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  • coffeehousereader 3:30 pm on January 31, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Adults, Kids, Reading, Writing   

    Had An “Ah Ha” Moment 

    While I was at work this past week I had one of those light bulb moments.  For some reason sitting at my desk brings on inspiration.  How irritating when I want to be more productive at home.  Having read, Crush It, by Gary Vaynerchuk awhile back I feel like I hadn’t had my passion hit me upside the head and well the other day it did certainly did.  I love to read.  I love helping people find what they love to read.  Why not start a blog that could be a way to help people find books they’ll love and give them resources/suggestions on great books to check out.  My blog idea was born.

    This new blog is in its infant stages. It’s not ready yet for the big world, but it will be and soon.  I’m so excited about this!!! I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I know with lots of hard work and loving support from my husband, friends and family I can truly KICK BUTT! :)   It’s crazy how having an idea and feeling like I can make a difference in the world brings this sense of peace inside.  Like I’m doing what I was meant to be doing. I LOVE Ah HA moments!

     

    • theothergardener 3:51 pm on January 31, 2010 Permalink

      I had never heard of Vaynerchuk. Is this a recommendation?

    • Addie 4:19 pm on January 31, 2010 Permalink

      Can’t wait to see your new blog. I look forward to it. Wish I would have thought of it. What kind of content will be on it?

    • theothergardener 10:40 pm on February 1, 2010 Permalink

      Hm? No, no, I’ll keep going as I have been, just a pause.

    • Jo 11:22 am on February 2, 2010 Permalink

      It’s awesome when you find something that fills you with excitement like this, isn’t it?!

    • Kris 3:12 pm on February 5, 2010 Permalink

      Good luck with the new blog! Can’t wait to take a peak at it once it’s released.

  • coffeehousereader 3:13 pm on January 31, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: England, , NY, Survival, War   

    How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff 

    This book has a cartoonish like cover.  It’s the story of Elizabeth who decides at a young age she prefers to be called Daisy.  Her mom sadly died when she was born.  Daisy’s dad has remarried and she’s sure her dad has picked the classic wicked step-mother.  For some reason the wicked step-mother decides to ship off Daisy to England to live with her aunt and cousins who she’s never met before.

    When Daisy meets her younger cousin Edmond who picks her up from the airport she’s shocked he’s smoking a cigarette and driving the car all by himself at 14.  She’s only fifteen and thinks he’s quite cool.  Daisy further meets her other cousins Issac, Piper, Osbert and her aunt Penn.  At first England is dreary and boring, but soon its charms warm up to Daisy.  Her aunt’s family own a lot of pets: goats, 2 dogs and some sheep.  Aunt Penn has to go away on business for a few days and the cousins are delighted to be free of adult supervision.  This gives Edmond and Daisy time to bond further as cousins.  They do make sure they read plenty and study off and on while helping around the farm.

    While Aunt Penn is away there is an attack on England and she’s not able to make her way back.  Pretty soon Daisy and her cousins are on their own and learning that having family is sometimes all you’ve got.  This book follows Daisy and her cousins on how they deal with war.  It’s tough when all you want to do is be a kid and not have to grow up so soon.

    This novel deals with many difficult topics, but I think for a junior higher it covers a lot of important topics like dealing with family you’ve never met before, living and surviving while a war is going on and learning to go with your gut instinct.

     

  • coffeehousereader 12:33 pm on January 24, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Blank 

    Why does life have to be refreshing one moment and the next a whirlwind of craziness?  I know there are up and downs with life.  There’s an ebb and flow to go along with. Sometimes I feel like I’m too nice half the time and the other half I’m a total bitch.

    I’m in the middle of a godzilla book that’s 808 pages and I’m halfway through.  Completely enjoying it, but taking a breather from it to read a book on discovering my passion.  I’m looking forward to a bit lighter reading for a while then dive back into my other book.

