KDanae Reads

Tis the season for Christmas movies, music, decorations and books. Specifically for country Christmas music and Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Both of which filled my shift at work today. I work at a fitness gym and after getting my cleaning done I usually have a couple hours of reading time while I sit at the front desk. And so I turned on my country Christmas station on Pandora and sat down with Dickens. It was wonderful. Not to mention the fact that every time I looked out the window I felt like I was in a snow-globe. It was seriously wonderful. Now, after I finished Tolkien's The Silmarillion , I was at a complete loss as to what to read next. So I did the practical thing... I got on Facebook and asked everyone to pick a number between 1 and 4. Whichever number had the most votes would be the title I would read next. A Christmas Carol was number 4 and had the most votes. I had never read A Christmas Carol until today. Granted I knew the story from various Christmas movie

I know that most people either gasp and hyper-ventilate, run in fear and agony or jump for joy at the thought of reading Tolkien's The Silmarillion. I know that most people have some very distinct opinions and thoughts on the book, as well as it's interpretation and importance in relation to the rest of his writings. I, on the other hand, don't fall into any of those categories of people. I just fall into the general category of Tolkien Lovers who read for the pure pleasure of his stories and characters. And that didn't change when I tackled and conquered The Silmarillion.  I had tried multiple times before to get through The Silmarillion.  However, this was the first time that I was actually able to finish it and follow it for that matter. As with everything I've read about and from Tolkien, I was amazed at his creativity, style, imagination and capability to transport his readers to a whole other world. The various dimensions and the levels of story that he inc

I am in absolute awe at how fast this year has gone. I sit here by my fire that is now decorated with garland and lights and stockings. And I stare at my twinkling tree and wonder how can it already be December? How can it already be the beginning of the end of another year? I just want time to slow down a little bit. I don't want each day to go by faster than the day before. But yet, I don't have that super-power. So I guess I will just work even harder to enjoy every single minute by the fire with a book or at home on the couch with family or on a car ride with My Love. The last month has been full of travels, reading and illness. My Love was sick for a couple of weeks and then I got sick after him. Then we traveled to the far side of Missouri for a missions conference and then to Indiana for Thanksgiving. And in the middle of all of that we worked and I read a ton, as always.  The majority of what I read this last month was on adoption, foster care, and ministry to at-ri

Well, I have to say I have succeeded in reading a lot for Adoption Awareness month, but not done so well in the writing and sharing my thoughts part. But oh well. Since my last post I have read 5 books that deal with the fatherless, ministry to children, at-risk children and youth and ways the Church can step up and make a difference. Most of them were books that I read a few years ago during some of my missions classes at LCU and some of them are ones I have gotten from various conferences. They were all great reads and I was grateful to refresh my memory of them as I read them with "older" eyes (instead of the eyes of a college student reading just to finish her homework).  One of the best ones I read was by Dr. Wess Stafford, the president of Compassion International. While not a book strictly about adoption,  Too Small to Ignore  is a book written with his story mixed in while giving the facts of what hardships children endure and what the Church can do. He was raise

Well, let's just say that the last two months have been absolutely crazy busy. And even though I have read a ton and almost non-stop, I just have been lazy and not taken the time to sit down, take a break and write. Tonight that changes. I am enjoying the quiet and coolness of the evening while trying to focus on writing.  The last two months have been filled with weddings (4 weekends in a row), church events, trips home, bonfires, post-season Cardinal baseball and lots of work. It's been good. Just very busy. But surprisingly, in the midst of all the busyness, I managed to spend a lot of time reading. In looking back, I really have no idea how I managed to read so much. And I didn't really read small books. Quite a few of them were 350+ pages long and I was breezing right through them, one after another. I enjoyed pretty much everything I read over the last two months and many of them have been added to my re-read list.  This month is Adoption Awareness month. The ty

"Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is undeniably one of the English  language's greatest literary achievements."  ~ Robert W. Hanning ~ I did it! I actually read Chaucer's Canterbury Tales! I read them completely! In both Middle and Modern English! And wow was it interesting, challenging and rewarding.  I had started reading Chaucer back in the early summer, but got bogged down with it and so walked away from it until last week. I picked it up again and breezed through it (not sure what changed... maybe the onset of fall, perhaps?). I read each tale in the Middle English first and then went back and re-read it in Modern English. It was really interesting because I struggled quite a bit with deciphering some of the Middle English spellings. But at the same time, it was rewarding because I was better able to understand the cadence and the rhyme. The Modern English was just as interesting. Especially since sometimes it had to completely change a se

