2010 Book List

Happy New Year!! I'm excited to tell you about the books I read in 2010. Many I really liked! I meant to read more classics. Oh well. I got a couple in like Murder on the Orient Express (twice - I really liked it!) and The Catcher in the Rye (read right after J D Salinger died). In 2011 I want to read another classic I haven't gotten to. Maybe Gone With the Wind or East of Eden. We'll see. Here's my list and of course I couldn't help adding my two cents on each book.

1. The Help by Kathryn Stocket - I liked this one. It was good for a book club discussion. I must say though that this point in history is not my favorite time to read about - segregation and civil rights. It's just so painful and hard. It felt like some characters were caricatures, Hilly for one, but overall it was a good read.
2. The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale - I did not like it. I'm sorry. It was fun in parts, so very very sad in others, but I felt manipulated by the ending. I think she ended it the way she did to make a point that men and women can be "just friends" without any other feelings involved. I do think that men and women can be friends, don't get me wrong, but I don't think you should be pinky-swearing kind of BFFs with another man when you are married. Call me old fashioned. I wouldn't like it if my husband had a female BFF and I don't think he would like it the other way around either. And then there was that part where she flew across the country to comfort her BFF when he split with his wife. That crossed some lines. Okay so this book was thought provoking at least, so I guess I can say it was worth reading.
   
3. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene - I loved this book as a 13?14? year old. And now it just doesn't have the same hold for me. It's an okay book, but not one I will read and reread as an adult like I did as a teenager.
   
4. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie - Great! I really really liked it and want to read more Agatha Christie's now.
   
5. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery -I read it with Sophie and it was lovely. I had forgotten how much I love Anne.
   
6. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan - It was fun. It felt copy-catish and was not as wonderful by any means as Harry Potter, but good. Sophie has read the whole series and loves them. I'm just glad she is still into fantasy and we haven't had to deal with Twilight yet.:)
7. Return to Honor by L. J. Elmore - This was written by my friend's mother's friend and I read it for a book club. It was a different perspective on WWII. Can't say that I loved it, but it was thought provoking.
   
8. The Catcher In the Rye by J. D. Salinger - Oh how can I even review this one. This is my favorite book. The first time I read it, my junior year in high school, I so identified with Holden. A book, a character had never spoken to me like that before. I got to discuss this book this year with my friends' online book group. It was fantastic to talk about Holden with other people. Please don't think I'm crazy or naughty for loving this book. It has bad language. Yes. But there is so much more to it. It's an amazingly deep read if you give it a chance.
   
9. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt - Good. It is a great way to introduce the subject of "would you really want to live forever?" to kids. It's a children's book and reads like one, but it was a good read even for an adult.
   
10. Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella - Yep, read this one again for hilarious fluff. A wintertime tradition.
11. Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella
12. Shopaholic Ties the Knot by Sophie Kinsella -
    
13. Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom - Really good. I like Albom's style. So easy to read. I loved his Rabi. Can you believe I still haven't read Tuesdays with Morrie? Maybe this year.
14. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe - I wish I would have read this in the fall. Perfect Halloween book. Connie, the main character, bugged me every now and then and there was A LOT of suspension of disbelief, but I liked it.
    
15. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford - One of those books that helps you understand a period in history you might not have. It's a puppy love sort of story between a Chinese American boy and a Japanese American girl and what happens when they are split up because the girl has to go with her family to a Japanese internment camp. I thought the romance was probably a little too intense for 12? 13? year olds (I can't remember how old they were), but it was sweet and poignant in parts.
16. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl - Bring on the fluff. Oh so fun. Total Twilight knock off, but this time with witches and from the boy's perspective. You need a little fluff now and then.
17. Anne of Avonlea by Lucy Maud Montgomery - Read this one with Sophie too and it was, again, lovely.
    
18. Superfreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner - I read this for a book club and it was interesting. Not the kind of book I would choose on my own, but wow there was some stuff in there I'd never thought of. Levitt and Dubner are certainly out of the box kind of thinkers.
19. Diary of an Honest Mum by Jools Oliver - Jools Oliver as in celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's wife. It is the story of their journey through infertility and the first couple years with their first 2 children. A couple years ago I saw Jools Oliver on the Today Show talking about this book and I thought hey that would be fun to read. And it was fun to read. Though it would have been funner to read when my babies were babies. It felt a little irrelevant to my life now, I'm past the point of making my own organic baby food, sadly.
20. The Short 2nd Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer - Cool beans. I liked it. Not enough Edward. Of course. But there was that little snipit at the end with Edward reading her thoughts and Edward talking to Jane. So hey, Edward! It was nice to be back in that world even if it was the much more violent side of Forks.
21. This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer - This was the sequel to Life As We Knew It and though I liked it, I didn't like it as much as the first one. I didn't like the ending. I didn't like the euthanasia part. The story didn't warrant it, but other than that it was good.
22. The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman - Whoa, Poland in WWII! I had no idea about the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. That was really interesting to read about. I thought this book was a little slow, but so informative and thought provoking. The joke the German soldiers played on this poor woman - wow that was unforgivable. Such pain and heartache.
23. Mocking Jay by Suzanne Collins - I already reviewed this book in a post right after I read it, but in summary I really liked it. A lot. I like that it wasn't all tied up neatly. I liked the ending. I was terrorized by parts, but it's great and I highly recommend the whole series!
24. Scrambled Eggs At Midnight by Brad Barkley - Okay this was also a very good young adult fiction book. It's about a girl living a nomadic kind of life with her mother going from Renaissance Faire to Renaissance Faire. She meets a boy who lives with his parents at a Christian fat camp. It is super funny in parts. It is told from both the girl's and the boy's point of view which would normally bug me, but it was alright. I liked the sarcastic humor and the feeling of the book. Both these kids are just trying to find a loving home where they matter and feel loved. It was very sweet and surprisingly had a couple of recipes in it. A weird, but welcome bonus.:)
    
25. The Silence of God by Gale Sears - Slow and not as interesting as it sounds. It's the story of a Mormon family in the scenes leading up to and in the wake of the Russian Revolution. It sounds exciting, but it wasn't really. I wish it was better and I could tell you this is a great LDS historical fiction, but alas...
26. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie - Again. Fun!
27. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer - Mock me not. I love my escapes to Forks.
28. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling - I love Harry. He is such a great character. I had forgotten how awesome this book is. I did tear up a couple of times when I read it this time which I didn't the first time around. I think I was so focused on finishing it the first time I didn't get into the story as much as I did this time. It was great to reread right before seeing the movie. How can I wait till July for part 2??
    
29. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell - Another "out of the box thinking" book club read. It is about the power of snap decisions, of gut feelings and how they are usually correct. Loved how it started with some fun art history stuff and I also thought the Coke vs. Pepsi part was really cool. Interesting stuff.
    
30. The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare - I am pretty darn sure I read this in 7th grade, but I had forgotten most of it. It was a nice non-Crucible yet still witch trial story, set in 17th century Connecticut. I like that it gave you the feeling of the times, but wasn't the downer that it could have been. Perfect for young readers (Sophie read it in school too). Kit is a nice refreshing character to place in this time period. BTW, I don't think I would have survived this period in history - the work, the social structure, the powerlessness of women combined with all superstition. Can you imagine how hard life must have been?
    
31. The White Queen by Philippa Gregory - I had not read any Philippa Gregory before this and I really like her writing. I read it for an upcoming book club and I'm looking forward to discussing it. I think it's a lot more fiction than historical fiction, but I was intrigued by the character of Elizabeth Woodville. And the time period of The War of the Roses was really interesting. This book has made me want to read more Philippa Gregory - hence book #33.:)
32. Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella - Yay for another Shopaholic! In truth it was a little been there done that. Just saying. It particularly felt a little like Shopaholic Ties the Knot. But it made me laugh. Really hard. Bex is a hoot and though Luke (her husband) is a horrible workaholic he is also dreamy. And their child Minnie is hilarious. I say keep the Shopaholics coming Sophie Kinsella!
    
