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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Good Reading...

I thought I'd throw out some recommendations of good reading I've had lately in case there is anyone else out there who loves to read as much as I do! Also, because this post is chock full o' links, I figured I'd better finally figure out how to embed a link! Aren't you so proud? I'm getting so big!

Books:
These I'll be really brief about--
Skellig, by David Almond --lovely, lovely, tale. Youth fiction, not fantasy or sci-fi, but more like mythical, lyrical.
The Various, by Steve Augarde--great adventurous fairy tale set in the modern English countryside. It's the first of three, and the next one, Celandine, is also great. I've got the third one on hold at the library!
The Princess and the Hound, by Mette Ivie Harrison. I really enjoyed this one and look forward to reading some of her others. Also youth fiction and fantasy. What can I say? It's my favorite genre!
The Unhealthy Truth, by Robyn O'Brien--interesting journey of a normal, run of the mill mom, who's kids come down with crazy food allergies, and all the stuff she learns about the food industry and the FDA while trying to figure out how to help her kids. Great reading, even if you don't have a kid with food allergies! I read this one a little while ago, but I've been recommending it to everyone, and I don't want you to think I'm not well-rounded in my reading!


Article:
Here is a very interesting article I picked up on msn.com the other day about how, basically, we might be killing our kids with knowledge. I'm one of those mom's who definitely believes in children having a childhood for as long as they can with as much unstructured play as they can, and I was, and still am, pretty appalled that they invented all-day kindergarten! Anyway, I guess in some parts of the country preschool is not enough of a push to get kids reading, etc, super early, but now there is a big boom in extra, professional, TUTORING, for preschoolers. Anyway, read if your interested in studies about education and the different ways that children learn!

Blogs:
This is a link to my friend Rosalyn's blog. She's just talking about a tough day of parenting, and yet I found it really uplifting and sweet and funny. Maybe it just feels good to commiserate!


I'm on a blog list called Mormon Mommy Blogs and they have a home blog with guest writers who write about different things pertaining to mormonness and mommyness and bloggyness. I really enjoy reading these guest posts as they are usually VERY beautifully written, and they take me into another person's world and experience. This particular post had me in tears as it was so beautiful, about a young woman's struggle with infertility. Not very long of a read, check it out!

And this recommendation is for an entire blog, not just one particular post. I recently discovered it because it had the same title as one I had been considering starting myself, but I'm not bitter that she already thought of the title first, because this blog is GREAT, and a total treasure. It's called Old School, and the author mainly writes posts on how to do useful things like sew up a tear in your kids jeans, or can turkey, or (my favorite) how to cook with dried beans. But this is all incidental, as while she is imparting all this wisdom clearly and succinctly (we're mom's; we don't have a lot of time!) she is also pretty darn HILARIOUS. You've got to check it out, you won't be sorry! This link is specifically to the funny bean post (actually about making split pea soup) but you should look around the rest of her blog!


Anyway, Happy Reading!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey! Thanks for the shoutout. And sorry about the epic fail with the "bean fear" link.

I love YA fantasy, and I've heard Mette speak a couple of times at writers' conferences. She's completely nice. I'm going to have to try your other recommendations.

Emily said...

I read that link about the girl with infertility and it also had me in tears, in fact, I'll let you know when they stop. Way too familiar and painful for me, even as I sit here feeling Elinor pressing against my poor bruised ribs.

Thanks for the link (I think! Haha)

lexihb said...

oooohhh thanks for those!

Lisa C said...

I'm gonna have to check out that article about education. I'm seriously considering unschooling, or at least homeschool but I don't like the public school system and I think it is very detrimental to our children. And I need to check out that blog. I need to learn a few things about being more self-sufficient.