My Favorite Authors

I just wanted to show a little love to some of my favorite authors. If you follow me on Goodreads, you will see these names often. Follow the links and take a look of some of their titles. You will not be disappointed.


Joshilyn Jackson

Dan Brown

Neil Gaiman

Dr. Henry Cloud

Favorite Books of 2014 (So Far...)

If you have been following me for a while or you pay attention to those little badges on the side of the blog, you will know that I have set a 100 book challenge for the calendar year. I've set the same goal for the past three years and have yet to make it, but this is my year!!! I promise you it is.

Currently, I am sitting at 55 books read for the year and I thought this would be a good time to check in and share my favorites so far. This year, I have not been posting regular reviews here on the blog but you can always find them over on my Goodreads. This has been a fantastic year so far and I am looking forward to the next 45 (or more) selections.

So these, in no particular order, are my favorite 5 books for the year so far. I rated all of these 5 out of 5 stars so they come highly recommended from me to you. As always, I must say that I consume books in traditional print, electronic and audio format. The links below are just what is convenient to pull and not indicative of how I read the book.

Animal Farm by George Orwell

This was such a timely read for me. The crazy antics on the farm reflected all too well some of the nonsense I was seeing at work. This book really makes you think about the politics and popularity of life.

How to Stay Motivated-Developing the Qualities of Success by Zig Ziglar

This was another timely read for me. I have hit a rough patch in life and career this year and I was in need of some counseling. Well, you don't get any better than Zig. This was the kind of boost that I needed because it forced me to stop looking at the problems so much and start focusing on myself and what I could get out of this. I needed a refocus so I could reflect more on God and less of the "man" principles I was seeing before me daily.

This journey is not just about being at the top of my game, but about being over the top. I, April Corbett, will be over the top when I stand in front of the Creator of the universe and He says to me, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." I hope to see you all over the top.

Inferno by Dan Brown

It's art and intrigue and mystery and all the things that make Dan Brown's world magical. He knocked it out of the park again and I can guarantee you this one will also be a knock out movie.

Let's Just Say It Wasn't Pretty by Diane Keaton

It's hard to imagine anyone telling Diane Keaton she was not good enough. This was a nice, down to earth, reality check for those that think some of the big names had things magically fall into their laps.

Necessary Endings by Dr. Henry Cloud

I have to say this is the most impactful read for me this year. As I said before, this has been a tough year and I finally had to take a step back and evaluate some things and determine what it was time to let go of. Divorce was one of the biggest necessary endings that I had to face and now I am walking away from a job position and city so I can get back to a place of health. I knew what had to be done, but I needed an extra push to get me to make the final decision. This book was that push.


I hope you enjoy these reads. If these have hit your shelf already, I would love to know what you think.

Book Diet Update

I thought it was about time to follow up on my self imposed book diet.

A year ago, I surveyed my book collected and realized I had 199 books in my collection that I had been given or bought but had not yet read.

My solution was to go on a book diet and make a goal to read 100 books during the calendar year. Of course, that would make my diet two years in duration before I can really buy again.

Even with the diet,  I did manage to add some books to my collection. I'm a sucker for used books stores and I did a little clean out of my mother's shelves of books.

And I really couldn't pass up picking these books up from the box of free books in the laundry room of the apartment building.

If you follow me on Goodreads, then you know I actually managed to read and review 61 books during the during the 2012 calendar year. I wish I could say this year was off to a good start, but work has me doing nothing but work.

For now, I'm using the Kindle app on my phone to read during my lunch breaks so I'm only up to 5 book read for the year so far.

I don't have the heart to re-count my unread books just yet, but my book diet continues and my reading challenge has been renewed for 2013. Let's see how close to 100 books we get this year.

You with me?

The Last of the Books (Part 2)

Finishing up 2012. You can find Part 1 here. Happy Reading!

 For Colored Girls

 

I have not seen this on stage. I have not seen the movie. I had never heard of it until the controversy of who was directing the movie surfaced. I don’t know how this passed me by considering how many plays I attended in college, but I attended a predominantly white university in the south. I can’t say thing has ever been shown on campus. It was an interview with the author that made me want to read the play. I read his on the Kindle, which is probably a mistake, as the formatting doesn’t line up correctly to what you would see with the printed play. That in conjunction with the dialect makes the piece difficult to get into. Also, the formatting changes about 40% (or so) into it so you get jarred almost a the point where you were able to get into the pacing of the dialogue. This is one of those pieces that really has the potential to make a big impact on you when you are young. Being older and wiser, I know these voices. I have seen these women; I have been some of these women. But twenty-year-old me or even seventeen-year-old me really could have learned so much from this. The most jarring and important point that was made was that while looking out for that stranger that would come along to rape us, we were unaware of the familiar faces, sometimes even of family, that would take on that role in our lives. And nowadays, our sons need to be given this same message; familiar predators are just as much a part of a boy’s life as it is a girl’s.

