Everyday Life, Parenting, Quick Lit, Reading, Reviews

Thirty Minute Days and Bookends and Books

Posted on

Hey friends! What have you been reading lately? I have to admit, my reading life has been quiet lately. I do have a few good book recs for you below, but only a few right now. I was talking to a friend in a similar stage of life -parenting and homeschooling big kids, while also parenting babies and preschoolers, taking our big kids to various sports, attempting to maintain healthy relationships – and we agreed, we have a grand total of about thirty minutes of “free time” a day. That’s all the time there is right now that doesn’t involve a home task like folding laundry or a parenting moment like reading to children.

Thirty whole minutes.

Thirty minutes to exercise, reply to texts and emails, shop for anything we need online, take a shower, work on a project, or do any other thing that doesn’t involve the care and keeping of home and family. Thirty minutes to do all that is required to be the healthy, put-together, accomplished modern women we’re supposed to be. Thirty minutes to decide what’s worthwhile.

“Yep, thirty minutes,” we nodded and ruefully smiled in solidarity.

Naming that to a friend and stating it here now is simply sharing this piece of my life. It’s not to complain or to say, “someone, tell me how to squeeze out of my life more usable time for my own pursuits!” The reality is simple: that thirty minutes of free time is all I expect in a typical day. I’m learning to sit more comfortably with that reality. When I take on a project, be it writing or home improvement or anything, I know that thirty minute time slot per day is all that project is going to get in this season.

I keep on using the phrase “in this season” because I am aware that it won’t always be like this. Someday my small children won’t require my full attention in their every waking moment (side note: my 12-month-old is my biggest handful yet, y’all), because they won’t be small, and that fact catches at my heart and compels me to cherish the season for what it is. Rest assured, that’s what I’m doing. But it’s impossible to ignore this: right alongside being happily present in the glorious life season I’m in is learning to be okay in the Thirty Minute Days reality.

So for now, I do a lot of things less than I used to. Yes, I even read less than I used to. But I still read. I still breathe. The two go hand-in-hand in a way I can’t explain. Some of you know what I mean. I read a nonfiction book for a few minutes every morning before the kids get up. I read a fiction book every night before I fall asleep. I literally bookend my days. And I stay sane. Another hand-in-hand fact that I can’t explain but that is absolutely true. Bookending my days with actual books keeps me a feeling like an actual person. Sure, I wish I had more time and mental space for writing my own stuff. Someday I’ll even watch a TV series or something outside of my current norm, but for now, book ending my days and living with the fact that between those bookends, I will only have thirty minutes to pursue all the other things is alright. My prayers in these Thirty Minute Days often are only an incoherent “oh, help.” But what I’m really saying is “Please. Help me seek and share delight and love in this day without wishing anything away, help me to be wise in all these minutes, help me to live the life You called me to live with joy.”

The Books I’ve Read in October/November

The Thursday Murder Club – This is one of those books whose characters you instantly fall in love with and whose pages you can’t turn fast enough. The pace of the plot was perfect, the setting so real, and the writing both humorous and thoughtful. I wouldn’t call myself a big mystery lover, but if I am going to like a mystery, it’s gotta’ have a lot of good literary elements around it. Five stars. (Just got the sequel on my Kindle from the library — squee!)

The Last Chance Library – A novel that’s an ode to local libraries and the people who love them, as well as a delayed coming of age narrative that’s becoming more common in modern storytelling. I liked the setting, the writing style, and most of the characters (the main character was a bit exasperating, but that’s part of the plot). I sure did want to go to my local library simply to be there every time I picked up this book! Four stars.

The Pearl Thief – I have waited far too long to pick up this prequel to Code Name Verity and I hereby swear to read everything by Elizabeth Wien as quickly as possible. Her two books I’ve read so far are a unique combination of quality characters navigating the new postmodern world after WWI and into WWII with fabulous settings and plenty of action to keep readers absolutely enthralled.

