Let's Chat: The Prizewinner of Defiance, Ohio (July)

Here's what I thought.

Here's what Emily thought.

What did the rest of you think?

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!

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.

Let's Talk: The Book Thief (June)

Here is my take on this book. If you haven't finished it--DON'T READ MY REVIEW YET!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading from the perspective of death. I found it added an interesting depth to the story as you knew that death was always near. I also thought it was different how death kept telling us what was going to happen way before it did--like who was going to die and how. I didn't find the book to be overly graphic in the depiction of death or the events of that time. The war itself only served as a backdrop to a great story as it unfolded--the story of a girl who comes to love books and find comfort in words.

My favorite character was probably Rudy. I thought he was funny (because of the Jesse Owens incident) and genuine as a friend (saving Leisel from herself when she sees Max again). I could imagine a cocky boy like him being 'real.' I also liked that the author depicted Germany at the time not as a country full of absolute Nazi supporters, but a country with at least a few people who were decent. Ones willing to hid a Jew or think Hitler Youth was a waste. I cried at the end for Leisel.

I would give it 4 3/4 out of 5 stars!

Book for July

I had a couple of books in mind for July but decided on this one (The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less) because I think it's the most fun. It's a little bit like that Zippy book in a sense that it's a memoir. It's a quick read, witty, and is based on a true story. It's actually written by the Prize Winner's daughter. There's even a movie based on the story with Julianne Moore. It's okay but the book is definitely much better. I thought all you summer Ohio folks might enjoy a read from a story based in Ohio.

In case you need more info here's the review from Publishers Weekly. "In the 1950s, the Ryan family struggled to make ends meet. Ten kids and a father who spent most of his paycheck on booze drained the family's meager finances. But mom Evelyn Ryan, a former journalist, found an ingenious way to bring in extra income: entering contests on the backs of cereal boxes and the like. The author, Evelyn's daughter, tells the entertaining story of her childhood and her mother's contest career with humor and affection. She is not a professional narrator, but her love and admiration for her mother come through in every sentence. Evelyn won supermarket shopping sprees that put much-needed food on the table, provided washing machines and other appliances the family couldn't afford, and delivered cash to pay the mounting pile of bills. This well-told, suspenseful tale is peppered with examples of Evelyn's winning poems and slogans, taken from the years of notebooks that she saved and passed on to her daughter, and has a fiction-worthy climax that will keep listeners laughing even as they're glued to Ryan's tale." (Forecasts, Feb. 5). The book is available on Amazon from $6-$15.

If anyone has already read this and wants a different book, let me know and I'll come up with a different one. If not, enjoy and I'll look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Book Review: "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis

Annette already wrote her review of this book on her Book Barn Blog so I thought I'd post mine here.

I was the one who picked this book, but since May was pretty much the stinkiest month for me, I didn't start it until late in the month. I just couldn't bring my "insane" self to read such dark stuff. I was afraid it would make me even crazier than I was already feeling. Besides, all the "tempting" that was being talked about was a little too fresh in my mind as I felt like satan was doing a number on me already with my hubby working so much.

So, after life (and I) calmed down, I got to reading...albeit late in the game.
I'd have to say that I was somewhat confused during some of the reading due to all the "big words" that Lewis uses. Evidently I'm not as sophisticated in the English language as he is. But I did get the jest of what he was trying to convey. I guess that's why I had such a hard time reading it in the beginning. I could just see my 'tempter' talking about me to another 'lower tempter'--and I didn't want to think about all the ammunition they had. I was intrigued by the fact that this is quite possibly how 'tempters' work. With the Gospel foundation I can see how all this could play out; how sophisticated satan is in his tactics, how just as Christ knows everything about us, satan too, knows us but instead uses that knowledge to hurt us rather than help us. It was all very revealing and eye opening to me.

I wouldn't say this was my favorite book, but I'd rate it 3 1/2 out of 5. My biggest hangup: All the big words. Sorry Mr. Lewis!

June book: The Book Thief

Yes, so I am supposed to choose the book for June and May has been THE craziest month of my year thus far! But hey, it's not over yet and so I give you June's book selection: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I have heard amazing things about this book! Here is a review from Amazon:

"Grade 9 Up–Zusak has created a work that deserves the attention of sophisticated teen and adult readers. Death himself narrates the World War II-era story of Liesel Meminger from the time she is taken, at age nine, to live in Molching, Germany, with a foster family in a working-class neighborhood of tough kids, acid-tongued mothers, and loving fathers who earn their living by the work of their hands. The child arrives having just stolen her first book–although she has not yet learned how to read–and her foster father uses it, The Gravediggers Handbook, to lull her to sleep when shes roused by regular nightmares about her younger brothers death. Across the ensuing years of the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Liesel collects more stolen books as well as a peculiar set of friends: the boy Rudy, the Jewish refugee Max, the mayors reclusive wife (who has a whole library from which she allows Liesel to steal), and especially her foster parents. Zusak not only creates a mesmerizing and original story but also writes with poetic syntax, causing readers to deliberate over phrases and lines, even as the action impels them forward. Death is not a sentimental storyteller, but he does attend to an array of satisfying details, giving Liesels story all the nuances of chance, folly, and fulfilled expectation that it deserves. An extraordinary narrative.–Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA"

The book is $9.59 on Amazon. I'm looking forward to it! Sorry it's so late!