Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!
My Musing:
I mused a bit, the other day, on the fact that I own a lot of books that are more geared to who I wish I was as a reader, more than who I really am {see the original post}. But, I also believe that a lot of my procrastination comes from the fact that I’m just not “ready” to read these books yet.
I truly believe that we sometimes have to be in the right spot in our lives before a certain book will impact us. And subconsciously, we know this. Or, if you have a faith base like I do, you can believe that God has you wait to read certain things until you’re at the point where you need to hear what that book has to say.
There have been many times where I’ve bought a book, and then it has sat and sat on my shelf for years before I’ve picked it up to read it. Yet, when I finally did, it totally “spoke” to where I was at in my life at that time. I was meant to wait to read that book.
PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Musing Mondays post, or share your answer in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks! 
I have not been in a good spot, reading wise, lately. Everything else is taking my attention away — I am truly living up to my blog’s name (Should Be Reading). LOL.
I finally finished with “Orphan Train” by Christina Baker Klein, and have moved on to “Sweet Mercy” by Ann Tatlock. I had to force myself to start reading, again, yesterday… not to get back into the new book, but to just START it! Luckily, it’s very good, so I’m already almost half-way through. Hoping I can finish it today or tomorrow, as I’m needing to get to my library book, “Pure Pleasure” by Gary Thomas soon.
Part of what is distracting me from reading is the fact that I’m working on starting a business. I need a job, and have been unable to find anything locally. I’ve always wanted to work from home and run my own business, so I figured now’s as good a time as any. I came up with a great idea, too — one I am really excited about! But, doing all of the prep work is time-consuming. I have been working on a website, and trying to come up with a name, and working on all of the other little details. So, there hasn’t been a lot of time for other things — like reading. That’s okay, though. I am enjoying the process. 
This weekend is the Canadian holiday weekend, as tomorrow is Victoria Day. My family and I aren’t doing anything special… just hanging out around the house. I have plans to reorganize some cupboards in the kitchen, and –of course– to get some more reading done. That’s about it.
I am really hoping that my friends in the band will still be doing a concert on May 29th — their website says they have plans to do one then. I am looking forward to hearing their new music! They are just about to release their brand new EP, “Frontiers“, and I can’t wait! I’m anxious to get myself a copy!
So, that’s about it for where I’m at this week. Happy reading, everyone!
FRIDAY FINDS showcases the books you ‘found’ and added to your To Be Read (TBR) list… whether you found them online, or in a bookstore, or in the library — wherever! (they aren’t necessarily books you purchased).
So, come on — share with us your FRIDAY FINDS!
My Finds:
“Crossing the Chasm” – Geoffrey Moore
“Life After Art” – Matt Appling
“The Firebird” – Susanna Kearsley
PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Friday Finds post, or share your ‘finds’ in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!
Do you buy books for the person you wish you were?
This morning, I read a really interesting post, written by Amy at My Friend Amy’s blog, about how a lot of times she purchases or acquires books that are more suited to the person she wishes she was (more intellectual, etc.) than for the person she believes she really is. As she puts it, “books I wish I loved, books that I feel even by owning make me one tiny step closer to this smarter person with good taste“.
You can read her whole post {here}.
This got me to thinking about my own reading habits. Do I do the same thing? Oh, absolutely! I bought “The Blank Slate” by Steven Pinker, and “A Short History of Nearly Everything” by Bill Bryson because I think I’m more intellectual than I actually am. I own a ton of “raved reads” — books people have thought were excellent and gush-worthy — because I think I’m one of those people who’ll be “well-read” if she reads everything that everyone else is talking about (now, mind you, I only buy the ones that also actually sound interesting to me, like something I might enjoy). But, I never read these books. They sit on my shelves collecting dust, and making me feel guilty for never getting around to reading them!
Amy wrote, “Part of me wants to get real and discard the books that exist only as physical representation of who I wish could be rather than who I actually am. But another part of me thinks I’ll eventually get disciplined enough to actually somehow become this person.” And, I agree… I am the exact same way.
I know that if I got rid of all these books that, truthfully, I will never read, I’d free myself from the subconscious guilt over them being unread. But, yes, part of me still hopes that I will someday be “disciplined enough to somehow become” the person who reads these types of books.
Who is this person I wish I was? I guess she’s the gal that wishes she could have deep, intellectual conversations about big topics like the universe, and God, and history. She’s the one who, when someone says, “Oh, I just read ___ and it was such an amazing book. Have you read it?“, she can eagerly respond, “I have! And, my thoughts on it were that … ” I have a love-hate relationship with my eclectic reading tastes. I love that I read such diverse stuff — books that many people wouldn’t think to read. But, I hate that I can never discuss all those “popular” books with people as I haven’t read them, and probably –truthfully– never will. It seems my answer to the above question is always, “I own that book, but I haven’t read it, yet.” Story of my life.
Join the discussion! Either leave me a comment, here, or go on over to Amy’s post and join in there!
To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?
My answers:
What are you currently reading? I’m just starting “Sweet Mercy” by Ann Tatlock, so I have no opinion of it, so far.
