Not as many as I would have liked to have read, but a lot more than I thought possible with all the busyness of life this year!
So, since I only read one series this year, the best series of the year goes to the Shadow Children Series by Margaret Haddix. I had a hard time with the first one, only because I had recently read the Uglies series, and it is a lot more detailed and the characters are more developed, but realizing that this was written for a younger audience, and knowing how much my cousin Amanda, and sister, Chelsea loved them, I pressed forward, and was glad I did. It is interesting to have read "the Government takes over your brain and does bad things for its' people" type books, and then compare to some of the things that go on in Washington... just an interesting thought. (Don't worry, I'm not an anti-government, conspiracy theory type person, but it does make you think about the government in a bigger picture and what their duties are towards the people they govern.)
The worst reads of the year go to True Believer and The Time Traveler's Wife. Not a fan of either. They were both very well written, I'm not going to lie. Great writing styles and well thought out characters, however I just felt like the authors were trying to push their own agenda the entire time, in an inappropriate way in the case of True Believer, and in an obnoxious way in the case of Time Traveler's Wife.
Let me explain... True Believer is a teen book, written for Jr. High to High School aged students. The style is a steady stream of unconscious thoughts from the main character, and has such a great moral to it. It's actually the 2nd book in the Making Lemonade trilogy by Virginia Woolf (sorry to any Woolf fans out there). But it's about a black girl living in the slums in a big city who has decided to and fights against all odds to go to college. It's a great story about how we who have it so easy take education for granted, and the power of education in taking the slums out of people and people out of the slums. Then towards the end, she throws in this homosexual agenda, that I feel is inappropriate for the age group she is writing for, that really doesn't have anything to do with the story. If Ms. Woolf wants to write about her own agenda, I believe she should do it in an adult setting, and not push it onto unsuspecting kids who may or may not have a very strong sense of identity yet. She also makes Christians out to be psychos. End of rant.
Time Traveler's Wife was a really fantastic story, and well thought out, but it was just over the top obnoxious just ranting over and over again about punk music, etc. Blah blah blah, get back to the story. It was so obnoxious, and there were some parts that were quite frankly not so necessary and not so clean, so I didn't even finish it. The movie was waay better than the book, and I still didn't love the movie.
Now for the good stuff. Have I already said how much I love Thinking Body, Dancing Mind... oh wait, I think I reviewed this last year... well, check my last years' review for more details, but let's just say that this semester I'm requiring it for my students at UVU, and one of them was practically squealing with delight the day she got it in the mail (and got very funny looks when she told people it was a textbook for one of her classes). My lil' sis even just bought it and is excited about it. I have continually seen it benefit my students and help them to become more open minded and take responsibility for their own actions and education because of it, and in my own reading, it has made me feel more empowered and given me more tools for my toolbox.
Little Britches was just a great, good old-fashioned read. No flashy stuff here. Lots of wisdom imparted... things like "Measure twice, cut once", etc. It reminded me a lot of the Mitford Series by Jan Karon. Just good solid writing with good solid morals. I loved it. It was just a great story, and the adoration this boy felt for his father and his wisdom is almost never heard of now. It made me want my kids to have as great a childhood as he did, and made me want to be a better mother.
The Parenting Breakthrough was my favorite Parenting book this year. I find a lot of parenting books say pretty much the same thing over and over, with different little tidbits here and there, and maybe different ways at approaching problems, but this book was very unique. You've probably not read another parenting book like it. It is an LDS author. Cory checked out her audio book on CD from the library and was raving about it, so I got her book and just finished it. The point of the book is to raise independent children, who by the time they leave your home can fully function in society, pay their bills, budget, cook, invest their savings, wash clothes, iron, shop for deals, take care of their cars etc.
One thing she said that I really liked was that her older sister took her daughter to her dorm at BYU as a Freshman, and the rest of the mothers of the girls living in the same dorm were standing around in the kitchen joking and laughing about how "I hope my daughter doesn't starve... she doesn't know how to make anything,etc" and how she and her sister were appalled at these mothers' attitude. Her point: there's no fairy godmother that will teach your children these life skills, and wouldn't it be better for them to learn these things when they're still at home in a safe environment, instead of trying to figure it out on their own at a time in their life that is filled with the stresses of starting college, being away from home for the first time, etc.
