Completed Book List: April 2013

One of my goals in 2013 is to read 24 books.
So far this year, I am way ahead of the game.  You may be wondering what I’ve been reading, and this is the list of all the books I’ve completed the first part of this year.

Hannah Coulter by Berry Wendell

Hannah Coulter is a novel about an older woman (Hannah Coulter) who tells her story from growing up during the Great Depression, meeting her husband who was shipped off to war shortly after they were married, and her experiences raising a family on the homestead.  This book made me think about our homesteading roots here in the United States and all that our ancestors lived through in the early 1900’s.  A great read!

 

The Trouble with May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm

May Amelia is a young teen growing up in the state of Washington with her seven brothers.  A tomboy at heart, trouble always seems to find her.   The book tells about the tales of this Finnish girl growing up on a homestead in the early 1900’s in an area with a majority of boys.  When a business deal goes awry, her father and family blame her. This isn’t a “must read” but the book kept me entertained.

A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard

I am not sure why I decided to read this book: maybe my curiosity got the best of me.  This book was extremely disturbing to know what Jaycee Dugard went through as an abducted 11-year old and her 18 years of life in captivity.  The best part of the book is how she has chosen to live her life now that she is out of captivity and her passion to lead and to give her two daughters the best life possible even after all they have been through. 

It’s All Too Much by Peter Walsh

I love this book! A must read to anyone who is attempting to get rid of the clutter in their lives once and for all.

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

The sole reason I checked this book out from the library is because an author stated it was one of her favorite books.  I was curious to see what the book was about based on her recommendation.  This book is a book written by Henry David Thoreau in the mid-1800’s about his life of building and maintaining a homestead and living a life of solitude and simplicity at Walden Pond.  This book, though I found it difficult to read in the beginning, turned out to be a decent book.  There were long stretches of the book that I had a hard time relating to or even cared to read.  I wouldn’t say it’s my “favorite,” but Thoreau mentioned many things that are worth contemplating when it comes to living a simple life and several things that he stated still apply today, over 150 years later.   

 

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams!  Live the life you've imagined.  As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler."  ~Henry David Thoreau 

"A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone." ~Henry David Thoreau

  

Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

I don’t really know how to describe this book.  It is a refreshing book of real-life conversations and reflections of experiences the author, Donald Miller, has had with people throughout his life as well as his reflection on how he noticed God’s work in each particular situation.  It is a very down-to-earth book that creates a lot of thought-provoking material on God’s hand in our lives. 

 

Oogy by Larry Levin

Talk about a story that pulls at the heart strings!  This book is about a pit bull (later learned that the breed is actually a Dogo) named Oogy.  Oogy was rescued from being a bait dog in a dog-fighting raid.  The story tells a tale of Oogy’s life as a mutilated puppy, how one veterinary and technician refused to give up on this seemingly happy and unaffected dog and the family who took him in and gave him the love he should have received from the very beginning.  This is a wonderful story about the relationship between a man and his best friend. 

To read more about Oogy (without reading the book), you can go here:

Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall

Same Kind of Different as Me is a book above loving one another no matter where you’ve come from and what you’ve been through.  This book is about Denver Moore, a plantation worker and runaway and his relationship with Ron Hall and his wife, a prosperous art dealer and gallery owner.  How in the world did these two men meet and become friends?  It would be way too easy to give away all the details, but I will tell you that this book is definitely worth reading.  This book is an inspiration for me as to the type of person I strive to be and the faith I need to get there.

Nowhere But Up by Pattie Mallette

I could really relate with this book by Pattie Mallette.  This book is Pattie’s story about what she went through as a child, the trouble she got into as a young adult and ending up pregnant as a teen with her son Justin (Bieber).  This is an uplifting and inspiring story of true faith and resilience.

The Fair Tax Book by Neal Boortz

I try not to get into politics, but this book definitely makes me think that the way we pay taxes in America could be different (and better).  The FairTax is about implementing a tax on consumption instead of tax on income.  This book is a quick and interesting read in my opinion.

Beachcombers by Nancy Thayer

After reading so many non-fiction books, it was nice getting swept away with a book that is fiction.  This book is about three sisters who lost their mother at varying stages in their life and all coming back home after years away from their small little island town.  This book was the perfect book to read before getting ready to leave on a tropical vacation to Aruba. 

We Took to the Woods by Louise Dickinson Rich

This book is written by Louise about her time in the woods without electricity or running water in the early 40’s.  As a homesteader at heart, I enjoyed reading the stories she tells about people coming to visit, how they attained their food and all of the little intricacies that took place while living alone with her family in a location deep in the desolate woods.  Their small town was made up of 9 people within a 25 mile radius. This is an extremely interesting story of living in the woods.


So, there you have it.
I just finished up We Took to the Woods this weed, and I'm looking forward to reading some fiction for a little while.

What are you reading right now?

