Linda the Librarian

                The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention. Oscar Wilde                                 

The Power of Half by Kevin and Hannah Salwen First of all, I want to put a plug in for having a furry reading buddy.  Whether you are a dog person or a cat person, a reading buddy is a friendly thing!   When 14 year old Hannah Salwen saw a homeless man she was bothered by the inequity she saw right around her.  The man in the next lane was driving a Mercedes while the homeless man was begging for a meal.  That started the Salwen's journey into giving.  They decided to sell their home in the suburbs of Atlanta and move to a home half the size so that they could donate half of what they made/saved to help others.   I love this concept.  Many of us have extra time, talents, or treasures that we can give to those in need. What was hard to relate to was the scale of the Salwen's donation.  When they sold their large house and moved to the smaller house, they were looking at an $800,000 gift to give.  If my family did this (and I'm sure we could), our gift would h

Waking Up in Heaven by Crystal McVea In 2009 Crystal McVea went into the hospital for a routine procedure and died.  For nine minutes she was in Heaven with God.  This is the story of God's leading in her life all along the way and the most important lesson she learned: God is real, and we are all worthy of His love ans salvation because He finds us worthy. page 233 Here is what was convicting to me, Mrs. McVea shared a story about going to a pizza place with her daughter, when she was paying the bill she felt a "nudge" from God to tip the waitress $100.  She talked to God about it and she felt that He was telling her it would be OK to tip her $50 instead.  Finally after speaking with her husband by phone, she was obedient.  Later she found out that the waitress was praying that she'd make $100 in tips that night, she already had $50 and with the tip Mrs. McVea gave her she made her $100.  Here's what she said: God even used me to answer someon

Never worry about numbers.  Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you. Mother Teresa

Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover Before I share my thoughts on the book itself, I want to speak to two groups of people who may be reading this post.  First if you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Ms. Westover's family is Mormon, she begins her book saying that her story is not about the church or about any faith in particular.  Her story is simply what it is.  I have friends who are part of the LDS church and I know that the Westover family is not representative of who Mormons are.  Second, if you are a homeschooler, this story is not descriptive of your efforts to educate your children.  A fellow librarian read the book before I was able to and I reminded her of this truth; there are only two kinds of homeschool stories you will hear, either the child will be a genius who is admitted into an Ivy League school at the age of 14 or the child is terribly neglected and cannot read.  I homeschooled my children, I know that the lion's sh

The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer This is one of those books we own that I'm no longer sure how it came to belong to us.  It's one of those books that I kept telling myself that I need to read because it's a classic in Christian literature.  Finally, I read this book and I'm glad that I did. The Knowledge of the Holy isn't a long book, it's only 117 pages.  Mr. Tozer packed a lot of truth into such a small book though.  Each chapter (which is only two to four pages long) discusses one attribute of God and gives a concise explanation of how the attribute makes a difference to us in our day to day lives.   As I've stated before, this is brief but powerful and full of truth.  I took away two things from this book: first, if I hold a low, erroneous view of God then I am guilty of idolatry, second, God always retains all of His attributes all of the time (God doesn't let go of His justice to exercise His mercy for example).  There was

Faith: A Journey for All by Jimmy Carter I chose this book to read for several reasons: I need to read a book by or about a world leader for my reading challenge, I wanted to understand the faith of our 39th president a little better, and I was hoping to be encouraged by his faith in God and by how he lives out his faith.  I got about a third of the way through the book and had to abandon it.  He's a very nice man, but he rambles.  I wasn't always clear on the point he was trying to make.  Chapter titles and the content of the chapters didn't mesh.  He wasn't clear about where his faith is placed - is it in God or in the experiences of others or in his faith?  He didn't do a great job explaining what authority defines his beliefs - is it the Bible or one of the theologians he quotes or his experiences? Bottom line, this was a frustrating read. I know some of us (myself included until the last couple of years) feel guilt for starting a book and not finish

We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry.  E. B. White

Origins of a Story by Jake Grogan Which author was asked "For God's Sake, Peggy, can't you write a book instead of reading thousands of them?"  Which author wrote a book as a result of tending an ailing animal?  Which author wrote a famous inspirational book while battling cancer late in his life? You'll find out if you read this book.  I confess to you that I did not read this book cover to cover.  I wasn't interested in all of the books Mr. Grogan shared.  I read about books and authors I was interested in, because I had read them.  I did read about the origins of famous books that I have yet to read and would like to.  Others I have left to you to discover. The stories are one to three pages long, so this book would be great to take along with you when you have to wait in line at the grocery store or at the doctor's office.  I came away understanding the writer's advice to always write what you know.  So many of the books came as a

July 11 was National Blueberry Muffin Day.  I found that out a little late in the game otherwise I would have made some muffins to share with my family and coworkers.  I posted on Facebook about my need to go in search of the perfect muffin and a little while later I received a message from a friend and patron letting me know they would be by the library in the afternoon to drop off my muffin.  We could not have more lovely patrons!  This morning I enjoyed a belated celebration with a cup of tea and a newly discovered favorite magazine.  Life. Is. Good.