Also, another thing that really resonated with me was her point that most people plan out their days, weeks, and months, make plans for saving money for retirement, make plans for what they will cook for their families for the week, etc., but few parents actually make a plan (and stick to it) on how they will do the most important thing they will ever do in their lives: raise children. This is exactly how I have felt, and I had already started to make my own plan with Cory, but she has a very detailed plan that she puts down in detail, so you can use it if you want to, or use it as a springboard for brainstorming. Every year she has different chores, privileges, etc. that that child gets to learn about, and by the time they're 18 they are independent adults. Seriously, her plan is SO thought out it makes you feel a little intimidated.
Now, I don't know if we'll do all the things in her book. Some really resonated with me, and others I was like, hmm, ok, maybe. But I really liked the way she teaches her children about finances and budgeting and finding good deals. When they turn 12 they get a clothes budget for the entire year (you can do it monthly or whatever, but she suggests a year), and they teach their kids to write down what they actually need and budget for the rest of the year. One year her son blew all his clothes budget right away, and didn't figure in that he needed a swimsuit for the summer, so he ended up swimming in cut off jean shorts that year. To some parents this might seem a little harsh, but I thought it was, again, a good real-life learning situation in a safe and familiar environment, instead of letting your kids move out and realize that if they blow all their money, there's nothing else there until the next paycheck.
So to make a long story longer, It made me think a lot about my parenting, although I didn't love everything about the whole book.
Probably my favorite book this year was Guernsey. I thought it was very well written. Very tongue in cheek humor, witty, charming, etc. It approached a difficult subject with a unique writing style, and made you see things as they were without drowning you with sorrow. And now I really have to go visit the Channel Islands of England. There are so many great stories out there in print that are poorly written. This one, in my opinion, was the total package. It was a great story, and very well written.
The Shack had mentionable notice. Very interesting concept behind it, and although the writing was a bit flowery and puffed up for me, it really made you think differently about God, Christ, and the Spirit, and your relationship with all three. Most of it was not doctrinally correct, in my opinion, but it just made you go hmmm. For instance, God is a big black woman in the book, but some of the relationship issues that the main character works through and some of the wisdom found in it makes you think, so it gets a star for that!
This could continue on and on. If anyone is still reading my ramblings and has questions on any books I left out, feel free to let me know and I'll expound, but to keep this from turning into a novel, we're calling it a day! Happy reading in 2010, everyone! I hope my reading this next year happens more, and there are fewer "bad" books, because as Ms. Pribby said in Guernsey, "reading good books ruins you for reading bad books."
See you next year...
Anyone else have one of these babies from Tai Pan? They make your house smell so good.
After a bad leaking incident wherein Aunt Lex got soaking wet all down her leg due to Jocelyn's diaper malfunctioning, I picked her up and Jocelyn was pants-less and wearing striped socks up to the thigh. She thought the socks were so cool.
Trying to eat better this year. What does one do with a lot of egg yolks, anyways?
I know this is a potty training classic and all, but I was not so impressed and neither was Jocelyn after the first 3 minutes. At least we didn't buy it. (no offense, Ms. Frankel)
The potty training continues...
Our little yoga instructor (I love these little yoga pants on her)
It's a party at our house everyday.
Dishwasher went kaput after only 3 years...our countertop has looked like this for almost 2 months now. We got a free one from a friend today, and I can't tell you how happy I am to not be doing dishes by hand again.
She's pretty much attached to the binkie right now. We're working on it, but not with much success.
Jojo has a bad habit of drinking tubby water, no matter how gross you tell her it is. Usually she'll drink it and then say "goth" (gross)
And I chopped my hair off... again. Only shorter than I've ever done it before. It's a long pixie, and I think I like it although I'm not used to it yet. But it only takes me 3 minutes to do in the morning so you can't argue with that!
Jojo and baby Lucy chillaxin'
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