Summer Reading List

I don't read as much as I would like to.  I'm not sure why.  When I was little, I read "Boxcar Children" and "Little House" books like there was no tomorrow.  (I was going to say that I ate those books for breakfast, but it seemed like a weird metaphor and not at all what I was trying to say).  Anyway, I think that college and grad school stamped the reading-for-pleasure gene out of me.  But, seeing that I'm not in school anymore, I want to try and get that reading gene back...particularly since I am in the habit of browsing bookstores during my free time, which leads to a lot of impulse purchases that get half-read before they start collecting dust on my overcrowded bookshelves.

So, because I like projects and to-do lists and similar endeavors, I have created a summer reading list.  Not just a list, rather...I've created a summer reading stack, which is now living on my dining table waiting to be devoured (there, that's a better food metaphor).  Let's have a look...

Here's a bit more information about each book, and why it has shown up on my summer reading list...

1) The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - This one is on the list by default, because I borrowed this book from a coworker (at her insistence that I would like it, not because I asked for it) sometime around last October, began reading it lazily around January, and now it's getting to the point where I'm embarrassed that I still have it and must return it to her as soon as possible.  Happily, since the creation of this list two days ago, I have finished this one.  A review post will be forthcoming.

2) The Age of Magnificence: Memoirs of the Duc de Saint-Simon - A collection of memoirs of Louis XIV's court at Versailles, written by one of the courtiers.  I read bits of this book for research in 2010 for my senior thesis, and I'm super excited to read the whole thing.

3) Love Wins, by Rob Bell - Like The Shadow of the Wind, I borrowed this book from my friend Amy a shamefully long time ago, wanting to read for myself the book that caused so much theological controversy several years ago.  

4) My Boyfriend Wrote a Book About Me, by Hilary Winston - Like the title suggests, Hilary Winston's boyfriend wrote a book about her, a discovery which led her to write a book of her own recounting her dating woes over the years.  My friend Miranda sent it to me and said it's absolutely hilarious, if a bit raunchy from time to time.

5) Paris to the Past, by Ina Caro - I found this book randomly while browsing Barnes and Noble one day, and read it right there in the store for half an hour before buying it.  It's a travel essay that tells the history of France through weekend train rides from Paris to various cities.  A French major's dream.

6)  How to Be Lovely: The Audrey Hepburn Way of Life, by Melissa Hellstern - I got this for Christmas from my parents, and just haven't gotten around to reading it yet.  It's a biography-esque coffee table book about Audrey Hepburn, who I love, and who you probably love too (and who you should love, if you don't).

7) An Abundance of Katherines by John Green - A young adult novel by one of the Vlogbrothers, a pair of YouTubers whom I have followed since my sophomore year of college.  This is one of his earlier books, which I started reading but never finished.  John Green also wrote Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars, both of which I have read and found to be phenomenal, particularly for their genre.

8) Celia Garth, by Gwen Bristow - I found this book completely by chance at a thrift store, and picked it up because it had my name in the title.  On the spot, I decided to start collecting books featuring lead characters with my name (I have only one other, a beautifully illustrated children's book called Celia's Island Journal which I have had since I was 3 years old.)  It's about a young woman named Celia living in colonial South Carolina, who apparently engages in espionage during the Revolutionary War or something.  Awesome.

9) Cinderella Ate My Daugther: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture, by Peggy Ornstein - About how commercialized gender stereotypes affect young girls' perceptions of themselves, what it means to be a woman, and limits their vision of who they could become.  All topics that I've been interested in for quite some time, and am eager to learn more about.

10) French Lessons, by Peter Mayle - My aunt gave me this book years ago, and I never got around to finishing it.  At the time, I think I was too young to really identify with anything happening in the book, which is written by a man who moved to southern France and learned to appreciate the various nuances of the French way of life.  I want to read it again now that I've traveled more and grown up quite a bit since I first received it.

So there's the list!  Like I said, I finished The Shadow of the Wind today, and will write a review of it in the next couple days, which I plan to do for all these books.  Let the reading begin!

A Year in Review

Today was the one-year anniversary of when I started working at my current job.  It's kind of hard to believe that it's been a year...but in some ways, it feels like I've been here way longer.  In any case, today I reached the little calendar square where, many months ago, I scribbled "You made it through a whole year!" In recent weeks, this impending date has been referred to in my mind as "cupcake day," because I decided that a fancy cupcake from the local bakery would be a fitting treat to celebrate overcoming my first year of working in ministry full-time.  Never mind that I just ate a cupcake from there three days ago, when my sister was visiting.  That is neither here nor there.

OK, so "cupcake day" turned into "cupcake-and-tiny-cannoli" day.  What can I say, it's been a long year, and I love canolis.  That's a banana split cupcake if you're interested...strawberry cake with a pineapple filling, with banana frosting, dipped in chocolate and topped with a cherry.  Soooooo delicious.  I took my little pink bakery box and settled into one of their patio chairs to reflect on the year.  I wanted to savor the moment, and really think about everything I've accomplished over the last year.  It's been a hard year in a lot of ways, but on my one-year anniversary it seemed appropriate to take note of all the positive things.

Here's what I came up with.

Over the past year, I have...

-Lost 30 lbs (which isn't work related, but is totally worth noting)

-Successfully rebuilt a derailed preschool program from the ground up

-Written and orchestrated two preschool performances

-Recruited Sunday School teachers to not only teach for a single season, but continue teaching even after their first responsibilities ended because they enjoyed it

-Learned how to be a positive force against negativity

-Learned to be okay when I can't please everyone

-Learned that sometimes people will take out more anger on me than I deserve, and that I shouldn't take it personally

-Taught kindergartners what the word "exile" means, and had them actually remember (and similarly complex components of Bible stories)

-Written, and nearly implemented, an entire summer Sunday School curriculum (work in progress)

-Become more self-confident and outgoing with people I don't know, or barely know

-Become less apologetic for being who I am

-Gotten better at handling stress

-Built good relationships with my boss and other coworkers

-Made friends in a brand new place

-Gained the trust of parents to be a spiritual leader for their children

-Built teacher relationships with the children of the church, and learned the name of every child in the church

-Been yelled at a lot and have cried a lot, but have still managed to do my job

-Built good relationships with my employees, and survived angry exit interviews of unhappy employees

-Implemented a brand new Christian Education methodology with increasing success

-Done a lot of ridiculous things (scheduled fire truck visits, ordered a zipline, arranged for bounce house rental, sung Beyonce in front of people, choreographed a space-themed Christmas musical, etc)

-Developed a strong volunteer committee

-Inspired the church to create our own Vacation Bible School, and to take ownership in it and be excited about it

-Started to encourage people to expect more from the children's ministry than they have in the past (meaning, it's more than coloring sheets and Veggie Tales)

-Taught kids about God, and encouraged their curiosity in the Bible and in God

So, despite all the hard times, all the overwhelmedness, all the troubled phone calls and facebook messages to friends and family, I'd say that it's been a pretty good year overall.  Not sure how I got here, but I think God deserves a lot of the credit.  Because, to be honest, I was kind of a mess a lot of the time.  But God works, even through my own anxiety.  And that's a pretty good deal.

On to next year!