the long-awaited 2013 summer story list

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my favorite summer stories....a five-minute list-with-links

devil in the white city
my beloved world
breaking night
in cold blood
destiny of the republic
enslaved by ducks
*and the mountains echoed
invictus
hezekiah
danielle - her family moved from south carolina to bangkok
quints - i love this story of a missionary couple's quints
amy - overhead projectors remind me of jesus
kristen - what being a mom is really like

*fiction

i love a great story. what have you been reading lately? give me links, people. i only have two weeks of summer left!

linking with-

the gypsy mama for five-minute-friday, grace for FYBF, beholding glory for faith-filled friday, cheryl for true vine challenge, barbie for freshly brewed life

brothels, sunrises & unbelief

over the weekend i read
a new kind of normal
and
god in a brothel
and i have to admit....
they scared me
not the stephen king kind of fear
but the
i-can't-believe-these-things-happen kind
and now i'm sitting on my corner
of the couch
staring out at the sun as she rises,
despite
she rises every.day.
even though people's worlds
turn upside down in an instant
even though children are sold
into slavery every minute
sometimes it's hard to
believe
that god is here
piercing the dark with these
incessant sunrises
so
today i'll borrow the words of a
distraught father speaking to
jesus
i do believe;
help me
overcome
my
unbelief

what about you? what challenges your belief?

despite the really yucky stuff in the world, i believe that all good gifts come down from heaven. and so i'm continuing to count them to 1000 -

693. time with relatives on the chickahominy river
694. coming home to garden, kitty, chickens and dog
695. books that challenge me
696. a new curriculum for next year
697. my girl, the one i mentor. thankful for the cheer in her texts yesterday
698. my husband's opportunity for travel to papua new guinea
699. getting together with friends
700. a seventeenth birthday for my son

linking with -
michelle for hear it monday, use it on sunday, ann for 1000 gifts, l.l. for on, in, and around mondays

joan for sharing his beauty, laura for playdates with god jen for soli deo gloria shanda for on your heart tuesdays and kat for titus 2 tuesdays

on where i read and a list for martha

summer mornings find me
curled up on the north corner
of my couch
coffee mug and book in hand
a deep pleasure
i came home from my school year
with a red tub of books -
mostly literature for adolescents
and i will immerse myself
in story as the days pass by
my friend, martha,
who knows this about me
asked for a list
books? a list?
of course!!

so here are five i've read and enjoyed recently -

blue nights - joan didion
look me in the eye: my life with aspergers - john elder robison
outrageous grace - grace fabian
the zookeeper's wife - diane akerman
escape from camp 14 - blaine harden

and a few i plan to read this summer -

operating instructions - anne lammot
the book thief - markus zusak
monster - walter dean myers
riot - walter dean myers
reading lolita in tehran - azar nafisi

how about you? what are you reading? where do you like to read?

linking with -

emily for imperfect prose
jen for god bumps
joy for life:unmasked

21 words about escape from camp 14



photo credit

i sometimes think deprivation
is
no nutella
or
drinking store brand coffee
but
blaine harden's escape
jolted me
awake
now what?

linking with -

daniele for 21 words
emily for imperfect prose
jen for god bumps
joy for life:unmasked

writing for five minutes on delight

letter from chris

this week i have taken delight in reading!

a valentine's letter from my husband
i will
love you
honor you
protect you
and
cherish you
as long as i have
life, breath and strength

a text from my girl, the one i mentor
oh yeah. i threw away my scale

a true story about north korean defectors
nothing to envy

a powerful blog post about cutting
write to restore: cutting (the middle)

a god-promise in first corinthians
but thanks be to
god
who always
leads us in triumphal procession
in christ

how about you? what are you reading?

linking with: 

jen for god bumps
joy for life:unmasked
lisa-jo for five minute friday

beki at the rusted chain for fingerprint friday

michelle for caffeinated randomness

studio jru for sneak peek friday

when it's okay to gulp

she wrote her story,
one of
unlikely survival
in the most dire circumstance
she wrote her story,
one of
finding god
in a world of hate and violence
she writes of her most
terrifying moment -
i put the bible in my mouth
and clenched it tightly
between my teeth.
i wanted to
swallow
god's
words,
to gulp them down
into my soul*
she survived genocide
she lived
and isn't this what we need
to live?
god's words
in
our
souls?

