Thursday, February 24, 2011

Triumph: Life After the Cult ~ A Survivor's Lessons by Carolyn Jessop

Triumph: Life After the Cult--A Survivor's Lessons

This is Carolyn's second book - written several years after she wrote her book "Escape" about escaping from the FLDS cult with her 8 children.  She gives her insight on the cult and on the Tx raid on the YFZ ranch in Tx.  It is good to learn that there have been some legal triumphs against the FLDS men, but I am still sad that so many women and children are still trapped within that cult.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

I Am Hutterite by Mary-Ann Kirkby

I Am Hutterite: The Fascinating True Story of a Young Woman’s Journey to Reclaim Her Heritage

This is a fascinating book about a woman's family and childhood growing up in a Hutterite colony in Canada. 
It is an interesting insight into a lifestyle quite different from the modern one that most of us enjoy.  She tells about the good and the bad in the colony she grew up in.
I found it interesting because the Hutterite community that she grew up in sounds a bit different from the Hutterite community in Montanna as it was described to me by a relative who has had some contact with them.

Shift Your Habit by Elizabeth Rogers

http://shiftyourhabit.com/
I found that this book - full of useful hints on how to decrease your spending, was very helpful.
My family already does some of the "shifts" that are described in the book, but there are some others that we should consider. For instance I learned that bread should not be stored in the refrigerator - which is where ours is, but in the freezer or a bread box.  I have been wanting to get a pressure cooker and this book emphasizes the energy and time savings they bring.  It has also encouraged me to grow a garden, use rechargable batteries and consider turning our computers into tvs and dropping the cable tv service. 

Monday, February 21, 2011

list of books that I want to read in the future

Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil, and Fundamentalism in Central Asia by Ahmed Rashid
Peace Like A River by Leif Enger
I am Nujood, age 10 and Divorced - read it
Why We Get Fat And What To Do About It
Sam's Letters to Jennifer by James Patterson
Inside the kingdom : my life in Saudi Arabia
Little princes : one man's promise to bring home the lost children of Nepal
Because I Said So: 33 mothers write about...
Old Men At Midnight by Chaim Potok

Saturday, February 19, 2011

not a book

Tentacle Ribbon
I support the
Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus!

Tree octopus photo

Rare photo of the elusive tree octopus

http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/


People who read should be intelligent enough to know this is not real.
Do not believe everything you read on the internet.
But, we bought a t-shirt anyway.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by Phillip Keller

A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23
I just read the book A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by Phillip Keller.
It is just awesome and I recommend it highly if ya'll have not read it.
It is a short book - I read it today.The author used to be a shepherd - for real - and he explains what David, as a shepherd knew and experienced and how that psalm relates to us as Christians. I found it very touching and thought provoking. I was touched that a shepherd owns the sheep. He personally chooses them, buys them, calls them by name, and enjoys caring for them. I was convicted by the line "I shall not want" which implies that David, even though he had been persecuted by Saul and his son Absalom and had many trying and difficult experiences throughout his life, still said that he was utterly content in the Lord's care, not wanting anything more. I thought it was interesting that when it is fly season, the shepherds put an oil mixture on the sheep's noses and heads to repel the flies and prevent a scab disease.  I was touched that the Lord does not "airlift" us to the mountains - we must go through the valleys to get there.  I really enjoyed this book and I think others will too.

oops - just read the cover and found out that the short book that I read in one day was "exerpts" from the book. Boy do I feel sheepish.  I am getting the entire book from the library to read since the exerpts were so great! 

Friday, February 11, 2011

When Men Become Gods: Mormon Polygamist Warren Jeffs, His Cult of Fear, and the Women Who Fought Back by Stephen Singular

When Men Become Gods: Mormon Polygamist Warren Jeffs, His Cult of Fear, and the Women Who Fought Back
Chronicling the history of the FLDS and the leadership and eventual charges against, arrest, and trial of Warren Jeffs, this book shows that Jeffs pretty much screwed everyone who he came into contact with - either literally or figuratively or both.  An egotistical megalomaniac with delusions of grandeur, this self-proclaimed "Prophet" is finally in jail where he deserves to be and this book tells the story of how he got there.