"The Sweet By and By" by Sara Evans and Rachel Hauck

I received The Sweet By and By through the Thomas Nelson Book Review Blogger programme. The story is about 29 year old Jade who is about to get married to the man of her dreams. It follows her in the run up to the wedding and her relationship with her semi-estranged mother through a combination of "present day" commentary and flash backs to relevant past events.

Although I didn't hate this book, it wasn't that great - indeed I only completed it because it is a requirement of the review programme to do so. I realise that it can take time sometimes to set the scene but more than half way through the book I was feeling bored and waiting for it to get to the point. Maybe they were trying to create suspense or something but it didn’t work for me.

I felt that a lot of the Christian bits in it seemed contrived almost as if someone had been deliberately trying to find every opportunity to put things in rather than them flowing into the story naturally.

When the story ended, I wasn't satisfied. The story was complete and it stopped at a natural point but it just all seemed to end a little too nicely especially considering what had gone before. It was just all a bit too syrupy for me. Perhaps if you like reading "chick-lit" you would enjoy it but it wasn't really for me and I would hesitate to recommend it.

Faith and Pop Culture by Christianity Today

I received this study guide through the Thomas Nelson Book review blogger program. Although it is designed to be used as a study guide for a small group, it is perfectly readable independently. I was very interested to see what it had to say about how Christians engage in popular culture. In addition to the obvious subjects such as films, TV and books, the book also looks at the Christian response to sport, entertainment, the place of violence in entertainment, our entertainment based culture and the place of Christians within the entertainment industry.

I found this book very useful and interesting as it challenged my views in a number of areas and made me think about certain issues I had not particularly thought through. Each section started with a question to address (e.g. "Must all entertainment Christians enjoy be "family friendly"?) followed by Bible references, an introduction to the issue and then an essay putting forth a particular Christian viewpoint.

After this there was a study to work through which led the reader (or small group) through the issue in a way which made them think about the issue with reference to the Bible without dictating answers. Although I did not always agree with the views which expressed, the clear aim was to help people look at issues from a Biblical perspective and it certainly helped me to do this and has made me more open minded about certain issues.

Although it is meant for a small group study I would certainly recommend it to anyone who wants to think through these issues from a Biblical perspective.

Fearless by Max Lucado

I received this book as part of the Thomas Nelson book review blogger programme. It takes the reader through fear and the positive/negative role it can have in your life and studies how the Bible (and in particular Jesus) speaks of fear and teaches us how to deal with it. The overall message is that if we trust in Jesus then we do not need to suffer through fear.

Initially I had low expectations but I was pleasantly surprised. After discussing what fear is and how fear is not always bad the author proceeds to deal with the main different fears people might have. These include failing God, failing our children, violence, money troubles, death and faith/assurance. The author does not simply say, "You need to trust in God." and leave it at that but works through various Bible passages. He also gives examples of how to deal with fears so rather than just saying, "Pray," he gives examples of what kind of things a person might pray for in different situations.

I particularly liked that the book was thoroughly immersed in the Bible which is an important feature in any Christian book. Even if you yourself (like me) do not tend to worry that much, I think it is still a useful book as it helps you to think about things more clearly and also gives you constructive ways to help if you are having discussions with someone else who does worry. I think my favourite part of the book was the end on the chapter about money where it says, "After all, it's just Monopoly money. It all goes back in the box when the game is over."

Pride and Prejudice

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I first came across Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen through the BBC serial adaptation in about 1995. At the time my opinion on it was rather low as I viewed it as a bunch of women who's only thought in life was snaring a good husband. My opinion did improve on reading the book but I still did not really appreciate and enjoy the love story in it until rereading it after I got married. I do think that having found a husband probably makes it easier to appreciate.

