Deadly Intent by Camy Tang

Deadly Intent by Camy Tang

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I became a big fan of Camy Tang's books with Sushi for One? and the others in her Sushi series. Deadly Intent is a mystery with murder, danger, and romance. I didn't like it quite as much as her Sushi books but it was still a good mystery.

The Journey of Desire by John Eldredge

The Journey of Desire: Searching for the Life We've Only Dreamed of by John Eldredge

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Eldredge is now one of my favorite authors. I have devoured each of his books that I have read. Like water for a thirsty soul, they touch a deep inner part of me that craves something more. Desire is something we often try to avoid, for too often we are hurt by not getting what we desire. In this book, desire is seen not as the enemy but as what we must cultivate for our life that is to come. It cannot be found in this life. We were made for more.

"...basic commitment to find life here and now. It is a commitment nearly all of us share, at a far deeper level than we'd like to admit. There's something just a little hurt and angry in all of us as we find that life is not coming through."

"Devise your plan. It will be thwarted." - God

"We had it all, but we threw it away. By mistrusting God's heart, by reaching to take control of what we wanted, Adam and Eve set in motion a process in our hearts, a desperate grasping that can be described only as addiction."

"Every day we reenact the Fall as we turn in our desire to the very things that will destroy us."

"...we are desperate for life, and we come to believe that we must arrange for it as best we can, or no one will."

"It can't be done. By this I remember that I can't arrange for the life I prize. I am not fully healed yet of my addictions and my tendency - which seems so second nature - to arrange for my own little Eden now. To say again and again, 'It can't be done,' does not discourage me; quite the contrary, it frees my heart from the grasping and plotting and fretting over my life, which always accompany arranging. It reminds me to let it go."

"How easy it is to slip back into thinking that it's now or never; that if it's not here, it's not at all. The life I prize is coming."

"And thinking of life as a journey reminds me to stop trying to set up camp and call it home."

Libraries

While I am not a huge library patron, I do like to visit the library occasionally to get some books to read as well as check out the DVDs they have available. I have been using Booksfree for a while, which is a book rental service, similar to Netflix, only for books. You pay a monthly fee and get a set number of books at a time (various levels of membership exist) and you keep them as long as you like and return them in the postage-paid mailer when you're done. It's been a great resource to get a large selection of books. But sometimes I still use the library to get books that either aren't available through Booksfree or to keep my Booksfree list from getting too long :-).

We recently moved to a different city in the same metro area and after getting my address updated on my driver's license, I stopped by the library in my new town in order to get a library card. This library is fantastic! For one thing, it's huge! Three stories - first level is kids, 2nd level is fiction/movies/music, and 3rd level is non-fiction. I was in awe at the size and quite excited at the large selection of books and movies available. They have a much larger DVD selection than the library at my last town, and there are a ton more books available as well. I could have had a library card at this library all along, as it's still part of the same metro area. I didn't know that it was so great! Now I live less than 3 miles from it! I may be taking more advantage of my local library. :-)

Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult

Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I kept waiting for Picoult's trademark blindside ending but this one actually didn't end that way. As usual, the story was well-written, compelling you into the characters' lives and emotions. This was an excellent book about hidden secrets and lives not always appearing as they seem.

Without giving too much away, Cassie, an anthropologist, meets Alex, a movie star and they fall madly in love with each other. Their lives seem to be perfect and they are made for each other. Yet the lack of privacy of a movie star's life is portrayed in the book and Cassie finds herself in the spotlight that she is not used to. Alex's troubled past comes back to cause problems though to the public eye, their marriage is seen as storybook.

I enjoyed this book - it drew me in and made the characters come to life, even that of a famous movie star, who is after all, just a person like the rest of us.

The Opposite of Me

The Opposite of Me by Sarah Pekkanen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book wasn't even on my radar of awareness but was handed to me by a friend. And I found it quite charming. Life seems to be going splendidly for Lindsey when things start toppling badly and she is forced to face her past. Always in competition with her fraternal twin sister, Lindsey once again finds herself back home, trying to appear as if all is well in her life when in reality it is falling apart.

I enjoyed this story of finding yourself, making choices and learning more about others by going through difficult times together. Though in the chick lit genre, it wasn't all romance and roses through the book. Reality brutally showed up and made its presence known.

When the TBR pile gets out of control

So I've been fairly pleased with keeping my To-Be-Read pile/list more or less under control and actually making progress in it going down in number instead of up. Then last week at our small group, one of the members brought several boxes of books that they had cleaned out of their house. I was pushing people aside in my race toward the boxes. :-) Anybody else ever do that? Well, not literally, I was polite (I think).

My husband was not overly thrilled that we left that night with a bag full of books. And I had just gotten our bookshelves organized too. Ooops!

Anger & Stress Management God's Way by Wayne Mack

Anger & Stress Management God's Way by Wayne MacK

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Ok book - I've read so many books on anger management at this point that they tend to blend together. Some good strategies for handling anger properly and also stress management. I think the best part of the book for me was the reminder of looking at why I have gotten angry - what "right" do I feel has been violated? We often view our lives as having certain "rights" such as "the right to be taken seriously", "the right to have things go my way", or "the right to be listened to". Often our anger is a result of having our "rights" be disregarded.

Challenges Continuing for 2011

I wasn't sure if I would be up for hosting these challenges again in 2011 but have decided that since these are genres that I read frequently anyway, I would continue to host them.

The ever-popular Medical Mystery Madness will be back!












There will be 2 levels this time.
Level 1 - "Dip your foot into medical thrillers" - read 4-6 medical mysteries/suspense/thrillers

Level 2 - "Old hat, I read this all the time" - read 8-10 medical mysteries/suspense/thrillers

A sign-up post will go up sometime in December. Both levels are for the entire year January 1-December 31, 2011.


Chick Lit Challenge -















Read at least 8 books of the chick lit variety. What qualifies for chick lit? Books like Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic series, Red Ink Press books, authors like Jane Green or Whitney Lyles, etc. These are the mostly fluff, fun-to-read, brain candy type of books.

Sign-up post will go up sometime in December. This challenge is also an all-year challenge - January 1 - December 31, 2011.


This year was the first year I hosted the Christian Non-Fiction Challenge. As this is 1 of my favorite types of books to read, I decided to do this challenge again.










The challenge is to read at least 10 Christian non-fiction books during the year (January 1-December 31, 2011). I am challenging myself to 12 - 1 for each month. Sign-up post will be put up in December.

Hope you will join me in these challenges if these are books you also enjoy reading. Look for the sign-up posts coming next month!

Bookshelves

My favorite part of unpacking and settling in was getting the bookshelves arranged. Most of the bookshelves are now in the "office" or 2nd bedroom. I was able to get them finished this weekend.