Book 32- Work and the Glory book 2 "Like a Fire is Burning" by Gerald N. Lund

I read this even faster than the first book. The Steed family lives in Kirtland Ohio, with the exception of Joshua. He is in Independence Missouri, where the Mormons have been having trouble with the local people. Some historical events that this book covers is Joseph Smith being tarred and feathered, and his son dying as a result; Zion's Camp coming out to Missouri and the miraculous way they were saved from the mob; the printing press being destroyed and the two little girls saving the Doctrine and Covenants; and the bishop being tarred and feathered. 

In the Steed family, Joshua marries a woman when he heard that Lydia married Nathan, but she can't keep a pregnancy. One night she refuses to help him cheat in a game of poker, and he beats her. She runs away and finds an LDS family, and joins the church. Joshua then divorces her, and chases she and their daughter out into the snow. Lydia is finally allowed to return home, and Nathan goes with Zion's Camp at the same time. When he returns Lydia asks him to come to Palmyra. Her parents are still very much against the church, and ask her to live with them again but they cannot talk about the church. When Nathan was with Zion's Camp, he sought out Joshua and was beaten badly by the mob. Melissa marries a non member man, who seems to be patient with the Mormon church initially. But he gets more and more impatient. 

The culminating event is the Kirtland temple dedication. What a time to be alive! That would have been amazing to witness. The one thing that really got me thinking was about Melissa and her non member husband. I know of families who have tension due to the same thing. I wonder how my marriage and our family would have been if we hadn't been a member of the same church. Would we be able to live in harmony?

Book 31- "The Work and the Glory" Book 1- Pillar of Light by Gerald N. Lund

So, shockingly enough I never read these growing up. I remember watching Alyse read them many times over and I just never felt like it. But I wanted to read a book the other night so I picked it up and I LOVE it. I think I liked it this time because I read one of his other books which has a similar feel, but different time period.

The premise is a family of parents and 5 children who moves to Palmyra in the mid 1820's, and hears of Joseph Smith and his First Vision. The different members of the family respond in different ways. The oldest son Joshua and father are skeptical and ridicule anyone who tries to believe. The mother, who was raised religiously, takes a while but believes. The second son, Nathan, and oldest daughter Melissa believe and are baptized. The two youngest children are too young to be baptized at the time. Joshua begins to fall away from his family, in part due to his hardheadedness about the church. He moves out of the house, and continues trying to woo this girl Lydia. At the same time, she meets Nathan and eventually likes him better because he is a kinder person. Meanwhile, Lydia is skeptical of the church and even breaks off her engagement with Nathan when he says he will not renounce his beliefs. He sends her a Book of Mormon, and she reads it.
The book ends with Nathan joining the church for the organization of it on April 6, and coming home to find that Lydia decided to be baptized and even faced being ostracized from her family for it.



I really like the series of books that humanizes important people in history. It is interesting and sad to think of Joseph Smith being a kind man who just wanted to do what he was asked to do by God, because I know he is going to die in the course of the series. It is painful to read about the people surrounding Joseph Smith being so unkind, knowing that he is going to just get more of it for the rest of his life. It makes me think- if I was alive back then, would I be more of a Nathan or a Joshua?  Would I even bother to try to pray about it, or would I just brush it off as a crazy person talking? I don't know. I'd like to say I would be a Nathan and believe. But who knows. The rest of the books will be really great though!

Book 30- "In My Hands" by Irene Gut Opdyke

It was interesting to read this book right after the election. During a time when so many people are afraid for the future of the country, it is good to remember that America is still the greatest country in the world. I don't think it's a coincidence that the Founding Fathers set up the country to be run the way it is. Yes, the government has its moments of corruption. But that is NOTHING compared to what happened in Europe back then. Many of her descriptions made me physically ill, to think of the mass destruction of nearly an entire race of people. Just because of one man and his followers. Thanks to checks and balances, I'm pretty sure that we will never get to that point.

Irene was a nursing student in Poland when the war hit. I had no idea how devastated Poland was until reading this book. Everyone was trying to tear that country apart. She was a prisoner of war, and was held against her will as a nurse in a hospital. When she finally escaped she worked in a restaurant with a German man who sympathized with her wanting to help the Jews that lived nearby. While he never asked her about her plans, he let her use his facilities and money to save the lives of 10 people by hiding them away. She sent even more to the forest near their house, to keep them safe. At one point she was working for a high ranking official in the Army, and when he found out she had to become his mistress in order to keep them safe.

What an amazing woman. I wonder if I would be brave enough to do something similar. I can't even imagine the fear people had to live with at that time. I am so grateful for the time and place I was born in!

Book 25- "Clockwork Princess" by Cassandra Clare

I was sad to finish this trilogy of books. It started out super weird, because I knew nothing about what the Shadowhunters were about. But I got sucked into it, as I figured I would.

So as I called it, Tessa and Will ended up together. I only wish that they had spent a little more time together before the book ended. But I was glad that they were able to realize that they were meant together, because seriously it's been the whole point of these books.
And like I called it, Jem died. BUT, his death was a little more complicated than that. Jem was dying because he didn't have the drug that he needed, and the author's announcing of his death was very anticlimactic. I even mentioned that to Brandon. "After 2 1/2 books just like that, he's gone?" BUT, later on they say that he underwent a transformation to become a Silent Brother, who is an immortal character that helps the Shadowhunters with birth, death, etc. That one took me totally by surprise. He came back to help them in their last battle with the clockwork army and the Magister, and then spoke to Tessa one more time. He asked her to meet him on the Blackfriar's Bridge every year, so they could spend an hour talking. I don't understand how he was able to do that, since the Silent Brothers were supposed to cast aside everything that kept them close to their mortal life.
The amazing thing that happened was when Tessa was able to transform into the angel that possesses her necklace. She was able to destroy the creator of all the robots that way, which destroyed her necklace. But that was the only way that they were able to survive.

The epilogue of the book made things very confusing. It talks about her life with Will, and how he died while she stayed the same, being immortal. And every year she went to meet up with Jem the Silent Brother, and they were able to talk for an hour. And then over a hundred years later (because being a Silent Brother means you are immortal), she goes to meet up with him. And when he shows up, he is normal Jem again. Not the one she had met up with. Over that last year, he had found out how to break free of his addiction and to become a normal Shadowhunter again. He went to Tessa and asked if they could have a normal life together. She agreed, and that's how it ended. Ok, how did he do it? And his first thought was to see the girl he was supposed to forget about over a hundred years ago? And is he going to grow old and die now too? What about Tessa?
I wish she would have written another book about Tessa and Will's life after they got together, instead of just the epilogue. That would have made the series complete. But I really liked it!