What did you recently finish reading? “Orphan Train” by Christina Baker Klein, and it was good.
What do you think you’ll read next? I have to get “Emotional Vampires at Work” by Albert J. Bernstein read for NetGalley, and then I’ll probably read one of my library books (most likely, “Pure Pleasure” by Gary Thomas).
PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own WWW Wednesdays post, or share your answers in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!
From the inside front cover:“Seventeen-year-old Molly Ayer knows that a community-service position helping an elderly widow clean out her attick is the only thing keeping her out of juvenile hall. But, as Molly helps Vivian sort through her keepsakes and possessions, she discovers that she and Vivian aren’t as different as they appear…. Moving between contemporary Maine and Depression-era Minnesota, Orphan Train is a powerful tale of upheaval and resilience, second chances, and unexpected friendship.”
This book was a lot different than I’d expected. First off, I didn’t expect it to be so much from Molly’s point of view. Yes, a great deal of the book is Vivian telling the story of her childhood, having been part of the “Orphan Train” of children that were “farmed out” to families by the Children’s Aid Society. But, the book starts off giving us Molly’s situation, and revolves around her doing her community service hours helping Vivian.
I liked Molly’s relationship with her boyfriend Jack — it was cute. And, I liked the spunk in both Vivian and Molly.
Some reviews I’ve read said that Vivian’s viewpoint sounded too “old” for having come from a child. But, I didn’t read it like that — I read it as Vivian recounting her childhood, so it’s almost as if I’m listening to her tell a story (if you have ever seen the movie, “The Princess Bride”, it’s like how the grandpa is reading this story of Wesley & Princess Buttercup to his sick grandson — played by Fred Savage — and you hear the grandpa as the story’s Narrator, in some parts of the movie…) I read this book the same way — that Vivian, as her 90-yr-old self, was “narrating” the story for us.
Reviewers also felt that Molly’s story wasn’t fleshed out enough. But, I felt that I got enough of her side of things to know where she’s coming from, especially having heard many stories about children who are in (or have been through) foster homes, and what it’s like for them.
Like many others, I was horrified at the conditions that Vivian had to endure as she went along in her childhood. The treatment of children was so awful! It’s like people forgot that these children are human, too, in need of the same basics as adults!
Overall, this is a great book. I’d definitely recommend it.
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A complimentary copy of this book was provided for review by the SheReads.org blog network. Please visit their website to see the rest of the reviews written by those touring this book!
Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!
My Musing:
One of my Friday Finds from this past week was “The Fate of Mercy Alban” by Wendy Webb. And, I’d really like to get my hands on a copy! It sounds very good! Here’s the description from GoodReads.com:
From award-winning novelist Wendy Webb comes a spine-tingling mystery about family secrets set in a big, old haunted house on Lake Superior.
Grace Alban has spent twenty years away from her childhood home, the stately Alban House, for reasons she would rather forget. But when her mother’s unexpected death brings Grace and her teen-age daughter home, she finds more haunting the halls and passageways of Alban House than her own personal demons.
Long-buried family secrets, a packet of old love letters and a lost manuscript plunge Grace into a decades-old mystery about a scandalous party at Alban House, when a world-famous author took his own life and Grace’s aunt disappeared without a trace. The night has been shrouded in secrecy by the powerful Alban family for all of these years, and Grace realizes her family secrets tangle and twist as darkly as the secret passages of Alban House. Her mother was intending to tell the truth about that night to a reporter on the very day she died – could it have been murder? Or was she a victim of the supposed Alban curse? With the help of the disarmingly kind–and attractive—Reverend Matthew Parker, Grace must uncover the truth about her home and its curse before she and her daughter become the next victims.
I normally don’t like books with the plot line of a main character returning home after a family member’s death and then having a life-changing event happen. And, I normally don’t care for scary books, either. But, this book sounds awesome!
PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Musing Mondays post, or share your musing in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!
Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms!
I have found that I am in a pretty bad reading slump. I finally was able to go back to “Orphan Train” by Christina Baker Klein, the other night, and read for a couple of hours. But, despite the fact that the book is good, I am just really struggling to get myself to want to read, lately. I don’t know what’s up with that. I am distracted by the computer, and journaling, and my iPod. Actually, the iPod may be the biggest culprit, at least in the last couple of days — I’m completely addicted to the app/game, “Dots“. LOL
In fact, the crazy thing is, I don’t normally play a lot of games… but this simple game of “connect-the-dots” has me completely hooked! It gives these little musical sounds every time you connect the dots, and the longer the string of dots connected, the higher you can get those musical notes to go! LOL. I found myself playing for hours on end, yesterday! It’s the dumbest thing. 
Hilariously, when I found this picture (at left) on Google Images, its caption said, “Ruin your productivity…” No kidding!
