Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

I'd like to welcome everyone to Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival.  We are a group of Catholic bloggers who gather weekly to share our best posts with each other.  To particpate, go to your blog and create an entry titled Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival.  In it, highlight one or more of your posts from the past week that you believe would be of interest to Catholic bloggers---whether they are posts reflecting on spiritual matters or posts about antics of Catholic kids, or anything in between.  Come back here and enter the URL of that post below.  Finally, go visit other participants, and leave comments!  If you want a weekly reminder to post, join our yahoogroup.

I hope everyone had a blessed and merry Christmas.  We went to my Dad's where all of my siblings were, except for my brother who lives behind my Dad--he was home sick with the stomach crud.  Luckily it didn't last long.  My kids all got too much stuff and I cooked far too many sweets, but we are all happy.  

As we go into this New Year I pray that God blesses each and every one of you.  

Since we were last together my blogging has been on the light side.  This week I participated in Seven Quick Takes.  I reviewed Strawberry Girl, a book I loved as a child, which is now out as an e-book.  Hidden Summit is on of Robin Carr's Virgin River books and Summer at Willow Lake is another romance.  I have a backlog of Catholic book to read/review but when I pick up my Kindle, mindless romance is that I pick.  I need to upgrade my reading material for the New Year.

Seven Quick Takes

1.

It is weeks like this, weeks when the kids are out of school that really convince my how much I despise homework.  My seven year old is bright, probably not gifted, but well above average.  She gets most of her written homework done in after school care but even so, but the time we study spelling, read for the reading log and practice her math facts, plus work on any projects that are due, it is bath and bedtime.  My sixteen year old is in a magnet school for bright kids and spends three to four hours a night on homework.  While I can't honestly say how much of that time is solid working and how much is checking facebook on her ipod, it just seems excessive to me--and she is by no means a straight A student.

2.

I was serving refreshments to the Lifeteen group at church, a group in which my daughter participates.  As part of their Christmas social they were invited to share about family Christmas traditions.  She didn't share anything.  On the way home, she said she didn't think they were looking for her favorite tradition in our family--the yearly nerf gun fight among the (supposedly) adults.  This year I bought everyone rubber band powered airplanes.  Now the ones that aren't broken are in Grandpa's toy box.  

3.

One nice thing about living in New Orleans is that the Holiday season is not almost over--it is just going low key for a while, until parades start.  Kings day marks the start of Carnival, a time of King Cakes, balls and parades, climaxing on Mardi Gras.

4.

One of my favorite things about Christmas is baking.  I make many of the same things my mother used to make and my little one loves to help.  

5.

I need some New Year's resolutions.  The  usual "lose weight" is there--I did well with that for about six months last  year, and I still have 20-30 lbs to go.  I guess I'll drag myself out of bed Saturday morning and head to WW.  They don't know anything the rest of the world doesn't, but the discipline of stepping on that scale every week is really helpful in making me do what I know I need to do--kind of like going to confession regularly tends to discourage repeated stupid sins (I guess there is  worthy resolution).

6.

I'm reading a really interesting book written for parents of daughters about the dangers of non-marital sex.  Why is that so easy for me to see as a married adult and so hard for unmarried teens to realize?

7.

My big Christmas present this year is a new sofa for my den.  What do you think of these?

Review: Strawberry Girl

Strawberry Girl

About the Book:

How can Birdie’s family grow strawberries when the neighbors let their cows into the berry fields?

Birdie and her family are trying to build a farm in Florida. But it’s not easy with the heat, droughts, and cold snaps—and neighbors that don’t believe in fences. But Birdie won’t give up on her dream of strawberries, and her family won’t let those Slaters drive them from their home!

This Newberry Medal–winning novel presents a realistic picture of life on the Florida frontier.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Lois Lenski including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author’s estate.

My Comments:

I like to think I've been reasonably successful in making readers out of my kids, though none of them loves it as much as I do.  However, I haven't been terribly successful in passing on love of particular books.  Strawberry Girl, along with Lois Lenski's other books about girls from various parts of the US, is one of those I loved but could never convince my older daughter to read. When NetGalley offered this one, I jumped at the chance to re-live part of my childhood (though I must admit that my library has a large, though old set of Lenski's books).