Book 24- "Clockwork Prince" by Cassandra Clare

I loved most of this book, because it explained so many of the unanswered questions in the first book.
Will and Jem are such good friends (which is a mystery because nobody else seems to like Will) because they took part in a ceremony to become "parabatai" with each other, which essentially means blood brothers. They are bound together to always have each others' backs, and to sacrifice themselves for the other person if necessary.
Will is an unpleasant and rude person because of his history. His parents left the Nephilim to lead a normal life. But the Institute can come every 6 years to offer the children of this family the chance to become a Shadowhunter. When Will was 12, he opened a box that contained a demon. The demon cursed him that anyone who loved him would die, and that night his older sister died. So he left his family and went to the Institute and refused to see them, in order to protect them. When he fell in love with Tessa (which I KNEW he did, even though he was so rude to her), he went to a werewolf named Magnus in order to try and find this demon to remove the curse.
There is a family called the Lightwoods who want control of the Institute, and challenge Charlotte for it. They remind me of the Malfoys (crossing universes here), because they are very prideful of their bloodline. They also complain that the Institute is not guarded well enough, and offer their two sons Gideon and Gabriel to train Tessa and Sophie. Gabriel is very much like his dad, but Gideon doesn't seem to approve of his family's ways. Eventually Gideon and Sophie begin seeing each other, and he tells her that his dad is actually in cahoots with the Magister.
In the meantime, they are hunting down the Magister, which leads them to his childhood home in Yorkshire. When they are approaching the house, they see Will's younger sister Cecily. Through the Law he isn't allowed to talk to them, but he tries to chase her down anyway. Then they discover a robot is watching them, and they chase it down and destroy it. They also discover that Jessamine is a (somewhat unwitting) spy for the Magister, and Tessa's brother is killed in the struggle when they blow a robot up. Will almost dies in the process while protecting Tessa.
The one character in the book I can't understand right now is Tessa. There's like 5 days in a row where she kisses Will, then Jem, then Will, then Jem, then Will, then gets engaged to Jem when they think the Institute is closing. Then she has to break Will's heart. She says she loves Jem but I just know that he is going to die by the end.

Book 23- "Clockwork Angel" by Cassandra Clare

I found out about this book series because this author wrote a book series called "the Mortal Instruments", and this is the first of a trilogy of books that comes BEFORE that chronologically. So I decided to check it out. There will be 18 books total when she is done, which I am excited for because I LOVED this first one!

So Tessa Gray is a girl who lives in New York, and receives a letter from her brother in London saying he wants her to come live with him. She comes and is kidnapped by some women who seem to be connected to her brother somehow. She is taught that she has this magical power to "Change", or turn into another person when holding something that is connected to that person. She wants to escape but they said her brother will die, so she continues to do their bidding. Then she is rescued by this handsome boy named Will who has the MOST blue eyes (because you only hear about it 8,000,000 times in that book alone) and is really handsome. She finds out that the women she was with were actually warlocks, or the spawn of a human and a demon. Will is a Shadowhunter, or a Nephilim, which is a race of superhumans who are sent to protect the humans (or "mundanes") from the half breeds in the world (werewolves, warlocks, fairies, etc.).

And so Tessa's journey begins. She learns that the Shadowhunters train at a place called the Institute, where she meets Charlotte who runs the Institute with her husband Henry, the beautiful girl Jessamine, Will's "best friend" named Jem, and the various servants. 

Will, despite his first heroic appearance, is an anomaly. He is rude to everyone, and takes nothing seriously, and looks like he has something to hide. Tessa likes him throughout the book, but can't figure him out. Every time he acts nicely to her, he then finds a way to ruin the moment so perfectly that she can't actually develop feelings for him. He claims he goes out all night drinking and doing other things like that, but Tessa can tell he is never actually drunk. So she isn't sure what exactly he is trying to hide.

Jem is a boy who you discover is half Chinese (which makes sense when you see the next cover), and who has a secret of being addicted to a drug that is made by the demons. He was forced onto it when he was young and will die because he is on it, but will die without it. He is the only one who can stand Will regularly, and he is the perfect gentleman. He OBVIOUSLY likes Tessa, she is just not smart enough to see it apparently. The thing about him that is unique is that his eyes and hair are silver, and his skin is so white it's almost translucent. This is a result of the drugs.

Jessamine is beautiful and vain, and talks about how much she hates the Institute and wants to leave as soon as she turns 18. (Man, that used to seem so old!) She wants nothing more than to live a perfectly "mundane" life without all this witchcraft in it.

Charlotte is only 23, but basically runs the Institute single handedly. She loves all the people there, and even seems to tolerate Will at times. Her husband Henry is an inventor whose head is in the clouds and doesn't seem to be able to focus on the task at hand.

The servant that they focus on the most is Sophie. She is a beautiful girl who has a long scar across her face as the result of her last employers. She is loyal to the Institute and everyone there (except Will, who she hates).
Shadowhunters are able to enhance their abilities by drawing runes on themselves, which can do anything from give more energy to persuasion to directions. They are at war with a man who is only known as "the Magister", that apparently wants Tessa to marry him. He is working on an army of automatons (which I'm assuming are just primitive robots), to be able to overthrow all the Shadowhunters. Tessa changes into a female vampire named Camille (woo woo!) to see if he is at a party Camille was invited to. There she finds her brother and rescues him and brings him back to the Institute. And THIS is where it gets good.

So I won't spoil the whole plot, but there were some twists that I did not see coming. At the end Will is so rude to Tessa that she hates him again, but he goes to a werewolf for help with a mysterious problem.

The only thing I don't like about this book is how many stinking times the author must mention the color of Will's eyes. Yes, now they're the color of the ocean. Now they're the color of the night sky. Yes, now you could swim in them. They are BLUE.

Book 22- "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Another classic down.

I read this book on a free eBook app while I was flying across the country... then I was very sad to find out that it was the very abridged version. I thought it seemed short... but so I skimmed the real version. It was the same as the free eBook version, just with more detail.

Mary Lennox is a British girl who grew up in India to parents who didn't really want her around. She became very spoiled, because the servants didn't want her to upset her parents. Then they all died within a day of cholera, leaving her there alone. She was sent to a few houses, then to Mr. Archibald Craven's in England. He was a miserable old man who had an enormous house that she couldn't explore, and some gardens out back. She slowly began to open up to her new world, and be less unkind to everyone. She made friends with her maid Martha, the gardener Ben, and a little robin. There was a garden that belonged to Mr. Craven's wife, but when she died 10 years before he locked it up and buried the key. Nobody would talk about the garden to her. One day she happened to find the key, and then the door to the garden. She begins tending to it without telling anyone. She finds out that Mr. Craven has a son named Colin who was born about the time his wife died, and he thinks that he is going to die as a hunchback like his father. She befriends him by telling him how spoiled she is (ironic...) and ultimately she and her friend Dickon (Martha's brother) take Colin outside to the garden. When he finds out he is NOT going to die, Colin decides to embrace life and start learning to walk again. Ultimately he surprises his father by walking to him out of the garden.

That is a VERY brief version of the story. It is a sweet and simple story about a girl who learns to grow and mature through some hardships. She never knew how spoiled she was and how hard her life was until she didn't have it anymore, and then she decided to own up to it.

It was kind of hard to keep interested in, which doesn't bode well that I have "A Little Princess" by the same author reserved. However, it was a nice blast from the past since I used to watch the movie a lot as a kid.

