No cup of tea large enough nor book long enough

The weekend!

2011-01-21T20:00:00.000-08:00

Well, this short work week certainly didn't feel like it, so I'm pretty excited for the weekend. We're having friends over this weekend, but I will have the morning free on Saturday to do some things for myself. In lieu of more exciting blog material, I'm going to list some of my plans/goals for this weekend.

Exercise (New York City Ballet workout)
Return library books and pick up new ones.
Blog (at least two book reviews)
Begin some secret knitting projects (if the yarn arrives tomorrow)
Read enough of A Passage to India to become interested in it. I've attempted to read this book on a couple of occasions and I just can't get into it. I assume this is a failing on my part because E.M. Forster is a genius and I love A Room with a View and Howards End. I now have extra motivation to read this novel because my sister-in-law is currently in India.

So, those are my plans for the weekend to relax and re-charge for the work week. I also plan to read and comment on lots of other blogs! Happy reading and blogging this weekend!

I'm back

2011-01-16T16:34:00.000-08:00

Wow! I am really bad at consistently updating my blog. However, a lot of changes have happened in my life since my last update. Shortly after my last update I was hired to work full-time at the same place Mr. Coffee works. In addition to seriously cutting into my reading and blogging time, the training for my new job left me mentally and physically drained at the end of the day. I could barely keep up with the housework as I adjusted to my new schedule. On top of the new job, I began my seasonal knitting with vigor. I barely knit at all over the summer because I read so much, but as it began to get cooler I embraced knitting to keep warm. I'll save the real knitting update for later, because there is a lot to update. For right now, I want to give an update on my reading.
After barely reading at all during the fall, I began reading again in December. I read two literary biographies of my favorite authors. A Great Unrecorded History is a literary biography of E.M. Forster. My critical writing sample for graduate school was about one Forster's novels Howards End. After finishing my graduate school application, I really enjoyed this biography. Some new details about Forster's life were revealed that shed some light on his life and writing. I also read Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead. This recent biography of Evelyn Waugh is almost as much about some friends of his as it is about him. I truly enjoyed this book because I loved Brideshead Revisited and I was delighted to learn more about the background the book. After finishing this biography I read another novel by Waugh called Put Out More Flags. Waugh really is one of my favorite authors.
I have also returned to C.S. Lewis in the past month, but I'll save reviews of those books for my next post! Hopefully, that will be soon!

Booking Through Thursday: Reading Tastes

2010-08-12T09:58:00.000-07:00

This week the Booking Through Thursday question is: Have your reading tastes changed over the years? Or pretty much stayed the same? (And yes, from childhood to adulthood we usually read different things, but some people stick to basically the same kind of books their entire lives.)
Yes, over the years my reading tastes have changed some, but I am still attracted to the same things that attracted me as a child. I love a good story about someone's life, especially if it involves their relationship with books. Some of my favorite characters as a child were very bookish just like me. I loved Jo March and Anne Shirley because they loved losing themselves in books, and I loved losing myself in their experiences. As an adult, I enjoy reading memoirs of people who were bookish children like me. It's kind of silly, but I love reading books about books. Also, through my mom's careful grooming i.e. she took away my Babysitter Club and Nancy Drew books when she saw me reading about ten a week, I grew to love reading Classics. This led me to major in literature in college and I survived with my love of reading intact. So, I guess my reading tastes have not changed all that much over the years.

Book Blogger Hop

2010-08-05T22:20:00.000-07:00

Thanks for stopping by my blog! This week I am participating in the Book Blogger Hop hosted by Crazy-for-Books again. My name is Lori and I've been blogging for about ten months. I recently graduated from college with a degree in literature and have enjoyed a few months off to read and write to my heart's content. Currently I am supported by Mr. Coffee while I look for a job and read a lot. I primarily read Classics (I blame my education for that) and books about writing and reading. I am completely fascinated by the influence that books have upon readers.
This week the question from the Book Blogger Hop is: Do you listen to music while you read? I usually prefer silence while reading because it is sometimes difficult for me to concentrate with the music in the background. However, on road trips with my young in-laws I have to have music in order to read.

July 2010 reading in review

2010-07-30T15:35:00.000-07:00

Although I was only partially successful at posting reviews for the books I read in July, I have done a lot of reading. In fact I managed to read even more books in July than I read in June, in part thanks to my local library. I am loving the library system here because it is huge and I can easily request a book from another library and receive it within a few days. Here is a little list of the books I read in July.

