2012 Book List

Of my 40 books on my 2012 reading list....
Each book has a link to their listing on amazon.com. I post reviews on some books, but do let me know if you want it on a particular book.

I've read,
1. The Happiness Project
2. The Coming Revolution
3. The Blythes are Quoted
4. Baby Days
5. Amish Values for Your Family
6. Going Green: Growing Vegetables
7. The Mom I Want to Be
8. The Year of Living Biblically
9. Say You're One of Them
10. The Measure of a Man
11. How to Have a New Kid by Friday
12. Lies Homeschooling Moms Believe
13. Middlesex
14. Farm City
15. Real Marriage
16. Hot Apple Cider
17. The Little Red Book of Wisdom
18. Raising a Sensory Smart Child
19. The Help
20. 7, An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess
21. Radical, Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream
22. Plain Promise
23. The Out of Sync Child
24. Last Child in the Woods, Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
25. Plain Perfect
26. Man of His Word
27. Anything
*updated October 25th, 2012

2011 Books List Recap and how to get even smarter...

For this year, I aimed to read 25 books.
And so how did I do....?
I read 34 books ---- I am completely proud of my self! :)

1. Summer Sisters
2. Life After 40
3. The Pillars of the Earth
4. Ahab's Wife
5. The Girl with Pearl Earring
6. Big Fish
7. A Conversation with God
8. Bringing up Boys
9. The Map
10. Reggie
11. A Common Life
12. Prisoner of Tehran
13. Life of Pi
14. Four Spirits
15. Freakonomics
16. Made from Scratch
17. The Bucolic Plague
18. Better Off
19. Hattie Big Sky
20. In this Mountain
21. The Jungle Book
22. Clabbered Dirt, Sweet Grass
23. (The New) Dare to Discipline
24. Hannah Coulter
25. (The New) Strong Willed Child
26. Home Economics
27. Mortgage-Free
28. The Prince Edward Island Book of Everything
29. Eat, Pray, Love
30. Bannock, Beans and Black Tea
31. The Land of Painted Caves
32. Ascent into Darkness
33. Blue Like Jazz

And that brings me to my list for 2012.
This year, I'm going for 30.
*cue Rocky Music, please*

Granted, below you will see way more than 30 books....my list is always growing! So the goal is to read at least 30 books from the list. And it's highly likely, I would add more as the year continues. :)

My mom would be proud.

1. The measure of a man
2. Say you're one of them
3. One hundred years of solitude
4. Middlesex
5. Cry the beloved country
6. The nature principle
7. Last child in the woods
8. East of eden
9. Home Comforts
10. I will write about this place someday
11. No biking in the house without a helmet
12. From good to great
13. Crazy love
14. Born to run
15. The Quarter-Acre Farm: How I Kept the Patio, Lost the Lawn, and Fed My Family for a Year
16. The Dirty Life
17. A Life that says Welcome
18. The Mom I Want to Be
19. Sacred Marriage
20. Persuasion
21. The Kite Runner
22. Northanger Abbey
23. Practicing Hospitality
24. Be Bodacious
25. Mansfield Park
26. The Second Jungle Book and Just so Stories
27. Light from heaven
28. The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture
29. Heaven
30. One Thousand Gifts
31. Sherlock in Love
32. Hot Apple Cider
33. Paradise Lost
34. Benjamin Franklin
35. Ten P's in a Pod : A Million-Mile Journal of the Arnold Pent Family
36. The No-Cry Discipline Solution: Gentle Ways to Encourage Good Behavior Without Whining, Tantrums, and Tears
37. Be Fruitful and Multiply
38. Amish Values for Your Family: What We Can Learn from the Simple Life
39. Micmac By Choice: Elsie Sark -- An Island Legend
40. Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
41. The Family
42. Damsels in Distress: Biblical Solutions for Problems Women Face
43. Two acre Eden
44. Shepherding a Child's Heart
45. The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical

Book Review: Ascent from Darkness

I recently received and read Ascent from Darkness by Michael Leehan. It's a personal account of a man who was a self-proclaimed soldier for Satan and how he was released from that by the power of God.

As a regular reader, it's an interesting read. Some of Leehan's experiences are vivid -- to the point of not being sure if I wanted to continue reading (especially seeing as how I usually read before bed lol).

