completely “get it.”  I think I probably need to be reading Word Press for BIG Dummies, but that one hasn’t been written yet.

Real Simple:  The Organized Home

I’ve thumbed through this one about a dozen times, but I think I’m going to start going room-by-room and actually apply some of their practical principles.

And that about does it.

What are YOU reading this summer?

Category: Books  Tags: , , , , ,  7 Comments
FBF: Vintage Little Golden Books
21
May
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Welcome to Flashback Friday!

A couple of weeks ago I had the rare opportunity to browse our town’s GoodWill store by myself while Dirty Harry was at TaeKwonDo class and Jack Henry was napping at home with Bonny Annie keeping watch.  I’m so glad because I was feeling particularly insane that day and needed about thirty minutes of alone time, and I found a stack of vintage Little Golden books for $1 each.

I have been on a mission for a number of years to try to find and collect Little Golden books that I remember from my childhood.  Some have been reprinted, and I’ve been able to purchase a few of them new.  I’ve picked up several at yard sales and flea markets.  But this trip to the GoodWill store yielded a “gold” mine in late 70s childhood nostalgia.

Some of my fondest memories are wrapped up within the pages of my Little Golden books.  I remember they used to keep several titles near the check-outs at the grocery stores.  My mom would often buy me one if I was good in the store that day.  It’s a good thing I wasn’t often good in the stores, or I would have a lot more Little Golden books to try to recover now.

This one, a Richard Scarry, was one of my very favorites, and I think I might have screamed when I found it.

It was chockful of fun ideas and illustrations.  Like this page…

Now that I think about it, this page was probably the inspiration for that time in first grade that a friend of mine and I decided to illustrate the tops of our desks with markers.  The next day I had to take in a butter container filled with Comet and clean all the desks during recess.  Ahhhh…the memories!

I think this page probably has had some impact on me as well.  Yo ho!  Yo he!

In my stack of books, delightedly, I found a couple of Eloise Wilkin titles.  *Big sigh*  Eloise Wilkin…I just love her.

(And, no, I don’t mind at all that I can’t get that piece of tape off the cover without damaging the book.  It probably means that a child was playing library and stuck that on there to categorize his books.  As a former library-player, I recognize the handiwork and think it adds to the charm.)

Eloise Wilkin did artwork for many Little Goldens that were popular in the 60s and 70s.  Her pictures are charming and dreamy, depicting rosy-cheeked children and pastoral nature scenes.

I would jump in and live in an Eloise Wilkin painting if I could.

I think it is fun to share a little of my childhood with my own kids.

…to let them get a glimpse of a different, but not-so-distant time…

…a time where everyone had unnaturally ruddy cheeks, where it was okay to ride in a car that is being towed, where police officers tailgated military vehicles, and no one who was driving watched where they were going.

Oh, thank you, Josephine for passing on your Little Goldens to the local GoodWill store!  They have just tickled me “golden” to find them!

Related links:

The official Little Golden book site

The history of Little Golden books

Some history and information  on Eloise Wilkin

 

Category: Books, Flashback Fridays  Tags: , , ,  10 Comments
The Gospel According to LOST, by Chris Seay: A Review
15
February
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To date, 108 “Lost” episodes have aired on ABC, and if you’re like me and have seen all of them, you fairly quickly realize that “Lost” is not your typical science fiction television series.  It is not even your typical stranded-on-an-island story.  “Lost” is really not typical in any way, shape, or form, which probably explains the devotion, constancy and urgency of its fans.  Everyone who watches “Lost” wants to know what is going on with this messed up island.  We all want to know the answers.  Chris Seay, the author of the above mentioned book, is a pastor and one of those fans.

Admittedly, Mr. Seay is hooked on the show.  And like most of the show’s others millions of viewers, he realized this is more than an epic story that we’re all watching unfold.  Mr. Seay recognized the symbols, saw the layers and is making attempts to read the signs by writing his book, The Gospel According to Lost.  Mr. Seay doesn’t have an insider’s scoop on what’s going on.  He’s not a best friend of the producer.  He doesn’t know Matthew Fox personally.  Mr. Seay doesn’t give us any answers, but what he does do is dig a little deeper into the historical and biblical references of the show in order to give the viewers, particularly the Christian viewers, a little more food for thought.  He goes character by character and cleverly breaks down some of clues, analogies and symbols that pop up regularly in the series and gives his take on it from a biblical perspective.