Gentle and Lowly – I started this in September on the recommendation (and as a gift from) my parents and have since realized lots and lots of people are reading this book right now and that is a very good thing. It’s full of the kind of truths churched people need to hear as much as unchurched people about who God is and how God really loves us all. I have to admit, I don’t always love the writing style – when you read as many Puritan writers as Dane Ortlund, that probably tends to affect your own writing a bit – but the content is profound. Simple, but profound, and profoundly lost in my own reading of the Bible often. I always take my time with nonfiction (I mean, I give it about ten minutes a day so yeah, that’s going to take a while), but this is a book I’m going through even more slowly than my usual pace, taking it in each short chapter in a morning and thinking it over for a few days between. I’ve got two more chapters to go. Five stars.

Wonderland – Not my favorite middle grade novel I’ve read lately. Too rushed, too heavy, too many characters left undeveloped. 2 stars.

Honey – A short and light story by the author of Pie, my favorite middle grade novel I read this year. I’m thinking of reading it aloud to my kids in the next few weeks. Honey doesn’t have as compelling a mystery or fully developed characters as Pie, but it’s a solid book just the same. 3.5 Stars.

A Place to Hang the Moon – I already read this beautiful, moving book by myself earlier this year. Now, one of my children is studying this time period in school, so it didn’t bother me at all to read this one again, this time aloud to my kids. They are enjoying it and asking lots of good questions about the historical time period (they’re ages 12, 10, 7, and 4). I don’t know that I would pick it to read aloud to just my 7-year-old or 4-year-old, it’s really more geared towards the 8 and above group, but it’s the kind of quality literature that everyone can get something out of. (Psst – I did skip parts of the “rat catching” chapter since I knew that one is kind of graphic for the little ones and largely unnecessary for the plot).

I’ve also got a lot of books piling up on my To-Be-Read shelf (aka my nightstand) but as you can imagine, lines from the song “Let It Be” play in my mind pretty constantly in these days. You know, in these Thirty Minute Days I keep going on about…they go by in about thirty minutes, too, it seems, so the name has double meaning! But the books will still be there when I get to them, won’t they?

Until then, happy reading and here’s to living joyfully in whatever season you find yourself in today.

Much love to you,

Mia/Alana

Quick Lit, Reading, Reviews

Summer Reading 2021 Wrap Up

Posted on

It’s September, so I guess that means summer reading is officially over? As a grown up out of the school timeframe, maybe the seasons don’t change our reading habits much. Now I’m curious! Do you reach for a different kind of book based on seasons? I don’t think I consciously reach for different books based on the time of year other, but publishers’ timing affects what I read in the new release category. Anyway, here’s the recap of the fiction I read this summer!

New Books

At the end of my last post I mentioned I was really excited about three new books releasing in July. These were books by authors I’ve read before and really enjoyed. So how did I like the new books?

The Light Through the Leaves – While I still think that Glendy Vanderah is an amazing writer in style and compelling storytelling, I just couldn’t like this book. The content was both disturbing and bizarre. Beginning with a mother accidentally leaving an infant in a parking lot and moving on to more sadnesses, with an attempt at some closure that still left me firmly in the “this is too strange and tragic” camp, this was certainly not the book for me and not one I’d recommend. Though my main complaint is the content and story elements, it doesn’t help that the world views expressed differ very widely from my own. 2 stars.

The Forest of Vanishing Stars – I was unintentionally two for two in July in the Books About Babies Being Kidnapped category. Believe me when I say I would never have picked up books on this topic intentionally. Happily, I liked this one much better than The Light Through the Leaves. It took some time for me to get really pulled into the story…partly because the main characters are a little off-putting at first…but the plot picks up a few chapters in and the history this book is based on is intensely interesting. I found some of the relationship details highly unlikely based on the characters backgrounds, so that took my review down a notch. However, Hammel based some of her story on true events in Poland during WWII. The research is astounding. If you read it, be sure to read the author’s note at the end! 3 stars.

