pate life: reading

Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

3 in 3 Challenge

I came across the 3 in 3 Challenge over at Desiring Virtue recently, and decided to join in. Its very simple, you just read 3 books in 3 months. She has chosen one on theology, one on christian living, and one as a biography. The first book is "Name above all Names" and so far is awesome!

Want to join???

All you need to do is read the book, and at the end of the month head over to desiring virtue to discuss. Easy peasey.

I needed something to help push me to read something other than a parenting book ;-) haha! Yay for Fall reading. Something about Fall always makes me want to curl up with a ~~book~~ my iphone kindle app and some hot chocolate (might be too early for that considering it was high 90s today!).

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Fall Into Reading List 2010- finally

So I am a few days late on this, mainly because a sickness has attacked my head and throat and chest and I just didnt have a clear enough head to type. Better late than never, right? Without further ado....

My Fall Into Reading List

for 2010

This Fall I am doing it a little differently. I have a list of 12 books I would like to read overall, and my goal is to read 6 of them by the end of the challenge.

Big Truths for Young Hearts by Bruce Ware
Radical by David Platt
The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis
The DNA of Relationships by Gary Smalley
Women Leaving the Workplace by Larry Burkett (I am not leaving the workplace- just looks like an interesting book and has lots of stewardship tips within it)
Stuff Christians Like by Jonathan Acuff
Engaging Parents as Allies by Wayne Rice
Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne
The One Minute Organizer by Donna Smallin
Mudhouse Sabbath by Lauren Winner
Getting Things Done by David Allen
7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey (I have read half and never finished!)

What will you be reading this fall??

**If you want to join in and have a blog, go to Callapidder Days and link to your post. If you dont have a blog, leave your list in the comments and I will check in with you to see how you are doing. Dont we all need a little encouragement to get our eyes off the tv and into a book??

Monday, September 6, 2010

Guess what time it is??

It's time for the Fall into Reading challenge over at Callapidder Days! For those of you who are newer to Patelife, "FIR" is a reading challenge I participated in last year. It is very low key; there are not very many rules. Basically it is just a way to motivate yourself to read some books you have been meaning to get around to but just havent yet. I will post the rules and how-to's below.

It is crazy for me to think that at this time last year I was still unemployed (its only been a year?). This year went sooo quick, but I feel like last fall was a million years ago. I am very ready for Fall- ready for the brisk weather, hot chocolate, leaves, lite jackets, hayrides and bonfires. I have done a horrid job of reading this summer, so I need something to push me to read more than just blogs! Here is how you join in, I hope many of you do!

To participate, here’s what you need to do:

Create a list of some books you’d like to read or finish this fall. This is the only real requirement for participating in the challenge.

Feel free to set some additional reading goals (such as reading to your kids two hours per week, getting through your pile of magazines, etc.). However, this is not required; setting additional goals is completely optional.

Write a blog post that includes the list of books you want to read (and any additional goals you’ve set), and get ready to post it on your blog on September 22nd.

Visit Callapidder Days on September 22nd to sign up for the challenge. I’ll have an official launch post up that morning, complete with an area for you to submit a link to your personal Fall Into Reading post, where it will be added to the master list of participants.

Read! Work on your goals throughout Fall 2010.

Report your results. Write another blog post in December to let everyone know how you did. (I’ll post an official wrap-up to the challenge on December 21st, where you’ll be able to share your results.)

Have fun! Visit other participants to see what they’re reading. Write reviews if you’re so inclined. But most of all, enjoy your fall reading!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Are you up for the challenge?

As I was catching up on the Bookin it in 2010 challenge, Jessica at Life as Mom shared about a challenge she was doing to read the bible in 90 days.... 90 DAYS. Thats basically three months. The entire bible in three months. Wow!

A year or two ago I read the bible in a year with my college church home, and that was a great exeperience. We read it chronologically, which was really helpful to piece things together. But a year is a long time... 365 days to be exact. And I am not sure about you, but I struggle to remember things I read a year ago.