Normally, I don’t go for books like this.  I see them as an opportunist’s way to make a fast buck, preying on society’s interest in popular culture.  I’m also a fan of the show “24,” and I once saw a book on the shelf called Finding God in “24″, or something like that.  While that show has been greatly entertaining, I simply pshawed at this title, because I don’t think you can find a lot of God in “24,” unless, of course, the author was talking about the star Jack Bauer because the writers regularly portray him as god-like.  But “Lost”, as I said before is different….

One simply has to read over the characters’ names to realize the writers had something more than just a compelling story in mind:  John Locke, Jacob, Faraday, Benjamin Linus, Jack Shephard, Juliet, James, etc.  It reads as an eclectic list of historical figures, biblical heroes, literary characters, scientists and philosophers.  Some of the episode titles are: “Man of Science, Man of Faith,” “The Greater Good,” “The 23rd Psalm,” “The Cost of Living,” and “316.”  Obviously, there’s a little more depth here for an author to work with than your common television series.

I, as a “Lost” fan, enjoyed this book.  Mr. Seay explained a few of the obscure references and caused a few light bulb moments for me.  He brought to light a few references that my tired, mommy brain never picked up on, and caused me more than once to want to go re-watch a few of the older seasons that have become a little fuzzy in my memory.  The author does all of this without sounding preachy or overly didactic.  And yet, in the course of the book, the Gospel (according to Jesus this time) is within the pages, so a random fan who might pick up this book and read it, might put it down one step closer to not being lost (spiritually).

One thing that is crucial in the reading of this book, is that you MUST NOT pick it up until you have watched the series through Season 5.  I had only watched through Season 4, and there was no apt warning, and sadly I experienced a few spoilers because of it.  Another weakness in the book, obviously, is the limited audience.  Although “Lost” has a following of millions, I don’t think that anyone who is not a fan would be interested in the book.  As a matter of fact, they’d be…well, um…lost trying to read and make sense of it.  And of those millions of fans, I think only the ones that are Christians, would actually seek out the book.  However, like I said, it might be a good read to pass onto unbelieving friends.  The worst they could do is scoff.

All in all, The Gospel According to LOST, is a well-written, easy read for fans that are interested in peeling back some of the spiritual layers of this popular TV series.

***Thomas Nelson provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.***

Category: Books  Tags: , , ,  5 Comments
The GOOD Toy: Usborne’s “That’s Not My_______ ” Books
25
January
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I know that technically books are not toys, but they are if you are fourteen months old, and these books have demonstrated excellent qualities as both books AND toys in our household.

First of all, I don’t think I’ve ever met an Usborne book that I haven’t liked.  We own TONS of Usborne books thanks to our main school curriculum Sonlight.  They use a lot of their books, especially for science.  So the Usborne reputation preceded the arrival of this line of books to our home.

My sister bought two of the above for Cap’n Jack Henry for his birthday in November and then another one for Christmas, and there is not another book in this house that entertains him more.

Let’s take a look….

The cover is the first page of the story.  Every page then goes through a series of four or five things that are not ours.  In essence we are looking for our thing…whatever it is.  In this case, it’s our pirate, and as you can see, the one on the cover is not ours because his scarf is too rough.  You can then touch the scarf and feel for yourself.  Yep, too rough.  Not our pirate.  (Not to mention that guy is waaaaaay too wimpy looking to be our pirate.)

Page after chunky page we look for our pirate, but there’s always some tactical clue that the pirate is an imposter.  This one has a shiny cutlass, but from the look of his cheek, I’d say it was perhaps too sharp.

And then, finally, on the last page, we find what we are looking for…

Our very own pirate…

We know he’s ours because his beard is so fluffy (and he has a skull and crossbones on his hat…always a sure sign).  *Contented sigh*

As far as quality, they are superior to most board books.  First of all, the textured pieces are very secure.  Your baby or toddler will not be able to rip off the beard or make scratches in the cutlass or whatever.  Secondly, the pages are very thick.  Jack Henry can turn them on his own very easily, and his little razor-teeth can’t, no matter how hard he tries, bite off a chunk.

