Linda the Librarian

Book number 79 for the year!  One more book and I'm back on track!  That will happen before the end of the week, I'm sure.  I'm half way through a work of fiction and I have two works of nonfiction waiting to be enjoyed. I cannot recommend this book highly enough to you.  It's 10 chapters in length, each chapter talks about a different area of life that can bring joy (color, play, surprise, etc).  If you're like me and don't always have large chunks of time to read, you'll appreciate that each chapter had natural stopping points so you can read a complete thought and bookmark your spot for later.  I loved that this isn't a "get your life in order plan" or "buy these gadgets to make you feel better plan."  This is mindful seeing.  I came away feeling encouraged to open my eyes and look around me for the beauty that's mine for the enjoying.  I was also encouraged to really think about color, pattern, texture, order and how the...

I just finished this book yesterday.  I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked up this book, but I must say that I enjoyed Mrs. Gifford's book.  The book's beginnings are rooted in a trip she and her late husband took to Israel with Ray Vander Laan.  Some of you may be familiar with his videos in the That the World May Know series.  He takes tour groups to Israel and explains people, places, and events recorded in Scripture within their historical and cultural context to give more understanding to the participants.  Mrs. Gifford's book seeks to give that historical and cultural understanding to her readers as well as share how this knowledge changed her and grew her understanding. I loved that the chapters were short.  This would be a great book to use as part of a daily reading habit.  It's also great if you're like me and take a book with you to make the wait in line at the grocery store more pleasant!!  I enjoyed being reminded of what ...

C.S. Lewis' Little Book of Wisdom I've probably told you before, and just a warning I'll probably tell you again, that one of the great things about working at a library is that when people return books I often run across titles that I must check out for myself and end up enjoying them immensely.  This one came across my desk last week and being a lover of C.S. Lewis, I needed to read it.   This is simply a book of quotes from Mr. Lewis' various books and articles.  They're divided into sections on friendship, love, Aslan's country, etc.  It would make a great Christmas, graduation, Mother's/Father's Day, birthday, or any other occasion gift for someone who loves Mr. Lewis' writings.  I read a section or two before bed each night, which gave me something to ponder as I drifted off to sleep. I'll leave you with a quote from the section Aslan's Country: But I will not tell you how long or short the way will be; only that it...

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 kn...

When I picked up this book I really expected it to be a "where I am now a decade after my kidnapping" kind of book.  There was that element to it, but it was so much more.  Ms. Smart interviewed numerous people who have been through great difficulty and came out on the other side whole and thriving. Please allow me to use some quotes from her book to whet your appetite: "Every time I speak, I talk about how each one of us goes through his or her own trials.  I try to tell people that it's not what happens to us that makes us who we are, but how we react, the choices we make moving forward.  It doesn't matter what our current struggle is; it's what we do about it.  But there's a long road between knowing that and putting it into practice."  page 67 Ms. Smart interviewed Diane Von Furstenberg who said, "I met a very interesting woman, and she said that there are two types of survivors:  the ones who did not die, and the ones who live.  Th...