This year’s pumpkin carvings: an owl, a cat, a Mario, and an abstract design.
Oct 26, 2010
FIR ’10: Reading Question #5
written by katrina · 36 Comments
After the last reading question….I admit I might be feeling a little intimidated, knowing how many of you disdain the very thought of dog-earring the pages a book! But I did notice that I have a couple fellow rebels. I’m not completely alone in my occasional mistreatment of page corners. 
Ready for this week’s question? Me too.
When you read a book, do you read EVERYTHING? In other words, do you read the dedication, the acknowledgements, the foreword, the afterword, the prologue, the epilogue, the appendices, etc.? Or do you just read the “meat” of the book? Or is your approach somewhere in between?
As for me, I read everything but the index (if there is one), and I admit I’ve been known to scan the index, too.
I start at the beginning and read straight through. Okay, I don’t read every word on the copyright page, but I read everything else. I love to read dedications — I feel like they give me a little glimpse into the author’s mind or heart. I enjoy acknowledgements because they remind me that no author flies completely solo. And I wouldn’t feel like I actually read the entire book if I didn’t read forewords, afterwords, appendices, etc.
I even read the Table of Contents, just so I know what to expect as I go forward.
What about you? Do you start with Chapter 1? Or do read all the extras, too?
Oct 21, 2010
What books cannot do
written by katrina · 13 Comments
In case you haven’t guessed, I like books. All kinds of books. And I like what they can do for me.
I enjoy a well-written novel that can keep me turning pages long past my bedtime, eager to find out what happens next.
I love when a book teaches me something new, fascinating me with details and information I never heard before.
But there’s something else I often want books to do for me:
I want books to fix me.
I have countless books about the craft of writing because I’m sure that one of them is going to turn me into a fantastic writer, or even a published novelist. I regularly pick up parenting books because I’m convinced they’ll give me the “perfect” tools to become a “perfect” parent. I read book after book from the Christian Living section of the bookstore, looking for the key to being more godly, more consistent in my prayer life, more loving, more giving.
The thing is, there’s nothing inherently wrong with reading these books. They can teach me things and they can offer encouragement and practical advice.
But they’re not going to do the hard work for me. They’re not going to change me.
No book is going to instantly transform me into a mom who handles every discipline scenario with perfect wisdom and grace.
No book is going to push me out of bed in the morning and whisper into my ear that I need to start my day in prayer.
No book is going to be my writing task-master, forcing me to put words on paper even when I don’t feel like it.
The books might give me some good ideas, but they’re not going to do the work for me.
(Wouldn’t it be nice, though, if we could read a parenting book before bed, and wake up better parents without any effort on our part?)
I’ve been in denial about this issue, I think. It’s only recently that I admitted to myself that I’m looking for some kind of magic cure when I pick up the latest nonfiction that promises to have all the answers and tactics I need.
And so lately, instead of picking up that book, I’ve been talking to myself, reminding myself that the book — whatever this latest one is — is not going to fix me. There is no instant, magic cure.
But wait, please don’t think I’m ending on this on a depressing note.
There is hope for change and progress…I can hope for improvement in my life, little by little. I just can’t expect it to happen as a result of the small act of reading a few pages.
I need to do a few other things:
- Pray. Ultimately, the most important changes in my life are going to happen through God’s work in my heart and in my life. The things I most need and desire come as a result of the Holy Spirit cultivating them in me. Things like love, joy, patience, self-control. (Sound familiar? See Galatians 5:22-23. I need them all.) I need to pray for God to work in me and I need to nurture my relationship with Him above all else.
- Make the most important Book a priority. There is one book that is not magic, but supernatural. The Bible is “living and active” and because it is the Word of God, it can impact me in ways no other book can. I need to put this book and the things it says above every other book on my shelves.
- Exercise discipline, and apply the things I’ve already learned. Hoping to change and praying for change is foolish if I plan to indulge the same old bad habits and ignore the things I know I need to do. Reading about serving others only gets me so far…at some point, I need to actually get off the couch and serve someone. Reading about writing is nice, but will not help one bit if I don’t put my fingers on the keyboard and write something.
In case you’re my husband and you’re now thinking, “Excellent! Katrina won’t be buying any more books!” I’m afraid you’re wrong. See, I’m not saying that the books I enjoy aren’t good or helpful. I’m just saying that they’re not the ultimate solution to my problems. They’re just a starting place. Or maybe more of an in-between place — somewhere between the desire for change and the change itself.
I might still pick up some of those books. I’ll just be thinking of them a bit differently now.
Oct 20, 2010
One of those perfect evenings
written by katrina · 9 Comments
In this family, our favorite thing to do in the evening is…stay home. (Yes, I know. We’re very exciting.)
