January's all about Africa!

One of my goals for this year is to read a book from or about another region of the world each month.  I picked Africa for January.  Then I thought oh great, I don't know anything about Africa, and I don't know where to start selecting a book (I'm a little picky about books)!  But then I remembered hearing about a book titled, A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah.  It's a true story of a boy soldier in Sierra Leone.  After reading the book, I think I've fallen in love with yet another country!

The story isn't a very happy one.  At least until the end.  Sierra Leone had a horrible civil war from 1991-2000.  Near the beginning of the war, Ishmael was separated from his family who were all eventually killed.  He wandered the countryside for a few months until he was forced to be a child soldier.  And as a child soldier, he was forced to do many violent and cruel things.

Some of the saddest parts of his story for me was how quickly things changed from good to bad.  Ishmael and his friends were only gone overnight before the bad guys came to his town and ruined... well, everything!  There were no warning signs.  One day they were carefree children.  The next, they were orphans.

Honestly, I skipped over a lot of the first half of the book.  Most of the beginning was violent.  The author did a great job of writing about his experiences without making it rated R, but it still made me a bit uncomfortable.  The second half was much better.  It was his account of rehabilitation, reunion with his relatives (an uncle he didn't really know, but had heard about), and escape to the US.

I loved the last half of the book.  Ishmael's recovery, rehabilitation, and relocation to the US was amazing and inspirational to read.  In a way, it reinforced the principles of the atonement to me.  Especially the part about children being innocent.  Ishmael was a bit older than eight, but none the less, wasn't fully responsible for his actions as a boy soldier.  It took him a while to realize that, but eventually he did.

He said,

"If I choose to feel guilty for what I have done, I will want to be dead myself," Beah said. "I live knowing that I have been given a second life, and I just try to have fun, and be happy and live it the best I can." (Alissa Swango, NYC24, the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, A Child Soldier Grows Up, 2006. Retrieved February 15, 2007.) 

Read Alissa Swango's article, it's great!

The book ended a little abruptly and with a memory of a story from his young childhood, but I enjoyed the rest of the book enough to overlook a strange ending.  I'd recommend this book to anyone who can handle a little war violence with a happy ending.  I feel like I learned a lot and gained a little more world perspective by reading it.

I'm excited to read the other books about Africa that I found at the library!

I Am Resolved!

It's taken me a while, but I think I'm finally ready to finalize what my goals for the year 2009 will be.  Making New Year's resolutions doesn't really work for me.  I'm all about starting new for a new year, but I feel like making resolutions just sets me up for failure.  I've tried in the past, and I didn't do half bad, but it felt a little forced because I felt like I had to make the resolution on January 1st and that I had to keep it, or I'd be a loser! ;)

So this year, I'm doing it a little different.  Who says you have to start at the very beginning anyways?  Finalizing my plans at the end of the January has given me time to really think about stuff.  I don't really have time to think about anything from approximately December 24th-January 11th because of Christmas, three birthdays and a wedding (this year)!  And I'm not making any specific promises to myself that I have to keep the entire year.  Most of my goals are very general, but will inspire me to make good choices to better myself.

And here they are (not in any particular order)...

1. Become a photographer:  This doesn't mean that I have to get a job taking photos, or that I have to spend money to take a class.  All it means is that I'm going to make it a priority in my life to spend some time getting to know my camera and learn to take better pictures.  And I'm going to be my only judge.  Well, I'll let my husband have a say... but ultimately, if I'm happy with it then it's good!  I'm excited to take my new camera on it's first scenic road trip to some national parks soon!

2. Take better care of my body:  Now I'm not saying that I abuse my body in any way.  I'm pretty careful about most of the Word of Wisdom stuff.  I've never smoked, drank (coffee, tea or alcohol), or done drugs.  But I don't exercise all that much.  Actually I exercise none.  And I don't always eat very well.  Not too long ago, I heard someone say that we would all be held accountable for how we took care of our bodies.  And that worried me.  The scriptures teach us that our bodies are a temple and that they are a gift from God.  I'm not abusing mine, but I could definitely show more appreciation for the amazing gift I received from my Heavenly Father.  I'm going to make it a priority to show appreciation in any of the following ways, getting more exercise--getting off my lazy butt and walking to my parents' house, stretching in the mornings, doing aerobics while watching tv (well... maybe not the last one. It sounds too dorky)--choosing fewer and healthier snacks, and going to bed earlier!