So I stumbled upon this challenge of reading the bible in 90 days and thought, what a good way to get the full picture without forgeting half of it bc it's been so long.

Maybe I am crazy but I decided to go for it.... and I am hoping some of you will come along for the ride. I know I will need someone to keep me going around day 13, so I welcome some accountability! You can find the Reading plan here, and so far the reading is taking me 30-45 minutes total (some of which I have done all at once and some of which I did throughout the day).

What do you say, anybody up for the challenge??

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Several Book Reviews...

I have several books I have been meaning to summarize on here, but I just can't seem to find alot of time to blog these days. So here's my thoughts on a couple of recent reads:

Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham Jr.

This was such an interesting read. I loved what he taught on the importance of parents taking responsibility for their children's discipleship. He brought up great points about how today we expect "experts" at church to handle this, just like our children's teachers and sports coaches, but this is not the biblical mandate parents get from the Lord. As someone who is in ministry at a church, I fully agree with him about the dangers of this. He focuses heavily on the importance of having a family worship time daily or weekly, and I think that is awesome. He believes in "Family Integrated Churches" which actually means churches that have no age segregated ministries. The families all worship together and learn together, no youth group or nursery etc. That was a new concept for me, and its one I am still processing through. But overall the book is great and I would recommend it to any Christian.

Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

A re-read for me, and I think its so funny because last time around I didn't really love this one that much but this time it became one of my favs! Weird. I love the sense of adventure in this one, and all the different stops on the way to "Aslan's country". It is wonderful.

Narnia: The Silver Chair

Last time around this one was a fav, and while I still think its great it was not nearly as good as the Voyage was. It fell flat to me this time around.

Narnia: The Last Battle

Still my favorite I do believe. As my youth and bible study girls know, I love to ponder and wonder on what the end will be like and the "new heavens and new earth". This is Lewis' version of doing that and he does not disappoint. I always get sooo mad at the Narnian's for so easily turning against Aslan, but how often I myself have done this! He describes the afterlife they go to as the "real version" of the place you always thought was real. That clicks with me. I cant wait! Read this one people! Plus, you get to see all the great characters from the other Narnia books.

The Magical Worlds of Narnia by David Colbert

So after finishing Narnia again, I just wanted more (imagine that- I have such a compulsive personality in some ways). So I wanted to read more about the imagery in the Narnia series. This book is not one I would read again. There were good parts, but mainly this guy just took what others had said and re-said it. Oh well.

What have you been reading??

Monday, May 17, 2010

Bookin' It in 2010-- May Update

Back in January, I decided to join FishMama in Booking It in 2010. I set my goal to read 2 books a month. In January I was successful, but not in February or March. So how did I do in April???

I completed 6 books in April! Amazing! That puts me right on track with the goal of 2 per month. Some of you may remember that last month I decided I needed to put aside the serious books I was trying to read and dive into some light reading. It seemed to work for me. I find that when I finish one book it makes me eager to "accomplish" finishing another one. And though none of the books I read last month were super deep or helpful books, I think they were good for me overall. Here are the links to my books reviews on each of the books I read last month:

Did you read anything in April???

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Redeeming Love... My Take On It!

My friend Melanie made me read this book recently, and boy am I glad she did! I do not know why, but I have always avoided this book in the past. I have heard great things about it since college, but I am not the biggest fiction reader and "Christian fiction" just sounded dumb to me. But I love Mel, so I trusted her and read it. Wow! Here's my take:

Things I Liked About the Book:

Everything!! Ha!
Its based on the book of Hosea in the bible. Fabulous.
What a great picture of the gospel for us! Sometimes seeing it lived out helps you grasp it better, and thats what this book does.
I loved the time period and setting. It made me want to live in a valley in the 1800s in a one room cabin. Such a simpler kind of life in many ways!
It was super captivating and easy to read.
Fabulous love story all around. Great love story between the two main characters and about God and us.

