Monthly Archives: May 2012

If I were to write a book…

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btt button Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme which poses a question or a thought for participants to discuss centering on the subject of books or reading.

I haven’t done a Booking Through Thursday for a very long time, but today’s question piqued my interest:

Cathy De Los Santos asks: If you could write a book, what would it be about, and why? (Though, of course, some of you already HAVE.)

I’ve thought about it.

One book I’ve given thought to writing is a devotional book for pre-teen and teen boys, because I haven’t really found anything I liked along those lines when I’ve read them with my youngest. I’ve seen some good books and Bible studies for them, but not a short devotional — they all tend to try to be too trendy or “hip,” and that kind of approach sadly fails, in my opinion. And others are a little off in their theology. Having raised three boys, there is a lot I’d love to say to guys, and there are things I hope my own have picked up along the way. But then I ask myself, why would any teen guy care what a middle-aged mom he doesn’t know has to say?

I’ve also thought of writing missionary biographies. Personally, I’d rather read and point people to the old ones, but some people don’t want to labor through the older language or the ponderous details and history of them. This desire has been renewed since picking up a new biography I had high hopes for but am a little disappointed in — the language is updated but the writing style does not draw one in at all (more on that when I finish and review it). The story of one of my favorite missionaries is spread out over several of her books, and I’ve often thought someone should blend them into one — and I’ve given thought to giving that a try or trying to write a new biography of her.

I’ve also thought of writing Christian fiction, but I have very little idea of what to write. For years I’ve had in mind a couple of characters: a teen girl who moves to a new place with her family, reluctantly does something for an elderly neighbor, strikes up a friendship with her, and the older woman becomes something of an unofficial mentor to her. But that’s about all I’ve got, even though, as I said, I’ve had them in mind for years. I’m not sure where to go with them, where to take them. I’m not a very decisive person , and there are multitudes of decisions to make when writing fiction. With non-fiction, especially biography, your source material is there: you just have to decide how to present it and organize it, what to include and what to leave out, etc. But with fiction, you’re making everything up as you go, and you can go any number of directions!

So far there hasn’t really been time to delve much into any of these, but maybe now that my youngest has graduated……..we’ll see how the Lord leads!

I know a couple of my blog friends have written books, one published and one on its way! I may be coming to you for advice if/when I follow in your footsteps.

What would you write if you were to write a book?

Quotes about books and reading

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So, most of you know I love to read. And I know many of you do as well. Here are some quotes I’ve seen recently that resonated with me, and I feel sure they will with some of you as well. All of the images are from Pinterest. I don’t endorse everything about every person quoted, just the quote itself.

– “Literature is my utopia. Here I am not disenfranchised. No barrier of the senses shuts me out from the sweet, gracious discourses of my book friends.” Helen Keller

– “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. As by the one, health is preserved, strengthened and invigorated; by the other, virtue (which is the health of the mind) is kept alive, cherished and confirmed. But as exercise becomes tedious and painful when we make use of it only as the means of health, so reading is apt to grow uneasy and burdensome, when we apply ourselves to it only for our improvement in virtue. For this reason, the virtue which we gather from a fable, or an allegory, is like the health we get by hunting; as we are engaged in an agreeable pursuit that draws us on with pleasure, and makes us insensible of the fatigues that accompany it.”
-Joseph Addison and Richard Steele
The Tatler No. 147

– “An interesting book is food that makes us hungry.” Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach (seen at Mama Bear‘s).

– “Reading allows me to thrive. If I don’t, then I feel stagnant.” ~ Michael D. Perkins

‎- “A good story is life, with the dull parts taken out.” Alfred Hitchcock (seen at Robin Lee Hatcher’s Facebook.)

The following two were seen at Carrie‘s:

– “The books that help you most are those which make you think the most. The hardest way of learning is that of easy reading; but a great book that comes from a great thinker is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth and beauty.” Theodore Parker (1810 – 1860)

– “The reading of all good books is indeed like a conversation with the noblest men of past centuries who were the authors of them, nay a carefully studied conversation, in which they reveal to us none but the best of their thoughts.” Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650)

“The best moments in reading are when you come across something – a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things – that you’d thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you’ve never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it’s as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.” Alan Bennett (I saw this on Pinterest, and after looking around discovered it is from a movie that I would not see and would not recommend. I started not to include it for that reason, but I do like the quote in and of itself.)