As with Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice contains a range of characters who do not always seem to suffer the consequences of their wrong actions. However the wrong actions are clearly indicated as such so this is not a problem. Reading it straight after Sense and Sensibility I did notice a number of similarities but this did not stop the book from being enjoyable and I would like to read Jane Austen's other works sometime. One thing which particularly struck me this time was that the pride and prejudice was not just on Mr Darcy's part but also on Elizabeth's part. I like the way that people's strengths and weaknesses are discussed and I can see that it is about much more than a bunch of women trying to ensnare husbands.

Having read this book, it is much better than I remembered and definitely one to keep.

"The Noticer" by Andy Andrews

I received this book as part of the Thomas Nelson book review blogger programme. The "Noticer" is a man named Jones (just Jones - not Mr Jones). He has the gift of noticing things which other people don't. He mysteriously appears and disappears in the small seaside town of Orange Beach, Alabama where he uses his gift to help people by enabling them to gain "perspective" on their apparently difficult situations.

I was a little confused by this book as I thought it was supposed to be fiction but the character who narrates the story seems to be the author. Regardless of whether it is pure fiction or not the main purpose of the book seems to be the message in it rather than the story. This is probably a good thing because the story is not really its strong point and at times when I was reading it I felt that the characters/plots were made up rather too conveniently to fit a particular point such that it was almost patronising

If one ignores the contrived nature of getting to the point, it is well worth reading for the wisdom and advice Jones imparts. I enjoyed some of Jones' talks so much that I read a number of them aloud to my husband.

Sense and Sensibility

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I was interested to reread Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen because I came out as Elinor Dashwood in a quiz I took ages ago. I would say that a distinguishing feature of Elinor's character is that unlike her sister Marianne who grieves publicly when she feels she has been wronged and wallows in self pity, Elinor is much more quiet about her suffering and only allows others to know of her suffering when necessary. She prefers not to have others know and discuss her affliction with her. In this respect I am probably quite similar as I tend to prefer not to tell other people about trials and difficulties until well after the fact so for instance when I was pregnant and admitted to hospital with hyperemesis gravidarum I was very upset that my husband had given our minister permission to announce it at the Bible Study as I would rather have kept it private. (He didn't realise I didn't want people to know and had even thought about what I would want made public before he gave permission.)

Anyway, back to the book:

Sense and Sensibility follows the fortunes of sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood following the death of their father. Although some characters who do wrong do not appear to suffer any ill consequences, the chief one does and those who have been wronged seem happy that although they appear materially worse off, in fact they are better off than those who wronged them. The book places a high value on good attributes (such as patience, forbearance, kindness and forgiveness) and disapproves of bad attributes (such as gossiping, materialism, dishonesty and unfaithfulness).

In addition to being a book which I consider suitable to read, it is also a book I enjoyed and I am definitely keeping it.

Far from the Madding Crowd

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Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy is a varied book. A lot of it is fairly bleak but overall it is much less so than Tess of the D'Urbervilles and it has a more or less happy ending.

There are two main characters who do wrong in the book. The first is Bathsheba Everdene who foolishly plays with Mr Boldwood's feelings and leads him on by sending him a Valentine with the words "Marry me" on it as a joke. It is portrayed as a foolish deed and something she lives to sorely regret illustrating clear consequences to wrong actions. The second is Sergeant Troy who behaves dishonourably towards more than one woman. He is portrayed throughout as a villain and his misdeeds are certainly punished in the end.

Overall I am quite happy to keep this book as it clearly distinguishes good/bad and right/wrong and has much discussion on the wisdom of various characters' actions. I particularly like that it shows the great folly in leading someone on in regard to your affections for them.

Shirley

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To me Shirley by Charlotte Brontë is a strange book. It seems to meander and wander monotonously around till reaching its conclusion with almost no plot. Despite this, I did find some interest in the book was in the historical context and character study. I would probably say that the character study in the book is a much greater strength than the plot.

Almost all of the characters in the book are portrayed as trying to be good with mainly the anonymous Luddite rioters being portrayed as bad although with some sympathy to the conditions which have driven them to such action. Even though most characters are "good" the book is by no means deficient in discussion of the flaws both in the personality and actions of various characters. Indeed the book spends a great deal of time moralising over the conduct and defects of the characters.

