Ending the year with a new book...

I'm off to a conference for the weekend, and I'm bring Three Cups of Tea with me, so I guess this is just me officially saying that I'm starting the book! I intended to do it earlier but just never did.

Hope your Christmas was merry and bright!

Let's try that again...

That's right, it's 10:30 Saturday night and I am...blogging! Yay! My latest life mission is to not think about things for quite as long and to actually do them instead. I'm not entirely successful, but I've been making progress. So when I suddenly had the thought just now that I should make an entry on the blog, well, that's what I decided to do.

So first things first, I am proposing two new "rules" to the ABC. 1) The discussion on any book remains open indefinitely. If you think of something to add about a book that was read months and months ago, then blog about it! 2) Any member of the book club can invite a trusted friend to join in.

Let me know what you think of these proposed rules.

Second things second, Jess and I have been discussing getting things going again with a new book. She has been interested in reading Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, and my mom read it (before it was on everybody's "must-read" lists) and recommends it. So I think that's what we are going to go with. I'm going to go find my mom's copy, and in the next couple of days, I'll get started with it. Excited for a new discussion!

Off to find the book and invite a dear friend to join us...

Page 156 and 180

Just one quick thing... I'm so jealous of her certainty! I mean, her previous marital experience is definitely one to influence her decision, but come one, she doesn't even hesitate... i want that!

Edit: I just read this, "She made it sound so simple that he found himself convinced that it would work. That was the wonderful thing about confidence - it was infectious." So maybe i need to surround myself with some confident people!

Simplicity

I remember that my dad would talk about visiting relatives in the south during the summer when he was little and he always mentioned how slow everything was. People talked slowly, they walked slowly, they really took their time because that was the culture AND it was a 1000 degrees. It's been pretty warm here lately and I keep remembering those stories, trying to force myself to slow down. It's actually been a nice thing to look forward to since Seth is in Colorado. Instead of dreading alone time i'm trying to savor it but doing fun things and taking my time to slow down and appreciate each thing that I'm doing. I have also noticed this theme while reading this book. I feel that there is a certain use of language that portrays this slow pace in their lives, the intentionality in everything they say and do. With so many other mystery novels i feel this sense of urgency to keep reading. The plot twists and rapid thoughts of the characters create this rushed feeling as though you are there in the moment with them. I can't wait to turn the page and find out what happens so much that I often find myself skimming passages to get to the point. I love that, but this is a whole new experience for me. While i find myself wanting to know what's going to happen and I definitely keep turning the page wanted to read more, I'm really reading every word and I have been forcing myself to slow my pace to go along with the book. In fact I try not to read too much at once so that i have a chance to let it soak in. As I do this I realize how much I love reading, becoming a part of the story. So there it is... the theme that i keep coming back to. I hope you have a moment to stop, breathe and take it slow.

Big picture thoughts - p.15 is referenced

First of all, I’ve faced my first challenge of being in a book club. It is not reading the book. It is not thinking of things to say about the book. No, the problem is keeping myself from skipping ahead. Jess knows that one of my habits when reading a book is to read the ending. Usually, I read into the book until I get really engrossed, and then I just have to know how it all turns out. This is especially bad with mysteries (such as this one). People think that reading ahead spoils the book. But I actually have a whole theory worked out about this. I see it as a metaphor for life. I like that I have an assurance of what will happen at the end of my life. I’ve been able to read that last page and so I feel that I can more enjoy the story along the way. And so it is that I like reading the ending of a book, because then I can more enjoy the story along the way – I know that everything works out (or doesn’t).

All that being said, as the real mystery in the story starts to develop, I’ve had the urge to skip ahead. How does it turn out? But I’ve held off. Being part of a book club, I feel that I have a commitment to you fine ladies, and so I will resist the urge.

Other thoughts on the book/reading: I have a tendency and I wonder if it’s a human trait. I look for things in a book that I can relate to or that might apply to me. Beth Moore talked about this sort of idea in her Daniel Bible study – we do Bible study expecting to find things that apply to our lives, which is good, but sometimes the study needs to be less about ourselves and more just learning about God. That’s a poor summary of her sentiment but you get the idea. Anyway, I catch myself while reading looking for things that I can apply to my life. For example, on pg. 15 it says, “His life was unrecorded; who is there to write down the lives of ordinary people?” That is one of the things I’m passionate about. I love the idea of telling the stories of ordinary people. “Ordinary” people live extraordinary lives, but our focus is always on famous people or on people who have drawn a lot of attention to themselves for one reason or another.

I have more thoughts on the book so far, but this is getting rather long. Maybe later. Thanks for reading.

No. 1 LDA pg. 8

Okay, i'm not that far yet, BUT i really like what i've read. I love the voice of the character... the way she tells the stories. Tonight i'm planning to dig in and was inspired by the first page to drink some african red bush tea whilst reading. Also, i'm hoping to finish a little something that i'll post a picture of that was also inspiration for the book club logo and something else inspired by the south african theme of our first book.

Hope you're enjoying the book so far!

My first time blogging!

Hey Girls! 

This is my very first time to post on a blog! I am so excited! Hooray! 

Glad to hear you got your book Jess...Amy just let us know when you are ready to start! I can't wait. (Jess- I tried the link and it worked! Good job!) 

OK, I like the rules so far. But, I am not sure what my rule should be... I will have to think about it. Jess- is your rule going to be that we have to put the page number at the top of our blog or are you going to chose something else? I thought that was a good idea! I think we should post as we go along and not just wait until the end. I like your rule too Amy!

That's all for now!

Book No. 1

I got my book! I'm still thinking of my rule, wondering if we might be posting during the reading process... would it be good to start a post with the title and page number that you're on so that if someone hasn't read that far yet, you know not to read the post yet? Let me know what you think. And i think i got the link to work on the image so that you can actually "look inside!" like it says!

Let's get it started...

I am no genius when it comes to blog postings, I'll admit it right off the bat. I tried to figure out how to make a pretty post with the cover of our first book but....oh well. Maybe I'll get better - it will be part of the growing experience.

Through the great determination of Jess, we are starting with Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency for our awesome book club.

And I thought we should take inspiration from another book, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, for the rules of our book club. The inspiration being that we each come up with (at least) one rule for the book club. Make them fun, make them realistic, make them awesome.

My first contribution:
1. You must post at least once about each book we read - even if it's only a sentence.

I'll let you know when I have the book ready to read!