Ok, this is taking some nerve to post this here, but since I've committed to posting all the books I read this year, this one has to go here too.
I borrowed this from a friend of mine who knew my struggles of weight and the spiritual connections. It starts out pretty funny as she tells her story (and I can totally relate to most of them!) but then moves into a much serious tone as she digs deeper as to why the hurt feelings and low self confidence issues relate to the weight issue. I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped it would it first, but then again I'm always looking for the magic pill, magic plan, magic something. In the end, she reminds us of how God sees our body parts, not the way we see our body parts. Not flabby arms, but arms made for hugging all the children He gave her. Not big bellies, but a reflection of where children were carried. Not cottage cheese thighs, but legs that carry His love everywhere ..... always a good reminder.
The media feeds us distorted images of beauty and what an "ideal woman" should look like. In My Big Bottom Blessing,
author Teasi Cannon offers a way out of distorted body images and the
pain of self-rejection. She says, "My obsession with fat and failure
robbed me of a lot of the good in my life. I have been miraculously set
free from the lie that being thin equals being beautiful."
My Big Bottom Blessing offers
Teasi's story--and real-life solutions for the millions of women who
struggle with poor self-esteem and feelings of inadequacy and rejection.
Whatever it is that you despise most about yourself (it doesn't have
to be weight) can become the catalyst for serious life change. Teasi'
story proves that emotional pain can be healed and self-confidence found
from knowing that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes.
My Big Bottom Blessing is
a joyful, compassionate, and wise guide from someone who knows the
power of exchanging the way we look with a new way of seeing. (picture and description from amazon.com)
O:)
Melissa
Oh my cow, oh my cow, oh my cow!!! To save the life of me I could not put this down!!! It's been a while since I have read a book that I loved SO MUCH I wanted to read it in 3 days, but this was one of them. Returned me to my love of reading!!! I mean, a book that starts with "I can't marry you.." has got to grab your attention.
I loved The Wedding Dress by her and when we picked this one out for Book Club this month, I was anxious to start it, even though I wanted to plug through some of those other 572 books sitting on my bedside. So I did, but this one was worth the wait!!!
I can't even pick out which part was my favorite, because I loved them all .... 10 stars on a 5 star scale!!
Once Upon a Prince, the first novel in the Royal Wedding series by
best-selling author Rachel Hauck, treats you to a modern-day fairy tale.
Susanna Truitt never dreamed of a great romance or being treated like a
princess---just to marry the man she has loved for twelve years. But
life isn't going according to plan. When her
high-school-sweetheart-turned-Marine-officer breaks up instead of
proposing, Susanna scrambles to rebuild her life. The last thing Prince
Nathaniel expects to find on his American holiday to St. Simons Island
is the queen of his heart. A prince has duties, and his family's tense
political situation has chosen his bride for him. When Prince Nathaniel
comes to Susanna's aid under the fabled Lover's Oak, he is blindsided by
love. Their lives are worlds apart. He's a royal prince. She's an
ordinary girl. But everything changes when Susanna receives an
invitation to Nathaniel's coronation. It's the ultimate choice: His
kingdom or her heart? God's will or their own? 'This is classic romance
at its very best.' ---DEBBIE MACOMBER '[A] surprisingly believable
royal-meets-commoner love story. With only a subtle nod to Cinderella,
this modern and engaging tale follows the budding relationship of an
American Southern girl and a pseudo-Brit prince . . . Hauck fans will
find a gem of a tale.' ---Publishers Weekly STARRED REVIEW for Once Upon
a Prince (picture and description from amazon.com)
Well here I am at book #20. Let's see, doing the math it took me about 6 months to read 20, so maybe I will read 40, unless I pump up the numbers with shorter and quicker books, like say picture books or something!! :)
Andy Andrews is an author I have come to love with his slow and easy going writing that sounds more like he is telling you the story right in the very room, not that you are reading the words off a page. He has an amazing life story in which he overcame many obstacles as a young man and learned lessons through the hard times.
This book is a way he weaves the lessons he learned into a fiction setting, that is really non fiction but you don't realize it. Two things jumped out at me about this book:
1. I am a goldfish and Roger is a dog. (You have to read the book!)
2. A story within the story ~
'Five seagulls are sitting on a dock. One of them decides to fly away. How many seagulls are left?'
'Well.....four.'
'No,' Jones responded. 'There are are still five. Deciding to fly away and actually flying away are two very different things. Listen carefully to me. Despite popular belief to the contrary, there is absolutely no power in intention. The seagull may intend to fly away, may decide to do so, may talk with the other seagulls about how wonderful it is to fly, but until the seagull flaps his wings and takes to the air, he is still on the dock.' (p.111)
This book I HIGHLY recommend, along with pretty much anything he has ever written!!!
Orange Beach, Alabama, is a simple town filled with simple people.
