3 Books I Read Last Week
Against All Grain — Multiple friends have mentioned this book to me and suggested I read it. Truthfully, I was disappointed in it. Most of the recipes were complicated and not really the kind of recipes we’d typically fix. I also have decided, that barring some physical issue, I actually feel a lot better when I eat some grains.
I don’t eat at all as much gluten as I used to, but I still enjoy rice and oats and a few other grains and don’t see myself giving them up anytime soon. However, if you have some physical issues where you can’t eat grains or don’t want to eat grains, this book would be a great resource for you.
Surprise at Yorktown (Imagination Station Book 15) — This is our 15th book in the series to read and I think Silas is now the one who really gets into these books, but the girls still enjoy having me read these aloud.
Chocolate-Covered Katie — So I know this wasn’t on my list for last week, but I just couldn’t help myself. I had to read through this book and dog-ear a bunch of pages! Here’s what I posted on Instagram the day I got it in the mail last week:
Squee!!! My Amazon order just arrived and I couldn’t be more excited! If you aren’t already following Chocolate-Covered Katie, you are seriously missing out. And her cookbook looks even *better* than her blog — which I didn’t think was possible!
In a pretty much unheard of move, none of the recipes in this cookbook have ever been posted on her blog and they all look a-maz-ing (yes, there are mouth-watering pictures of each and every one recipe… Which is another reason I’m in love with this cookbook!)
Sorry, y’all, I know I sound like a total groupie, but I just really love this girl and her recipes!
(Disclosure: I don’t know Katie and I bought the cookbook myself… Because I’m a CCK fan girl like that!)
After reading through the book, I realized that I do think there are 2 recipes in it that have been posted on her blog and they were the two most popular recipes from her blog, so I think they totally deserve to be in this wonderful book! Okay, I’ll stop swooning now… 🙂
6 Books I’m Hoping to Read/Finish This Week:
Lizzy & Jane — Not sure what I’ll think of this book & I can’t even remember if someone recommended it to me or not, but I decided to try something a little different for my fiction reading this week. Have any of you read this book?
The Cricket in Times Square — I’m excited to read this to the kids. We started the first chapter today and, so far, it seems like the kind of book we’re all going to love. We’ll see!
The Grain-Free Table — This book showed up in my mailbox as a gift from the author and it looks good. I’m looking forward to diving into it this week!
Long Walk to Freedom & Kaffir Boy — I didn’t get these finished before my South Africa trip — hoping to finish them soon!
The Anxiety Cure — As someone who struggles with anxiety during different seasons of life, I’m on a mission to learn more about it and what I can do to help prevent or minimize it. I read Sleep: It Does a Family Good by Archibald Hart two years ago and learned so much from it that I picked up this title to check it out, too.
From This Day Forward — I saw an article about this book on Ann Voskamp’s site and was intrigued so I picked up a copy.
What did you read this past week? Any must-read book recommendations?
I just finished Lizzy and Jane and enjoyed it. Her emphasis on healing relationships and being vulnerable are plots points I think you’d really enjoy. Personally, I liked Dear Mr. Knightley better. It really impacted the shy/reserved part of myself. Be sure and try that one! Now, I’m going to go check out Chocolate-Covered Katie!
Just a little heads up that Lizzy and Jane Kindle edition is only $.99 on Amazon right now 🙂
I love “Chocolate Covered Katie”. Reading your review makes me want to get the book now…
I am reading “Own Your Life” by Sally Clarkson This is a must read for every woman. As someone who is a people pleaser, I love hearing her stories on how to own your life.
A fun book for kids is “Roxaboxen” by Alice McLerran I just bought this book 2 weeks ago and have already read it so many times the kids have it memorized. They have turned the back yard into a rocks and box town… So fun watching kids use their imagination inspired from a book.
We LOVE Roxaboxen!!
I read “Cricket in Times Square” aloud to my girls last year, and I read all the silly voices. 🙂 They still ask me to sing like Harry Cat at least once a week!
I read Lizzy and Jane a couple of weeks ago and actually really liked it!
My mornings are less hectic thanks to Chocolate-Covered Katie and her yummy oatmeal cupcakes. I freeze a batch and hardboil some eggs on Sunday night. Then, I’m good to go all week with a breakfast to eat during my commute.
http://creatingmykaleidoscope.com/2014/12/20/keeping-it-simple-breakfast/
I just tried to read The Early to Rise Experience but I was really disappointed in it. I felt like in the entire first half of the book he was desperately trying to convince me that I hated my life because I don’t get up at the crack of dawn. I was expecting it to be a very motivating book but instead was very annoyed with it. I love my life regardless if I get up two hours before my kids or not 🙂
On my reading list is 1000 Gifts and The Fringe Hours!
We’ve read Cricket in Times Square three times, most recently just a month-ish ago, and have loved it each time. 🙂 Here are two books from my January book post that I really liked.
The Noticer: Sometimes, All a Person Needs is a Little Perspective, written by Andy Andrews
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory, written by Caitlin Doughty
I love Chocolate Covered Katie! I haven’t bought her cookbook yet, but I expect I will. I eat her chocolate peanut butter baked oatmeal for breakfast several times a week and I have tried and loved many other recipes! I love that her food appeals to non-vegans too 🙂
I read Lizzy and Jane and did enjoy it. I think maybe I liked Dear Mr. Knightley a little better (I have heard criticism that this is a new take on an older book, and that the original is better . I haven’t read it yet so I don’t know).
Currently, I am reading The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. She was a Dutch woman who spent several years during the German occupation of Holland in WWII hiding Jews in her house and arranging for more permanent hiding places outside the city. She and her sister ended up in a prison camp. It flows well to the point that sometimes I have to remind myself it is a true story!
