What I'm Reading - January 11, 2016

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This weekly reading list meme is hosted at Book Date. Join in to see what others are reading and maybe get some ideas of what to read next! I'm also going to be linking up with Tales of a Pee Dee Mama for D.E.A.R. Monday (Drop Everything And Read).

I recently finished reading...

Well... nothing that I actually FINISHED this week. I've got plenty I'm working on though!

I'm currently reading...

Worship Changes Everything: Experiencing God's Presence in Every Moment of Life by Darlene Zschech

     

Odd Thomas: You Are Destined to Be Together Forever (Short Story) by Dean Koontz and Odd Thomas: An Odd Thomas Novel by Dean Koontz - I'm going to review these together.
  

 The Painter's Daughter by Julie Klassen - This one just arrived from the library, and I am pretty sure that it's not going to be possible for me to renew it, so I got going right away!



White Nights and Other Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - I'm reading this as part of the Back to the Classics Challenge.




 Next on the stack...

Undaunted Hope (Beacons of Hope) by Jody Hedlund - This just arrived, and I will be reviewing it for Bethany House.
David and Bathsheba by Roberta Kells Dorr
Into the Whirlwind by Elizabeth Camden
A Beauty So Rare (A Belmont Mansion Novel) by Tamera Alexander

 

    

  

On my blogs last week . . .

Here on Just A Second:

Scripture and a Snapshot - January 9, 2016
Back to the Classics Challenge 2016
Wordless Wednesday - Epiphany

And on my homeschool blog, Homeschool Coffee Break:

Homeschool Weekly - Back to the Books Edition
From the High School Lesson Book - Back to the Books
Virtual Refrigerator - New Coloring Books
Homeschooling High School - Graduation and Beyond!
Favorite Reads
January Plans

What are you reading?

©2008-2016 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/

Scripture and a Snapshot - January 9, 2016

But I have trusted in your steadfast love;

my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

I will sing to the LORD,

because he has dealt bountifully with me.

~Psalm 13:5-6~

Scripture & a Snapshot is hosted by A Glimpse of Our Life.

Weekend Whispers is hosted by Barbie Swihart.


Verse of the Week is hosted by Counting Pinecones.

©2008-2016 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/

Back to the Classics Challenge 2016

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I've been debating over whether to do specific reading challenges this year, or even whether to set a goal for a number of books to read. I'm still thinking about some of the many challenges out there, but here's one that I came across while reading at North Laurel Musings that got my attention. Enough attention that I've even started working on it, so I figured I'd better share that I'm signing up!

This is the Back to the Classics Challenge for 2016, hosted at Books and Chocolate. I love books. I love chocolate. Perfect. But let's focus on the challenge. The idea is to rediscover and enjoy classic books, so the challenge is to read twelve classic books in the following categories:

1. A 19th Century Classic - any book published between 1800 and 1899.
2. A 20th Century Classic - any book published between 1900 and 1966.
3. A classic by a woman author 
4. A classic in translation - any book originally written and published in a language other than your native language.
5. A classic by a non-white author - can be African-American, Asian, Latino, Native American, etc.
6. An adventure classic - can be fiction or non-fiction.
7. A fantasy, science fiction, or dystopian classic
8. A classic detective novel - It must include a detective, amateur or professional.
9. A classic which includes the name of a place in the title - It can be the name of a house, a town, a street, etc. 
10. A classic which has been banned or censored - If possible, mention why it was banned or censored.
11. Re-read a classic you read in school (high school or college)
12. A volume of classic short stories - This must be one complete volume, at least 8 short stories.

Of course, there are prizes! Visit the Back to the Classics 2016 Challenge at Books and Chocolate for all the details and rules.

Thankfully, we do not have to read these in the order given, and we don't have to state ahead of time what we're planning to read in each category. I've got some ideas, but have only made one decision so far, and that is the book that I just started. I'm reading the volume of classic short stories first, and the collection I've chosen is White Nights and Other Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a collection originally published in 1918.

©2008-2016 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/

Wordless Wednesday - Epiphany

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him."

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

~Matthew 2:1-2, 9-11~

This post is linked at Wordless Wednesday, hosted by Life at Rossmont.

©2008-2016 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/

What I'm Reading - January 4, 2016

This post may contain affiliate links. 

This weekly reading list meme is hosted at Book Date. Join in to see what others are reading and maybe get some ideas of what to read next!

