Book Review

If you haven't noticed on my sidebar, I read a lot of books. A lot. In fact I prefer to read in my bits of spare time than almost any other activity. If I am not reading a book, I feel like something is missing. I am also fairly picky with what books merit 4 and 5 stars. There are a lot of enjoyable books that I have read, but there has to be something more in order to get my highest recommendation. I don't really have a specific recipe, but I just know.

I think the next few months I will post some of my absolute favorites that I have read the past several years.

Best Stand Alone Book




1. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - This is truly one of the best books I have ever read. I don't even know where to start it is so good on so many levels. It is about a girl, Liesel, in Nazi Germany who steals books in order to learn how to read. This book isn't your standard read about the horrors of concentration camps in WWII. It is about:

an iron-fisted woman - the smell of friendship - the gates of thievery - way of the words - peace - champagne and accordians - a final kiss on poisoned cheeks - a promise keeper - and a frightened boy with frozen legs

What on earth have I written? Well that leads me to my next point. I think the best way I can describe Zusak's writing style is heavy-handed and well...different. Some may describe his writing style as "over the top." I think given the subject and events of the book, it fits well. You will have to read the book to see what on earth I am talking about and why I wrote it that way.

Zusak does an excellent job of hammering into your head what he is saying, and he does so using "Death" as the narrator for the story who is compassionate, frank and has a witty sense of humor all his own. For example:


A SMALL PIECE OF TRUTH
I do not carry a sickle or scythe.
I only wear a hooded black robe when it's cold.
And I don't have those skull-like facial features you seem to enjoy pinning on me from a distance. You want to know what I truly look like? I'll help you out. Find yourself a mirror while I continue.


Not only does Death use plenty of foreshadow in the book, he also describes events and circumstances using words and phrases that you wouldn't normally use. And why is it that knowing what is going to happen and bracing yourself for the impact rarely helps when the storm finally breaks? Good writing, I tell ya. See, that is part of the recipe.

A few examples of his descriptive writing:


Her teeth were like a soccer crowd, crammed in.

The sky was like soup, boiling and stirring. In some places, it was burned. There were black crumbs, and pepper, streaked across the redness.

A bathrobe answered the door. Inside it, a woman!


His character development is also superb. Your initial judgement of some when you meet them will slowly change over the course of the book, while others you love from the first introduction. If I could summarize this book I would say it is full of love and hope. This book is emotionally draining, but worth every tear you will shed. Because you will cry. That I promise.

Now I must stop writing about it or I will either 1) start bawling or 2) start reading it again.

ps If you ever read any of my recommendations I would love to know what you think about them!

pps As far as content goes, there are German swear words, written in German throughout the book. There are a few American swear words as well.

Call me Crazy...

but I think my planters would look a lot better if I didn't have help from #4.

The other day I noticed that some of my planters looked a little bare. I clearly remember putting in more flowers than what is there now.

A few days later I went out to water what was left only to find a handful of them on the ground actively dying before my eyes.

Please. Leave my poor plants alone.

Making Some Sweet Moolah

The past two weeks the house next to ours has been in the Parade of Homes. I talked to Taylor about setting up a cookie stand and selling cookies to all the Parade goers. Since he wants me to register him for a fancy, expensive soccer team he was gung ho on making some money. Good thing too, because I told him he had to pay for half of the registration fee which is no small amount for an 11 year old to earn.

So we have baked batch after batch after batch of chocolate chips cookies. I lost count a long time ago. Last Saturday was the last day and we baked around 115 cookies for the day and sold every one of them.





We also figured out what sells well and what does not. Bottled water and lemonade were popular. Soda sold a little bit, but less than what I expected. I had the not-so brilliant idea to sell cartons of milk with the cookies. I mean who doesn't like milk with cookies? Not popular at all.

After I took out the cost of goods, he made plenty of money for his soccer registration and then some!



(blurry iphone pictures brought to you by Bennett)

Our Fence

A few days ago we had our fence installed. Foolishly thinking that now I would have slightly more control over where Chase is, I happily sent him outside to play in the sandbox. I went to check on him a few minutes later and he was nowhere to be seen.

