Books, Books, Books

In the last year I have read a lot but I have not read to many books.  That's because probably about half of my reading time this year was committed to two books. I wish to offer my book reviews for the following books that I have read.  Feel free to call me a narcissist for thinking my opinion on these books matter :)

1.  "Team  of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin.  If you only
read one book in your life I highly recommend you making this book that one.  (That's saying something coming from the biggest Harry Potter fan EVER).  I have always loved Abraham Lincoln.  This book puts into words why that's the case.  Lincoln basically took the men who ran for the Republican Presidential ticket and placed them in his cabinet because he saw that these men represented the differing voices within the hodge podge that made up the Republican party at the time.  This book shows the true character of this man and has helped to shape my view of what kind of man should be in the White House.




2.  Les Miserables" by Victor Hugo.  This has been on my to read book list for as long as I can remember.  Motivated by the up and coming movie release of the musical version of the story with the lovely Hugh Jackman, I finally buckled down and read the darn thing.  Let me tell you, that book is a BEAST to get through, 1200 pages of teeny tiny print.  It took me about 4 months to finally read.  I hate books with sad endings.  But this book, for some reason there was something beautiful about the way it ended.  I had to go listen to some happy music to keep myself from crying (couldn't let Tommy catch me crying from another book, he still laughs about how the Hunger Games affected me).  I don't LOVE the ending when I think about it, but for some reason I would hate the book had it ended any other way.  I'm strangely at peace with the whole thing.  Any book that moves me to emotion, even with all the long drawn out explanations that were totally unnecessary, is impressive to me.  I will be honest, I may have started skipping over the 12 page descriptions of Paris's revolution that happened ten years after the setting of the book (why that was in there I still don't really get), or the whole chapter about the history of Paris's sewer system.  I really don't care about the evolution of the transportation of poop in ANY city.  Nothing will ever change my mind about it.  So if you decide to ever take on that book, I don't blame you if you were to do the same.

3. "Blind Side" by Michael Lewis.  I just finished this book and I loved it for two reasons.  One, reading about economics is the worst.  Reading about it through an example of how it works is awesome and makes me appreciate the importance of economics and how it plays into almost every decision we make.  Two, I'm so tired of hearing people complain about how Christian morality is ancient history, racism is an ever prevalent evil that all whites embrace and practice, and rich people are all about bettering themselves with no thought or care for the welfare of others and this book destroys all of those claims.  It's such a positive and inspirational story. A rich, christian, white family helps to provide a home and life for a child who had literally nothing, with no other thought than it was the right thing to do.  I love Michael Ohers' character.  One of his family members said about him that "Michael held no ill will towards anyone." He clearly had had a rough childhood and yet he blamed no one.  I love that the book includes all the people (Black, white, poor, middle class, rich) in his life who fought to make his life better for him, even when he couldn't see the possibilities for himself. It's such a positive message in a world full of cynicism. There are people who care. 

4. Matched" By Allie Condie.  I normally never leave a book unfinished.  But this one I just found myself dreading having to continue it.  It's a disutopia book, which I have only liked one of the 5 that I have read (Hunger games of course) so that might be part of the problem.  I kept thinking, "I can finish this and then it will all be over" but knowing there are 2 other books I'd have to push through I decided to call it quits.  It's not a bad story.  It's just kind of slow moving and I found the main character not weak, but not strong.  I love Katniss's strength in the hunger games.  One reason I don't like disutopia books is the main character's development is very slow and very gradual and it takes forever for them to get the courage to do something.  (Also, the fact that they all end bad with no hope for the future is quite the deterrent for me).  This isn't an awful book, I just found myself not caring one way or the other what happened.  Maybe I just needed to keep reading.



