Mom's February Share

My Continuing Religion Education. -

One book that really educated me in religion was Cleon Skousen's THE FIRST 2000 YEARS. It was a great education on biblical writings of the Old Testament and one that I would refer to several times, giving answers to many scriptural questions and insights into the history of the ancient biblical texts and world. Dad and I read it together while in Mexico and went on to read the 3RD THOUSAND YEARS.  Reading these books not only brought the ancient world alive to me and helped me in my desire to strengthen my testimony concerning the writings of the prophets of old. I look forward to continuing my religious education by reading the 4TH THOUSAND YEARS when we get home from China.

I will confess, I did not read all of JESUS THE CHRIST by James E. Talmage. I started to read it and then Cody loaned me his book on tape to finish it as I drove to John's Birthday Celebration in April of 2013. What an Amazing study of the Savior, his life and teachings. I am convinced now that I need to go back and read the tome so I can study the footnotes and the information contained therein. 

Skye's February Share

It was so very difficult to narrow this list down. There are so many books I love and that I want everyone to read, but the list was quite extensive. I decided to just list those books that made a significant impact on my life:

1. How to Be Totally Miserable: A Self Hinder Book by John Bytheway
  A rather simple and silly book, it was instrumental in pulling me out of the grips of depression in my early teen years by helping me realize just how stupid and inconsequential my problems, and the people causing them, really were.

2. Be Your Best Self by Thomas S. Monson
This book made such an impact on my life at a very young age (16, I think) and has been a sort of personal guide in the years since. Plus it contains that characteristic charm and optimism that President Monson has made his trademark.

3. The Lives and Travels of Mormon & Moroni by Jerry L. Ainsworth
This book really made The Book of Mormon come alive to me. As a teenager, the scriptures could at times seem dry and tedious, but after reading this book I read them with renewed interest and curiosity.

4. Favorite Quotations From the Collection of Thomas S. Monson by Thomas S. Monson
Oh goodness what would I do without this book? Not only did I get probably 75% of my favorite quotes from this book, I've used it for everything from classroom presentations and essays to lesson plans to Sacrament meeting talks. It contains great lines from historians, literature, film, scripture, and of course, President Monson himself. An excellent resource that, I think, should be in everyone's library.

February Share Topic - LDS Nonfiction

History, biography, memoir, doctrine, journals, teachings, etc.

A new idea...

I had an idea today and thought I'd run it by y'all.
When we started this book club over five years ago, we were in a very different place. Between the six of us we had a grand total of 8 children. That number has more than doubled to 18 with number 19 making an appearance in a few weeks. With the exception of Shiloh (because let's face it, does it really change that much once you get past six kids?), we have more distractions and demands now than we had then. We aren't the same group we were 5+ years ago so maybe it's time to try a new format.
Here is my proposal:
We choose a book to read for the months of January, March, May, July, September, and November. The discussion can stay active for the month following and people have a little more time to read and finish. On the other months - February, April, June, August, October, December - we have a theme (ie: running) and we all select a book or two that we have read relating to that topic (example: Shiloh can write about her Girl Runner book or Chi Running, Cali could post about Run or Die or Born to Run, etc.) and make a short post about it. This gives us a chance to share books we've read with others as well as provide a resource for each of us in the future. Say Cami is sitting around bored and decides she's in the mood for an historical fiction set in the regency era. She can go to the blog and see what books others have suggested and voila! she has a new book to read.
Perhaps I am the only one feeling overwhelmed at this time and if that is so then we can keep the old format if you prefer. Let me know what y'all think.

We have A Duty to Discuss this book

So What did you think about A Duty to the Dead?  Like I said I enjoyed it.  Probably because it was different from most of the books I've been reading lately.  I liked that it was a mystery and even though it wash;t hard to figure out who did it, enjoyed trying to figure out why as well as what else he had done.  I also liked the historical setting.  It's easier to understand how things go unsolved or unchallenged when you understand the time period.  I liked Bess' character and thought she and the doctor would make a great match, but I guess I'll have to keep reading her series to see if she finds her man.