July 2010 books:

1) Damage Control: Women on the Therapists, Beauticians, and Trainers who Navigate their Bodies Ed. by Emma Forrest

2) Bookmark Now: Writers on Reading in Unreaderly Times Ed. by Kevin Smokler

3) How I Write The Secret Lives of Authors Ed. by Dan Crowe and Philip Olterman

4) The Child that Books Built Francis Spufford

5) Slightly Chipped Footnotes in Booklore Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone

6) The Secret Rhonda Byrne

7) Lolita Vladimir Nabokov

8) Shelf Life Suzanne Strempek Shea

9) Writing Down the Bones Natalie Goldberg

10) Chasing Lolita Graham Vickers

11) The Writing Life Annie Dillard

12) A Truth Universally Acknowledged 33 Great Writers on why we Read Jane Austen Ed. Susannah Carson

13) A Pound of Paper: Confessions of Book Addict John Baxter

14) An Open Book Coming of Age in the Heartland Michael Dirda

Book Blogger Hop

2010-07-29T22:14:00.000-07:00

So I've been MIA here for the past couple of weeks, but that is because Mr. Coffee and I went on weekend trip to celebrate our first anniversary, then I went on a short girls only vacation with my mother-in-law and four sisters-in-law, and finally I have had unexpected house guests since Sunday. I'm happy to be participating in the Book Blogger Hop again. I find that I enjoy discovering new blogs each week that inspire both my reading and blogging. I greatly appreciate this opportunity to meet new bloggers. Welcome to my blog! This week the question is: Who is your favorite new-to-you author this year? Oh dear, I'm afraid that I've already raved about this author here before. Evelyn Waugh was a fabulous modern British author! This spring in an effort to relax over spring break I checked out Brideshead Revisited from my local library and devoured it in just a few days. I later read Decline and Fall, Vile Bodies, and A Handful of Dust, also some of Waugh's greatest works. Although his stories are somewhat outrageous, I enjoy the description and the exciting plot twists. If you enjoy reading about Great Britain in the 1920s and 1930s then Evelyn Waugh is an author you should not miss.

Book Blogger Hop

2010-07-16T17:40:00.000-07:00

This week I am participating in the Book Blogger Hop once again. I am really enjoying finding new blogs that I enjoy reading and having others find me. Each week bloggers are supposed to answer a question. This week the prompt is: Right this instant, what book are you dying to get your hands on (past, present or future)?

I am practically dying to read An Open Book Coming of Age in the Heartland by Michael Dirda. It is sitting on my TBR pile of books that I have checked out from the library right now! But there are five books that I have told myself that I must read before I can read this book. I recently started going crazy with putting books on hold at the library and now they are coming available very quickly. So I'm kind of reading a lot right now. I really need to catch up on book reviews here as well. Anyway, I want to read the Dirda book because I love Michael Dirda's writing and this is his memoir. I have a thing for memoirs especially when they're about books. So thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoy my blog.

Review of The Child that Books Built

2010-07-12T19:47:00.000-07:00

I read The Child that Books Built A Life in Reading in just a couple of days because I could identify so strongly with his passion for books. Although author Francis Spufford and I are from different generations, his tales about the influence of reading on his childhood resonated with my own experiences as a child.

Spufford spends the first part of the book explaining what some of the popular child psychologists of the 1970s believed about children's ability to understand literature and language and how it could impact their development. I found this part of the book fascinating as he explained in rather technical terms how children develop the ability to reason. After that he begins to discuss the books that had the most influence on him as a child. He claims that he learned to read by digesting Tolkien's The Hobbit. But the books that most influenced Spufford's childhood were C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. The chapter on these books is an extensive discussion of Lewis' philosophy background and then his rejection of atheism and acceptance of Christianity. While Spufford admits that he could not stay away from Narnia for several years during his childhood, he fiercely rejects the Christian beliefs that are behind The Chronicles of Narnia. The American Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder were also very influential on Spufford as a child. He learned about the reality and values that he attributed to the United States from the Ingalls family as they struggled to survive in the unsettled West. However, the adult Spufford researches the veracity of the Little House books and discovers that The Little House books were a collaboration between Laura and her daughter Rose Wilder Lane. In their series the mother and daughter team carefully inserted their own moral beliefs and adjusted the events of the Ingalls family to fit their motives. I agree with Spufford that this knowledge does not discredit the books. They are still great stories of an American family at the turn of the twentieth century.

I enjoyed this book immensely because I love reading about the reading experiences of others. I also love building my TBR list by reading these books. There are some sad aspects of Spufford's childhood that he includes in the book, but I do like that he ties it up in the end. In conclusion, I strongly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys memoirs of reading.

Book Blogger Hop

2010-07-09T09:53:00.000-07:00

This week I am participating in the Book Blogger Hop again. Welcome to my book blog! My name is Lori and I love participating in the book hop because I love finding new blogs to read and I especially love finding new books that I want to read! This week the prompt is: Tell us about some of your favorite authors and why they are your favorites.

