baby books i am glad i read...

my husband thinks i am funny cause i literally am crazy right now with the 

influx of baby/birth info at our house...

i will sit and read and read and eventually stop only to babble off some soap box something that i have been reading to which he usually does a great job at feigning interest...

{i guess he often is, when i bring up the studies, risks, 

and the price differences of some of these things...}

the books i finished today were these:

 

both are books i will lend out forever, i can already tell..

heck- these would make priceless gifts.

thank you a million times to the fellow blogger that referred me to 

ina may's guide to childbirth.

as far as "what you need to know before you labor and deliver"

this has been the most empowering, comforting, reassuring book i could have read.

if you would have asked me a year ago,

i would have told you i was terrified of the whole process:

afraid of the pain, of complications, of delivery...

and that was when i would never have dreamed of going au natural.

{i also realized that most of the "stories" i heard were from women that were induced, or had the aid of various techno-birthing stimulants or tools... none had really had the natural experience, and therefore couldn't accurately vouch for a positive experience}

turns out, birth isn't a disease, and only 10% of women that deliver, actually need some form of aid in birth, unfortunately, that isn't the case.  too many women are just letting doctors make decisions because, "they know best..."

turns out, it is very expensive to have all the extra interventions too 

{IV= $150, epidural= $800-$1500...etc...}

turns out, birth can be incredibly satisfying and empowering...

i am a firm believer in the god-given power to birth 

and have full confidence now in what my body can do.  

the more i read, the more i am convinced that childbirth and motherhood is one of the greatest mysteries and blessings God gives to women. 

now that i have 12 weeks to go i say,

"bring it on!"

as i have been reading about birth and delivery, 

i have picked up a handful of gems on what to do after...

namely, babywise, which has helped me feel confident about babies and sleep.

sure, i think there are a lot of factors that play into how early a baby will sleep through the night, but i am a firm believer in the studies circulating babywisers... another book that i will keep as a manual up until i am sure i will purchase the toddler version... 

let the great experiment begin!

hunger games, check.

ok, i know it took me forever to finish.
what with working again, and church things and
starting the quilt and all...
but i picked it up and finished the last few chapters in what felt like minutes.

i am a little depressed that i can't be the one to write this screenplay.  i would LOVE to do it - the books are written so beautifully to transfer to film.
all we need now is for all of you to read them so we can
fantasize about who should play Katniss.

...and then we can fight over Peeta and Gale.  though we all know it's "team Peeta" all the way. 

i also have to say that the entire time i was reading these books i was trying to get Collins's deeper meaning. where she thought of this and why it applied to her....

all i know, is after a day of mourning for my dear cousin that just lost his wife, the final pages of this seemingly random and disconnected book struck a chord with me. 
i get why she wrote it.

what a great story of hope and love, 
and though it may be sprinkled with some of her political fears,
i only caught the hope. 
and i cried that it was over.

literally, like a baby, i cried cause i wanted more...


{i have to mail these back to their rightful owner,
and i think i will purchase myself a set to keep... or to make cc read so we can talk about it... that means i might need to take him to the beach tomorrow...ya know, quality "let me read my book" time is good for any relationship}

book review - hunger games

ok. 

i am sorry that it took about a dozen of your recommendations before i read this one...

cause now i have an addiction.

i keep telling chris about it and how he should read it, 

and today as i was in a mini-rave about how fun it is to read it,

he goes, "wow- i don't know that i have heard you rave about a book in a long time."

i believe in good writing so i am usually a harsh critic and most books will entertain me, 

but i will shred to pieces with "crappy writing" or "boring story"

which, in all honestly, i know isn't all that fair...

this chick has a gift i can only compare to jk rowling.

the book has a similar mystical feel to harry potter,

the plot is ridiculous and something that a normal brain 

wouldn't concoct unless by dream,

but it also has a depth.

in fact, i get so caught up in the "what will happen" of it all,

that i completely ignore my usual dissecting of the text itself...

