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teachingmom
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| Posted: June 26 2009 at 11:45am | IP Logged
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I've been reading lots . . . but not posting about it here. When I posted on Facebook about a great book I just finished, Chari reminded me to post here too. 
Yesterday I finished A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. As I mentioned on FB, it is an amazing, heartrending, beautiful story! It follows the lives of two women while covering the history of Afghanistan from the last 30 years. I feel like I understand so much more now. The lives of women in Afghanistan has been so hellish, yet these characters retained such hope.
The author also wrote The Kite Runner, which I read a few months back as well. I highly recommend that one too, but with a big warning. It's a rather raw story, with upsetting scenes of brutality. So it would not be for everyone. If you can get past the horrors, the story is also very compelling.
I have to recommend a great children's author whom I've been voraciously reading the past few months. I've enjoyed everything I've read by Margaret Peterson Haddix. I originally found her here when Marilyn mentioned her book Double Identity on a children's book thread. Double Identity is about cloning, so I would suggest for age 12 or so and up. Cloning is not shown in a positive light - lots of ethical difficulties can be discussed.
Then I read through her entire Shadow Children series, which I told my girls is like (the TV show) 24 for kids. The books are really exciting. There was a point when 4 of us in my family were reading them (and fighting over possession of them  ) at the same time. These books take place in a futuristic society in which people are only allowed to have two children. It is all about the hidden third children and their fight for the right to exist against the Population Police. The books are frightening in parts and children die, so you would need to decide if your children can handle them. But my 9, 11, and 13 year olds all enjoyed them. I loved the subtle pro-life message.
I also read Margaret Peterson Haddix's Just Ella and the sequel Palace of Mirrors, which were enjoyable fairy tale re-tellings, but not as good as her others, in my opinion. Three more science fiction books by Haddix that I read are Found, Escape from Memory, and Turnabout. All excellent kids and YA books.
Finally, I've read through some of Nicholas Sparks' books. It started when my 13 year old wanted to read A Walk to Remember. I read that and a handful of others. Most were enjoyable twaddle. But they became very predictable. I found it very surprising that a top author like him would repeat certain descriptions and even entire scenes almost exactly in multiple books. I also felt uncomfortable knowing that the author is supposed to be a practicing Catholic, but many of his characters live in morally unacceptable ways, usually with no negative consequences.
Going back many months now, I can't remember if I posted here about my Joan Aiken phase. I read quite a few of her Jane Austen sequels, and enjoyed most of them very much.
And today, I've just begun reading another of Regina Doman's fairy tales, The Midnight Dancers, that I gave to one of my daughters for her birthday earlier this month. Dd really enjoys those.
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~Irene (Mom to 6 girls, ages 7-19)
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Chari
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| Posted: June 26 2009 at 6:33pm | IP Logged
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wow, Irene...you are having LOTS of reading fun!!!!
I am so happy for you....as I carefully pick my way through Walden by Henry David Thoreau...but, I cannot write about that yet...it is not yet finished! 
But, I AM celebrating for having made it to the half-way mark 
In the meantime......since walden was heavy and dry.....I read in between, a bunch of Betsy-Tacy books since I had never read them before. see, Irene, I am like you...going after kids' books at times
I have written a bunch of reviews of the BT books...and will post them some other time....
Irene sure gave us some good recommendations to add to our reading pile!
thanks, Irene!
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Chari...Take Up & Read
Dh Marty 27yrs...3 lovely maidens: Anne 24, Sarah 20 & Maddelyn 17 and 3 chivalrous sons: Matthew 22, Garrett 16 & Malachy 11
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teachingmom
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| Posted: June 26 2009 at 10:54pm | IP Logged
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FYI for anyone who read my post raving about Margaret Peterson Haddix and went in search of the series I mentioned. I accidentally called the series "The Hidden Children." I've updated my post to the correct name, which is "The Shadow Children" series. Sorry for the mistake.
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~Irene (Mom to 6 girls, ages 7-19)
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teachingmom
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| Posted: June 26 2009 at 10:56pm | IP Logged
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And Chari,we all LOVE the entire Betsy-Tacy series. Did you see that they are about to reprint the high school books? I am so excited about that!
