- Bless Me, Pinterest, For I Have Sinned I also cannot execute the perfectly styled messy bun, Pinterest.
- Loquacious Lunes? Once again, I am incapable of summarization.
- Oh, You're Bored, Are You? This works, thank you very much. Our children never say the dreaded word.
- My Husband Has an Awesome Wife Or did, anyway, that one time.
- And His Birthday is Only a Month Away! MY LOVING JESUS DOLL. Probably my favorite post ever, because MY LOVING JESUS DOLL.
- Under-Achieving Moms Anonymous If we all under-perform together, we normalize it, or something.
- THE STAIN My back hurts.
- Because the Couple that Tiles Together Stays Together, Right? Blood, sweat, and a new backsplash that I STILL love.
- Suspicious Previous Owners Do not even get me started on those freaks.
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Flowers? The movie version is "Spade Runner." (If you get that joke, let me know so we can be best friends or I can give you one of my kidneys.)
- Newsflash: Cancer Sucks My mom had cancer many moons ago. It sucked.
- Brains! Do you have a post-it note brain, or an intensive filing system brain?
- Cool, Calm, and Collected Except not.
- Long Live McDonald's You'd never find this kind of lack of judgment at fancy joints like Subway.
- Why Not Dad? Seriously, though, why am I always the one who's dead?
Night Terrors
One of our children has severe night terrors. It's the worst. The actual worst. As such, I talk about it frequently.
- You Should See the Other Guy- Er, Chicken Eat 'em up, Beat 'em up, At-ti-cus
- Not So Comforting Hearkens back to a time when I didn't drink coffee. And yes, we still have that blanket.
- Night Terrors Are the Worst. No, Really. They Are. Desperation, Thy Name is Exhaustion.
- I'm Too Tired to Come Up With a Creative Title The daytime consequences of little to no sleep.
- Advice We've Received on How to Combat Night Terrors Reams of Advice. Mountains of Advice. And I've gotten loads more in the year and a half since this post, mostly well-meaning, also mostly worthless.
- Insomniacs Anonymous Where things get real, and by real, I mean bitter.
Book Reviews
The only thing I like better than reading is telling other people what they should read. In a non-threatening, unobtrusive way, of course. For the purposes of this list, I'm titling each post- which is also a link- according to what kind of reading your innards currently need.
If you're in the mood for...
- Dreamy, unusual fantasy; Christian nonfiction that isn't saccharine; or Nonfiction medical stories
- Nonfiction memoir about aging parents; Award-winning YA with a stuttering protagonist; or Christian nonfiction rethinking a well-known parable
- Humorous science fiction featuring a guy stranded on Mars who has to try and survive on very little food and only disco for musical entertainment
- Literary fiction you won't be able to stop thinking about
- The 14 books I read in 2014 that I would force you to sit down and read if kidnapping were legal.
- Gorgeous Christmas picture books
- Nonfiction explaining those crazy people known as introverts (relax, I'm one of them)
- Historical fiction set in France; Funny but sweet fiction about an Australian on the autism spectrum; Short fiction that feels more complete than some of the longest books; or a Christmas picture book that makes you cry
- A Jen Hatmaker Giveaway (now closed, but that shouldn't stop you from reading the book)
- A Louis L'Amour Memoir; Crazy weird good literary fiction; or Spectacular YA historical fiction
- Enthralling murder mystery series; Nora Ephron nonfiction; Quirky murder mystery series with a young girl protagonist; Historical fiction set in Russia that will keep you up reading all night- don't say I didn't warn you
- Hysterically funny nonfiction; Literary fiction that speaks to current events; Solid fantasy series; or Even more funny nonfiction
- Dark, northern European import fiction; Delightful character-driven YA fiction; Nonfiction by a young lady shot by the Taliban for having both an opinion and a voice; Sweet-but-not-too-sweet YA fiction
- Nonfiction Self-Help/Health/Fitness/Nutrition-type book that is so outside my wheelhouse it made my brain short-circuit when I read it
- A parenting book that doesn't make you despair for the future or want to kill someone
- Fun (no, really!) nonfiction history; Christian nonfiction that will make you laugh and laugh and then maybe cry; Humorous fiction for when you want something light but not brainless; Pulitzer Prize-winning depressing literary fiction; A memoir about a librarian who has Tourette's but is also a body-builder (no, really!); A just okay memoir that is of course now being made into a big-time movie; Beautiful, addictive WWII historical fiction; Inspiring Christian nonfiction; or an intriguing memoir of a current hot-shot chef; Another winner in the Odd Thomas series
I just have to share (since I share your appreciation for "The Book Thief") that you *must* read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, which is also set in WWII and is a historical narrative. As I wrote in my review, it's a "riveting tale that's marvelously told". :) http://learninghowmuchidontknow.blogspot.com/2011/10/unbroken-dont-miss-it.html
ReplyDeleteOooh, I love book recommendations! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteUmmmm, I suggest you start doing posts about what you're reading because I (gasp!) almost missed the change here! :) I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the Duggar book as well, and actually enjoyed their more recent book (Love that Multiplies or something like that) even more than the first one! I appreciate their humility most, I think.