Things that Annoyed Me About the Book:

The beginning was kinda sad and depressing. You needed it for the story line, but it made me not want to keep going.
That I didnt have an entire day to sit and do nothing but read this book! It totally consumed my mind while I was reading it, which was because it was so good. But thats kinda distracting and annoying when you have lots of other things to be thinking about.

Overall, I love love love this book! I highly recommend it to everyone! Probably is equal to Narnia in my mind now, which is big. You have got to go read this book guys!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

sTori Telling... My take on it!

Did I mention I had been reading?? Haha! I have been reading like a crazy person lately, opening up a book every time I get a free moment. Last week I finished sTori Telling by Tori Spelling. I know, doesn't sound like my kind of book. For some strange reason I just really had a desire to read this book, and I actually enjoyed!

Things I Liked About the Book:

She writes in a way that makes you feel like you are just sitting at Starbucks listening to her life story. She is chatting with a friend, sharing her stories. It felt laid back and real. Surprising.
She has a good grasp or understanding on who she is and where she came from. She gets that she came from a very rich family, and she makes no qualms about it. But she also shows you how that has been a blessing and a curse.
She is funny.
I liked seeing how she had worked so hard. Even though her dad was a TV mogul, she has still never made it "Big Big" you know? And she has been determined to do it herself.
I loved 90210, so it was fun to hear about how the show developed etc.
Loved her sarcasm.

Things That Annoyed Me About the Book:

She completely cheated on her first husband with her now 2nd husband, and does not seem to think it was the wrong choice. I really hated how she talked about this part. I don't believe in divorce, unless there are dangerous circumstances. But I think she and Dean could have been honest with their spouses and left them before they started dating each other.
She spends a long time on certain parts of her past, but doesn't tell you much about Dean or her life now. I would have liked to hear more about that.
The flow could be confusing sometimes.

Overall, I would only recommend this book if you are a big fan of hers, like biographies, or are a curious mind like me. It is not the most fascinating book nor is it life changing. But it was pretty cool to see what her life has been like.

So speaking of Donna Martin... which 90210 character was your fav?? (And I am talking about actual 90210, not the new wannabe remake!) Mine was Brenda Walsh and then the asian chick in the later years...

Monday, April 26, 2010

Some Narnia... my take on it!

Recently I re-read The Magician's Nephew and A Horse and His Boy, books 1 & 3 in the Narnia series. I love Narnia!!! I really don't have anything negative to say about any of the Narnia series, I am seriously in love with the books. But here are a few thoughts on them as a whole.

They are so imaginative and magical, you get lost in the wonderful other world! Its a great way to relax and take your mind off things.
I love the way these books help you see the Gospel and the Lord in a new and fresh way. Aslan is the Christ character in the series, and He is amazing.
These books make me want to be a kid playing in the woods again. I want to go on an adventure.
The Magicians Nephew is Book 1, but was written last. It is pretty different than the rest I think, and I like it. I have always loved Genesis, something about the beginning of things fascinates me. I think this is why I love this book so much.
I skipped re-reading The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe because I have recently read it and seen the movie several times. Even though I love the movies, thats the bad part of them making these into movies, they become to familiar.
I had totally forgotten how wonderful A Horse and His Boy was. This book really focuses on how God is working in our lives, whether we can see it or not. He is faithful and He is guiding things along. Also its awesome to see His love and justness in this book. Read it people!!
These books are short and easy to read. I read A Horse and His Boy in 4 hours... and I am a slow reader.

Overall, I love Narnia and really recommend reading all of them. They are magical and well written and the characters are fabulous! I finished both of these books in one week. They are pretty addicting!

Have you read any of the Narnia series??

Sunday, April 18, 2010

The Last Song... my take on it!

So I went from barely picking up a book for like two months, to reading four books in two weeks! I guess I caught a reading bug... or I started picking up easy reads at least! Ha ha! I recently completed The Last Song by Nicolas Sparks. Some of my dear friends are coming for a visit soon, so Mel & I decided we should read Last Song and then go see the movie. I have read several Nicolas Sparks and have loved every one of them. I always get sucked in and cant put the book down... I think this is why I tend to not read fiction much.