Book 21- "Fishers of Men" by Gerald N. Lund

When I was younger, I used to read the "Tennis Shoes among the Nephites" book series. It's a series of like 10 or 11 books about some kids who found a wormhole into Book of Mormon times and went back and forth a few times throughout the years, then their kids found ANOTHER wormhole into Roman times in Jerusalem... and I lost track after that. They had a Roman soldier come back to modern times with them, and the son of Jacob the king of Jacobugath (that really wicked city in the Book of Mormon) come back with them. Anyway, it was a fascinating thing to read when I was in middle school and maybe even high school.
This book reminded me of that for some reason. While nobody time travels, it is a look into the lives of people who were living during Christ's time. It is the story of 3 groups of people- Miriam the daughter of a Sadducee, David and his Zealot family, and Marcus and Sextus the Romans. They all intersect at one point or another, but they have one thing in common- they have all heard of Jesus. Miriam and her servant saw Him when He was cleansing the temple, David's family knew Peter and Andrew and heard of Him that way, and the Romans heard of Him through Miriam. Throughout the book, the Zealot family was convinced of Jesus' power, and so was Miriam, but her father forbade her from seeing Him again.
Through the book all the groups become intertwined within a military attack that was orchestrated by Mordechai (Miriam's father). She ultimately saves the Zealot's lives by betraying the Romans, but at the cost of a few of them.
There was SO much in this book that I hardly began to scratch the surface. Especially with how they intersect. The Zealot family is almost brought into captivity by Marcus the Roman, then their son Simeon is almost killed by Sextus, then Miriam and Mordechai are saved by Simeon and his friends, then Marcus begins spending time with Marcus in the city, etc. etc. While that is very interesting, the best part is reading about the miracles of Jesus as if they are really happening now. At first I thought it was a little bit sacrilegious to be talking about Jesus like that. Him engaging in small talk and discussing things other than deep doctrine, However, He was a man. He had friends and He laughed with them I'm sure. He didn't just have to spend time ministering, So once I realized that, I really enjoyed this book. It ended a little after the miracle of the five loaves and 2 fishes, so I am anxious to see what happens next.

Book 20- "Rilla of Ingleside" by L.M. Montgomery

I finally pulled out of my Rhett Gone with the Wind funk long enough to read another book before I go out of town. I was a little apprehensive since I did not appreciate the previous book as much and I was worried that this one would be similar. But this one was much, much better.

When Rainbow Valley ended the author made a reference to WW1. I didn't think much of it, because life on Prince Edward Island seemed so remote and not close to the real world at all that it didn't seem likely that something real world would affect it.

It was ironic to read this book right after GWTW because Rilla initially reminded me a lot of Scarlett (ugh). She was beautiful and liked having boys fawn over her, and wanted to just have a good time and have her way. She was just 14 when World War 1 broke out. Her brothers enlisted throughout the war (Jem initially, Walter later, and Shirley towards the end of the war), Nan and Di went to be nurses at training camp, and Rilla stayed at home to help the cause from there. The biggest thing that happened was when she was going around the town trying to collect donations. She found a house where the dad was English and had sailed straight to England to fight, leaving the mom home alone when she was about to have a baby. Well, when Rilla showed up the mom had just barely died from a broken heart and left the 2 week old baby. There was a woman there who was watching over them, but not very well and Rilla knew the baby wouldn't make it without some extra help. So she carried him home (in a soup tureen) and raised him herself. She helped to plan a war-wedding (without the father of the bride's permission), began a "Junior Red Cross" movement in their town, and raised many funds for the war. She had a boy who wanted her to wait for him until the end of the war, and she did but was never quite sure what that meant. Sadly, her brother Walter was killed in one of the battles, and that was a devastating blow. Then her brother Jem was reported missing, and her 2 friends Jerry and Carl were both injured. So even when those boys who survived came home, it was obviously never going to be the same.

So as I said initially Rilla reminded me of Scarlett. However, throughout the course of the book she grew in the right way. The war took away her youth similarly to how the Civil War took away Scarlett's youth, but Rilla was a little less dramatic and more realistic about it. She did not pine after Ken (the boy). She didn't allow her losses to make her unkind or hardened. Even when she had to give Jims (the war baby she took) back to his father, she just allowed him to go because she knew she could see him again.

Overall, one of my favorite books of the series! I stayed up too later last night to finish it.

SERIES AS A WHOLE:

Well, I had never read one of those books until August. And I have to say, I am so glad I did. I don't know how much more I will like the movies, but I will give them another shot (without Brandon, of course). I like Anne more and more as she grows up, because she still has her imagination and love of life but she is also much more realistic. And while I wish there were more books told from her perspective I did like seeing how her children were growing up. I am sad about Walter though, he was my favorite boy.

Book 19- "Gone with the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell

So this was classic number 9, and a part of the Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge! "A book that intimidates you". And really. any book that is 1,000 pages of small print is intimidating. But I got through it pretty quickly! I can tell when I really like a book because when I am done I feel kind of mopey. Like I don't want to start another book right away.
So, just to warn. I didn't know much of the plot when I started the book, so I don't want to give spoilers away. So if you don't know what happens stop reading!