I could list so many authors for this, so I'll stick to one of my recent favorite authors. I love Evelyn Waugh because he had an incredible way with words. He is a not-so-well known modern British author, but his books are so funny. At least some of them are. I also enjoy his books, because most of them are set between the two world wars. So if you like Classic literature and especially Modern British lit., then Brideshead Revisited or A Handful of Dust might be good books to check out.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Review of How I Write The Secret Lives of Authors

2010-07-09T09:28:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday I read How I Write The Secret Lives of Authors edited by Dan Crowe and Philip Oltermann. Most of the books I read are serious and thick with no pictures, but this book was large and colorful. The editors wrote a letter to authors all over the world asking them to share something that they use when they write. Some authors shared pictures of their offices and how they acquired their desks. Other authors shared specific objects that they have inspired them and that they keep with them when they write. I really enjoyed reading about the objects that people consider their good luck charms. But my favorite parts of the book were when some authors shared the rituals that they have when they are writing. Authors drink a variety of beverages from coffee and tea to lite beer. I was surprised by how many authors smoke while they write. One of the best parts of the book was the pictures that they authors sent of their offices, objects, and writing instruments. I loved glimpsing how other writers work.

Sometimes I wish I had a cool office to write in or a lot of fancy tools to use. But I don't. I have my Macbook, but I prefer to write on paper in a notebook first. I have a desk, but it is small and mostly covered with junk. We have a second bedroom, but it has been occupied by house guests a good bit of the time I've lived here. So instead I write at the kitchen table or while sitting in my recliner. But it doesn't matter because what I really need is a pen and paper and the drive to write. I woke up yesterday morning at 4:30am with a strong desire to write. I have it now. After years of wanting to write and not actually doing it, the words are finally spilling out of me.

Booking Through Thursday

2010-07-08T21:14:00.000-07:00

This week I am participating in Booking Through Thursday for the first time. I've read several other posts from previous weeks and I usually enjoy the questions, so I decided to take part this time. This week the question is: Do you have friends and family to share books with? Discuss them with? Does it matter to you?

My mother and I have always enjoyed some of the same books because she passed books on to me when I was a kid and we would talk about them. Now I'm reading books that she hasn't read and I've begun passing them on to her. While I was in high school my younger sister resisted all of my attempts to share my favorite books with her, but since she has grown up a little we've begun to share a similar taste in books. I have always loved talking about books with people and one of the things that my husband and I did while we were dating was read together. We read several books and discussed them. We've also traded book recommendations ever since we met. Now that we are married we don't usually read together, but we often discuss what we've been reading.

While in college I had a close group of friends that I often discussed books with, but now that I've moved half-way across the country I haven't found any friends to talk books with here. I'm especially excited about blogging because it gives me an opportunity to discuss books with other people who share the same interest in books.

Review of Bookmark Now Writing in Unreaderly Times

2010-07-08T10:39:00.000-07:00

In Bookmark Now Writing in Unreaderly Times several young authors comment on writing in a time that appears to disregard reading and literature. The book begins with several authors sharing from their writing experience and giving advice on writing. Some authors suggested that MFA programs are not the springboard to a writing career that aspiring writers assume they are. However, I was a bit surprised by how many of the contributors had completed MFA programs. The other popular piece of advice concerned the importance of consistency and discipline in writing. Nearly all of the authors emphasize that in order to become a published author one must sit down and write every single day. The rest of the essays discussed the state of literacy and literary culture in the early twenty-first century. By and large the authors spoke positively about the influence of the internet on the reading experience and the publishing world. Most of the authors gave examples of how they have used the internet to further their careers.

I enjoyed Bookmark Now because I enjoy writing and have some aspirations to publish someday. I especially appreciated the advice from young authors who are publishing write now. Some of the pieces were humorous and poked fun at some of the quirks that have resulted from the advent of the internet and intimate interaction between authors and readers. Other pieces were deadly serious discussing the rigors of being dedicated to the writing life. While I appreciate the authors who wrote positively about the readers who grow up with the internet; however, I am concerned about the quality of the literature enjoyed by this generation. I freely admit that I am a bit snobbish in my literary taste, but I feel strongly that the quality of literature is important. Overall, I strongly recommend this book for readers interested in getting an author's perspective on reading and writing in the twenty-first century.

Weekend bookstore visit

2010-07-06T10:44:00.000-07:00

On the way home from our exciting weekend away in Olympia, WA I convinced Mr. Coffee (my DH)* to stop by a bookstore that I had heard a lot about from a friend. Orca Books is a bookstore with both new and used books that is located in downtown Olympia, WA. Although we did not spend a lot of time at the store because we needed to get home, it appears that they have a great selection of the books that I'm interested in. They have a large fiction selection, but more important to me, they also have a nice selection of literary criticism and books about books. I also enjoyed the feel of the store. I'm very excited to come back sometime soon and spend a little more time exploring the store.

