Amazing Grace

by Megan Shull
PRMS discard, hardcover 247 pages
genre: YA realistic fiction

This was a super quick read, but I'm still getting rid of it. Published in 2005, I'm not sure it's ever been checked out. This is a great "romance" title for my younger readers. Grace Kincaid is an ultrafamous tennis prodigy and cover girl model who decides at age 15 that she wants out of the high-pressure world. Her mom sends her to an Alaskan island to live with a friend so Grace can hide out as a normal teenager. She meets fun-loving Fisher and Teague (incredibly handsome), chops wood, and starts to find herself . . . when the paparazzi get wind of where she is and she has to leave this paradise. Enjoyable, nothing profound. Sweet first romance.

The Memory Weaver

by Jane Kirkpatrick
Hennepin County Library paperback 327 pages
genre: Christian historical fiction

I didn't really get into this book, though I finished reading it. Skipped book club tonight, too . . . not like me. The author didn't engage me in the story, starting with a convoluted set-up - a long list of characters, a map, a prologue set in 1847, and then a story that goes from her earliest childhood memories (but not the one in the prologue) to her mother's funeral when Eliza was thirteen. There were many times when I had to force myself to read on. Either this was simply not the right book for me at this time, or Kirkpatrick's style just doesn't resonate for me. There were some nice moments and some very thoughtful observations, but overall I just didn't like the book.

I Am Number Four: The Lost Files: Rebel Allies

by Pittacus Lore
PRMS paperback 355 pages
genre: YA adventure, SciFi

Three more novellas to whet the appetite for the Lorien Legacies! The first one (The Fugitive) is Mark James' story as he heads to the Southwest to find and save Sarah. While on the run, he connects with the mysterious Guard. The other two stories - The Navigator and The Guard - take us in to Lexa's world on Lorien and on Earth. Lots of adventure and stitching together the bits and pieces of the bigger story. Now on to The Fate of Ten!

(written nearly a month after I actually read it . . . as I'm unburying my home desk from too many scraps of paper . . . )

The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results

by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan
Hennepin County Library hardcover 224 pages
genre: NF motivational

This is the second time I've tried to get through this short book. In some ways, it has a great message that I can take to heart. In other ways, it is simply too rah-rah, of the world, business-success-oriented. I feel bad that I've had it three days over the due date with such a long waiting list. It was on our summer Litwits reading list and I just couldn't get into it in August. And now I'm struggling to finish the last 40 pages. But it WILL go back today, whether I finish it or not.

www.The1Thing.com is apparently the motherlode of info that they gathered (and a book trailer).

I kind of wanted to record the "Big Ideas" at the end of each chapter, but I'm feeling lazy and time-crunched. I've looked a bit online, but here's one I grabbed a pic of earlier this summer:

 

There are lots and lots of these "Big Ideas" and they are worth looking at. I am going to move on with my life, however, and perhaps get back to this book at some future point in my life. Also, someone pencil-underlined throughout this library book and that was very frustrating! I almost went through it with an eraser, but . . . I'm more interested in finishing the reading first! 

And I think part of my issue with this book is that if I work to identify the One Thing that matters most to me, I would have to say my faith. If I focus more time, energy, and attention on my faith, I would quit my job (and our income would drop drastically). I am not sure at this point in my life WHAT I want. I'm too young to throw in the towel (and I do love learning), but I am either mid-life crisis-ing or not listening to God's call. In any case, this book is just not the right book for me at the right time.

The Amazing Book is Not on Fire

The Phil and Dan book!
My students were so insanely excited to see this on my desk as part of the Young Adult Choices books that I took it home overnight to preview. These two guys, Dan Howell and Phil Lester, are YouTubers who have a huge following. The bits of the book that I read were quite good and/or quirky and/or very relevant for middle schoolers coming of age. One excerpt:

 

The artwork, notes, photos, etc. really add to the story of these two young men and how they got started on their YouTube careers.

Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out

by Susan Kuklin
Hennepin County Library hardcover
genre: YA NF

I confess - I ran out of time to read this and had to get it back to the library. I paged through it and it looks interesting. I have a small budget which is already gone, so I opted to get "Some Assembly Required" at Half Price Books. This one may go on a future buy list, but I may need more balance than just transgender titles . . . the GLBTQQ group in our school would love to see more books - fiction and NF - that are of interest to them.