Anyway. I’ve got to keep that iPod turned off today and just read my book! I have to get “Orphan Train” finished and reviewed this week, and then get into “Sweet Mercy” by Ann Tatlock, and then “Emotional Vampires at Work” by Albert J. Bernstein. Then I will be done with review books for a short while — at least until “Contagious Optimism” by David Mezzapelle shows up in the mail (LibraryThing.com “Early Reviewers” book that I won a month ago). And I have one other book coming which doesn’t have a quick deadline.
I am taking a hiatus from reviewing after these, though — I’m not accepting any more books for a while, or asking for them — as I really need to get around to reading some of the library books I’ve borrowed, or am waiting for, and I want to read some of my own books, too. I have “Pure Pleasure” by Gary Thomas out from the library (an inter-library loan copy), right now, and I still haven’t read the library copy of “Tempation” by Daniel Akst. I don’t think I’m going to manage to get to it before it has to go back — and I can’t renew it any more. I will have to take it out again, later. Plus, I’m still waiting for the library copies of “Lose Weight Now: The Easy Way” by Allen Carr, and “Craving” by Omar Manejwala, M.D. — both of which the library is ordering copies of for their system (it takes them a while to get them in, and catalogue them).
This coming week, I have an appointment to finally get my knee x-rayed. I injured it several years ago, while out on a walk with my family, and thought I’d just sprained it. Could hardly walk for 3 weeks. But, ever since then, it has still acted up from time-to-time. And, in my research about it, I’ve discovered that I might just have a meniscal tear. So, I am finally looking into that, and I hope I can get it fixed if that’s what it is. I’d like to take up running, eventually, but I can’t run for more than 1.5 minutes, right now, as my knee starts bothering me after that. (And, yes, I’m aware that an x-ray is going to do no good to show the problem — apparently it’s just the first step that my doctor has to take before she can send me for an MRI, and then on to a knee-specialist/surgeon).
I also am researching a really cool new job idea that I thought of — something I can do from home. I’m really, really excited about it, and hope it works out!
Anyway. Hubby is “cooking” for me, tonight (take-out! LOL), and otherwise, it’ll be a lazy Mother’s Day for me. Best kind of “present” I could get, honestly.
Happy Reading, folks!
For this week’s God-Sized Dream team prompt, we’re told to: Share about your favorite nonprofit organization. They are all God-sized dreams in action. How have they inspired you?
My favorite non-profit organization would have to be Room To Read. This organization focuses on literacy and gender equality in education. From their website:
We work in collaboration with communities and local governments across Asia and Africa to develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children, and support girls to complete secondary school with the life skills they’ll need to succeed in school and beyond.
Learning about this non-profit gave me the idea that, some day, I would like to some way help with teaching people how to read, and encouraging literacy. Books are a huge passion of mine, so I want to see those in third-world countries have the same priviledge of knowing how to read that we do.
I read a really sad story, recently, written by Ann Voskamp (author of “One Thousand Gifts”), about her trip to Haiti. She met this little boy named Wesley, who is 12 years old, and had a Bible that he really loved. When she asked him what his favorite verse is, he could only point, because he cannot read. Yep — he is 12 years old, and he cannot read. 
We have a lot of Mexican-Mennonite families around where I live, and a lot of the adults cannot read or write. They either didn’t go to school because they were helping with their siblings (they usually have large families with many children), or they didn’t ever finish school. This lack of ability to read and write really hinders them in day-to-day living. And, it makes me ache to do something about this! I want to help!
So, yes… Room to Read made me realize that I have a passion for literacy, and I want to be involved with that at some point.
FRIDAY FINDS showcases the books you ‘found’ and added to your To Be Read (TBR) list… whether you found them online, or in a bookstore, or in the library — wherever! (they aren’t necessarily books you purchased).
So, come on — share with us your FRIDAY FINDS!
My Finds:
“Our Song” – Jordanna Fraiberg
“Your Life As Art” – Robert Fritz
“Fragile Darkness” – Ellie James
“The Eternity Cure” – Julie Kagawa (book 2)
“Wounds” – Alton Gansky
“Unravel” by Calia Read
“The Distance Between Us” – Kasie West
“Memoirs of An Imaginary Friend” – Matthew Dicks
“Building Resilience in Children & Teens” – Kenneth Ginsburg
“The Fate of Mercy Alban” – Wendy Webb
“The Exceptions” – David Cristofano
“The Inquisitor’s Wife” – Jeanne Kalogridis
PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Friday Finds post, or share your ‘finds’ in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!
To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?
My answers:
What are you currently reading? I am still reading “Orphan Train” by Christina Baker Klein. Hopefully will be able to finish it soon.
What did you recently finish reading? I finished “The One Success Habit (You Can’t Live Without)” by Dr. Fred R. Lybrand, a couple of weeks ago. Very good book.
What do you think you’ll read next? I still have “Temptation” by Daniel Akst (a library book) that I’d like to get to. Plus, I have two review books, now on tap: “Sweet Mercy” by Ann Tatlock, and “Emotional Vampires at Work” by Albert J. Bernstein (for NetGalley). So, we’ll see. Don’t know, yet, which I’ll pick.
PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own WWW Wednesdays post, or share your answers in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!