*immaculee ilibagiza in her book, left to tell: discovering god amidst the rwandan holocaust

continuing to count his gifts to 1000-

493. amish friendship bread in the oven
494. laughter
495. high school wrestling (who knew?)
496. the drummer
497. students' enthusiasm
498. a good latte
499. time to read
500. my husband's strong arms
501. my girl, the one i mentor. i am proud of her progress
502. gaynell, the server at bojangles, who always likes my earrings
503. the yellowstone blanket we bought on our honeymoon

linking with

michelle for hear it monday, use it on sunday

ann for 1000 gifts

l.l. for on, in, and around mondays
joan for sharing his beauty
richella for grace imparted
laura for playdates with god

jen for soli deo gloria
shanda for on your heart tuesdays
emily for tuesdays unwrapped

adding a label: reality

photo credit

i finished reading
the hiding place
tonight
and can't believe
i thought
getting up at 6:00
feeling chilly in my classroom
not finding microsoft office on my computer
having to chastise a son
running out of mini oreos
garage door malfunctioning
reruns on television
boots too expensive
were hardships....

linking with:

jen for god bumps
joy for life:unmasked

in which i actually use some capital letters (reading lists)

summer reading facts:

• i read in the car when chris or hank is driving
• i read while sitting in my special corner of the couch 
• i've read fifteen books since the end of may
• i started three other books but didn't finish them
• my favorites this summer were memoirs

top nine (in order of how awesome they were to me):

1. A Thousand Trails – Hugh Steven (memoir of wycliffe bible translator's founder)
2. The Good Daughter – Jasmin Darznik (memoir of an iranian woman's mother)
3. Brother, I’m Dying – Edwidge Danticat (memoir of a haitian woman's father and uncle)
4. Doorway to the World – Hugh Steven (third memoir of wycliffe's founder)
5. The Dressmaker of Khair Khana – Gayle Tzemach Lemmon (memoir of an afghan woman)
6. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot (biography)
7. The Double Comfort Safari Club – Alexander McCall Smith (for FUN - takes place in botswana)
8. The Story of Lucy Gault – William Trevor (takes place in ireland - crazy story)
9. The Tiger’s Wife – Tea Obreht (takes place in an unnamed eastern european country)

the books i didn't complete:

• The Travels of Marco Polo - Marco Polo and a translator whose name i don't remember (i read about three-fourths. i got bored)
• Where Men Glory - Jon Krakauer (read about half. i got bogged down in descriptions of technical military activities)
• Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (read most, but found the story tedious. read the end to find out if the boy got the girl)

questions for you:

1. what good books have you read lately?
2. where/when do you usually read?
3. do you give up on books or force yourself to finish every one?

gates

i was seven and at church camp with my family. camp susan barbour jones. i remember losing a tooth. my brother remembers a pool/swamp. he calls it the crappy camp. but i remember something else. a speaker. he was in a wheelchair, maybe? he had been to heaven. i perked up as he told his story of a car crash, being declared dead, going to heaven and being revived. i hung on every word. scripture isn't very detailed about heaven. maybe because we wouldn't be able to think about anything else if we knew it all?  i have to admit that i've had reservations about heaven. not that i don't want to go there, but i can't imagine not missing earthly things. and what if i get tired of singing? or what if it isn't real and i don't get to see family members? i feel like a horrible christian for admitting it.

i was intrigued by a human perspective on heaven then, and now, thirty-three years later, i still am. even though it's been out since 2004, i just read 90 minutes in heaven (on my kindle. which is awesome) by don piper. a truly compelling story not only of heaven but of courage and perseverance and faith. so, this guy, too, has been to heaven. again, a car crash, the pronouncement, heaven and revival. what i loved most was learning that he saw family members, didn't worry about earth, loved the music and felt an overwhelming sense of joy. all the time.

i told my sister and her daughter about it. they gasped. my niece's eyes lit up. she moved in closer. is it a true story? you bet, kiddo. we didn't say it, but we were thinking it - we'll get to see cameron and pops for sure. and there will be no more night and no more tears. and all things, all things, will be made new. (revelation 21 & 22) amen.

what are your thoughts on heaven?

i have come that....

jesus said

i have come

that they may have

life

and have it to the

full

 my full ~

1. chocolate-dipped mint oreos
2. amazon kindle
3. necklaces to replace the ones i left in the DR
4. unshakable by rick silanskas
5. warmth
6. christmas eve service at our new church
7. french roast coffee
8. a husband who loves jesus and me
9. the boys
10. generous relatives
11. a vacation from work

Linking up with:

A Holy Experience

Finding Heaven

a reading list!

all three of my readers might wonder how i have time to read enough to post a list since i'm a teacher and a mom. ummmmm. escapism. when life gets stressful, i tend to dwell on the negative, but when i'm reading, i'm not thinking negative thoughts. so....i've read some awesome (at least to me) books since school started. i've categorized and starred them - five stars is the very best, and four reached that rank!