I recently finished reading...

The Fatal Tree (Bright Empires) by Stephen R Lawhead (Read my review HERE.)




I'm currently reading...

Worship Changes Everything: Experiencing God's Presence in Every Moment of Life by Darlene Zschech

     

Odd Thomas: You Are Destined to Be Together Forever (Short Story) by Dean Koontz and Odd Thomas: An Odd Thomas Novel by Dean Koontz - since it was just a short story, not even a novella, I got started on the first full Odd Thomas novel and will review them together too.

  

 A Taste of Traditional Regency Romances: Extended excerpts of Regency novels (Bluestocking League Book 1) by Gail Eastwood, Camille Elliot, April Kihlstrom, Vanessa Riley, Regina Scott



White Nights and Other Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky




 Next on the stack...

  David and Bathsheba by Roberta Kells Dorr
Into the Whirlwind by Elizabeth Camden
A Beauty So Rare (A Belmont Mansion Novel) by Tamera Alexander

    

  

On my blogs last week . . .

Here on Just A Second:

Recent Reads - The Fatal Tree
Scripture and a Snapshot - A Prayer for the New Year
Bookshelf Review - December 2015
Wordless Wednesday - Christmas Lights at Longwood
Teaser Tuesdays/First Chapter First Paragraph - Odd Thomas

And on my homeschool blog, Homeschool Coffee Break:

A Longwood Gardens PhotoJournal - Part Two
Virtual Refrigerator - Christmas Art: Bookish Tree and North Pole
A Longwood Gardens PhotoJournal - Part One
In Review - A Collection of Coffee Breaks from 2015

What are you reading?

©2008-2015 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/

Recent Reads - The Fatal Tree

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The Fatal Tree (Bright Empires) by Stephen R Lawhead - I feel badly that it took me so long to finish this book. I admit that in part it was because this is the final book in the Bright Empires series and I kind of didn't want it to end! As I've come to expect from Lawhead, the story kept me turning pages and holding my breath as I followed the time travel adventures of Kit and his friends.

Quick recap from the previous books: Kit Livingstone and his girlfriend Mina, along with a growing cast of characters, have been learning as much as they can about ley line travel, which is essentially traveling into alternate timelines. Their own introduction to ley travel was accidental, but they are following in the footsteps of a master traveler, who mapped his own vast knowledge on his own torso using tattoos. Trying to beat them to the complete map is Lord Burleigh and his henchmen - clearly the bad guys! In the fourth novel, the questors included Kit and Mina, Cass and her father Tony, and Gianni; and they'd discovered that something was happening to time - something potentially disastrous that would end the universe.

All around the world, strange and inexplicable anomalies in time are resulting in disasters small and large. Unexplained mysteries to most, but the Questors recognize that these blips could mean cosmic disaster. When they figure out that the Well of Souls probably holds the key to stopping and reversing the damage, Kit helps them travel back to the prehistoric world of the River City Clan that he had lived with previously, since he had seen the Well of Souls from there. But the portal is completely blocked by a gigantic tree which seems to be part of the ley portal itself. Even worse, contact with the tree burns out their shadow lamps and even kills one of their members. How can they get to the Well of Souls with the fatal tree in the way?

While Kit, Mina, and the others are trying to solve this problem and navigate the increasingly unstable leys, Burleigh languishes in a medieval Prague prison, with Mina's friend Etzel caring for him. When Mina and the others finally find their way back to Prague, they are shocked to find Burleigh released from prison and working for Etzel - and claiming to have been converted and wanting to help them set things right! Can he be trusted? What choice do they have in their race against time?

By the same author: The Shadow Lamp, The Spirit Well; The Skin Map; Patrick; The Pendragon Cycle: Taliesin, Merlin, Arthur, Pendragon, Grail

©2008-2015 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/

Scripture and a Snapshot - A Prayer for the New Year

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May he grant you your heart's desire

and fulfill all your plans!

May we shout for joy over your salvation,

and in the name of our God set up our banners!

May the LORD fulfill all your petitions!

~Psalm 20:4-5~

Happy New Year!

Scripture & a Snapshot is hosted by A Glimpse of Our Life.

Weekend Whispers is hosted by Barbie Swihart.


Verse of the Week is hosted by Counting Pinecones.

©2008-2015 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/