Where on earth did he go? He can't open the gates, I know that. I went around to the front of the house looking for him and found him playing on the opposite side of the fence. I asked him how he got out of the backyard. He responded in his 3 year old gibberish saying something about the hole under the fence. That little stink. We will be plugging that hole and any others immediately.

I will prevail

Someone is running out of shoes. I wonder where they could be? A garbage bag perhaps?

The Bag

The other day I sat down with my kids and explained that I was tired of them leaving their stuff all over the house. I told them the next day I was going to start collecting their stuff that I find laying around and put it all in a garbage bag. At the end of the day they would have to buy back the items from me with the money they have earned from their jobs at the cost of .25 an item.

They were all on board, each thinking that they rarely leave stuff around. It is the other brothers, of course who can't put their stuff away. I'm pretty confident what I had told them left their heads before they were out of the room.

Imagine their amazement when I gathered them all together the next evening and showed them the bulging bag of stuff. Their eyes just about popped out of their heads.

One by one I started pulling items out of the bag. At first their jaws dropped in disbelief. Every boy had a load of stuff I had collected. I could tell some of them were deciding if they should argue their case to me. Those that tried were shot down before they finished their first sentence.

After the disbelief period, to my amusement I began to see worried looks on their faces as they began counting in their heads and on their fingers the amount of money they now owed me. The dreams of buying boxes of Legos and buckets of candy were slowly disappearing. I just sat there and smirked.

This is what I found

3 pairs of flip flops
1 pair of shoes
2 pairs of socks
2 Wii remotes
2 Wii nun chucks
PlayStation 2
Playstation 2 remotes
hat
jacket
Soccer gloves
2 piano books
2 piano bags
popcorn bowl
remains of a microwave popcorn bag

After I distributed the stuff out, I looked at them and said. "Let this be a warning to you. Tomorrow I won't be so nice." The worried looks suddenly disappeared as they scampered off to put their stuff away.

We will see how day 2 goes. And trust me, the niceness is gone.

fathers and sons

Last weekend was the annual father and son overnight camp out. As I was getting them ready to go, I told the boys to get pajamas and a change of clothes (which includes socks and underwear)and put them on my bed. Really, that wasn't too long of a list right? Not one of them could remember everything.

Taylor pulled out a pair of wet pajama bottoms from the washer. He forgot the pajama top. And seriously, is it really a good idea to wear wet pajamas to bed, especially if you have no top?

Bennett forgot the majority of the list. The only thing he remembered was a pair of socks, underwear and his pajama top. I guess between him and Taylor they have a complete set for bed.

Owen almost had it all. He just forgot the socks. He did have to take his pile of clothes that he dumped by the garage door into my bedroom. I know what he was thinking "Well, we will be going in the car which is in the garage, so I guess I'll dump my clothes as close to the car as possible." I will give him credit though. He got his clothes before I told him where they needed to go.

Oh and Chasey. Well he wasn't invited. As much as I begged Scott, he told me that the rules state the son must be potty trained in order to go. Sure they do...

Me thinks it will be a long time until I can trust the boys to pack their own stuff.

Really? This came out of my mouth?

Don't gnaw on the cheese.

Don't pee under the tramp.

Don't take your clothes off during sacrament meeting.

Don't rifle through the sacrament tray looking for the biggest piece.

Don't eat the dog food.

Don't drink out of the dog's water bowl.

Did you wash your bottom? Do it again.

Don't use your fork to clean under your fingernails.

People don't want to smell you.

Don't eat rocks.

If you have to use both your hands to try and stuff your food in your mouth you need to start taking smaller bites. And you need to slow down.

Did you color on the dog?

Don't put that in your mouth. Do you know how many people have touched that?

Let's not spit on each other.

When you pray you need to be right-side up.

No, I don't want you to pee on me.

I don't want to see your bum or your feet up here where our food is.

Throwing rocks at the neighbor's windshield is a bad idea.

** and the 2 most recent....Don't lick his feet.

You can't use that cup after toilet water has dripped into it.