I freely admit that I can be a bit of a nerd sometimes. I love to read and I love to read some of the series that most people think are just for geeks or book-snobs. I love Tolkien and Lewis more than words can describe. Not to mention I have a deep, deep love for Harry Potter and his adventures. I have also grown to love a series by author/musician Andrew Peterson called The Wingfeather Saga . I have anxiously been waiting more than a year for book 4 of Wingfeather to come out. He is still writing it and I can't wait for it to be finished!!! And over the last two weeks I have added 2 more series to my lists of favorites and they would be Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus , both of which are by Rick Riordan. I started reading them after having seen the first Percy Jackson movie about a month ago and then having a conversation about the books with some of our students from church, who then loaned the books to me. I read the first Percy series in about 5

This month I participated in the Austen in August Event and it was great! I enjoyed reading some new books by Miss Jane Austen and getting to read and learn about other people's love for her novels. She is definitely a beloved author and I hope she remains so for years and years to come. Along with reading 3 Austen novels, I was introduced and a bit consumed by the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series by Rick Riordan. Some of our students from church really love the series and loaned them to me. I read all 5 of them in less than a week. When I gave them back to the students they were in shock. They hadn't believed me when I said I could read them in a week. It was a great series and one I am glad I was introduced to. I am not entirely sure what I am going to read this month. I may return to Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen or Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. But who knows. I am now feeling any particular desire for any particular book. So we shall see what the mo

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE! It was my third and final book chosen for the Austen in August event hosted by Roof Beam Reader. I finished it on the last day of August, which I was surprised by because I was sure that I wouldn't be able to finish it before the end of the month due to just too much going on in my week. But I did it! I finished it! And I am so glad that I participated in Austen in August this year. I will definitely do it again next year and read the other 3 major novels Miss Austen wrote and maybe even some of her shorter works. I can officially say that I really love Jane Austen's books and she is definitely one of my favorites now more than ever before. And my favorite novel so far is still Pride and Prejudice without a doubt. Having re-read it after reading Mansfield Park and Emma, the story of Elizabeth and Darcy is still my favorite and one that I just love dearly. I can't help it. I am a hopeless romantic at heart and Darcy is just one of those true gentleman

At first I wasn't too sure if I was going to make it past the first chapter of Emma. I have attempted to read it a few different times, but could just never get past chapter 1. But I am proud to say that not only did I make it past chapter 1, I actually finished the entire book! WOOHOO! I was quite excited and despite having moments of not liking it at all, I did enjoy Emma overall. It didn't make it to the favorites list and probably won't be a re-read for quite some time. But overall, it was a good read and I am glad that I stuck with it. One of the things that I really just couldn't get past or enjoy or appreciate was Emma herself. She was such a silly, petty, gossipy, nosy, young lady. Not to mention rude and ridiculous. I know she was Miss Austen's main character and so I can't rip her a part too much. But my goodness. She drove me crazier than Mrs. Norris in Mansfield Park I think. I just don't have much patience for girls like her. For girls who ar

I finished Jane Austen's Mansfield Park on Sunday and have just now sat down with the intention of writing about my final thoughts of it. I took a day of not starting any new books or do anything book related so that I could just sit, soak in the memories of Mansfield Park and form my thoughts about it for my wrap-up post. In my last post about Mansfield Park I wrote that I was falling in love with the book despite it having so many reviews against it. And I have to say that I finished the book absolutely loving it. While there were moments and characters in particular that drove me crazy and made me want to spit, I loved the story as a whole and Jane Austen's expert way of weaving a story that touches the heart.  It was my second book of Austen's that I have read in its entirety and was definitely worth every minute and even staying up way past my usual bedtime on Sunday to finish. I wrote in my first post about things I loved. The slowness of the story and the cha

I don't know what my problem is, but I am just having a hard time remembering to record and post my reading stats at the end of each month. I feel like I just posted June's and here we are already a good way into August and I haven't posted July's yet. Oh well. Maybe one day I'll get back on track with it.  It's not that I haven't been reading. I've been reading a ton. Maybe too much. Maybe not enough. Who knows. I have been soaking in book after book and as always enjoying reading through my long list of favorite blogs. I just haven't taken the time to stop reading for ten minutes and record my stats. Yes, that sounds incredibly lazy of me. But it's true. And why give up even ten minutes of reading when you are caught up in the middle of an amazing story? That's just silly to me. Oh, and being only 7 months done with the year 2013... I have already read 14 more books and 73 more pages than what I read all of last year. Not too shabby!