    Today is going to be spent reading, watching football and trying to calm my idiot brain from working too hard. :)

     

  • coffeehousereader 7:37 am on January 15, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Bisbee   

    A Magical Place 

    Sometimes a place grabs you and won’t let you go. I found such a place. The firdt time I experienced Bisbee back in Spetember I felt as though I’d dropped right into a fairytale book. It’s narrow little streets and allyways had the charm of what I imagine European towns to be like. The slighty steep streets make you want to walk forever and to not stay idle for long. The little independent shops are cozy and welcoming. This old mining town’s charm is still as strong.

    This second visit feels like coming home. Going through the mountain tunnel that is like going through the wardrobe and stepping into Narnia. As we entered town yesterday I felt like I could breathe and be calm. The air is crisp and beautiful. The sights and sounds like an old friend welcoming you home after a long journey away. This place just feels right. Amazing how an old historic town can capture your heart and imagination with just one visit. It’s like being addicted to an atmosphere of days gone by. You have to keep coming back for more and more. It’s a place that settles in your bones.

    Maybe some day my husband and I can retire here. That would be beyond awesome. It’s nice to know I discovered a place in state that captured our hearts and imaginations. It’s going to be tough to return to normal life, but I know for sure we’ve found our future magical home.

     

    • Jo 9:44 am on January 15, 2010 Permalink

      Sounds truly wonderful! Do you have any pics? I’m very curious to see it!

    • octoberrose 12:04 pm on January 19, 2010 Permalink

      This post reminds me of when I visited Assisi, Italy … but I was only fourteen at the time, and it was kind of experience overload, so my memories aren’t as vivid as I wish they were.

      I also love Pittsburgh. Which is great, because I live here for now. :)

  • coffeehousereader 8:11 pm on January 13, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: A Month of Sundays, Church, Death, , , Julie Mars, Religion, Sisters   

    A Month of Sundays by Julie Mars 

    This book title caught my eye at Bookman’s (a local used bookstore).  A Month of Sundays sounded like my kind of book.  I bought it and started it this past Sunday.  It’s not a thick book, but it’s been a personal ride to read about the author’s adventure of being there for her older sister, as her sister, Shirley deals with dying of cancer.  Julie’s story is about her quest to see if there is life after death and if just maybe she can find the spirit of God and of her sister.

    Julie attends a range of different churches from traditional (Baptist) to out there (Scientology), etc.  She visits 31 churches and each time she visits she brings along her camera to capture a picture of the front of the church.  There’s only one church she wasn’t allowed to take a picture of.  Each visit she gleams something and also, realizes why she became a church dropout.  Even though her Shirley was an ex-Catholic who wanted to return to her Catholic roots at the end, she still had her struggles with the church.  Julie watched her sister slip further and further down hill.  At one point Shirley says she just wants water and God.  Julie finds this interesting.  She wants what her sister wants.

    Reading the emotional toll it takes on caring for someone who has cancer brings to mind my grandpa who took care of my grandma faithfully by himself the time she had cancer.  I can’t imagine the patience, love and strength one would need to care for your best friend in such a time of need when they can’t take care of themselves any longer and need the full-time help of a loved one or a full-time nurse.  Julie and Shirley hadn’t always gotten along, but Shirley had always been her younger sister’s rock, her comfort and one of her best friends.  She was always there for her growing up and never judged her, but had an open door policy in her home.  Julie knew she could always go to Shirley’s, so when Shirley found out she had cancer Julie was there to help care for her.

    This book was partly a book on dealing with death, grief and family relationships.  How do we face letting go of a loved one?  Do we talk about them after they’ve passed?  Do we believe they can send us a message after they’ve gone?  Julie struggled with trying to return back to her old life, but after being her sister’s nurse and helper for seven months it took more guts to let her sister go.