Lost Symbol

 

I am a huge Dan Brown fan and this book did not disappoint me at all. The mix of history, drama, mystery and intrigue are fascinating and I am constantly amazed at what this man’s mind can come up with. With other Dan Brown titles that I read, I kept up on the controversy surrounding it. It baffles me to see how upset the church (Catholic and otherwise) and the academics get at what I see as purely fiction. It is true that some pieces can be seen as historical fiction, but you have to take these reads as entertainment only and rely on established reference books for all the rest. Although, you can definitely find references to support whatever theory that suits your fancy. I did not look into the controversy surrounding the Lost Symbol, but sure there was plenty as Dan Brown has become a magnet for it. As fictional entertainment, I give this book high marks.

 Quitter

 

I was given this book at Blissdom 2012. Jon Acuff was one of the keynote speakers and the audience was given complimentary signed copies. Jon is such a great, great speaker and I was very much excited to read his book. I was not able to get to it immediately and I think that may have served to my advantage. It’s difficult to really give an honest opinion of a read so soon after having such an inspirational speech by the author. I am quite sure he hypnotized us all. With that said, this is still a very good book. It is very inspirational and gives very good tips and steps for preparing yourself to leave the job you have and step into the job/future that you want. What is really important to me is that Jon really stresses biblical responsibility. I am an engineer and I do enjoy being an engineer but I do feel like I’m meant to do something else…in time. One thing I an not crazy enough to do is step out without a plan or without a financial safety net. Jon’s path was not always well thought out, but he learned from it and is passing on those lessons to us. It’s hard for me to pinpoint exactly where this book fails for me, but something just doesn’t settle well. I will re-read this in the next year and update my review afterwards. I do recommend this for anyone that is actively dreaming of doing something else. Read it, revisit it, pray over it and be spiritually responsible about it.

 The Bookshop
 
 

I don’t remember what used bookstore I picked this book up from, but I’m so glad I did. This is an over-the-pond book set somewhere in England, which is an instant draw for me. I don’t know why I love all things British, but I do. And it involves a quaint little bookshop, which is an additional plus for me. I’m working right now in a very small town of about 2700 people and in a small town everyone knows everyone and everyone is in everyone’s business. This book was right along those lines. What is a person to do when the affluent in the town plot against them? There are still places in this world and definitely in this country just like this and I enjoyed seeing how the bookstore owner dealt with it all, although I think I would have been more forceful. Very quick read and I highly recommend it for the more open-culture-minded of us. (yes, I made up a new term) I do have friends to whom only American literature appeals so I wouldn’t recommend this to them.

 Lethal Legacy

 

 I love a good detective mystery but I have never really read them. My love for the genre has been rooted in tv shows and movies but I never really thought to read them. I feel very short sighted in saying that, but it may be because so many detective stories are derivative, even while maintaining their entertainment value. I could not predict the outcome of this story and that was quite intriguing to me. There were several twists turns that took me by surprise without being so over the top that I started to see the writing as implausible.

Five Little Pigs

 

I love Agatha Christie but I have never actually read any Agatha Christie books! A shame, I know! There is nothing new I could say about Agatha Christie. I am so late to game on reading her books, so I will leave the in depth reviews to others. What I can say is that I really enjoyed the story line and premise of the book. The tie in with the childhood story was very clever for the time this book was written. I will be moving on to read more Agatha Christie titles. I see a book/movie marathon in my future.

The Last of the Books (Part 1)

I did not reach my goal of reading 100 books in the 2012 calendar year, but I did get quite close. I finished out 2012 having read 61 books and I think that is pretty damned impressive!

Before I set any goals for 2013, I do want to post reviews and recaps of what I have read in this year. There were some really awesome reads that I can’t help but share again. According to my Goodreads profile which I am using to track my progress, I have quite a few selections that I have not reviewed, so this post will spill over and become two or more posts.

Enjoy and please comment and let me know how you did on your reading this year and if you plan to set any reading goals in the coming year. All books pictures and links provided are from Amazon, where I am an affiliate, but please support the book seller of your choice.

