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"There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage."
--Martin Luther

Tuesday 25 November 2014

Top Ten Tuesday: Winter TBR List

Well, I've been pretty lousy at blogging since going back to school, but I do want to get back on the bandwagon and now that the semester is almost over, maybe I'll get my act together and write some posts in advance.  (Hahahaha, that seems unlikely.)  Anyway, I'm linking up again with The Broke and the Bookish to discuss my winter to-read list.  This was a hard one.  I've kept up with reading during the semester, but have not been reading as quickly as usual.  On top of that, because I do a lot of reading on the crowded subway, I'm having to read books that are either short or on my Kindle because I nearly took out a few people while lugging around A Discovery of Witches during rush hour.  That said, winter includes Christmas break, so hopefully I'll spend a few blissful days getting lost in massive tones.  Here's my (short) list:

1.  Alexandra Kollontai's biography by Carol Porter:  I have always been fascinated by her and am on a bit of a Russia kick at present.

2.  Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness:  But I'll have to finish this before school starts to avoid the aforementioned subway issues.

3.  The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie:  Would you believe I've never read any of her books?  I grew up loving Poirot on PBS Mystery, so this should be a fun read.

4.  Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak:  A long-time desire, but this year I'll make it happen.

5.  We by Pavel Zamiatin:  Again with the Russian theme.  I started this once ten years ago, but my M.A. got in the way and I never finished.

6.  A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute.

7.  One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp:  A friend gave me this recently, and I really want to read it but I think it's one of those books that I need to read slowly with time to process, so I'm saving it for the holiday.  It's been a pretty hard year, and I need to focus more on the gifts God has given me rather on the things He has so far withheld.  Maybe this book will help.

Sadly, that's all she wrote.  I have a bunch of books that I'd like to read, but no formal list as I don't know how the winter will go in terms of busy-ness. 

Thursday 6 November 2014

Please help out a friend!

I seem to blog only about two things these days: Books and infertility... but not books about infertility.  Maybe I should start that at some point.  Anyhow, I digress.

This isn't a post about my infertility, but it's related.  Today my friend Kristen made a Go Fund Me account to help raise money for infertility treatments and/or adoption.  She's an awesome lady who inspires me with her faith and sense of humour throughout this difficult and stressful process.  If you happen to have some cash on hand that you feel like being generous with, or just want to forward her link to a friend, please feel free to check out her site http://www.gofundme.com/8zujdc.

How happy I will be when she's a mom!

If you're not interested, stick around and come back Tuesday for your regularly scheduled programming. :)

ETA:  Oh, hey, this was my 200th post!  Cool beans.

Tuesday 4 November 2014

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I'd Like to Re-Read

I've been on an unplanned hiatus from blogging lately as school has been super-busy, but this week's Top Ten Tuesday (as always, over at The Broke and the Bookish), was one I liked, so here goes.  We're posting on books we'd like to re-read.  I don't re-read a lot of books because there are so many new ones I'd like to read.  There are a few old favourites that I re-read somewhat regularly (as in, every few years, maybe), such as the Harry Potter series, Pride and Prejudice, and the Anne of Green Gables books, so I won't add those to my list.  Most of the ones on here are books that I read as a teenager and would like to read again from a different perspective. Here are some that I'd like to get around to one of these days:

1.  To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

2.  1984 by George Orwell

3.  The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood:  I re-read a bunch of Atwood last year, but I'd like to do some more.

4.  Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

5.  The Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers

6.  The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje:  I loooooved this book the first time around, but I was pretty young and I think I missed a lot.

7.  The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

8.  The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne:  I have strong memories of reading this when I was 14, around the time the awful Demi Moore movie came out.  For some reason, my local library only had the book in large print so I read it on the subway every day lugging this massive brick of a large-print book with me. Unfortunately, I don't remember a lot about the actual plot (besides the obvious).

....And that's all I can think of for now.