The other books we own are…

and…

They run about $9 a piece, would entertain up to about a four or five year-old and can be purchased here or here or here.

I am definitely going to be adding to our collection soon.  I can’t wait to find out who our monster is and which snowman belongs to us.  Compelling stuff, indeed!

Category: Books, The GOOD Toy (toy reviews), The Pirate Mom Speaks  Tags: , , ,  5 Comments
History on Your Bookshelves
30
October
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I’ll bet that if you’re a reader like me, then you’ve collected a few….or a thousand….books over the years.  And I’ll also bet that even if you know you’ll never read a certain title again, that it’s hard to get rid of the copy.  And I’ll also bet that several of your volumes have thick layers of dust collecting on the spines.  If that last assumption is not the case, please don’t tell me, okay?

I have collected books for a couple of decades now and have several shelves laden with the contents.  Lately, however, I’ve been perusing them more often looking for things for Bonny Annie to read, and I’ve come up with some long-forgotten treasures.

Currently, we’re in the thick of a two-year study of American history.  Annaleigh’s curriculum is actually designed to be completed in a year, but we’re drawing it out over two in order to keep her and Dirty Harry covering the same subject matter simultaneously.  Bonny Annie reads voraciously though, so I’ve been trying to find extra books to fill in the holes.

Right now she’s in the middle of the series pictured above.  It’s The Keeper of the Ring series by Angela Elwell Hunt. Each book focuses on real and fictional characters that surround one of our country’s first settlements.  I had collected this series when I was a newlywed college student, almost twenty years ago…back before I had three kids and had the time and the metabolism to loll around reading thick books and eating entire bags of peanut M&Ms in one sitting.  When we got to this point in history, I remembered reading and enjoying them years ago and went searching for them.  As it turns out, I had to scrounge a couple of copies up on Amazon.  I guess I loaned a few out and never got them back.

Now, you can say what you like about Christian fiction.  I know, I know.  I’ve read some duds too.  Lots of them.  But there are some really good works out there, and this series….and really anything by Angela Hunt….is one of them.  For this series, don’t let the covers that are illustrated like this scare you….

Or this…

Just ignore and get past the simpering females, with swoony faces, heaving chests, and flowing tresses.  I promise you that these are not Harlequin novels.  You will find no bodice-ripping or sweaty, glistening muscles between these pages.  While there are some romantic elements, they are handled tastefully and surrounded by historical fact and sandwiched within a well-written yarn.

Other good series that I’ve found on my shelves include the following….

And I’m sure there are many, many more.  In fact, if you’ve read some great historical fiction, please leave your suggestions in the comment section.

Also, I’m not limiting my additions to Bonny Annie’s education to just Christian fiction.  Many, many good titles abound in the classics section.  I know she will be reading one of my all-time favorites, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith in about a year, when we to turn-of-the century times.

I know she needs to know the facts of history, and we spend a good bit of time on that too, but in the meantime, it’s okay to let those facts come alive within the pages of a good read.

Category: Bonny Annie, Books, homeschooling  Tags: , ,  6 Comments
Nerds of the Highest Order
15
July
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That’s what we are.  Well, three of us anyway:  Me, Bonny Annie and Dirty Harry.  Big D and Cap’n Jack Henry are still cool.  Oh wait….Big D has a fascination with LED lights and has been known to wear head lamps.  That leaves the Cap’n as the only cool one left in the bunch.  But, really, it’s just a matter of time for him too.

This is what recently brought out our nerdiness in full force…

A cardboard box.  Not only are we nerds, but we’re losers too.

Okay, not really.  The box was filled with these…

New books!  More specifically, part of our new curriculum for the coming school year.  And you can see, we also have a nerdy dog.  Of course, she has a FaceBook page too, so what did you expect?

Every year when we get this box the kids open it and spread its contents all over the floor.  They like to play this game where I read the titles off the packing slip, and they race each other to find the corresponding book.  I know that we just went up a level of nerdiness by that admission.