What I liked about the book:

Loved the dad character. He never reacted to things, he was able to control himself and see past what was immediately happening to the bigger picture. I want to be like that!
Loved the setting! It was set on the east coast, maybe in North Carolina??
Loved the romance obviously.
I loved that he made Ronnie, the main character, a teenager who didn't drink, smoke, do drugs or have sex. Nice change from society's typical teenager.

What annoyed me about the book:

His books always make you think your life isnt romantic enough. This feeling goes away in a few minutes, but I just couldnt read these books all the time or I would really put unrealistic and unfair expectations on mr.pate.
It really made me want to be at the beach... really.
Because someone always dies in his books it was predictable.
The names Ronnie and Blaze (one of her friends)... I just didnt like them. Couldnt we have thought of something better?
It ends too early... I want to know the rest of their story!!!

Have any of you read Nicholas Sparks?? What do you think?? Anyone seen the movie?

Monday, April 12, 2010

The Jean Nidetch... My take on it

I've been reading again! In the last 2 weeks I have finished two books, and I am ready to share my thoughts with you! Up first, my thoughts on "The Jean Nidetch Story". Jean Nidetch was the founder of Weight Watchers, and up until my friend gave me the book I had no idea who she was!

Things I Liked About The Book:

She is very real about who she is and who she isn't. She shares her weaknesses and her strengths. She is unwilling to apologize for who she is and she knows what she wants in life. I found this fascinating.
It was so neat to see how WW started. Jean basically took the diet from an obesity clinic in NYC and invited some friends to do it too and come over and talk about it. From that came what is known as Weight Watchers today. Crazy.
She constantly talks about herself as a "fat person". She references the saying that inside of all of us is a skinny person trying to get out... she says instead that no matter how thin she becomes, there will always be a fat person inside her begging her to be fat. I think this is more true of me at least.
It was motivating. I have been doing WW again for about 6 1/2 months, and making this a "lifestyle change" instead of just a diet is difficult. I have lost quite a bit of weight for my small frame and there are days where I want to fool myself into thinking "ok now you are small again, you cant eat whatever you want whenever you want". But the truth is I cant. Jean lost like 70 something lbs by 1962 and never gained it back. Why? Because she continued to fight the battle, make good choices, and live the reality that she couldnt just eat whatever the heck she wanted. The simplicity of her understanding that concept and living it out was motivating.
It made me thankful for what WW is today! When it began there were no "points" and there was a very strict diet. You had to eat certain things and that was that. And there was a long list of "illegal" foods... Thank you for flex points!! Today on WW you can eat anything you want- as long as you "plan" for it.
She just felt like a grandma telling you scattered stories of her life. I loved that.

Things That Annoyed Me About the Book:

The scatteredness. Like I said above, it sounds like your grandma sat you on the porch and just started randomly telling you about her life. Things werent always in the best order and I am such a Type A person that it was hard to follow.
She comes across as pretty arrogant in the beginning of the book. She really isnt, and latter on you realize she is just trying to lay it all out there- the good bad and ugly. But still, I didnt think I was going to like her till about a third of the way through.
I wish it had gone more in detail about how the actual business expanded. She did talk about it some, and I guess its a book about her and not WW specifically, but thats what I was most interested in.
Towards the end there are some sad things shared about her life. These didnt annoy me, but they were sad!

So I highly recommend the book. I mean basically its the life story of a girl who had always been fat, became a housewife who secretly ate cookies in her bathroom at night, and then evolved into the founder of a strong and thriving international weight loss business. I just wonder if she sits in her apartment at her little retirement village and just thinks, "really??? i did this??!!"

Had any of you ever heard of her before?? Do you agree with her "fat person inside of me" saying? What's the hardest part of maintaining a healthy weight and body for you?? Dish it peps!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Bookin' It in 2010-- A Late Check In

Well, here is the deal. In January, I joined with FishMama to "Book It" in 2010. I committed to reading 2 books a month this year. I succeed my first month and by February I had completed 2 books. But since then my reading has practically been nonexistent! I have read a little of both of the books I am currently reading, but I just cant get going.

