Fields Of Heather

Some of My Favorite Books In 2011

The end of year book survey didn't feel like it did my reading list justice.

Some of my favorite reads in 2011-

Gripping - Hard to put down -

The Room by Emily Donague

Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson

Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares (Yeah, not what I expected at all!)

Night Road by Kristen Hannah

These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauff

The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer

GOOD Mysteries

Now You See Her by James Patterson

The Sherlockian by Graham Moore

Learning To Swim by Sarah Henry (follow her on twitter too)

If Books Could Kill by Kate Carlise

Love You More by Lisa Gardner

Just Plain Fun Reads -

The Secret Lives of Dresses by Erin McKean

My Life In France by Julia Child

Moonwalking With Einstien by Joshua Foer

Books That Inspire Me to Be Better

The Whole In Our Gospel by Richard Sterns (about World Vision)

Little Princes by Connor Grennan

Choosing To See by Mary Beth Chapman

Reshaping It All by Candace Bure

Run Like A Mother by Dimnity McDowell

The Final Summit by Andy Andrews

Out Live Your Life By Max Lucado

Series -

Cedar Cove by Debbie Macomer. Light, sappy, reads.

Michael Bennet Series by James Patterson - one of my favorites

Private London Series by Patterson- another favorite

Womens Detective Series Book 10 - good

Sara Partetsky's VI series, Body Work - good

Flower Shop Mysteries By Kate Collins - Light reading, a bit like Stephanie plum

Stephanie Plum 17 & 18 by Evanovich. Good. Not great like the early ones, but good.

Books I wish I hadn't bothered with -

The Postmistress

A Stolen Life

A Year of Fog (possibly the most tedious book I've ever read)

Turn Of Mind

Clan Of the Cave Bear by Auel

2011 End Of Year Book Survey

1. Best Book You Read In 2011?

To try to decide, I logged into goodreads and sorted by rating. I gave 14 books 5 stars this year. Looking them over, I'm not sure I still feel 5 stars strong about some of them.. but my favorites definitely include-

Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal

The Hole in Our Gospel: What does God expect of Us? The Answer that Changed my Life and Might Just Change the World

Learning To Swim By Sara J. Henry
Reshaping It All by Candace Bure
Room by Emma Donaghue
Little Princes by Connor Grenanan
Choosing To See by Mary Beth Chapman
The Hole In Our Gospel by Richard Sterns

2. Most Disappointing Book/Book You Wish You Loved More Than You Did?

reversing the ratings sort - I hated A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard. As I said in my review, it's her story, and how do you say it's a horrible book when she is simply telling her story.. but it's a horrible book and I wish those things had never entered my head. It is horrible that she had to live through all of that.

The Year of Fog, The Postmistress, and Lowcountry Summer are all ones I felt wasted by time. Sometimes I should just stop reading a book and not feel so obligated to read something that I obviously do not enjoy.

3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2011?

Learning To Swim By Sara J. Henry

I don't even remember why I read this one - it was free, or someone lent it to me, and I didn't expect too much.. but it was one of the best books I read this year.

4. Book you recommended to people most in 2011?
Room

The Room by Emma Donaghue & The Hole In Our Gospel by Richard Sterns

5. Best series you discovered in 2011? Evil in Carnations (Flower Shop Mystery, #8)

The Flower Shop Mysteries by Kate Collins. "Cozy Mysteries" - but a little, little, like the Stephanie Plum series. Funny, light, implausible.

6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2011?

If Books Could Kill (A Bibliophile Mystery, #2)

Kristen Hannah & Kate Carlisle.

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?

I read all over the place.. mystery, romance, drama, history, cozy mysteries.. but I don't read science fiction. I didn't read any this year.. but I think I will try at least one in 2012.

8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2011? Room

The Room by Emma Donaghue

9. Book you most anticipated in 2011?

Explosive Eighteen by Stephanie Plum. Yes, I was a bit disappointed.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2011?