Radar Girls – I’m still waiting for this one to come up in my holds at the library!

Yours Cheerfully – I was excited to get this book from the library so quickly after its release! I’m halfway through, and it is pleasant, though a little bit….dare I say…boring at this point. I don’t really want anything bad to happen to the delightful characters, though, so maybe I should be glad it’s not more riveting? I’ll let you know my full review when I’m finished!

New Girl in Little Cove – The characters and setting were charming and I missed them when the book was over. I enjoyed the book, though it was fairly predictable. Predictable often translates into “pleasant” and that’s what a person needs in a book sometimes in this crazy world. More importantly, every character felt real to me. And I loved the dialect introduced in the book! My one big caveat is the treatment of religion in the book. The setting is in a Catholic school in the midst of a wholly Catholic community. The perspective throughout the book on Catholicism and its beliefs was fairly negative. I wonder if the people of the town the book was set in, if it were a real town (which it isn’t though it is based off of real places), would have felt that it was treated with enough weight or respect in this book. I am not Catholic, but the tone the main character took towards the village’s beliefs did not sit well with me. Other than that, I really liked this book and want to go back to Little Cove. 4 stars. Thanks to Memories from Books for recommending this one!

Old Books

Rainbow Cottage – A comforting, old-fashioned read published in 1939 by the prolific Grace Livingston Hill. 3.5 stars.

The Shellseekers – I’m halfway through this thick hardback my mother-in-law pulled out of a free book bin. I am way late to Rosamund Pilcher’s books, but I know so many love them! So far, I love the setting. I find myself really wishing I could see the fictional art that inspired the title to this book. And I’m also dreaming myself straight into the cozy cottage ( where one of the main characters live.

Sugar Candy Cottage – Not my fave Elizabeth Cadell book. 2 stars.

Books on My Kindle I Haven’t Started

Malibu Rising – This one has gotten a lot of buzz on “bookstagram” this summer, so I approach it with high expectations and much trepidation. I meant to read this and the following book below at the beach last week, but couldn’t bring myself to it, haha. {Update – Didn’t get further than the first ten pages – Way too much “adult content” for my liking}

People We Meet on Vacation – Buzzy summer book #2 on the list {Update – Also a no-go for me – officially burned by too many buzzy books – going back to obscure books now! Not really, I love a good best seller – if it really is a good best seller, and this one had some good elements, but too many that I didn’t like that tipped the balance to “meh, not going to read this.”}

Red Sky Over Hawaii – I did not realize I had missed a release from Sara Ackerman in the last few years, so while waiting for Radar Girls, I’m going to check this one out.

So that was summer, but now it’s time to dive into Fall reading, whatever that looks like for you! Let me know what books you’re looking forward to? Thanks and happy reading!

Reading, Reviews

Summer Reads for You

Posted on

How’s your summer reading going? I’m still looking for some great books for this season, which is why I was recently so excited to get an email from book blogger extraordinaire Sarah Mackenzie about her own favorite books. She has flawless taste, as many of you already know. I eagerly opened up the email, clicked on “Sarah’s Favorite Adult Reads” and…oh no…all but one of them, I had already read! Talk about dismay! But it’s delightful to know she and I like the same books. =) Now, my search continues.

If you, too, are still searching for the perfect book for your beach/pool/living-room-in-front-of-a-fan reading, I am here to (hopefully) help! Below are my favorite books I’ve read in the past six months, from historical fiction, nonfiction, middle grade novels, a couple of vintage finds, and three books releasing this summer that I’m really looking forward to.

Happy summer reading!

Historical Fiction

The Last Bookshop in London – Better than The Kitchen Front but in the same vein, with more Guernsey Literary themes and similarities. I loved it, even if I have read way too many WWII novels.

Finding Dorothy – A fascinating novel set during the making of the The Wizard of Oz movie that centers on Frank Baum’s wife and her experiences.

