From the Family Bookshelf

Is it possible a month has passed since my last From the Family Bookshelf column appeared? I swear it couldn’t have, but the last one is dated September 21st, so I guess time slipped away from me.

All of us have been busy. Swimming lessons and dance lessons have started. Dad has been working like crazy. I have been up to my eyeballs with promoting my first children’s book, Little Shepherd, coordinating book tours, and reading. Not to mention family stuff.

Dad finally finished Vince Flynn’s The Third Option. Now he is reading Prince Caspian, which is part of The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis. Though I have seen various movie adaptations of this book and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, I’ve never read the books. We have the set here, so I’ll have to change that one day.

The Lil Diva is back to reading thanks to school. She read Ginger the Stray Kitten by Holly Webb again. She’s also read a couple of books on Justin Bieber and one on the Jonas Brothers. Just think of what she’ll be like in five years if she’s already into teenage pop stars now. She is currently reading Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. We saw a stage production of Charlotte’s Web while we were in North Carolina. She came home wanting to read the book, but hasn’t gotten around to it until now.

The Lil Princess is reading anything and everything. We’re on our second round of Pink Princess Rules the Schoo l by Alyssa Crowne. She has brought home books from her school library every week since it opened. This week she has a nonfiction book about puppies. She’s hoping we buy her Green Princess Saves the Day, also by Crowne. Green is her favorite color.

As for me, little ole Mom, I’ve been reading and reading and reading. I just finished Invisible Path by Marilyn Meredith.  This is the latest book in her Deputy Tempe Crabtree series. Marilyn is going on a virtual book tour with this book next month.

I also recently finished A Despicable Profession by John Knoerle, a post-WWII spy thriller, and the legal thriller, Buying Time by Pamela Samuels Young. Both books are excellent and I would highly recommend them.  Before those two I read:

The Lil Princess and I also plowed through a box of books from tiger tales. These books are all part of their Fall/Winter collection. You’ll see review coming for them soon. Last night I polished off the award-winning  Call Me Kate by Molly Roe. This is a young adult historical. I began reading Saving Max by Antoinette van Heugten.

That’s it for this issue of From the Family Bookshelf. Until next time, keep reading!

From the Family Bookshelf

It doesn’t seem possible that three weeks has passed since my July From the Family Bookshelf post, but it has. We celebrated the Lil Diva’s birthday yesterday by adding another furry creature to our crazy home. She had been asking for a kitten for a few years and I finally broke down and decided it would be okay to add a little kitty to this chaos. Well, except that I doubled my trouble by letting the Lil Princess adopt one too. As of tomorrow there will be five cats and four people living here.

I swear summer just started, but the girls return to school in 14 weekdays. The Lil Princess met her goal for the library’s “Go Green” summer reading program. In addition to the many weekly prizes she received, both girls got to attend a roller skating party to celebrate the readers who met their goals. It won’t surprise me if the Lil Princess decides to do it again next year.

While I won’t list the 27 books she read, the last couple were The Adventure of Oliver the Clownfish books by Stephanie Guzman, which we reviewed here.

Dad came home from North Carolina reading Vince Flynn’s The Third Option. This is a counterterrorism thriller. I like these kinds of books too, but they’re not my favorite. He’s still reading this one. He hopes maybe this weekend he might get more than five minutes to sit down with it.

The Lil Diva is trying to hold onto summertime play by not reading. Regular reading will pick up as soon as she starts school, so I’m not too worried.

I, on the other hand, have been a reading wizard. If you stop by The Book Connection, you’ll see I’ve posted several reviews. This list doesn’t include any books I mentioned in July’s post:

Drawing Strength from the Names of God by Catherine Martin (Christian living)

Drawn to the Land: The Romance of Farming by Elizabeth and Barton Cockey (historical nonfiction picture book)

The Big Ten of Grammar by William B. Bradshaw, PhD (reference)

For the King by Catherine Delors (historical novel set in Napoleonic Paris)

A Woman’s Heart That Dances: Keeping in Step with God’s Design for You by Catherine Martin

My reviews for When Love Ends and the Ice Cream Carton is Empty by Jackie M. Johnson (Christian relationship book) and Healing with Words: A Writer’s Cancer Journey (memoir) by Diana M. Raab will be posted at The Book Connection on August 17th and 24th, respectively. I am currently reading Paula Deen’s Savannah Style and The Chill of Night by James Hayman.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this latest edition of From the Family Bookshelf. Until next time, keep reading!