Wednesday, April 28

Share Four Somethings - April 2021

This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from Just A Second helps supply books and coffee.



Something Loved, Something Read, Something Treasured and Something Ahead. 


Something Loved

I decided to do a review and promotional post for an online streaming library of kids books last week. And I thought it would be just an information type thing, but it did look very cute and I'm all for promoting reading and books for kids. I was actually delighted with this product and very excited about it! My little granddaughter has been loving it too. She likes books and enjoys having stories read to her, and she also likes watching movies "appropriate for children" as she says on YouTube. But Vooks is so much better and safer than videos!


If you have little ones, do check it out. Unfortunately the giveaway associated with this promotion has ended, but the review post is still available: 


Vooks is a streaming library, of ad-free, kid-safe animated storybooks. An entire library of positive themed storybooks, brought to life with quality narration and sounds. The site is trusted by teachers and enjoyed by millions of children around the world. The interactive reading system helps encourage the love of reading, and I'm certainly on board with that! Vooks strengthens literacy and vocabulary, promotes independent learning, and develops strong values like kindness and friendship.

Vooks offers more than just the storybooks. There are also free, fun, printable lesson plans. Vooks lesson plans offer discussion topics, activities, and more.

Something Read

I only completed two books during the month. Only two!! In fairness, the beginning of the month was very busy, and I do have quite a few books I'm working on. You can see more about my reading in my Monthly Bookshelf Review for April 2021.

Hope Between the Pages by Pepper Basham



Something Treasured

Wedding celebrations! We celebrated my son's wedding a couple weeks ago and the day was practically perfect! Everything came together so well, the weather was cooperative, and being able to gather with family and friends for this special day was enjoyably "normal". Our oldest son and his family came for the wedding, of course - he was a groomsman and his little girl was one of the flower girls, so we could also treasure a couple days of delightful family time.






Something Ahead

 Next on our family to-do list is ending the school year, and for our daughter, that includes planning for next year. There's just a few weeks of classes left at co-op, and I'm looking forward to the summer break! Also just a few weeks of college classes left. Kennady will be relieved to have it finished, I'm sure, but there's also some anxiety over her grades (virtual learning doesn't go well for college level classes either, as it turns out. In fact, a couple of her classes have been mostly frustration and confusion, with the instructors doing almost zero instruction). We're looking forward to celebrating her graduation from college - in a drive-through ceremony, which is pretty lame - and she is working on making decisions for next year. Next week we'll do a campus visit for the university that's top of her list. Whether the finances will be there for her to attend that school remains a matter of prayer.


This post will be linked at Share Four Somethings hosted by HeatherGerwing.com


©2008-2021 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.


Posted by at 3 comments:
Labels: ,

Monday, April 26

Monthly Bookshelf Review - April 2021

This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from Just A Second helps supply books and coffee.


Somehow it feels a bit early to be doing a month-end bookshelf summary, but since it is the last Monday of the month, here we are! It has been a very busy month, and has gone by quickly. I've got a lot of books on the go, but my reading time has been in little bits here and there, and progress is slow. Some truly enjoyable reads in my stack this month though!
  

April's Books Completed and Reviewed
Patrick: A Spark in the Darkness by Jessica Dunn - This is a novel version of St Patrick's biography that I completed right at the beginning of the month. Well written, and suitable for younger teens. (Read my full review HERE)

 

Hope Between the Pages by Pepper Basham - With chapters alternating between the turn of the century and contemporary, this wonderful novel traces two love stories. Sadie Blackwell was the maid assigned to the library at the Vanderbilt estate, and Clara Blackwell is her descendant trying to save the family bookstore business. Clara's search for details about the property ownership leads her to Sadie's full story, and to a love of her own. (Read my full review HERE)



During April I started reading:

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien - What a treat to be re-reading this classic with my Literature class! We plan to finish reading it this week.



The Silver Shadow by Liz Tolsma - Polly, trying to earn recognition as a newspaper reporter, teams up with a detective in 1900 Denver to track down the culprit in a number of attacks on women.



A Wicked Conceit by Anna Lee Huber - I eagerly started reading this latest in the Lady Darby series, and then joined an online group that is reading through the entire series (along with the author!) in anticipation of the next book coming out. So I'm reading this one while also re-reading . . . 


The Anatomist's Wife by Anna Lee Huber - The first Lady Darby mystery, in which portrait artist Kiera, the widow of an anatomist, assists the investigator Sebastian Gage in solving a murder.


Feed the Birds: Attract and Identify 196 Common North American Birds by Chris Earley - This is the field guide and how-to book I chose for the Online Book Club April theme of Migration. The wrap-up post is coming soon!



 During April I shelved:

Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy - This was an online book group pick for the month of March, and as much as I wanted to read it, I just could not make the time. In March or in April!