[that's good writing]

this isn't a fantasy story though- it is a war story.

its about real people but in a time that doesn't exist yet.

what makes it mystical is only that it mixes the primitive with the techno-advanced...

they have television and botox, 

but they also have places that hunt for food and starve 

because of a rising powerful government.

in that way, i can't help but get lost in the story- 

and be intrigued by the political commentary this could be- 

though i don't believe it really is.

of course the movie is in pre-production, and i am excited to see what they will do.

it will be hard, but the goal, the producer says, is to keep it within a PG-13 rating.

it will be hard with all the violence,

but oh will it make a great flick.

which brings me to another point...

i am the 

"read the book before the movie" type

and chris is the

"don't read the book -- it ruins the movie" type...

we will see if i can't get him to read this one first though-

lets face it, i will probably be that annoying mom that makes 

her kids read the whole book before they see the movie version.

maybe it's the english teacher in me...

book review - the help

thanks, angela for recommending this book to me.

i absolutely loved it.

the writing is fabulous - which is refreshing from a first-time novelist.
she was raised in jackson and draws from her experience to create characters dripping with reality.

the last half i think i read in less than 2 days.
it is so interesting to read in our society now though and gives a different perspective on
what racism looks like then and now.

the real story is about fighting ideas and it is powerful.

of course, i was casting the movie in my head, wondering who they'd choose.
of course it is already in production though- as any good story gets snatched up.
most of the cast are no-namers, which will make it that much better, i think.
though i still wish my jennifer hudson could star this one...sigh.

last time i asked,
i got some great recommendations from you so i have a few on my list:

girl with the dragon tattoo
prayers for sale
the shack
moloka'i
a new earth

what else should i read??

[side note: since this last week was date night for him.
i will be draggin the man to see eat pray love this weekend.
pretty excited about it. even though i know it can't possibly live up to the book...]

book review - eat pray love

done.

finally.

but i will soon be able to read lots more.

this one was fun and beautiful.

i love to read creative words- and she is definitely good at that

my two favorite quotes:

[a belief of Balinese people]:
"The child is taught from the earliest consciousness that she has these four brothers with her in the world wherever she goes, and that they will always look after her. The brothers inhabit the four virtues a person needs in order to be safe and happy in life: intelligence, friendship, strength, (and I love this one) poetry. The brothers can be called upon in any critical situation for rescue and assistance.

When you die, your four spirit brothers collect your soul and bring you to heaven."

"I looked into my heart, at my own goodness, and I saw its capacity. I saw that my heart was not even nearly full…my heart could easily have received and forgiven even more.

Its love was infinite.
I knew then that this is how God loves us all and receives us all, and that there is no such thing in this universe as hell, except maybe in our own terrified minds. Because if even one broken and limited human being could experience even one such episode of absolute forgiveness and acceptance of her own self, then imagine-- just imagine!--what God, in all His eternal compassion, can forgive and accept."

how beautiful is truth.

soul suckers... in movie adaptation form

i have been in the need of a good,
escape from stress and "educationy" literature...

and i found this book on one of my employees' desk.

a roommate had read this and i always wanted too,
but just never "had time"

so i made a pouty face, and she let me take it home.

i love to read good writing again.
it almost makes me sad.
like i should have done more in life so far.
like tried to learn to write, or even just travel more.
i have never made it out of the country,
despite my love of food and travelling thus far.

i am not done reading,
so i may yet comment again, but here...

"I walk up the stairs to my fourth-floor apartment, all alone. I let myself into my tiny little studio, all alone. I shut the door behind me. Another solitary bedtime in Rome. Another long night's sleep ahead of me, with nobody and nothing in my bed except a pile of Italian phrasebooks and dictionaries.

I am alone, I am all alone, I am completely alone.

Grasping this reality, I let go of my bag, drop to my knees and press my forehead against the floor. There, I offer up to the universe a fervent prayer of thanks.

First in English.

Then in Italian.

And then—just to get the point across—in Sanskrit."

-elizabeth gilbert (eat pray love)

italy would thrill me completely.
some day, i will allow that beautiful land
to consummate my passport's life.

i just hope i am able to stay long enough
to rent a scooter and ride everywhere i wanna go with cc
in that city of love and carbs

and i think i will take my mother to see this on her birthday:
(julia roberts? not sure yet, but could be fantastic)




and, thanks to netflix,
we just watched this movie:



cc enjoyed it,
i wept through it.
happy tears, mostly sad ones.

fabulous flick with some stunning performances.
that young dakota is really quite fun to watch emote.
admittedly, you must come prepared/be in the mood,
but when you are, it is worth it.

oh, and the movie was formerly this novel here:


one i may attempt to read again soon.
but the movie left a sweet taste,
maybe we'll just keep it at that.

so,
what do i read next??