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~Irene (Mom to 6 girls, ages 7-19)
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JuliaT
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I have been a forum member for the last 3 years and, for some reason, I have never come to the Book Club. I do not know why that is because I am a huge book lover. I have been enjoying reading what everyone else has been reading for 2009. I would like to play along, if I could.
This year I have been trying to read one book a week. Surprisingly, so far, I have been successful in this. I have read some wonderfully, written books.
I, too, have read A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS. That book left a deep imprint on my heart. I had read THE KITE RUNNER a few years ago but I thought ATSS was much better written and a better story.
LOVELY BONES by Alice Sebold. Someone told me that this book was like a study on grief. I agree. The narrator is a girl who was murdered by a pedophile. She gives us a glimpse of what life was like for her family after her death. This is a very dark read but it mesmerized me.
THE LIGHTENING THIEF by Rick Riordan. I was pre-reading this for my kids. I haven't decided whether I will let my kids read it but I really liked the book. It is about a boy who discovers that his father is Poseidon, the God of the Sea, and his mom is human. This makes him a half-blood. The series tells his adventures as he tries to prove his courage to his dad and to himself.
THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS by John Boyne. This is another book on the holocaust but there is a twist as this book is from the viewpoint of a 9 yr. old German boy. Good story.
I am now reading HER ROYAL SPYNESS by Rhys Bowens. This is a fluff mystery and I am enjoying it so much. I believe that this is the first one in a series. I will defininitely be tracking the other books in this series.
Thanks for letting me play.
Blessings
Julia
mom of 3 (10,8,6)
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SeaStar
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| Posted: June 27 2009 at 4:53pm | IP Logged
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teachingmom wrote:
| And Chari,we all LOVE the entire Betsy-Tacy series. Did you see that they are about to reprint the high school books? I am so excited about that! |
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That is GREAT news! It's so hard to find the older ones, and then the cost can be crazy 
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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Chari
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| Posted: June 27 2009 at 5:29pm | IP Logged
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Melinda, I had to have Willa translate your post for me
I was wondering why the COAST would be crazy related to Betsy-Tacy books
She quickly figured out what you meant....I am so slow. 
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Chari...Take Up & Read
Dh Marty 27yrs...3 lovely maidens: Anne 24, Sarah 20 & Maddelyn 17 and 3 chivalrous sons: Matthew 22, Garrett 16 & Malachy 11
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Karen T
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Julia,
I read The Lovely Bones a few years ago and thought it was very good also. How she died of course is disturbing but her "watching" from above is interesting.
Karen T
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SeaStar
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| Posted: June 27 2009 at 8:21pm | IP Logged
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Chari wrote:
Melinda, I had to have Willa translate your post for me
I was wondering why the COAST would be crazy related to Betsy-Tacy books
She quickly figured out what you meant....I am so slow. |
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Ah, yes, trying to sneak in one post with a dripping wet, post-bath child running down the hall towards me... serves me right
I fixed it
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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SeaStar
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| Posted: July 29 2009 at 8:19pm | IP Logged
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I just finished .Preparing Sons to Provide for a One Income Family by Steve Maxwell.
There was so much in it to ponder. So many good points.
I was especially taken with his remarks about needing to teach our children that work is a gift from God, not something that is a burden. It has made a difference in the attitude I show my children as I go about my daily tasks (though inside I still hate emptying the dishwasher ).
I am thinking a lot about his take on organized sports. His oldest children played little league baseball for a few years, and then he stopped that for several reasons: it had his family running ragged all over town, it was interfering with his family's ability to eat together and have their nightly family bible time and last but not least, his children were more respectful and looking more for guidance from their coaches than from their own father.
This hit home for me, since my son had hockey last Easter Sunday (we did not take him), and my sister's kids had a big volleyball tournament that same weekend (she did take them).
As far as learning teamwork, he says if his kids can work peacefully and productively with their own siblings, they have teamwork nailed.
Yes, lots to think about in this one..
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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SuzanneG
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SeaStar wrote:
| I just finished "Preparing Sons to Provide for a One Income Family" by Steve Maxwell. |
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I have several Catholic friends who really got a lot out of this book too! That's what they said too....."There's a lot to consider in it." and it helped them devise their own parameters for their own family, even if it looked very different from the Maxwell's. That's so true about their books....lots of food for thought and things to consider.....which helps everyone to be intentional in decisions, parenting, marriage, homeschool, etc.....