Patrick: Son of Ireland by Stephen R Lawhead - I planned to re-read this in March, as it's a favorite, but decided I had too much else on my plate. 



Coming Up in May!

Heart of a Runaway Girl - Trevor Wiltzen
Mortal Arts - Anna Lee Huber
Paper Wife: A Novel - Laila Ibrahim

   

     



On my blogs recently . . . 

Besides the reviews, here on Just A Second you'll find:



And on my homeschool blog, Homeschool Coffee Break:



This post will be linked at the April 2021 Wrap-Up Roundup and Giveaway hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction; and at the weekly reading list meme hosted at Book Date.

 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

©2008-2021 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. 

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.


 
Posted by at 5 comments:
Labels: ,

Sunday, April 25

Books About Hygge

This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from Just A Second helps supply books and coffee. 

  



As I was updating my monthly book summary, I realized that I still haven't talked about these books from the winter. And I even had a post prepared to go along with the Write 28 Days Blogging Challenge too. Not good. So in order to feel caught up, I'm dusting this off, adding a couple of updates, and posting it today.

Way back in January, the Online Book Club theme was winter, and I had chosen several books centered on the Nordic concept of hygge for the month. Only one of those books arrived from the library right away so that I could finish it before the end of the month. (That was The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking, and my review can be found HERE) As the other books arrived from the library, I did look through them - and decided to write one summary review. Problem was that I forgot to finish the post and publish it. That's what is happening today.


Hygge: A Celebration of Simple Pleasures. Living the Danish Way by Charlotte Abrahams - I took the longest in reading this one, as the text is quite dense. I skimmed large sections of it too. The author is a journalist, and the book combines history and explanation of hygge and all its components with a sort of memoir of her own experience in seeking hygge for herself. She explores Danish design in home furnishings, the Danish mindset when it comes to food and cooking (apparently Danes love sweets and 'comfort' food, and food prep is a togetherness activity), and the importance of being with family and friends. Hygge means living simply and with gratitude, appreciating nature and simple pleasures, and being at peace. Danes have an informal and egalitarian approach to entertaining. Rather than the host do all the cooking and preparations, apparently it's common to have everyone bring something to contribute to a meal and cook it together. Hygge also means getting out into nature and into the community and being a part of it. And certainly we can all benefit from slowing down our hectic pace, connecting with loved ones, and enjoying the simple things in our lives with gratitude.


The Joy of Hygge: How to Bring Everyday Pleasure and Danish Coziness into Your Life by Jonny Jackson - This little book with a long title is a small picture book with recipes and crafting instructions and other brief how-to's and suggestions for hyggelich activities. The photos showed beautifully hyggelich rooms, crafts, and foods, and the brief  text gave ideas for how to make it happen. Overall, this is an idea book to get your creative juices flowing.


How to Hygge: The Nordic Secrets to a Happy Life by Signe Johansen - This one has more detail on how to cook and craft and decorate with hygge in mind. It's got a lot of recipes - most looked more involved than the kind of cooking I usually do, but some were quite tempting - and some careful explanations about how to design your kitchen and home the Nordic way. There's a lot packed into this book, and one I would have liked to read all the way through, if I'd had time. I picked out many valuable nuggets of wisdom and some recipe ideas before returning it to the library.


Making Winter: A Hygge-Inspired Guide to Surviving the Winter Months by Emma Mitchell - Although full of handcrafts, recipes, and other instructions for hyggelich creative pursuits for the winter months, this is the book I spent the least amount of time with. I browsed quickly through the pages full of craft ideas, and while they were interesting, they really weren't they type to interest me, and many did not strike me as practical. Charming, probably very interesting to someone who likes decorating with rustic or primitive elements, but not what I had in mind.


The Hygge Life: Embracing the Nordic Art of Coziness Through Recipes, Entertaining, Decorating, Simple Rituals, and Family Traditions by Gunnar Karl Gislason and Jody Eddy - I waited a long time for this one to arrive from the library, and it's the biggest reason my summary review kept getting postponed! Gislason is an Icelandic chef, and contributed the recipes and the notes about food and beverages in this book. There are a lot of them and most look delicious! There are even a few recipes for Scandinavian cocktails. The section about Scandinavian holidays and their backgrounds was so interesting! But the real value of this book is in the recipes and in the photos. Sure to make you want to visit Iceland - or even live there!

This reviews are based on my summary for the Online Book Club for January 2021 on Homeschool Coffee Break.


This post is part of the Write 28 Days Blogging Challenge hosted by Anita Ojeda. Find all my posts for the challenge here: Write 28 Days Blogging Challenge - Disappointed. The challenge took place during February 2021, and I did create content every day, but some articles - like this one! - were not ready to be published during those 28 days.  


©2008-2021 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.



Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)