3.  Increase my gospel knowledge:  I've always had a hard time with scripture study.  For some reason it's been laborious and painful, and I never got much out of it.  And these feelings transferred to any other religious book.  But then I actually began to read a religious book.  You know, the kind where the author quotes a scripture selection every other paragraph, and I realized that that was the kind of scripture study that I could get into!  I like to go and look up the quoted scriptures and read around the verses included in the book.  It's a lot more fun for me, and I get a lot more out of it.  Right now I'm reading The Infinite Atonement.  It's slow going because there's lots to digest, but I'm really loving it!

Another thing that I already started doing that I think will benefit me is my "Book of Mormon Mondays."  This forces--or rather, inspires--me to read out of the Book of Mormon more often (lately it's been daily with my husband) so that I can have something prepared to blog about each week.  Sort of a lame reason to read, but hey, whatever works, right?  And it's fun!  I really enjoy it!  So I'm going to make it a priority in my life to find more of these enjoyable ways for me to learn more about the amazing gospel of Jesus Christ!

4.  Improve my relationship with my husband:  Now again, I'm not saying that I have a bad relationship with Derek.  It's actually really good, and has improved drastically!  But, as my dad always says, there's always room for improvement!  Most of my troubles come from control issues.  I'm a bit of a control freak and a worrier, and that's a toxic combination.  Lately, I've been trying harder to really think about whether I'm "nagging" him about something rather than "discussing" it with him.  And if what I think is important to talk about really is all that important to talk about.  I think it's been working better because both he and I seem happier.  I'm also trying to speak his love language more fluently and not be so bossy!

5.  Become a historian:  I'm a geographer, and a big part of geography is history!  For this one, I'm going to try to make a specific goal.  Each month, I want to become a (well rounded) historian by reading one historical book each month.  It could be a biography, memoir, a novel based on an actual event, a textbook type of book--believe it or not, I actually enjoy reading history textbooks--or even a book written by someone during that time period (think Chaucer or Uncle Tom's Cabin).  I'm not that particular on the where the history took place.  I love it all!  And I guess if I run short on time, I could watch a good, historical movie about a real event in history.  But that's risky.  I'll have to be picky with that because some could call the movie Titanic historical.  Barf.

Here's my "syllabus."  And I'm not planning on sticking to it religiously.  It's just a possible outline for my course of study.

• January - Africa
• February - The Middle East (not including Israel and Palestine)
  
• March - Russia
  
• April - China
  
• May - Japan
  
• June - Korea
  
• July - South East Asia
  
• August - Polynesia
  
• September - North or South Pole
  
• October - Israel and Palestine
  
• November - Central/South America
  
• December - Europe
  

This is Where We Live

Found this cool video on Blurb's blog.  I think I want to live there!

This Is Where We Live from 4th Estate on Vimeo.

Anna Karenina

This month's book for TJHirst's blogging bookgroup was A-MA-ZING!  Anna Karenina!  I loved it when I read it years back and I loved it again and even more when I read it this month.  I have a small confession to make, I haven't quite finished it yet.  I've been out of town for a week and a half this month and between that and life, my reading time has been unfortunately cut short!

I decided for my post, I would put some of my favorite quotes and life lessons from the book.  Tolstoy is an incredible author!  He's able to put real life into fiction which is rarely found these days (Did anyone notice the lack of plausability in Twilight and it's sequels?  Pure escapeism, if I can quote my sister-in-law). 

I'm a firm believer in learning from other's mistakes.  That way I don't have to make them myself! :)  I know that just reading about a character's bad choices doesn't guarantee that I won't make the same mistake, but when the consequences and emotions are written out so well (as in Anna Karenina), it makes it easier for me to learn.

Friends
One of the first life lessons that I noticed in this book was how much an effect your choice of friends has on your life.  They always say that in church, and I shrugged it off.  I figured that I could be friends with anybody, no matter their morals, and I could be unaffected by their choices.

In Anna Karenina, through Anna's choices, it is shown that friends do have an effect.  You can't blame all of a person's bad or good choices on their friends.  Everyone has free agency, but it is easier to choose things your friends do or are comfortable with than not.  Peer pressure?  Just before Anna and Vronsky seriously began their relationship, Anna switched from spending time with the older, more respectable crowd (who frankly, seemed a bit boring), to the younger more live-your-life-freely crowd (who seemed a bit too loose, wasn't there an "inbetween crowd"?).  It's my opinion that it would have been much more difficult for Anna to make the choice to commit adultry if she continued to hang with the older crowd, but she went the easy route with the group that would accept her bad choices.

