Daily Wisdom for Women 2015 Devotional Collection - January Compiled by: Barbour Staff
Non-fiction: Religion, E-book
This book is a quick (about 5 minutes a day) devotional. It starts with a Bible quote, then has a page or two of thoughts relating to the quote in some way, then ends with a line or two long prayer. It is written by a collection of different women, and so there are 6 different versions of the Bible that are used for quotes in it, but it is noted what version that they are using each time.
Monday, February 02, 2015
Sunday, February 01, 2015
Stewarding Life:
Stewarding Life: One Lifetime, Limited Resources, Eternal Priorities By: Paul Chappell
Non-Fiction: Religion, E-book
First, this book was written by a Baptist minister, so all of the normal things you would expect from a book by a Baptist minister are in it. Even thought it is clearly a religious book (on a subject that you would not expect someone that wasn't religious to read), there is a section for getting Saved including a version of "The Sinner's Prayer". This is referred/hyper-linked to in multiple places later in the book as well, just in case. All bible quotes are also in the King James Version, (as we all know that God only speaks in Elizabethan English.)
Besides those things the main idea of the book is about being a good steward of all the things that God has given you. With the main emphasizes being on non-money parts of stewardship. This book was written from notes that the author made when on a forced vacation after almost working himself to death, so includes notes both on the importance of doing things and not over doing things. And it also uses many examples from the author's personal life, the Bible, and well known historic people.
Non-Fiction: Religion, E-book
First, this book was written by a Baptist minister, so all of the normal things you would expect from a book by a Baptist minister are in it. Even thought it is clearly a religious book (on a subject that you would not expect someone that wasn't religious to read), there is a section for getting Saved including a version of "The Sinner's Prayer". This is referred/hyper-linked to in multiple places later in the book as well, just in case. All bible quotes are also in the King James Version, (as we all know that God only speaks in Elizabethan English.)
Besides those things the main idea of the book is about being a good steward of all the things that God has given you. With the main emphasizes being on non-money parts of stewardship. This book was written from notes that the author made when on a forced vacation after almost working himself to death, so includes notes both on the importance of doing things and not over doing things. And it also uses many examples from the author's personal life, the Bible, and well known historic people.
Saturday, January 31, 2015
The Big Fat Surprise:
The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat & Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet By: Nina Teicholz
Non-Fiction: Science,History, Food/Cooking, 337 pages
Book Count: 4
This book, like many food science books on this list over the last year, is about the history of how we got the Standard American Diet, and how the science of nutrition does not back that as a good diet. As it is newer it includes a lot more information on scientific tests done over the last decade, and the newest info on cholesterol, including the newest particle types found in it and how each effects or doesn't effect one's risk of heart disease. It also goes into how the things that people replaced saturated fat with maybe or is worst than what they replaced. This sections actually deal less with the sugar/starch that most books of this type spend much of their time on, and more on the polyunsaturated fats, trans fats, and the newer fats that are being created to replace trans fats.
Non-Fiction: Science,History, Food/Cooking, 337 pages
Book Count: 4
This book, like many food science books on this list over the last year, is about the history of how we got the Standard American Diet, and how the science of nutrition does not back that as a good diet. As it is newer it includes a lot more information on scientific tests done over the last decade, and the newest info on cholesterol, including the newest particle types found in it and how each effects or doesn't effect one's risk of heart disease. It also goes into how the things that people replaced saturated fat with maybe or is worst than what they replaced. This sections actually deal less with the sugar/starch that most books of this type spend much of their time on, and more on the polyunsaturated fats, trans fats, and the newer fats that are being created to replace trans fats.
Friday, January 30, 2015
Take the Monkeys and Run:
Take the Monkeys and Run: (A Barbara Marr Murder Mystery #1) By: Karen Cantwell
Fiction: Mystery, E-book
Barbara Marr's life has gone down hill fast: her husband has moved out, she is turning 45, and there is a tree full of monkeys in her yard, possibly from the creepy, empty, house near her, dubbed "The House of Bones." From there things just get weird. The story has many twists and turns, some that were fairly easy to see coming, but that did not diminish the story too much.
