Book catchup (Books 2/17/07)
I’ve read 4 books in the last while- it seems like it takes forever to finish anything lately. I never used to read more than one book at a time, but now I have a book I read while Zoe’s going down for her nap (translation- I read it in 10 minute chunks), a book I read before bed, and then if I get really sucked into something I read it superfast all through the day.
Glimpses into the Life and Heart of Marjorie Pay Hinckley was a before bed book. Sister Hinckley was such a wonderful woman, and this book is a collection of her remembrances about her life, as well as stories told by family members and friends. It’s divided into sections such as “Sense of Humor” or “A Good Listener”, and I was so touched by her loving approach to life. Reading about her makes me want to be a better person, and since reading it I find myself asking how she would deal with situations, and then modifying my response as needed. I’m not deifying her or anything, we just need human heroes to look up to, and she definitely is one of mine.
The Redeemer: Reflections on the Life and Teachings of Jesus the Christ was a nap time book. It’s a series of essays about different aspects of Christ, and it’s extremely good. The essays are insightful and well written, and I learned a lot.
Journal: The Short Life and Mysterious Death of Amy Zoe Mason by Joyce Atkinson and Kristine Atkinson was one I just zoomed through. It’s short, so that wasn’t too difficult. It’s presented as the journal of a young mother who is journaling in an “altered book”- meaning she took an old book and is scrapbooking in it. She’s in the process of selling the family home so that she and the kids can move to the city where her husband is away for work, and then things start getting ominous.
It should be said that a lot of those rough edges were taken off because of your polishing stone.
How fun. I’m glad you figured out the way to read with a new baby in the family. I have books everywhere around the house to read when I sit to feed the baby or sleep with the baby or get away from the kids.
I want to read the Hickley book! She was such a great example of Charity.
Re: the Amazon review of Amy Zoe Mason… As a former high school English teacher, I enjoy reading Young Adult novels. One that a fellow teacher recommended to me was The Gospel According to Larry, a fictional account of a teenager who secretly runs a social-activist website. After reading the book, you can’t help but see if the website really exists or not (which it does—sort of). It’s funny to read all the teenager’s comments on the website’s guest book. “Oh wow! I thought the book was fiction but now I KNOW it’s real!!! I love you, Larry!”