Posts Tagged ‘books’

01
Aug

The Odd Days of August…

zucchini

June and August may be the only two months in which most U.S. citizens do not participate in celebrating one particular holiday. You could argue that most of us celebrate Flag Day in June, but let’s be honest: even banks don’t recognize it as a holiday. Since August is so devoid of things to celebrate (However, in our family there are a wealth of August birthdays we will be celebrating.), may I suggest some of the following based on holidayinsights.com:

August 1st – National Raspberry Cream Pie Day (Now this needs to be a national holiday!)

August 2nd – National Mustard Day (This begs the question: Is there a National Ketchup Day? Mayo Day? Relish Day? Condiments Day?)

August 3rd – Sisters Day (Note to Big Brother: I expect presents this day.)

August 4th – U.S. Coast Guard Day (Won’t the other Armed Forces be jealous?)

August 5th – Work Like a Dog Day (You notice that no one ever says, “Work Like a Cat”???)

August 6th – Wiggle Your Toes Day (This could be tricky to celebrate…particularly if you’re getting some gray hair like me.)

August 7th – National Lighthouse Day (A little tricky to celebrate if you live in Central Texas)

August 8th – National Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Day (I have serious concerns about the originator of this holiday’s sanity.)

August 9th – Book Lover’s Day (See…this one makes some actual sense!)

August 10th – Lazy Day (After you sneak zucchini onto porches, this day is a necessity.)

August 11th – Presidential Joke Day (Does this mean we are to make jokes about the President or he’s supposed to make jokes this day or he is a joke???)

August 12th – Middle Child Day (What if there is no Middle Child?)

August 13th – Left Hander’s Day (I guess all of us right-handed people have to “work like a dog” and the lefties get this day off?)

August 14th – National Creamsicle Day (I sense a theme with cream here. See August 1st.)

August 15th – Relaxation Day (I suppose the people who created Lazy Day were too lazy to put it together with Relaxation Day. That would have made too much sense.)

August 16th – National Tell A Joke Day (Again, why not pair this with Presidential Joke Day?)

August 17th – National Thriftshop Day (I’ve always had the need to shop in dusty places filled with out-of-style items that contain everyone else’s germs.)

August 18th – Bad Poetry Day (I suppose “Good Poetry Day” was already taken?)

August 19th – Aviation Day (This means we check our bags for free on this day, right?)

August 20th – National Radio Day (Sirius is free this day, right?)

August 21st – Senior Citizen’s Day (Well, it only makes sense after Middle Child Day.)

August 22nd – National Tooth Fairy Day (Remind me to yank out a tooth this day.)

August 23rd – Ride the Wind Day (Assuming there is some this day)

August 24th – Vesuvius Day (I always celebrate exploding volcanoes.)

August 25th – Kiss and Make Up Day (Shouldn’t this be preceded by Argument Day?)

August 26th – National Dog Day (Because we don’t spoil our dogs any other day)

August 27th – Global Forgiveness Day (Let’s explain this to North Korea and the Middle East.)

August 28th – Race Your Mouse Day (As long as they race away from my house)

August 29th – More Herbs, Less Salt Day (I find this amusing, since recent research suggests that salt is not the huge nemesis we were all told to avoid as kids.)

August 30th – Frankenstein Day (Zombie Apocalypse Day was already taken?)

August 31st – National Trail Mix Day (An excuse to eat more M & M’s, right?)

Monday’s Post: When’s Toxophilite Day?

You Might Also Like: The Odd Days of July; The Odd Days of June; The Odd Days of May; The Odd Days of January; and The Odd Days of December

14
May

An Eclectic Bookshelf…

Stack of books

As many of you know, MIP has a Book Club. On Friday, May 23rd expect the Book Club to “rev up” again. The Slow Reader Friday post that day will be for our last Book Club selection and an announcement will be made for the June Book Club selection. Consider this your invitation to join those of us who already read the selections each month, if you haven’t joined us so far! We have even had an author join in on the discussion!

A lot of you also know that my operating budget for running this little blog is a big fat zero. Thus, I often rely on Amazon gift cards, gifts, hand-me-downs, and “leftovers” for book selection fodder! I’ve recently rearranged my MIP bookshelf, adding some of my brother’s books to the collection. As I surveyed the rearranged shelf, I realized, “This is one eclectic collection of craziness!”

I am about to reveal how illiterate I am and that I’m way, way behind in reading books by great writers. Do I get to plead busy wife, mom, career woman and student for this???  Also, as you can see, I will read just about anything…once!

Thus, I would appreciate hearing your thoughts and comments about such a bookshelf and which books should be an MIP Book Selection. Are there any I should avoid? For instance, I’m not into blatant Christian bashing, cussing, gratuitous sex, horror stories or over-the-top violence! As old as some of these titles are, all of them, except one (which I removed from this list) are still alive and well on Amazon.com. Comment away!