Fiction: Mystery, E-book
Barbara Marr's life has gone down hill fast: her husband has moved out, she is turning 45, and there is a tree full of monkeys in her yard, possibly from the creepy, empty, house near her, dubbed "The House of Bones." From there things just get weird. The story has many twists and turns, some that were fairly easy to see coming, but that did not diminish the story too much.
Thursday, January 29, 2015
I Knead My Mommy:
I Knead My Mommy: and Other Poems by Kittens By: Francesco Marciuliano
Non-fiction: Poetry, Humor, 111 pages
Book Count: 3
This is a collection of poems as written by kittens. Each poem is divided by topic and there are many cute kitten pictures. Some of the poems include; "Ode to a Lizard I didn't Know Is Also a Pet in This House," "Over Here!," "Your Legs," and "While You're Typing." In it you learn important things about cats like they do not know how to count (numbers included Q and &), and those drapes that they just destroyed were hideous and they were only trying to do you a favor by clawing them to shreds.
Non-fiction: Poetry, Humor, 111 pages
Book Count: 3
This is a collection of poems as written by kittens. Each poem is divided by topic and there are many cute kitten pictures. Some of the poems include; "Ode to a Lizard I didn't Know Is Also a Pet in This House," "Over Here!," "Your Legs," and "While You're Typing." In it you learn important things about cats like they do not know how to count (numbers included Q and &), and those drapes that they just destroyed were hideous and they were only trying to do you a favor by clawing them to shreds.
Friday, January 16, 2015
50 Easy Everyday Grain-free Recipes Without Almond Flour:
50 Easy Everyday Grain-free Recipes Without Almond Flour: Gluten-free Paleo Friendly By: Lori Morris and Michelle Corso
Non-Fiction: Cooking, E-book
First this book was poorly titled, not only with the long title, but with the fact that there are recipes that may contain grains, there is one with almond flour, and the main theme to all the recipes are that they are made using plantains and are gluten-free. They may contain grains because a number of the recipes just call for gluten-free flour, which is often just made up of non-gluten grains like rice. So it really should be called something like "50 gluten-free plantain recipes." That being said, there are a number of recipes in this book that look good, I just wasn't expecting every single one in the book to be about plantains.
Non-Fiction: Cooking, E-book
First this book was poorly titled, not only with the long title, but with the fact that there are recipes that may contain grains, there is one with almond flour, and the main theme to all the recipes are that they are made using plantains and are gluten-free. They may contain grains because a number of the recipes just call for gluten-free flour, which is often just made up of non-gluten grains like rice. So it really should be called something like "50 gluten-free plantain recipes." That being said, there are a number of recipes in this book that look good, I just wasn't expecting every single one in the book to be about plantains.
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Unmuted:
Unmuted: Restoring Your Church's Voice By: Jim Wall
Non-fiction: Religion, E-book
This is a book on being a better church from one of the leaders of the Acts 2 Network, a group that works to plant new churches and grow people's faith off the ideas from the book of Acts chapter 2 in the Bible. It uses 6 things that they see as the main points of the Acts 2 church for how to do this. They are: be unified around a God-given vision, be empowered by the Holy Spirit, preach a relevant, simple truth, be hungry to know God, genuinely care for one another, and unselfishly care for the community around you. He then uses examples from his life and the lives of people he knows to show how it works in real life.
Non-fiction: Religion, E-book
This is a book on being a better church from one of the leaders of the Acts 2 Network, a group that works to plant new churches and grow people's faith off the ideas from the book of Acts chapter 2 in the Bible. It uses 6 things that they see as the main points of the Acts 2 church for how to do this. They are: be unified around a God-given vision, be empowered by the Holy Spirit, preach a relevant, simple truth, be hungry to know God, genuinely care for one another, and unselfishly care for the community around you. He then uses examples from his life and the lives of people he knows to show how it works in real life.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Evil Librarian:
Evil Librarian By: Michelle Knudsen
Fiction: YA, Paranormal, 343 pages
Book Count: 2
First, I would suggest that everyone check this book out of your local library, just to hear what the person checking you out says about them being or not being an evil librarian.