You can see there that Cap’n Jack is totally unmoved by the books that surround him.  That is because his sole goal in life at the moment is to try to remove the toys which hang from the bar over his bouncy seat.  They haunt his every waking moment, and they must be destroyed.

And the other two?  Total geeks, the both of them.  Harrison is making no attempt to hide his unadulterated enthusiasm.  He’s practically drooling.  The zealot!  Annaleigh, on the otherhand, who is nearly thirteen, is trying to keep her cool.  But I know better.  Inside her heart is going pitter-pat, her palms are sweaty, her eyes are starting to dialate, and her nose is slightly twitching because it just caught a whiff of that new book smell.  Right after I snapped these photos she was off like the Tasmanian devil.

I know this because it was exactly how I was feeling too.

Books:  they are a disease.

Category: Books, My Crew, homeschooling  8 Comments
Crazy Love Winner
23
June
admin

We have a winner!

But first, allow me to thank you all for entering my first “The Pirate Mom Dot Com” contest.  Thanks for posting the contest on your Facebook pages and blogs.  Thanks for all the encouraging comments.  I was pleased and gratified that so many of you wanted a copy of this book.  Some even let me know that they didn’t enter, but went straight to the website and ordered a copy.  I hope that all of you losers out there go and buy your own copies of this worthwhile book.  Wait….that didn’t come out just right….but I think you know what I mean.

Okay, so now onto business….

Many of you were allowed two entries since you posted about the contest elsewhere, so I thought that the folded-paper-in-the-hat-method would work the best.

Now, if you will please tilt your heads to the left, you can watch a brief video of the exciting drawing….

 

Please excuse the sideways video-shooting.  I…ahem…did it on purpose like that for…ahem…visual interest.

Congratulations, Corey!  Please send me your mailing address at kellie@thepiratemom.com , and I’ll send your book out very shortly.

Category: Books, Contests, The Pirate Mom Speaks  Tags: , ,  7 Comments
The Best Book You’re Probably Not Reading (and a Contest)
16
June
admin

I’m only about half-way through this book,  and it is scaring me.  It is haunting me.  It is making me a little bit sick.  It makes me try to forget that I’m reading it.  It makes me uncomfortable.

Nice way to start a book review, eh?

Big D asked me to read this book.  He was reading it, and he wanted to discuss it.  Big D doesn’t do that much reading, but I’ll read just about anything, so I casually picked it up one afternoon and started reading.  Then my heart got stuck in my throat, and I put it down and didn’t read anymore for about a week.  I think I got a little indigestion.  Then I picked it up again, read another chapter and pretty much did the same thing.  That’s sorta been my pattern with this book.  I’m on Chapter 7.

The book is Crazy Love by Francis Chan.  It’s basically about how God loves us and how we should be loving God.  It’s about lukewarm Christianity.  It’s about lazy Christianity.  It’s about…oh…I’m not very good at this.  Here, just read the description on the back of the book…

Whoa, huh? 

My conclusion, so far, is that indeed I am missing it.  I think that’s why I don’t want to read this book but feel compelled to read it anyway.  I think that’s why I have a little bit of acid reflux every time I crack it open.  I think that’s why I suddenly want to unload the dishwasher or bathe the dog or clean out my attic when I think I should be reading it.

I need to read this book.  Deep down I don’t want to be a casual Christian.  I want to live a victorious and meaningful Christian life.  I want to please God.  And this little book has inspired me to do so.  Even if it hurts a little.  Or a lot.

Because misery loves company, I’m giving away a copy of this book.  I wish I had unlimited funds and could give away a whole case, but I don’t.  So we’ll start with one.

If you’d like a stab at the free copy, here’s what you do:  Simply leave a comment on this post indicating that you’d like to enter my contest.  That’s it.  If you’d like for me to enter your name twiceinto the drawing, then you can post about it on your blog or facebook with a link to this post.  Just let me know that you’ve done that in the comment section as well.  One week from today I’ll announce who has won and ship your book.  Easy?  Yes.  The book is a little rough going down, so I tried to make the contest easy as pie.

Good luck!

Category: Books, The Pirate Mom Speaks  Tags: , ,  25 Comments

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