Around the World in 8 Months: Orbis Terrarum Reading Challenge
Welcome to Orbis Terrarum 2010!!!
This is year 3 of our big adventure. There are some different things going on this year, so read up.
Orbis Terrarum 2010 Challenge Rules:
*The Orbis Terrarum Challenge begins April,1st 2010(you are welcome to join later) through the month of November.
*For the challenge each reader is to choose 8 books (for the 8 months of the challenge).
*Each book must from a different country, I have decided to go by the country of origin of the author, or the country he/she lives in is fine as well-meaning NOT the country the book is set in!!
*You don't have to have a list, that means you can change your mind at any time. As long as there are 8 books you have completed the challenge.
What is different about this year in the Orbis Terrarum Challenge?? Well, there are some differences I think you will like, the above rules stay the same, but there are some options for your reading that I would like each challenger to consider.
1.) It has its own site, a part of my blog where I have much more freedom than on the old blogger site, check it out!!!
2.) This year I am allowing all the books to be from the same country and by the same author (although I would have you not choose your OWN country, because this challenge is meant to expose you to the world not your neighborhood!) For example, if you would like to focus on South Africa because you have an intrest in that then you can read all your books from that nation if you want.
3.) I want you to worry not about me putting up a post each month where you post your reviews, but that you'd post them in the appropriate continent location as you read along. These can be found by clicking on the images to the right. It has been a nightmare to try to organize these on my own, so I am asking (BEGGING) you to please first make sure your author’s country is listed in that particular Continent list, then include the nation of origin (or where he/she resides or resided or if you are choosing to go with where the author was born) of the author, as well as the title of the book. For example: (Absent by Khedairi- Iraq)or (Half of a Yellow Sun – Nigeria)
4.) The 2010 Orbis Terrarum Challengers Raising Funds for Clean Water Worldwide (optional!)
I am a big believer in not just reading about what is going on in the world, but about doing something about it. For this reason I am going to be reading away for Living Water International during the challenge and donating an amount per book. I also ask that you consider doing the same. If every one of us just gave $1 per book we read during the challenge, that is only 8 dollars, but if we all did it it that would be a good amount (last year we had 74 challengers, reading 8 books= $592 !)
You can make your donations directly by going to the Orbis Terrarum Challenge Fundraiser page. (They will send you a receipt for your tax deductible donation directly) Or by clicking the widget in the upper right of this challenge's page.
I'll post again on this soon.
However, you don't need to feel obligated to donate!!
Who wants to join in the Orbis Terrarum Challenge for 2010 (add your link below)?? Feel free to post about this challenge on your blog so that we can gather more international book travelers!!!
How to join??
1.) Sign Up here
2.) Write up a post about it on your blog so that your friends can join you. (feel free to use either of the buttons at the top of this post)
3.) Get a readin'!!! 
4.) Post a link to your review in the appropriate continent (click on images to the right).
5.) Contact me with any questions or comments.
SIGN UP for the Orbis Terrarum Reading Challenge here!!!! (still working with the site, let me know if something is off-I'd so appreciate it!)
Translation is a Love Affair
Translation is a Love Affair by Jacques Poulin
This is the story of a writer and his translator. A young woman arrives in Quebecois to meet a writer with a bad back, a cat with an SOS message attached to his collar, and a little girl who loves animals just like she does. The journey is a take on love, of a different kind of love than the romance of feelings met and encouraged-but one where the desires are known, yet never spoken. The translator, and the writer join forces on books, memories and most mysterious of all the search for the owner of the cat with the secret message.
Poulin consumes the reader in this modern love story where love is time, time is slow and a cry for help is all that one needs to jump out of their own life to reach into another's nightmare. Goodness it is breathtaking!! If you don't mind thinking as you read versus the modern novelist gibber that so many are pumping out these days-this read will make you think, make you wonder and amaze you with its richness.
A publisher at Archipelago sent me this book a while back telling me that I would like it. I have yet to doubt anything that comes from that press. The skill of Archipelago strikes again with the decision to translate this modern-day gem. I followed Jacques Poulin page after page and marveled at the excellent translation by Sheila Fischman. Pick this one up, it is art inside a pretty cover. I recommend it for those looking for an artistic and rare approach to the meaning of love with mystery tucked inside. Enjoy!
