Archive for the 'Book Review' Category

A book addiction

Posted by Sunny Daydreame on Mar 19 2008 | Book Review

I crawled into bed at 2:37 a.m. and did my best not to wake Brenton up. He grunted a half-awake, “good morning” in my direction.

“Brenton, I’m afraid I have a book problem,” I confessed to him quietly.

My bedtime didn’t start at 2:30 a.m. Actually it started at about 10 p.m. as we wound down the day, turned off the lights, and Brenton promptly fell asleep. I on the other hand, was wide awake. After tossing and turning in bed for an hour, I decide to sneak out to the couch and read a bit.

The book I picked up to start was Indian Creek Chronicles: A Winter Alone in the Wilderness by Pete Fromm. It’s a wilderness adventure tale written by a man who spent an Idaho winter living in a canvas tent courtesy of the Idaho Fish and Game department.

Four hours later, I closed the cover on the last page of the book and forced myself to crawl back into bed. My head was swimming with visions of living in a tent in the Idaho wilderness.

We might do it too if I could just figure out the logistics of Brenton showering for work and getting power for my laptop computer. Brenton says they have showers at work (or at the gym), and a solar panel would do quite nicely to power my laptop. Hmmm…

But I digress.

“They” always say the first step to overcoming a problem is admitting that you have one, but what if I don’t want to overcome the problem? I guess I’ll worry about that later, I have a book calling me now.

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Book Review: The Spirit of Loveliness

Posted by Sunny Daydreame on Feb 29 2008 | Book Review

Yesterday, I read one of the most pleasant books that I have read in a long time. The Spirit of Loveliness: Bringing Beauty, Creativity, and Order to Your Life by Emilie Barnes is inspiring and calming at the same time. The author encourages readers to create beauty without being condemning or judgemental.

Right now, our 3 room apartment (kitchen/livingroom, bedroom, and bathroom) is barely functional. When we moved in here, I had to give up beautiful for “just getting by.” Life here is no tea party, but it can be beautiful.

cuppa tea party by windy angelsEven better, there are no “set rules” for beauty in Emilie Barnes book. Home is about sharing your life with others and creating a safe refuge from the world. For Emilie Barnes, that means tea cups and lace; for you it may mean pottery and mosaics. For me, its warm blankets, sunshine, my favorite book, and a pottery mug of something hot to drink.

For the most part, I get hung up on not living in my dream house with my dream life. The goal is to take bits and pieces of that dream and turn it into a reality, in my (your) own home. Today.

I have a notebook of ideas that I gleaned from reading this book. Check back next week to read about my inspiration from The Spirit of Loveliness.

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photos (in order of appearance) windy angels CC-BY-SA

Popularity: 26% [?]

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48 Days to the Work You Love

Posted by Sunny Daydreame on May 21 2007 | Book Review, Personal Development

I’ve been reading the book 48 Days to the Work You Love by Dan Miller. I picked it up because it was recommended by Dave Ramsey. If you are feeling like you lost your dreams or are floundering with the question, “What am I going to do when I grow up?” (regardless of your age), this is a great book for you. Reading this book (which is written from a Christian perspecetive) has helped me to pinpoint after searching for 2 years what it was about camp that I loved so much. Now that I know that, I have a better understanding of what it is that God created me to do. I don’t have “skin” on my calling yet. I can’t define it as a particular job, but at least I know what it looks like now. I haven’t finished this book yet, but I already highly recommend it.It would make a GREAT graduation gift.

If you do buy it, please click through this link to help support this blog.

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A Wolverine Is Eating My Leg

Posted by Sunny Daydreame on Apr 25 2007 | Book Review

A Wolverine Is Eating My Leg

By: Tim Cahill

Publisher: Vintage Departures

Have you ever lived in a gorilla research camp? watched a full solar eclipse in a snow covered field? Dove (or is it dived) for poison sea snakes? Hiked from the lowest point in the US (in death Valley) to the highest point? Tim Cahill has and in his book, A Wolverine is Eating My Leg, you will feel like you have been there.

I picked up this book from the library because I was wanting to read some travel writing. I dream of being a travel writer. What could be a better life than getting paid to go on worldwide adventures and then writing about it? Tim Cahill lives the life I dream of. All of those crazy things that I dreamed about doing as a kid but my mom wouldn’t let me, he has done.

The thing that strikes me the most about his writing style is that he is irreverent without being crass, and he travel writes without over philosophizing. The book is arranged in a series of short essays divided up by the type of adventure: Jungle, scuba, caving, etc. I think my favorite essay was the fish story about his adventures fishing for northern pike. The last sentence is, “This is a true fish story.” What does that mean? Does that mean it’s a true story or that it’s a true fish story and everybody knows fishermen are liars?

Whether Tim Cahill is writing a bunch of fish tales or not, this book is a thoroughly enjoyable read. He has done a bit of everything and lived to tell about it. Read it yourself and see.