 

Some Sing, Some Cry

This book is too long! It is so hard to review this book beyond that. This is an historical fiction but it is written in heavy dialect and that makes it a little exhausting. I did listen to this through my Audible subscription and I really enjoyed the speech and singing of the narrator, but even she can only carry this book so far. It’s just too long. It follows several generations of a mulatto family, but I can’t tell you the point or outcome of this book. It’s just too long and not interesting enough to pull me to the end. I gave up on it. Maybe I’ll revisit it again in the far away future. It’s just too long. 


The Time Traveler’s Wife

 

I’ve seen the movie and the concept intrigued me so I really wanted to read the book. Having seen the movie prior and listening to the Audible version were definite benefits to me going into this. The constant time and character jumps would be very confusing reading this as a print book. If it were not for the male/female voice changes in the audio book, I would have been lost. Outside that, this is still a really good book. There are some differences between the book and movie but this is the one clear instance where I can really say what was cut out of the movie version should have also been cut out of the print version. I hope the editor(s) paid attention. I recommend this book for a limited audience. Although the movie turned this read into more of a romance, this really is a sci-fi book (in my opinion). And the writing style makes it a strain for the attention span of most. If nothing else, this is one read that should definitely be listened to.

 The Millionaire Wives Club



I love a good reality show and I love the occasional display of drama but this book was a bit too much for me. It was drama overload and had no thread of hope what so ever, not that it had the intention of being so. What really depressed me more than anything was the notion that if we are really lucky in life, when we turn away from the money-chasing, we will end up with a good man that will save us with his goodness and also happen to be rich. We keep re-telling the Pretty Woman story in different ways re-enforcing it as the way to truly escape from the hardships of our lives. It’s played out. The author clearly is a story teller. I would like to see what else she could do with her talent. If nothing else, she is on her way to producing/scripting some good reality television (I am not foolish enough to believe that all reality television is actually reality).

Steve Jobs

 
This book just couldn’t end soon enough. Not thinking, I picked this book up to read just before the 1 year anniversary of his death so in addition to the book, I’ve been listening to a lot of the tech pundits rehashing the life of Steve. I do think Steve Jobs did great things and had an interesting way of processing things but I cannot ignore a few things.

1. Steve Jobs stole ideas and took credit for the work of his friends and employees.
2. Steve Jobs enjoyed letting people know the lack of value they brought to his life. This book continued that.
3. Steve Jobs always thought he would die young so its no surprise that he procrastinated when told he had cancer. Steve wanted to die a martyr and, in a way, he got his wish.
4. Steve Jobs wanted to make money just as much as he wanted to make good products. He got over on a lot of people with this false pretense of not wanting to be rich. “Let’s move the Porsche so no one thinks we are just out for money.”—In the book!

This is not a book. This is Steve Jobs’ last chance to get the last word on all the issues, circumstances and activities of his life. This was his chance to tell everyone they were wrong and it was his chance to list out all the people he rejected during his life just so they don’t forget posthumously. He claims to have done this so his kids would know him, but he was never a family person so I don’t see why he would think his children would get anything out of this other than learning how to be absolutely horrible people.

Now, I would never deny that Steve Jobs had talent, but it is now more clear that his talent lay in rallying the troops and getting them to do their best work. His talent lay in manipulating the situation and his talent lay in selling. He was not an engineer. He was not a creator. But he was a leader.

It’s hard to see this book outside of its subject because it’s clear that Isaacson just wrote what Steve told him to. The book was contradictory as Steve was and it was very one sided. I think Isaacson got caught up in that reality distortion field that he mentions so much, which I only see as an excuse for giving in to the charlatan that was Steve Jobs.

This book is much, much too long--about 400 pages longer than it really needed to be. I wouldn’t really recommend this book especially considering how Steve’s rock star status may negatively influence others.

The Checklist Manifesto
 

I am always looking for ways to improve my working life, both how I work alone and how I work with co-workers. I started reading this book back when I was working with a Japanese company and my manager kept forcing me to send out these reminder checklists outlining what everyone on my project was supposed to get done that week or that day in some cases. 

Now, I love a good checklist. And after incorporating a wedding checklist into my daily planner, I love them even more. They can be very useful when the audience is receptive and willing to use them. This was the biggest problem I was facing. 

Reading this book gave me a more purposeful view of using checklists but also gave some inspiration on getting wide adoption of using checklists. I am no longer working with the Japanese company, but I will carry the lessons from this book on to other projects that I am involved with. And if nothing else, I will be using them to improve my own productivity. 

On the downside, I found this book too heavily geared towards the medical field. I was willing to overlook this as the author is a doctor, but then he started getting too heavily into construction. He really could have branched out and given a more diverse set of usage examples. And considering the lack of diversity in the examples, the book did seem to get really repetitive.