The Religious Education of Children
"'You are about to enter into matrimony and God may reward your union with children, is that not so?  Well then,  What sort of education can you give your little ones if you do not conquer in yourself the temptation of the devil who is leading you into unbelief?' he said with gentle reproach 'If you love your children, then you, as a god father, will desire not only riches, luxury, and honors for them, but you will also desire their salvation, their spiritual advancement in the light of truth." pg. 445
-the Priest talking to Levin before his marriage

Real Love
"Left alone and thinking over the remarks of those bachelors, Levin asked himself again whether there was in his heart any of that feeling of regret for his freedom they had been talking about.  He smiled at the question.  'Freedom?  Who wants freedom?  Happiness consists only in loving and desiring, in wishing her wishes, thinking her thoughts, which means having no freedom whatever--that is happiness!'" pg. 448
-Levin thinking about his marriage to Kitty

Wickedness Never Was Happiness
"Vronsky, meanwhile, although what he had so long desired had come to pass, was not altogether happy.  He soon felt that the fulfillment of his desires gave him only one grain of the mountain of happiness he had expected.  This fulfillment showed him the eternal error men make in imagining that their happiness depends on the realizeation of their desires." pg. 468
-Vronsky thinking after consumating his adulterous relationship with Anna.

How Marriage Really Is
" Levin had been married three months.  He was happy, but not in the way he had expected.  At every step he found that he was disappointed in his former dreams and discovered new and unexpected enchantments.  Levin was happy, but having embarked on married life, he saw at every step that it was not at all what he had imagined.  At every step he experienced what a man experiences when, after admiring the smooth, happy motion of a boat on a lake, he finds himself sitting in it himself.  He found that it was not enough to sit quietly without rocking the boat, that he had constantly to consider what to do next, that not for a moment must he forget what course to steer or that there was water under his feet, that he had to row, much as it hurt his unaccustomed hands, that it was pleasant enough to look at it from the shore, but very hard, though very delightful, so sail it." pg. 482
-Levin climatizing to his marriage. (My personal favorite quote.  What a great metaphor!)

Why Premarital Relations Aren't so Hot in the Long Run
"The poise of her head on her beautiful, broad shoulders and the restrained excitement and radiance of her eyes and her whole face reminded him of what she had looked like when he ahd seen her at the ball in Moscow.  But now he was affected by this beauty in quite a different way.  There was nothing mysterious now in his feeling for her, and for the reason her beauty, though it attracted him more powerfully than ever, also offended him." pg. 548
-How Vronsky's feelings for Anna have changed

Thank you TJHirst for this great book choice!  I LOVED IT!!!

November Book Choice - Anna Karenina

My friend at TJhirst.com has picked a great book for this month's book group, Anna Karenina!  I am so excited!!!!  I read it forever ago and have been wanting to read it again!

Photo from Wikipedia.org

Try it With Me Tuesday: Book Group - Walden

My blogger buddy over at TJ Hirst.com had a wonderful idea: a blogging book group!  This month was Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. 

I had quite a bit of trouble reading it.  Actually, I was only able to read about 20 pages before it became clear to me that I would not be finishing it.  Now don't get me wrong, it's not a bad book.  I'm sure it's a very good book and that lots of people love it.  I just had a lot of trouble reading it because it's really not my style.  I'm more of a book with a plot line, dialog, and characters kind of reader.

But I can appreciate the value of this observational kind of book.  There's a lot to be learned from Walden.  Even spiritual and religious things.  In our last Semi-annual General Conference, Elder L. Tom Perry used Walden extensively as he spoke of simplicity as a necessity in our "search to obtain relief from the stresses of life."

Here's part of what he taught...

"From his experiences at Walden Pond, Thoreau determined that there were only four things that a man really needed: food, clothing, shelter, and fuel. I would like to expand on each of these four basic needs of life, as well as the spiritual benefits of a simplified lifestyle.

The first requirement is food. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we possess sacred knowledge from revealed truth about the relationship between the body and the spirit. Doctrine and Covenants 88:15 states, “The spirit and the body are the soul of man.” To bless us both physically and spiritually, the Lord also revealed to us a law of health, telling us which foods and substances are good for the body and which are not. With these instructions comes the promise found in section 89 of the Doctrine and Covenants:

“And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones;
“And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;
“And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.
“And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them” (vv. 18–21).

There is no better counsel concerning the Word of Wisdom than that found in the booklet For the Strength of Youth. It states:

“The Lord has commanded you to take good care of your body. To do this, observe the Word of Wisdom, found in Doctrine and Covenants 89. Eat nutritious food, exercise regularly, and get enough sleep. When you do all these things, you remain free from harmful addictions and have control over your life. You gain the blessings of a healthy body, an alert mind, and the guidance of the Holy Ghost. . . .
“Any drug, chemical, or dangerous practice that is used to produce a sensation or ‘high’ can destroy your physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. These include hard drugs, prescription or over-the-counter medications that are abused, and household chemicals” ([2001], 36–37).
We do not want to harm our mortal bodies, for they are a gift from God, and part of our Heavenly Father’s great plan of happiness is the reuniting of our immortal bodies with our spirits.