Strawberry Girl is set in the early 1900's in Florida when it was still a rural swamp.  The main conflict is between a new family in town, a family that puts up fences and gardens and engages in agriculture as business, and a family that has been in town for a long time, or more precisely, the alcoholic father of that family, who is used to allowing his cattle and pigs to graze free and resents the fences the new people erect.  This book, along with the others in the series, spotlights the differences in people's lives in various parts of the country prior to the homogenization wrought by television and big box retailers.   Birdie and her family are "Crackers" and we learn the origin of the term.  She attends a one-room school and goes barefoot most of the time.  The dialogue in the book shows her dialect.  They farm strawberries and oranges and drink milk from their own cow.  Girls  wear dresses made from flour sacks and get hats at the milliner.

Any book that can still be found in libraries this many years after it was published has to appeal to someone besides just me, and it certainly appeals to me.  It is a children's book--a quick Google search shows grade levels between 3 and 6.  I give it an A.

Review: Hidden Summit

Hidden Summit (Virgin River)

About the Book:

Sick of running into her cheery ex-husband and his new wife, Leslie Petruso accepts a job at the Virgin River branch of Haggerty Construction and takes the high road right out of town. Now she’s got Paul Haggerty’s business running like a well-oiled machine. In fact, things are so busy Paul jumps at the chance to hire an extra set of hands.

Just like Leslie, Conner Danson has been burned by love. But if Leslie was disappointed by her relationship going bad, Conner was decimated. He’s got no time for women…although he spends an awful lot of time pretending not to notice Leslie. And she’s pretty busy “ignoring” the chemistry between them.According to Conner and Leslie, they have only one thing in common—they’re done with love. But everyone in Virgin River can see that things are heating up at Haggerty Construction. And as far as Paul Haggerty can tell, the best thing he can do is hang on to his hard hat and watch the sparks fly!

My Comments:

Leslie's  ex divorced her but won't let her alone so she moves to Virgin River to work for her boss' son.    Conner witnessed a murder and then has his business burned.  The DA happens to have an ex-assistant who lives in Virgin River so he gets hidden there for a few months, where he goes to work for her boss.  There is practically instant attraction, though neither of them say they are looking.  As is usual in these books, there are a couple of steamy scenes.  I enjoyed watching these two let go of the past and embrace a future together.  

Old Virgin River friends make cameo appearances but there are no major sub-plots in this book.  Conner has a sister who was also relocated by the DA, but she was sent across the country where she  begins a relationship with a dentist who is wonderful, but who lacks that "spark" (he hasn't even kissed her) so I wouldn't be surprised to see the sister visit Virgin River (where all the men have "spark") in a future book.

In short, this is a pretty typical Virgin River book.  If you like most of them, you'll like this; if you've hated others, this one isn't all that different.  Grade:  B.

Summer at Willow Lake

Summer at Willow Lake (The Lakeshore Chronicles)

About the Book:

Olivia Bellamy has traded her trendy Manhattan life for a summer renovating her family's crumbling holiday resort. Tempted by the hazy, nostalgic memories of summers past - childhood innocence and the romance and rivalries of her teens - it's the perfect place to flee after her broken engagement. But what began as an escape may just be a new beginning...As Olivia uncovers secrets buried thick with dust, one by one her family return, their lives as frayed at the edges as the resort. Her father and the mystery woman in the tattered black and white photograph. Uncle John, who's trying to be a father again to his teenage kids. Connor Davis, the first love she never forgot. Laughter is ringing around Willow Lake once more. This could be Olivia's summer of a lifetime!

My Comments:

I'm old.  I have to admit it, I'm old; I'm the age of the parents of romance novel heroines, not the age of the heroines.  This isn't a completely new revelation, but when reading a book with dated flashbacks, when those flashbacks take you to the ancient days of the 1970's and involve people's parents, well, it sort of reminds me that even though I have a seven year old, I'm not as young as I used to be.

Summer at Willow Lake  features Olivia and Connor, a couple in their late twenties in 2006.  They met at her grandparent's summer camp where they were both campers, and later, counselors.  She was from a family with money, and was the granddaughter of the owners.  He was there on scholarship, the son of the alcoholic caretaker.  He was the handsome heart throb of every female his age; she was overweight and insecure and never really fit in.  Somehow they became friends and stayed that way, until that final summer. 

Ten years later, the camp has been closed for some time and she has just ended her third engagement.  Her career is "fluffing houses", staging them for sale.  Her grandmother asks her to refurbish the camp, which has been mothballed for almost ten years, in time for her fiftieth wedding anniversary.  It just so happens that the only contractor in town is Connor.  