5. "Boomerang" by Michael Lewis.  This is about how certain countries' cultural influences affect their money spending decisions that led up to the financial crisis.  It's a short book and pretty funny entertaining but make sure you have a finance genius near by to ask a billion questions.  I had a conversation with someone at the begin of the chapter on Iceland because I got 2 pages in and didn't comprehend half of what I read. And then I had another conversation with someone else at the end of the Iceland chapter.  I started the second conversation with, "Okay so I'm reading this book and just got finished with what happened with Iceland.  So it's not that I don't know what happened to Iceland...but...well no, what happened to Iceland?" But I've been trying to figure out in Lamen's terms what happened in 2008, since 2008.  So it's time to get started.  Plus, I've found Michael Lewis to be a really good writer

Some Observations

So this political season has been super enjoyable for me to watch and participate in.  The last election I knew McCain didn't have much of a shot and I really didn't feel he was the right man for the job.  But this year is much different.  It's brought up some interested side culture issues that I have found pretty interesting and I'd like to remark about that.  Don't worry, this doesn't have anything to do with either candidate.  This won't be negative about either political party.  Feel free to proceed without caution.

First off, I have read, heard, and spoken to a lot of people who are offended by people's opinions and emotions regarding this election.  My opinion, anything bigotrous (not a real word), racist, sexist, personal attacks, or anything otherwise hateful is inexcusable no matter what you may think and you're an ignorant jerk who has no place in any conversation.  Other than that, the fact that people can have and express their opinions freely is part of what make this country great!! Hello... in other countries people to this day can be punished in many colorful forms and fashions if they express their opinions (China, North Korea, anyone?)  We should be proud of this fact, not make people feel bad about having an opinion.

Some people are offended to the point of ignoring facebook, television, twitter, etc.  So what you're saying is, posts like, "It's sunny out", "Got my hair cut today", or "It's definitely a Monday" are a better use of your time?


There are others who have taken the point of bragging about NOT participating in politics.  They won't vote, they won't watch debates, blah blah blah.  Again, being able to participate in politics is what makes this country great! To brag about not taking part in a political process that men and women have fought and died for to make possible is, I'm sorry to use an ugly word, ignorance at its highest form.  I honestly would rather someone vote for the candidate opposite of me than not vote at all.  (I believe a balance in all things is important)  Fair elections is what helped set the United States apart from other countries.  Let's not be that person.

All said and done, I hope we all take advantage of the opportunity to vote and participate in the political process because when 20 years from now, knowing what some high school friend you haven't talked to in years did on their Monday morning one day will not exactly have had any effect on you whatsoever.  But a president's policies from 20 years ago will.

 

10 Months! Double Digits...

Happy 10 Months to Zach!

 How we got so lucky with this cute kid I'll never know.  Here are some of the highlights:

• He loves grilled cheese sandwiches, fries, apples, pears, sweet potatoes, and Italian wedding soup.
• Cheerios make Zach happier than anything else
• Standing is a way of life to him.  Crawling gets him from point a to b.  But standing is where it's at.
• Rolling balls back and forth is fun for Zach
• Cars, trucks, and trains are becoming more and more entertaining each day.  We went to visit teach the other day and he loved pushing the fire truck around the room
• Zach loves to be chased.  He gets all excited and squeals with delight
• He cries when he sees daddy leave and is super excited when daddy comes through the door
• Sitting and playing with books is an aggressive hobby of his
• He has TWO teeth now!
• He can say 'da-da' and 'ma ma'.  Dada is said when his dad is not around or he hears him on a video, ma ma is said when he wants something and I'm not responding to his cries.  
• Zach can get off the couch now.

Sometimes I wish I were as accomplished in my month to month progress as this kid.  Things I have accomplished in the last month: I tried 6 new recipes and I found a book sale where we got 52 kids books for $12.40!! That was actually pretty awesome.  I'm also working out again and have thus far lost 3 pounds. 

Tommy is hard at work with school and his church responsibilities.  We're coming to accept the fact that doing homework 9-5 isn't realistic and it's more like 9-9 or 10 most days.  But at least he's able to study at home and he takes time to spend with Zach each day.  We're pretty content these days and I'm glad for the routine.

But back to Zach because he's the big deal is this family.  We went down to Chicago to spend time with my family (it seems like we're always there these days huh?)  Here's the documentation:

BRADY AND ZACH PLAYING

ZACH PLAYING THE BULLY

ZACH IN MY FAV. OUTFIT OF HIS AND WITH NANA

SISTERS AND COUSINS!

HOW DOES THIS NOT MAKE YOU SMILE?

BRADY!

DELAINIE!