As far as the book itself goes it is very much a young adult novel and according to the quote on the back a beloved book of Stephenie Meyer, so there's that. . . But the story itself is interesting enough to make up for the love-sick female lead and the impossibly perfect love interest. Cynthia's best friend Annie falls in love with the new school librarian, who Cynthia can tell there is something wrong with. After snooping around the school, she finds out that the new librarian is a demon who is sucking the life out of the student body. She with the help of Ryan (her crush) then try to stop the demon before opening night of the school play that they are both part of. (As they are doing "Sweeney Todd" which all demons love, so he isn't going to kill all of the people in the school until after seeing the play.)
Fiction: YA, Paranormal, 343 pages
Book Count: 2
First, I would suggest that everyone check this book out of your local library, just to hear what the person checking you out says about them being or not being an evil librarian.
As far as the book itself goes it is very much a young adult novel and according to the quote on the back a beloved book of Stephenie Meyer, so there's that. . . But the story itself is interesting enough to make up for the love-sick female lead and the impossibly perfect love interest. Cynthia's best friend Annie falls in love with the new school librarian, who Cynthia can tell there is something wrong with. After snooping around the school, she finds out that the new librarian is a demon who is sucking the life out of the student body. She with the help of Ryan (her crush) then try to stop the demon before opening night of the school play that they are both part of. (As they are doing "Sweeney Todd" which all demons love, so he isn't going to kill all of the people in the school until after seeing the play.)
Monday, January 05, 2015
Dr. Mutter's Marvels:
Dr. Mutter's Marvels By: Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz
Non-fiction: Biography, History 305 pages
Book Count: 1
This book is both a biography of Dr. Thomas Dent Mutter, a history of medicine in the first half of the 1800's, and the story of how the Mutter Museum came into being. It is rather interesting and includes the story of early plastic surgery, the start of using ether in surgery, early ideas on germ theory and how the Civil War effected medicine. It also has small bits of the writings of Dr. Mutter and much on the early history of Jefferson Medical College where he was the head of surgery for over a decade.
Non-fiction: Biography, History 305 pages
Book Count: 1
This book is both a biography of Dr. Thomas Dent Mutter, a history of medicine in the first half of the 1800's, and the story of how the Mutter Museum came into being. It is rather interesting and includes the story of early plastic surgery, the start of using ether in surgery, early ideas on germ theory and how the Civil War effected medicine. It also has small bits of the writings of Dr. Mutter and much on the early history of Jefferson Medical College where he was the head of surgery for over a decade.
Saturday, January 03, 2015
My Daily Bread:
My Daily Bread: A Summary of The Spiritual Life Simplified and Arranged for Daily Reading, Reflection and Prayer By: Anthony J. Paone, S.J.
Non-fiction: Religion, 437 pages
Yes, this book was one of the ones that I was hoping to finish last year. And no I didn't not finish it in time because I miss counted the 197 chapters in it and started it too late to read a chapter a day like it was designed for. No, I thought to myself in October, that what I needed to do right before attempting to write a novel and deal with all of the holidays was start reading a 400+ page book.
Non-fiction: Religion, 437 pages
Yes, this book was one of the ones that I was hoping to finish last year. And no I didn't not finish it in time because I miss counted the 197 chapters in it and started it too late to read a chapter a day like it was designed for. No, I thought to myself in October, that what I needed to do right before attempting to write a novel and deal with all of the holidays was start reading a 400+ page book.
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Night of the Living Dead Christian:
Night of the Living Dead Christian: One Man's Ferociously Funny Quest to Discover What It Means to Be Truly Transformed by Matt Mikalatos
Fiction: Religion, Humor,Paranormal, E-book
Like the author's other book that we read, (link to review here,) this book has the author as one of the main characters in this book. In this book he is not the main character of the story, but a helper and guide to the main character. (Who is named Luther Ann Martin, a Lutheran that insists that he is not a Christian, and is a werewolf.) Besides the werewolf, there are a large collection of unusual characters including: a mad scientist, an android, a former vampire, a whole church of zombies, and a monster hunter complete with an Eastern European accent. As you could can guess from the title and the genres of the book, the story is ultimately on the transformative power of Christ, but along the way they have tons of humorist mishaps including: trying to make silver bullets on a home stove, going to therapy to stop being a werewolf, getting advice from a robot Jesus, and accidentally setting a church on fire. At the end there is also a set of questions about the book for people that want to use it to reflect on the ideas of the book or as a part of a book group, as well as alternate titles and subtitles, and a self-diagnosis guide to finding out what type of monster you might be.