I also found one book that I couldn't live without. I am an avid C.S. Lewis reader and potentially a Lewis scholar, so anytime I discover a Lewis book that I do not have I grab it. At Orca Books I found The Discarded Image and it didn't cost too much so Mr. Coffee gave in and let me get it. I am so excited to read this book, but I probably wouldn't have purchased any books if I hadn't found The Discarded Image because I have so many great library books to read right now.

*At times I've called my DH by his first name on this blog, but I like the idea of nicknames and I've decided to call him Mr. Coffee because he loves that beverage and the title of the blog refers to a beverage.

Review of Damage Control

2010-07-05T19:32:00.000-07:00

Damage Control Women on the Therapists, Beauticians, and Trainers who Navigate Their Bodies explores an area of women's lives that they normally keep very quiet. A variety of actresses, authors, and women in other professions share some of their experiences under the hands of professionals both baring their hearts to them and choosing to stay silent when they should speak out. There were also several essays and interviews sharing the other side of the beauty world. Editor Emma Forrest also contributed an essay about pining after a tattoo artist who gives her a tattoo and helps her break up from a bad relationship. That essay as well as several others in Damage Control deal with the strong emotions that are released when these women are touched by a beautician or masseuse.

While I was hooked by the idea of this book, there were just a few too many essays whose authors shared personal details that I felt uncomfortable with. I did enjoy the essays about trying to find a hair stylist who understands how to deal with difficult here. I could identify with Minnie Driver's essay about her hair so strongly that it made some of the other essays worth it. Overall I enjoyed the essays on hair and the interviews with the nail salon owners. However, I was very uncomfortable with the essay about the bikini wax artist. I was also not really expecting so many of the essays to reveal dark or sad details about the author's life. I would recommend this book with caution because of the dark nature of the books tone. I finished the book, but I really enjoyed less than half of the essays. Perhaps I would have enjoyed Damage Control more if more of the essays had hit home with me.

TBR pile July 2010

2010-07-02T14:32:00.001-07:00

I stopped by our local library today and picked up some books for July. Hopefully, these books will help me read as much in July as I did in June.

Library Loot

1) Bookmark Now Writing in Unreaderly Times Ed. Kevin Smokler

2) Damage Control Women on the Therapists, Beauticians, and Trainers who Navigate Their Bodies Ed. Emma Forrest

3) The Book of Other People Ed. Zadie Smith

4) Uncensored: Views and Reviews Joyce Carol Oats

5) How I Write The Secret Lives of Authors Ed. Dan Crowe and Philip Olterman

Obviously I have a slight problem with books about books and books about writing as this list shows. All of these books really appealed to me at the library. I hope they'll be as good as they look. I have some other books in progress as well that I hope to complete in July. I would like to complete at least 10 books in July.

Currently Reading:

1) The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas Gertrude Stein

2) Writing Down the Bones Natalie Goldberg

3) Boundaries in Marriage Henry Cloud and John Townsend

Happy reading in July!

Weekly Book Blogger Hop

2010-07-02T13:33:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my book blog! My name is Lori and I began blogging because I've always loved to read and a few years ago I began reading book blogs such as Mental Multivitamin. I love her blog and it inspired me to begin a blog in October 2009. Until just recently my blogging has been very hit or miss because I was a literature major completing my last year of college; however, now that I have completed college and have more time to read and blog I am committing to blog more regularly. I am excited to share what I read and I hope you enjoy my reviews. Recently I re-located very far from my family and friends so occasionally I include personal posts with some of the changes happening in my life. Thanks for dropping by!

June 2010 reading life in review

2010-07-01T11:11:00.000-07:00

As I have spent my first six weeks in WA as an unemployed stay-at-home wife I have had a lot of time to read and explore the local bookstores and libraries. I am pretty excited about the books I read in June. However, I fell woefully behind in reviewing the books that I read. I would love to review more of the books that I read.

In the month of June I read:

1) Outwitting History Aaron Lansky

2) A Handful of Dust Evelyn Waugh

3) Maria Maria Von Trapp

4) Readings Michael Dirda

5) My Several Worlds Pearl S. Buck

6) A Room of One's Own Virginia Woolf

7) Reading Like a Writer Francine Prose

8) Books A Memoir Larry McMurtry

9) Ethan Frome Edith Wharton

10) At Large and at Small Anne Fadiman

11) Imperial Woman Pearl S. Buck

12) Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe

13) Atonement Ian McEwan

So rather than trying to catch up on all of these books that I haven't blogged about I'm going to begin blogging about the books as I finish them in July. I am so happy with how much reading I've been able to do now that I am not being required to read for school.

