Books and DVD's I've Loved Recently

I've been meaning to write this for a L O N G time.......so long I may have forgotten what books and DVD's I meant to recommend.....LOL

The DVD's were originally suggested on Midday Connection, a Christan Radio Program produced by Moody Radio.  Surprisingly, many were available from my local public library :)

Local Hero
Lars and the Real Girl
Freedom Writers*
Rabbit Proof Fence*
Entertaining Angels
Life is Beautiful
Gospel of John
I Am David *
Songcatcher (recommended by a friend)
A Dry White season
All Good Things

A caveat......just because they were mentioned on Christian radio does not mean there is not an occasional cuss word etc..... it means that the over riding message is thought provoking.

Now for Books:
The Butterfly's Daughter*
Unbroken by Lauren Hilldebran
Mennonite in the Little Black Dress*
The Nineteenth Wife
Half the Church (NonFiction)
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls**
The Wedding Dress by Virginia Ellis*
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Gordon**
One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus **
The Room by Emma Donoghue **
In the Company of Others by Jan Karon***
Romancing Miss Bronte by Juliet Gael**
The Well and the Mine by  Gin Phillips**
In the Woods by Tana French **
Cutting for Stone by A. Verghese***

My library will keep a reading record, if you request it, so I just printed it out to help me remember the books and authors I have loved over the last 6 months. (It also helps me if I am not sure if I have read a book or not :)

I hope you have a readingful summer!!!

The Five Days or so Of Christmas

 These are the Girls of Christmas minus two who appear below. (L-R) Nana, Hannah, Caitlin and Niki

                                                  Granny (Age 94) and Ashli age (mmm not sure)

                  In the back the bigget Flocker of all with some small, medium, and extra large Flockers.
                  Otherwise known as Gates and Connor in front of Wayne and Marty....PopPop in the rear.

               The Beach Bums came off the beach for this pic.  We all taught together at Plainview.
                         Marcia Anderson, Sandy Traylor Lindsey, Me and Lesa Polson.

                            This was my holiday sewing project finished Christmas morning.

We did have SNOW Christmas night and it stuck around about 24 hours.  It is in the low twenties today but scheduled to get to 70 on Friday.... and that is what I love about the South :)

Our Monck's Corner Monkeys will be coming in Thursday to celebrate Christmas and New Years.  In the meantime I've been reading some good books that I stored up to read while the library is closed.

First up is Pat Conroy's My Reading Life.  I love Pat's writing.  In this book he tells about books that made a significant difference in his life.  Many I had read but not all.  Now I have a "to read" list.  These are heavyweight classics like Robert Ruark's The Old Man and The Boy, Wallace Stegner's Big Rock Candy Mountian and eight more.  I will keep you posted as I read them and let you know what I thought.

Yesterday I read Fannie Flagg's I Still Dream About You.  It was an enjoyable lightweight read.

I'm starting Peter Jenkin's Across China which I picked up at the library book sale.  I've read a couple others he wrote and liked them and thought this would be informative.

I will end with some quotes from Pat Conroy's Reading Life:

"the world of books was a sacred grove to him."         "I came as a thief to the poet's ball."

".....as though he were picking up a live jellyfish from a tidal pool."  "Hurt is a great teacher...maybe the

greatest of all."       "...as friendly as a cow turd on an altar step."  "She was quiet at a houseplant."

"Fame can be a killing thing."

And finally...."When I (Pat) pick up a book the prayer that rises out of me is change me utterly so I am not the man who first selected it.  Turn me into something else writers of the world."

Wow!  Are there books that have changed  YOU?  Tell me about them.