Click here for a book review of Lisa Tucker’s The Cure for Modern Life.

Tricia Goyer is quite a remarkable writer. She’s written twelve books, both non-fiction and fiction. Her book, Generation Next Marriage: The Couple’s Guide to Keeping it Together, is a marriage manual specifically written for the “Gen-X” generation, those of us born from the 1960s through the 1980s. In nineteen chapters, she deals with everything from unrealistic expectations to romance, from money to parenting . . . and more.

I appreciated the chapter called “Under Pressure: Finding Balance.” Back when I was dating my future husband (in 1985!), he said all the time, “Balance is key.” We have been trying to keep our balance ever since, through my father’s terminal illness, through infertility, through job changes and moves, through parenthood, through everything that happens over the course of twenty years of marriage.

Tricia has some great suggestions for finding balance:

1) Say not to unrealistic demands on others.

2) Realize the impact of fast-paced lives.

3) Make a plan for peace. . . realizing how much your spouse desires it. (Boy, this is true for us!)

4) Focus on one thing. (Loving your spouse.)

While I am nowhere close to finding that elusive balance, I appreciate what Tricia has to say on this topic–and on many others. We are constantly pruning our schedules and obligations to carve out space for ourselves.
Oh, and you can go right here and enter a contest to win a dinner for two.

I am looking forward to reading more of Tricia’s work. It’s always nice to find a good writer with something valuable to say. (More reviews and stuff here.)

Click here to read a review of the book, Road Map to Holland: How I Found My Way Through My Son’s First Two Years With Down Syndrome by Jennifer Graf Groneberg. That’s an order. Okay, a gentle suggestion about a lovely book about a mother and her baby born with Down syndrome.

As I read this book, I remembered back to my days with twin babies (Jennifer’s baby with Down syndrome was half of a set of twins). I remembered how desperate I felt for adult company and how I couldn’t relay that feeling to anyone. Jennifer talks about the challenge of picking up the phone and asking for help, even though she longed for help to arrive. I suppose that when our friends go through difficult situations merely saying, “Let me know if you need help!” is much less effective than just showing up on the doorstep with freshly baked goods and an hour or two to spare.

And now, let’s all join hands and promise to help each other out and furthermore, to let other people help us.

  I am participating in a blog tour for the new novel, The Splendor of Silence.  You can click over here for the complete review.

Also, can I just say that all your comments on the previous post meant so much to me?  I promise I was not fishing for compliments or cheers, either. . . so that was unexpected.  Thank you.  And just so you know, I can’t quit.  If I could, I would . . . but I can’t.

These books lined up on my bed were removed from my bookshelf. The bookshelf shows the books AFTER the books on the bed were removed. I was looking for my copy of Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. In order to do so, I had to remove the first layer of books to see what was behind. I found some old books that I put into a pile to read again soon, along with a few new ones I decided to read sooner rather than later.

This book reorganization did not result in finding my copy of Into the Wild. Alas. At some point, I must have passed it along to someone else to read and now I regret my generosity. In fact, I’m ordering myself a new one because I simply must read it again before I see the movie version, coming out soon. (Friday?) I read that book back when I’d never heard of the author, nor the story. I sort of feel like I personally discovered Jon Krakauer.

Oh, and just so you know . . . this is just one of my bookshelves. The matching one holds non-fiction and until I decide I simply must find a book I remember owning at some point in my life, that bookshelf will remain dusty and double-stacked.

(I put all the books back. I am going to read them all, even if I have to live to be 150.)

I came across this list of books that answer the question: what book got you hooked?

I’ve read all but eleven of them. This is a nice place to start if you’re looking for books to read to your kids.

Would you like a free copy of Mary DeMuth’s newest book, Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture? If so, leave a comment. I’ll do a drawing Saturday morning.

If you are not the lucky winner, you can purchase an autographed copy of her book here: click here.

Meanwhile, tell me. What are you reading now? I’m in the middle of Mark Helprin’s A Soldier of the Great War.

Last week, I read a book by Lisa Samson (she blogs here). And you should know that my husband purchased this book, Club Sandwich, for me, so I am telling you about it not because it was free, but because you should know about it.