Although I would probably choose many other books to read before I chose this one, I think it is good in it's portrayal of characters and events and so I will keep it.

The Moonstone

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The Moonstone is the second book I own by Wilkie Collins and is in a similar style to the first. As with The Woman in White, I find I am completely captured by the story and follow all the twists and turns in wonder as to what will happen next. It is very cleverly put together and follows a similar form of narration in that it is narrated by a number of different characters.

Although most of the "good" characters live happily ever after, there is more tragedy in this than The Woman in White which I think makes it more realistic. Throughout the book there is a good deal of confusion as to who is good and who is bad and whether certain characters are doing what is right but eventually all becomes clear and those who have done wrong get their comeuppance.

The Moonstone and The Woman in White are cleverly constructed and are two of my favourite books so I may try and get hold of more books by Wilkie Collins after I have finished going through the books we already have.

Books, books, books

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I've suddenly realised how far behind I am at reviewing the books I've been reading. The last one I started writing about was Stand and Deliver which I finished in June (I still have a half written review sitting in my draft posts). I'm going to try to catch up but I'll probably do them as auto posts so that they are spread out rather than all at once.

In the mean time I thought I'd post this book meme I found at Buffy's Salon:

The list is from a survey done by the BBC in 2003. They asked everyone in Britain to nominate their favourite books and compiled a list of the top 100. Apparently the average adult has only read 6 of them.

In bold are books I have read.
In italics are books I intend to read.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen. I reread this quite recently so there's a review in the pipeline.
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman. At the time I didn't realise that it was deliberately anti-Church, anti-God and anti-Christianity - I wouldn't read it again)
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams. My head of year used to read random parts of this out in assemblies. They never made any sense and it kind of put me off a bit.
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling. I read the first four Harry Potter books in 2001 because my brother was really into them and I wanted to be able to have intelligent conversations about it with him. To be honest I didn't think they were that amazing and never bothered to read the rest. The only good thing I can say is that they got my brother reading (albeit only seven books in a continuous loop).
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee. I can't remember much about this but I did read it when my brother was studying it at school because we watched a film of it.
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne I have no idea why I never read Winnie the Pooh - we had the books on the shelf at home when I was growing up.
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell I'm not so keen on it now but when I first read it this along with Tess of the D'Urbervilles was one of my favourite books. I actually did a piece of GCSE coursework when I was 15 comparing them.
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë. This is one of my mum's favourite books.
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks. I have never heard of this book.
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame. Well technically I think I may not have read the whole thing as I found it incredibly boring.
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens. I read the first chapter of this when I was about 8 or 9. It seemed to be all about a boy called Pip Pip who was running through a graveyard so I stopped reading it. I eventually read it after watching a TV adaptation (probably by the BBC) when I was a student.
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres. I've seen the film but apparently they changed quite a bit.
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving. Not heard of this one either.
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson. I have read other books by Jacqueline Wilson and have seen Tracy Beaker on the TV. That is sufficient for me to know I do not want either me or any of my children to read any of her books.
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez. Not heard of this.
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett. Or this.
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson. This is on my bookshelf waiting to be read. I think I may possibly have read it years ago but I'm not sure.
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute. Not heard of this.
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen. I'll have to buy it first but I like the Jane Austen books I know so want to read this one too.
39. Dune, Frank Herbert Not heard of this.
40. Emma, Jane Austen. As Persuasion.
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery. I did get a bit bored earlier in the book by Anne's incessant monologues but if I remember correctly it did improve. I may try to get hold of the subsequent books but I want to finish reading all my current books first.
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell. I actually read this online in a couple of hours when I was a student. I have a friend who wouldn't consider reading 1984 because of how much he disliked Animal Farm so he e-mailed me a copy. It wasn't as bad as he made out but he had been shown a cartoon of it when he was about 7 which was quite traumatic and quite understandably put him off it.
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy. I have a review of this in the pipeline as I reread it last year.
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck. Not the most pleasant of books - I read it after watching the film with my brothers (who were studying it at school).
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth. Not heard of this.
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell. I did own this as a child but for some reason never read it (I would have unreasonable and arbitrary prejudices against certain books) but more recently I acquired a copy in a job lot of books and really enjoyed reading it.
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer. Not heard of this.
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman. Not heard of this.
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough. Not heard of this.
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton. I used to love reading all my Enid Blyton books again and again as a child.
67. The Magus, John Fowles. Not heard of this.
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding. I had to study this book for GCSE. It was a horrible book and whilst not wishing to offend anyone who likes it, I cannot understand why anyone would choose it as their favourite book.
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind. Not heard of this.
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell. Not heard of this.
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding. I saw the film of this - it did not give me any desire to read the book.
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt. Not heard of this.
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins. I really like this book.
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith.
83. Holes, Louis Sachar. Not heard of this.
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake. I was given this for Christmas one year but gave it to a charity shop as I didn't really like the sound of it.
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy. Not heard of this.
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons. Not heard of this.
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist. Not heard of this.
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac. Not heard of this.
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel. Not heard of this.
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho. Not heard of this.
95. Katherine, Anya Seton. Not heard of this.
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer.
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez. Not heard of this.
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot. I've seen the film of this and would not choose to read the book.
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

