Book baby!!

Today I took Gus on a mommy/baby date to the book baby event at the library in North Salt Lake. My friend is a librarian there and she facilitates events for children! They do all kinds of fun things including sleepovers at the library for kid's stuffed animals! Anyway- today I took Gus after intending to for a long time. We read stories as a group, sang songs, pet stuffed animal puppets and played with colourful scarves. Jessie did a fantastic job of engaging all the kids. It was really sweet to see Gus look around at everyone and smile. I definitely want to take advantage of more of the libraries activities! We also obtained a family pass to attend four museums in Salt Lake including the Leonardo! I have always wanted to go but haven't yet so now we have no excuse not to! Always ask the librarians if they have passes for local attractions. I know in Toronto you can get access to the AGO and all kinds of museums and attractions. I love the library. 

Gus trying to crawl during Book Baby:) 

Love this little guy so much!!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Book Review: "The Procrastination Equation" by Piers Steel

Confession: Once in grade twelve I put off completing (maybe even starting??) a History paper by reading an 800 or so page biography of Florence Nightingale. It was a VERY moving book (that had nothing to do with my assignment) but it caused me a lot of anxiety and trouble due to the fact that it took me weeks (maybe months?) to finally get my paper in. It did not take me long at all to read the biography but the fact that my paper was already late made it harder to even work on it. Sorry Mr. Lindahl! Ha! How I still managed to be the Valedictorian of my graduating class is a mystery (to Calvin) but like I said in my speech, that year it was based on looks. But seriously now folks, my English teacher that same year told us once in class that she used to have a problem with procrastinating but then she read a book about it and stopped. She made it sound so easy! And I really liked her as a teacher. I vowed to follow her lead. So fourteen years later, I have finally followed through on that commitment:)

This is why I love the children's book: "Leo the late Bloomer" by Robert Kraus. Its about a tiger that couldn't do anything right until finally one day he blooms! Once I labeled myself a "late bloomer" I stopped feeling quite so bad about my awkward teenage years:) And awkward years in general. We all have had those years, as my friend Sarah would say, those years before we knew to pluck our eyebrows.

Back to procrastination. Piers Steel is a real gem. He writes with authority and humour. He acknowledges the reading of his book is probably an act of procrastination in and of itself. He explains why procrastinating is the natural human way and what we can do to overcome it. I love him for his hatred of the book "The Secret" (sorry friends who love that book!) and I love how he gets specific with what to do. For example, make Approach Goals, i.e. start early rather than Avoidance Goals i.e. Don't begin late. The book has seriously changed how I house clean, make lunches, get the garbage out on time and renew library books! (No more embarrassingly high late fees!! :) It has also helped me actually write a little more. Writing is one of the greatest things to procrastinate, inspiring all types of cleaning and bouts of de-hoarder-izing one's home. Which are good activities but when you want to write- they get in the way. Anyway, it was, not to be too dramatic, a life-changing read for me. To any fellow procrastinators out there, get the book!

Photo from "Leo the Late Bloomer"

Book Review: "Tolstoy and the Purple Chair- My Year of Magical Reading" by Nina Sankovitch

I enjoyed this book- though it read more like a blog to me, which shouldn't be a surprise since it began as a blog. It is a memoir of a woman who spent a year reading a book every single day in an attempt to deal with the grief she felt after her sister's death. She is a passionate reader and believer in the healing power of literature. 

Some highlights for me include the story below about a young Ukrainian girl and her pure love for her mother, the most beautiful woman in the world...( P 8)

Here are some quotes that stood out to me:

...from a magazine on how to choose a book to read: "be serious, earnest, sincere in your choice of books, and then put your trust in Providence and read with an easy mind." (P 161)

This quote is in response to being told that nothing in the world matters except Love: "a banking account, sound teeth, and adequate servants matter a great deal more." (P 130- quote is from the Provincial Lady in London by E.M. Delafield)

A quote I liked from page191: 

" I realized it was my decision whether I would interpret the ending as unjust and unsatisfactory and suffer because of it or decided that this, and only this, was the fitting ending." (Taken from Self's Murder by Bernard Schlink) 

And a final quote from Tolstoy himself, "the sole meaning of life is to serve humanity." 

All in all- a satisfying and inspiring read. It has added to my list of books I want to read- the top of that list is "the Forged Coupon" by Leo Tolstoy

The author has a website called: ReadAllDay.org if you are curious about her voracious reading!

Currently reading...

These two books in conjunction:

Ha ha ha! And Calvin is teasing me, just a little bit. But seriously, I've never felt more motivated to not procrastinate while simultaneously feeling less bad about the procrastinating I've done in the past. I recommend this combo for any fellow procrastinators out there. 

"Tolstoy and the purple chair" by Nina Sankovitch

Been reading and thumbing through this book since I picked it up at the library yesterday. The last sentence of this quote  really struck me. I love dramatic descriptions like this! 

Baby's book shelf

We received so many thoughtful gifts while I was pregnant with Gus. One of them was the book, "The read-aloud handbook" by Jim Trelease. Our friend who is a librarian brought it to one of my baby showers and Calvin and I have both read it and loved it. It has so many ideas on how to help your kids to love reading, book suggestions for different ages and explains why reading is so important developmentally. 

Calvin and I are readers and can both credit our parents for turning us on to books. My Dad is a talented story teller (and a top notch Toast Master!) and a big reader. My mum has worked in publishing for 25 plus years and was always bringing home boxes full of books and comics and magazines that my sisters and I and our friends would devour! Our house was lined with book shelves and we took trips to the library often. I didn't always read high brow books ("Chort" anyone? Or that series about a teenage girl country band where the first line was "Whoa baby and yowza!") but I developed a love of reading early on. And according to Trelease, that is what's important! 

Growing up Calvin would occasionally get to break his 8 pm bedtime and stay up as late as he wanted, all night even, as long as he was reading. Isn't his mom so smart?? 

We hope Gus will grow up to love reading as much as we do. 

Reading Goal 01/2012

I finished the Quiet American

and The Great Divorce

Enjoyed both books. Both were very quick and easy reads but have deep messages that require reflection. I liked Greene's ability to show the complexity of war, the complexity of the human experience. I liked Lewis' allegory for the after life.