    There is so much imagery in this book.  Julie is given a red candle that she faithfully lights every morning.  She spends some time thinking about Shirley and all that she meant to her.  Ironically towards the end of her month-long church visits her candle breaks and smashes all over the floor.  She’s crushed to have it break, but then her friend does tell her that her month of Sundays is coming to a close and so having the candle break makes sense.  It means she can let go, keeping Shirley’s memory alive by talking about how she touched the world, how Julie was affected by having her in her life and by seeing the simple beauty in each moment that we live.

     

    • Addie 10:25 am on January 18, 2010 Permalink

      My grandparents didn’ have cancer but I do know what it is like to take care of loved one. It is a mixture of emotions during the whole experience.

    • Addie 10:26 am on January 18, 2010 Permalink

      I know what it is like to take care of family members. It is tough and takes a lot of guts.

  • coffeehousereader 12:47 pm on January 9, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Invincibility, Social Circle, Solitude, Valley Girls   

    Wanting To Be Invisible And Yet Known 

    Sometimes I wish I was invisible.  Half of me craves the comfort of a crowd and the other half craves solitude.  I used to thrive on having lots of friends, but if I have quantity,  the quality is lacking.  Not everyone I’m friends with is mere fluff with no substance, but sometimes it feels that way. Invincibility  sounds refreshing.  To live without the hubbub of constant aimless chatter.  I crave real conversation not skin deep commentary.

    I want to be known.  We all have our outer selves we show to the world and then we have our inner ones we keep private.  I would like to be  known by a select few.  I want to shrink down my social circle to the few and proud who truly consider me a friend.  I know I’m not the greatest friend.  If I were someone else would I be friends with me? Would I appear as exciting and cheerful as others perceive me? I feel like I’m looking from the outside in and what I see I don’t like.  I’ve always been a cheerful girl.  I smile a lot and I laugh.  To society I may look like a carefree woman, but inside I feel dirty and fake.  Occasionally I don’t feel like being a nice girl.  I do  like using a cuss word or two.  I know mentally I do often.

    Maybe now I just don’t like myself.  I know I’m past trying to fit in with the ‘popular crowd’.  I’ve accepted my tomboyish ways and look. I am growing my hair back out, so I can feel more feminine.  For the life of me I can never be a Valley Girl, nor do I ever want to be one.  They make me cringe and want to up chuck  .  They grate on my nerves.  I desire to be me with a sprinkle of girlishness.

    I know to have real friends I have to first like and enjoy myself for me.  I have to like what I see no matter what flaws are there in the open or hidden.  Growing up I was constantly trying to be liked by the ‘in’ crowd.  What a waste of my youth that was.  The ‘in’ girls were always so catty, bitchy and snotty.  Did I really want to grow up like them?  Did I want to keep striving for perfection in my looks and hope that being fake would win me more false compliments?  I’m glad I’m through that phase and on to becoming a real woman not a plastic one.

    I feel like I’ve spread myself thin with the friends I have.  Giving a little piece of myself here, there, and everywhere and not investing in my select group of friends who deserve my time and attention.  I’ve always been a social person, but I feel like a turtle who is slowly putting her head back into her shell to wait to come out when it’s safer.

    I’m not depressed.  I’m sure this post sounds like I am, but I’m not. I’m just in a reflective mood.  I want to make this brand new year 2010 count and make every day a day of beauty, depth and connection.  I love to hide away in whatever book I’m reading, but I also, seek real soul to soul connection.

    I’m determined to change my life for the better, gain more confidence and spark.  As SARK would say, “I’m a succulent wild woman!”  Yes, that is my goal.

     

    • Addie 1:37 pm on January 9, 2010 Permalink

      This is a great post. I think anyone can relate to it. Everyone has been at that point in time where they’ve done things to feel accepted and “cool” by others only to realize that the whole situation was fake.

    • octoberrose 3:26 pm on January 9, 2010 Permalink

      I can relate to almost everything you’ve said here, particularly the desire to be invisible *and* known at the same time. (Maybe this is one of the reasons I’ve often been drawn to the internet … you can be well known and “popular” (among people who are like-minded, not necessarily the “in” crowd) and yet still be “invisible.”)

