Tea & A Good Book Brewing- Installment 8, Family Favorites
Seeing as this is the week of Thanksgiving, I thought it would be appropriate to feature a book with pilgrims and turkeys... or at least some sweet, nostalgic story that would ring true to the season. Unfortunately, it was not to be! My own shelves were bare and even a search at the library was relatively fruitless. I found different books that had turkey labels on their spines, signifying that they are Thanksgiving books, but none of them took my fancy or held special meaning to me.
For the first time since I began my Tuesday book reviews, I was coming up dry. Not a good feeling on a busy week when I didn't have extra time to search or be creative!
So, instead of featuring a book about Thanksgiving, I thought I would ask my family (and myself) a question: What is a book you are thankful for?
And here are the answers:
Wesley had a bit of a decision crisis, but eventually settled on the author, C.S Lewis! He says he likes his allegories because they help you to think outside the box about life and the Christian experience. You'll have to take it from him! I am a bit shamefaced to admit this, but I've never taken to C.S. Lewis (sorry, Piper, and other fans of this author!) I am hoping that maybe once I have children old enough to enjoy his books that I might "grow into them" as well!
Wesley especially enjoyed the Space Trilogy, and they are the ones he has read most recently.
I made things a bit easier for myself by choosing a favorite author as well! I have loved Elisabeth Elliot for quite a few years now and have managed to procure a stack of 13 of her books on my bookshelf; some from friends, some castoffs, one of Wesley's and some I actually bought for myself when a particular book spoke to a particular need in my life. I must admit that I haven't read all of them, at least not in their entirety, but writing about them and remembering the source of encouragement and inspiration they have been to me in the past has motivated me to read more of them again.
One of my favorites is These Strange Ashes, a personal account of Elisabeth's first year as a missionary. Most of us who have ever been involved in mission work or outreach will face loss and times when we wonder why "ashes" are all we have to show for our work. This book helps to gain some perspective as we realize again WHO it is we are serving. Throughout the book, there are some poems featured by Amy Carmichael (who also happens to be a favorite of mine!) and she wrote the lines of the poem from which this book gets it's name:
But these strange ashes, Lord, this nothingness,
This baffling sense of loss?
Son, was the anguish of my stripping less
Upon the torturing cross?
Was I not brought into the dust of death,
A worm and no man, I;
Yea, turned to ashes by the vehement breath
Of fire, on Calvary?
O Son beloved, this is thy heart’s desire:
This, and no other thing
Follows the fall of Consuming Fire
On the burnt offering.
Go on and taste the joy set high, afar -
No joy like that to thee;
See how it lights the way like some great star.
Come now, and follow Me.
- Amy Carmichael
When asked what book she is thankful for, Elasa went immediately to the bookshelf and chose a book that we brought home from the library yesterday.
Meet Rebecca is a part of the American Girl series. It is one I never read, so I must say that I am enjoying it as well! I loved the American Girls growing up, particularly Samantha, Kirsten and Addy, but now there are quite a few "new" girls and I have the fun of getting to know them alongside my little girl!
Rebecca is a Jewish girl growing up in New York City in 1914, so the books hold some culture and history that is especially fascinating to me.
The third book in the series, Candlelight for Rebecca, is about Rebecca and her family celebrating Hanukkah, so by the time we get to that book, it will be seasonal as well...an added bonus!
After several vetoed books, Gavin chose Look-Alikes Christmas, by Joan Steiner. It was a good choice! These books, of which there is a nice variety, are fascinating because the author created miniature scenes out of surprising and amazing things, and the longer you look, the more you see! Grandma's apron is a dollar bill, a rooftop is made out of cinnamon sticks, a girl's hair is a silk tassel, the shower in the dollhouse is an upside-down glass, a doll buggy is a tape dispenser! Talk about someone using their imagination!!! My children love to pour over the pages and by times I enjoy pouring with them! They like me to read the little rhymes on each page spread so they can find the answer to the riddles within the pictures.
I'll just have to tell you straight out that I chose a book for Parker! But it is one he loves, not just one I want him to love!!! Saying that Parker is "into" books right now is an understatement! He brings books to me constantly...and then wants to look at the same pages and hear the same phrases over and over...and over..and over...and over!!! Well, you get the point!
Freight Train by Donald Crews, is fun to read and fun to look at. It is colorful and simple as a child's book should be, yet kind of powerful and haunting in an amazing way for a little board book. In other words, as Parker would say, "I like it!"
On top of the many books which I have to be thankful for (those read in the past , the ones I am currently enjoying and the ones I am looking forward to!) I am so very thankful for literacy. When I stop and think about where I would be if I couldn't read, I shudder.
So just maybe I could stretch myself to imagine life without novels and story books, but what about seeing favorite verses jump off the page when reading the Bible? What about figuring out new recipes and writing shopping lists and knowing what the warning message on the highway is saying? What about reading the instructions on a pattern or on how to hang up the curtain rods? What about writing checks and reading the fine print on the credit card bill? The list could go on, of course, but it just makes me so very thankful to go about my day reading so often and with so little thought.
It also makes me extra thankful for the privilege of teaching Elasa how to read! The work of making words come out of the jumble of letters on the page may seem mundane, but when I stop to think about the precious set of keys I am handing my daughter that will enable her to unlock so much of life, I am thrilled with the joy of it all!!! Less than a year ago she couldn't read at all...now she is reading out of her Bible- and the King James Version at that!!!
Amazing.
And something so easy to take for granted in our country, our community, our sheltered home.
Indeed, on top of a warm house and food and plenty of clothes, I have this to be thankful for: when I go to make my cranberry salad for Thanksgiving dinner, I am going to be able to read the recipe.