Outlive Your Life: You Were Made to Make A Difference

11. Most memorable character in 2011?

Connor Grennan in Little Princes & Richard Stern in The Hole In Our Gospel

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2011?

beautiful... hmmmm.. maybe Winter Garden by Kristen Hannah.

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2011?

Starting with The Hole In Our Gospel, Out Live Your Life came next, and then Little Princes this fall.. all three along the same theme.

14. Book you can't believe you waited UNTIL 2011 to finally read?
?? I think everything I read was pretty current - a lot of new releases.

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2011?
I don't have that kind of memory - sorry.

16. Book That You Read In 2011 That Would Be Most Likely To Reread In 2012?
The bible. Pretty much the only book I reread.

17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers!
Nothing like that.. but The Hole In Our Gospel made me want to talk to my family right away, about what we could do better.

See what others answered here -

http://www.perpetualpageturner.com/2011/12/2nd-annual-end-of-year-book-survey-2011.html

Weekly Overview

Each week-end I plan out an "overview" of our week, including our schedules, our menu, etc. I post it on a bulletin board in our hallway, alongside the kids weekly chores, dish chores, and white boards where we leave notes if anyone is leaving, or something needs done, etc.

This is an old version from a few weeks back - before school started - but it gives you the general idea. (I use google docs for almost everything - including this)

Week Overview

An Overview of Our Week

	MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY

WEATHER	77	81	77	75	77
SCHEDULE	9:20 Luke Derm 10:30 Nate to work 3:10 Matt to FB Meg to CG 3:30 Pu Nate Deliver Meal 4:30 Pu Meg 6 PU Matt 6:20 PU Amy 6:45 Zumba	10:30 Nate to Work 1:15 Luke to RC 3:10 Matt to fb 3:30 PU Nate 6 PU Matt 7 Scouts	10:30 Nate to work 1:30 Meg Piano 2:00 Pu Meg 3:10 Matt to fb 3:30 PU Nate 4:30 Pu Matt 6 PU Matt 7 Dan teach BS	10:30 Nate to work 3:10 Matt fb Meg to CG 3:30 Pu Nate 6 PU Matt 6:30 Boys BBALL	10:30 Nate to work 3:10 Matt to fb 3:30 Pu Nate 5 Pu Matt 5:30 Meg to School Dan & Me to amish sale preview
Kids Schedule (items I do not need to drive them too)	3-6 luke wk 7-10 boys to grandpas	8am run 3-6 Luke wk	3-6 Luke wk	3-6 Luke Work	8am run 3-6 Luke Work
MEALS	Breakfast - Mom - Smoothies, croissants Lunch - hamburgs & corn on the cob Supper - chicken, baked potatoes, corn	Breakfast - Meg french toast Lunch - Chicken salad sandwiches Supper - casserole - chicken pot pie?	Breakfast - Matt - Casserole Lunch - hot dogs, leftovers Supper - Pasta Night - spaghetti?	Breakfast - Luke - pancakes Lunch - mac & cheese Supper - Vegetable soup, sandwiches	Breakfast - Nate - oatmeal Lunch - leftovers, or breakfast Supper - Pizza
WEEKLY CHORES	Bedrooms Porch	kitchen & laundry room	paperwork	living room & dining room	Top to bottom quick clean
EXERCISE	walk run zumba	walk Bike wifit 30 min	walk c25k wifit 30 min	walk Bike wiifit 30 min	walk c25k wifit 30 min

BSF Starts Soon!

This year, we'll be studying the book of Acts. Classes start a week from Wednesday, on September 14th.

Each week we receive notes and questions. The questions are broken into daily assignments for reading and answering. When we attend the next week, we start in full group - all of us meeting together to hear announcements and sing praise songs. Then we split into our assigned small groups, to discuss our answers from the daily assignments, and take prayer requests. After that we return to the sanctuary where all of us will sing a couple more songs, then hear a lecture on the text. On our way out, we'll receive the notes and questions to work on for the next week.