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Suzanne in ID
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Mom of 7 (Girls - 14, 12, 11, 9, 7 and Boys - 4, 1)
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Chari
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| Posted: Aug 25 2009 at 12:55am | IP Logged
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Thanks for posting, Melinda!
Anyone else got something to offer? What have you read this summer?
I still have the last Betsy-Tacy book to go.........been slow at the library.........but in the meantime, I just finished EARLY CANDLELIGHT by Muad Hart Lovelace.
Here is HER description of the story:
"My second novel was Early Candlelight (John Day Co. 1939, later Grosset and Dunlap and the Minnesota Historical Society Press.) In the course of my research for "The Black Angels", I had read Folwell's History of Minnesota and was fascinated by the life at Fort Snelling in the early decades of the Nineteenth Century... with its gay routine of dinners, balls and picnics in the midst of Indian country. The story includes the founding of St. Paul. The love scene in the next to last chapter takes place at the meeting of the Minnesota and Blue Earth Rivers, where Mankato's Sibley Park would later be built."
I loved it........She writes so well! Much better writing than the BT books....as those are kind of like candy .........but this was a very well written novel.......clean and historical. I think is was the writing and the way she helped me get to know the characters so intimately that got me. The story itself is simple enough.......I could not sleep last night so I got up and read it till 1:45am.....oops! I finished it today......and I am so sorry........I miss the main characters so much. 
I also read this summer by the same author:
EMILY OF DEEP VALLEY
WINONA'S PONY CART
I ADORED the Emily story immensely, even a bit better than the Betsy-Tacy stories........Emily is such a wonderful girl! If you love BT and have not read this........DO!!!
The Winona story was young......kind of like an American Girl story.
And lastly and finally!!!! I have read LEFT TO TELL by Immaculée Ilibagiza.
Have you ALL read this book??? I know it was popular when it came out, but my library did not have it......and finally a friend received a copy to lend to me. I could not put this book down. What lessons this woman can teach us about thankfulness, fear, love, forgiveness, FAITH, the rosary.....
Here are words from her website:
Immaculée Ilibagiza is a living example of faith put into action. Immaculée's life was transformed dramatically during the 1994 Rwandan genocide where she and seven other women spent 91 days huddled silently together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor's house. Immaculée entered the bathroom a vibrant, 115-pound university student with a loving family - she emerged weighing just 65 pounds to find her entire family had been brutally murdered (with the exception of one brother who had been studying out of the country).
Immaculée credits her salvage mostly to prayer and to a set of rosary beads given to her by her devout Catholic father prior to going into hiding. Anger and resentment about her situation were literally eating her alive and destroying her faith, but rather than succumbing to the rage that she felt, Immaculée instead turned to prayer. She began to pray the rosary as a way of drowning out the negativity that was building up inside her. Immaculée found solace and peace in prayer and began to pray from the time she opened her eyes in the morning to the time she closed her eyes at night. Through prayer, she eventually found it possible, and in fact imperative, to forgive her tormentors and her family's murderers.
you can find the rest here.
READ THIS BOOK if you have not yet.......
Okay.......back to my regularly scheduled life.....and slowly reading Walden (though I think that last BT book is waiting for me at the library..... )
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Chari...Take Up & Read
Dh Marty 27yrs...3 lovely maidens: Anne 24, Sarah 20 & Maddelyn 17 and 3 chivalrous sons: Matthew 22, Garrett 16 & Malachy 11
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stellamaris
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Just finished The Time Traveler's Wife. Very similar to the movie. It was an enjoyable read, and the author raises many questions about free will and determinism and also about the nature of self and time. The book has Catholic overtones, but the author seems to present a more skeptical, secular viewpoint. I would have enjoyed this book more if the philosohpical discussions had been more extensive, but then it probably wouldn't have been a "beach read"! Just starting in on Three Cups of Tea. I noticed there is an early reader version and a children's picture book with the story of Greg Mortenson and his schools available, too, which might be a good choice for those studying Asia. The title of the picture book is Listen to the Wind,
while the other is entitled The Cups of Tea: The Young Reader's Version. The last book I'm working on now is Volume Two of Riccioti's The History of Israel, an absolutely fabulous, extremely detailed two-volume set of the history of the Old Testament and the surrounding cultures written by a Catholic priest in the 1950's or so. You need to be a history buff for this one!