The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings: J.R.R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams

by Philip Zaleski and Carol Zalesky
Hennepin County Library hardcover over 500 pages
genre: non-fiction

9.17.15:

Ugh! I didn't spend enough time with it and now I'll have to get it again. Fascinating to read about these authors' lives!

10.6.15:
I marked a bunch of pages and have pictures on my phone, but not enough time to do anything with them right now. I don't even have this on my request list . . . I am time-management crunched!

11.15.15
For only having read a very small portion of the book (fewer than 50 of the 500 pages), I sure took a lot of photos! I'm just going to leave them on my hard drive. I'll just include two here (perhaps to motivate me to get the book again and actually read it!):

The language in this passage is so very beautiful to me. These men were so amazing.

No Sweat: How the Simple Science of Motivation Can Bring You a Lifetime of Fitness

By Michelle Segar
Hennepin County Library, paperback, 221pages
Genre: non-fiction, self-help

This book is amazing. I seriously thought about buying my own copy (and still might). Her examples and research really resonated with me. I need to get this back to the library, so I'm going to make note of the things I most really to remember.
- doing what you enjoy is a better motivator for exercising - and it works
- MAPS are Meaning, Awareness, Permission, and Strategies
- start by taking any and every opportunity to move, in any way possible, at whatever speed you like, for any amount of time
- your MEANING for exercise creates your relationship with and approach to exercise
- move exercise from a chore to a gift
- AWARENESS helps you identify what's been standing in your way and discover physical activities that motivate you
- do what feels good, build positive experiences with physical activities
- people tend to approach things that feel good and avoid things that feel bad
- research shows that when you choose to make movement a regular party of your life for personally compelling reasons and choose to move in ways that feel good to you, you are more likely to stick with exercise and maintain weight loss
- count everything and choose to move!
- treasure hunt: Opportunities To Move (OTM)
The long cut
The phone moment
Active waiting
The movement snack
Couple's cruise
Boogie break
Green getaway
It's a gift
Friend fitness
Family fun
Walking meeting
Recess
The soulful stroll
Coffee walk
Doggy destinations
Office sprints
Cleaning calisthenics
Be a sport
Gym genius
The leisurely stroll
Walk the airport, airplane
One-minute workout
The snow shuffle
- reward substitution helps change movement from a chore to a gift
- listen to your body's messages and do what you like
- "gift" yourself with movement and and every way you can
- make it a game to discover OTMs
- pages 117-8 great takeaways, bit I don't want to record them all here.
- walking is wonderful
- giving yourself PERMISSION to prioritize your own self-care - to feel better every day - provides the fuel for your daily roles and goals and powers your sense of well-being
- avoid caretakeritis (pic):

- make self-care a priority! (Pic)

- give yourself permission to stop following should
- give yourself permission to make daily self-care a top priority
- pretend if you need to take care of yourself
- change your mindset
- what sustains us, we sustain (pic)

- you are the energy center of your life
- amazing paradox: giving to yourself means giving more to others
- the gift of physical movement becomes essential fuel for what matters most
- are you thriving or just surviving? What do you need right now?
- check in on your priorities
- great take-aways on pages 187-8 (pics)
- use learning and negotiation STRATEGIES to sustain the lifelong gift of physical activity
- #1- use learning goals to get intrinsic motivation, persistence, and resilience
#2 - begun with the end in mind
#3- use sustainable self-care as an essential strategy for well-being
#4- integrate one new behavior at a time
#5- strengthen the core - build consistency before quantity
- #6- bring your learning to life
- great takeaways on pages 182-3
- Sustainability training
- make a self-care negotiation plan
- phase one is planning and previewing
- give physical activity clout
- plan the weekly logistics
- create a continuum of success where you are successful if you for in at least one planned activity
- decide to confront challenges, not roadblocks
- bring friends and family on board
- use if-then planning
- dance with your challenges- be flexible and improvise
- hesitate before you respond to a request
- listen to your body's messages
- learn the links- make physical activity relevant and compelling
- evaluate and recalibrate with compassionate non- judgment
- the learning process never ends

I took photos of a bunch of other pages, but this is enough for now. I really enjoyed this book and it is helping me to make healthier choices for myself! 