I don't know how to attack the whole book, so I will just write based on the main points and characters.
Scarlett. That was a name I really liked for a girl. But after reading this, I'm glad we didn't pick it (it is still a really cute name, don't worry!) because she is so annoying! Through the whole book you wonder when she will get her act together and stop thinking only of herself and dumb Ashley (more on him later). She was a spoiled little girl at the beginning of the book, who couldn't shake her "love" to Ashley just because he was marrying someone else. She managed to alienate herself from everyone who loved and cared about her, and didn't seem to care about it until the last 10 pages of the book or so. But by then it was way too late. The only girl who would defend her died thinking they were friends (when she was just using her because she was Ashley's wife) and Scarlett realized that she did really care about her. Similarly, Rhett was patient and pursued her for years, only to get his heart broken again and again. She didn't care about her children, because they were just nuisances. She only treated people well when she wanted to manipulate them, and it never failed which just fueled her selfish desires.
She did go through a lot in the course of the book. 3 marriages (2 of which were for the wrong reasons), the Civil War, Reconstruction, nearly starving to death, General Sherman's "March to the Sea", keeping her family's plantation alive, and she did learn a lot. But she never lost her selfish stubborn streak where she only looked for what she could get, and ultimately that ruined her.
Rhett. I liked Rhett. He was the only man in the book who didn't care about propriety, and treated people the way they deserved to be treated. He was Scarlett's equal, and as he said in the end "they were meant for each other". He loved her so much, and followed her around for 12 years before leaving her in the end. He was an alluring character, because you knew there was always something under the surface. While he wasn't seen as a "gentleman" because of his bad conduct, he was the man that I could relate to the most. And while he was generally a selfish man and in it for himself he also was very generous with his money. He sponsored people in many ways, and when Scarlett's second husband and Ashley was in trouble with the Klan he stretched his neck to save them and many of the other people in the town.
It was so sad at the end of the book when his spirit was broken. He had hoped that his marriage to Scarlett would improve, but after her miscarriage and the death of their child he realized that it would never happen. He loved his daughter, and her death just about did him in. He ultimately just gave up, and his love for her died. And, when Scarlett asked what she would do with him gone he said his most famous line, "My dear, I don't..." you know how it ends.
These two had something great! Dang it, Scarlett. You're the worst.
Ashley. He is such a ninny. He wouldn't even be that big of a character, if Scarlett hadn't been so obsessed with him. He was ultimately saved by Rhett, even though he knew that would continue Scarlett's obsession. He doesn't even seem like that great of a guy. He is so philosophical and flighty that he should have never lasted in the post-war era. He wouldn't have, if it weren't for Scarlett. But his spirit was broken and he was resigned to the fact that his way of life was dead.
Melanie. She is the unsung hero of "Gone with the Wind". The entire book Scarlett treats her with contempt, and only puts up with her because she wants to stay close to Ashley. But she sees the good in everyone and everything, which makes her so great. She is the epitome of what a Southern lady should be, which is why she was so popular in the end and Scarlett was an outcast. She was frail and having her first baby almost killed her (it doesn't help that it was right when Sherman and his troops came and leveled the city), and having a miscarriage actually did kill her. But she was willing to stand and fight for the people she loved as long as she physically could.
The social culture. When I'm asked "what time period would you want to live in, if you had to choose?" I used to always say antebellum times. The clothes seem so exciting, and life was good in the South then. But I've realized it was only good for the rich white men. The first bit is Scarlett having to conform to the lady's proper "place" in a barbecue, where she couldn't eat. That is NOT something I want to be a part of! And the woman couldn't speak her mind. Women weren't supposed to learn math. They couldn't work in a business, unless they were "white trash" and couldn't be supported by their husband. Marriage was often done for convenience, and never for love. They were supposed to sit there and look pretty, and swoon and faint if something indelicate was discussed. And pregnancy was something to be ashamed of. When you were pregnant, you barely told anyone, and you hid it from the public. I can't imagine having to live like that! I would feel more like Scarlett than the rest of the women. Even after the Civil War was over, they tried so hard to keep their traditions alive that they fought the new trends.
Growing up we learned about the Civil War, but I don't feel like they described the destruction to the South enough to give it justice. Even in the best of circles, Georgia got destroyed. The wealthiest had to keep their dresses and mend them, and many people starved to death because they didn't know how to work. Or they were run out of town. One of the most intense scenes (which starts about 300 pages of intensity) was when Melanie had her baby just as the Yankee soldiers were coming to Atlanta. She was nearly dead from the struggle, and her baby just a few hours old when they had to leave town. Scarlett had to find Rhett to ask him to help them escape. Fortunately Rhett wasn't too much of a gentleman, because he had his horse stolen by the army. But he stole a horse and carriage back to help them get to Scarlett's home. They barely survived the 25 mile drive, and found that almost everyone's plantation was burned to the ground and leveled. Fortunately Tara was not, but it had been used as a Yankee headquarter. Now, when I heard about the Civil War, I don't remember hearing about this. I know that the war was the ultimate downfall of the south, and that it never really recovered to its full glory. But once the war was over it was not just over. There were thousands of people who lost loved ones and friends, and their homes and way of life. They needed to find a way to rebuild, and to do that without the slaves that they no longer had proved to be a great challenge. Essentially the only people who came out ok were people who got their money through illicit activities, like Rhett.
The racial tension. It made me so uncomfortable to read the racial slurs that many times. My 21st century ears (eyes) aren't used to that. And it was interesting to see the different side of what happened after the Emancipation Proclamation. Usually you just hear that the slaves were freed and it was great! AND IT WAS, just so nobody misreads me. I think slavery is completely morally wrong. For many of these people it was a better way of life than with a brutal slave owner. But it must have been difficult to be turned out of the style of life that you were used to, from zero freedom to total freedom. And many people did take advantage of that, which did not ease any tension between them and the white people in the south.


I seriously loved this book. I am just SO frustrated with how it ended. She should have ended up with Rhett. She realized it, but far too little too late. I would like to think that after this book ended, Scarlett did grow up a little bit and Rhett came back. Because 1,024 pages is way too many pages to invest in a relationship without something lasting coming out of it.

Book 18- "The Revenant" by Michael Punke

This was another book I had to finish before I go out to California, because I can't renew it again. It was a pretty quick read!

Like everyone else, I heard about this book after the movie came out, which is now famous for winning Leo DiCaprio his first Oscar. The movie is rated R, but it is based on a bear mauling so I decided to tread carefully. But besides the bloody description (and I'm sure horrific portrayal on the screen) of Leo's attack, it was a very clean book.

This is based on the legend of Hugh Glass, who a fur trapper that was attacked by a bear and left to die. His wounds were partially stitched up and taken care of, but he was essentially scalped and had his throat torn open so it didn't look good. He was robbed by the two men who were left behind to help bury him when he died, and he recovered by the sheer willpower and the desire for revenge. He crawled across hundreds of miles until he was strong enough to walk, and survived 2 attacks by the Native Americans. He somehow managed to catch up with his original fur trapping crew, but the man who was behind his being robbed had already deserted the crew. So he set off for them. Somehow Hugh outlasted 2 whole crews of men that went with him on different missions.

While this is obviously very much fictional, it is amazing to think that this was based on a real man who actually did survive a bear attack. He had no knife, no gun, nothing and he still made it. I won't say if he caught up with the man who robbed him (because that's his whole mission so you need to read it all!), but it is a thriller for sure.

Book 17- "Brooklyn" by Colm Toibin

So, I am working on "Gone with the Wind" (which is quite the undertaking) but I had this checked out and I saw that someone else wants it so I had to finish it before it was due. It is a book that a recent movie was based on, that was nominated for a few awards.

Eilis Lacey is a girl from Ireland. She lives with her mother and her sister Rose, and has been struggling to find work. Her dad has passed away, and her three brothers all moved to England to work. Eilis has struggled to find a job, and finally gets one that is far beneath her skill set. A priest comes and talks to her, saying he is from Brooklyn and that she should move there to have a better life. Her family helps her decide that she needs to go, and she sails across the ocean. She lives with a landlady and five other tenants, but struggles to find friends. She has a job, and enrolls in night classes to work on her bookkeeping so that she can become an accountant. She meets and falls in love with an Italian boy named Tony, and they were almost ready to get married when she finds out her sister died suddenly. She decides that she needs to go home to see her mother, and Tony says that he wants to marry her before she leaves so that she will come back. (First of all, kind of manipulative, right?) Then she goes back to Ireland and gets set up with a guy. As her time in Ireland runs short HE wants to marry her, so she is caught in a quandary. Does she go back to Brooklyn with her Italian husband, or does she stay with this other man that she has been spending time with?

So, I liked about 3/4 of this book. Until she cheated on her husband. I was already wondering what she was going to decide with going to Brooklyn or not, but it left a bad taste in my mouth that she was so spineless that she couldn't tell someone that she didn't even know that she had a boyfriend back in America, let alone that she was married. It would have been so easy.

So overall, a decent book. Besides that.