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In Christ,
Caroline
Wife to  dh 30+ yrs,ds's 83,85,89,dd's 91,95,ds's 01,01,02,grammy to 4
Flowing Streams
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Karen T
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Chari, Left to Tell is one of my favorite books, though certainly disturbing to read. I included it in my ds's reading last year when he did SL's 20th century world history. What especially disturbs me even now is how little the media here reported on this. We are so quick to say something like the Jewish holocaust could never happen again b/c everyone is on the lookout for something like that, and yet look what happened with barely any coverage, just b/c it was in a country we don't have close ties with.
I have had some good reads lately. I jumped on the food reading bandwagon a bit later than many of you, finally reading Real Food (nina Planck), The Omnivore's Dilemma(Michael Pollan) and Nourishing Traditions(Sally Fallon). I've started buying raw milk and beef from pastured cows, and eggs and chicken from pastured chickens.
I just finished a book called Love is a Decision by Gary Smalley and John Trent. It has a lot of the same ideas as the movie Fireproof and its companion book The Love Dare and is primarily aimed at marriage but also has some great info just on looking toward God for fulfillment, not other people, material things, etc.
I listened to Boys Adrift by Leonard Sax earlier this summer and it was excellent, not sure if I mentioned it before.
The only fiction I've read recently is another book in the Patrick O'Brian series (I'm on #9 now I think) and I'm still plodding through Dickens' Little Dorrit on audio - good, but endless
Karen T in Md
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Chari
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I agree, karen...it IS shocking this happened in my adult life time...and I had no idea....
I just want to add my latest book so I can run it back to the library:
CARNEY'S HOUSE PARTY by Maud Hart Lovelace, author of Betsy-Tacy books.
I LOVED having just one more story from the Betsy-Tacy time period....and even Betsy drops by to take part in the story. This ties up a few loose ends, esp regarding Carney and Larry......if you have not yet read this Betsy-Tacy fans....don't miss this last visit to Deep Valley!
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Chari...Take Up & Read
Dh Marty 27yrs...3 lovely maidens: Anne 24, Sarah 20 & Maddelyn 17 and 3 chivalrous sons: Matthew 22, Garrett 16 & Malachy 11
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Karen T
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| Posted: Sept 07 2009 at 7:41am | IP Logged
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stellamaris wrote:
| Just finished The Time Traveler's Wife. Very similar to the movie. It was an enjoyable read, and the author raises many questions about free will and determinism and also about the nature of self and time. The book has Catholic overtones, but the author seems to present a more skeptical, secular viewpoint. |
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After all the hype for this book, I recently downloaded the audio version from our library. I was very disappointed in it - I haven't finished it but don't plan to. For one thing, hearing the graphic descriptions of their love life read aloud is a little TMI for me  although it might be better in print, where you can skim through those parts. But the protagonist seems so flat and dull to me, and it's a little creepy how he appears (frequently) to Claire when she's a young child, and he's a mid-40's naked man!
I checked out the Amazon reviews on this and it seems people are either 5 star or 1 star, for the most part So I guess it's a love-it or hate-it book.
Karen T in Md
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Chari
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I have finished two books this week.
The first, CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT by Laurie Viera Rigler.
I think it could have been good...but it seems she was almost in a hurry to get it written and published and so did not try to polish it. I think the idea had potential...but I am disappointed in her editor and her pre-readers...I wish they would have taken it to a higher level of enjoyment and believeability.
So, I cannot recommend it unless you have absolutely nothing else to read or you are totally desperate for more Jane Austen-flavored books....but if so........go re-read Austen.......it had more vulgarity than I can stand and the writing was not all that great...though it could have been improved by better editing. A bit of a strnage story, too.
I read the second book, THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS by Ann Brashares, because I had seen the movie when I was sick one day. I expected it to be pop-culture and was surprised to find the movie was well-made...though NOT for MY kids and that the main part of the story, about friendship maong today's teens........was quite similar to the friendships I experienced as a teen. In fact, in all four of the leads, I could find my secular teen-aged self.....and that I could relaly realte to all of them. That got me curious about the books....so, I gave the first one a try. I was surprised to find it well and cleverly written. Of course, there are PG-13 moments in the book......but I like the way the author developes these charachters. She makes them real...I truly KNOW these girls and I am SEEING them, you know what I mean?