So what am I going to do? I need a kickstart. So I am going to put Real Sex aside for now, and read something lighter. I need the momentum that finishing a book quickly can give me. And I just need something that doesnt take lots of brain power! I have realized that I should not have began two intense books at once. So my priority is to continue in reading 7 Habits with Mr.Pate (we haven't done so hot lately) and pick up something fluffier for just me.

What was the last book you read? Was it any good?

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Getting in the Habit... #1

Mr. Pate and I are reading "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families" by Stephen Covey right now. It is sooo good guys! Anyhow, it is quite long and is full of great things so I have decided to start summarizing the things that stand out to me from each Habit to help me retain it all.

Habit 1: Be Proactive

The whole premise of this habit comes from a few sentences he read in some other book:

Between stimulus and response, there is a space.
In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response.
In our response lies out growth and our happiness.

Basically, we all have a choice in how we respond to everything and everyone in life. We can either REact to that person or thing (stimulus) or we can act, meaning we can choose how we will respond without being controlled by the circumstances. I think this is probably something most people in life struggle with, and I know I do big time! He uses the mental picture here of having a "pause button- something that enables us to stop between what happens to us and our response to it, and to choose our own response."

Covey says the ability to do this comes from developing the 4 unique human gifts that animals do not have: Self-awareness, conscience, imagination, independent will.

Self-awareness: the ability to step back from our life and observe it. We can observe our thoughts and we can choose to make changes also.
Conscience: Our moral or ethical sense or "inner voice". We can not only observe our life, we can evaluate it too.
Imagination: Our ability to envision something entirely different from our past experience. We can see a "better way" that life could be than what we are observing it as now.
Independent will: This is our power to take action.

These are what live in the space between what happens to us and how we respond. We have to learn to use these "gifts" more intentionally in order to become "response-able", able to respond to life instead of being controlled by it. (The book has lots more indepth info about this.)

He also teaches about the Circle of Influence and the Circle of Concern. The Circle of concern embraces everything in your life you may be concerned about. The Circle of Influence is a smaller circle within the Circle of Concern that embraces all the things you can actually do something about in life. We typically focus on the Circle of Concern, but this diminishes the influence we have in the Circle of Influence. So we need to learn to focus only on the smaller circle and it will influence the larger circle... see picture:

Next up is the Emotional Bank Account (EBA). It's a simple concept really, our relationships operate just like a checking account. We can choose to make deposits into the account, or we can make withdrawals. The deposits are positive investments in our relationships, like communicating, keeping promises, being honest, encouraging etc. The withdrawals are negative actions that hurt our relationship, like lying, being mean, not keeping promises, attacking, belittling etc. So just like your checking account, if you want your relationship to grow, you have to make more deposits than withdrawals.

The rest of the chapters gives examples of how we can do this, but basically you need to be aware(self aware actually haha) of each relationship's bank account. Make a special effort to go a whole day without making any withdrawals. And he stresses how when we do screw up (as we all will) that apologizing and accepting blame can be the biggest of all deposits for our EBA's.

Actions Steps for this Habit:

Begin trying to identify how you use the 4 gifts in each major family interaction. Think about the last time you reacted instead of acted and try to identify why this happened and how it could be different.
Spend some time identifying what your 2 circles are. List out all the things in your life you are concerned with, then list the things you have any control over. Try to focus this week on spending time only on these things.
Balance your EBA's. Do you have a positive or negative balance? Write down three things you can do this week to make a deposit in a relationship.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Booking It Check In

Well it's February people, which means there is one month down in my Booking It challenge at Life as Mom. You can see my reading goals for this year here.

So how am I doing?

Pretty good I guess. I completed two books in January, Treasuring God in Our Traditions and TrueFaced. But both of these things happened right at the start of January, so I feel like I havent made much progress since then. I have started two other books, but I just havent spent that much time reading.