Another basic necessity is our clothing. A simplified life that brings spiritual blessings requires the wearing of simple and modest clothing. Our dress and grooming send a message to others about who we are, and they also affect the way we act around others. When we are modestly dressed, we also invite the Spirit of the Lord to be a shield and a protection to us.
Worldly trends in women’s fashion are always inviting extremes. With their latest styles many fashion designers appear to be trying to make two or three dresses out of the amount of fabric necessary for one. Mostly, they are taking too much off the top and too much off the bottom of women’s clothing, and occasionally they scrimp in the middle too. Men’s fashions are also adopting extreme styles. In my day they would be called sloppy and inappropriate. I believe very casual dress is almost always followed by very casual manners.

Many of you are trying too hard to be unique in your dress and grooming to attract what the Lord would consider the wrong kind of attention. In the Book of Mormon story of the tree of life, it was the people whose “manner of dress was exceedingly fine” who mocked those who partook of the fruit of the tree. It is sobering to realize that the fashion-conscious mockers in the great and spacious building were responsible for embarrassing many, and those who were ashamed “fell away into forbidden paths and were lost” (1 Nephi 8:27–28).

President N. Eldon Tanner once cautioned us with these words: “Modesty in dress is a quality of mind and heart, born of respect for oneself, one’s fellowmen, and the Creator of us all. Modesty reflects an attitude of humility, decency, and propriety. Consistent with these principles and guided by the Holy Spirit, let parents, teachers, and youth discuss the particulars of dress, grooming, and personal appearance, and with free agency accept responsibility and choose the right” (“Friend to Friend,” Friend, June 1971, 3).

Now let us turn to Thoreau’s third requirement, that of shelter. Newspapers are filled with reports of the current housing crisis. We have been encouraged at almost every general conference of the Church I can remember not to live beyond our means. Our income should determine the kind of housing we can afford, not the neighbor’s big home across the street.

President Heber J. Grant once said: “From my earliest recollections, from the days of Brigham Young until now, I have listened to men standing in the pulpit . . . urging the people not to run into debt; and I believe that the great majority of all our troubles today is caused through the failure to carry out that counsel” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1921, 3).

One of the better ways to simplify our lives is to follow the counsel we have so often received to live within our income, stay out of debt, and save for a rainy day. We should practice and increase our habits of thrift, industry, economy, and frugality. Members of a well-managed family do not pay interest; they earn it.

Thoreau’s final necessity was fuel. We have been hearing a lot about fuel and energy—about their high cost and limited supply, our unsafe and unpredictable dependence on their suppliers, and the need for new and sustainable sources of energy. I leave the discussion of these complicated issues to leaders of government and industry. The fuel I want to discuss is spiritual fuel."

The above quote was only part of the talk he gave.  Be sure to read the rest of it and all the other wonderful talks from October 2008's General Conference!

Project Gutenberg

I had heard of Project Gutenberg before, but I hadn't looked at it seriously until today.  It is great!  There's so much stuff!  You can read e-books online or download them for free!  There's also audiobooks, classical music, and sheet music! I am impressed.

Reading books online isn't my favorite thing to do.  I'd much rather hold a book, even a super-heavy, hardback one.   But the audiobooks will be great!  The only drawback with Project Gutenberg is the number of books.  There aren't THAT many.  It's kind of like Netflix's watch instantly selection, not too hot, not too cold.

I'm thinking this will be great for TJ Hirst's reading challenge! 

I have taken your challenge!

My new blogger buddy at TJhirst.com (an excellent blogger I might add) put everyone to a challenge, make a list of five to ten books for your lifetime pursuit reading list and begin reading one this month.

Well, I would like to announce that I'm taking her up on that challenge and publicly posting my list of 5-10 books for my lifetime pursuit reading list.  Am I limited to only 5-10?  Just joking of course!  I do LOVE to read, but I think if I made a list longer than 10 would kill the reading drive in me.  At least for a few months.

So, as I am publicly posting my list, you all have license to ask me at any time, how I'm doing on my list.  Actually, please take that license and use it!  That will keep me motivated to get this list read!

Here it is...

1. War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy
2. Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
   
3. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
   
4. Middlemarch, by George Elliot
5. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
6. The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
7. Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
8. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, by Benjamin Franklin
9. Catch 22, by Joseph Heller
   
10. ??? Any suggestions?

Which should I start with?  Have you read any of these?