  • Pride and Prejudice
  • The Art of the Steal
  • Raving Fans
  • The Da Vinci Code
  • To Fly Again
  • Op-Center: Acts of War
  • Op-Center: Balance of Power
  • Op-Center: Line of Control
  • Power Plays: Cold War
  • Net Force: CyberNation
  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
  • George’s Marvelous Medicine
  • Three Guardsmen
  • Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
  • Fields for President
  • The Final Helping of “You Might Be a Redneck If…”
  • Ocean’s 11
  • Snickers from the Front Pew
  • A Different Kind of Christmas
  • Between Sisters
  • How the Scots Invented the Modern World
  • The Journey: Forgiveness, Restorative Justice, & Reconciliation
  • The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
  • Alex & Me
  • Presbyterians & the American Revolution: A Documentary Account
  • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
  • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
  • Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
  • The Happiest People on Earth
  • One Was Johnny
  • Texas High School Football Dynasties
  • The Unlikely Spy
  • A Grace Disguised
  • Get Off Your Knees & Pray
  • Charlotte’s Web

 

Friday’s Post: Does Lumosity.com Really Illumine???

You might also like: Slow Reader Friday:  And Then There Were Nuns; Slow Reader Friday: Undaunted; and Slow Reader Friday: Life Interrupted

 

14
Mar

Slow Reader Thursday: 20 Books…

book

Warning: Get your favorite beverage first. 

Since I’m such a slow reader, guess what?! I’m not done with a book about being inadequate. Yes, I’m serious. Well, sort of. So, today you’re getting an FB favorite while I spend some time with my visiting niece and the DD and DSL. Yes, it’s Spring Break at the MIP household. Perhaps next Thursday I will get my act together. Sort of.

Several years ago FB was “personal survey happy.” In other words “Answer these questions about yourself and then tag all of your friends and ask them to answer the same questions.” While many of these became quite irritating and nonsensical, there were some that actually did merit a response. One of these was, “Pick 15 books that have always and will always stay with you.” If I were to answer that prompt today, I would list the books below, in no particular order, but add five more! Please feel free to add in your 20 favorites, with or without explanation. This will allow others to add some books to their “reading to-do list.” And yes, I hope one of these “others” will be me.

1. The Bible…obviously. Right now, I’m rather partial to the version by Mr. Peterson (The Message)…it makes reading this for the 49th time much more enjoyable and “user-friendly”.

2. The Shack…My copy’s autographed…how about yours? And mine is dog-eared and underlined repeatedly! I hate crying and this book makes me cry for reasons I don’t fully comprehend.  That just doesn’t happen when I read.

3. The Purpose-Driven Life…I disagree with some of its premises, but overall…a good way to live.

4. Loving God…the best defense of why the Bible is true, written by a crook. 🙂 His boss wasn’t…at least according to his boss.

5. The Screwtape Letters…I always like when someone puts a twist on writing a book and this one is from a very different perspective. Written by someone who didn’t believe in the Bible at first.

6. Little Women…about a woman writer when it wasn’t cool to be a woman writer…’nuf said. Oh, and it’s free on Kindle. Yes, I said free.

7. This Present Darkness…and all the sequels…again…another take on things with a different twist.

8. The Mystery of the 99 Steps…my introduction to Nancy Drew…horrible writing, but fun when you’re 10 years old…I read all of them in 5th grade…I could read 4 of them a week and she never kissed Ned once. Then I read the entire collection of the Hardy Boys…then I read all the Bobbsey Twin books. Yeah…I was a nerd. And there wasn’t much else to do in Bridgeport, WV back then.

9. God is an Englishman…very obscure book with a very interesting title…for adult readers only…in other words…it wasn’t about what I thought it was about. (How many of you just looked for it online? Caught ya, didn’t I?)

10. Cheaper by the Dozen – pay special attention to the section on bathing. If Kyle takes another hot water heater draining shower, these methods will be employed at the Arnold house very soon.

11. Gone with the Wind – this is a primer on cheesy, ridiculous dialogue, but I love it.

12. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fishno surprise here, if you’ve been reading my recent posts! My very first book and my mom probably could recite it flawlessly without ever looking at a page…I requested it every night, along with Fox in Sox for 3 whole years. (My mother was a saint.)

13. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families – this ought to be required reading for anyone expecting a kid. Just tell the mom (when she’s 9 months along) she has to cross her legs until she has read it…it’ll get done…I guarantee it.

14. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – see # 5…the man has an imagination and puts it on paper well.

15. Brave New World…it’ll make you think twice about the government requesting more and more invasion into our personal lives.

16. Heaven is for Real…when a book is written by an 11 year old boy and is his eyewitness account, I tend to listen…and read…word-for-word. So reassuring for us Christian types and yet so surprising.

17. QuitterI have read numerous books on writing and pursuing your ridiculous, impractical dreams, but none have affected me the way Jon Acuff’s book has.

18. God’s Little Miracle BookThis book just reminds me why it’s still important to pray.

19. Left Behind (and the rest of the series)…Of course, it’s just two people’s take on what could happen when Planet Earth comes to an end, but it sure is interesting to envision the modern world trying to cope with the book of Revelation.

20. Born Again, Texan…This is just too hilarious for words and too true and still rather informational.

Your turn.