Book 16- "Rainbow Valley" by L.M. Montgomery

Out of the whole series, this has been my least favorite book. It just didn't have the same appeal of the rest of them, because Anne was barely in it. I had really grown fond of her, and as funny as her kids are (and they aren't even the main characters), it isn't the same. However, the book focuses on the Blythe children's friends. They are the children of the local pastor, who is a widower. They get into all sorts of hijinks (shockingly enough), and scandalize the town. It is funny to think of what wasconsidered "scandalous" back then, like chewing gum in public. Now we have people taking naked pictures and nobody bats an eye. But in the process of the story, their dad realizes that he needs to find another wife so his children can be raised properly, and their house be taken care of. How romantic!

Book 15- "Quidditch Through the Ages" by Kennilworthy Whisp

This is another silly Harry Potter book, that is referenced quite a bit through the series. It has absolutely no purpose besides explaining the history of the game Quidditch. But still amusing, and worth the 100 pages.

Book 14- "11/22/63" by Stephen King

I don't know too much about Stephen King besides the fact that his books make really scary movies. I've seen "the Shining" (on TV, of course) when we were staying about a mile from the Stanley Hotel and it was CREEPY. Not to mention we toured the hotel the next day. But other than that, I've only read one of his books. And I don't plan on reading a whole lot more!

 But when I saw the preview for this being turned into a show on Hulu I thought I'd check it out. And King is the master of creating dread. He didn't even write anything too horrific, but I found myself being very jumpy reading it at night. It's the best kind of scared (when your husband is home).

Anyway, the story is about a high school English teacher in 2011 who also teaches GED classes. He reads one of his student's essays about how his father murdered his whole family with a sledgehammer and left him with a limp and brain damage, and he starts thinking about how life can change on a dime. At the same time, one of his friends, Al, turns up extremely sick within a day and tells Jake (main character) about a secret he has. Turns out the back of his diner is a portal to 11:58 AM on September 19, 1958. Every time. And when you come back only 2 minutes have passed in 2011, no matter how long you have been here. Jake realizes he can save his student's family from being killed, as Al says he wants him to live in 1958 and save Kennedy from assassination. Al believes this will stop RFK's assassination, which will prevent Martin Luther King's assassination, which will prevent the Vietnam War. The trick is that if he was successful, he could come back to 2011 but if he ever returned BACK to 1958 then he will reset what he has done. Al then dies from his lung cancer (that he developed in 1958-1963), and Jake decides to finish his mission. He takes on a new identity and Al's 1958 money and heads out. He moves to Derry Maine, then to Florida, then to New Orleans, then to Jodie Texas (outside of Dallas). He finds a community there that he can get involved in, and even falls in love. Meanwhile he is following Oswald using Al's notes, and winning money based on bets from sporting events (since he can't work too much without real credentials). At the same time, he is learning that perhaps each trip down the "rabbit hole" to 1958 isn't a TOTAL reset. He would see eerie coincidences between the towns he stayed in and the past and present, which will send chills up your spine.

The concept of the story circles around the "butterfly effect", where if a butterfly flaps its wings on one side of the world a hurricane happens on the other. You just don't know what reactions your actions will have. I won't say if he is successful in preventing Kennedy's assassination (because that's a huge suspense point in the book), but I will say that he learns about the consequences his actions take.

Book 13- "Call of the Wild" by Jack London

Yep, another one today. When the book is 82 pages long (and I had just read the first half over Christmas break so I could skim that), you can read it really quickly! This is my seventh classic for the year, and it fulfills a Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge requirement- "A book that was previously banned". I had already had this book planned for this year, and when I was going down a list of banned classics I was amazed that basically all books on the list of classics have been protested or banned at some point. As a funny note, Fahrenheit 451 was censored at my rival middle school. So go Venado, for censoring a book about book censorship. 

Anyway, this book is DARK. It was censored because of its bloody and graphic nature. It is the story of a dog that was taken from his master's home in Santa Clarita California to satisfy a gardener's debt (even though it wasn't his dog to bet) and sent to Alaska to be a sled dog for the gold rush. He was beaten into submission and thrown into the dog-eat-dog world of sledding. If you showed a sign of weakness then you would be killed. So Buck became the most aggressive dog and became the alpha dog by killing his competition. He is eventually sold to a man named John Thornton, who was the first man out there to show him compassion. He becomes fiercely loyal to his owner, while battling the wild inside him. He will leave the camp from time to time to run with wolves or hunt, but he always returns. Once he spent 4 days hunting a moose, finally killing it. When he came back, he saw that the Yeehat tribe had come and killed all the men and their dogs, including his beloved owner John. He savagely kills the rest of the hunters from the tribe, and begins hunting with a pack of wolves. From then on he is known as an Evil Spirit among the Yeehat.
This book can easily be applied to men. There are the men who want to do their time and survive, and there are those who want to thrive and dominate. And you need people who are strong like that around you. Because when times get tough, as they were for Buck, you need those who can lead the pack.

Book 12- "Anne of Ingleside" by L.M. Montgomery

Classic #6!

This is the sixth book of the "Anne of Green Gables" series. It is written in a different style from how the other books are, in that 1) it is not written entirely from Anne's point of view and 2) it is a series of short stories told from each child's point of view.

At the end of the last book, Anne had just had her second child, Jem. He is the first one to live though, so he's the oldest in this book. At the beginning of this book, she's had 4 more children! Twin girls and 2 other boys. And, she shortly afterwards has another girl. I will say that it's really interesting how they don't even discuss pregnancy in this story. The author merely hints around it, and doesn't let Anne or Gilbert even tell the other children. I know that pregnancy wasn't celebrated as much back then, but it is interesting to "see".

Anne has some imaginative children (shocker, right?). I could see myself in Nan, one of her twin girls. She would always be caught up in a fantasy of her own, wandering through their yards pretending that she is someone else. I did that for YEARS, even in middle school when I would wonder what it would be like to be at Hogwarts. One time she got herself so worked up over a neighbor she had never even met that she was terrified when she actually had to go visit them. And the neighbor just turned out to be a nice old widow.

Overall, the children are normal kids learning about life at that time, even if they are a little bit spirited.

I felt like I related to Anne the most in this book, out of all of them. At the beginning of the book, Gilbert's Aunt Mary Maria came to visit for 2 weeks and ended up staying for months. She was overly critical, rude, and a martyr any time anyone would disagree. Towards the end of the visit, she was driving everyone crazy, even her nephew. But he was too loyal to turn her away, and it caused a little bit of a rift between him and Anne. Ultimately she got offended when people found out how old she was (through a huge surprise party that Anne threw) and left, but it was well overdue. I can't see someone in either of our families overstaying their welcome like that because they're more sensitive to our needs than that, but I could see Brandon not wanting to turn his own family out even if they were here too long.

At the end of the book, Anne was worried that Gilbert didn't love her anymore. He had barely noticed her, and wanted to go to dinner to see his old flame the night of their wedding anniversary. Not like I was worried about that, but it was nice to see that she was wrong and that he was just worried sick about a patient, and just overworked in general.