I am surprised that the average person has only read 6 as I have read 34 (and intend to read another 4) and 7 of them were in the course of my education.

If you do this book meme be sure to leave a link in the comments.

In the Footsteps of Paul by Ken Duncan

I received this gift book as part of the Thomas Nelson book review blogger programme. The book takes you through the life and journeys of Paul the Apostle. Each double page has a similar format of a Bible quote (usually from Acts), one or two beautiful pictures and then some relevant comment which gives you a bit more information. Sometimes the comments by the author are replaced with quotes by a variety of people including CH Spurgeon, CS Lewis, Phillip Yancey and Billy Graham.

Right from the introduction (which included the Gospel) to the final page I was very impressed by this book. Because it picked out relevant verses to show the journeys of Paul rather than including all of the events, I found it a useful overview of his life. The stunning pictures helped to bring the world he lived in to life. In particular I was surprised by how rich much of the countryside was as I had imagined it to be barren and desert-like. The comments and quotes greatly enriched the experience of this book as they helped me appreciate the great faith, dedication to evangelism, and sufferings of Paul and his contemporaries. This would be a good gift both for Christians and for non-Christians who are interested in the historical aspect of the Bible.

Works For Me Wednesday - Menstrual Cups

Please note - if you are a man you probably don't want to read this (and would have no need to anyway).

I found out about menstrual cups quite by accident on a review site. I can't remember what I had been looking for when I happened upon them but they sounded like a good idea for a number of reasons (which I will list later). I later came across them on a green moneysaving forum and decided to buy one. I bought the mooncup because this is the only one easily available in the UK (and is manufactured in the UK) however I believe in the US you can also get hold of the Diva Cup or the Keeper.

The most obvious benefit is that it saves a lot of money. My mooncup cost £20 and they last for 10 years which makes £2 per year whereas I would expect to spend at least £20 every year on disposable tampons and pads.

Another benefit is the reduction in waste/environmental impact. Over ten years the waste from all those tampons and pads would be massive compared with the mooncup. Lots of energy and materials will have been used to produce them and to transport them to the shops and you will have expended time and effort purchasing them. Once they are used, they then have to be disposed of and sit around filling up landfill sites. In comparison, the mooncup uses very little raw material and transportation and because you just empty it down the toilet and reuse it, it does not produce massive amounts of waste to sit around in landfill for years.