Right now I am reading:

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families and Mr.Pate is actually reading it with me! Yay! It is really good, but man the chapters are long! I am reading this on with the SimpleMom Bookclub.

Real Sex. So far this is a really good book, she has alot of good perspectives. I need to be more diligent about reading this one consistently.

Have you read anything good this year?? Please share!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

27

27: Favorite books from my childhood

Thinking of these just makes me want to read each of them again!

What was your favorite book from childhood?

Friday, January 15, 2010

Treasuring God in Our Traditions... My take on it

I had originally hoped to finish this book before Christmas, but you know that just didnt happen. This book doesn't just talk about Christmas, but all traditions period. I sooo enjoyed it. Here are my thoughts:

Things I Liked About the Book:

She gives real examples! If you have read any of my other book reviews, then you should know that I need real tangible examples an most books don't deliver. But she did!
Very well organized and it flowed really well. One chapter built into the next easily.
I expected to feel like she was "super holy mom" and I would never live up- I mean she is John Piper's wife. (Have you ever read a John Piper book? Intense!) But I actually felt like she did a great job of just being a real mom who is trying to be intentional. I mean, she is still pretty intense and amazing, but not intimidating.
I loved reading about what having traditions actually teaches your children. Its a form of discipleship. I had never thought about how a tradition could reflect and teach about God's character- His faithfulness or His Joy etc.
The chapter on "Everyday and the Ultimate" which talks about our everyday traditions centered on worship and devotion of the Lord. Good stuff people!
There is just alot of wisdom, I wish I had the time to type out all of the stuff I highlighted.
It is super cute too, with little recipes and letters throughout it.

Things that annoyed me about this book:

I honestly just loved it. Usually I am pretty critical, but there wasn't anything that annoyed me.

So basically I think you should read it. And I think I am going to reread it before Christmas this year to get me pumped for the Holidays!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

I'm Booking It!

I have mentioned before how writing my 2009 book list helped me read more and exceed my reading goals. Well it is a new year, which means it is time for a new book list and new reading goals.

When I made my book list last year, I was unemployed and realized I needed something to challenge me to be intentional with that extra time. I have always loved the idea of reading, but most of the time I would pick the tv or internet over grabbing a book. After getting back in the habit of reading again, I don't think thats my need this year. And I ended up changing my list quite a bit because I just kept changing my mind on what I wanted to read. So many books and so little time!! Ha!

So this year I think I will take FishMama's advice and having broader goals. And I am going to go to her site once a month to check in and hold me accountable to reading in general.

So my goal for 2010 is to average 2 books a month for a total of 24 books (for those of you how are slow at math! ha!).

Here is my working list of the books I really want to read first:

Treasuring God in Our Traditions by Noel Piper Just finished last night! Review to come.
TrueFaced Almost finished with it. Going through it with our youth small group and I would highly suggest it!
Reread the complete Narnia series (7 total) Got the set for Christmas, thanks sis! Love this series, absolutely love it!
7 Habits of Highly Effective Families (SimpleMom book club) Mr.Pate read the first one and loved it, so we are going to read it together.
Getting Things Done By David Allen... I read a review on this system of organization and planning and was intrigued. We will see.
Letters from a Skeptic Gregory & Edward Boyd... My old boss read this and had great things to say about it. I think it will help me in the evangelism department.
Savage Inequalities Jonathan Kozol... Social Inequality was one of my favorite classes in college, and this was one book we referenced but I never got to read. I ran across it super cheap in Fargo last spring break and I am super excited to read it.
Practicing the Presence of God by Brother Lawerence... A classic I have always wanted to read but never followed through with.
John Adams by David McCullough... Seeing the real everyday part of historical figures really interests me, so I am going to try this one. Have you see it? It is huge!
Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham... I think family is hugely important and the major influencer in who we will be, and I think families have no idea how to put their faith at the center of their being instead of it being just one more extracurricular activity. I am excited to see what this one teaches.
sTori Telling by Tori Spelling... I don't know why.
From Clutter to Clarity by Nancy Twigg... Read a great review of this one on Lindsay's blog and was attracted to it. I am all about simple.
Real Sex by Lauren Winner... I heard her speak at IvyJungle a year or two ago, and something about her just made me want to listen to her more and more. Anyhow, I heard her talk on this subject and thought she had great points, so here we go.
Mudhouse Sabbath by Lauren Winner... She was Jewish and converted to Christianity, so in this book she explains Jewish traditions and why we should still practice them as Spiritual Disciplines.
Cleaving by Julie Powell... I read Julie & Julia last year and began a love/hate relationship with her. Now I feel like i just have to read this one too.

