Our House in the Middle of Our Street

I hope you enjoyed Back to School Book Week. Now...enjoy your weekend and go somewhere you've never been before...whether an actual place...or a world away in a book! Join Amanda Soule and other parents with their photos of This Moment.

photocredit Now we're talking! Non-Fiction has become my favorite reading genre in the last 5 years, probably because I got so sick of reading novels for school. In one semester, I would read anywhere from 25-50 books for my English major, and I just got sick of reading fiction for awhile. I did have a book club for the past two years that mainly read fiction, but even still, Non-Fiction was my 'under-the-covers-with-a-flashlight' reading. Statistically, adults don't read hardly at all ( 80% haven't read anything!), and the ones who do rarely read non-fiction, which is surprising to me because it would seem no one is learning anything! ( Kudos, though, to Harry Potter, getting all those kids reading 800+ page books, J.K., you rock!) Anyway, this post is full of praise for non-fiction because it's generally eye-opening. Biography, Memoir, Social Research, Historical books are all fascinating...because they're true ! Even if I do have to read fiction, I pref...

photocredit This book, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath , has been and will probably always be my favorite book. Ever since reading it in Sophomore English class, I absolutely loved it. The poetry, the prose, the story & the metaphor! Yeesh, I could gush about this book all day. If you haven't read it or know nothing about Sylvia Plath (also my favorite poet) let me tell you know: it's a dark storyline, a semi-autobiography about the mental illnesses women faced in mid-century from changing roles & expectations. Subject matter is grave, ironic, and very dark, but the way this book is written is absolutely beautiful; brimming with honesty, truth, and redemption around every corner. As an English major in college, I love talking books, so not only is this a fun week for me, I love sharing my favorite books with all of you, and getting recommendations, too, to make my ever-growing book list even longer! I love finding redemptive truths in art, whether that be film, music, or ...

photocredit The second day in the Back to School Book Week is cookbooks. Our beloved cookbook is the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook . I'm pretty sure everyone receives this book at some point in their life. I have yet to hear of anyone buying it for themselves unless it's a 1970's edition they found at a thrift store because their newer one has lost it's spine during use. This cookbook is definitely not the prettiest, nor is there a picture on everypage ( cookbook snob alert , ahem !) BUT it's got tips, tricks, and every single type of legume and cut of meat you can imagine. It's our go-to and it is worn thin, loosing pages, and grabbed and slammed back into the shelf again. It has worked as our 'most-used' cookbook for a bit over 5 years now. Honorable Mention goes to The Prettiest Cookbook : Apples for Jam by Tessa Kiros . I like a number of the recipes in this book, but I'm not gonna' lie, I totally bought it for the fantastic ethereal-v...

photocredit I'm playing along this week with Eren from This Vintage Chica to celebrate Back to School Book Week since books are one of my favorite topics. Today we're talking crafts. This is my all-time favorite craft book for a number of reasons. Simple Sewing with a French Twist by Celine Dupuy was one of my very first craft books, and the book I return to over and over again for visual inspiration and to get refreshed with sewing. The photography is wonderful (think Anthropologie style) and the textiles are always top notch. Even her visual glossary in the back is fun to look through. Unfortunately, I don't think this artist has ever come out with another book, or I'd snatch it up right away! It is quite a thick book and has a lot of patterns and projects to make, from a patio umbrella, to a gardening apron, sweet camisoles, and travel covers for clothes. Kitchen apparel, seat covers, and an entire chapter devoted to things like re-doing old chairs, curtains, and ...

Playing along with Amanda for the fourth week. I'm thinkin' this is going to be a regular thing. Enjoying lots of cuddles from the kids this week.

photocredit You may remember my review a few months back about Marilynne Robinson's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Gilead . Home is the companion book to Gilead, happening simultaneously in the same town, but the other main family in the story, the Boughtons. This is a bittersweet novel about the main characters, Jack, a loved but much worried over estranged son that the family hasn't seen in over 20 years, and the sister, unmarried at 38 and caring for the aging father. Gilead, it's former, just grazes the question of Boughton family secrets, since it is more of a letter to a son from his dying father, but the characters Jack and Glory do make small appearances. I found this book to be much more somber and heartbreaking than Gilead. The book is almost joyful, even though the subject matter is so sad. Gilead was some of the most beautiful prose in a novel I have ever read, Home, however, had lost that zeal for poetry. The story was good, however, I would not recommend ...