Fiction: Religion, Humor,Paranormal, E-book
Like the author's other book that we read, (link to review here,) this book has the author as one of the main characters in this book. In this book he is not the main character of the story, but a helper and guide to the main character. (Who is named Luther Ann Martin, a Lutheran that insists that he is not a Christian, and is a werewolf.) Besides the werewolf, there are a large collection of unusual characters including: a mad scientist, an android, a former vampire, a whole church of zombies, and a monster hunter complete with an Eastern European accent. As you could can guess from the title and the genres of the book, the story is ultimately on the transformative power of Christ, but along the way they have tons of humorist mishaps including: trying to make silver bullets on a home stove, going to therapy to stop being a werewolf, getting advice from a robot Jesus, and accidentally setting a church on fire. At the end there is also a set of questions about the book for people that want to use it to reflect on the ideas of the book or as a part of a book group, as well as alternate titles and subtitles, and a self-diagnosis guide to finding out what type of monster you might be.
Saturday, December 27, 2014
Relish:
Relish: My Life in the Kitchen By: Lucy Knisley
Non-fiction: Memoir, Food, Graphic novel 173 pages
Book Count: 67
A story of a person's life told with comics and food. The chapters end with a recipe also told with comics.
Non-fiction: Memoir, Food, Graphic novel 173 pages
Book Count: 67
A story of a person's life told with comics and food. The chapters end with a recipe also told with comics.
Good Advice From Bad People:
Good Advice From Bad People Selected Wisdom from Murderers, Stock Swindlers, and Lance Armstrong
Non-Fiction: Biography, 192 pages
Book Count: 66
After our last book of people that started out bad and turned good, we thought we would read this book of good advice that the creator of didn't follow. This book is filled with a quote from some one and then a short 1-2 page biography of them that points out how they did the exact opposite of their advice. It includes info on self help book writers that: went bankrupt, got divorced, ended up in jail or otherwise were the last person you would want to take advice from on a subject if they did what they said to do. There are also entries on politicians, sport stars, and televangelists. In short a who's who of people who said, "Do what I say, not what I do."
Non-Fiction: Biography, 192 pages
Book Count: 66
After our last book of people that started out bad and turned good, we thought we would read this book of good advice that the creator of didn't follow. This book is filled with a quote from some one and then a short 1-2 page biography of them that points out how they did the exact opposite of their advice. It includes info on self help book writers that: went bankrupt, got divorced, ended up in jail or otherwise were the last person you would want to take advice from on a subject if they did what they said to do. There are also entries on politicians, sport stars, and televangelists. In short a who's who of people who said, "Do what I say, not what I do."
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Saints Behaving Badly:
Saints Behaving Badly: The Cutthroats, Crooks, Trollops, Con Men, and Devil Worshippers Who Became Saints By: Thomas J. Craughwell
Non-Fiction: Religion, Biography 186 pages
Book Count: 65
This book is a collection of short biographies of saints, blessed, and venerable men and women, who at some point in their lives were anything but saintly. The book is arraigned in chronological order and each chapter is the name of the saint and their sin. With some of the earlier saints there are notes on how the rules for how people officially became saints has changed, as some of the conversions were not as extreme as others. With all the stories the author tries to note what things in their life there is reliable proof of and what things are stories that can not be proven, but were popular stories about the saint.
Non-Fiction: Religion, Biography 186 pages
Book Count: 65
This book is a collection of short biographies of saints, blessed, and venerable men and women, who at some point in their lives were anything but saintly. The book is arraigned in chronological order and each chapter is the name of the saint and their sin. With some of the earlier saints there are notes on how the rules for how people officially became saints has changed, as some of the conversions were not as extreme as others. With all the stories the author tries to note what things in their life there is reliable proof of and what things are stories that can not be proven, but were popular stories about the saint.
Saturday, December 20, 2014
Old Year's Resolutions:
With about a week and a half left in the year and dozen or so holiday parties to attend, we are giving up on making 2014's reading new year's resolution. And have decided to work on making up 2015's goals.