A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh

2010-06-04T16:38:00.000-07:00

Halfway through last semester, while stressed and overwhelmed by so much reading, I read Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. I devoured this book and mentioned it to a professor who recommended A Handful of Dust by the same author. Between discovering Waugh and reading A Handful of Dust I also read Decline and Fall and Vile Bodies. I loved Brideshead, but found the other two very, very strange. I was delighted to find A Handful of Dust at Half-Price Books.

A Handful of Dust is a fascinating modern novel. The first half of the book is strangely enjoyable. The main character, Tony, is a nice English gentleman whose wife begins cheating on him and everyone in London except him knows it. When the wife asks for a divorce, Tony is very kind until she asks for alimony that will force him to give up the family estate. He then decides to resist her and go away for a while without giving her the divorce. The book changes suddenly when Tony decides to go exploring in Brazil with a doctor who has vague motives for exploring South America. It was similar to Heart of Darkness at this point. I didn't enjoy the rest of the book, but I enjoyed how Waugh gave it an ironic ending. There were several events that took place in the book unexpectedly. I enjoyed the surprises and I look forward to reading this book again.

I read this book the first time just for the narrative. I guess now that I've been out of school for nearly a month my mind is not automatically working as critically as it used to so I've got to get it back into shape. I hope that the second time I read A Handful of Dust I will understand a little more of the message behind the book.

Outwitting History by Aaron Lansky

2010-06-03T16:40:00.000-07:00

This book was part of my recent haul from Half-Price Books. I nearly bought On Writing by Stephen King instead because I've wanted to add it to my "books on writing" collection for quite some time; however, this book caught my eye instead. I began reading it immediately and despite several social engagements over the weekend managed to finish it on Tuesday morning.

Outwitting History is the story of one man's quest to save the Yiddish books of the world. I have been very interested in the events of the Holocaust since childhood and as a bibliophile I am intrigued by anything related to books. I enjoyed this book the entire way through. Lahnsky gives many details about the day-to-day operations of his rescue effort, which caused the book to drag a little bit. However, every time I thought about putting it down, he inserted more incredible stories of rescuing books that would otherwise have been completely destroyed. The most fascinating part of the book for me was Lansky's encounters with some of his favorite Yiddish authors or the their children. It made me really wish that I could meet my favorite authors or their descendants.

I began my usual round of book pushing before I had even finished the book and my sister read it as soon as I put it down. I'm planning to pass it on to my sister-in-law as well. I feel quite pleased with myself for finding this little gem at the used bookstore.

Recent book acquisitions

2010-05-29T13:03:00.000-07:00

This morning my DH and I began Memorial day weekend very well this morning by paying a visit to the local Half-Price Books. This was the first time I visited a used bookstore in WA and I was not disappointed. In honor of Memorial Day Half-Price was having a sale, so I was able to get more books than I anticipated. I got quite the haul.

A Handful of Dust Evelyn Waugh - I previously read Brideshead Revisited, Decline and Fall, and Vile Bodies. I've heard that A Handful of Dust is very good and I'm very excited to read it.

A Room of One's Own Virginia Woolf - I was required to read Mrs. Dalloway for a class in the fall and I loved it. Over Christmas break I read To the Lighthouse. The last used bookstore I visited only had those two books so I was quite delighted to discover several copies of the book I purchased, and Orlando.

Ethan Frome Edith Wharton - I am very excited about this because the book I purchased is a Norton Critical edition and I like Edith Wharton.

Out of My Bone Ed. Don King - This is my favorite find of the day because it is the letters of Joy Davidman. It only came out last year, so I was thrilled to find it at the used bookstore.

Outwitting History Aaron Lansky - It caught my eye in the bookstore so I really don't know what to say about this book yet. I have a very difficult time resisting books about books.

So now I have a lot of new books to read while job hunting. My sister should be arriving with our second vehicle on Memorial day so I'll be able to get out of the apartment some. I am really enjoying living in WA so far. However, I have begun to feel a little cramped recently so it will be nice to get out of the apartment.

Education phase 2 complete

2010-05-08T17:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at 2:45PM I completed a Shakespeare final. This was my last final. I have experienced the joy of completing finals before; however, I am usually already looking forward to the next semester because I've registered for classes and purchased books. Knowing the next semester is not far away diminishes the sense of accomplishment from finishing a semester. This time I did not have that feeling. I was able to fully bask in the glory of completing finals because there is no "next semester" at UHCL or in my undergraduate career.

Planning for graduate school, which will entail at least five more years of school, has overshadowed the joy of graduating from college. However, it hit me yesterday that this is quite an accomplishment. So, I'm celebrating. One way that I am celebrating is by reuniting with Nathan. This makes me extremely happy and will be an excellent way to celebrate this auspicious occasion. I am celebrating college graduation for a couple of reasons. 1) I am graduating with a bachelor's degree debt free. 2) Five years ago I graduated from high school with no intention of returning to college. Thankfully, I returned and finished very quickly for the amount of time I took off.

