Review - A Love that Multiplies by Michelle & JimBob Duggar

Title: A Love that Multiplies
Author: Michelle & JimBob Duggar
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publish Date: June 7, 2011
Hardcover, 288 pages

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Whether you agree with their religion or not I believe that everyone can get quite a few good things out of this book. They have the most wonderful ideas for family and raising children - visiting nursing homes to be charitable and at the same time the kids learn to talk to adults, be kind and not be shy; having bible time teaches speaking ability, reading and conversation also encouraging family time; being kind to all who you come in contact no matter the person's feelings toward you; not having tv time instead conversing and learning and so many others. Inspiring their kids to try so many different jobs and opportunities and not settle for the job that they may like and may get them the big bucks one day. For someone who would love to have a big family and even homeschool, this had such inspiration.

I just loved reading this book. It is a feel good book of incredible stories. I was amazed at the trials and tribulations this family was put through when their twentieth child came in to the world three months preemie. And warmed by the generosity strangers showed them. Shocked and loved the way they dealt with negativity and just plain meanness at the way they choose to live their lives. I enjoyed reading about the children and the grandparents and their friends. I internalized so much regarding dealing with anger, spreading joy and happiness. The lessons were endless.

It was a bit awkward reading the I, and then in parenthesis, the name of who was speaking (Michelle or JimBob) and there were a lot of bible verses and sermon preaching as well. Take caution if you are not comfortable with this type of thing. There were moments I felt it was evangelistic, but most of the time I was not bothered, but felt nourished by the religion. As Michelle says it best, it is who they are and you cannot separate that.

I look forward to reading their first book, The Duggars: 20 and Counting.

In My Mailbox

This week we had a really cool special at work where we got an additional percentage off anything in the store!! So I took advantage of it and bought a few books I've been mooning over.

Dreaming in English by Laura Fitzgerald
Devil in the White City by Eric Larson
Getting In by Karen Stabiner
The Lonely Polygamist by Brad Udall

On My Wish List

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where I list all the books I desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in with too - Mr Linky is always at the ready for you to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post. If you want to know more click here.

This week my WISH LIST is composed of the books I want to read AFTER. I have just finished reading Lisa See's Shanghai Girls. I cried, laughed, fell in love with the characters and was destroyed by the sadness of it. I read Laura Fitzgerald's Veil of Roses ages ago and still remember how much I enjoyed the clash and learning of the cultures. AND I am currently reading Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. I cannot wait to read the following -

Dreams of Joy by Lisa See
In her beloved New York Times bestsellers Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Peony in Love, and, most recently, Shanghai Girls, Lisa See has brilliantly illuminated the potent bonds of mother love, romantic love, and love of country. Now, in her most powerful novel yet, she returns to these timeless themes, continuing the story of sisters Pearl and May from Shanghai Girls, and Pearl’s strong-willed nineteen-year-old daughter, Joy.

Reeling from newly uncovered family secrets, and anger at her mother and aunt for keeping them from her, Joy runs away to Shanghai in early 1957 to find her birth father—the artist Z.G. Li, with whom both May and Pearl were once in love. Dazzled by him, and blinded by idealism and defiance, Joy throws herself into the New Society of Red China, heedless of the dangers in the communist regime.

Devastated by Joy’s flight and terrified for her safety, Pearl is determined to save her daughter, no matter the personal cost. From the crowded city to remote villages, Pearl confronts old demons and almost insurmountable challenges as she follows Joy, hoping for reconciliation. Yet even as Joy’s and Pearl’s separate journeys converge, one of the most tragic episodes in China’s history threatens their very lives.

Acclaimed for her richly drawn characters and vivid storytelling, Lisa See once again renders a family challenged by tragedy and time, yet ultimately united by the resilience of love.

**I also really loved Snow Flower and the Secret Fan**

Dreaming in English by Laura Fitzgerald

Knowing she could never be happy in Iran, Tamila Soroush took her mother's advice to "Go and wake up your luck" and joined her sister in the United States. Now, after a spur-of-the-moment exchange of "I do"s with her true love, Ike Hanson, Tami is eager to start her new life.

But not everyone is pleased with their marriage, and Tami's happily- ever-after is no sure thing. With an interview with Immigration looming, Tami wonders if she's got the right stuff when it comes to love, American-style. Maybe her luck is running out. Or maybe she'll stand up for herself and claim her American dream.

