Sorry...

Sorry I missed out on May, but now I'm back!

I had knee surgery and just wasn't up to posting anything. 

Anyway... on to June's pick.

So I thought that for this month I would go a little broader and actually let you pick too.  I know this isn't making much sense, so I'll just say it:

The Chronicles of Narnia

by C.S. Lewis

Since there are SEVEN books, I figured you could choose to read any one of them.  I'm going to try to read them all since they aren't that long. Here's the whole list of them:

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

Prince Caspian: Return to Narnia

The Voyage of The Dawn Treader

The Silver Chair

The Horse and His Boy

The Magician's Nephew

The Last Battle

So take your pick and ENJOY!!

A little Late, but APRIL'S PICK

So, I've read this book before, but it's SO GOOD that I love to read it over and over!!  You can't read it TOO MANY times. :) 

The Anatomy of Peace

by

The Arbinger Institute

What is conflicts at home, work, and in the world stem from the same root cause?  What if we systematically misunderstand the cause?  And what if, as a result, we unwittingly perpetuate the very problems we think we are trying to solve?  The questions are answered in the book.

(That is part of the description from the book.  Now, I know you may be thinking... NOT a self-help book!  I know - I'm not a big fan of those cause they can often be very difficult to read and stay involved in the book. However, this book is DIFFERENT!  It tells an intriguing story of parents who are strugling with their chilfren and with problems that have come to comsume their lives, we learn the way to find peace whenever war is upon us.)

So the questions to ask yourself:

Is your heart at WAR?

Find out what I'm talking about by reading this book.  I PROMISE you won't be dissapointed!  And you'll learn so much about yourself and how you interact with eveyone in your life... EVERYONE!!

The Bride

I have to say how much i LOVED this!(the words below) What a beautiful expression of love from Buttercup.This is my favorite passage:

"There is no room in my body and mind for anything but you.  my arms love you, my ears adore you, my knees shake with blind affection.  Sweet perfect Westley, whipser that I have a chance to win your love..."

I could go on and on cause the rest is really good too.  What I wouldn't give to have lived in those days so that when those words came out of my mouth, everyone wouldn't look at my like I was CRAZY!!

That IS what i think about my own Wesley (who was actually named after Westley in this book.) he is such a hunk too :)

Anyway, this is how Westley would tell Buttercup he loved her (which is such a mans response):

"AS YOU WISH"

sweet and to the point, yet she did not understand for such a long time!

How are you enjoying the book?  Haven't read it yet and need a copy?  Let me know and you can borrow mine! :)

THE END

Wait, I'm FINISHED?!?  What a Great Read!  I didn't even realize I read it so fast. So, I guess I'll start breaking it down, section by section...

Introductions to the 25th and

30th Anniversary Editions:

We read all about the "real" author of The Princess Bride,

S. Morgenstern.

Did you know he is Fictional?  Also, Goldman wasn't married to a "Helen" and didn't have a son, but has 2 daughters. I didn't know until my husband told me and I looked it up on the internet.  What Trickery! It's amazing to me how I believed evey word he wrote.  What a clever way to use that type of literary device!

(this is William Goldman)

March Pick

(I'm just gonna keep telling myself that I'll be more successful next month, right?)

Ok, so..... I ADMIT IT!!! I failed at reading my book this month. Just NOT the right month for ME and I have to say it was a HARD book to get INTO!  Do YOU agree?  Or did you FINISH it?  I'd LOVE to know if you did and what you thought about it.

So I'm turning a NEW PAGE (get it? - I know I'm cheesy) and starting FRESH with March!

After much proding, poking, hints and comments - ALL from my husband - the book for March is....

The Princess Bride
by
William Goldman

Most of us have seen the movie. But how many of us have actually read the book?  I haven't!  My husband says it's really good - and I'm a sucker for a love story with some action too.  I think I'll be much better at reading this book. 

Good Luck and Have Fun!

Slacking?

No, I'm not slacking.  I am reading!  I just haven't had the time yet to do a post on Chapter 2, but I will this week... maybe Chapter 3 too.  We'll see.  How's your reading coming?  I think this has been a hard book to read, but a good read, at the same time.  I'll talk more about that in my next post. 

Have a great week!

Chapter 1 - Scenes from Apartheid

7 Chapters - 181 pages

So here's my thought:

with such a short book (a least short in comparison with the last book),

why not do a post on every chapter and really take the time to read it and enjoy it and learn from it?

Here we go....

Chapter 1

Eugene de Kock

We're briefly introduced to this man - "the man whom many in the country considered the most brutal of apartheid's covert police operatives."

Although Pumla doesn't spend a lot of time writing about him yet, and who he is and what he's done - the way she describes him does make him seem evil.  i guess I'll see if I feel the same way as I continue reading.

One of my favorite parts of the book is after she was recounting a memory from her childhood and then found out that what she remembered was different than the actual facts recorded of the event:

"Can what was still so vividly alive in my memory be described simply as a misrepresentation of the facts, a recontruction of events as they happened?"

Thoughts similar to this (but obviously not so eloquently said) cross my mind when I can remember conversations or events SO CLEARLY, yet when I ask the other person that was present, it isn't exactly what they remember either.  Are they wrong?  Am I wrong?  Or is that the event happened differently than we both remember and because of how we interpreted it, that's how it's replayed in our minds?  I don't know!

Does this happen to you too?