The week has been much more productive than this but these are books I want to talk about. I finished reading "The Star Garden" and it was my favorite of Nancy Turner's books. I loved the other two but this one was best written and didn't meander. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience with it. It was like Nancy Turner had finally understood her purpose in writing and fully comprehended how to get it down on paper. I guess you could say she had come of age with this last one.

"A Good Woman" is one of the first Danielle Steel books I have read in a long time. I thought it was a biographical fiction at first but there is no Annabelle Wentworth that lived in New York and Newport at the turn of the 20th century. However it was so well written and intertwined with factual dates that you were sucked into the believable world of Annabelle's life. When our daughter's were in High School, my mother had them read Danielle Steel's "The Ghost'. It was one of their favorite books for a long time. It has been a long time in my opinion since Danielle has written a book that quite matched that one. This one does.

As I mentioned in my earlier blog, "Suite Francaise" is about WWII. I was about half way through it and decided that for my sanity I could not finish it. It is not the most graphic WWII novel I have ever read but it was being written during WWII while it was going on. The the writer was taken Auschwitz and eventually she died there. The whole time I tried to read the book, I had nightmares and was waking up with migraines because of the terrible nights sleep I was getting. I decided a good nights sleep was more important than reading a book for book group. It is well written and immediately pulls you in the story but it is as heartwarming as the musical "Cabaret". It is just not for me right now. Maybe there will be a time when I can pick it up and read it again. That time is not now. Oh, the writer was a well known author of the 30's in France and had several books published before the war. She was quite renowned for her writing and I can understand why. She had hoped to eventually make these two books into a 'suite' of five - like a musical symphony has 5 movements -hers would be 5 novellas making one complete novel. A great concept - I wish she could have seen her dream come true. These manuscripts were found in a trunk and just recently published and then translated - they were unknown until just a few years ago.

Nightmares and Dreams

I will post my book reviews in a little while but I wanted to get this off my mind. Our grandchildren have very active imaginations. Several are plagued with bad nightmares that start from an early age. I wonder if that is hereditary? My whole life I have had dreams and nightmares. 95% of the time the dreams are about my day or what I have been reading. On occasion I have what I fondly started calling my De'ja' Vu dreams. These dreams will always come true but usually many years later. These are infrequent but do have a pattern. I almost always know that I dreamt one when I remember it the morning after.

I have to be extremely careful about what I read and watch because of my dreams. I was reading "Suite Francaise" about WWII. In and of itself it is not graphic but I have read too many books that are. After two nights of horrible dreams of war and violence, I decided that I had to quit reading the book when two days in a row I woke up with migraines. Yesterday I read "The Cat Who Talked Turkey" and started "The Girl With the Pearl Earring". Last night my dreams were calming and even bordered on the silly (because of the "Cat who... book"). It is obvious to me that I am much too sensitive. It is also obvious to me that I am old enough that even if a book is for book group, I don't have to follow the crowd. If my gut tells me I cannot handle it, I a not going to indulge. A good nights sleep is more important than being a participant. There is too much violence in the world - I don't need to re-live or fantasize about more! I choose to read about the things I want to read about.

Monday's Heroes

Todays are actually heroines. I pay special honor to Sister missionaries throughout the world. Two weeks ago our Elders were doubled out and we had Sisters come in. Thus far it has been such a blessing and exactly what our ward needed. Sister Johnston and Sister Mortimer are so amazing. Our family has seen less than stellar Sister Missionaries in the past but these sisters are examples of ministering angels on earth. As I watch them I am filled with pride because I know that my nieces, Annemarie and Julianna Dittmar were the same caliber (and probably even better - if that were possible!) I teach the Faith in God for Girls in Primary. These are the girls ages 8-11. When I talk to them their conversations always go to the Sister missionaries and how wonderful they are. If you are going to have heroines in your life as a young girl, I find it gratifying that our young girls are idolizing such fine women who are following Christ. I am sorry I have no pictures but we all know beautiful 'Sister Missionaries'. Just envision your favorite and have them be your heroines today.

Happy Birthday to our Beautiful Anneke!

The first picture is Christmas two years ago and the other pictures are the day her mother graduated from SUU. I should really search and find something more recent but they would be pictures that have been sent to me and I wanted to use original pictures. I can't find my more recent stick so we are stuck with pictures from when she was 2(I think). But wasn't she cute! I love her in her matching dress with her Aunt Pam. I still use the picture of Heidi, Anneke and Pam walking away from everyone for my "The End" picture in presentations.

Anneke, Happy Birthday! We are glad you are our very own personal Anneke!

Tuesday's Book Review

I am now caught up with Laurence and Temeraire with "Victory of Eagles" I just have to patiently wait for the next book. I think I might have written this review last week but that's Okay - it was an excellent book. This is what happens when you read all the authors books all at once.

I read the sequel to "These is my Words" and it was very well done. Whereas "These is my Words" was written over half of her lifetime - "Sarah's Quilt" takes up just one year - but what a year! I could not put it down. It is as gripping as "These is My Words" or maybe more so because we are not building characters this time but filling in details. I highly recommend it.

I love the Aunt Dimity mystery series. If you haven't read them - start with the first one and read on through. I just read "Aunt Dimity Goes West" and "Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter". These fall in my 'fluffy mystery' genre and are just plain fun. Aunt Dimity is really a journal that writes to the protagonist, Lori. Like I said, for this series - you really need to start with at least the first one, "Aunt Dimity's Death" and then it doesn't matter how you really read them thereafter. I have found them in all Barnes and Noble bookstores, on Amazon.com and in most libraries I have visited. This is one of those fun series that is entertaining and just a good read.

I probably would have had more to report on but I kind of had a life this week and had some other things to do other than read! I know! I doesn't happen often. These are all acquisitions from the library. Because of some major overhead (new glasses and trips) I am trying to be a little bit thrifty and only 'buy' the books I cannot get through the library system here. Hope you have a great week and good reading!

Monday's Heroes

Today's entry is a little different. Today I salute the optimistic people or the Pollyanna's of my life. My grandmother, Sarah Tuttle was that way as was my Grandpa Lloyd Tuttle. Grandma or Omi as our daughter's called her - wasn't overly optimistic to the point where she was unrealistic but she was always positive in her outlook and very upbeat. For the most part my daughters tend that way - some more than others. I find that I weed negative out of my life. I didn't realize that until yesterday when the speakers were talking about the 'Joy of the Gospel in our lives' and how overly optimist her mother is. I tried to think if there was someone extremely pessimistic in my life right now. And though I have had my share of people that will drag me down, I can only think of one person that tends to be more negative than positive. That person I have to take in very small doses. The other negative people I have known that pull me down, I have pretty much weeded out of my life. I have realized that I don't have to be bothered with someone that is going to make me feel worse after I have associated with them than when I began the conversation. So if you are currently a friend or even a family member, I salute you for your positive outlook on life. I tend toward the pessimistic and you lift me up. I thank you - for without you, my life would be sad, lonely and and very miserable.

Happy Birthday Clyde!

I thought it would be fun to see a few pictures of my husbands life order. Some you have seen manytimes - others not so many. Happy 58th Birthday, Clyde! I have loved spending the last almsot 37 years with you!