– “Reading a book gives us somewhere to go when we stay where we are.” Unknown

– “Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another’s skin, another’s voice, another’s soul.” Joyce Carol Oates

Book Review: Chasing Mona Lisa

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I saw Chasing Mona Lisa by Tricia Goyer and Mike Yorkey listed as a free Kindle book (at the time: it is not free now) at Inspired Reads, and thought it looked interesting, so interesting + free = “Sure, I’ll try it!”

The setting is in France just as WWII is close to winding down. Germany’s Goring has been quietly amassing a treasure of prized art pieces, and when he sees the handwriting on the wall concerning the war, he sets his sights on the Mona Lisa as his ticket to flee to South America and escape the consequences of his wartime activities.

The French, foreseeing that the Mona Lisa might be in danger, packed it up and hid it before Germany took over the country, yet Goring and his agent, Heller, have their ways of ferreting out information.

Eric Hofstadler and Gabi Mueller are two Swiss OSS (Office of Strategic Services) covert agents working to further the Allied cause. They are in Paris to deliver food, medical supplies, and information when they are reassigned to find and secure the Mona Lisa.

Bernard Rousseau is a leader of one of the resistance movements, this particular one being Communist. A sub plot is that the various resistance groups are vying to set themselves up to be able to grab power and authority as soon as the German regime comes down. Bernard is one of the first people Eric and Gabi meet in Paris, and he becomes involved in helping them find the Mona Lisa before Heller’s operatives do. Yet he has ulterior motives they know nothing of, and further complications involve his girlfriend, Collette, the Louvre museum curator, and whether she is in on Heller’s plot or not.

I don’t read many spy novels, but this one definitely kept me interested and threw a couple of unexpected twists into the mix.

I got the feeling that this might have been a sequel, and I was right: Gabi and Eric first appear in The Swiss Courier by the same authors. I’ve not read that one, and this book is easily readable on its own.

One part where I had to smile was where Gabi, Eric, and Rousseau escape from pursuers down into the sewers, and Rousseau begins to expound on the “technological marvel” of Paris’s sewer system: it reminded me of Victor Hugo’s doing the same in Les Miserables (linked to my review). Paris seems to be very proud of its sewer system!

One major problem I had with the novel, though, was its graphic depictions of violence. It’s a war novel, so violence and death are expected parts of the plot, but the authors just got too detailed and graphic for my tastes. Thankfully there aren’t many of those scenes.

It’s also odd that this book is marketed as Christian fiction, yet there is very little of Christianity in it. Gabi’s father, another OSS agent, is also a pastor and wonders from time to time how his congregation would react if they knew of some of his activities, and Gabi mentions God or prayer a few times, but otherwise there isn’t really a Christian theme or perspective woven into the plot. It’s a very clean novel, except for the aforementioned violent scenes, but of course Christian fiction is more than just clean.

But I did like the book, reading most of it on my iPhone or Touchpad during a road trip, and it made for a pleasant diversion.

This particular theft attempt was purely fictional, by the way, but the Mona Lisa was stolen once in 1911, and the book does tell about that incident as further motivation for not letting it happen again.

(This review will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)

Memorial Day

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“Thank you for sacrificing your pleasant moments so we can have ours.”

“Some things are worth fighting for.”

Laudable Linkage

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It’s been a few weeks since I shared any links with you of interesting things found ’round the Web. Here is some good reading, in my opinion:

5 Questions About Eternity.

Why Bible Study Doesn’t Transform Us.

That Idol That You Love, It Doesn’t Love You Back.

“I Thank Thee That I Am Not as Other Legalists,” Or, How “Freer Than Thou” Became the New “Holier Than Thou.” ‘Christian liberty is not realized by adopting a normative principle of conduct (i.e., If the Bible does not condemn it, then I am free); rather, the law of Christ is realized most significantly when I love my neighbor as myself (v. 8).”

The Top 5 Things Introverts Dread About Church.

10 Writing Tips From a Real-Life Editor.

When Mother’s Day Isn’t a Celebration.

Carrie reviews Why Isn’t a Pretty Girl Like You Married? in two parts: Part I and Part II. I haven’t read the book but I like the thoughts Carrie shares.

On reading:

A Bookworm Reborn. Rediscovering a love of reading.

Why Men Should Read Fiction, HT to Challies. I don’t agree with the evolutionary slant, and a word or two used, but it provides some food for thought.

Reading as a Writer.

On parenting:

Evangelize, Not Indoctrinate.

Are You Mom Enough? (Mommy Wars) “Somehow, in God’s mathematics of grace: Mom (never enough) + God (infinitely enough) = Mom enough.”