As a Christian, I forced myself to continue reading because I think it's important for us to know (or hopefully, to remind) ourselves of the spiritual warfare that is constantly surrounding us and how subtle and sneaky evil is. The Bible talks about knowing your enemy and through this book, one is able to deconstruct the ploys of evil and know how he works and operates.

What just came to mind is the Scripture in Gen 50:20....
You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. Through Leehan's experience and situation and subsequent book, many people are helped.

I would definitely suggest this book, but really only for a mature Christian.

One Thousand Gifts

Back in January, the Ann Voskamp book, One Thousand Gifts, came out and I posted my interest on reading it and joining the discussion.

Every year, I make a "want to read" list and for the most part, I read all the books on the list. What's also a definite given, is that I always ADD to the list as I go. This year, I've been my most "successful". My "Smart List" has 25 books on it to read for this year and as of today (mid September), I've read 23 books. IF you want to get really technical, I've read 8 books off the actual list, which is kind of funny. So, in terms of "numbers accomplishments", I am successful in reaching my goal....in terms of focus, yeah, I obviously have a distraction problem. :)

HOWEVER, this is just a long-winded way of saying that I HAD not got to reading One Thousand Gifts....and my disclaimer.

But what I do want to share is that from that book, even though I have not read it, is that I have been keeping a small (and quite beautiful, if I can say so) journal bedside to record daily my "blessings" with the aim of getting to 1000 (at some point!).

I've started becoming serious again about my daily QT (quiet time) and prayer/chat with God, so I just added the "task" of recording my daily blessings from the day before as part of this routine. I'm up to 48 so far and wanted to thank God now for even that amount, as many of them have either been something that my heart (not my mouth) asked for, protection over me, my husband or son (those "oh-oh moments) or just situations where I knew God was reaching out to me, if only to see me smile.

So take this post as an encouragement to really RECORD, not just count, your blessings.
What a wonderful keepsake to read through when completed, no?

The Map

I recently just read, The Map, by David Murrow (author of Why Men Hate Going to Church). And I have to say, for a book "geared" for guys, this gal really enjoyed it and sees its relevance and application to a number of different situations.

In response to Murrow's realization that churches all over have problems retaining or “building” its male population, The Map is written in both a straightforward “lecture and discussion style” as well as in a thriller-action suspense, similar to the Davinci Code. The book suggests that there is a “map” to transform men, helping them to get on the path that brings them closer to being the man God wants them to be. And this map, has been followed by many of the Great Men of the Bible and even Jesus, himself. Further, the book boldly states that many of today's churches are doing the very opposite of what this map indicates and this results in the apathy and decline of men at church.

I think the “map” is a great revelation in understanding more of Jesus' character and of our daily walk. Yes, I said “our” (me, being a female reading a male book). I do believe the concepts in this book can transcend into teaching within marriages, within parenting and with what the different “levels” of believers need in Church.

The “down to earth”, honest and reality-based approach to problems in the Church and the need for men to become real “men of God” (and the MAP for how) was very refreshing. I did appreciate and enjoy the fictional tale in the beginning of the book. This helped to put the actual lesson in perspective --- which is one of Murrow's concepts: men are visual learners, yet Churches teach “verbally” and not experientially. If anything, the book has provided me with an insight for how to relate to my own husband, brothers in the Church and for “discipling” my own son and leading him onto the right path.

After reading this book, I plan to read David Murrow's other books, including How Women Help Men Find God.

My Smart List (aka, my book list)

Bottom Line: I LOVE to read and I can remember enjoying it waaaay back. My mother was an avid library-card user and on Saturdays (especially before we became a family of 5 raised by a single mom), we would always make our trip to the library. (Afterwards, there was still a trip to the library, it was just ME now having to take my younger siblings. My mother stayed home and read.) But for the times, it was just her and me, she would stay downstairs in the Adult section and I would go upstairs to the Children's section. There, we would individually read books for a couple of hours and make the important decisions about which books we were going to check out. We were VIP's at the library -- the kind where, even though it was an innercity (of NYC, that is)library, we were known by all the librarians and staff by first names. The highlight for me was at the check out. For we each, always ALWAYS checked out 5+ books. And we DID READ them by the end of that week...ok, maybe we renewed 1 or 2. But we were serious readers and I definitely grew to love reading. As a freshman in highschool, I had read the entire Jean Auel Clan of the Cave Bear series. Not impressed?! These were 4 books about 600-700 pages, each! Still not impressed. K, I read War & Peace, a 1300 page classic. Yeah, I thought that would get at least a raised eyebrow.