Archipelago Books I have reviewed:
Plants Don't Drink Coffee
Mourior
The Vanishing Moon
Sarajevo Marlboro
The Waitress Was New
Moving Parts
- ISBN: 9780981955704
- Author: Poulin, Jacques
- Publisher: Archipelago Books
- Translator: Fischman, Sheila
- Subject: Literary
- Copyright: 2009
- Publication Date: November 2009
- Binding: Paperback
- Language: English
- Pages: 144
I am an affiliate of TOMS SHOES and Powell’s Books and I do receive a percentage of the sales of any item you buy using my links. Thank you!
The Weight of Heaven
Frank and Ellie Benton loose their only child, a seven-year-old boy to a rare illness before the opening pages of the book. The Weight of Heaven is their lives lived with an attempt to survive that death-and are fearful that maybe that was the only thing uniting them. Frank and Ellie had been married for 11 years before the birth of their son Benny, but now that seemed like another life ago.
Amongst their pain and grief Ellie nudges Frank to take what she sees as a shot at saving their relationship, a move to India where Frank's boss has asked him to head up the local office. Will they have changed just enough to no longer be able to cope or work as a team in a strange environment? They have alienated themselves-even from each other, could this be the chance to have to face their pain united?
None of us know really how we'd deal with such a loss, at least not until we have suffered it and know from the inner strength (or lack of it) what we can live with. Thrity Umrigar does an amazing job of capturing the feelings of alienation, even from a spouse who has undergone the same loss, the blame that humans place on each other, and the enormous pressure from the hamster wheel of life to keep going no matter how bad you hurt. The Weight of Heaven feels so real, so true that I had to remind myself that it is fiction- when that is the case I know the author has gone to great trouble to know the details, to understand the whole environment of loss, and I was really blown away by her thoughtfulness with this tender subject.
To me the writing was amazing-brilliant actually, I was right there with her from page one and didn't need to work at all to get emotionally involved in the book. I believe that Thrity Umrigar is a master at what she does and have heard nothing but good about her previous books as well, so I am off to spend some Powell's dough on one of her others, maybe The Space Between Us which I have heard bookies rave about for a while now. I now know what is so attractive about her novels, they bear the weight of their subject matter and lead the reader by the hand to grasp difficult pain but also they show cultures, life, joy and most importantly our cultural blind spots. I will read Thrity Umrigar again, I have no doubt and I am thankful I was introduced to yet another of the few modern novelists who work their words like art in form of ink and letters. I highly recommend this read, very highly. Grab it up!!!
Thrity Umrigar's website: http://www.umrigar.com/
- Title: The Weight of Heaven
- ISBN: 9780061472541
- Publisher: Harper
- Author: Thrity Umrigar
- Subject: fiction
- Pages: 384
- Copyright: 2009
- Publication Date: April 2009
I am an affiliate of TOMS SHOES and Powell’s Books and I do receive a percentage of the sales of any item you buy using my links. Thank you!
Closer: Devotions to Draw Couples Together
Closer: Devotions to Draw Couples Together
Devotions need to be a priority, weekly, daily- that is up to you, but there needs to be time set aside to nurture and grow that relationship which is of utmost importance- the one between a couple and towards God. So often when you don't it is easy to nag each other, pick fights or feel like your marriage is a working relationship, or maybe a black hole depending on how dramatic you are. Over the years love hits the backseat and romance has departed for good after you spend a good amount of time pushing your spouse away. I suggest devotions together, they bless us every time we do it, and we see the rewards big time. It doesn't have to be this book, it could be one that speaks to you, or reading the Bible together- but don't put it off.
Brad and I have made our way peeking into several different devotion books over the 8 years of our marriage. I thought this one would be the same, but this time this book hit the mark. The initial devotions seem a little to simple and straightforward (just blah) so we almost tossed the book into the pile of devotional books that haven't quite cut it.However, Closer gets better and better (or was it my attitude that improved?) I recommend sticking with it through at least the first 5 devotional sessions and you will find yourself and your spouse in a deeper place with God and a closer place as a married couple.
Jim and Cathy Burns co authored this book, I have been blessed by them in the past as Jim Burns wrote several amazing books for age appropriate sex education which I love, LOVE. This devotional book is good, and I recommend it. Our typical devotions set begins with some worship, then we read and answer the questions from on chapter of Closer: Devotions to Draw Couples Together, then read a chapter of the Bible, and close it off with prayer for each other. We have grown, and God has grown in us through this time. There is nothing more we could ask!
Do you have a favourite couples devotional book that you could recommend to me?? We're going to be done with this one and I would love some suggestions on ones that aren't cheesy and that really dive deep. Ideas anyone??
ISBN:9780764207037
Subtitle:Devotions to Draw Couples Together
Author: Burns, Jim And Cathy
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Subject: Christian Life - Devotional
Christian Life - Love & Marriage
Publication Date: October 2009
Pages: 222
I am an affiliate of TOMS SHOES and Powell’s Books and I do receive a percentage of the sales of any item you buy using my links. Thank you!