Book 11, "Anne's House of Dreams" by L.M. Montgomery

I am trying to power through as many books as I can this week, since I start my online Master's degree next week! That will seriously limit my reading time.
This is classic #5 for the year!

This is the 5th book in the Anne of Green Gables series, and while I enjoyed it  I think it was the saddest of the books so far.

It starts out very pleasantly, with Anne and Gilbert FINALLY getting married and moving across the island so that Gilbert could start his medical practice. They live in a little house with a few neighbors, that Anne automatically befriends (of course). However, there are a lot of struggles between the Blythes and their neighbors. Not that there was any animosity, but every character had their dark past. And it seemed like Anne and Gilbert had avoided many of those tragedies, until their first child died shortly after being born. That just ripped my heart right out. Just this week some people whom we love dearly lost their baby when he was born too early, and so this was especially tender for me. Then they had to deal with having to bury her (which in and of itself is a horrifying thought for a parent). Then the man that they became good friends with passed away right at the end of the book. However, he was over 75 years old and missed his sweetheart who was lost at sea over 50 years ago, so he was happy to go.
Thankfully, for my heart's sake, Anne and Gilbert had another baby before the book ended. Otherwise it would have cast too dark of a shadow over the book for me. But even with all that said and done, I still really enjoyed it. And I hope that the next few books live up to it as well!

Book 10- "Phantom of the Opera" by Gaston Leroux

This not only fulfills my classic requirement, but it is a Modern Mrs. Darcy 2016 Reading Challenge book! "A book published before you were born". I mean, most good books were.
So I have Phantom on the brain right now. I and some girls around here are going to Miami to see it in a few weeks, and for some reason I hadn't thought of reading the book! So now between that, seeing the play, and listening to the music I am obsessed.
The author of the book writes it as if he is investigating the incidents of the Opera House, especially the time the chandelier came down. This made me wonder if it was based on myth so much that I asked Austin (our European official in the family), but he quickly squashed that.
But anyway, there is ONE glaring difference between this and the play. In the play, it is more of a romantic and exciting story (albeit the romance is lopsided) between the Phantom and Christine. Raoul seems to be a secondary character. And the Phantom seems to be a mysteriously handsome character beyond the mask. That's why I was explaining to Brandon that they didn't pick Gerard Butler for his operatic singing voice:

In the book, he looks like the living corpse. Even around his mask, he is terrifying. He has golden eyes that glow like fire in the dark, and he is only seen when he wants to be seen. He seems to be somewhere between the living and the dead. I think if they did that, it would lose a lot of the audience that is not as into the musical aspect.
But in the book, there is no budding romance between Christine and the Phantom. She seems to love him when she can only hear his voice, but as soon as she sees him she is terrified of him. She does not find his interest in her fascinating or mysterious. She does it because she pities him, and she is afraid of what will happen if she turns him down.

 Erik (because that's the Phantom's name? They have never mentioned it) is a mastermind of trap doors and torture, and he is a ventriloquist. Which explains many of his tricks. He also sang angelically, which drew people to his voice. He was shunned from society because of his looks, and so he eventually retreated into the cellars beneath the Opera House.
By the end of the book I felt badly for Erik. Yes, he is a psychopath and a murderer, but it makes you wonder what he would have been like if he hadn't been on the run all his life. He just wanted to love and to be loved, because not even his parents loved him.
One mystery is the mysterious figure in the book. He pops up a few times and the author makes a bigger deal out of it than it needed to be by saying the government said he couldn't discuss the figure. Who was it?!
I REALLY liked this book. I think they should do a version of the movie that is exactly like the book. It would make an excellent thriller. There was a scene I read where he follows Raoul home that gave me the chills. Raoul kept turning off his lamp and seeing these two golden eyes watching him. About 3 times he tried to scare off the eyes, but it didn't work. Why was that scene not in the play?! That is just great acting waiting to happen.

Book 9- "The Princess and the Goblin" by George MacDonald

So, when we were little kids we watched this movie about 300 times. It was THE, BEST. For some reason I just remembered it a few weeks ago, and so Brandon and I watched it one night while playing card games. Man, it was not good quality. We were just laughing the whole time at the poor animation (it was made in like the 80's or some time around then), and how the big strong main characters (back then) were really just 7 and 8 year olds. Good times!

I didn't know it was based on a book, so I checked it out from the library. I wish I would have read it before watching the movie! It followed the plot pretty closely, but is a little darker (as is to be expected with many European children's stories). And reading it made me realize just how funky of a plot it was. It would take too long to describe the whole thing. But it is only 250 pages, so a quick little read!

Book 8- "The Screwtape Letters and Screwtape Proposes a Toast" by C.S. Lewis

This book fulfills another book for the Modern Mrs. Darcy 2016 Reading Challenge! "A book you've been meaning to read".
I remember I started this book years and years ago (how sad is it that I can say that now...) and I really enjoyed it but I think I went back to school and forgot to bring it with me. Well, I just read it all the way through. It is a FASCINATING book. Lewis is a genius.

I read the letters from Lewis that was in the back of this book, before "Screwtape Proposes a Toast", which explained a lot of how I was feeling. It is so confusing to read the things that Screwtape describes as disgusting, horrible, etc. and realize he is talking about the good in the world. And to read him describing a person as idiotic, moronic, simple, and realize he is talking about God. And the things that he glorifies are the things that we shun in life. He discusses many different virtues and vices, and it is so believable to think that this is how the devil and his minions communicate about how to best tempt us.

They cover issues of "Love" vs lust, gluttony, satisfaction, charity vs unselfishness (Charity is the "bad" virtue, while Unselfishness is the "good" facade of an issue that really sews seeds of resentment), the social aspect of religion vs the spiritual aspect, repetitive prayers... they really covered everything. And the final battle was over making sure that Wormwood's client never felt like his prayers were being answered, and that he never felt that he could really endure to the end. As it were, the client was killed in an air raid (WWII), and when he saw Wormwood he immediately turned away and was welcomed into heaven. You've never wanted the main character (Wormwood, not the client) to fail so badly!

I recommend this to everyone. If you don't believe in Heaven or Hell, you will still find it an interesting take on the good and bad in the world. If you do, this will seem pretty real!

Book 7- "Schindler's List" by Thomas Keneally

This book was without a doubt one of the most gut-wrenching books I have ever read, only comparable to the books I have read about the African massacres and wars there. It was so hard to get through, but I knew that I needed to see how Schindler helped the Jewish people in the end.

One of the most interesting parts of this book is at the beginning, when the author says to not believe that Schindler was a hero, that he had his own flaws. He smoked and drank excessively, he was a member of the Nazi party to begin with, and had many affairs without even attempting to hide it from his wife. His wife (whom he never divorced) said that he had never been exceptional before the war, and was never exceptional afterwards. He was just lucky enough to have found his passion at the right time.