      I can also relate to not knowing whether I’d be friends with myself. Feeling gross inside. But I think seeing ourselves from the inside is just as incomplete a picture as seeing someone from the outside. Like looking in a funhouse mirror, sort of–the surface is distorted by the hurts we carry. Only God sees us as we really are, inside and outside and all the corners we can’t reach … and He loves it all. :)

      (I cuss in my head too. ;) )

    • Jo 12:44 pm on January 12, 2010 Permalink

      It’s good to take stock once in a while to see where you stand with yourself, what you like and what’s not working for you! I think you’re a wonderful friend!

  • coffeehousereader 7:57 am on January 8, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Giovanni's Room, , , , , , Sexual Identity   

    Giovanni’s Room By James Baldwin 

    This book is one slim little volume, but by the last page it changes you. This story takes place in Paris where a man named David is trying to discover himself. His girlfriend Hella has gone off to Spain to take some time to think about life and sightsee. While Hella is gone David encounters a dashing young man named Giovanni who works at a bar where a lot of young gay men hang out at. David’s friend he is staying with named Jacques introduces David and Giovanni. The latter becomes smitten with David.

    David has struggled with his sexual indentity. He does find Giovanni handsome and somewhat mysterious. Giovanni insists that David come home with him. The room is small and dirty. It’s cluttered. At first Giovanni’s affection and adoration help smooth over the claustraphobicness of the room. One day Giovanni comes home from working at the bar and says he’s been fired. He is seething mad, but still stays otomistic for David’s sake. David is asked if he can send a letter to his father in NY for money. He says he will, but he puts it off. He struggles between wanting Giovanni and desiring a normal future married life with Hella who has become his fiance when she returns from Spain.

    When Hella is going to return David leaves Giovanni and his stuffy room to think. David is gone for a few days to think. When he first sees Hella at the train station he’s thrilled to see her. They go to her hotel room to reconnect after being apart for so long. They look each other over, seeing if the other is still as committed as before. Later they are walking around town and are in a bookstore when they run into Giovanni and Jacques. Giovanni is dramatic and angry. He wonders where David has been. David introduces Hella to both men and poor Hella doesn’t know what to think of it all.

    After Hella and David leave the bookstore Hella tries to get David to open up about who this Giovanni is. David goes back to Giovanni to explain that they are over. Giovanni cries and begs for David to stay, but David remains firm. David leaves with Giovanni’s sadness and bitterness ringing in his ears. Weeks or months go by and David finds out that Giovanni might have gotten his job back at the bar. He is hoping things are going better for him. But then one day shocking news hits Paris. One man is dead and where is Giovanni?

     

    • Addie 9:15 am on January 9, 2010 Permalink

      This sounds like a great book… one I would read. I need to add this to my never ending list of to-read list.

  • coffeehousereader 8:29 pm on January 4, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Classics, Go Tell It On The Mountain,   

    Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin 

    This year I decided to read strictly classics and my first one I chose to dive into was Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin.  This book is little, but mighty.  It’s the story about a family where the eldest boy John doesn’t feel love or compassion from his father.  He doesn’t understand why his dad is so harsh a lot of the time and why his younger brother seems to get babied.  His father is a church deacon and very strict.  John and his siblings aren’t allowed to go play like the other kids in the neighborhood and sometimes he longs to have a more free life than having to be cooped up at home.

    The story opens on John’s fourteenth birthday.  He wakes up hoping that his family has remembered it, but everyone seems to be going about their day not taking much notice of him.  He goes down to breakfast and sees the same old boring breakfast waiting for him, until his mother pulls him aside to give him some saved up birthday money.  She tells him to go out and find something he really wants.  John leaves the house and wanders around town trying to figure out what he wants.  He finally settles on going to a movie, which is a big, “No,no” in his family.