I am also listening to the audiobook of Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist which I am also enjoying!
I’ve read The Hiding Place more times than I can remember, both in English and Spanish.
My parents were ministers and this was one of the books they had in the library. It was probably a bit too heavy for a kid to read, but I enjoyed it. I learned to read when I was 4 years old, so by the time I was 9-10, I had moved on to adult fiction and non-fiction.
I’ve continued to read it as an adult and the story is both heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. I am sure you’ll enjoy it.
I rarely read a book more than once, but I think I’ve read The Hiding Place at least three times, plus my mom read it out loud to us. I can’t wait until my kids are old enough for me to read it to them!
Can’t even tell you how much reading your kind words meant to me. Thank you!!
I just bought “Ghost Boy” which is the incredible true story of a South African man who emerged from 12 years in a coma. He is so inspiring!
http://thejewishlady.com/incredible-true-story-ghost-boy/
I read Lizzy and Jane and I enjoyed it. I didn’t come at it with the perspective of these characters were supposed to be an updated version of the Jane Austen character either. I read Katherine Raey’s other book as well and really enjoyed it. Lizzy and Jane left me wanting to move to a big city and go to culinary school 🙂 and also gave me a deeper insight to those receiving cancer treatments.
Yes, I agree. I didn’t approach Lizzy & Jane as a remake of P&P. More that these women have a strong connection to Jane Austen from their childhood and it impacts their adult lives.
I just finished The Fringe Hours and now I’m trying to decide my next book!
All The Light We Cannot See or Peace Like A River are my 2 choices.
I’m so glad someone else is not a big fan of recipes with lots of ingredients. I invariably miss one- usually an important one!- and end up thinking the effort wasn’t really worth it.
For February, I’m in the middle of It Starts With Food by Melissa and Dallas Hartwig. Also have a few others I’m reading this month:
http://usuallycharming.com/2015/02/what-im-reading-in-february/
I so hear you on that!!
I used to love trying recipes with a wide variety of ingredients but I realized over time that, for us, it ends up being wasteful. If you have to buy a certain type of flour for that one recipe, it sits in the pantry unused. Same with spices and many other ingredients. I’m trying to continue finding new recipes so we have variety but sticking with recipes that have a similar ingredient palette.
In regards to anxiety, have you read, “Overcoming Fear, Worry and Anxiety” by Elyse Fitzpatrick? I also struggle in this area and am reading this currently. So far I’m enjoying it and getting a lot out of it.
I haven’t! Thanks so much for the recommendation!
I read “Cricket in Times Square” to my children years ago – we loved it! If you enjoy it as much as we did, be sure to check out some of the sequels. We read “Tucker’s Countryside” and “Harry Cat’s Pet Puppy”.
And Chocolate-Covered Katie is great! I have made a few of her recipes and having a healthy breakfast with chocolate is a great way to start the day. 🙂
Thanks SO much for mentioning those sequels!
Check out this review of Lizzy and Jane…
http://thechristianmanifesto.com/archives/book-review/lizzy-jane
Thanks so much for sharing!
I recently read Lizzy and Jane and really enjoyed it! It was 50% off at Barnes and Noble which was the major reason I picked it up. Easy, fun read!
I just finished The Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline and really enjoyed it.
Just finished reading “Women of the Word” by Jen Wilkin and it was so fabulous! Challenging, thought-provoking—all while being pretty clear and concise!
Just picked this up at the library! One chapter in and very worthwhile so far!!!
I am currently reading: When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor….and Yourself, by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert and Love Does, by Bob Goff.
I love Against All Grain! We have loved so many of her recipes and I don’t find them too complicated. Some are different ingredients than I’m used to cooking, but not complicated. I’m interested in hearing what you think about The Grain Free Table. I enjoyed the layout and her blog, but I have a harder time getting her recipes to turn out. I read Opposite Of Spoiled this week and loved. An easy quick read with some practical advice. I found it motivating for parents who feel like they are saying no and going against the current.
You have to also remember I’m the person who usually won’t make a recipe if it has more than 8 ingredients and 3 steps. 😉 Glad you enjoyed Against All Grain. I’ve heard so many great reviews of it so I think I’m in the minority!
I forgot to mention, yes I read Lizzy and Jane as a book review for Blogging for Books, and I was a little disappointed it in. Lizzy as a chef? It’s a let down, as she was always one of my favorite characters in literature, and in this adaptation she seemed so dry. Just my two cents though! 🙂
I read everything…all the time, but one of the things I enjoy most is reading aloud to my kids. My oldest is 16 and he still says our read alouds are his favorite part of his school day ( we homeschool). This year we are reading aloud Joy Hakim’s A History of US series as part of our US History curriculum and we LOVE it. I think it is a must read for all homeschoolers, hope you can enjoy with your family sometime.
Thanks so much for the recommendation!
I am reading sharp objects this week! It is quite different than gone girl, but I still like it!
I finished “Notes From A Blue Bike” last week. It was like a peek into Tsh’s family and life that you don’t get on the blog. I liked it, as it was like having coffee with a new friend all afternoon and really getting to know them. This week I am reading “$10 Great Dates” a free kindle book that I think I got from your site a while back. IT IS SO GOOD. Has great ideas in it for inexpensive and fun dates, plus it has some thought provoking words in about what it takes to create and maintain a great marriage that I wasn’t expecting when I started reading it.
Been listening to Tsh podcast. Love it! Been very interested in reading her book!
We recently finished Chitty-chitty bang bang as a read aloud for ages 3-10 and it was a big kit!
Oh, we’ve never read that one before! Thanks for the suggestion!
I’m currently half way through my monthly blog book reading list, and thus far loved them all!
http://theladyprefers2save.com/?p=11180