Sharing your Story and Owning your Past

As August comes to an end, I finished The Glass Castle. The Glass Castle is a memoir by Jeanette Walls. In her personal account of a not so perfect childhood, the reader is given a glimpse into the life of living below the poverty line.

Walls lived a life of supporting her siblings, dealing with an eccentric mother and an alcoholic father. They lived a nomadic life across the southwest and eventually into West Virginia. Almost every horrible thing that could happen to a family happened. It is inspirational and amazing to see how Walls survived and succeeded after her past.

She mentions struggling with her past and not accepting it. Our past shapes who we were, are, and will become. The story is a great reminder that everyone has a past that is not perfect. Jeanette wrote a beautiful story as she accepted hers. I would encourage everyone to give this book a try, you won't be disappointed.

September books will be posted tonight or in the morning! Currently reading and old favorite: 1984

Happy Reading

Diving into Some Poetry

The end of summer is near. School officially started today. The semester if going to be a busy one. Right now, I am working hard to stay motivated to read. I have two more books to finish this month and then it is my birthday month. For my birthday, I am breaking all the rules and reading books that I want to read. (I am so so excited. There are some popular books. Books getting much buzz! etc)

But back to poetry, I finally dived into T. S. Elliot. I am pretty sure I read Prufrock in high school. The Wasteland, Prufrock, and Other Poems were all good reads, but here is the thing. I love novels. I can appreciate there is a time and place for poetry. There are great lessons in humanity in each of these stories. Poetry is just not my thing.

T.S. Elliot is very talent and has a great style. The Wasteland takes a certain type of reader and deliberation to truly appreciate. I for-one though will probably not be reading much poetry in the near future.

A Completely Different Take on Surviving the Holocaust

 When I picked up Anita Diamant's Day After Night, it was primarily because I loved The Red Tent. While this book, is set-up in a similar manner,  the context and characters are completely different. Four Jewish women have survived the Holocaust amiss horrendous circumstances.  The story unfolds as the 4 women are taken into a post-war camp in Palestine.  Each woman has their own strength, secrets, and stories. In the end, their friendship is one of the highlights of the book as they search for a new life in Palestine.

As a whole, this book was good, but not amazing. The characters were well-developed, but occasionally it was hard to follow the plot. The end of the book wraps up well, and overall I would call Day After Night a good book.  Read it if you are a fan of Anita Diamant or historical fiction.

Learning to Love Yourself First

 In the middle of a truly inspiring week, I managed to (almost) read Alice Walker's The Color Purple . When I first decided to read this book, I took it at blind faith that it was going to be a good book because of the press and honors around it. Within the first 20 pages, I was hooked. While the southern colloquialism took a moment to adjust, the letter format made this book a great quick read.

My heart broke for Cecil and Nettie. Shug was a truly captivating character. Alice Walker did not steer away from any issue of the early 20th century black culture. From abuse to violence, to overcoming adversity, Walker addresses many of these tough issues and leaves  the reader with a compelling story. I highly recommend this book to everyone. It is worth a read once in your life time.

Happy Reading!

Starting Wolf Hall soon!

Away for the Week

Hi Friends,
Just to let you know, I am at an amazing Leadership Institute this week helping students redefine leadership and become change agents! ( LeaderShape)  It is an amazing, great week. However, it is a huge time commitment. Reading (some) and blogging (completely) are being put on hold.

Currently, I am reading The Color Purple and will be back on the blog and reading train this weekend!

Happy Reading!

Kate

We Don't Talk About That

I grew up in a pretty conservative town. My family was pretty open and pretty dynamic. I went to church every Sunday and never really took the common long break from church that young adults sometime experience. I always had a pretty open view of faith, family, Christianity, and even sexuality. While I grew up in the end of the fad of True Love Waits, the idea that we should try something new in approaching spirituality was starting to surface as I entered high school.  .

Why in the world does this belong in the middle of a book blog? Well in my last book I just read Oh God! Oh God! Oh God! Young Adults Speak Out about  Sexuality, Christianity, and Spirituality. It was a great book and brought back so many memories of college for many reasons. First, I should say I know one of the editors and one of the essayist. We talk about spirituality and sexuality in my college ministry bible study and even in open discussion. I learned to be comfortable in my own skin with many topics and ideas because it was okay to talk and discuss these ideas.