What are you reading? What do you want to read?

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Rekindled Love

This year I have fallen back in love with reading. When I was a kid I was a huge huge reader. I read every Nancy Drew book, every Judy Blume, every Encyclopedia Brown, every Babysitter's Club, and every Sweet Valley High (and middle school and unviersity etc). But as high school and college hit, my reading mainly focused on school related topics. Though I have read some in recent years, I just had a horrible habit of not ever finishing books.

So earlier this year I took the idea from Lindsey to make a Book List for the year. Actually thinking through, prioritizing, and identifying the books I really wanted to read instead of just reading whatever came my way has really helped me stay on track. And having a deadline of when I wanted them read by has motivated me to actually read.

Then I found the "Fall into Reading Challenge". It was at a great time to give me another boost to keep up the reading. And now here I am, in December of 2009, and I have read 14 books so far. I am almost done with 2 others. And I have enjoyed majority of them alot, learned quite a bit from several of them, and disliked just a few.

So the moral of this post? I wanted to give any of you who are wanting to read more (or do anything more for that matter) some steps to take towards making that a reality. These are the things that worked for me:

1. make a list, identifying want you want to read (or do)

2. prioritize that list

3. give yourself a timeline

4. tell someone, or lots of someones, so that you are held accountable

5. put it somewhere you will see it often

6. take the first step to do it

So what is it you really would like to do, for you? Reading is something that I enjoy, something I do simply for me. More often than not today, we fill up all of our time going going going and doing everything for everyone but us. Now I am not saying we should just live selfish lives, because a Christ focused life is a servant focused life. What I am saying is that we have to learn to love ourselves too. And as Biggest Loser always says, "we need to put ourselves back on the list". When we take some time to take care of ourselves, we guard against bitterness towards those we serve and emptiness or a lack of purpose, etc. So pick something that you will do for you today, and see if it blesses those around you. I know for me and mr.pate, this has been very true.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Christmas Week: Day 3... Hundred Dollar Holiday

Hundred Dollar Holiday- My Take On It

I heard about this book on another blog that was making recommendations of books to read this Christmas. This one immediately sparked my interest. What does this $100 holiday look like? I am totally in! The book was not what I expected, but overall I enjoyed it.

What I liked about the book:

It was short and well organized. There were only 3 chapters, so it was easy to know the overall point of each chapter you were reading.
It gives a detailed description of the history of how the Christmas celebration came to be and how it evolved into what we all know it as today.
You get a very honest look at what Christmas has become.
It was a good way to refocus during the holidays.
He emphasized homemade gifts and gifts of time, which I thought was a good reminder to get creative.

Things that annoyed me about the book:

I thought he would share more about how his family actually celebrates the holiday with only $100, the boundaries they have setup etc. But he didn't and I was disappointed! He basically ignored giving any detail of how they do this. I can see that he doesn't want it to be a "formula" that people follow so he didn't want to give a five step plan or anything. But some of an example would have been nice.
He gives way more info about the history than he does about celebrating the holiday for only $100. Maybe he should think about a name change?

I would recommend the book. I thought it was interesting overall and it was a neat perspective to read during the holidays.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Fall into Reading 2009: Wrap Up

Well, Christmas is almost here and that means Fall is a thing of the past. I joined in with Callapidder Days on the "Fall into Reading Challenge" this year, and I am here to share the outcome.