ReplyDeleteI'm sort of stressed that I might have missed a review of a great book--how weird is that? Do you just *erase* the previous books??!!! Anyway, I understand what you're saying with The Map of Time. I haven't read that particular book, but I've certainly read books (and watched movies) that gave me the same feeling. (The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo comes to mind--don't waste your time or pollute your mind! shudder)
ReplyDeletePhew! You have *no* *IDEA* how relieved I am that you are preserving your book reviews so I don't have to worry that I've missed a change on the "books we're reading page".
ReplyDeleteDeep breath
grin
I'm giggling over your Stephen King attempt--he really is a little *too* talented, isn't he? And I love that your young lady is reading James and the Giant Peach and Dahl--so fun!
ReplyDeleteI feel like a bit of a freak or a stalker or something since I am the only one who comments on this page. . .but I am intrigued by Little Bee and adding it to my "want to read" list (bwah, ha, ha, the list that just keeps growing because I add 2-3 titles for every one I manage to cross off! Maybe I'll get them all read when I'm a-hem in my 50s and all my kids are out of the house.)
ReplyDeleteWe read the first two of the Eragon series, but maybe should read 3 and 4 this summer, hmmmm? And I looked at Kingsolver's book back when I read The Poisonwood Bible but it didn't look interesting to me at all. (cheeky grin) Thanks for the reviews, as usual. :)
Okay, you're the second person to review The Language of Flowers and I am putting it on my "July hope-to-read list". :) And you've persuaded me on These is My Words. GWTW is such a fun, take-me-away book, even though Scarlett is so selfish, spoiled, immature, etc. Sounds like a fun summer read!
ReplyDeleteWell, your review of Graceling sucked me in --I've just downloaded it to my Kindle, although I have several other books I have to finish first.
ReplyDeleteI really love this idea of a way to keep track of books, and might create my own list. I just wanted you to know that I'm stealing your idea :-)
Hahaha, steal away! I'd love to see what you're reading- plus, I've been seriously thinking of stealing one of your ideas and taking pics of various flower beds so that I can remember just what I planted there.
DeleteIt's me again, Margaret. (Did you get THAT quote?! lol)
ReplyDeleteI guess we can't be best friends for life b/c I had to google your around the world snap thing and am STILL not sure I got it. And I'm so glad Loving the Little Years made your highly selective list. :) I think it's funny we had the exact same complaint (too short) in our reviews.
Judy Blume! I like this game! And I don't blame you for not getting the snap thing- it's one of the products of being allowed to watch very inappropriate television as a child, something my sisters and I question to this day.
DeleteShayla and I laughed over the fact that we both paid extra attention to the sections of the book where you had made notes in the margins. It was fun to read a book that way!
I'm a little embarrassed to admit that "Still Missing" intrigues me. I think it was the contrast you set up between "sensitive" and "enjoy this genre". Dare I admit I'm in the latter category?
ReplyDelete"Drop everything you're doing and go read this book"--oh yes, I need to hang around with you more often! Those are the kinds of words I like to hear. :)
ReplyDeleteSometimes I get a little carried away when I'm talking about books.
DeleteSigh--are you not reading anymore or WHAT?!
ReplyDeleteThe Rook--I wish I had it right here, right now. Sounds like a great escape for me this evening!
ReplyDelete1) Doing the happy dance that your hubby read Unbroken. I hear Jon read it too. (I keep telling people they HAVE to read it, lol).
ReplyDelete2) The Warded Man--um, sounds weird. And I would think it would give you nightmares. grin
3) The Art of Racing in the Rain really sounds interesting--like the premise.
4) Had to chuckle at your growth in reading taste, and your eye rolling to the point of getting a headache. But seriously, that is so annoying to read a book and then reflect on how horrible it was and thus such a waste of time.
The Warded Man didn't give me nightmares. I have a pretty high tolerance for 'weird,' it's the out-and-out 'scary' that gets me.
DeleteAnd thanks for commenting on the Books page- I'm glad I'm updating this for somebody other than me!