Fantasy

Piranesi – Did I totally understand this book? No. But sometimes it’s nice to read a book you ponder for weeks, and this one was quite the page turner after about 30% of the way through. I really enjoyed it.

Middle Grade for All Ages

Pie – I loved this book so much! I read it on my own and a week later started reading it aloud to my kids, ages 4-12, and every single one of them begs for another chapter when I say it’s time to stop. The characters are so well done, and the writing portrays every scene as if it were playing out like a movie in front of your eyes. The book begins with a death, though not a violent one, so you may wonder, “is this going to be too sad and heavy for my young readers?” but I really do not think it is.

The Mother Daughter Book Club and Much Ado About Anne – I walked by these books on the library shelf many times before I decided to pick them up, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed them! I’d recommend these for girls ages 12 and up, or grown up women who like a good coming-of-age story centered on mother-daughter relationships and great literature.

Non-Fiction

This Beautiful Truth – Newly released book that deserves a post of its own soon! It’s amazing, beautifully written to communicate how the world around us, though broken, is still such a gift.

The Life You Long For – Should this have been grammatically correctly titled The Life For Which You Long? …either way, it’s an excellent book that goes well beyond popular self help books but remains very readable. It was my favorite book in my latest Quick Lit post.

Don’t Overthink It – Read it even if you think you’re not an overthinker! I didn’t think I was, but it’s such an enjoyable read, and showed me some ways I was spinning my wheels daily in making decisions.

Vintage Fiction

(Who am I kidding, I liked the vintage novels the best!)

The Lark – Who knew that E. Nesbit of The Railway Children wrote books for adults? Not I! And I am so excited to discover this one! It is just lovely, light and well written with arch and snappy dialogue and the perfect amount of narrator interjection that Nesbit is so good at. Bonus- it’s only $2.99 on Kindle.

Home is If You Find It – This book from 1947 is so obscure, I had to add it to Goodreads. Yikes. But Thriftbooks still had it! I went on a hunt for it when my dad told me it was so funny, he’d read it several times (Dad, I know you would’ve lent me yours but I like old books on my shelves and who knows what would’ve happened to your copy in this crazy house…). It has not disappointed, and the illustrations sprinkled throughout are done by the legendary Paul Galdone.

July 2021 Releases I Can’t Wait For!

These three books are by authors whose work I have already read and loved. I highly recommend Where the Forest Meets the Stars, The Book of Lost Names, and Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers.

The Light Through the Leaves (as of right now, only $1.99 on Kindle!)

The Forest of Vanishing Stars

Radar Girls

Actually, my copy of The Light Through the Leaves just came in from the library, so I’m off to read it…

I’d love to hear if you read any of these and what you think, or what you’ve been reading this summer!

Everyday Life, Parenting

Our Summer Morning Tasks

Posted on

I adore summer. The warmth, the long days of sunshine, the swimming, the freedom from schedules, the way we can eat on the back porch and jump right into playing and reading and creating all day long…I could go on and on. But seven people in a household creates quite a mess of laundry and food prep and house cleaning, with or without an ongoing school year! So even though it’s summer, we have to crack the figurative whip to keep everyday work from drowning us. Enter, our summer morning task list! It’s not rocket science, but man is it life changing for us. Each day has its own special task that my three oldest kids take part in.

I love this system so much, and though they probably wouldn’t readily admit it, I can tell my kids are pretty happy with it, too. Our sudden drop in responsibilities to start the day from school to no school had us all feeling unhinged after the first week. I’m finding that even at a young age, kids crave a sense of accomplishment and collaboration to start off their days. When kids pursue all fun all the time, they can feel the imbalance of reward with no effort, but when we’ve worked together to beat a challenge, even something as mundane as a dirty living room, and then we go on an outing or simply soak up time at home building Lego creations and playing in the backyard, there’s a sense of rightness to it everyone can feel and appreciate.