There are Butterflies In My Sky

I wrote this post some time ago and lost track of it in my blogging software. But I ran across it in my end of year digital clean-out effort. There are a lot of iPods, iPads and iPhones that will be unwrapped in a couple of days. If there are children in viewing area of these devices in your life, please consider this app recommendation.

People always ask me about my reading and wonder how I came to love reading so much. All I can say is that I owe so much of who I am culturally to Reading Rainbow and The Catherine T. and McArthur D. Foundation that sponsored so much of the public television programming that I grew up watching.
LeVar Burton has revamped Reading Rainbow for the technology that has invaded our lives. This experience is optimized at the moment for IOS and the iPad so I won’t get to try it out, but I am excited about it none the less.

If you have children in your life, please introduce them to this little bit of our past recreated. In this crazy world we live in, they need a few butterflies in their sky.

September Books

I’m slowly getting back on track. I am still behind for the year, but I’ve hit FIFTY-THREE books read this calendar year. That is amazing to me and I am determined to get as close to that 100 book goal as I can. I will make a big push in October as I will be attempting Nanowrimo and getting married and hosting Thanksgiving come November. All books links provided (in the sidebar) are from Amazon where I am an affiliate, but please support the book seller of your choice.

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming 


This is my third Joshilyn Jackson title and I am still thoroughly in love with her writing style and southern sensibilities. Just when I thought I could predict where she was going with the plot, she threw a curve ball at me and surprised me to no end. It’s hard for me to find more descriptive words to talk about this book other than to say that I love it and highly recommend it. There are 2 more titles in the JJ collection and I plan to read those by the end of the year.

  The Secret Between Us 


I am not particularly fond of books that start with the main character committing to a lie. Every parent wants to protect their child, but some lies are not helpful to anyone. I couldn’t get behind the lie that the character was telling and that kept me from liking her as a character. Not being able to like her made me see fault with other decisions she was making along the way. Was that the point? Does it help the story line to have the reader doubt and dislike the main character immediately?

  Broken


 I think this book would have been much more enjoyable had I read it and not listened to it. It took me a while to get into the book because the narrator reads at a very fast pace. It’s almost as if she is uncomfortable with the words so she reads them as fast as possible. Outside of this, she makes her twenty something characters sound like teenagers and I still think its creepy to read/listen to scenes of kids having sex. With that aside, the book is fantastic. Megan did a great job laying out this book and storyline. Now, because this book is clearly erotica, it is not recommended for everyone but it is a nice glimpse into how some married people relate to their single friends. And when the single people in your life don’t have juicy enough stories, it is nice to fantasize about a chance encounter with a stranger that has amazing stories to tell.

  The Husband Habit 



 I enjoyed this book in the beginning. The character was likable and I sympathized with her dating woes. But then she goes to her mother’s house and her internal dialogue becomes downright mean and bitchy. I am not a fan of the insults that get lobbed at people you don’t know. A pick-up truck with a yellow magnetic ribbon does not mean the driver is a country, gun-totting hick. That’s the kind of crap that starts to come from the main character when, in the previous chapter, she left the mean talk to her sidekick. And while I am not a fan of war, I don’t appreciate the author trying to make anyone that willingly enrolls in the military out to be war-mongering idiots. The love interested becomes a truly good man only after denouncing the tenants of military. This is irritating and just gave me another reason not to like the main character as she constantly made disparaging jokes towards the soldiers who are doing their jobs. I really wanted to stop listening to this book, but I finished it because the love interest was likable. Its just too bad he couldn’t be given a better woman. I’m also getting a little sick of the trope that perpetuates the notion that the man that is for us will be secretly rich and will step forward to make our dreams come true. The story was good and not completely predictable, but the characters are not likable and the political ideologies wrapped into the story line are infuriating. I can half heartedly recommend this title.

  Ask For It 



I probably listened to this book at the wrong time. I got bored half way through the book, but I don’t want that to reflect on what I think of the subject matter itself. Books like this are incredibly helpful for women navigating both at home and at work. I would like to be able to say we women have really turned things around but we do have a long way to go still. We do typically have trouble negotiating and knowing our worth. I have gotten better at this myself, but I still too have trouble demanding better treatment at home and at work. This book was a reminder that I can’t let things slip. I have to get back on track with asking for what I need and for what I deserve. This book doesn’t really give concrete steps to take but it gives plenty of examples and tools to use. This is a valuable resource to revisit from time to time.