One week from tomorrow I will graduate from college. One week from Monday I will move to Kent, WA. I am very excited about all of the changes happening in my life and I know that God has orchestrated them exactly according to His plan for me.

A week in 7 or so sentences

2010-04-24T17:28:00.000-07:00

So, I'm feeling a little random right now, but there have been some interesting developments in the past week, so I thought I would write a random post. A week in 7 sentences.

Sunday: I visited with one of my closest friends who is a blessing to talk literature with.

Monday: My youngest sister's dog had six puppies. Nathan and I may adopt one of the puppies (his name is Lewis.)

Tuesday: Two of my professors agreed to write recommendation letters for my graduate school application.

Wednesday: Finished leading my small group from Church through a discussion of The Great Divorce by Lewis.

Thursday: Enjoyed a busy day at school including one of my favorite classes: Medieval Literature :)

Friday: Had a wonderful phone conversation with a good friend who really encourages me academically.

Saturday: I have had a long, slow, but productive day at home doing homework, cleaning, and skyping with my husband.

Moving day...for Nathan!

2010-04-16T17:51:00.000-07:00

Nathan is moving into our beautiful, new for us, apartment tomorrow morning. This apartment is very exciting for us because it is about 300 sq. ft. bigger than our old apartment and actually has a normal sized bathroom. I'm very excited for Nathan because living with his family has not been very easy for him. I just wish that I could move with him. He will have about four weeks to settle in and prepare our new home for me to move into. On the work side, things have been going well for him. However, it is a government job so things are moving very slowly. He only has nine more weeks of training until he really starts his job.

In other news, I am graduating from college in four weeks and two days!!!!!! It feels as if this has been a long time coming. I just have to turn in four more papers and survive four finals. Then it will be over and I will graduate from college. I will move to WA the day after graduation and begin my new life with Nathan in WA. I feel completely burnt out on college right now, but I believe that after a year break, I will be totally psyched for grad school. This past week God has been reminding me why I really like studying literature. My classes have gone very well this week and the literature has been amazing, but I still have too much to do. I also only have three weeks of work left before I will be leaving the UHCL writing center. I am going to miss this job a lot because I really enjoy helping students become better writers.

The time is slowly slipping by, and four weeks from today Nathan will be here!

Settling in

2010-04-03T19:41:00.000-07:00

Nathan has completed his first week of his new job and everything has gone well so far. This week was just training as will be the next eleven weeks of his job. I guess when you begin a government job like his they want to make sure that you are fully trained. Nathan is also adjusting to living with his family again until April 17 when he will move in to our beautiful apartment! Fortunately while Nathan and I were in WA we were able to do a little apartment hunting and we found a nice apartment at a good price. It is such a relief to me to know where I will be living once I finally make it to WA.

I am living with my family again and that has been quite an adjustment. I am very thankful that they were so willing to have me back and I am especially grateful for Emily's generosity in sharing her room with me. I miss my apartment a lot and I can hardly wait to live with Nathan again. School and work are going well. However, I am so over school right now and I am very excited that I will be graduating in six weeks! All I have to do is focus for the next five weeks and then I will actually have a degree!

So the biggest thing I am learning right now, is how to be joyful even when I don't feel like it. I could easily allow myself to be upset and very depressed because of my current situation. I am not happy that Nathan and I have to be separated for seven weeks. I am also struggling with leaving my family and moving very far away. Last weekend I was very upset and spent most of the time on the verge of tears. But Monday morning God told me that I needed to stop allowing my emotions to control me. I am learning this lesson right now through daily experience. The past week has actually been very good. Every day I wake up recognizing that I cannot make it on my own. God's grace is daily evident in my life.

Nathan and I will be together again in six weeks!

It's the end of an era

2010-03-25T19:30:00.000-07:00

Nathan left for Washington at 3:15a.m. this morning. As of right now he is in AZ and plans to stop in Phoenix for the night. I am living with my parents again and sharing a room with my sister once more. This past week has been absolutely crazy with the amount of transition that has been taking place in our lives.

For Nathan things are very different now. He quit one job and will begin his new job on March 29. Right now he is pulling a U-haul truck to WA with all of our belongings in it. He will be moving into our new apartment in Kent, WA on April 17. As usual, Nathan is very happy about all of the change, especially because it involves a change in employment for him. I am thrilled that he has been given this great opportunity and I believe it is completely God's will.

On the other hand, I am still in Houston for the time being. My life is normal on the outside. I still go to school every day. I am still reading endless amounts of difficult literature. I am still going to work nearly every day. However, countless little things have changed and if I let them will completely crush me.