On blogging:

My Journey to 5,000 Followers.

Linking Up With… A collection of buttons to various weekly memes and such.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Friday’s Fave Five

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Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share five of our favorite things from the last week, a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

This week has flown by. Here are some of the favorites from it:

1. Youngest son Jesse’s graduation. More on graduation weekend and its activities and photos here.

2. Oldest son Jeremy being able to come down for graduation plus a few days.

3. Family time with Jeremy, Jesse, and middle son Jason and daughter-in-law Mittu (and husband Jim, of course. 🙂 ) Skype and Facetime are great and help, but it’s just not the same as actually being all together.

4. Playing games while all the family was here.

5. Having the Steve Pettit Evangelistic Team at our church Sunday morning.

Bonus: Graduations cards and gifts. Even those are not for me, it still touches my heart. When my children are blessed, I am blessed.

I think after this week life will slow down into something like normal….at least for a while. 🙂

Graduation weekend

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I’ve been mostly missing from the computer over the last several days. Jesse’s graduation was Monday night (odd night for it, I know!), and Jeremy flew in from RI late Monday night and flew back again last night.

Jeremy’s flight in kept getting delayed and finally arrived — I forget exactly when, after 1 a.m., I think. Thankfully we had nothing scheduled on Saturday, so we could just enjoy a family day before all the busyness connected with graduation kicked. I was really mad that I woke up early and couldn’t get back to sleep! But we enjoyed the day overall. Jason and Mittu came over later in the afternoon, we all went out to celebrate Jesse’s graduation at Calhoun’s, a restaurant on the river on downtown Knoxville. We didn’t get a table at the window this time but we walked around down by the water and fed a few ducks afterward.

This restaurant is supposedly famous for its barbecued ribs, which I didn’t like the last time I was here, and I normally love ribs (they were too vinegary for me). But I tried their chicken teriyaki and had a few bites of Jim’s pork chops, and they were wonderful.

I think we played a game that night, Last Night on Earth. It’s kind of based on those old zombie movies from the 60s. I wasn’t quite sure about it, but a man from our church in SC introduced it to Jeremy and Jesse — they used to have regular game nights — and he is an ok guy. 🙂 And when you have boys, you end of playing games that might not normally appeal to you. 🙂 It’s kind of cheesy fun. Here is my character fending off a zombie attack:

And the humans won, for the first time since we all started playing, so that revived our interest.

Sunday morning we were very blessed to have the Steve Pettit Evangelistic Team at our church. I had heard their CDs many times and knew people who knew them, but this is the first time I had seem them live and in person.

Sunday night was the Baccalaureate service at the church that Jesse’s school is associated with so we went there for that. Afterward we played another game, Galactic Emperor, which lasted way late. I think I got to bed by 2:30. But I won, so that was fun. 🙂

Monday morning, Graduation Day, I still woke up earlier than I wanted to, but had a lot to do so went ahead and got up. Jason and Mittu came over and prepared dinner at lunch time for us, a version of chicken cordon blue which was really good. That worked out extremely well both because the school was hosting a reception at 5:45 and I wasn’t sure how in the world we were going to do dinner and get ready for that, etc., and didn’t want to eat anything really heavy right before that, either.  It was nice having the big meal at lunch time, then I just made up some various sandwiches for whoever wanted them before leaving for the reception, and the rest of those were available for afterward as well.

The reception was very nice.

And then we had graduation itself. Unfortunately none of my pictures of the stage turned out well — they were too dark and/or blurry. But the school is supposed to make the photos they took of each graduate receiving their diploma available at some point. It was a very nice ceremony. I love the video beforehand of all the students’ childhood photos and a little bit about each of them. I’m hoping they’ll make that available as well to the families as well.

So here is the happy graduate:

Oh, wait, that’s his K-5 grad picture. 😀

And here’s the happy graduate’s family:

And our celebration afterward:


I was surprised that I didn’t get nearly as emotional and sentimental as I thought I would having my youngest graduate, especially after getting sentimental just the week before about packing my last school lunch after 22 years of making them. Maybe it was sleep deprivation, maybe it was just all the busyness and excitement. Maybe it will hit me later.

Tuesday Jeremy had to leave in the afternoon, so we enjoyed a leisurely morning, met Jason and Mittu at the mall for lunch and a movie, then went to Jason and Mittu’s place just to hang out for a bit before heading out to the airport.