Book Review: It’s All Too Much by Peter Walsh

Let me just say that I could have re-written this book in its entirety because of the invaluable knowledge it provided.  The author, Peter Walsh, had me pegged from Page 1 in the book titled It’s All Too Much. I believe this book is for anybody who wants to find a way to look at their belongings a little differently and start to get rid of some of their clutter.

I will be the first to admit that we have a lot of stuff in our home.  We go to garage sales and flea markets as well as obtain a lot of stuff from our parents.  Over the past year, I have had the feeling that its just too much.  We really don’t need most of what we have and it is just taking up space (and in turn, our time, energy and resources) in our home. 

I believe that this book is a must-read to anyone who is looking to dig their way out of clutter. 

I will leave you with several quotes that resonated with me most throughout the book:  

• "Clutter prevents you from enjoying the most precious, intimate moments in life.  Clutter robs you of far more than the space it occupies – it steals your life!”
• "Does the stuff you own contribute to the lives they were hoping to achieve or is it getting in the way of that vision?"
• "Go through every room. First, identify what you want from the space.  Then, determine if the contents of the space serves that purpose."
• "Does this item enhance the life you want to live?"
• “When you succeed in decluttering it will be because you’ve made good life choices.  And when you’re living by those choices, you’ll experience the joy, the lightness, and the freedom that come with natural order.”
• "Your home is within your control.  It should be the place where you escape all negative forces in the world.  Your home should be the antidote to stress, not the cause."
• "Clearing the clutter in your physical space will go a long way toward clearing the clutter in your mind and your relationships."
• "Clutter stops us from living in the present."
• "Those things we hoard for an imaginary future do little other than limit our possibilities and stunt our growth."

If any of these quotes resonate with you, I suggest picking up the book from the library and reading through it.  It has me motivated to get rid of the clutter in our life! 

Shutterfly

Please note: this post has affiliate links listed throughout.

I met a remarkable woman several months ago and we became instant friends.  While I was visiting one day, she told me about Shutterfly which is a free website that can be used to safely store precious photos.

Not only does Shutterfly store photos but they can also create a blog-like photo album (again, for free) to display photos for others to view.  I use this feature to display pictures to my friends and family that do not have a FaceBook account.

In the same visit, my friend showed me this extraordinary book that she made using Shutterfly of a trip she took with her daughter a few years before.  It was a hardback book and a beautiful way to document her trip with her oldest daughter. 

Back at the end of October, my mother and I went to Orlando, FL with my niece to see my brother who is attending school there.  I am a picture fanatic: I love to take pictures and I love to look at pictures.  Since owning a digital camera, I can tell you how many photos I have printed out: 0.  I love love love to take pictures and I have some pretty great ones I’ve taken over the years, but I have no physical reminder of the beautiful places we have visited or the beautiful reminders of our loved ones past and present. 

My mom said she wanted a disc of all the pictures I took from the trip.  After all, there were over 600 of them and we were only in Florida for 4 days!  I noticed on Shutterfly that they had the photo books at 40% off if I ordered before a certain date. I decided to try to make the photo book for my mom.

I didn’t know how difficult it would be to arrange the book, but I dove right in.  I was surprised at how many options there were to choose from to customize the photo book to my taste.  All in all, I made a 20 page hard-cover book from cover to cover within 2-3 hours.  The book I made for my mother as a memoir of our trip had over 200 photos in it and cost less than $35!  To me, the photos in the book and the memories we made on the trip are priceless.

 

The best part of the whole process was giving my mom the book.  I had to try to keep my project a secret for over a week until I could give it to her, and believe me, it was difficult.  I couldn’t wait to give it to her.  When she saw the front cover of the book, she thought she had to put the pictures in the book on her own.  I asked her to look inside and she squeeled with excitement as soon as she noticed our family photos were lining the pages.  I love that she loved the book that much.

In my opinion, the book turned out marvelous.  Todd and I arent ones to display photos around our home because we never have any pictures printed out from our digital camera; however,  I have decided to start making these books for around our home when Shutterfly has their sales going on.  

This week, Shutterfly is offering these books at a 50% discount!  I am looking forward to making a book or two of our 5 year wedding anniversary trip to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon this week. 

If interested in this deal, please feel free to check them out.  These make awesome gifts, and not only does Shutterfly offer photo books, but they can also do photo magazines, mugs, mousepads, calendars…pretty much whatever your heart desires!

 

Use coupon code SAVE50 to get 50% off all hard cover photo books, calendars, stationary, and greeting cards from Shutterfly.com!

 

 

Disclosure: I was in no way influenced to write a positive review for Shutterfly.  I have used them to make a personalized item for a family member and look forward to using them to make my own personalized items for our home.  I am an affiliate of Shutterfly and receive a small commission on anything you may order.  In the future, I will be sharing when Shutterfly has great deals like this one so that you may benefit from them as well.