Above posted 11.16.15, below added 2.2.16:
Notes on random paper from last fall include my most important projects right now:

• finish Alex & Stacie quilt
• get house put back together
• faith / being Jesus-centered
• health - get BP below 140/80
• plan Yellowstone vacation
• clear clutter in home
• get ready for school year
• move on MakerSpace

Do what you enjoy for physical activity
MOVE however possible, at whatever speed you like, for any amount of time.

I also had some notes that were in response to questions in the book . . . I really should just buy and own a copy of it!

Notes on awareness (and my "whys" for exercise) - Dread is too strong a word. Aversion of indifference (or mild dislike) is more accurate. I kind of DO think there's a "right" way to exercise and if I don't do it that way, why bother? I usually don't exercise in ways that don't feel good to me! (But then I'm disappointed in myself for not doing what I "should" do.

I made a list of ways that I LIKE moving my body . . . and I hope to exercise in those ways.

Then I made a note that said "Ch. 5 pg. 84" but I'm not sure why. Maybe that's where I was when I started reading this book in the summer. Then I got it again and finished it in the fall. And now I'm getting rid of scraps of paper in my office. Done?

The Freedom Summer Murders

by Don Mitchell
Hennepin County Library hardcover 196 pages
genre: YA NF history

I also read this one a few weeks ago. It was depressing, naturally. Very well-written and informative, it focused on the three young men murdered in June 1964 in Mississippi. James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were killed by KKK members (in cahoots with, if not led by, the sheriff!) because they were trying to register black people to vote and teach about their rights as Americans. I don't know if it's more sad that this happened or that people got so upset because two of these men were white . . . what an awful chapter in American history! But it's important to know about things like this. The book was very well-done. My heart breaks for those boys' moms.

Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H.L. Hunley

by Sally M. Walker
Hennepin County Library audiobook 3 discs
read by J.R. Horne
genre: YA NF history

I listened to this a few weeks ago, but I really enjoyed it. It is impressive that people continued to go down in this submarine in the 1860s even after it sank three times! After being on the ocean floor for over 100 years, it was an historic and scientific find. The author's research and the narrator's vocal work brought the story of the Hunley to life very effectively. I found the first section on the Civil War work to make and use a submarine to be more compelling than the scientists' efforts to uncover what happened to it almost 150 years later . . . but it was all very interesting. I am no history buff, but I recognize the importance of finding and researching this machine and the men who developed it and went to war in it.

As a side note, I think of the developments in naval technology from the Civil War to WWI (and what I read in the Lusitania book) . . . absolutely amazing!

The Story of Classical Music

by Darren Henley
Hennepin County Library audiobook 4 discs
read by Marin Alsop
genre: YA / kid non-fiction, music history

This was very interesting and I *love* that there are so many excerpts - over 150 music clips. You could *not* get that from a print book! I did NOT like the obnoxious sound effects they included, especially the sound of a tape fast-forwarding. Some of the background noises also seemed incongruous to the narration. Despite these flaws, the story was clear and interesting and the musical selections were fantastic! It made me want to grab a lot of classical CDs and listen to the full works! This is one I'd re-listen to so I could glean even more . . . there were some composers I'd never heard of, though most were familiar names.

The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America

by Timothy Egan
Hennepin County Library audiobook 9 discs
read by Robertson Dean
genre: YA Non-fiction history

This was a fascinating book! I almost want to get the print version to see photographs, but probably won't. I already admired TR as a president, but I am so very glad that he and the Progressive party pushed through so much national wildlife space. I was horrified (but ultimately not surprised) at the big business people (timber, mining, railroads) and the politicians in their pockets who did everything in their power to strip the new Forest Service of money and support. The fire of 1910 decimated millions of acres and some towns, especially in Idaho. This was a well-researched and well-written history. I had never even heard of Gifford Pinchot before! The thought of "conservation" being a new concept is so odd now . . . but I also see the unfolding of history and attitudes, even extending to my childhood with Smokey the Bear and now a more "natural" attitude toward fire and its role in forests. Interesting stuff! The vocal work was very well-done.