Plain Pursuit by Beth Wiseman

Plain Pursuit by Beth Wiseman is exactly like a Hallmark movie. The book is very predictable but yet a feel good book that you smile and cry just a little as you read. Plain Pursuit is about a woman named Carley that is forced to take a vacation from work as a journalist after a car accident takes the life of her mother and seriously injures her. Her editor felt like her writing was suffering and the only solution was to force her into vacation. Carley decides to take the time to visit her best friend that had recently converted to the Amish faith and lifestyle and was living in Amish country, Pennsylvania.

When she arrives in Pennsylvania, she is almost immediately thrown into the middle of a crisis. She finds a great deal of peace with the simplicity of the Amish life and begins to find herself that she had lost when her world crashed down after the accident.

The story is touching and very Hallmark. If you like Hallmark movies (which, I will admit, I totally do) then you will probably like this very quick read.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help by Kathryn Stockett is a novel set in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960s, in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. The story is about three women, two black women who are the hired help that raise white babies but are not trusted to polish silver or touch valuables and a white woman that begins to realize that changes need to be made in Jackson. The story is eye opening and incredibly inspiring. This book truly deserves the rave reviews that I have heard from many different people.

I really can't do a synopsis justice, the book is just so amazing and I can't seem to paraphrase it. I will just say to all of you, READ IT!

Potty Training in One Day by Narmin Parpia

I guess I'm not really qualified to review the book since I haven't actually tried its methods yet, but I felt that the book had good information and I'm willing to try this technique with my little buddy. I like the idea of not dragging potty training out if we can at all help it. I really like the modeling concept taught in the book.

On the downside, I think it takes a certain personality in a kid for this to be possible. I'm hoping mine has that personality, but I have lots of friends whose children DON'T have it. So, that is rough. According to the book, timing is everything with potty training. I'm worried that we're going to miss our window, but the book does lay out some specific guidelines as to when you kiddo is ready.

Anyway, more later to let you know if it worked for my little one.

The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean

This novel was an interesting fusion of dealing with Alzheimer's and shocking history. The main character, Marina, is an old woman who is losing touch with the present while recalling in perfect detail her past experience as a museum tour guide in the Hermitage in Leningrad during World War II.

I loved the art described in the book. It was beautiful, and made me run to the Hermitage's website to get a better mental image of the paintings and the halls.

I was also intrigued by the siege of Leningrad, not something I have ever heard or read about. As the author says, "I had never been taught in school about the Soviet Union's role in the Second World War...I had never heard about the siege of Leningrad." One of the Russian women she spoke with responded, "But we stopped Hitler...Over 2 million people died." I was disturbed a bit by the fact that we DON'T learn this in school.

It was a great book. Read it.

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli & Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

As part of this goal, I picked up Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli to fulfill the youth fiction category. It is a book about a high school in Arizona. There is a girl that has been home schooled her entire life but then decides to go to a public school. She is incredibly different and everyone thinks she is completely crazy. She doesn't care what people think about her and she continues to do whatever she wants. Slowly, people begin to recognize the beauty of her being different. One of my favorite lines in the books is, "It is a rebellion she led, a rebellion for rather than against."

It is a fabulous book and I highly recommend it!

After I finished Stargirl, I also read the sequel Love, Stargirl that continues the story. I didn't love the sequel as much as the first book, but I did still enjoy it. Go read at least Stargirl!!

MIA

I've been frantically reading so I would have something to post on this blog. However, in all of my frantic reading, I've now started 7 books and finished none.

So, rather than review any, just wanted to give you a heads up for what to look forward to...Here are the books I'll be reviewing. Hopefully before my children move out.

*Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child
*Cleopatra's Daughter (don't have to review it thanks to my sis)
*The Anatomy of Peace
*You Belong to Me
*On My Own Two Feet (I'm re-reading this one since I just got my own copy)
*Parenting With Love and Logic
*Body for Life for Women

I also started but don't plan on finishing:

*A New Earth
*Find Your Strongest Life

Tell me if you think I'm making a mistake by passing on these two.

Also on my bookshelf for future reading:

*Nefertiti
*The Heretic Queen
*Women of Covenant (I've been "reading" this for about a year)