I sit all amazed

This is our book club book for this month. It is a short read and very good. This is the story of Steve Mikita's conversion to the LDS church and his struggle with life in a wheel chair. His perseverance is incredible. This book reminds me of how good my life is. This man has had such a difficult life, and is so positive! He shows that you really can do anything you set your mind to, no matter the circumstances.

The winter of our disconnect

THis is one of my all time favorite resources. This story is a true story about a mother who pulls the plug on all screens in her home, as a research project for this book. She then studies and documents so much research on technology in our homes and how it affects our children. It is truly fascinating I read it all with a highlighter. I want to look and read all the studies that she quotes from. I think this should be a must read for parents. It was an eye opener for me, and we are a home with no cable and limited screen times. This would be a great book for book clubs.

The Glass Castle

This is one of the few books I have read twice. I read it about 3 years ago, then after reading Half-Broke Horses, I had to read it again. I was hoping the second time it would be less disturbing after knowing a little more background. I was wrong. It was still just as disturbing. This is a true story written about the author's childhood in extreme poverty. She spent her childhood with a crazy mother, and a drunk father. They moved from place to place until she was 12 and they settled in a small town in West Virginia. Food was rare, as was clothing or heat. The most disturbing part of this book for me was the choices made by her parents. It was self imposed poverty. The mother owned a 2 carat diamond, and a house. She also inherited property worth a million dollars, with oil rights. She had a college education, and inherited a large sum of money when her parents died. She had more given to her than most people accumulate in a life time, and yet she still choose to let her children starve and freeze. After reading how hard it was for the mothers family, and how she was raised (in Half -Broke Horses) it has really made me ponder the whole nature vs. nurture. It is a hard to read story but it is one of the most well written and thought provoking stories I have ever read.

Half Broke Horses

My new favorite book of the week. This is a True story written as a novel. If you have ever Read the book "Glass Castle" then you will already be familiar with the characters. This is about her grandmother. It is not hard to read like the "glass Castle" is. This is not a story of abuse or neglect. This is a story of an amazing women that lived 100 life times during her life. She started breaking horses at 5. She lived through drought, floods, tornado's, prohibition, womens rights, and the depression. She never lost hope, her story is one of pure inspiration. I could not put it down. This is a wonderful, wonderful book. A must read.

Mao's Last Dancer

This book was our book club book for this month. It is kind of difficult to find at stores (at least here). So you may want to check out Amazon. There are also 2 versions of this story. One is an Adult version, one is a young adult. The Adult one has more history, and is about 200 pages longer. I read the young adult and kind of want the other one just for more info.
This story is a biography of a boy that grew up in China under the reign of Mao. It talks about the cultural revolution in China from the perspective of an 11 year old. He was then trained in ballet, and found a way out of communism. It is very well written. Lots of history. It is also being made into a movie. It is a rare glimpse into that country.