2015 ish Goals:
1. Keep off the weight loss of 2014 (not a reading related goal, but this year I'm writing all my goals down to remember them, and so my friends can keep me on task.)
2. Edit story I finished this year. (screaming about how there is nothing useful and deleting everything is editing, right?)
3. Add 12 books to the list of books on the FB page for our church's chapter of the Council of Catholic Women, before the new 3rd vice-president takes over. (this will happen in spring 2016, so the ish on the goals. Also I picked 12 books as that will bring the number of books up to 52, or enough to read one a week.) These books must follow the current rules that I use for putting books on the list: they must rate at least 4 out of 5 stars, and be something reasonable to appear on a church group's FB page. (Not that I might throw one or two odder books on this list, just because. But still within the criteria. So sorry friends "Lamb" will not be added to the list.[side note who here thinks it's for not being a 4 star book and who for it being not appropriate?])
4. Win Nanowrimo in November. (Maybe do a camp too.)
5. Write down story ideas and crazy real life things that with a few changes could be useful in stories. (I'm not adding a note about them here because you wouldn't believe me anyway. . . )
2015 ish Goals:
1. Keep off the weight loss of 2014 (not a reading related goal, but this year I'm writing all my goals down to remember them, and so my friends can keep me on task.)
2. Edit story I finished this year. (screaming about how there is nothing useful and deleting everything is editing, right?)
3. Add 12 books to the list of books on the FB page for our church's chapter of the Council of Catholic Women, before the new 3rd vice-president takes over. (this will happen in spring 2016, so the ish on the goals. Also I picked 12 books as that will bring the number of books up to 52, or enough to read one a week.) These books must follow the current rules that I use for putting books on the list: they must rate at least 4 out of 5 stars, and be something reasonable to appear on a church group's FB page. (Not that I might throw one or two odder books on this list, just because. But still within the criteria. So sorry friends "Lamb" will not be added to the list.[side note who here thinks it's for not being a 4 star book and who for it being not appropriate?])
4. Win Nanowrimo in November. (Maybe do a camp too.)
5. Write down story ideas and crazy real life things that with a few changes could be useful in stories. (I'm not adding a note about them here because you wouldn't believe me anyway. . . )
Friday, December 19, 2014
Wheat Belly Total Health:
Wheat Belly Total Health By: William Davis, MD
Non-fiction: Food, Science 349 pages
Book Count: 64
This book adds to the author's earlier work "Wheat Belly" by getting into the reasons that all modern grains are problematic for human consumption, and not just wheat. It also gets into how to transition into a grain free diet and things that one can do to help undo damage caused by eating grains, and/or modern diets and lifestyles. (For example, many people need more vitamin D, due to living indoors and covering up when they go outside more then from any issues from diet.) It also deals a lot with how to have beneficial gut flora, and eating lower carbs to prevent spikes in insulin.
Non-fiction: Food, Science 349 pages
Book Count: 64
This book adds to the author's earlier work "Wheat Belly" by getting into the reasons that all modern grains are problematic for human consumption, and not just wheat. It also gets into how to transition into a grain free diet and things that one can do to help undo damage caused by eating grains, and/or modern diets and lifestyles. (For example, many people need more vitamin D, due to living indoors and covering up when they go outside more then from any issues from diet.) It also deals a lot with how to have beneficial gut flora, and eating lower carbs to prevent spikes in insulin.
Saturday, December 06, 2014
Libriomancer:
Libriomancer (Magic Ex Libris: Book One) By: Jim C. Hines
Fiction: Mystery, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, NYR, 305 pages
Book Count: 63
One more book down, only 6 more to read. . .
Isaac Vainio is a librarian in a small town in Northern Michigan, who also works to catalog items that might have magical importance for an organization of Libriomancers, people who can pull objects out of books. He use to work as a field agent for them but after a mess up involving zombie horses, he is strictly research only. That is until a group of sparkly vampires show up (having been created from a recent popular book series) and his fire spider, Smudge, almost burns down the library. He destroys the vamps with help from a dryad, Lena Greenwood, who shows up just at the right time. He then learns that vampires are being killed and blame the Porters (the Libriomancer organization Die Zwelf Portenaere) and Johannes Gutenberg is missing. (Who is the head of the Porters and immortal after pulling the Holy Grail from a book, before locking the magic to stop everyone from doing that.) Also Gutenberg's dozen killer robots are also gone, and no one seams to know what is really going on.