Did you finish reading all the books on your fall reading list? If not, why not?

I finished 6 on my original list, and 8 from my altered list (which I am hoping to make 9 this week). I did not finish "TrueFaced" because I am going through it with my youth on a week to week basis, "Treasuring God in our Traditions" because I am slow (but its almost done).

Did you stick to your original goals or did you change your list as you went along?

I changed the list because I just found that halfway through I just didnt have the desire to read some of the ones on my list anymore, or I just wanted to read some seasonal ones.

What was your favorite book that you read this fall? Least favorite? Why?

Either Life Together or The Giver! Life Together was just a really good spiritual challenge for me. And the Giver is just a great book and a great memory of childhood reading.

My least favorite was "Instructing a Child's Heart". It was boring and I dont like his writing style.

Did you discover a new author or genre this fall? Did you love them? Not love them?

I read Julie Powell for the first time and oddly enough liked her writing. So I am planning on reading her new book too.

Did you learn something new because of Fall Into Reading 2009 – something about reading, about yourself, or about a topic you read about?

I learned a ton! Since I read a wide assortment of books, I feel I grew in my personal walk with the Lord, in knowledge about parenting techniques, in learning the history of Christmas, etc.

What was your favorite thing about the challenge?

That I had a timeline and somewhere to check in at. This helped me stay motivated to read now instead of "later" (which usually turns into never).

Overall, I enjoyed the Challenge alot. I have been blessed by most of the books I have read and just really enjoyed reading again. Here is the final tally on the books I read and a link to my book review (if I did one).

1. Hundred Dollar Christmas - I saw this recommended on a blog recently and my curiosity was peaked. It is a short book about one families experiences during the holidays once they set a $100 budget. [Book review coming soon]

2. Treasuring our Traditions- I wanted to read this last year, but never got around to it. She talks about celebrating traditions as a family all year, and then also on the Holidays. [Hopefully finishing this right before Christmas]

3. The Fuel and the Flame- This is one of my favorite books! I am rereading it again with my dgroup this semester, and it is a great reminder to stay passionate about my Lord. [No book review]

4. TruFaced- Our high school youth small group is going through this right now, and boy is it amazing. Mr.Pate read this book in a counseling class at seminary and loved what it taught. This book focuses on living in community and dealing with sin. It teaches against putting on masks and hiding from God and each other, and it encourages learning to live in God's grace. It encourages knowing that we cant work on our sin and then come to God, instead we must just come as we are to God and work with Him on our sin. You will hear more later on this one, but so far i highly recommend it! [Still going thru it]

5.Julie & Julia by Julie Powell: This is the book that the recent movie Julie and Julia is based on. I have started it and can tell you it is way different than the movie and pretty crude at parts, but overall I am liking the point. [Book review found here]

6.The Duggars: 20 and Counting! by Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar:This is a book the Duggars wrote to share their family philosophies and everyday habits etc. I dont have cable, so I dont watch the show but I am intrigued. [Book Review found here]

7. Teach them Diligently by Lou Priolo: Saw this book on Lindsey at Passionate Homemaking's booklist and wanted to read it for myself. I think it will be helpful for when I have kids but also now with my sunday school class etc. [Book Review found here]

8. Instructing a Child's Heart by Tedd and Margy Tripp: mr.pate and I took a class based on one of Tripp's other books and loved it. So if the library can get it on interlibrary loan then this one is in. [Book Review found here]

9. Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer:currently reading this book and totally loving it! it is a hard read, but so worth it. anyone who really wants to improve in how they love the people around them, i would suggest this book! [Book review found here]

10. The Giver by Lois Lowry: My childhood favorite, I figured it was a good time to revisit it! [Book Review found here]

You can see how others did and what they enjoyed here.

Whewww... that was alot of hyperlinking action going on. I am going to go rest the fingers by watching some "Say Yes to the Dress Now!"