Reading this book on many topics was more like a gentle reminder of ideas I heard but may had forgotten.   Hard topics are addressed: the Hookup culture, porn, homosexuality, infertility. If you are looking for a clear right and wrong answer book, this is not the book. Answers are not always given which I agree. There is not a one size fits all faith or answer to some of these pressing issues.  It is a great jumping off point for a small group discussion or a more upfront discussion with friends.

Overall, I liked the book. Essays are collected from people across the different spectrum of life to address challenging issues. This book is not for everyone and may be better suited if you have a venue to talk about these ideas with others though.

Happy Reading!

Starting the The Color Purple, but I am at a Leadership conference all week so post and reading may be few and far between.

Even the Smallest Souls Make the Journey

Yes- this is the version I have!

While I am 90 percent sure I read The Hobbit as a 10-11 year old, I do not remember any of it. My aunt gave me the entire series a few Christmas ago. I tried to read them then, but life got in the way. Now, I am finally going to read all of the Tolkien novels in order within a few months of each other. Today, I finished The Hobbit.

Overall, this was a great book. After the first 50-60 pages, the book moves relatively fast. On a sad note, I did see the movie at Christmas time so some of my pictures were created for me (but I  had seen LOTR 1-3 already as well). Bilbo Baggings is ever the mighty little hero that you want him to be. The adventure scenes I was able to create in a way. In all it is a great combination of character development, themes, and plot into an adventure story for the ages. While I could sit here an elaborate on the class system and the blind search for treasure, the importance of foresight and wisdom, etc, there are thousands of experts who are great at this.

My advice is do not miss out on this literary treasure.  My Harry Potter nerd-self came out and loved the influence I saw on JK Rowling. It was amazing. Tolkien (and C. S. Lewis) were true fantasy pioneers!

Happy Reading!

An Then It Was Gone...

Source:Goodreads

Summer.. what I wonderful time to test my dedication. The good news is I am write on track with reading. The bad news is.. I am at least a post behind on the blog. However, I hope to get all caught up, before I leave for a great week away this weekend.

Last week, I finished Douglas Adams: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Numerous people had recommend this book to me over the years and I kept putting it to the side. Well, in all of about 48 hours, I read this classic. It was great, weird, entertaining, bizarre, and everything in between. By no means, is it the best book I have read this year, but it is a great fast read to enjoy reading. If you ever want to laugh at yourself, the world, nature, or just the way things work, read this book.

In short, the world is destroyed. An alien saves an Earthman as they hitchhike across the Milky Way. There is a twist at the end and the book is continued into one of the more unconventional trilogies of the time.  While I am not sure I will finish the series this year, I will read it another year.

I just finished The Hobbit and plan to start Oh God! Oh God! Oh God! Young Adults Speak Out About Spirituality

Happy Reading!

A Not So Common Look at Poverty

I come from a long line of readers. My grandmother was librarian. I grew up with about 8-10 completely full bookcases of books in my house. My dad still gives me books. The House on Mango Street was not originally on my radar but I decided I should read it for dad.

Sandra Cisneros is an amazing writer and brings a great voice to this young girl who experiences poverty and a rather hard life in Chicago. The voice throughout the piece was amazing. Overall, the story would take an interesting turn and you feel like you have a front row seat to this world.

As a whole, this book would still just sit at a 3.5 stars. Great writing, decent plot, but the character development is lacking with an extremely short book. In fact, I had to read carefully to keep track of all of the characters. This is a good quick book. Read if you like to explore the new fiction/ memoir type books!


I just finished The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I'll try to blog again today. Next up- The Hobbit!

Happy Reading!

August Books.. Summer Ending!

It is hard to believe 7 months and over 50 books have past. July was a social month for me, so I only read 7 books. August I have big plans! Reading is an adventure. New books are added and changed. Things happen. My Goodreads shelf is the first to be updated. Feel free to follow  me there as well. My Currently reading shelf will have all of my To Be Read books left for the month. Every two months also has its own shelf.

Finally, this weekend, fingers cross, I am going to go back and import pictures and ratings for Jan.-May post.  Those are my months update! Let me know if you have any feedback!

Kate

The Glass Castle- Jeannettee Walls
The Hobbit- J.R.R. Tolkien
The Color Purple- Alice Walker
Day After Night-Anita Diamant
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy- Douglas Adams
Oh God, Oh God:Young Adults Speak out About their Sexuality and  Christian Spirituality
Four Quartets- T.S. Elliot
The House on Mango Street- Sandra Cisnenos


Happy Reading!