So with that, I always have a yearly book list. I may not always stick to it --- I may add books, may not get to some...so it's more of a guideline....For example, right now, I am reading Girl with a Pearl Earring, because upon organizing, I "rediscovered" it among my collection and it was available. And with it being under 200 pages, I can get it done pretty quickly.

My 2011 Book List: (in no particular order...)

1. The Bucolic Plague
2. Bringing Up Boys
3. The Dirty Life
4. Freakonomics
5. A Life that says Welcome
6. The Mom I Want to Be
7. Life of PI
8. Sacred Marriage
9. Persuasion
10. The Kite Runner
11. Northanger Abbey
12. Practicing Hospitality
13. Be Bodacious
14. Made from Scratch
15. Mansfield Park
16. The Jungle Book, the Second Jungle Book and Just so Stories
17. A common life
18. In this mountain
19. Light from heaven
20. Shepherds Abiding
21. Heaven
22. One Thousand Gifts
23. Sherlock in Love
24. Four Spirits

and just added today, #25....because I just found out -- but the final book (#6), The Land of Painted Caves will be coming out in March! OH MY! I've been waiting over 20 years to read this book! *be still.....

Yes, that's 25 books --- about 2 a month.... as I said, growing up, reading was built in. In fact, it was my routine to read about 30 mins while in bed, before going to sleep. I just remembered a situation where for a week or so, I had NOT followed through on the going to sleep part, that at some point, my mother banned me from reading for a week. Yes, people, she banned me. That's my childhood. (love ya, mom) :)

What's on your reading list? Do you have suggestions for must read?

And as for what I have read so far in 2011: (I will keep updating this list)...
1. Summer Sisters
2. Life After 40
3. The Pillars of the Earth
4. Ahab's Wife
5. The Girl with Pearl Earring
6. Big Fish
7. A Conversation with God
8. Bringing up Boys
9. The Map
10. Reggie
11. A Common Life
12. Prisoner of Tehran
13. Life of Pi
14. Four Spirits
15. Freakonomics
16. Made from Scratch
17. The Bucolic Plague
18. Better Off
19. Hattie Big Sky
20. In this Mountain
21. The Jungle Book
22. Clabbered Dirt, Sweet Grass
23. (The New) Dare to Discipline
24. Hannah Coulter
25. (The New) Strong Willed Child
26. Home Economics
27. Mortgage-Free
28. The Prince Edward Island Book of Everything
29. Eat, Pray, Love
30. Bannock, Beans and Black Tea
31. The Land of Painted Caves
32. Ascent into Darkness
33. Blue Like Jazz
*updated December 19th, 2011

Come Take the Dare....

....to Live Fully (Right Where You Are)...

Join the (in)Courage Book Club where this book will be discussed both online and in video.

Here's an excerpt from Chapter 1:

A glowing sun-orb fills an August sky the day this story begins, the day that I am born,the day I begin to live.

And I fill my mother’s tearing ring of fire with my body emerging, virgin lungs searing with air of this earth. I unfold from the womb, from the diameter of her fullness, empty her out—and she bleeds. Vernix-creased and squalling, I am held to the light.

Then they name me.

Could a name be any shorter? Three letters without even the flourish of an e. Ann, a trio of curves and lines.
It means “full of grace.”

I haven’t been.

What does it mean to live full of grace? To live fully alive?

They wash my pasty skin and I breathe and I flail. I flail.

For decades, a life, I continue to flail and strive and come up so seemingly … empty. I haven’t lived up to my christening.

Maybe in those first few years my life curled like cupped hands, a receptacle open to the gifts God gives. But of those years, I have no memories. For they say memory jolts awake with trauma’s electricity. That would be the year I turned four. The year when blood pooled and my sister died and I, all of us, snapped shut to grace.


