Happy New Year 2011

It's a new year. I've spent the evening updating my reading logs & blogs. I fell short of my goal of 144 books in 2010, but read a respectable 48 books, exactly 1/3 of 144. I have been reading the Old Testament since June, so in order to make 48 books, I counted Psalms as a book. I have read 29 of the 39 books of the OT & The Book of Mormon with 15 books in it, for a total of 90 books. Instead, I counted The Book of Mormon as one book & will count the Old Testament as one book in 2011 when I finish it. But Psalms is oft-times published as a separate book.

I am shooting for 50 books in 2011. I already have 13 books on my 2011-reads shelf at Goodreads. Of those 13, there are 7 I am carrying over from 2010. They are:

1. The Old Testament
2. Old Testament: 1 Kings-Malachi Student Manual (Religion 302)
3. The Help by Kathryn Stockett (this is borrowed & I need to hurry & finish it)
4. The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey 
5. Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morganstern
6. Agent Bishop by Mike McPheters (this is borrowed & I need to hurry & finish it)
7. Crewel World by Monica Ferris (1st in a series)

C.S. Lewis quote

I found this quote on a Patricia Wiles signature on a message board & liked it so well, I snagged it.

"Those of us who are blamed when old for reading childish books were blamed when children for reading books too old for us."

~ C. S. Lewis

Not only snagged it, but added it to the main page of this blog. I'm not sure I like the way it is presented, but I LOVE the quote. It is sooo true.

I remember when Don-Mike was in 2nd grade, he was reading Where the Red Fern Grows by himself because the teacher wasn't reading it fast enough for him. The teacher was reading it out loud to the class. They were so surprised when he showed up in class with his very own copy of the book.

Let's Talk About It updates

The Let's Talk About It series is only EIGHT weeks this year. We have two lectures a week apart, instead of the standard two weeks. I guess I'd better start reading NOW!

For Christmas, Don gave me a gift certificate for any book I wanted to order. So, I went to Amazon & found a NEW copy of The Final Farewell by Patricia Wiles & ordered it. It shipped yesterday, the same day I ordered it!! The library has the first 3 books, but not the last one. I think, after I've read it & read it to Mother, I'll donate it to the library so they'll have a complete set.

I added Patricia Wiles' web site to my list of reading blogs.

Let's Talk About It - 2011

"Our Earth, Our Ethics" is the title of the 2011 Let's Talk About It program at the Larsen-Sant Library. There are 5 books to read in a 10 week period. I got my bag of books today. My bag is #11. Does that mean I am the 11th person to sign up? The first book in the series is Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, a Pulitzer Prize winner. Too late to count for Part 4 of The Four Month Reading Challenge though. Except that was a Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction & Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is a non-fiction winner.


► Pilgrim at Tinker Creek 1/12/11
► Who Owns the West? 1/26/11
► The Solace of Open Spaces 2/9/11
► Desert Solitaire 2/16/11
► Prodigal Summer 3/2/11

I should be able to count all 5 of these towards The Four Month Reading Challenge, Part 5 though.

Studying the scriptures online

Last night I couldn't sleep, mainly because I had been so exhausted I'd taken a nap. I had planned to read, but couldn't get to my book. So, I drifted off to sleep & got up about 11 p.m. to read my scriptures. I went back to bed at 2 a.m., & laid there for what seemed like hours. I was cold & couldn't get warm. I debated about whether to get up again or just lay there. I laid there & wrote a talk in my head. The next thing I knew it was morning & glorious sunshine was bathing the world in it's light. We've had fog for so long that I just lay there & looked at my tiny slice of the outside world, blue sky & bright sunlight. The window is so small, only about 3 feet x 3 feet.

The talk I wrote in my head was about studying the scriptures online. I actually thought this through as I lay there wide awake. I have 4 windows open on the computer when I study the scriptures, which would mean I would have to have at least 3, maybe 4 books, plus table space to put them, PLUS somewhere to store them when I am not studying. As it is, I have one computer & 4-6 windows open. Instead of picking up the books & searching for the page & where the author wants me to look, I move the mouse to what I'm wondering about & with the click of a button, the answer is there. When I am finished, I save my work, turn off the computer & I'm done.