It's an amazing way to study the word of God!

From the BSF website - http://www.bsfinternational.org

During 2011-2012, BSF classes around the world are studying the Acts of the Apostles

For 33 weeks, class members have the opportunity to learn how this important book speaks to our daily lives in the 21st Century.

Each class session features BSF's Four-Fold Approach to Bible study.

While the Acts of the Apostles study lasts the full BSF year (33 weeks), new members can join throughout the course of the study — space permitting.

The classes offered (in order) are:

Genesis (2012-13)
Matthew (2013-14)
The Life of Moses (2014-15)
Romans (2015-16)
History of Israel and the Minor Prophets (2016-17)
John (2017-18)
Isaiah (2018-19)
Acts of the Apostles (2020-21)

To find a class near you and to see if it has space available for new members, click here.

Maximize Your Mornings Challenge

Sign ups close today!

http://inspiredtoaction.com/2011/08/sign-up-now-for-the-fall-session-of-the-maximize-your-mornings-challenge/

Porch Decor From The Dollar Store

This is porch week over on the Holiday Grand Plan. I'm not quite ready to add mums.. but after all of that cleaning, I wanted to spruce the decor up a bit. I found these fake flowers at the Dollar Tree, and made a quick swag out of them -

A few more for in the crock, with some added peacock feathers (donated by our peacock)

and I added a fresh coat of black paint to the stand. I got the stand for $1 at the amish sale a year or so ago.

(the flag is my daughters color guard practice flag)

The porch still needs a lot of work, but this is a start.

Peabody's Tail

All that we have collected. He's lot his entire tail now, so we missed a LOT of his feathers. That's ok.Below is one entire tail - I collected every feather he lost one year, when he was caged, and made a swag out of it. (He is free to roam the farm now)

13 Books I have Loved This Summer -

Not in any particular order -

Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson - thriller
Love You More by Lisa Gardner - mystery from a series, but I haven't read the series, just this book - the series characters are pretty much background in this story
Now You See Her by James Patterson - mystery - & a really good one
Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares - beach read/friendship/romance.. but not just fluff. It was surprisingly good!
Moonwalking With Einstein by Joshua Foer - nonfiction, about the American Memory Competition. Fun read! It was nice to have this background before reading the fictional Before I Go To Sleep.
Smokin 17 by Janet Evanovich - I love the Stephanie Plum series!
10th Anniversary by James Patterson - a lot of Patterson's books are way too graphic for me, but I love this series. This one and his Michael Bennet series are on my all time favorites list.
Night Road by Kristen Hannah - I'm not a fan of Jodi Picoult, so it's kind of odd for me to compare this to a Jodi Picoult style book and say I loved it, but that's the best way I know to sum it up. There must be a name for this genre - but I don't know what it is?
Learning to Swim by Sara J Henry - this book is a mystery, but almost as a sideline to the drama? I'm really looking forward to more by this author.
These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf - another chick lit/drama/mystery. This genre really needs it's own name. :-) While I did NOT like the other book I read by this author, I loved this one.
Winter Garden by Kristen Hannah I need to learn my book categories. I think of this as historical fiction, but if that conjurs up images of bodice rippers for you too.. then that's not what this is. LOL! It's fiction, but with some history woven in. Informative, and a good story. One of my absolute favorite kinds of reads.
The Flower Shop Mysteries by Kate Collins - cozy mysteries. Light, fun summer reads, no deep thought required, but not so ridiculous that you have to completely shut your brain off. It might be a stretch to say I "loved" these - but I liked them enough to keep reading the next in the series.
One Summer by David Balducci - not a mystery. I've never read Balducci before, my husband likes his books though.. this is apparently NOT his normal style, but it was really good! A drama of sorts. Engaging, a good story.