Those two benefits are the main reasons I chose to buy a mooncup however there are other benefits too:

• you don't have the hassle of buying more supplies all the time;
• you don't have a huge stash of sanitary protection taking up space;
• if you are out and it needs emptying, you don't have to try to discreetly take a replacement with you into the toilet;
• they need emptying less frequently than pads/tampons need changing;
• they do not dry you out or interfere with your natural secretions;
• no risk of TSS;
• duration of period tends to be shorter;
• can be put in in anticipation of a period.

They do take a little bit of getting used to at first both practically and psychologically but I think it is well worth it. They are not for everyone but it works for me.

Works For Me Wednesday - Bloglines

I used to find that even reading half a dozen blogs was very inefficient use of my time. This is because by the time I'd clicked through to each blog I read and waited for it to load up only to find that there weren't any new posts I had used up a lot of time effectively doing nothing.

I guess if every blogger posted at regular intervals this wouldn't be a problem but some people post multiple times a day whereas others may only post two or three times a month. Even those who have a predictable pattern such as a daily post don't post at exactly the same time daily.

Enter Bloglines.

Since discovering Bloglines a couple of months ago (thanks to Buffy) my blog reading is much more efficient and much less wasteful of time:

• I can see instantly which blogs have new posts so don't need to look at each blog.
• If I want to comment on a post and can't (for example if I'm feeding while nursing Little Girl and she's a bit too wriggly or if I just don't have time) or I want to refer back to the post for some reason, I can tick the "keep new" option. This then means I don't have to go searching back through people's blogs to find old posts.
• When I missed a month of blog reading, each blog's posts were on one page meaning I didn't have to click back through loads of pages and Bloglines kept track of what I had and hadn't read so I didn't have to keep track myself.

If you read more than a couple of blogs, I would definitely recommend giving bloglines a try.

Wonderwash

NB for those who don't know, here are the posts about the wonderwash/how we came to be using one:
Living without a washing machine
Making progress
Wet washing

So far we've had the wonderwash for a couple of weeks now I think but I have still not made my mind up about it. I will try to do a comparison between the wonderwash and handwashing in the bath:

• It does get the clothes cleaner than I expected but I think that the work involved is probably similar in quantity to washing in the bath but more difficult because it is concentrated in turning the crank with your arm and it is harder than you expect.
• Possibly less water is used but this is difficult to judge as the loads are smaller and I usually find I have to do 2-3 rinses rather than 1-2.
• The loads you can do at once are much smaller which means you have to do more frequent washes and be more organised about it.
• Each load is fairly quick to do however because the loads are smaller I think it probably works out similar total amount of time spent.
• The wonderwash is enclosed so you do not have a steaming bath creating condensation everywhere. (Although I did decide I was washing with rather hot water so I'm trying to do it with *warm* rather than *hot* water.)

Actually, now that I've written that list, I would probably say that for the most part it is easier just to wash your clothes in the bath. I do think it is useful for times when you want to wash a small amount of particularly dirty stuff (like when we went to a friends house and Baby Girl crawled around the garden getting mud all over her clothes and managed to get strawberry all down her front because I forgot to take a bib) but for large quantities of washing which is of average dirtiness I think washing in the bath is easier.

Now that I'm using warm rather than hot water I've started using Brandy's method of washing which is to get in and stomp on the clothes. It's much easier and more effective and it makes me think of wine pressing. I don't let her climb in to help but Baby Girl loves to "help" with the washing mainly by throwing all of her bath toys in with the clothes:

Nutrition and Physical Degeneration

I just finished reading this book from cover to cover. Hubby is going to read it too but as he doesn't have the same time I do for reading (I can read while breastfeeding), I worked out which chapters where most relevant to read in terms of making personal dietary changes and the reasoning behind it.

This is the list of chapters I have made for him:

• any two from ch 3-14
• ch 15-19
• ch21

Reading just these chapters saves reading a lot of repetetive or more involved/technical stuff but still gives you a good grounding in the overall message of the book.