Book Review Saturday

I've managed to finish three books in the first two weeks of January. I'm positive I won't be able to keep up this pace, so to have three books read in two weeks feels pretty good. (It also helps that all of them had been started in December already:o)).

The first book completed is:

Lighted Windows Advent Reflections for a World in Waiting by Margaret Silf

This is a 37 day devotional that I will read again when the 2011 advent season begins, but we won't read it as a family. Although I found it interesting and thought provoking, I think quite a bit of it went over the children's heads. (Next year we will do something more geared to the four younger ones around the table).

I like how each day is set up with a brief scripture passage (or two), then a story and commentary, some questions that cause one to think, and a prayer. The only thing that totally threw me off in reading these daily devotions, is that one of the days she talks about evolution. I'm still not sure whether Silf actually believes in evolution or whether it was part of the illustration for her commentary that day. In December when I read through it again, I will most certainly be reading that day's devotion carefully.

The next book I completed is

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.

This was such a delightful book! I fell in love with Mole. He's such a sweet down to earth (no pun intended) character. Toady had me rolling my eyes with his antics. What a devious character he is! Grahame writes with such descriptive passages that I often felt like I was trotting alongside the characters in the book. For me, this book was a very fun read and I enjoyed it immensely!

Finally, I finished the book I started sometime in 2010 called

1001 Timely Tips for Clutter Control by the editors of FC&A Publishing.

This book was excellent! I'm not exactly a packrat, but I am too sentimental for my own good, so we do have more stuff that I need want to keep than I should. What I really like about the book is how each chapter is a room in the house which is in turn divided into zones. Once you have those zones organized it then gives you suggestions for keeping it clean with 10 minute daily speed cleaning, weekly cleaning, monthly cleaning, and occasional cleaning. I can't wait to follow several of the steps in this book to create a home that is much simpler and quicker to clean. I learned quite a bit from this book and will be referring to it off and on over the next few months as the addition goes on and the renovations are complete.

Stayed tuned for next Saturday where I will (hopefully) have another book review for you! What are you reading these days? I love to hear about it as I am always adding more books to my to read list!

Blessings!