My Life in France
We all have our obsessions in life, right now mine is running but sometimes it is cooking, or candy or chicken farming. I can't imagine what it would be like to have an obsession, or I guess a passion which lasted for over 20 years- or after reading My Life in France I guess I can. This book part autobiography, part biography by Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme is a story of love at first sight, and the choice to keep on loving no matter what adversity that love would bring. Julia fell in love with France, and food and with her sweetheart, Paul Child. Not only did she love food, she loved other people to love it too and so she wrote a number of cookbooks targeted at the American cook on her favourite subject-French cuisine. These books filled her life, consumed her thoughts, took her time more than many of us would have given for a dream. But after reading this book and getting to know Julia the way I do now, I don't know what would have been able to anchor her energy if she hadn't had it focused on these cookbook projects and then later on, the TV shows. Her determination is nothing but astonishing.
Julia Child's over-the-top expressions and larger-than-possible gestures bloom through the pages of this book and made me laugh over and over and over. I have seen her cooking show, and I watched Meryl Streep's impersonation of this eccentric gentle giant,none of which have left me doubtful of Child's well deserved claim to fame, however My Life in France is what made me fall completely in love with her. I love her clown-like and completely lovable qualities. I am not obsessed, as I would consider one certain Julie Powell type level of obsession-still I am in awe and admiration of Julia Child (and Paul for that matter) for so many reasons beyond entertainment's sake. Mostly that they just didn't quit, they loved, loved strong, loved fast and hard and when adversity struck they loved harder and held each other tighter. My life in France is not just the story of Julia Child, as Julia would only be half of what she was without Paul Child.
My Life in France is an extremely gallant attempt to narrate and contain the larger than life story of Julia Child. I do believe as much as that woman can be contained, and although I caught her stretching off the pages towards me, this book does the job spectacularly. If you enjoyed the film Julie & Julia, or if you like cooking or would like to be inspired to reach a goal and conquer a dream- snap this read up!!! I wholeheartedly recommend this book!! (It earns my top of the top award of Stellar Five Chicken Book)
Paul and Julia were keen on sending out lovely valentines like this every year. Too cute!
Bon appétit!
- ISBN:9780307277695
- Author: Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme
- Publisher: Anchor Books
- Author: Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme
- Author: Child, Julia
- Author:Prud'homme, Alex
- Subject: History, Cooking, Personal Memoirs
- Cookery, french
- Copyright: 2007
- Publication Date: October 2007
- Pages:352Did you read this?? What did you think? Would you consider yourself a cooking fanatic?
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America
A middle aged journalist, Barbara Ehrenreich notes the obvious gap in coverage on a whole segment of society, the poverty level wadge earners (or the working poor). She chooses to go undercover (a la old school) and see if without her degrees (and a Phd.) and without her 'luck' and experience in past jobs- with that off the record, where would she be? Would it even be possible for her to survive financially? She does nothing but strip herself from her entitled position as a middle class citizen and education just to see if she can survive on what millions of Americans aim to survive on. These citizens who give their sweat and tears to work full-time, seven days a week, for the whole year earning a poverty-level wadge in aim to survive. Barbara Ehrenreich decides that now is the time to find out so she strips herself of all her advantages and God knows what will happen.
Accepting jobs from working at Walmart, to housecleaning, and witnessing she is shocked to find that each of these jobs require her to put herself fully into it in order to keep up with the flow, and keep her job. The jobs all have things in common, they are high intensity, high stress, and demanding and yet they are minimum wadge or barely over that. She chooses 3 different cites where she is going to try and make it work- and she soon finds out that just one job is not enough, if she wants a roof above her head she'll have to be working at least two demanding jobs at a time. She soon realises that she has discarded, along with her privilege so much of where her securities were resting. No longer covered for medical expenses, dental mishaps or even just knowing that she could fall back on her education or rely on wealthy family members for a difficult season- the stress of just getting by is so much more than numbers, it is the heavy weight that one can only understand if one has been in that spot.
I strongly believe that every single person should read Nickel and Dimed, especially the overly wealthy (or those who have that type of attitude) and the working poor, every middle class white, every underpaid minority- this book crosses all the barriers and brings up issues that through knowledge we could change. The working poor is responsible for so much of the upper and middle class' benefits, but generally they aren't seen for the work they do, but just as a job, a label- as if that where their dream in life when they were 4. Barbara puts a face on the working poor, a face that you won't be able to forget even if you aim to. I highly recommend this Nickel and Dimed for perspective, awareness and so much more!