  Friends and Lovers 



This is a re-read for me. I discovered Eric Dickey in college. This was the first title that I read and I remember enjoying it. I still have a couple of his books unread on my shelf but I wanted to revisit the first before I moved on to the next. The older me is nothing like the younger me that I was. While I enjoyed the story line, this style of character writing reminded me of all the things I actively chose not to have in my life. Lives are full of drama and some of us seem to attract it more than others. I like life on the calmer side of things and I shy away from people that live their life with an excess of trouble. This makes me second guess reading any more Eric Dickey titles but I’m going to try to give them a chance. Maybe his characters grew up like I did and will be more appealing in later writing. We’ll see.

 Outliers 



 Interesting, but nothing but pop fluff. You can take any set of data and get the answer that you want. Everyone wants a mystical reason for success or failure and when they can’t find anything unique about you, they put together random circumstances that seem to work together for a little bit of serendipity. I don’t know if this was supposed to be a motivating title as it fails at that so I’m going to consider this a coffee table book of trivia. There is no science involved. And just to illustrate how non-inspirational this book is, it points out that “you cannot escape the limitations of your generation.” Doesn’t that make you feel great?! I try not to read any reviews of books before I finish the book and write my own review-especially for a popular book. After putting down my initial thoughts, I took a look at what other over on Goodreads thought about this book. Many of them agreed with my assessment. This just further concretes the fact that we should not choose the books we read based on marketing or popularity. I bought this book years ago, but I did so because it was the talk of the time. Too bad I have this as an audible title. I would quickly take this to trade it in. But I do have to say that his conclusion wraps everything up nicely and says exactly what you should get from this book…”An outlier is not an outlier at all”.

July/August Books

July and August were the months of upset and change for me. I am slowly recovering from all the life changes that are going on, but what that means for right now is that I didn’t get any reading done. September is off to a great start so book reviews returning soon!

June Books

All books links provided (in the sidebar) are from Amazon where I am an affiliate, but please support the book seller of your choice. Sorry for the late reviews. My June wrapped up with me getting a new job and moving to the midwest! I still can’t believe it. More on that later. For now, I want to catch you up on the books I managed to finish before the life storm.



I am really enjoying the mind that is Joshilyn Jackson. She is such a great story teller and this book is no different. As with the previous book I read by Joshilyn, I listened to this title using my Audible account and, once again, the book was read by the author. The life lessons and thought provoking moments are well worth picking this book up. Just be aware that you will hear a southern woman speaking in your ear for a few weeks after listening (if you go the audio route). And that is definitely not a complaint.




This book took me by complete surprise. I was gifted this book by the publisher during a promotion with Goodreads. It took me a couple of chapters to get invested in the story, but once I got it I was hooked. This was such an interesting and beautiful love story with a great sci-fi edge. You would never look at that cover and think this story is supernatural, but it’s there. Apparently, this took a lot of readers and reader by surprise and unfortunately led to some pretty negative comments. I think it is very well written and very well laid out. Don’t read this when tired though because you will get a little lost. I highly recommend this book and would love to see it made into a sci-fi channel movie.





Anyone that knows me closely knows that getting prepared for marriage has been a struggle for me for a number of reasons. That is one of the reasons you will see a lot of marriage prep/marriage counseling type books in my read-stream. This title was the first one that I purchased over a year ago and I can say it helped more that any other book so far. Prayer is an important part of my life and it was important for me to learn when and how and to what extreme I need to be praying for my future husband. I know it seems like you should just pray and all would be okay-who needs a book for that??? Trust me when I say, you need this book. If you have taken pre-marital counseling then you understand how much there is to discuss that you didn’t think to discuss. Well, there are so many things that need to be prayed for that you just don’t think to cover. She even goes into the prayer you need when you have a partner (as I do) that will completely ignore everything when the football game, pre-show, after-show, next day commentary, etc. are on. Yes, she even covers that. More than anything, this booked helped me to refine some of my expectations and realize what I was being unreasonable about. The biggest change in my relationship came when my fiancé asked what book I had just finished and I was about to give this title. He was so thrilled at that thought that I would be praying for him that he has become a little more easy to deal with in the difficult things. interesting, huh?




I picked this book up because it was written for people like me. I am a planner, a very detailed planner. Some would see this as worrying. I like to think of it as planning. When I’m honest with myself I do have to admit that my planning does go over into the realm of worrying, but you will never hear me admit it in public. ☺ This summer was an especially trying time as my unemployment was stretching much longer than I anticipated it to and the savings had run out and I was only surviving on help from family and prayers from everyone. This book came along at the perfect time to remind me that despite what is going on, I can still trust God. My troubles didn’t go away with the reading of this book but I can say I was a little more at peace and that kept me from starting my new job with an ulcer!




