Agatha Christie books etc

I'm on my 6th book of the year so I figured I'd better catch up now or I'll abandon the idea completely.

Book #2
Kingdom Wars II: Tartarus

I enjoyed this one but found the ending a bit lacking. The overlying problem that the protagonist has is not resolved. Perhaps Jack Cavanaugh has plans for a third book where it will be resolved, but I haven't heard about it.

Books #3, #4 & #5
I'm currently working my way through a collection of Agatha Christie stories all in one volume. They're long enough that I'm counting them as individual books.

 

This book gave me a really great quote to save: "The young people think the old people are fools, but the old people know that the young people are fools!" ~ Miss Marple

This was a unique mystery as Hercule Poirot is brought into the story in order to attempt to prevent a murder, rather than after one has occurred. I read on another blog an interesting tidbit about one of the main characters, Ariadne Oliver: "Ariadne Oliver plays a central part in this novel, with many seeing her as Christie's alter-ego. Indeed the house that the novel is set at was based on her own home." (Thanks to Mysteries in Paradise for the quote.)

This was a good read, with some nice unexpected twists. I confess that I have no idea what the title means however.

I am truly enjoying reading these. Old enough to be classic and intelligent literature, but not so old that they are a difficult or stuffy read. I really want to call them delightful but I'm fairly sure that makes me sound old.

Empty Shelf Challenge

Jon Acuff is hilarious and you should be reading his blog/following him on Facebook/stalking him like I am. Outside of being truly funny, he is gifted at motivating others. At the end of 2013 he issued the Empty Shelf Challenge. The challenge was simple; take a picture of your empty shelf and then add each book you read to it during 2014. He started a Pinterest board for us too. I loved this idea and started my own Pinterest board to keep track of what I read. I read 43 books last year! He hasn't reissued the challenge but I've already decided to do it again for 2015 and I'd like to share my books here as well.

Book #1

Kingdom Wars I: A Hideous Beauty by Jack Cavanaugh. This is reminiscent of Frank Peretti's Darkness duology, with angels and demons engaged in spiritual warfare. I really enjoyed the story and the characters. I loved that the main character has a sarcastic sense of humor and used it even in the presence of angels. I'm already starting the next book, Tartarus, which I'll blog about when I'm done reading.

maybe

From time to time I think about resurrecting the blog. This is about as far as I get and then I bail. Maybe I should just start.

I'm out of school right now. It was a very hard decision but I think I just need to get E through middle school and then revisit the idea. My grades are still really good but this past school year was just too much and I felt hysterical way too often. Plus I really couldn't wait to write that student loan check every month, and why deny myself that pleasure?

So when we last left off, life was hard and I was sad and please Jesus just come back and get us already. I still feel that way about many things. I've always been a cynic but I feel like a much darker and twistier person in the last two years. Still working on that. I've found myself walking more and more with Jesus every day though, something that brings me joy. That time with Him is sometimes awesome and sometimes convicting and sometimes boring, but I'm trying. I love keeping a prayer journal and writing down verses that comfort or or doodling little colorful pictures that amuse me. I like talking to God this way. (I started a Pinterest board for inspiration.)

The holidays are over and we're on the last few days of winter break. I'm ready to get back into the routine and madness. I had the flu for Christmas so I wasn't exactly in one-horse-open-sleigh mode this year. I already put most of the decorations away. Time to start focusing on 2015?? Is it seriously 2015? My daughter turns 16 this year. My son will become a teenager this year. Maybe now is not the time to start blogging again....