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Category: Books

How to Become a Reader

How to Become a Reader

It is not uncommon for me to stumble across conversations where I hear people remark sadly, “I wish I were a reader.” Well, as someone who is a reader, although of a lesser variety than some hardy folks, I am happy to offer a few tips to go from non-reader to reader. I realize that if you are not a reader, you are not reading this post, making it completely pointless, but perhaps this is a good thing, as this…

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2020 Reading Recap

2020 Reading Recap

Hello there, how have you been? It’s been such a long time since we’ve chatted about books, so let’s fix that. I enjoy doing a recap of what I’ve been reading every year, rejoicing over my favorites and occasionally warning you of lemons so you can avoid them if you wish. I didn’t get around to doing this for 2020, for several reasons. First- I’ve had a year long case of the worst writer’s block. I heard recently that perhaps…

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Bookish Questionnaire

Bookish Questionnaire

Some time ago my acquaintance-who-I-pretend-is-my-friend did a book week on her blog, and when I mentioned how much fun that would be, she kindly created this bookish questionnaire for me! I don’t have a whole week of book posts for you just now (hopefully coming later), but as a person who has wasted entirely too many hours doing stupid Buzzfeed quizzes, I great fun filling this much-better-than-Buzzfeed-quiz out. If you want to participate, I’d love to hear you answer your…

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Giveaway for Book Lovers

Giveaway for Book Lovers

Update: We have winners! Congrats to Alyssa R for winning Mansfield Park, Vanya for winning Garlic and Sapphires, and Shianne Kropf for winning Canterbury Tales. The only thing more fun than finding a perfectly delicious book is forcing all your friends to read it as well. (Don’t ask my friends if I am annoying this way; I already know the answer.) Anyway, I think my friends’ “To-Read” lists are all quite long enough, so there’s nothing left to do but…

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Let’s Talk Books

Let’s Talk Books

One of my goals for 2018 was to read or get rid of all the unread books in my library, with the exception of a couple reference books, and a wee French book I have, because je ne parle pas francais. It was a hefty stack, although some of them were gotten out of the way in short order, such as the treasury of Beatrix Potter. I really couldn’t help myself from throwing some additional ones into the mix, so…

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Day 25: Ogden Nash

Day 25: Ogden Nash

I admit it, I love silly poetry. And there’s hardly anyone who does it better than Ogden Nash. Rhythm and meter fly out the window, and he twists words at his own will to force them to rhyme. And yet, it’s so clever! But really, he has no better introduction than to show you one of his pieces. Here we have his “Common Cold” poem, one of his more orderly ones, and one of my personal favorites. Enjoy. “Go hang…

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Day 18: ESV Journaling Bible

Day 18: ESV Journaling Bible

I’ve never been a fan of writing in my books. I label them in pencil and don’t write notes in the margins. So it’s somewhat odd that I decided to try a journaling Bible, eh? At first I could hardly bring myself to write in it. What if I’d want the space later for something else? What if someone else read it? What if I messed up and made irreparable marks in it? Finally, I forced myself to just start…

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Day 12: How to Celebrate Everything

Day 12: How to Celebrate Everything

I first encountered Jenny through her blog, Dinner, a Love Story, and I was drawn in by the color and humor and her lovely writing style. Imagine my delight then, when I opened a present from Lyn and found her book inside. How to Celebrate Everything is just what the title implies, a guide to all the popular holidays, as well as many other occasions that deserve celebrating just because. For instance, check out her “Yay, It’s Wednesday Cake!” and see if that…

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Day 10: The Blue Castle

Day 10: The Blue Castle

You know how sometimes you come across a book that just warms the cockles of your heart and makes you wish you could crawl inside it and live there? Meet “The Blue Castle” by L.M. Montgomery. I was introduced to Montgomery a bit late in life, which perhaps makes my delight in her writing just that much greater, since I can appreciate its skill more now than as a kid. And of all my favorites of hers, I believe “The Blue…

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Day 5: He Was One of Us

Day 5: He Was One of Us

A friend of mine gave me this book one year for my birthday, and I have to say, it is one of the most beautiful books I have ever seen. Although it is laid out like a child’s book, and would probably appeal to children as well, it is rather more suited to an older readership. It tells the story of Jesus’ life and death, in the most beautiful poetry and illustrations. But let me show you, rather than tell…

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Day 2: Food Memoirs

Day 2: Food Memoirs

When we lived in Honduras, Melissa and I would spend hours perusing cookbooks and drooling over all the recipes we didn’t have the ingredients to make. And with the passing of years, my cookbook addiction turned to something even more interesting, a food memoir addiction. To the best of my understanding, a food memoir is a book which tells snippets of stories from a person’s life, around the theme of food. Memoirs differ from biographies in that they don’t follow…

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My Book Challenge for 2017

My Book Challenge for 2017

I’d never done a book challenge before, but decided to try one last year. And in the process, I discovered something about myself- I don’t like reading from someone else’s list. I take a more fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants approach to reading, apparently. But nevertheless, it was a good challenge to do, because I read a few things I wouldn’t have otherwise. I didn’t quite finish the challenge, which I like to blame entirely on having to plow through one of the longest…

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