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Books on my Short List To Read

Posted by Sunny Daydreame on Apr 06 2007 | Book Review

Thirteen books on my short-list to read:

  1. North of The Narrows: men and women of the upper preist lake country, IDaho by Claude & Catherine Simpson
  2. Pocket Girdles and other confessionsof a Northwest Farm Girl by Marianne Love
  3. Becoming a WOman of Prayer by Cynthia Heald
  4. The Writer’s Digest Handbook of Novel Writing
  5. A Wolverine Is Eating My Leg by Tim Cahill
  6. 48 Days to the Work You Love By Dan Miller
  7. Roadless Area by Paul Brooks
  8. Hypnotic Writing by Joe Vitale
  9. Pass The Butterworks by Tim Cahill
  10. The ArmChair Travler
  11. Hold THe ENlightenment: More travel, Less Bliss by Tim Cahill
  12. The Best American Travel Writing
  13. Bad Trips: A sometimes terrifying, sometimes hilarious collection of writing on the perils of the road

and that’s just my short list!

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LIST: Books to buy in the future

Posted by Sunny Daydreame on Dec 07 2005 | Book Review, Personal Development

(with links to Amazon)

God Moments By: Alan Wright
Persuasion By: Jane Austen
The Chronicles of Narnia By: C.S. Lewis
The Hidden Art of Homemaking By: Edith Schaeffer

This is by no means a complete list. I am just limited by time. This list will be updated.

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Oh Brother Where Art Thou

Posted by Sunny Daydreame on May 18 2003 | Book Review


Done with doing time, Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney) busts loose from the Mississippi jail. The only problem is that he is still chained to the ill-tempered Pete (John Turturro) and clueless Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson). With nothing to leave behind, the three set out to recover a 1.3 million dollar loot buried by Ulysses Everett McGill. Time is running out, though because the loot is buried in a valley that is about to be at the bottom of a lake. The adventure leads them through backwater Mississippi populated with characters such as a blind prophet, sexy sirens, and a one-eyed Bible salesman. When the oddesy ends, the true treasure isn’t buried underground after all.

This is one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. My favorite character is definitely Delmar. I have a dog who would be a Delmar if he was a human. Delmar is just happy to be alive.

Blind Seer: You seek a great fortune, you three who are now in chains. You will find a fortune, though it will not be the one you seek. But first… first you must travel a long and difficult road, a road fraught with peril. Mm-hmm. You shall see thangs, wonderful to tell. You shall see a… a cow… on the roof of a cotton house, ha. And, oh, so many startlements. I cannot tell you how long this road shall be, but fear not the obstacles in your path, for fate has vouchsafed your reward. Though the road may wind, yea, your hearts grow weary, still shall ye follow them, even unto your salvation

Pete: Wait a minute. Who elected you leader of this outfit?
Ulysses Everett McGill: Well Pete, I figured it should be the one with the capacity for abstract thought. But if that ain’t the consensus view, then hell, let’s put it to a vote.
Pete: Suits me. I’m voting for yours truly.
Ulysses Everett McGill: Well I’m voting for yours truly too.
[Everett and Pete look at Delmar for the deciding vote.]
Delmar O’Donnell: Okay… I’m with you fellas.

Pete: Well I’ll be a sonofabitch. Delmar’s been saved.
Delmar O’Donnell: Well that’s it, boys. I’ve been redeemed. The preacher’s done warshed away all my sins and transgressions. It’s the straight and narrow from here on out, and heaven everlasting’s my reward.
Ulysses Everett McGill: Delmar, what are you talking about? We’ve got bigger fish to fry.
Delmar O’Donnell: The preacher says all my sins is warshed away, including that Piggly Wiggly I knocked over in Yazoo.
Ulysses Everett McGill: I thought you said you was innocent of those charges?
Delmar O’Donnell: Well I was lyin’. And the preacher says that that sin’s been warshed away too. Neither God nor man’s got nothin’ on me now. C’mon in boys, the water is fine.

My point in bringing him up in this post is to talk about judging people. If you say that someone is bad company then someone else will throw up in your face, “do not judge…” The Bible gives us clear guidelines by which to evaluate a person with, “By thier fruits you shall know them.” But we as Christians, are preaching do not judge in the name of tolerance!

Delmar is a totally non-judgmental person. I love the part when They get in the car with George Nelson and Delmar says, “What line of work are you in, George?” as George is hanging out of the car door shooting at cops. If we all walked around like that, we would all look as clueless as Delmar.

Matthew 7:1 says “do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Later in the chapter. vs 16 it says, “By their fruity you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

It is not our place to judge a person’s heart. But we are given a list of good fruits and bad fruits. We are told repeatedly in proverbs to avoid bad company. “bad company corrupts good character.”

Does not judging mean that we walk around with our eyes closed? When we see someone murdering someone we say, “do not judge!” Surely Christians are not that dumb. God does not want blind followers. He wants us to reach out to a hurting world. He doesn’t want us to keep saying, “Do not judge” just because we don’t want to deal with hurting people.

Do I have my fair share of problems? Oh yeah! I know that I’m not perfect. I know that there are a lot of things that I need to be called out on, and frankly I know that I need to work on a lot of things. But that doesn’t mean that I should look at a person and close my eyes simply because I don’t want to deal with their problems. Open your heart, Open your arms, don’t be afraid to help someone deal with their sin.

it is not my place to judge your heart. But I can see your fruits, and I can reach out to you on that basis.

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