Oskar Schindler was a successful businessman who had ties to the higher-ups in the Nazi party when WWII started in Poland. He employed many Jewish people in his factories, which produced enamelware and ammunition. He was a man who knew how to get what he wanted, and was generous in his gifts to corruptible officials. He was a witness to the building of the ghetto in Cracow, and watched as it was emptied in a horrifically brutal manner with the inhabitants being taken to a concentration camp a few miles away. Out of all of the book, this part was the hardest to read. I even started reading a section and had to cover it with my hand because it was just too gruesome. Seeing this solidified Schindler's resolve to fight the Nazi system and to help as many Jewish people as he could. 

Schindler, at great cost to him (he was eventually ruined by this), kept his Jewish staff with him and even allowed them to live in a mini camp on factory grounds. He gave them much more substantial rations at his own personal cost, did not allow the SS guards inside his camp, and even had hygiene facilities. They were still worked hard in the factory, but they did not live in the same fear as the people in the other camp.

Eventually they closed down that camp and moved them to the extermination camps of Auschwitz and Grosse-Rose, but Schindler made a deal with the government that if he had a list of people who he needed for his factory, and if he moved his factory to a different part of the country, then those people would be saved. Overall about 1,200 names were put on the list. The men arrived within a week or so, but the women didn't arrive until Schindler came out to rescue them from Auschwitz himself.

Once the war was over, he and his wife had to become refugees. The Russians would shoot any German citizen on sight. But thanks to his life-giving efforts, he was protected by Jewish people all the way to South America, where he worked as a farmer before coming back to Germany. He was broke, and relied on the kindness of the Schindlerjuden, or Schindler's Jews, to survive. When he died, he was allowed to be buried in Jerusalem as per his last wish. It said he was mourned on every continent.

Ok, now that you have the synopsis of the story. This book was more eye opening to the horrors of the Holocaust than any other single book I have ever read. I know of the awful things that have happened in the extermination camps, but I had no idea just how terrible it was in the Polish ghettos. I also was ignorant of the fact that in a lot of the concentration camps, it was a labor camp. I don't know what I thought they did there from day to day, but building things did not cross my mind. It just boggles my mind that people could become so depraved that they literally do not see another human being as a human. If they did, they wouldn't shoot them on the spot or make them stand naked in the freezing cold or let them pass lice to each other or SO many other things I read. It is degrading. It is really amazing that people survived this, because I feel like if you were to break someone's spirit in that way it would be hard to bounce back from that. It is also awful to think that we had our own internment camps in the United States, with the Japanese. While they were not as awful, it is still something that the country should be ashamed of.

It is important that books like these are kept out in circulation, so that people read them in the future when there are no more alive that remember World War II. We need to remember just how terrible this time was so that it isn't repeated. I think of how some politicians have spoken of a registration system for the Muslims in the United States. That is how this started!

I will say this- I had always thought it would be a horrible but thought-provoking experience to go visit Auschwitz. Now I am not so sure if I could stomach it. It is one thing to read about the horrors that went on there. But it is another to see the places where it actually happened.

Book 6- "the Checklist Manifesto" by Atul Gawande

This book fulfills the "A book recommended to you by your spouse" category on the Modern Mrs. Darcy challenge. Brandon had this book loaned to him by his supervisor during his surgery rotation, and he told me I had to read this as well.

Now, I LOVE making checklists. While teaching Special Ed, I had a checklist of how to write each student's IEP, what goes into making a goal with the benchmarks that they need to meet, what I needed to do all day with each student, how to run each meeting. I even wrote out a checklist of what needed to be done every day with one student, divided into 15 minute increments. It is such a great way to feel organized. I have planners and journals to keep me organized, even now. I always have to have lists at the grocery store, because if I don't then we end up wandering the aisles and end up with 2 boxes of cookies and 8 different kinds of juice. Not very productive.

This book is about the benefits of making checklists in the medical field, and covers examples of checklists and dispersing the responsibility in other fields. 

One example was while making a skyscraper. They need to have a complicated system of communication between each specialty in order to make sure that the building works the way it is supposed to. They also need to have a checklist for each complication that can happen, to make sure that each worker knows what their role is. This was so interesting to me because we live right now in the land of skyscrapers. From our balcony, I can count at least 7 skyscraper apartment buildings. So to learn a little bit of what goes into them is amazing.

Another great example was WalMart during Hurricane Katrina. The federal government didn't come in time to help the people who were stranded at the SuperDome, or thousands of people who were stranded on an I-10 overpass (terrifying!). When the executives at WalMart heard from their employees about the awful state that New Orleans was in, they jumped in and helped out themselves. They had employees passing out formula and diapers to people who needed them, or axes and shovels for people who had to help dig someone else out. Because the executives were willing to let go of total control (which was the issue FEMA had), they were able to help people that much quicker.

Another example is in the operating room itself. The checklist allows all roles to feel included and involved, and to allow everyone to communicate their issues. 64% of surgeons surveyed said that they thought their communication was just fine, but only 23% of anesthesiologists felt that the communication went well.

Finally, the example that I really was interested in regarded airplane pilots. They have a list of 200+ checklists, some mundane and some for the unheard of. For example, when the cargo door gets loose. That creates a serious drop in pressure in the cabin. In an incident in 1989, a hole was actually blasted in the side of business class, and sucked 9 people out of the airplane on a flight from Honolulu to New Zealand. That is TERRIFYING. So, because of that they now have more notifications on the dashboard that the crew can identify, and more lists to help the crew stay calm.

Overall, it has been a difficult transition to getting these lists into the operating room, but it has cut down on errors and helped reduce turnover of staff. I am excited to be starting my online master's degree in March (!!!) in Special Education, and you'd better believe that I will be making checklists along the way to stay on top of my studies!

Book 5- "Last of the Mohicans" by James Fenimore Cooper

This book fulfills another Modern Mrs. Darcy 2016 Reading Challenge! "A book you previous abandoned".
I have been trying to finish this for FOREVER. I had 6 renewals, and my last one ends in a few weeks. Granted, I had about 15 books out at that time, but it still has been a long time reading this.

This book personified why I have the goal to read 20 "classic" books this year- because they are SO hard for me to get through. There is just something about the writing style, how wordy the books are, that make it impossible for me to really understand. But I pushed through, and it is quite the plot.

I initially became interested in this book because I was reading a website that said "7 baby names you didn't know were made up!" I rolled my eyes thinking they were going to be dumb names like 'Renesmee' from Twilight, but then "Cora" popped up. Turns out while its root is Greek, Cooper used it initially for this story. Now, I could be wrong, but that's what I read. So I decided to check it out. When I was about 20 pages in, I really hoped that I wouldn't regret having Cora share a name with this fictional character. But she was smart, kind, resourceful, and rumored to be SPOILER ALERT the first femme fatal that is of mixed race. Yep, she died. But she died for not giving up her morals and going to live with the Huron (enemy) chief as his wife. So, you go, fictional Cora.

There is a massacre halfway through the book, and it begins with a native killing an infant. I absolutely cannot stand that. Many of the classic books I have read involve some heart-wrenching scene with a baby and it makes me tear up every time. But beyond that, it amazed me to think that things like this happened. There were (and are) people who are that inhumane, and bloodthirsty, and so savage that the sight of blood (that the warrior spilt by killing the baby) that it riles them up into a frenzy and causes them to attack hundreds of people. It makes me grateful for the time that we live in, where those things are not as common. And relatively unheard of, in the United States.