I rarely pick up a light Christian novel to read, but I’ve been reading Lisa’s blog and she seems like the kind of woman you wish would move in next door. As it turns out, this novel was really fun to read and full of faith, as well. I won’t give away any of the plot, but I will mention that it’s written in first person, present tense, which I hear is hip, happening and not unusual, but I’ve rarely read a novel in present tense. I liked it, perhaps because I love to eavesdrop and reading this book was a lot like eavesdropping on the heroine’s thoughts.

* * *

Now, because the box has been sitting on my desk for a week, I will tell you about the Swiffer Dusters that the Swiffer folks sent me to review.

Here is how I reviewed them.

I failed to dust my desk for weeks. Perhaps months. I hate to dust.

Then, I took my laptop on vacation.

When I returned, the dust on my desk reminded me of the lobby in the Tower of Terror at Disney. (If you’ve been there, you’ll recall the thick cobwebs and layer of dust as thick as snow.)

So, a few days after unpacking, I snapped together the plastic handle, slid the disposable duster onto it and voila! My desk was dust-free with just a swipe. The fun of using this duster gave me the urge to dust the rest of my house . . . so I read blogs until that urge passed.

Truly, I probably won’t purchase these disposable dusters . . . I’m kind of cheap like that. However, I will happily use the remaining four dusters . . . sooner or later. They really do work great. (I use an old-fashioned feather duster, which is reusable . . . unless the cats have stolen it away again.)
(This review was not compensated by money, but of course, I did get the dusters to use. Lucky me.)

Last spring, I attended Mt. Hermon Christian Writers Conference in California. When Mary DeMuth came forward on stage to pitch her workshop, she proclaimed her passion for chocolate (and something else, too, but all I remember about is the chocolate). I looked over the syllabus, asked Barbara what she thought and decided to attend Mary’s morning track workshop, even though I had previously picked something else.

As Mary spoke during the morning workshops, I mentally tallied how much we had in common. We both grew up in the Seattle area. We are about the same age. Our children (she has 3, I have 4) are similar ages. Her husband was a pastor; mine still is. At one point, I took her aside and showed her the stash of dark chocolate I tend to carry in my purse. She wore black Chuck Taylors (Converse low-tops); I’m all about sneakers, I brought lavender and red to the conference. We both sing. Our parents were divorced, our fathers have both died and our mothers were married more than once. Or twice.

Mary has a blog, too, called relevantblog.

I tried hard not to seem like a stalker, but I liked Mary and thought that in another time and place, we would be Best Friends Forever. (She lives in Texas now . . . hey, my husband’s from Texas! See? More in common!)

That is one reason I am thrilled to be a part of a Book Blog Tour on Mary’s behalf. She has written a couple of novels (Watching Tree Limbs, and Wishing on Dandelions), but this blog tour is about her newest parenting book, Authentic Parenting in a Post-Modern Culture. I read it a month ago or so, and while reading it reminded me of my many short-comings as a parent, I like Mary’s writing and her thinking. I felt encouraged by her stories and ideas.

You couldn’t really be interested in the fact that I bought a pillow tonight. Or in the happy fact that I purchased said pillow on clearance, paying less than $30.00 for the king-sized down-filled item, including a set of 600 thread count pillowcases. (Full price for pillowcases and pillow would have been $75.00.)
Unfortunately, that is about the highlight of my day. The rest of time was allotted to cleaning up the kitchen, putting away the last of the stuff from Vacation Bible School, and sitting poolside for two hours while the kids swam in the deserted pool. (Overcast day today and no one was at the pool.) Oh, and answering email.
I was also working on a writing assignment (just sent it off into the wild blue yonder).Today, it’s boring to me be.

Tomorrow, it will be painful to be me as I’m having a tooth extracted. I fully expect to drool blood and otherwise venture to the brink of death because I am dramatic like that.

Tonight, I am eating popcorn because when will I be able to chew again?

Then, I will sleep peacefully on my king-sized pillow.

Oh! But I have to ask. Has anyone read Jodi Picoult’s Plain Truth? Because if you have, we must talk. I finished it on vacation. Before that, I read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Have you read that? Oh. My. What a book! (Did I already rave about it?) And after that, I read Girl, Interrupted. I’ve never seen the movie, but now I want to.

So, what are you reading? And, do you love your pillow or feel indifferent toward it?