Fiction: Mystery, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, NYR, 305 pages
Book Count: 63
One more book down, only 6 more to read. . .
Isaac Vainio is a librarian in a small town in Northern Michigan, who also works to catalog items that might have magical importance for an organization of Libriomancers, people who can pull objects out of books. He use to work as a field agent for them but after a mess up involving zombie horses, he is strictly research only. That is until a group of sparkly vampires show up (having been created from a recent popular book series) and his fire spider, Smudge, almost burns down the library. He destroys the vamps with help from a dryad, Lena Greenwood, who shows up just at the right time. He then learns that vampires are being killed and blame the Porters (the Libriomancer organization Die Zwelf Portenaere) and Johannes Gutenberg is missing. (Who is the head of the Porters and immortal after pulling the Holy Grail from a book, before locking the magic to stop everyone from doing that.) Also Gutenberg's dozen killer robots are also gone, and no one seams to know what is really going on.
Thursday, December 04, 2014
My Drunk Kitchen:
My Drunk Kitchen: a Guide to Eating, Drinking & Going with Your Gut By: Hannah Hart
Non-Fiction: Cooking, Humor 217 pages
Book Count: 62
You might have seen the web show "My Drunk Kitchen", this book is by the same person and is a lot like the show. It includes cooking tips (with special notes on drunk cooking tips), some actual recipes, drinks to have with each thing, life lessons and more. Although there are some recipes in this book, calling it a cook book is a stretch, as it is more about being creative with food.
Non-Fiction: Cooking, Humor 217 pages
Book Count: 62
You might have seen the web show "My Drunk Kitchen", this book is by the same person and is a lot like the show. It includes cooking tips (with special notes on drunk cooking tips), some actual recipes, drinks to have with each thing, life lessons and more. Although there are some recipes in this book, calling it a cook book is a stretch, as it is more about being creative with food.
Undead and Unemployed:
Undead and Unemployed (Queen Betsy Book #2) by: Mary Janice Davidson
Fiction: Mystery, Paranormal, Audio Book
This is book two in the series. In this book Betsy is more use to her unique vampire abilities, but there is still bills to pay, so after failing to get unemployment do to the never ending bureaucracy of government programs, she ends up getting her dream job of selling shoes at Macy's. Which only infuriates Sinclair, as the job is below a queen, but that is only the least of her problems. There is a group out killing vampires, there are vampires that resent her being queen, there are vampires that don't think she is queen, there are termites in her house so Jessica rents out a mansion for them, and there is a little girl that is always hiding in her bedroom. Also, working around shoes puts a serious dent in her paycheck.
Fiction: Mystery, Paranormal, Audio Book
This is book two in the series. In this book Betsy is more use to her unique vampire abilities, but there is still bills to pay, so after failing to get unemployment do to the never ending bureaucracy of government programs, she ends up getting her dream job of selling shoes at Macy's. Which only infuriates Sinclair, as the job is below a queen, but that is only the least of her problems. There is a group out killing vampires, there are vampires that resent her being queen, there are vampires that don't think she is queen, there are termites in her house so Jessica rents out a mansion for them, and there is a little girl that is always hiding in her bedroom. Also, working around shoes puts a serious dent in her paycheck.
Tuesday, December 02, 2014
NYR: Update
For those of you that have been keeping track of my NYR (new year's resolution) count you might see that I have read 7 of 12 books that I physically own. Meaning that I only need to read 5 books this month, as well as the 3 library books that I have checked out, and the 1 book that I have just borrowed from a friend. I have started 4 of the 5 books; however, I don't know if I shall ever get around to finishing 1 of them leaving 2 whole books to read and 3 partial. So a completely doable amount of reading: if there wasn't a major holiday this month (with its 4 family get togethers, friend/organizational get togethers, shopping, gift wrapping, baking, decorating, etc.), as well as a cookie walk (that I think I might have been drafted into), normal meetings, classes and events, and the fact that the next time Pat asks when you are free to do something, I really need to point out that I can help out on some of the dates, not every last time I don't have something else making it impossible for me to help out.
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