My latest reads

If the girls will give me enough time to write this, I wanted to put up reviews of the most recent books I've read. Lately I've had to have a book in my hands or listen to one in the car during my "free" time. I read a book while working out on our exercise bike and listen to one while running errands in the car. At some point I have three or four books going at a time, including one that Eric and I read together. Anyway, here are the three most recent.

My Antonia by Willa Cather

The time when kids could run around free in the great outdoors, you could build a home with your bare hands, and one could immigrate from another country with nothing and build up a decent living is the world during My Antonia. In the world of suburbs now with locked doors and privacy fences, I can't imagine living on a farm out in the unbroken plains. A lot is different, but a lot is the same such as society hierarchy and cultural clans that come out in the book.

I was particularly struck by a section where Cather describes the townspeople's prejudice against the Bohemian girls. She claimed they all thought "All foreigners were ignorant people who couldn't speak English." Later she says "To-day (many years later) the best that a harassed Black Hawk merchant can hope for is to sell provisions and farm machinery and automobiles to the rich farms where that first crop of stalwart Bohemian and Scandinavian girls are now mistresses." This section reminded me of an article I read recently about middle-class students who have an entitlement complex while the immigrant students work hard for everything they get and will probably be more successful in life like the Bohemian girls in My Antonia. Here's the link to the article.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-03-07-forum-students_x.htm

All in all, I recommend this book as it's a quick read, well-written, and will bring you into a world not too far distant from our own.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Here's another book that took me into a different world even though the time frame was during my lifetime. That different world is known as Afghanistan. My view of Afghanistan is a blossomless desert where terrorists reign. At the beginning of the book, Kabul is actually a bustling city with greenery and peace. Kids can run kites and actually enjoy themselves. After the Russians invade, all goes downhill for twenty years even after they leave. I guess the culture of Afghanistan has many different sects and the racial cleansing that occurred in Serbia happened there. I don't know why I didn't know how bad the Taliban were, I must have been caught up in my college studies while they were in power but I'm glad they're out now. Hopefully that country can have some peace and prosperity where children can have a childhood.

Back to the book. The boy who tells this story immigrates to America with his father after the Russians invaded and then he goes back to Afghanistan many years later to find all the places in his memories in shambles. The Afghanistan he grew up in no longer exists. I liked this story and even though it was fiction, it is based somewhat on real-life events and opened my eyes to things going on in the other side of the world.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audree Niffenegger

This book has an interested twist on the time travel quandary. The main character has a chromosome disorder that makes him time travel without any control to times in his own life. Nothing he does while time travel affects the events of the past, present, or future (unlike Back to the Future) as everything is a closed loop and will happen as it's supposed to. Interesting story line, a little hard to follow at times because it jumps back and forth as you'd expect a time traveling book to. I probably wouldn't recommend this book because it has way to many sexual references.

So there you go, my two bits worth on a few more books.

More Pictures

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. This past week the girls got some not so nice colds and then I lost my voice and Eric got a cold too. It's also still cold outside, when will spring be here? I guess the groundhog said March 20. I'm all ready to get running again and start my garden.

My latest book--Tess of the D'Urbervilles. I liked it but I don't recommend it for guys, they just wouldn't understand. Now I'm reading My Antonia. In my reading this morning, a character mentioned the Mormons. I guess according to Nebraskans, the first Mormons on their trek west to Utah from Missouri (the author mixed up Missouri and Illinois I suppose) spread sunflower seeds along the trail for those coming in the spring to follow.

Enjoy the pictures!




Who's the real baby? Elizabeth brought the dolls over to Rachel and I couldn't miss the great picture opportunity.














Cougar Blue, Through & Through!
Future BYU Graduates?
We must keep the tradition in the family.