So it was a very busy but very exciting few days celebrating this milestone of my youngest son. It was so wonderful to have all the family here for a bit — normally we wouldn’t see Jeremy until August, so it was nice to have this visit before then and not to have such a long time without seeing him.

This morning — we’re talking about colleges, bank accounts, and other necessities of life!

What’s On Your Nightstand: May

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What's On Your NightstandThe folks at 5 Minutes For Books host What’s On Your Nightstand? the fourth Tuesday of each month in which we can share about the books we have been reading and/or plan to read.

I almost missed the Nightstand post completely this month — the months with five Tuesdays throw me off. Plus my youngest son graduated Monday (more on that tomorrow!), my oldest flew in for a long weekend, we’ve been doing lots of family things, and I haven’t been on the computer much at all for the last few days.

But thankfully I saw someone mention it on Facebook, so I’m late to the party, but I’m here!

Since last month I’ve completed:

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (audiobook), reviewed here. Enjoyed this very much.

The Fiddler by Beverly Lewis, not reviewed yet, but enjoyed. A classically trained violinist who loves to “fiddle” when she can, unbeknownst to her family and friends, breaks down when traveling during a storm outside a cabin of a young Amish man who is planning to leave the Amish and “go English.” They are kind of on parallel tracks, though in different circumstances, wrestling with the expectations of those they love versus their own desires.

Psmith in the City by P. D. Wodehouse for Carrie’s book club in April, reviewed here.

I am currently reading/listening to:

It Is Not Death to Die: A New Biography of Hudson Taylor by Jim Cromarty. I didn’t realize it was quite so long (480+ pages) when I ordered it, and I’m only about halfway through.

Chasing Mona Lisa by Tricia Goyer and Mike Yorkey, about Swiss OSS agents trying to keep the famous painting from German hands.

When Christ Was Here: a Woman’s Bible Study by Claudia Barba. Wonderful so far.

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell (audiobook). Loving it so far.

Up next: These are carried over from my “Up next” section from last month’s Nightstand. 🙂

Infinitely More by Alex Krutov, nonfiction about an abandoned orphan in Russia whom God brought to Himself.

When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin.

Raising Real Men: Surviving, Teaching, and Appreciating Boys by Hal and Melanie Young.

Happy Reading!

Friday’s Fave Five

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Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share five of our favorite things from the last week, a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

It’s been yet another busy week, and a busy couple of weekends ahead, but after that things should get back to “normal.” Here are some highlights from this past week.

1. Mother’s Day. My family always makes makes this a great day. Jim grilled, Jason and Mittu prepared the rest of the meal and cleaned up the kitchen afterward, all were very generous in their gifts and sweet with their cards. We got to “facetime” via iPhone with Jeremy (Jim hooks it up to the TV so we can all see and talk to him), and after a couple of failed attempts at having Grandma talk with her oldest son in CA, we finally got to Facetime over the iPhone and TV with them. She wasn’t talking much at first — she gets confused by it all — but they did have a few connected bits of conversation.

2. Roses. Some of you know I’ve missed the roses from our old house. Jim, Jason and Mittu bought these for the new house!

3. Helps for Grandma. It’s hard sometimes to know what to get Jim’s mom. She doesn’t need or have room for more “stuff,” she doesn’t read much any more. Lately she’s been getting mixed up as to which great-grandkids go with which of her kids and what all their names are, etc., so Jim got an idea to make a wall display to go near her bed with everyone’s photos and their names in large print, and I got the idea to make a little booklet of all the families.

Of course we know that won’t “solve” the memory problems, but it gives her some ways to remind herself of them as often as she wants to.

4. Jesse’s Junior-Senior Banquet. This is The Big Event of the Year at his school, at least for the juniors and seniors, and from all he described he had a great time. I had a special mom-son moment helping him pick out the corsage (and his date and her mom both liked it!) Here he is all dressed up and ready to go:

By the way, the package I mentioned last week arriving when I had prayed for it to — that was the vest he’s wearing to match his date’s dress.

Aren’t they cute? 🙂

5. Time to veg in the midst of all the busyness. There were a couple of days when I was just super-tired, and I’d been wanting to watch the movies made from a couple of books I had listened to via audiobook, Ivanhoe and North and South, so I took some time to relax and do that. I shared my thoughts about them here.

6. Ebenezers. Do Not Depart was calling for some modern day Ebenezer stories, commemorating times of God’s help in our lives, and it was a blessing to think through and share some of those here.

Have a great weekend! We’re looking forward to Jeremy coming home this weekend!