But like all humans on the planet, the good folks of Orange Beach have
their share of problems—marriages teetering on the brink of divorce,
young adults giving up on life, business people on the verge of
bankruptcy, as well as the many other obstacles that life seems to dish
out to the masses.
Fortunately, when things look the darkest, a
mysterious man named Jones has a miraculous way of showing up. An
elderly man with white hair, of indiscriminate age and race, wearing
blue jeans, a white T-shirt and leather flip flops carrying a battered
old suitcase, Jones is a unique soul. Communicating what he calls “a
little perspective,” he explains that he has been given a gift of
noticing things that others miss. “Your time on this earth is a gift to
be used wisely,” he says. “Don’t squander your words or your thoughts.
Consider even the simplest action you take, for your lives matter
beyond measure…and they matter forever.”
Jones speaks to that part in everyone that is yearning to understand why things happen and what we can do about it. (picture and description from amazon.com.)
As a reminder, these posts that I am doing are completely and only my shallow opinion (I flunked English Lit 3x in college, folks, don't expect too much here!). Please do not use these as a guide for yourself as to whether to read a certain book or not, and please do not use this to judge me.
This book has been on my list to read for a while. I was excited to find it on sale at my dear BAM! a few months back and finally worked my way down to it. It is listed as a Woman of Faith Fiction book and since I had a few in my library at church already, I am always on the hunt to "fill in my holes".
I must say I was a little disappointed in this. Again, I guess I was looking for fun and summery, maybe a little sassy, but this book ended up being more serious than I imagined. And again, I guess maybe my rose colored glasses still jade my view of what is proper and appropriate and acceptable before the Lord. In this book there is a lot of social drinking, which may be ok for some, but our family feels it is wrong. Also, there were many deep and heavy secrets that I felt weighed the book down for me. I have decided against putting it in the library and instead left it at the cabin we vacationed at last week for someone else to enjoy.
Welcome to Jasper, South Carolina. A place where Southern hospitality
thrives. Where social occasions are done right. And where, for
generations, the four most upstanding ladies of this community ensure
that the daughters of Jasper are married in the proper manner.
Friends
from school days, "the gals" have long pooled their silver, china, and
know-how to pull off beautiful events. They're a force of nature, a
well-oiled machine. But the wedding machine's gears start to stick
during the summer their own daughters line up to tie the knot. In the
lowcountry heat and humidity, tempers flare, old secrets leak out . . .
and both love and gardenias bloom in unlikely places. (picture and description from amazon.com)
This book is the one we chose for our June Book Club and I must say I was a little disappointed in it. Usually for the summer books we try to choose something light and fun and maybe a little beachy so this one seemed to fit the bill. But either I didn't fully read the back summary, or was taken in by the cover (yes, even after all these years I confess I still judge a book by it's cover!) but it just really seemed to drag and drag and I thought I would scream my head off if the girl did not just spill the beans!!
But, that is me looking at this through my rose colored glasses and my goody two shoes life. If I have learned anything through Book Club most people in this world have not lived my life. Most people HAVE had trouble with affairs, cheating boyfriends, prodigal children, abusive parents, abortions, stepfamily issues, drugs, sex out of marriage, alcohol, the list goes on and on. It takes me back to when I was in high school, probably a senior and we went to visit a local drug rehab place for teens. When we left they gave us a sheet with statistics about how many teens do this illegal thing, that immoral thing, etc and on the bus ride home everyone was saying, "Oh yeah, I fit in that category, that category" and were laughing about it. I could honestly say, at 17 or 18, I did not fit in any of those categories. At first I felt "bad" about it, not being able to "brag" about what all I had done, and I tried to find at least one, but there was nothing I had done. So I just kept my mouth shut. But it wasn't too long before I realized how lucky I really was. And so now, when I hear all these scary statistics about teens and high schoolers and think about my precious girls, maybe I won't be so scared. Yes, it COULD happen to my girls, but I just pray they will be the "other" 50%, the "other" 75%, whatever, and that they will think on whatever is true, whatever is noble to guide them on their journey.
Ok, wasn't expecting that little moment, but worth sharing nonetheless!
No matter where you are or how long until we can be together, I'll keep searching for you.-Tucker
Sabrina
never intended to fall in love with Tucker McCabe, the man she serves
coffee to every morning at a Nantucket cafe--especially since he's
unwittingly tied to a past she deeply regrets. But she's fallen hard,
though she's kept her feelings a secret.
When Tucker learns
Sabrina is the research assistant for a local mystery writer, he asks
Sabrina to help him with a little sleuthing of his own...locating an
elusive woman he's fallen for online.
If Sabrina accepts the job,
she'll spend her evenings in close proximity to a man who can never be
hers. If she turns him down, he'll hire someone else--and that would be a
disaster. Because if someone else sifts through all those letters and
finds out the truth, Tucker will discover her secret...
That the person he's trying to find is her. (picture and descriptions from http://www.amazon.com/)