Young Adult Science Fiction (a series)
****Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
****Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
****Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins

Historical Fiction
*****Before we were Free (Dominican Republic) – Julia Alvarez
****Rooftops of Tehran  (Iran) – Mahbod Seraji

Memoir
*****Left to Tell (Rwanda) – Immaculee Ilibagiza
***** A Long Way Gone (Sierra Leone) – Ishmael Abeah
*****Persopolis (Iran) - Marjane Satrapi
***Of Beetles and Angels (Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan) – Mawi Asgedom
**Soldier Girl (Uganda) - Faith J. H. McDonnell and Grace Akallo

summer unwrapped

While bloggers are Unwrapping Tuesday over at Chatting at the Sky, I'm unwrapping the gift of summer reading.

the. clock. is. ticking. At this very moment a new crop of seventh graders is....sound asleep. But they will walk through my classroom door very soon, and I must prepare! My time of guilt-free, voracious reading will come to a close at the completion of Zorro by Isabel Allende. I'm sharing my reading list with you today, just in case you're looking for a book that someone else liked. If you have suggestions for me, please share. I might get to read for pleasure again in November during Thanksgiving break!

My Bible reading included Exodus and Philippians, and Chris and I are currently working on Revelation with a Life Changers study. My fiction for the summer is listed below in the order that I enjoyed them. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver was my favorite. I adored the ending! Happy reading!!!

Summer 2010

*****The Lacuna – Barbara Kingsolver
*****Little Bee – Chris Cleve
*****I Feel Bad about my Neck – Nora Ephron
*****Zeitoun – Dave Eggers
****When Engulfed by Flames – David Sedaris
****Zorro – Isabel Allende
****Ines of my Soul – Isabel Allende
****Jasmine - Bharati Mukherjee
***Dreaming in Cuban – Christina Garcia
***Traitor’s Gate – Avi
***Ashes of Roses – Mary Jane Auch
***Serena – Ron Rash
**Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Stieg Larrson
**Like Water for Chocolate – Laura Esquirel
**The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie – Alan Bradley
*The Last Girls – Lee Smith (only read ½. didn’t like it)

i'm gone

I have six days of work left this year, but in my mind, I've had to go to summer already. I've started my...

1. Summer reading - Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquirel. I'll finish tomorrow, so if you have any suggestions, please, please, please leave a comment.
2. Summer cleaning - my "computer" room, which really has become the wireless router and all kinds of junk room since we have laptops.
3. Summer writing - I think it's a novel. That perhaps will be in verse. I hope to meet the rest of the characters soon!
4. Summer comparisons - wait. I refuse. I will not fall into the trap of measuring myself against others' minds OR bodies. I will enjoy Kendal.

His toothbrush is gone. His truck is gone. I am bereft - is that okay? I mean, my husband is gone to Africa to spread the Good News while all I'm doing is sitting hunched over my computer with ear plugs in to block out the guitar - Hank is teaching himself Dueling Banjos. It's going to be a long twelve days.

I'm reading again. After Cameron, my nephew, died in December, I couldn't concentrate. Focus has returned and I've finished the bulk of my professional writing that's due in March, so I can read without guilt. Two books:

1. So Long Insecurity by Beth Moore. Nonfiction, hence the ear plugs. Beth is an excellent Bible teacher. I love her studies. About this new book she says that she wants women to open the book insecure and close it as secure women. I'm participating in the online discussion group. It's great so far.
2. In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez. Historical fiction - a favorite of mine. The setting is the reign of Trujillo, the ruthless dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic from 1930-1961. The story focuses on four sisters who are caught up in subversive acts against the tyrannical leader. I wanted to know more about the country's past since I've visited twice in the last year and plan to go again in July. Very well-written and suspenseful.

I want to write again. Seriously. I miss the cleansing. The rush. The backache. Perhaps the muse will visit again soon. Until then, read my shoddy poetry and boring posts....

KP

multi-media

We stayed home from church today - something we never do. Chris hasn't plowed us out yet, so here we are. Doesn't even feel like Sunday. We watched a podcast sermon from Cornerstone Simi Valley - Francis Chan is the pastor, and he's awesome. Now Hank is regaling me with riffs on his Christmas guitar. Jack joins in with singing every once in a while. What's my part in the show? I uploaded my first youtube video - it's part one of my last reading. Why only part one? I accidently saved over the long video with this five minute portion. Hmmm. Not an expert with the Flip video program. Not an expert at anything, really, but that's a post for another day. Now I will attempt to embed the video. Watch this! Okay, in case you didn't know, just pasting in the url in the body of the blog doesn't work. Gonna try something else now. Watch this! Sigh. Trying something else now. watch this.