33. The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory - This is like the dark sad version of The White Queen focusing on the life of Henry VII's mother Margaret Beaufort. The bare facts of her life are awful - married at 12, baby at 13, widowed, married, widowed, and married again. Plotting the whole time, maliciously at times, to get her only son on the throne. Intriguing nasty stuff. I didn't like it as much as The White Queen because this woman's life was not nice, but I still want to read more Philippa Gregory. These books are fluffy yet contain just enough fact to make them a little meaty at the same time. Nice.

So that's it. I think my favorites, aside from the obvious (i.e. Catcher in the Rye, Twilight, and Harry Potter) are: Mocking Jay, Murder on the Orient Express, and The White Queen. Right now I'm starting off my 2011 readings right with Wuthering Heights and after that maybe another Philippa Gregory. Happy new year readings to you!

Christmasing

Christmas Eve. The kids were so into dressing up and acting out the Christmas story this year. Nina was an angel and a wise man. Ben was Joseph, a shepherd, and a wise man. Sophie was Mary and a wise man. I was Herod's scribe and the costumer. Adrian was the narrator, Herod, and a donkey (Adrian gets stuck with the most interesting parts every year!:)). I love this picture we got of our 3 wise men.

Right before the bedlam of the picture below.

This is after the Christmas bomb dropped in our family room.

Christmas picnic by the tree. My favorite tradition.

Finishing our Christmas puzzle.

After all that we went to Gulliver's Travels, which was hilarious. We had a great day and I'm so glad I got to spend it with my favorite people in all the world. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

Decembering Part 2: The Food

Let's be honest, part of the wonderfulness of December is the food. Oh the food. We have received the most scrumptious goodies from neighbors and friends and we ourselves have been making a bunch of treats. Have you tried mint chocolate covered Ritz crackers?? Oh man! So yummy. We got a homemade gingerbread house kit from my sweet friend Heidi and it was so fun to put that together. It actually has candy glass windows. Heidi is a star. Did I mention that it smells so good too. Every time I pass by the finished gingerbread house I make sure I inhale deeply. Today we've been preparing for our Christmas Eve dinner. Adrian is making another brined turkey - yum. And we are going to have all our favorite sides including deviled eggs and crescent rolls. Tomorrow evening we will also be making our traditional Finnish Ribbon Cookies for Santa Claus which of course are pretty much just butter and sugar. Wonderfulness I say! Dr. Oz says that we all eat about 600 extra calories a day from Thanksgiving through New Years and I believe him, but wow isn't it a delicious time of year. Starting Jan. 1st I'll be good and eat a lot less butter, cream cheese, sugar, and did I say butter? No wonder people get depressed in January!

Making corn flake wreaths for a Family Home Evening treat. Ben and Nina loved decorating them with red hots and m&ms, but were not even going to try anything covered in green goo. Adrian, Sophie, and I loved them.

The gingerbread house. See how it even has 2 levels?! The kids had so much fun decorating it.

Me with a pan of hot crescent rolls. Mmmm bread... You can see my quirky hot pads. Yes, they are welding gloves and I love them!

Decembering

We have been having a relaxing December at home. The kids are out of school now and we are spending our days playing (Sophie is teaching Ben how to play chess), reading, coloring (Nina), watching shows, and taking the occasional outing. It's been really lovely.

Our tree is decorated and we are enjoying our quiet evenings watching shows with the Christmas tree lights on. Last night was A Christmas Story and The Blind Side.

Here's the kids in their Christmas Sunday outfits. I love that Ben is wearing real ties now (well kid size real ties).