Between our Summer Morning Tasks, our own fun Summer Reading program (courtesy of Pam Barnhill), and our neighborhood pool, things are almost zen around here. (If you believe that, you think better of us than you should, haha! I have an almost teenager and a 7-month-old with three kids in between, after all!) But you know you’re in a good season of life when your biggest complaint is not being able to find a good summer fiction read. Sob. Nothing I’ve read lately has ended up being very good, which makes me terribly sad. You’ve got to help me! I always struggle with novels this time of year because there’s a lot of buzz around “beach reads” and the stereotypical beach read can be kind of airy, lacking substance. I’m going to give Next Year in Havana a try because it looks so summery and rich and I’ve heard good things, but I’m taking all recs.

Until next time, happy reading and happy summer!

Children's Books, Everyday Life, Homeschooling, Nonfiction, Parenting

Favorite How-To Books for Kids

Posted on

Hi, readers! Can you believe it’s almost summer vacation time! Maybe you’re dreading all that free space in your children’s lives, or maybe you’re like us right now: every May, as our school year winds down, everything we’ve been doing all year suddenly feels unbearably stale and burdensome. Our minds have already taken in a lot, and they’re begging us, “Please, not one more date and important historical event to remember, not another science fill-in-the-blank sheet! For heavens sake, do not give us another “fun” book report assignment!” As the seasons transition to more sunshine and energy, we naturally want to run and play.

So how do we finish the academic year strong?

Or how do we keep our minds engaged all summer without killing our souls with more of the same schoolish stuff?

We pull out some how-to books and learn some skills with our hands!

Here are our current favorite how-to books. I’d love more ideas if you have them!

Sewing School 1 and Sewing School 2 – These books are so perfect for kids who want to learn to sew. They include pictures and detailed instructions, patterns…everything but the actual sewing materials. The projects are very doable in just a few hours (or less!) and will appeal to both girls and boys. My six-year-old daughter, nine-year-old son, and eleven-year-old daughter have all enjoyed these projects! If you don’t have a sewing machine for the projects in Sewing School 2, this machine has been awesome for us. I am a very out of practice and mediocre seamstress, so I am totally re-learning as I go along with the help of these books.

Cooking Class – This is the best starter cookbook for ages 5-8! The recipes in Cooking Class are easy to follow along, tasty, use mostly wholesome ingredients, and don’t require trips to the store every time your student asks to make something from her very own cookbook. I gave this to one of my six-year-old for Christmas and she has made many recipes out of it. They were all delicious and crowd pleasers.

In Bloom – As I mentioned in a recent Things that are Saving My Life post, I love this book even more than my kids do. We also have several other how-to-draw books, like this one about cartoon cars and this one about horses. I have heard amazing things about the classic Drawing with Children and have had it on my shelf from my mom’s days of homeschooling for years, but haven’t pulled it out yet. Next week I plan to open it up and try it. Maybe I’ll do the Brave Learner method and sit down with the book at the kitchen table by myself, start drawing, and see what happens….

The Redwall Cookbook– Any cookbook based on whatever literature/books your kids are into right now will be a welcome change to an otherwise ho-hum school or summer day. My two oldest have been devouring the Redwall series, and my son is always raving about how good the feasts sound. Both he and his older sister were so excited to get this from the library! Until they realized it features quite a lot of vegetables…English mice and other animals have very different tastes than American children, apparently! But they have been writing up grocery lists for me based on the dessert section, and that has been worth it.

That wraps up our favorite how-to books that are keeping us sane as we finish up the school year. May is also the time of the year I seek out a movie or two based on the literature or history or whatever connections to our studies I can draw. Last year we finished out with the film version of our literature read-aloud, Anne of Green Gables. This year I don’t see an obvious connection between what we’ve beens studying: The Gold Rush and Simon Bolivar, and also Newton’s Laws of Motion…any ideas for me??

I hope your school year ends well and your summer gets off to a great start! I’ll be back with some book reviews in just a few days, but until then, Happy Reading!