Standing at the side porch window, watching my parents’ stunned bending, I wonder if my mother had held me in those natal moments of naming like she held my sister in death.

In November light, I see my mother and father sitting on the back porch step rocking her swaddled body in their arms. I press my face to the kitchen window, the cold glass, and watch them, watch their lips move, not with sleep prayers, but with pleas for waking, whole and miraculous. It does not come.

The police do. They fill out reports. Blood seeps through that the blanket bound. I see that too, even now.

Memory’s surge burns deep.

That staining of her blood scorches me, but less than the blister of seeing her uncovered, lying there.

She had only toddled into the farm lane, wandering after a cat, and I can see the delivery truck driver sitting at the kitchen table, his head in his hands, and I remember how he sobbed that he had never seen her. But I still see her, and I cannot forget. Her body, fragile and small, crushed by a truck’s load in our farmyard, blood soaking into the thirsty, track-beaten earth. That’s the moment the cosmos shifted, shattering any cupping of hands.

I can still hear my mother’s witnessing-scream, see my father’s eyes shot white through.

My parents don’t press charges and they are farmers and they keep trying to breathe, keep the body moving to keep the soul from atrophying.

Mama cries when she strings out the laundry. She holds my youngest baby sister, a mere three weeks old, to the breast, and I can’t imagine how a woman only weeks fragile from the birth of her fourth child witnesses the blood-on-gravel death of her third child and she leaks milk for the babe and she leaks grief for the buried daughter.

Dad tells us a thousand times the story after dinner, how her eyes were water-clear and without shores, how she held his neck when she hugged him and held on for dear life. We accept the day of her death at day as an accident.

But an act allowed by God?

For years, my sister flashes through my nights, her body crumpled on gravel.

Sometimes in dreams, I cradle her in the quilt Mama made for her, pale green with the hand-embroidered Humpty Dumpty and Little Bo Peep, and she’s safely cocooned. I await her unfurling and the rebirth.

Instead the earth opens wide and swallows her up.

At the grave’s precipice, our feet scuff dirt, and chunks of the firmament fall away.

A clod of dirt hits the casket, shatters.

Shatters over my little sister with the white-blonde hair, the little sister who teased me and laughed; and the way she’d throw her head back and laugh, her milk-white cheeks dimpled right through with happiness, and I’d scoop close all her belly-giggling life.

They lay her gravestone flat into the earth, a black granite slab engraved with no dates, only the five letters of her name. Aimee. It means “loved one.” How she was. We had loved her. And with the laying of her gravestone, the closing up of her deathbed, so closed our lives.

Closed to any notion of grace.

Really, when you bury a child— or when you just simply get up every day and live life raw—you murmur the question soundlessly. No one hears.
Can there be a good God?

A God who graces with good gifts when a crib lies empty through long nights, and bugs burrow through coffins?

Where is God, really?

How can He be good when babies die, and marriages implode, and dreams blow away, dust in the wind?

Where is grace bestowed when cancer gnaws and loneliness aches and nameless places in us soundlessly die, break off without reason, erode away?

Where hides this joy of the Lord, this God who fills the earth with good things, and how do I fully live when life is full of hurt?

How do I wake up to joy and grace and beauty and all that is the fullest life when I must stay numb to losses and crushed dreams and all that empties me out?

…. How do we choose to allow the holes to become seeing-through-to-God places? To more-God places?

How do I give up resentment for gratitude, gnawing anger for spilling joy? Self-focus for God-communion.

To fully live—to live full of grace and joy and all that is beauty eternal. It is possible, wildly.

I now see and testify.

So this story— my story .
A dare to an emptier, fuller life.”


How to Join the Book Club? Just pick up a copy of the book and meet at the (in)Courage website every Sunday and Wednesday for videos and discussion.

Video Chapter 1 Sunday, February 06, 2011
Video Chapter 2 Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Video Chapter 3 Sunday, February 13, 2011
Video Chapter 4 Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Video Chapter 5 Sunday, February 20, 2011
Video Chapter 6 Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Video Chapter 7 Sunday, February 27, 2011
Video Chapter 8 Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Video Chapter 9 Sunday, March 06, 2011
Video Chapter 10 Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Video Chapter 11 Sunday, March 13, 2011
Video Chapter 12 Wednesday, March 16, 2011