Thanksgiving At Last

I can't believe I'm just now posting about Thanksgiving. For the first time in my life I made a real honest to goodness Thanksgiving dinner for my family. This was made possible by Adrian agreeing to do the turkey. And I mean the whole turkey. I never had to touch it at all. Awesome. There is just something strange with me and turkeys. I love to eat them. Turkey is yummy. But even wrapped in plastic they are still huge dead animals (sorry for that visual) and I just can't get my head around touching one. Maybe someday I'll cross that bridge (with gloves on), but for now Adrian is the turkey guy in our house and he made one beautiful, flavorful, moist turkey! He made Alton Brown's, of Good Eats fame, brined turkey and wow it turned out great! He also made the sweet potato casserole this year which was also very good. I made everything else. Here's a link to our menu.

So we spent the morning cooking happily (really it was fun) and then around 1:30 we sat down to our feast. Everyone had their favorites. Mine was the deviled eggs, Adrian the sweet potato casserole, Sophie the sweet cherry cheeseball with crackers, Ben the cranberry sauce (jellied kind from the can of course), and Nina's favorite was the turkey and mashed potatoes (she's a traditional kinda gal). We ooohhed and aaahhed over Adrian's turkey and took pictures and stuffed our faces. Wow it was all so good. But we barley made a dent in all the food. (We had leftovers for days.)After our feast and some napping we headed to Tangled for our traditional Thanksgiving movie. That was so cute. I really enjoyed it and so did the whole family, though I'm thinking Nina loved it just a little more than anyone else. Then we came home and had pie (ooh that pumpkin cheesecake was good!) and let everyone pick a game to play. Nina chose the Ice Cream Scoop game (that's a given if you let Nina pick a game). Ben chose Sorry which honestly is amazing because every time we play that game he ends up getting his feelings hurt, but still it's his favorite. Then Nina and Ben went to bed and Sophie challenged Adrian and I to Harry Potter Clue. That is a FUN game . And Sophie won! And then rubbed it in telling Adrian and I that she is "highly logical" and that's why she won. (Hermione said that in the HP7 movie and I think Sophie took it to heart.) The nerve. Really though it was fun.

Thanksgiving was awesome. I guess it really is worth it to put in all the work of cooking for a lovely family day full of delicious food and fun times spent together. I think this years Thanksgiving is somewhere in the top 5 days I'd sign up for the Groundhog Day treatment. Hope your Thanksgiving was great too!

Christmas Art Presentation

Whew. Last night I gave an art history presentation on the life of Christ in art through the ages for my Relief Society's Christmas meeting (formerly known as Enrichment). I still can't believe I did it and that it's over. It was about a 45? 50? minute presentation, but mixed in with the art stuff were verses of scriptures read by my friend Ganelle, our RS president.

I'm having a hard time today because I still feel like I should be locked in the den studying and researching the images. It was a lot of work. I'm not going to lie and say it was a breeze (at first I had about 140 images, but I narrowed it down to about 90 and I didn't talk about all of them lest you think I bored my poor Relief Society to death), but I can honestly say I really enjoyed the time I spent preparing. It felt like I was back at BYU studying for a test or writing a paper and it was wonderful. I love art. I really really do. I especially love finding connections in art. I did this one part where I compared images of Christ's birth and it is so neat to see how that tradition has changed through time. There are some really neat recent nativity paintings. I did the same thing with images of "The Madonna and Child" and "Christ with the Children" and it was awesome (for me at least). Also I got to talk about "3 Magi in a Taco" so I was totally stoked about that! (This is the one pictured above - its real name is "The Magi Asleep" by Gislebertus, a 12th centurey stone carver.) Does anyone say totally stoked anymore? And I got a laser pointer! I actually got to talk about art with a laser pointer. Ha ha! Cross that one off the bucket list! But yeah, I did feel a little like I was going to pass out the whole time that I was talking. And I shook like a leaf and you could tell because my shaking made the laser pointer shake too. Most of all though it was amazing to prepare all these images of Christ's life during this Christmas season. I've been finding images of Christ and looking at images of Christ so much and it has centered and focused my thoughts on the Savior. It was a great experience. So even though I was a big shivering ball of anxiety I am so glad I had the opportunity to do this presentation. Now I guess I have to start cleaning my house and feeding my family again. Ah well, locking myself in the den was fun while it lasted. :)