I can’t remember if Amazon brought this title to my attention or a friend did, but I am grateful either way. My grandmother and I have been talking a lot lately about how we have come to view our food in this country. We have gotten so accustomed to sweet potatoes being available all year round that we don’t know what the real growing season is anymore. We also have adopted so much convenience shopping and eating that we have lost some of our basic kitchen and homesteading skills. Short ebooks like this one are perfect for re-adjusting our lives and re-learning some of those skills. The author presents gardening, cooking, household cleaning/management, and financial in little monthly chunks. This is really a great way to get people on board who want to start eating better and living better without getting overwhelmed. I highy recommend this title. Look for a review on the other volumes/months soon.


Yep, another relationship book…I warned you! Years ago, I read Gary Chapman’s 5 Love Languages book and was intrigues at how he thought about relationships. He was able to separate us not based on male and female but based on how we truly express love. That was a break through read for me so I was excited to follow that up by reading this title.I was disappointed. Apparently, everything you needed to know was in the 5 Love Languages book. He constantly refers back to it. He did go in to enough detail that this could be a stand alone book, but this didn’t offer anything beyond 5 Love Languages. So, I would suggest you read only one and honestly the 5 Love Languages is better written and more impactful.

What Do I Say? (Guest Post & Giveaway!)

I’m happy today to be hosting Sarah MacLauglin on my blog. When I read the description of her book, I was immediately interested in what she had to say. I am not a parent, but as an aunt and a regular fixture in the homes of friends with children, sometimes they say things that you just don’t know how to respond to. I asked Sarah for tools for talking with these kids that are not our own and she provided the following guest post. Sarah is also giving away a copy of her book to a commenter and from her site, a Kindle Touch! Comment below and show Sarah some love. I will also be reading her book and reviewing it in an upcoming Reading Challenge post, so you will definitely hear more about this title soon.




What do I Say?
Navigating Difficult Subject Matter with Other People’s Kids
By Sarah MacLaughlin, Award-winning Author of What Not To Say: Tools for Talking with Young Children

When I was a nanny, I ran into all kinds of subjects that I didn’t know exactly how to navigate. But navigating is a good metaphor. When you navigate, you are aware of your surroundings. You take your time. You check the map. You pay attention to where you already are. You listen. Take these concepts with you as a compass.

When you are discussing a hot topic with a young child, you want to keep their developmental age in mind. When you are talking to a child that is not your own, you want to pay attention to that, and the fact that the child does not belong to you. (Do our own children even really belong to us? That language could use some freshening up, but I’ll save it for a different post!)

There are the big three: sex, death and God. I’m sure there are others; divorce and war come to mind as not the easiest. But these are probably the most hair raising topics. I’ve bumped into all of the above in my work with other people’s children. Here are a few suggestions as you take your compass and embark on these conversations:


1. Acknowledge your own discomfort. This is such an important step. Even if you don’t say anything aloud, just take a few seconds to see, internally, that you are uncomfortable. This is completely okay. Your nephew asks why his parents are getting a divorce. A child in your classroom asks what happens after we die. Your niece is curious about gay marriage. Our culture has taboo and controversial topics. We help demystify them when we feel this discomfort and move through it—forging on with the dialogue. Pay attention to your body language. If you are extremely uneasy about the issue, you can say that aloud in a way that conveys ownership, then go from there.


2. Listen and ask questions instead of giving answers. If you close your mouth and open your ears, you are on the right track. You probably don’t have the answers anyway, which is perfectly fine. You can ask open-ended questions like, “Tell me more about that,” or “How do feel when you think about that.” You can also validate a child’s feelings if they name them, “You’re feeling nervous and upset. It’s okay to feel that way.


3. Use language that is not directive or definitive. When I was interacting with other’s kids, I found myself using broad language. My values and belief system were possibly not the same as the families. Useful phrases like, “People have lots of different opinions about that,” or “I’m not sure about that,” came out of my mouth often (and by the way, still do with my “own” child.) You can also suggest that a child ask their parents about it (whatever “it” is.) You could say, “I’m sure Mom would be interested in speaking with you about this too,” which is so much more open-ended than, “You better talk to your mother about that!”A last couple of statement that are good for a myriad of situations: “That is really such a mystery,” and my all-time favorite, “Some people believe…”


4. Check in with the child’s grown-up. This does not have to be a big discussion, but if you have a discussion with a child about any of these big subjects, I think it is common courtesy to let the parent know the overview of what came up, and how you handled it.
Tips and strategies for places where we feel out of our depth are valuable. You might not always know where you are headed, but it sure does help if you have that compass and map!