But God is strong enough for this. I am not. I am so weak on my own. I need his love so much right now. I am very thankful for family, but I miss Nathan so much. Our newlywed life in our little apartment in Houston is over. It seems so strange that it's over. We really aren't going back later. I just have to trust that God has brand new, beautiful things in store for us.

P.S. In light of the great changes happening in our lives, I am making this more of life update blog. I am not really going to constrain myself to any particularly type of category.

A big change is coming

2010-03-18T09:15:00.000-07:00

"The LORD had said to Abram, 'Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.'" Genesis 12:1

Five years ago this verse spoke very deeply to me as God led me on a very different path for my life than I had intended. Rather than attend a prestigious college somewhere far from home, I volunteered at Teen Mania Ministries for three years. Although this was far different from my plan, I knew that it was God's will for my life. After leaving Teen Mania, I began attending a university close to home and married the man of my dreams. However, Nathan is from Washington state and I realized when we got married that there was a possibility we would move to Washington someday. I just didn't realize how soon that day would come.

Yesterday Nathan received and accepted a job offer in Auburn, Washington. Unfortunately, this job begins March 29, 2010. For those of you who do not know, I am graduating from college on May 16, 2010 in Houston. So, just as we did over two years ago, Nathan and I have to say goodbye for a little while. Nathan is moving up to Washington next week and I will remain in Houston until the end of the semester. While I am excited about the great opportunities that are available for us in Washington, it is difficult for me to see past the fact that I have to completely dismantle the life that we have been building together for the past eight months and live at home for six weeks.

I love so many things about life in Houston. I love living near my family as I have always done. Nathan and I love the Church that we are connected to here. I love my work and school so much. In the past two years, University of Houston Clear Lake has become a second home to me. I enjoy the friends that I have made in the year since I have been back in Houston. It will be so hard to leave this city and area that has been my home for almost twenty-three years.

On the other hand, there are so many great opportunities for us in WA. Nathan's family is here. He is so excited about this job opportunity. I plan to attend University of Washington Seattle to obtain an advanced degree in literature because they have a great literature program. There are lots of yarn shops coffee shops and bookstores. I am hoping to work at a local junior college as well. It is exciting. However, I do not embrace change easily so all of this rapid change is frightening. I know that God will lead and guide us. He has not abandoned or forsaken us. He is faithful.

A Wonderful Week

2010-03-12T14:18:00.000-08:00

Well, I've had an extremely busy week full of midterms. Work has also been very busy for me. This week I have gained an entirely new perspective on certain aspects of my life. I have struggled to enjoy or love school and work this semester. I have felt very overworked and burned out, but this week has been different.

First, I received some very good news in my classes this week. The way the literature classes at my university are structured, there are only a few graded assignments in each class. I had not received any grades in my classes until this week when I also had to take midterms. However, I received an A on two papers this week and I am very pleased with that. I am pleased with the way I took my midterms. I will not receive gra

des for those until after spring break, but I believe I did quite well on them. So, I am feeling rather positive about my classes at this point of the semester and I am learning so much. The best part of this week, is that God has begun restoring my passion for life. I love literature and now I am remembering why.

Second, I have had a really good week at work. I work as a writing tutor at my university and I help struggling writers improve their writing skills. Although the writing center was quite busy this week, I really enjoyed my conferences.

I truly enjoy helping students grasp the basic skills of writing. I feel so strongly that good writing skills are important for every student. This morning the writing center had a meeting. I was reminded why I do this and some of the ways that I can help students improve their writing.

Finally, I am still enjoying Brideshead Revisited. It is so beautiful and I always enjoy reading descriptions of college life at Oxford. I have a little fantasy that Oxford provides the best education in the world because some of my literary heroes had connections to the university. However, about two-thirds of the way

through the book, there is a dramatic plot twist that I was not expecting. I still like the book, but I have no idea how it is going to end. I have also been knitting quite a bit this week. I finished a wonderful pair of socks that are so beautiful and I have tons of knitting plans for next week.

Although I do have a take home midterm, I am planning to relax this weekend. There are some potential big changes coming that I can't wait to share. Here is a picture of the socks I knitted.

Crawling out from under the homework...

2010-03-08T08:19:00.000-08:00

After a month and a half of school, I am finally feeling alright to blog again. Halfway through the semester, I believe that taking four literature courses was not the wisest idea. However, I need these hours to graduate, so I will persevere and make through to the end. The reading for my classes consists of about six hundred pages a week, so I haven't had a lot of time to read outside of that. I am trying to look on the bright side of this situation. All of this reading should provide me with an excellent grounding in literature to prepare me for graduate school. I'm very thankful for that.