Nickel and Dimed is A New York Times bestseller, and Notable Book of the year but besides all those awards it is really- a must read.
- ISBN:9780805088380
- Author: Barbara Ehrenreich
- Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
- Subject: Poverty, Economic Conditions, Labor & Industrial Relations - General
- Working poor - United States
- Poverty - United States
- Copyright: 2008
- Publication Date: June 2008
I am an affiliate of TOMS SHOES and Powell’s Books and I do receive a percentage of the sales of any item you buy using my links. Thank you!
Made from Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life
Made from Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life
This is a type of info/memoir by and about Jenna Woginrich. Made from Scratch covers beekeeping, chicken raising, antique hunting, bread making and many other rituals of the not-so-urban dwellers. Her book is set up well and there are sections of it that are extremely helpful and smart.
Many times however, I was turned off by the attempt to cover up poor writing by and addition of overly flowered and emotional prose. It was just way too loaded for me. She got emotional and excited because some friends from college were to join her at her house and so she went out of her way to make it a complete hassle-free weekend for them. She goes on to speak of how blessed she is that as she sees her friend falling asleep on the couch she knows that the food that is going through his body is from her very own farm. Cheesy! I have chickens in my backyard and I have never sat and thought that, yes I am delighted the boys get fresh eggs, and delighted that we aren't paying into the insanely hideous picture of all those caged birds laying eggs onto a conveyor belt for their whole lives while never to set foot on grass. Yes I am! But it seems to me Jenna goes a little overboard with her pleasure of the food that is in her friends digestive system. It isn't just that passage either- there are more.
Besides the emotional aspect of this book (which seems to be written by someone either PMSing or enduring Menopause) I did enjoy the farming insight and tips. Although I am not quite ready to dive into bee-keeping (the neighbors probably wouldn't like it either) I liked reading what she learned from both her mistakes and successes. I learn from other people's mistakes when it comes to farming, gardening and such- it is way to expensive not to! Overall this was an average short and light read. It could have been so much better without the melodrama, but there were enough tidbits in it to keep me somewhat content.
If you could own one kind of farm animal (without worrying about land space, or your neighbors) what would it be? The latest one that I want...Angora rabbits! I really want me a pair.
- ISBN: 9781603420860
- Subtitle: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life
- Author: Woginrich, Jenna
- Publisher: Storey Publishing
- Subject: Do-It-Yourself - General
- Personal Memoirs
- Country life
- Urban homesteading.
- Farmers & Ranchers
- Self-reliant living
- Publication Date: December 2008
- Pages: 184
I am an affiliate of TOMS SHOES and Powell’s Books and I do receive a percentage of the sales of any item you buy using my links. Thank you!
How to Raise a Modern-Day Joseph
How to Raise a Modern-Day Joseph: A Practical Guide for Growing Great Kids
If you are a parent, you know that a parent does what a parents gotta do-that is just the way it is. We drive the kids around, we make sure they brush their teeth, we take them to school (or even Homeschool them) we aim to do everything short of coddling them in order to have them turn out into able bodied adults and well rounded individuals. However from so much scheduling and activity the most important aspect of a whole person, which is the spirit and soul is many times neglected, or passed off as "the Sunday school teacher's job". We aren't doing our job as parents who love Jesus if we aren't intentional in instilling faith into our children.
How to Raise a Modern-Day Joseph is a book, or even more a type of help manual which goes through each age and stage of the child from preschool through high school and equips parents with the tools necessary to pour a passion for what is right into their children. It is called How to Raise a Modern-Day Joseph because no matter what the situation, Joseph (yes as in the Joseph with the coat of many colours) was able to make the right decision even when life really was not seeming to move in his favor. God gave him a dream as a boy and he must have thought many times that it was just a hoax and that God was no where close- however the faith that he kept when it came time to make the right choices is to be admired. He was surrounded by a people who didn't know God, who worshiped all different sorts of gods and he didn't even have a local home Bible study to go to, or a youth group and still he stood strong.
That is what every christian parent should aim to nurture in their child, not that everything is up to the parent, but it is nice to know when your kids grow up that you did what you could with the gift that God blessed you with. It isn't up to a youth leader to train your children spiritually, just as much as it isn't up to the pastor make you grow. The biggest problem with kids and adults alike is that they think they go to church to be challenged and to grow- and the result is that church has never been so full of saggy and faithless Sunday-only Christians. It is up to the individual to trust God, to place their feet on steadfast ground, no program for adults or kids will ever fashion that on its own. With or without programs and church events, we as parents are called to guide our children into a real relationship with Christ.
