Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Book Suggestion

I hope you all don't mind a quick post about a book I recently read. I figure we can't get enough reading suggestions (although we never have enough time to read them all). Anyway, after complaining a little too much about my current lot in life to my wonderful mother, she got me this book. She served on the Provo Library board with the author and his wife is Kathleen Hughes that was in the General Relief Society Presidency a few years ago. He talks about how he had to watch his three kids as well as 2 neighbor girls for one whole summer and so he knows how it is to be a mom. Of course he makes it known that this doesn't give him full insight into the life of a mom with young kids but it's helps him understand a little bit of what we go through.

There was one chapter in the book where he interviewed his daughter and daughters-in-law about raising their kids. One of them let her son watch The Lion King over and over all day. She said, "I know that's really bad to do, but killing a child is a lot worse." For some reason, I could totally relate to that comment. I've been there before and I'm sure I'm not alone.

Another quote I liked in the book said, "Once we meet the perfect mother...we should enshrine her, build a statue to the Unknown Mother, and then admit that she's the only example of perfection who will ever exist. We could maybe give out little statues of her at Mother's Day sacrament meetings, made out of chocolate, and then the mothers could take her home and bite her head off - and get a nice little chocolate rush at the same time."

Anyway, the book is available on Amazon (supposedly starting at $.07). I highly recommend it. It's a quick read and it really helped me refocus my life and this point and time. If you liked the mothering book we read a few months ago, you would greatly enjoy this!

Thursday, July 17, 2008

August: And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander

"Emily agreed to wed Philip, the Viscount Ashton, primarily to escape her overbearing mother. Philip's death while on safari soon after their wedding left Emily feeling little grief, for she barely knew the dashing stranger. But her discovery of his journals nearly two years later reveals a far different man than she imagined - a gentleman scholar and antiquities collector who apparently loved his new wife deeply. Emily's desire to learn more of her late husband leads her through the quiet corners of the British Museum and into a dangerous mystery involving rare stolen artifacts. To complicate matters, she's juggling two very prominent and wealthy suitors, one of whose intentions may go beyond matrimony into darker realms..." -Back Cover

"Had Jane Austen written The Da Vinci Code, she may well have come up with this elegant novel." -Martha O'Connor

Disclaimer: I searched through a lot of lists trying to pick out a good book for August and while several jumped out at me I was hesitant to pick them having never read them or talked to anyone who had and besides, we all know that there's only one book coming out in August that really matters right?! (Just kidding.) I read this book recently and thought it was a lot of fun. If any of you have already read it leave a comment and maybe I'll look for another one!

Available on Amazon for $11.16 new and from $2.22 used and new.