And if I know anything, Elasa will be right there beside me...helping to read it!
For the first time since I began my Tuesday book reviews, I was coming up dry. Not a good feeling on a busy week when I didn't have extra time to search or be creative!
So, instead of featuring a book about Thanksgiving, I thought I would ask my family (and myself) a question: What is a book you are thankful for?
And here are the answers:
Wesley had a bit of a decision crisis, but eventually settled on the author, C.S Lewis! He says he likes his allegories because they help you to think outside the box about life and the Christian experience. You'll have to take it from him! I am a bit shamefaced to admit this, but I've never taken to C.S. Lewis (sorry, Piper, and other fans of this author!) I am hoping that maybe once I have children old enough to enjoy his books that I might "grow into them" as well!
Wesley especially enjoyed the Space Trilogy, and they are the ones he has read most recently.
I made things a bit easier for myself by choosing a favorite author as well! I have loved Elisabeth Elliot for quite a few years now and have managed to procure a stack of 13 of her books on my bookshelf; some from friends, some castoffs, one of Wesley's and some I actually bought for myself when a particular book spoke to a particular need in my life. I must admit that I haven't read all of them, at least not in their entirety, but writing about them and remembering the source of encouragement and inspiration they have been to me in the past has motivated me to read more of them again.
One of my favorites is These Strange Ashes, a personal account of Elisabeth's first year as a missionary. Most of us who have ever been involved in mission work or outreach will face loss and times when we wonder why "ashes" are all we have to show for our work. This book helps to gain some perspective as we realize again WHO it is we are serving. Throughout the book, there are some poems featured by Amy Carmichael (who also happens to be a favorite of mine!) and she wrote the lines of the poem from which this book gets it's name:
But these strange ashes, Lord, this nothingness,
This baffling sense of loss?
Son, was the anguish of my stripping less
Upon the torturing cross?
Was I not brought into the dust of death,
A worm and no man, I;
Yea, turned to ashes by the vehement breath
Of fire, on Calvary?
O Son beloved, this is thy heart’s desire:
This, and no other thing
Follows the fall of Consuming Fire
On the burnt offering.
Go on and taste the joy set high, afar -
No joy like that to thee;
See how it lights the way like some great star.
Come now, and follow Me.
- Amy Carmichael
When asked what book she is thankful for, Elasa went immediately to the bookshelf and chose a book that we brought home from the library yesterday.
Meet Rebecca is a part of the American Girl series. It is one I never read, so I must say that I am enjoying it as well! I loved the American Girls growing up, particularly Samantha, Kirsten and Addy, but now there are quite a few "new" girls and I have the fun of getting to know them alongside my little girl!
Rebecca is a Jewish girl growing up in New York City in 1914, so the books hold some culture and history that is especially fascinating to me.
The third book in the series, Candlelight for Rebecca, is about Rebecca and her family celebrating Hanukkah, so by the time we get to that book, it will be seasonal as well...an added bonus!
After several vetoed books, Gavin chose Look-Alikes Christmas, by Joan Steiner. It was a good choice! These books, of which there is a nice variety, are fascinating because the author created miniature scenes out of surprising and amazing things, and the longer you look, the more you see! Grandma's apron is a dollar bill, a rooftop is made out of cinnamon sticks, a girl's hair is a silk tassel, the shower in the dollhouse is an upside-down glass, a doll buggy is a tape dispenser! Talk about someone using their imagination!!! My children love to pour over the pages and by times I enjoy pouring with them! They like me to read the little rhymes on each page spread so they can find the answer to the riddles within the pictures.
I'll just have to tell you straight out that I chose a book for Parker! But it is one he loves, not just one I want him to love!!! Saying that Parker is "into" books right now is an understatement! He brings books to me constantly...and then wants to look at the same pages and hear the same phrases over and over...and over..and over...and over!!! Well, you get the point!
Freight Train by Donald Crews, is fun to read and fun to look at. It is colorful and simple as a child's book should be, yet kind of powerful and haunting in an amazing way for a little board book. In other words, as Parker would say, "I like it!"
On top of the many books which I have to be thankful for (those read in the past , the ones I am currently enjoying and the ones I am looking forward to!) I am so very thankful for literacy. When I stop and think about where I would be if I couldn't read, I shudder.
So just maybe I could stretch myself to imagine life without novels and story books, but what about seeing favorite verses jump off the page when reading the Bible? What about figuring out new recipes and writing shopping lists and knowing what the warning message on the highway is saying? What about reading the instructions on a pattern or on how to hang up the curtain rods? What about writing checks and reading the fine print on the credit card bill? The list could go on, of course, but it just makes me so very thankful to go about my day reading so often and with so little thought.
It also makes me extra thankful for the privilege of teaching Elasa how to read! The work of making words come out of the jumble of letters on the page may seem mundane, but when I stop to think about the precious set of keys I am handing my daughter that will enable her to unlock so much of life, I am thrilled with the joy of it all!!! Less than a year ago she couldn't read at all...now she is reading out of her Bible- and the King James Version at that!!!
Amazing.
And something so easy to take for granted in our country, our community, our sheltered home.
Indeed, on top of a warm house and food and plenty of clothes, I have this to be thankful for: when I go to make my cranberry salad for Thanksgiving dinner, I am going to be able to read the recipe.
And if I know anything, Elasa will be right there beside me...helping to read it!
Thank you for the interesting book reviews. I too am very grateful for books and the ability to read. Last night we went to the library and stocked up on books. I was slightly embarrassed at the check-out by how many books we had gotten!! Five children who all love books!!
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