I’d love to hear what you think!

Special Giveaway!
Please comment on this post about what you say to other people’s children, so that you can enter to win an ebook copy of What Not to Say: Tools for Talking with Young Children, in the format of your choice: PDF, epub, or Kindle format. Sarah will be giving away one copy at each blog stop and will announce it on the comments of this post tomorrow. (Other stops during this Blog Tour are listed on Sarah’s blog here: http://sarahsbalancingact.blogspot.com/p/blog-tour.html) Be sure to leave your email so we can contact you in case you’re the winner!

Also, be sure to enter at Sarah’s site (http://sarahsbalancingact.blogspot.com/p/blog-tour.html) for the Grand Prize Giveaway: a Kindle Touch. Winner will be announced at the end of the tour after July 15th.


About The Author
Sarah MacLaughlin has worked with children and families for over twenty years. With a background in early childhood education, she has previously been both a preschool teacher and nanny. Currently, Sarah works as a licensed social worker with foster families at The Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, Maine.

She also teaches parenting classes and consults with families. In addition, Sarah serves on the board of Birth Roots, a perinatal resource center, and writes the “Parenting Toolbox” column for a local parenting newspaper, Parent & Family.

As reflected in her book, What Not to Say: Tools for Talking with Young Children, Sarah considers it her life’s work to promote happy, well-adjusted people by increasing awareness of how children are spoken to today.



In a busy modern life, while Sarah juggles her son, her job, her husband, her family, and time for herself, she’s also aiming for: mindful parenting, meaningful work, joyful marriage, connected family, and radical self-care. She is mom to a young son who gives her plenty of opportunities to take her own advice about What Not to Say. More information about Sarah and her work can be found at her site: http://www.saramaclaughlin.com.

A Little Time Away

I’m back home in Mississippi for my sister’s wedding so I doubt I’ll be saying much for the next week. I am amassing more books, all free from my mother’s bookshelves. I know I didn’t need any books, but I just couldn’t help it.

Anyhoo, back to you soon with more books, crafting and wedding goodness.

May Books-The Rest

You can find Part I of my May books here. Below are the rest.



This book is perfectly the same as the previous book (Building Better Families) I read by Matthew Kelly. He even used some of the same stories and examples. I’m quite disappointed. Since I have both of these books as audio selections and not as physical books, it’s hard to quantify how much is duplicated but it still comes down to his underlying principle of becoming the best version of yourself, but he talks a lot about being yourself or rooting out the fundamental flaws in yourself. I think is a message that has to be taken carefully. Too many people seem to think in order to be your best, you need to be what they think is best and that is dangerous. I didn’t finish this book and don’t plan to read another Matthew Kelly title.



I always appreciate it when Christian people admit that the problems they had as a single person can and most likely will follow them into marriage and need to be dealt with within the marriage unit. Both my fiancé and I are bringing abuses into our relationship and I am so happy to say that we have been able to discuss everything with no shame or blame. We do plan to use our experience in our shared couple ministry. I encourage everyone to be honest in your marriage. You can’t hide your past. It is there whether you acknowledge it or not.



This book really took me by surprise. The author has a way of weaving the story leaving out just enough to have you thinking one thing and then surprising you to know that all was accounted for. Does that make sense? If you find yourself yelling at the book after the first few chapters, keep reading. It starts to come together and gets quite interesting.



I started this book quite some time ago and I’m glad to have finally finished it. Even though I will be reading it again soon enough. This is the kind of reference book that I think should be revisited annually or at least before a work goes into the editing process. I was hit with so many ideas while reading and I’m looking forward to really working through them and getting into something more solid. Some of my favorite authors contributed stories and advice for this book so I felt a little bit more connected with the material. I recommend this for anyone writing for women, even if you won’t technically be in the chick lit genre.



This was an okay book, but it just didn’t grab me. Maybe I should watch a couple of episodes of the tv show and see if it changes my mind. For now, I can say I won’t be looking into other books of the series.



This is a great summer read. I really appreciate that the author explored the happiness option that resulted from finding oneself rather than finding a rescue-man. It has a lovely ending and lovely message that ties in with the title.