I thought that it might be a good idea to share with you some (possibly) universal, yet unacknowledged truths about librarians.  Increased understanding of our merry, but quiet band will certainly make your next trip to the library more enjoyable. - Yes, our TBR piles are completely out of control.  We spend time reading library publications and book catalogs to order material for the library, we share what we're reading with each other, and patrons share what they are reading with us as well.  Our literary eyes are bigger than our stomach, if you will, and we just keep adding to that pile of books.  As long as we can see over that pile, we feel like it's not that bad really. - Cardigans are an official part of our uniform.  There's even a class in the Master's of Library and Information Sciences program to guide the fledgling librarian in choosing the right style and color cardigan.  OK, that's not true, but it probably should be. - We really do judge yo

Love Your Life Not Theirs by Rachel Cruze Yes, this is Dave Ramsey's daughter.  Yes, she does go over many of the same principles that her father teaches.  So, what's to like about this book if you've already read Dave Ramsey's material?   What I love about this book is that she's young, she's been married only a few years, hasn't been in the work force for that long, and only has one child.  She is where so many other young people are right now -  but without the debt.  She can speak to the transitions and pressures that young adults are facing, but with sound financial wisdom.  She totally understands the desire to have all of the toys right now, but also has financial boundaries in place to keep herself from foolish decisions.  I found her writing engaging and friendly.  I felt as if I was having a conversation with a friend who had my best interests at heart. I think this would be a great book to give an engaged couple to begin the finan

One of the realities of working at a library is that we need to remove old books to make way for new books.  Some times we're simply replacing an older, well-read, well-loved copy with a new copy that a new generation of readers will grow to appreciate and love.  Some times a book simply isn't circulating any longer and it just needs to be removed.  I understand all of this - in my head.  Often I can totally understand the reason why a book is no longer being read.  Much popular fiction is written in the moment rather than with a sense of timelessness, there's no enduring message or lesson.  It quickly becomes dated and uninteresting. Other times my heart just can't agree.  I love the author Dick King-Smith.  If you've seen the movie Babe, I recommend that you go to your local library and find his books.  His books are funny, touching, and delightful.  Everything a children's book should be.  I loved reading his books to my children when they were in elem

World Chocolate Day just happened to coincide with my Saturday to work at the library.  Librarians absolutely support celebrating the day, so we picked up some chocolate glazed doughnuts and hot chocolate (for me) and coffee (for my co-workers).  How did you or how will you celebrate such a wonderful day?  Did you or will you make any chocolate desserts? Until next time...

Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges This is one of those books for which I can't use the word "love" to describe the way I feel about it.  Instead I use the word "need."  I need to be reminded to judge my thoughts, words, and deeds by God's standards rather than my own or the world's.  I need to be reminded that God takes all sin seriously.  I need to be reminded that I need Him all the time in all areas of my life. This book is equal parts encouraging and discouraging at this stage of my life.  Encouraging because I can see how much progress has been made, but discouraging because I can see how much I still need to grow.  Encouraging because conviction of sin is a proof of spiritual life, but discouraging that I need to be convicted of a specific sin yet again. I appreciate Mr. Bridges writing.  He puts the cookies on the bottom shelf without talking down to you.  He is very clear, very strong, but at the same time very gentle.  He acknow

The Bachelor Girl's Guide to Murder by Rachel McMillan Meet Merinda Herringford and Jemima Watts, bachelor girl detectives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the year 1910.  Merinda fancies herself a female Sherlock Holmes and Jemima is her John Watson.  Like Sherlock and Watson, they too are "consulting detectives" looking into strange cases and helping those whom the police would be less likely to notice.  The book opens with a murdered servant girl who had worked for the mayor of Toronto.  Unfortunately for him, it was an election year!  Uh-oh! This wasn't the best mystery I've ever read.  It was obvious "whodunnit" pretty quickly and why.  And frankly, Merinda tried too hard to be like Sherlock.  Having said that, this was a pleasant story for anyone who just wants something breezy to read between weightier books.  It was a nice way to spend my free time over the last couple of days.  I don't regret it one bit!  I'll probably search out o

Ordinary, Extraordinary Jane Austen by Deborah Hopkinson, illustrated by Qin Leng.  I love Jane Austen.  I've read her novels and I've watched multiple movie adaptations of her novels.  Every February I join those who firmly believe that Colin Firth IS Mr. Darcy for the annual watching of Pride and Prejudice while drinking tea by the gallon.  I've established my daughters as confirmed lovers of all things Austen.  I follow a Facebook page dedicated to the author, so it really shouldn't surprise anyone that I picked up this book from our library's children's section. This is a newer title published in early 2018.  It follows the life of the author from her girlhood until her death at the age of 41.  Each page spread has one or two facts about a time period in Ms. Austen's life and then at the end of the book there is a two page spread that lists each of her six novels with a paragraph plot synopsis and a second two page spread that gives the timeline

This week's TBR pile.  Some have been started, some are patiently waiting their turn.  It should be a lovely week. Until next time...