In The Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
Erik Larson has been widely acclaimed as a master of narrative non-fiction, and in his new book, the bestselling author of Devil in the White City turns his hand to a remarkable story set during Hitler’s rise to power.

The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history.

A mild-mannered professor from Chicago, Dodd brings along his wife, son, and flamboyant daughter, Martha. At first Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the handsome young men of the Third Reich with their infectious enthusiasm for restoring Germany to a position of world prominence. Enamored of the “New Germany,” she has one affair after another, including with the surprisingly honorable first chief of the Gestapo, Rudolf Diels. But as evidence of Jewish persecution mounts, confirmed by chilling first-person testimony, her father telegraphs his concerns to a largely indifferent State Department back home. Dodd watches with alarm as Jews are attacked, the press is censored, and drafts of frightening new laws begin to circulate. As that first year unfolds and the shadows deepen, the Dodds experience days full of excitement, intrigue, romance—and ultimately, horror, when a climactic spasm of violence and murder reveals Hitler’s true character and ruthless ambition.

Suffused with the tense atmosphere of the period, and with unforgettable portraits of the bizarre Göring and the expectedly charming--yet wholly sinister--Goebbels, In the Garden of Beasts lends a stunning, eyewitness perspective on events as they unfold in real time, revealing an era of surprising nuance and complexity. The result is a dazzling, addictively readable work that speaks volumes about why the world did not recognize the grave threat posed by Hitler until Berlin, and Europe, were awash in blood and terror.

What is on your wish list??

(I just had a flash of humor in my head thinking, what's in your wallet? lol)

Review - Don't Breathe a Word by Jennifer McMahon

Title: Don't Breathe a Word
Author: Jennifer McMahon
Publish Date: May 17, 2011
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Paperback, 464 pages

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I'll be completely honest here, I usually do not under any circumstances pick up a book that I know will keep me awake at night, but this cover had me at Hello. It scared the bejeezes out of me and I KNEW I had to read it.

I was not disappointed.

Ironically, I started the book late in the afternoon on a day off and ended up reading until 230am because I could not go to sleep until I finished it and knew what happened. It didn't matter how tired I got and how much my eyes wanted to close and my body ached to turn in, my mind would not turn off. I was so much caught up in the fairies and the shadow man who came up from the trap door under the bed. HOLY COW!! The four year old in me was up in arms. If I was still living with my parents I probably would have been laying between them trying to read it.

I really enjoyed this book. It got my blood flowing and my mind whirling from the first moment Phoebe was shown the six fingered glove in the middle of the woods. There were some moments where I was completely confused, like when the crazy lady in the woods came in their cabin and then ran out and they chased her. It went in a direction I could not follow. But all in all it was a very fun and exciting book. Great imagination.

A must read, even for those of us who cannot stand to be scared!

Summary -
On a soft summer night in Vermont, twelve-year-old Lisa went into the woods behind her house and never came out again. Before she disappeared, she told her little brother, Sam, about a door that led to a magical place where she would meet the King of the Fairies and become his queen.

Fifteen years later, Phoebe is in love with Sam, a practical, sensible man who doesn’t fear the dark and doesn’t have bad dreams—who, in fact, helps Phoebe ignore her own. But suddenly the couple is faced with a series of eerie, unexplained occurrences that challenge Sam’s hardheaded, realistic view of the world. As they question their reality, a terrible promise Sam made years ago is revealed—a promise that could destroy them all.

Check out this other review of the book -
WorkadayReads

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Wordless Wednesday - Lava caves

Wordless Wednesday

Read post for these pics here

WANTED: Cherry/Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe

I bought an ice cream maker a year ago and I have been thinking about it. My favorite ice cream in the whole world is cherries with chocolate. It doesn't matter if it is vanilla ice cream with cherries and chocolate chips or cherry ice cream with chocolate shavings. In the past, I have made vanilla with caramel and chocolate and just plain vanilla. I like simple ice cream, but I am craving the cherry chocolate kind. I am pretty open to it all. I am thinking about making this recipe, but just wondering -

DOES ANYONE HAVE A GREAT CHERRY/CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM RECIPE?

PS: Winner for Broken Wings Giveaway will be announced this week and an email will be sent out as well. Thanks for playing!