I only recommend these books for those who need a break from the serious book, the spiritual or the classic book. Though, these books are mostly serious. I also think it can give a parent of teens some insight to teen thoughts. I also think those who were brought up in unbroken homes and did not have friends from broken homes will probably not relate. I think the book would be useless to teens who are homeschooled, but those in the public school system with no religion will find them enjoyable and will be able to relate.
I like in both the movie and the book that when the one girl loses her innocence...and it pretty much affects her life negatively for a least a year...that the overlying theme related to that was DONT DO IT. She realizes instantly, that in the natural scheme of things...it was the wrong thing for her to do. So, even if they are not teaching the youth reading this book to not commit this sin because it IS sin...at least they address the fact that it causes unhappiness....even if not telling why.
I am currently in the second book. It is written well, too.
So, anybody got any end of the summer books to add to our list? Come on...I know you bibliophils...I know you are reading.....you are addicts ...it is hard to stop, eh?
from someone who knows....... 
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Chari...Take Up & Read
Dh Marty 27yrs...3 lovely maidens: Anne 24, Sarah 20 & Maddelyn 17 and 3 chivalrous sons: Matthew 22, Garrett 16 & Malachy 11
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teachingmom
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Chari,
We must be twins separated at birth, when it comes to our literary lives! I just finished CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT yesterday and read THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS in July.
Like you, I felt that CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT was a huge disappointment. A friend, who is not as interested in Austen's books as I am, said it was an enjoyable beach read. I stuck with it until the end, but really wish I hadn't wasted the time.
The main character is SOOOO unlikeable! She is coarse, and crass, and has the morals of an alley cat. I can't believe how many times she spoke of children and motherhood with complete disdain. It's as if the author's family life and/or childhood was so horrid or painful that she cannot imagine that other women love motherhood or that there is any dignity in it.
I was pre-reading THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS for my teens. I ended up telling them that they could not read it. There is just too much immorality and bad examples of how a teen should be and act. I agree that the book is pretty well-written. I was very much taken with the story. But it's definitely not good teen chick lit, imo.
Other books I've read recently include MARCH by Geraldine Brooks (absolutely hated what she did with the character of the father from Little Women!), THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX by Mary Pearson (very compelling young adult literature) and SWEETHEARTS by Sara Zarr (also a young adult book that was a pretty good story).
I very much enjoyed Shannon Hale's THE ACTOR AND THE HOUSEWIFE. It was a fun story. I recommended it to a friend, who called me the next day and told me she had gone out and bought it that same day and read it in one sitting overnight!
The best book I've read this summer, and among the best I've EVER read, is A TALE OF TWO CITIES by Dickens. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED that book! I've come to believe that books like that are wasted on the young, who, for the most part, don't appreciate classics that are required reading. (I speak from personal experience, although this particular book was never required reading for me.) I truly think that you have to have a good part of a lifetime behind you and lots of life experiences to really get the most out of a classic like that. It was beautiful!
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~Irene (Mom to 6 girls, ages 7-19)
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teachingmom
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Just remembered one more book I read this summer that I want to recommend. It is SARAH'S KEY by Tatiana de Rosnay. My mom recommended this one to me after she read it for a book club. The setting is an awful event that happened in France during the Holocaust, and centers on one little girl in particular. The chapters very effectively go back and forth between that time period and the present day. It was a good, but heartbreaking book.
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~Irene (Mom to 6 girls, ages 7-19)
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Karen T
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teachingmom wrote:
The best book I've read and among the best I've EVER read is A TALE OF TWO CITIES by Dickens. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED that book! I've come to believe that books like that are wasted on the young, who, for the most part, don't appreciate classics that are required reading. (I speak from personal experience, although this particular book was never required reading for me.) I truly think that you have to have a good part of a lifetime behind you and lots of life experiences to really get the most out of a classic like that. It was beautiful!
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I am one of those forced to read it in high school, and not only did I dislike it, it totally turned me off to Dickens! This past year something made me try some of his other books (Nicholas Nickleby, Great Expectations, and Little Dorrit, which I'm still wading through but enjoying) and I've liked all of them. Two Cities is on my list to try again soon!
karen T
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4Real Forums : Book Club
Topic: Our 2009 Book List!