That being said, I am venturing into reading for fun again. My husband and I decided to begin resting intentionally one day a week, so yesterday I had the opportunity to take a break from studying for midterms. I've begun reading Brideshead Revisited and enjoying it immensely. I had not read Evelyn Waugh before, but I think he is an excellent writer. The book begins a bit strangely, but after the first couple of chapters I found it difficult to put down. I'm nearly halfway through reading it and I'm very interested in the plot.

I also made a book acquisition yesterday. My dear husband lovingly took me to Barnes and Noble and suffered through two hours of watching me drool over knitting books. He is so wonderful. I just really enjoy looking at books and I can do it for hours at a time. He knows this and decided that it would help me relax if I spent some time with the books. But to top it off, as we were leaving the bookstore, he asked me if I wanted a book. I bought Sock Innovation by Cookie A. This book is definitely eye candy. I love the pictures and I think there is a pretty good chance that I'll knit several of the patterns from it.

So hopefully now that I'm making more time in my life for relaxing I'll begin posting more regularly.

A slow/non-reading week

2010-01-15T13:48:00.000-08:00

After finishing Girls Gone Mild last week, I found that none of the books I had available really appealed to me. I am supposed to be reading War and Peace; however, I still have not been able to finish this book. I am sure that it is an excellent book as I have heard from many people, but I just cannot get into it. My last semester of school begins next week, so I decided not to worry and just take a break for a week. I anticipate that this semester will be the most intense semester of my undergraduate degree. I am taking four literature classes and one anthropology class. These classes will be very challenging and probably enjoyable, but I know that I will be asked to give a lot.

So....this week I have not read very much. I've been knitting...a lot. I've made delicious meals for my husband. Right now I'm baking cookies. I'm enjoying my break, but I am quite ready to return to school and work. I have especially enjoyed knitting. I've finished three projects over this break and I will hopefully finish two more soon. Pictures to follow soon.

Femininity, a new trend?

2010-01-08T13:00:00.000-08:00

In 2000, author Wendy Shalit created a great controversy by suggesting that women and teenage girls re-claim the lost value of modesty in her book, A Return to Modesty. I thoroughly enjoyed this challenging book when I read it in 2006. It encouraged me in seeking to dress and act modestly.

Thus, I was thrilled to find her second book Girls Gone Mild Young Women Reclaim Self-Respect and Find It's not Bad to be Good(2007) while browsing the library on Tuesday. I was thrilled to discover in this book that Shalit goes beyond simply appearance and addresses the dangerous attitudes that young girls are encouraged to possess today. I feel that I cannot accurately describe the power Shalit's message could have if more young girls were taught that being nice is actually empowering instead of demeaning. Shalit addresses several issues including the difficulties of friendship among women today which is leading them to act more aggressively toward each other. Finally, Shalit's primary message is that the trend is changing. Young girls are acting independently to protest immodesty in the clothing that is available to them and the sexually explicit media that surrounds them. I am encouraged to read that more young women are like me and pursuing femininity. Shalit claims that young feminists see that too much sexual license is unhealthy and choosing modesty in clothing and action is actually a way to reclaim dignity. I strongly recommend this book, especially for concerned parents who want to teach their daughters that they do not have to follow the dictates of the media.

This was my third book of the year. Hopefully I will get around to posting reviews of the other two and become more involved in the blogging community as the year progresses. Right now my goal is to post once a week with reviews and general thoughts on reading and blogging.

New Year...New Try at Blogging

2010-01-05T13:47:00.000-08:00

I'm rather lousy at blogging. I think I have something to say, but as soon as I set up a blog I decide that what I want to say is not important. However, I have been very inspired by reading several of my favorite bloggers setting New Year's reading/blogging goals recently. And now I have a computer that is just mine so I can use it whenever I want. And upload pictures frequently. As I began reviewing my reading goals for last year, I realized that I exceeded my main goal to read one book a week. This encouraged me enough to think that maybe 2010 is the year I will finally begin blogging regularly. I have not set reading/blogging goals yet, but I shall post them shortly. For now, I have a picture of my library loot for today.

Because I'm not in school right now, my reading habits are not very focused. I am merely reading what appeals to me while I'm at the library or bored at home. Hopefully I'll post some goals tomorrow.

Why one more book blog?

2009-10-05T07:23:00.000-07:00

I have been following several book blogs for a couple of years. I particularly enjoy reading mental multivitamin, pages turned, and semicolon. Every time I begin thinking about starting a blog I feel as if there are already too many blogs out there and the last thing I should do is spend a lot of time proclaiming my opinions all over the internet. However, last week I found out about this. A 24 hour Read-a-Thon!!!! I already spend about six hours every Saturday and Sunday reading for school, so condensing all of my reading into one 24 hour period should be wonderful. Thus, I am beginning this blog in order to participate in the read-a-thon and so I can join the book blogging community. I am looking forward to chronicling my reading and some life details.