[and no, it doesn't necessarily have to become/have a movie that goes with it]

long-winded movie review: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

harry potter and the half blood prince

i would like to begin by expressing how much

cc whined to see this flick. this makes me happy. he is, however,
the type that has to see the movie first, or it would ruin the book. right.

i normally do not agree with this,

but i was glad to have forgotten much of the book until i saw it
because it all comes rushing back

and it's so fun to watch

why this one was my favorite HPs of the 6 so far:



the best edit we've seen of the books.
whoever was the exec editor deserves a standing O.
they finally figured out how to keep the fun details that add to the plot
and lose the ones that don't.
so it moves fast and you can keep up.
and it was, in my opinion, the most true to the book of any...



the acting/directing is so much tighter.
the kids have grown up, sure, but they are better,
and so was the directing.
timing was better, and the flow was more succinct.
the relationships could really pop.



screenplay.
speaks for itself.
much wittier and quicker.
add a few fun actors
and you have a show.

in my humble, yet correct opinion: 5/5
own it or rent it: own it.

(cause it would be stupid to not have 6
when i know you already have the rest!)

book club - thousand splendid suns

thousand splendid suns
khaled hosseini
(four stars)

i can't tell yet if i loved this one more or less than his first book, but i will say it is equally as captivating. my brother says he thinks he liked kite runner more because it is a man's perspective. this one is definitely through female eyes. so brilliantly written.

again, i reiterate, that if this book were to become a movie (inevitable) it would have a similar cultural feel to it as slumdog (that movie that is brilliant that you need to see before it wins best picture this year).

ultra depressing, very close to the female experience of the lifestyle/wartime Afghanistan. it makes me think of the end of a jason mraz song, "its like an island of reality in an ocean of diarrhea." it is so beautifully personal that you wont be able to avoid the investment.

worth a read. but also read kite runner.

i will admit that i love being able to choose the books i read instead of being forced to read large crappy textbooks. happy thoughts.

if you read it, do tell!

i will buy you a big house, where your garden can bloom

searching for housing has been a joke...
i really shouldn't even be looking until i have a job, i know parentals...
(who are so trying to get me to stay)

all i have to say is that some of these girls could be psychos...
so maybe i should wait until i can meet them in person!


on one of the posts:
"three other roommates who hold regular book club meetings.
we like authors like jane austin...etc."

...whoah... done.
not that I am against reading, or jane austin for that matter,
but when it must be advertised that you meet and discuss her in depth,
that most certainly means that you are also deciding why all men are gay and you hate them...
(thanks, but no for me...)

another great one:
"three other roommates are endowed,
so we will be looking for another roommate who is also endowed."

really? really?
do you make us flash our undies at the door...?
the recommend?
i can't even imagine the other judging that goes on in that house!


I am looking for one that looks kind of
like this:

• close to the city and metro
• 2-3 bedroom townhouse
• furnished & wood floors
• in-house washer/dryer
• back porch with grill
• fairly large kitchen
• master bedroom includes a man and a ring

... i don't think that's asking for too much do you?

what becomes of dating myself...

i have to say that dating myself is going great.

friday nights are for eating nice: pita chips and chicken salad, topped off with a scrumptious bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats®.

after talking with a few dear friends on the cell,
my {bowl of goodness} and i settle at the kitchen table
to "get some light reading done."

or so i thought...

do not try to read the following book lightly.
i sat down with 1/3 to go, and finished it in what felt like minutes.

it reads like a screenplay, giving you everything you need to imagine the reality of what is going on.
almost painfully.

a roommate walked out the door the very moment i closed the book,
and at 9:00pm, with no one in my house, i wept.

{the vivid truths embedded in fiction have got me again.}

moving, powerful, painful, cathartic, spiritual, beautiful.

read it.



Khalad Hosseini's
The Kite Runner
















A favorite excerpt:

PANIC.
You open your mouth. Open it so wide your jaws creak. you order your lungs to draw air. NOW, you need air, need it NOW. But your airways ignore you. They collapse, tighten, squeeze, and suddenly you're breathing through a drinking straw. Your mouth closes and your lips purse and all you can manage is a strangled croak. Your hands wriggle and shake. Somewhere a dam has cracked open and a flood of cold sweat spills, drenches your body. You want to scream. You would if you could. But you have to breathe to scream.
Panic.

-pg. 121, The Kite Runner