We might choose to read, or play games, or watch a DVD together. Or we might each retreat to a different room with a book. But we like to be in our house. Especially as the days grow shorter, we all feel a call to hibernate a bit as evening approaches. We eat dinner together, clean up, and then settle in.
Not every night — there are things we do after dinner, things like church or piano lessons or school functions or errands. But if we have the choice… we like to cozy up inside. It’s just what we do.
Especially me.
So it may have come as a surprise Sunday evening when I asked Chad if he was in the mood to go out. I had been (hopelessly) battling a growing desire for a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks, and it just so happened that it was a warm day, and the leaves around here are in their full autumn splendor. I thought it only made sense to combine those factors into a Grab-a-Coffee-and-Go-For-a-Walk-In-The-Park outing.
Chad quickly agreed and called the kids into the room to let them know we were going out.
“What? We’re going somewhere? Where are we going?” from the tween.
And, “Mom, can you bring some water for me in case I get thirsty?” from the preschooler.
So we headed out. We swung by Starbucks for the aforementioned latte (plus one for my accommodating husband, and a non-coffee frappuccino for the tween), and then parked the car near a local walking trail and started walking.
If you ask me, there is not a more perfect kind of day than a calm Sunday in fall when the temperature climbs to a delightful 68 degrees. We enjoyed exactly that kind of perfection.
Chad picked the ideal trail to walk on — we had the place mostly to ourselves.
The kids initially argued a bit about who was going to be the “leader.” Well, the four-year-old argued. The twelve-year-old just kept walking faster. (Which is a form of arguing, I think.) But eventually, they settled into an agreeable leading-together kind of arrangement.
Chad and I walked together and talked about everything from our kids to church leadership. With the kids bounding off ahead of us, it was practically a date.
Picture the beautiful blazing oranges and reds of fall leaves. Picture a paved walking trail winding through the woods, covered with leaves. Picture sunlight streaming through breaks in the trees.
I’m telling you to picture these things because I didn’t have my camera with me. I have no photos to share. But that’s okay. It wasn’t a really a picture-taking kind of moment, even though it was beautiful and delightful. It was more of a treasure-this-time kind of moment. A be-in-the-moment kind of moment.
The leaves crunched and rustled as we walked. The warmth of the day lingered, keeping us comfortable.
Before we knew it, we had made the loop and were back at the car. Our timing was perfect because L.(4) had just announced his desire to go home. He’d had enough walking.
::
Yes, we like to stay home. But every once in a while, it’s important to not do that. To be a little spontaneous, to take advantage of a perfect day. To do something different.
And to love every minute of it.
Oct 19, 2010
FIR ’10: Reading Question #4
written by katrina · 46 Comments
Hello, fellow readers! I loved reading about your eating-while-reading habits last week.
Can you believe we are almost one month into Fall Into Reading 2010? I hope your reading is going well and that you’re making progress on your fall reading list. I’m actually doing pretty well this time around — I’ve already read 5 out of the 12 books on my list, plus an additional book that was not on my list. I know that 6 books in a month is no big deal to some of you, but it’s pretty substantial for me!
Now for this week’s question…
Do you ever dog-ear the corners of book pages to mark your spot? Or are you a faithful bookmark user, refusing to damage the pages of your books? OR do you have another way to keep track of where you are in a book?
I will say that I want to be a faithful bookmark user, but in reality…that doesn’t always happen. Though I have purchased or received more than my fair share of bookmarks, it seems I am always losing them or misplacing them…or just not able to find one when I need it. When that happens, here’s what I do:
- If I’m reading a paperback book that I own, I admit — I dog-ear the page. Yes, it’s true. I used to leave the book face-down, pages spread open to the place I left off, bending the spine backward. I took that approach for years, but finally decided that my mother was right, and that there were better options for keeping track of the page I’m on.
- If I’m reading a hardcover book (whether it belongs to me or not) OR a paperback that belongs to the library or to someone else, I find some random object to stand in as a replacement bookmark. It might be a slip of paper, a $1 bill, a receipt, an index card, or any other flat, suitable stand-in. Right now, I’m using a frequent-buyer’s card from the local pizza shop in one book, and someone’s business card in another.
I don’t know what it is about hardcover books, but I hate to dog-ear those pages, whereas I really don’t hesitate to dog-ear the pages of a paperback if I have no bookmark handy. Along those lines, I’ve also been known to dog-ear pages where I find a good quote or something I want to re-read at a later date (this is almost always in non-fiction books).
What about you? Do your books have dog-eared pages or are they pristine due to your commitment to using bookmarks?
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