How to Raise a Modern-Day Joseph is not a step by step guide on how to raise all children, it is a guide for creating a personalized and practical plan to best help your children bloom into teenagers who know, love and serve their Lord. I will use this book with my kids. We have started working with it and I love the scripture verses that it has for each different age group. Modern-Day Joseph is an excellent book for parents to keep on hand.
Title: How to Raise a Modern-Day Joseph
ISBN: 9781434765314
Subtitle: A Practical Guide for Growing Great Kids (An Awana Resource)
Author: Linda Weddle
Publisher: David C. Cook
Subject: Christian Life - Family
Publication Date: June 2009
Pages: 220
I am an affiliate of TOMS SHOES and Powell’s Books and I do receive a percentage of the sales of any item you buy using my links. Thank you!
Dreadlock Girl Reading in 2009
In 2009 I read 100 books. I was trying to make it to one hundred,and I scrounged to get there. Because of homeschooling, crafting and cooking there are tons of odd books on my list. That is just the way life is right now, and I make no excuses because I wouldn't want it any other way. Sometimes (many times) after a long day of "working" around the house it has been hard for me to want to pick up a deep book or thought provoking one. What you see is what I read, for better or for worse. I wish I had some more intelligent books there-but I haven't wanted to ready them so I don't. Yep, that is that. Still I have some great favourites from what I read this year. I'll have to think about which are the top of the top, there are many that I loved this year.
For now, some cover art.
Kids in the Holiday Kitchen
Kids in the Holiday Kitchen: Making, Baking, Giving
The holidays are a time when everyone just wants to create. Weather it be crafts, gifts or yummy treats to eat- the time that we get to spend together is so much better spent when we get our hands sticky, right!? Kids (and even adults) of all ages will find some eye-catching pictures in Kids in the Holiday Kitchen, pictures that will reel them right in to want to make the recipes/crafts. From the Stuffed French Toast (on page 14), the Sugarplum Lollies (p. 36) to the crafts of Stellar (felted) Stockings (p. 81) and the Let There Be Light (colourful beeswax candle) (p. 88) there is more than enough so that everyone in the family will find a "must make".
These projects are made to be kid friendly and most kids preschool age and older could do a portion of the work with a parent helper. Older kids could do them completely by themselves. It is a way that children can take ownership of making their gifts for their teachers, aunts or that special friend that needs a little encouragement. It is never to early to encourage giving and Kids in the Holiday Kitchen encourages a season of giving all year round, even from the littlest hands. This books gets two thumbs way up from me. I am leaving you with a recipe from the book that would be perfect for your New Year's celebrations!! Yum.
New Year's Nuggets
Chocolate-Caramel Popcorn, from Kids in the Holiday Kitchen (p. 45)
You'll Need:
1/2 Cup Dried Yellow Popcorn
Scant 1/4 Cup Water
3 Tablespoons Canola Oil (optional)
1/4 teaspoon orange extract (optional)
1 Cup Sugar
8 Ounces Milk Chocolate
1/2 Cup Light Corn Syrup
What to do:
1. Pop the popcorn.
2. Line several cookie sheets with parchment paper.
3. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup and water. Heat over medium-high heat until golden brown, and 5 minutes. Stir gently, add the orange extract, if using, stir again. Add some of the popcorn and coat it with the caramel. use a wooden utensil to help coat the corn. Place the coated kernels on the parchment paper to cool. Repeat.
4. When cool, break up the clumps of caramel corn, keeping the corn clumps on the parchment.
5. Heat the chocolate over low heat in the top of a double boiler, or in a metal bowl over a saucepan filled with 1 inch of hot water (creating your own double boiler). Heat the chocolate until it's smooth, 3 to 4 minutes. Make sure the chocolate doesn't burn.
6. Fill a ladle with the melted chocolate and lightly drizzle over the caramel corn. Let the chocolate caramel corn cool for 30 to 45 minutes. To make gifts, put small batches in cellophane bags; otherwise, wrap in parchment paper and keep in a Tupperware container in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days.
Makes 4 Cups
Watch Chronicle Book's Kids in the Holiday Kitchen book trailer:
Title: Kids in the Holiday Kitchen
ISBN: 9780811861397
Subtitle: Making, Baking, Giving
Author: Jessica Strand & Tammy Massman-Johnson
Photographer: James Baigrie
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Subject:Holiday - Christmas, Crafts for Children, Handicraft, Recipes
Publication Date: November 2008
Pages: 95