    As John is coming home from the movie he sees his little sister leaving the house to go to the store and he notices her coat isn’t fully buttoned.  He wonders why she would have left in such a hurry without their mother buttoning the rest of his sister’s coat.  When John goes inside he sees his aunt Florence there and sees his younger brother Roy laying on the couch with a big knife wound above his eye.  His parents are tending to him and his little sister comes back with some more ointment for the wound.  John’s aunt Florence, mother and father get in an argument and his father slaps his mother.  Roy sits up from the couch and tells his father not to slap his mother and calls him a, “black bastard,” and threatens if he slaps his mother again he’ll kill him.

    Even though John’s parents are believers his parents hide secrets that he may, or may never know.  James Baldwin weaves a story about family, marriage, trust, faith and standing strong in your faith when your world seems confusing.  I like how the point of view changes from John, to his father, his mother and aunt.  It was a powerful read.  If you’ve never experienced an African-American charismatic church and want to I recommend finding a copy of this book.  Yes, it did sort of feel like one big long sermon!. :)

     

  • coffeehousereader 6:23 pm on December 31, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Francine Prose, , Reading Like a Writer   

    Time Ticking Away 

    It’s already 6:16 p.m. and there are only  mere hours left of 2009. It’s going to be weird to have to write out 2010.  It sounds futuristic and strange.  For tonight’s New Year’s Eve festivities I’m reading Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose.   I started it this morning and so far I’m greatly enjoying it.  I’ll be having a glass of wine in a bit. I’m hoping I can make it to midnight this year, but we’ll see.  So far I’m holding up quite well.

    I think my reading revolution for 2010 will be to ONLY read the classics.  No modern fiction for me this next year.  I’m terrible and haven’t read a lot of the well-known classic authors like Tolstoy, Chekhov, Emily Bronte, etc.  It’s pathetic and sad, but I’m hoping to remedy that.  I’m excited to dig into authors I’ve never even heard of and discover new favorites.  Who knows what my new reading genre will bring me.

    Well off to go continue reading.  I look forward to the new year with new possibilities.  Here’s to

    2010

     

  • coffeehousereader 5:50 am on December 31, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , Sex Education, Sex Toys, Shannon Ethridge, The Sexually Confident Wife   

    The Sexually Confident Wife by Shannon Ethridge 

    This book cover has it’s charms. It’s black with hot pink lettering. It’s the kind of book that sort of makes you feel self conscious if you’re reading it in public, but once you peel back the cover and dive in it’s like a wise older woman pulling up to give you sound advice on how to be the best sexually confident wife you can be. I bought this book at least a year or so ago, but never got the courage up to crack it open. I finally decided to and it’s taken me a good long while to finish it, but it’s been worth taking my time reading it.

    The author, Shannon, goes over so many different topics about sex I blushed a number of times. I never thought I’d hear a Christian author talk about anal sex, creating a private husband and wife porno for their own viewing pleasure, getting away for a weekend filled with just sex. I felt like I could breath again and that not all Christian women are prudes or boring when it comes to such a deeply personal topic. Shannon wrote with humor, honesty and firmness at times.

    I was a bit shy to admit I was reading this. Didn’t the title sound like I was needing major help? That rather than being a wild fun woman I was instead a frumpy wife who was clueless in how to please her husband? After confessing the title I was currently reading to a new friend I found out she sounded interested in it too and that it sounded like a very helpful book. Maybe I’m not the only one who could use a friendly written marital book on sex.

    I would highly recommend this book to any wife who needs a little encouragement, or a lot of encouragement. You don’t have to be a Christian to read it. Shannon is sensitive and doesn’t preach at you. She even uses the word Higher Power occasionally. I’d even recommend husbands to read this book after their wives do since it does discuss ways in which couples can enhance their sexual life and sexual communication. I’m relieved and glad I chose to purchase this book. If only I’d read it sooner.

     

    • Jeff 5:55 am on December 31, 2009 Permalink

      Thumbs up! Thank you for, um, some interesting evenings around our home lately…

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