Book 4- "Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carroll

Ok, THIS was a weird book.

I didn't even understand what was happening half the time. I know that she was a pawn in a giant game of chess, and eventually became a queen... but how she got across the chessboard is so confusing. But this was the time when the characters I remember from Alice in Wonderland (what I saw in the ads for the movie, since I never watched it) came to light, like the talking flowers and Tweedledee and Tweedledum. And then ultimately she is talking about her two kittens fighting? Very bizarre.

But now I have finished 2 of the books on my classics list for this year!

Book 3- "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll

Classic #1 of the year done!

So, this is one of the classic Disney movies that I've never seen. I just checked on Netflix and they didn't have it. But I know most of the story, because it is so famous.

I've always heard how insane and trippy this book is, and how it's rumored that Lewis Carroll was on drugs when he wrote it. At first, I was thinking, "This isn't any weirder than many fantasy books that are out now!" Then I remembered that this was written the same year the Civil War ended. Yeah, it is weird. 

The thing that I appreciate in this book is that Alice is a real child. She isn't afraid to stand up for herself, even though she is being confronted with strangers who are often rude to her. She is also very curious but not stupid when making her choices (except when we are talking about eating and drinking things to make you bigger and smaller... Probably not the greatest idea!). So, for a girl who is put in this crazy place, she does just fine.

This book is combined with "Through the Looking Glass", so I'll finish that next. I do think this will be a keeper for our bookshelf!

Book 2- "How to Talk so Kids will Listen & Listen so Kids will Talk" by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish

I reserved this a while ago, and while I know Cora can't verbally communicate yet (although she can get her opinions across...), this will come in handy. I even wrote down the main points, since I can't write in the library book like it wanted me to and I read it alone and couldn't role play like parts wanted me to.

1) Helping Children deal with their feelings:

- Acknowledge their feelings

- Instead of half listening, listen with full attention

- Instead of questions and advice, acknowledge with a word

- Instead of denying a feeling, give it a name

- Instead of explanations and logic, give the child his wishes in a fantasy
This was the section that I had the hardest time relating to. She was saying that when the child comes to you, instead of jumping in you should say "Oh!" or "You are feeling frustrated when---" etc. That sounds very stiff and silly to me. I'll have to see if it works.

2) Engaging Cooperation:

- Describe the situation

- Give information

- Say it with a word, not a paragraph

- Talk about your feelings, not the child's character or personality

- Write a note
This section was very logical and insightful. As a parent, we need to be very careful to not put the child on the defense when we want to approach an issue. That never helps anyone. And I think if you start writing notes from the get-go, it won't seem so awkward.

3) Alternatives to Punishment:

- Point out a way to be helpful

- Express strong disapproval without attacking their character

- Offer a choice

- Take action

- Allow the child to experience the consequences

I totally agree with not attacking a child's personality or character. Instead of saying "You are so scatterbrained!", you could say "I am very upset that you forgot your notebook again!" And I am all for allowing the child to experience the consequences, because I feel that is really the best way they will ultimately learn a lesson.

4) Problem Solving:

- Talk about the child's feelings and needs

- Talk about YOUR feelings and needs

- Brainstorm to find a mutually agreeable solution

- Write down all the ideas without ruling any out

- Decide which suggestions you like, don't like, and which ones you plan to follow through on

This is a great way to make sure both parties feel validated, and they come to an agreement that they both feel good about. But both parties need to be willing to compromise, otherwise it will never work out.

5) Encouraging Autonomy:

- Let children make choices

- Show respect for a child's struggle

- Don't ask too many questions

- Don't rush to answer their questions

- Encourage children to use sources outside the home

- Don't take away hope

- Let them have their own body

- Stay out of the minutiae of a child's life

- Don't talk about a child in front of them- no matter how young!

- Let a child answer for themselves

- Show respect for your child's eventual "readiness"

- Watch out for too many "no"s

I have been reading articles about why parents don't make their child hug people. And at first I thought that was stupid, but then I saw the wisdom behind it. While children should always be polite and kind, they should know that even at a young age they have a say over who touches them and who doesn't.

6) Praise:

Instead of using words like "good", "wonderful" or other generic praise words-

- Describe what you see

- Describe what you feel

- Sum up accomplishments in  a word

Some cautions:

- Make sure your praise is appropriate for age and ability

- Avoid the kind of praise that hints at past weaknesses or failures

- Be aware that excessive enthusiasm can interfere with a child's desire to accomplish for himself or herself.

- Be prepared for a lot of repetition of the same activity when you describe what a child is doing appreciatively.

I learned all those things in Child Development. If you tell a child that their painting is "great", they won't think you are actually paying attention. Instead, describe specific parts of the painting. Tell them that you appreciate the colors. That way they know you are really noticing it.

7) Freeing children from labels:

- Look for opportunities to show the child a new picture of himself or herself

- Put children in situations where they can see themselves differently

- Let children overhear you say something positive about them

- Model the behavior you would like to see

- Be a storehouse for your child's special moments

- When your child behaves according to the old label, set your feelings and/or your expectations

 I like this chapter a lot. The author talks about how her oldest son, literally from the time he was born, was labeled as "stubborn". After a while, she realized that he was capable of being open-minded, he just didn't want to because he was just fulfilling his label. She even talked about how positive labels (my good girl, you're just the most mellow, etc.) can be stressful on a child. Working in Special Ed I really saw that. My students would come forward saying that they were dumb and there was no point, they were bad kids, etc. So while Cora's personality right now is a mellow one, she may not always have that personality. And I don't want to be the one that stresses her out about feeling like she needs to act a certain way, or to give up because she "just is that way".

Overall, I think there are some very valid points in this book. While I felt a little bit silly thinking of talking the way they said the parents spoke to their children, I can see how it polarizes the parents vs. children less. But I also appreciated that the authors said they slipped up and went back to their old ways from time to time. I really want to try this method, and I don't want to beat myself up too much if (when) I mess up.

Book 1- "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" by Newt Scamander

I feel a little bad even counting this, but it is a book. Even if it is 60 pages. I was able to read it while trying to put Cora down for her first nap post-California trip (unsuccessfully).

This is totally something that only Harry Potter fanatics would find interesting. It is a guide to the magical creatures that are in the Harry Potter books, listed alphabetically. They also discuss how dangerous the creature is, and a brief description of it.

I am AMAZED at the imagination that some people have. While I had my own level of imagination (ask my mom, who found my 4th grade journal to only be descriptions of me in the Pokemon world), but I have never been able to imagine up my own original world. And while many of these things are based in mythology, there is still so much imagination.

I want her to publish more of the textbooks from Harry Potter! I'm also curious as to how this will be made into a movie (coming out later in 2016!)
This also fulfills one book of the Modern Mr. Darcy 2016 Reading Challenge- "a book you can read in a day".

2016 Reading Challenge

This is the guidelines I have for this year, in addition to 20 classics.