Summer Reading

So far this summer I've made two trips to the library. One of my goals for the summer has been to read fun books before I have to go back to school and read chemistry, physics, trigonometry, accounting, and social psychology books all semester long. I'm going to live it up as long as I can and get my fill of fun, silly, entertaining books this summer.

In order of being read:

The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall. A very cute story about sisters who, with their father and trusty dog, go away to a cottage owned by a snobby woman with a young son and spend a few weeks out of their summer there. It was an easy simple story. Meant for kids but I don't let that stop me from reading them. :)

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. This has long been one of my favorite books. There is something about Francie Nolan that I identify with. Something in the way Betty Smith writes makes me say to myself, "that's how I feel...I just didn't know how to say it." This book also opened my eyes a little bit to humanity and how complex people are and how beautiful and precious life is. It's a little mature for young readers but I think everyone would enjoy this book at some point in life.

10 out of 5 stars.

Wicked by Gregory Maguire. My friend saw the musical/play last year and said it was wonderful. Since then I found a copy of the book that inspired the play and I was able to start reading it last weekend and it was awful! It was dark and depressing and very immoral. I couldn't even finish it. I am sure that the musical is probably a little more lighthearted than the book, or at least I hope so. Not a book I would recommend.

I'd give it 0 of 5 stars.

Rosewater and Soda Bread by Marsha Mehran. With all the talk of Iran in the news lately my interest has been a little piqued. This book is about three sisters from Iran who end up living in Ireland and own a little restaurant. It said on the back of the book that there were lots of recipes included in the book so I thought I'd pick it up. It didn't give me any insight into the Iranian culture and I was sort of hoping it would. I wasn't entirely pleased with it. I'm not sure if I'd even try the recipes in the back. Maybe a couple. I also found it just a little conflicted and strange.

1 or 2 out of 5 starts.

Love Comes Softly by Janette Oke. I read these books a long time ago. Since the movies came out I decided to repay them a visit and they are so much better than the movie (big surprise, right?)! Just a sweet and simple romance novel. Janette Oke definitely writes some of the cleanest and sweetest Christian fiction. I have another book that I checked out by her too. I read Love Comes Softly in an afternoon so I am sure I'll have read the other one soon too.

5 stars.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I think this is probably considered a classic and would imagine that most people have read it while in high school or something. If not then go get a copy at the library. It's really good. It's about a little girl named Scout and her brother Jem and they live in Alabama during the 1940's. Their father, Atticus, is a lawyer is who is given a defense case for a black man who was accused of raping a white girl. It's cute, sad and gives a lot of insight into what a small southern town was like back during the days when people were still very prejudiced against people of different colors. One of the things about this book that I enjoy the most is that the people seem very real. Kind of like in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. You read this book and (especially if you have ever lived in the south) you know people like this.

5 stars.
And this book...so awesome! I got it recently and I really want to make some of the clothes in it. Once I lose a few lbs. I know that's not really a reason to wait to sew, but I think I'll enjoy sewing so much more if I've dropped a dress size or two. I'd also love to sew the kimono dress from Weekend Sewing (which is a book I don't own and am resisting buying because I own too many books!). I might just see if I can find a pattern for a kimono style dress.

New World Son

This CD is really good. I usually take awhile to really warm up to a band or CD, but I liked this one immediately and so did my siblings. I think they are new. They have a different sound which I what I think made me like them. They're not really pop-y or hard rock. And they're not country or rap either. They're more blues-y rockish. I liked them. We heard the CD at Bible study last week when Tim played it for us. If you check out Jacqueline's blog you can see what the result was!

I better go, we're getting ready to celebrate Holly's 14th!

Prince Caspian

It was okay. Edmund was more likeable in this one. He was a brat in the last movie. There was some other stuff in it too that I didn't care for. Like pretty much everything you said, Becky. And I didn't like the end so much. I don't think it was in the book (especially the pop sounding song). Maybe I should go back and re-read them. I liked the first Narnia movie better. I want to see Ember when it comes out. It was a good book. I'd recommend it.

Dad told me tonight that I really did break the grill when I backed into it this winter. One of the knobs fell off and is cracked and I think I broke one of the legs. Or something like that. That was a sad experience. I was upset because they told me they were selling Hank (our dog) right before I was about to leave for work one morning. For some reason the night before I didn't pull into the driveway, I backed in. So when I got in the car my first instinct was to put the car in reverse and back up. So that's what I did. When I realized that I was supposed to go forward I tried to slam on the brake, but slammed on the gas instead and shot backwards into the grill. I felt really bad about it. Especially when I came home and saw my mom making hamburgers on the cast iron skillet since she couldn't use the grill. Recently I overheard my dad on the phone with his friend. His friend asked if he would be doing any grilling soon (since the weather is finally warming up) and my dad said, "no, Grace ran over the grill." He was very calm about it. I was very blessed. My parents weren't really mad that I hit their grill with their car. They just told me it is stupid to drive when you're upset because bad things can happen when you're not paying attention. In the end I offered to buy them a new grill and they laughed at me. And we didn't sell Hank. It made me feel like the biggest creep ever. Not fun.

They weren't mad the time I brushed the curb and blew out my tire either. Luckily I made it to the first baptist church up the road where a couple of very kind ladies tried to patch it up with medical tape. It wasn't working and I didn't realize that there was a spare tire inside the floor of the car and I didn't know how to change a tire anyway, so they let me borrow a cell phone so I could call my dad. And even then he wasn't mad that I hit the curb. Just that I forgot my cell phone. Luckily the car was okay through it all anyway.

I don't know why I even wrote all this. Mostly for lack of having nothing better to say. I tried to work on some projects today and didn't finish anything. So maybe next week I'll have something to write about. Sorry for 3 posts in one day.

Recommendation:

I read "Murder on the Orient Express" today. It's an Agatha Christie Hercule Poirot mystery. Very good. I started it around 2 and finished it around 7 something. I totally didn't expect the ending. I usually don't get into mysteries, but I like Agatha Christie. Although I wonder what kind of person she was to think up all these murder stories. You kinda start to wonder about people like that. :)

I dug out my yarn yesterday. With this upcoming move I'm trying not to drag out all my fabric and sewing machine and books and have a huge mess to put away just in case someone calls (no one does, but that's beside the point). So I am knitting a scarf probably for my friend Courteney in her school colors. It probably won't be ready until it's cold again so I figure I have plenty of time to work on it (I'll have to post a picture of it when it's finished). I forgot how much I enjoyed it. Maybe I'll use up some of my yarn stash this summer. Around Christmas I gave away a large trash bag full of yarn that I felt I probably would never use and still had quite a bit of yarn left over. I need to really use up the stuff I have and stop buying fabric and yarn. :P Does anyone else have this problem?

That's all. :)