Besides Olivia and Connor's romance, we learn of Olivia's father's first romance and see the beginnings of the romance of Daisy (see my review of Marrying Daisy Bellamy) and of Olivia's cousin Dare.  

I found the story to be enjoyable but the setting implausible.  The summer camp has been out of business for ten years, but all the equipment is in good shape, all it needs is cleaning.  While Grandma had other plans for the property, Daisy believed her when she said she wanted it refurbished for a party--and this was a big operation, we aren't talking about a small amount of money.  

The book contains several intimate scenes that happen outside of marriage.  We watch them undress,but after that we have to use our imaginations about what happened. 

The book is the first in a series and as such we are treated to teasers about a lot of people, though Olivia and Connor get their happily ever after in this book.  

Because of the implausibility of some of the setting, I'l give the book a B. 

My copy was a freebie from Amazon but it's not free now.  

Monday Memes

This month, Mailbox Monday is hosted at Let Them Read Books.   Bloggers list  books that arrived in either snail mail or email.  I got one:

Keeper, The: A Novel (Stoney Ridge Seasons)

 .

It's Monday What Are You Reading is hosted by Sheila over at Book Journey.  She asks what we read last week, what we reviewed last week and what we plan to read this week.

My Review

What's up next?  Who knows?

Top Ten Books I Read This Year

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

I'd like to welcome everyone to Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival.  We are a group of Catholic bloggers who gather weekly to share our best posts with each other.  To particpate, go to your blog and create an entry titled Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival.  In it, highlight one or more of your posts from the past week that you believe would be of interest to Catholic bloggers---whether they are posts reflecting on spiritual matters or posts about antics of Catholic kids, or anything in between.  Come back here and enter the URL of that post below.  Finally, go visit other participants, and leave comments!  If you want a weekly reminder to post, join our yahoogroup.

Another week in which real life has gotten in the way of blogging and books.  I did a Top Ten Tuesday post listing the top ten books I read this year. I also reviewed a book about Digital Photography.

After due consideration, I've decided that this meme will take a break next week.  I wish all of you and all of yours a very merry Christmas and Happy New Year and pray that the Savior whose birth we celebrate blesses all of you.

Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Best Books I've Reviewed This Year

My top ten list today is the top ten books I've reviewed this year (in no particular order):

My Review

Pregnant Pause, My Review

Blue Skies Tomorrow, My Review

Homeward Bound, My Review

Chasing Sunsets, My Review

The Fine Art of Insincerity:  My Review

Surviving the Angel of Death:  My Review

All Different Kinds of Free:  My Review

When Sparrows Fall:  My Review

The Dressmaker of Kahir Khana:  My Review

Check out Amanda's blog to see other Top Ten Tuesday posts.

Digital Photography: A Basic Manual

Digital Photography: A Basic Manual. 

About the Book:

This thorough, concise, and easy-to-use guide to capturing digital photographs provides an entire step-by-step course for budding digital photographers. All concepts are fully illustrated with sample work by internationally renowned professionals, representing editorial work, photojournalism, and everything in between. Topics covered include essential information for both film and digital photography, such as exposure controls and shutter speed, as well as digital-specific information on image editing, printing methods, and even file storage. The first digital textbook by legendary photography teacher Henry Horenstein, Digital Photography is the best guide yet for aspiring digital photographers, essential both for photographers transitioning from film to digital and those learning the art of photography for the first time.

My Comments:

Once upon a time, you had a choice.  You could buy a simple Instamatic camera where everything was pre-determined and locked in  place, or you could buy a fancy SLR camera for a lot of money, and you got to (or had) to set everything.  Then came digital photography when suddenly not only did we not have to worry about the cost of film (though batteries can eat you alive) but we could decide, even with the simplest cameras whether we wanted to play with the settings or have the camera decide what they should be.  So, what is an f-stop?  What is white balance?  What difference does lens speed make?  Those questions and more are answered in Digital Photography: A Basic Manual.  Besides telling you how to use all those settings on your camera, there are also chapters on lighting, scanning, image editing and printing.  In short, this book can take you from point, shoot, print to adjust the camera, set the scene, take the picture, edit it and print it.

I'd like to thank the publisher for providing a review copy.  Grade:  A.