I started this book some time ago and I’m happy to finally have had the time to finish it. This is truly a story of courage and sisterly love and bonding. I’ve been following Lisa Ling since I was in high school and she was on Channel One. It is no surprise that her sister’s life is just as fascinating in terms of the travel and news stories that they do and produce. I remember the dread I felt when I heard she and a coworker had been captured but that was greatly eclipsed by the joy of Bill Clinton helping to get back home. I went back and watched some of the YouTube videos available of their return and I was brought to tears all over again. Euna Lee has also written a book on her ordeal in North Korea. I have that on my wish list as well. Since Laura and Euna were held apart during captivity, I’m sure their stories are quite different. And even though both ladies were married, Euna is the one that had a daughter at home. I am grateful they made it home.

May Books-The Beginning

My reading really kicked up in May. So much so that I’ve had to split this post into two.

I really wanted to catch up lost ground because once I get back to work I won’t be able to read so much. But also because everyone wants to discourage me from reading. Why is that? You tell people you have a goal to read a certain number of books and their first inclination is to tell you that you won’t make it. That infuriates me to no end. There is a lot in life we can achieve when we stop spending so much time in front of the television. I doubt I would have read so many books thus far if I had not given up cable for Lent. I will keep reading and I will make my goal for the year. I would appreciate more support and less negative nonsense.

I’m now up to 34 books read for the year. This total includes some titles that will get their own posts.

All books links provided (in the sidebar) are from Amazon where I am an affiliate, but please support the book seller of your choice.



This is my last food related book I’m going to read for quite some time, if not ever. I’ve watched too many documentaries lately on top of the books I’ve read and all it has done is result in me not wanting to eat properly. And Jonathan spends a little too much talking about “shit”. I think he loves the word and just wants to say it as many times as possible. Our chickens live in shit, our pigs are covered in shit, the shit that gets in our food makes us sick…on and on and on. It’s all true but he could have been a little more eloquent. I am in the process of changing how I eat. I will not go completely meat free but I do think we should eat less meat overall. My personal changes will continue to evolve as I continue to learn and grow. I do recommend this book but just be ready for the language. I listened to this in audio.



This short book of poetry is all about a man’s love for his wife. It’s lovely and heart warming to read a man’s thoughts when he is truly, truly in love. I highly recommend when you need a little bit of love inspiration.



I’m always interested in books about working women and how they have found success. This was of particular interest to me because the author is British and the women she interviewed are of a more diverse background than you would typically get in a similar book written by an American author. I have this as an audio book and it was a quick listen, but I now know more about the recent history of what everyone else knows as football than I really wanted to know. I did get extremely bored hearing the football talk but I appreciate hearing the story of women in any field, but the book improved greatly with hearing the stories of the other women.


This is a very good book. I listened to the unabridged audio. This was my first Sue Grafton title. Now I feel like I need to start at the beginning, all the way to A. Do I dare?



This is a good book, but it has no clear point of view. The author speaks in 1st person plural but never 1st person singular. Everything is US and WE but never I, so it’s as if she’s trying to speak for all 3 sisters at the same time. This gets a little confusing when she’s speaking about one sisters secret in words that makes it seem that WE all know the secret but then she’ll remind the reader that the sister has yet to tell US.

I don’t know if this stands out when reading the book in print but it sticks out a lot when listening to it as I did. (love my Audible membership)

This family intrigues me and drives me crazy. They live in books and speak in Shakespeare quotes. Their actions in life always relate to something they rad and they are desperate to separate from their literary namesakes. This is just as exhausting to me as the people that relate everything in life to a movie. Every example they want to give comes from an exciting, memorable scene. 90% of the time I miss the point.

BUT, these people intrigue me and so I enjoy hearing their stories. This book is a good summer read.



I love, love, love this book. It’s not exactly a novel, but there is a lot to learn from this book. So much so that you will see (if not already) a separate post outlining all the goodness this book has brought into my life.



I was more interested in this title before I actually started listening to it. While it present some interesting information, I really don’t see a point in it and I can honestly say I learned nothing. I don’t see anything in this as new at all as the cover claims. Interesting, but not new.



I think it quite interesting and entirely creepy to hear how our lives and behaviors and purchases have become bits of data for the analyzers that sit around all day generalizing us into little buckets. While this can lead to great developments and increased safety, it is very clear that our lives are nowhere close to private. He even has a section discussing how the data analyzers are trolling our blogs to get information about us that we are choosing to give away so freely. Who knows what they think they are learning from me using my monthly book readings. The only thing that irks me about this book is the branding of data miners as “numerati”. This is nothing more than a way of putting a hollywood spin on something that has been around for a long time. In general, I can’t stand that. Sensational naming turns a group into a social club. But that is neither here nor there. I do recommend this book. Just be prepared to come out on the other end a little paranoid. I skipped the section discussing the fistulas in the sides of cattle. As I said before, I can’t hear anything else about our food supply right now.