Monday Memes

This month, Mailbox Monday is hosted at Let Them Read Books.   Bloggers list  books that arrived in either snail mail or email.  I got one:

Chasing Mona Lisa 

 .

It's Monday What Are You Reading is hosted by Sheila over at Book Journey.  She asks what we read last week, what we reviewed last week and what we plan to read this week. I didn't participate last week, so I'll tell you that since I last posted here, I reviewed the following:

My Review

My Review

My Review

My Review

My Review

Giveaway!  Today is the last day!

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

I'd like to welcome everyone to Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival.  We are a group of Catholic bloggers who gather weekly to share our best posts with each other.  To particpate, go to your blog and create an entry titled Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival.  In it, highlight one or more of your posts from the past week that you believe would be of interest to Catholic bloggers---whether they are posts reflecting on spiritual matters or posts about antics of Catholic kids, or anything in between.  Come back here and enter the URL of that post below.  Finally, go visit other participants, and leave comments!  If you want a weekly reminder to post, join our yahoogroup.

Another light reading/blogging week, but I did post about one book I'd recommend, An Invisible Thread, about a New York advertising sales woman and a panhandler.  Also, for the parents in the bunch, I have a children's Bible story giveaway.  I haven't read the book, so you probably should look it over before giving it to your kids, but most books like this, even if they don't tell the same stories a Catholic book would, usually aren't objectionable.

Hope everyone is having a blessed Advent season and I'd just like to welcome Kathleen and baby Michael home.

Cherished by Kim Cash Tate: A Review

About the Book:

Kelli London once dreamed of being a songwriter. As crazy as it seemed, she hoped that God would use the lyrics that came to her even while she slept. She dreamed about Brian too, that the love they shared as high-school students would grow into marriage. But choices that still haunt her destroyed those dreams. Until now-when a series of love letters reawakens her hope for the future.

Heather Anderson's life has spun out of control-first, an affair with a married man, then a one-night stand with the drummer of a popular Christian band has left her devastated. Broken and alone, she cried out to the only One able to save her. He met her there, but it was just the beginning. Because now she must take a different path. And the one God has planned for her looks nothing like the one she envisioned.

My Comments:

If you like your Christian fiction on the religious side, this is the book for you.  It starts off in church, at a wedding.  We meet women who are in a Bible Study/Accountability group together.  One character is a Christian rapper.  Not long after the book opens we visit a conference for those who hope to sing Christian music, and there we learn that not all Christians are as Christ-like as we would hope.  I read 87 pages and I don't think there was a paragraph that didn't involve religion in one way or another.  It just didn't seem realistic and as I don't really care for the sermon dressed up as a novel type books, I'm marking it DNF and moving on to something else.

I'd like to thank Thomas Nelson publishers and the BookSneeze program for providing a complimentary hard copy of the book.  I also received a NetGalley.  I was not obligated to provide a positive review.  

Review: Nightshade

About the book:
Soldiers all across the globe are returning home to their families after brutal tours of duty. They are discharged from the service. . .and on their own. Meet Max Jacobs, one of these discarded heroes, as he faces a wall of failure—in his career, his friendships, and his marriage. Failing again—this time to end his life—he is offered a thread of hope. Are covert government operations the answer for him, or will they only bring more danger and dissension upon his broken family?

My Comments:

This is one that has been on my Kindle forever (well, close to a year anyway).  I was going to read a few pages so I could decide I really didn't want to read it, and then  delete it but then I found myself hooked.  Max is just back from Afghanistan and accidently hit his wife when trying to strike someone else.  She filed for separation and then learned she was pregnant.  He is self-destructive, almost trying to accidently kill himself.  He loves his wife and wants her back, but isn't willing to admit he has a problem.  He is recruited to be on a special operations force made of ex-SEALS, Green Berets and Rangers.  They are a group sent on tough missions where the official military can't go.  "No one" knows they exist.  

His wife is a journalist who stumbles upon a story that involves his group,but of course she doesn't know it is his group.  She wants him back, but knows he needs to change.  She hasn't told him about her pregnancy.  She starts chasing the story.  So far, so good. So far, an interesting, fast-paced read with both adventure and human interest.  However, toward to the end, the book becomes very unrealistic and includes her taking incredible risks to her life (and therefore the life of her baby) when she is five months pregnant.  Everything wraps up too neatly if you ask me.

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade:  B-