Saturday, December 30, 2017

Reads of 2017



Anyone who knows me at all, knows that I love to read. A lot. Immersing myself in a good book, rates a lot higher in my world than a lot of other (more social) things. (Why yes, I am an introvert; thanks for asking).
I remember my love of books being cultivated by my elementary school librarian. Mrs Linke was a pudgy, older lady with short gray hair, who pulled her pants up to her armpits; I kid you not. But she was a lovely woman and she introduced me to many new series. I spent countless hours in that school library. Anyway, I am always excited to discover a new author and I made one of my greatest "finds" this year when I happened upon Louise Penny. I picked up her latest book at the library and loved it. What a thrill to discover that it was part of a series of thirteen! To discover not only a good book, but a book that is part of a larger series is a goldmine, a reader's dream. So...I have read all of her books this year, besides the latest one. Did I mention that she's Canadian and writes about a quaint little town in Quebec? 
I also discovered two other authors that I really enjoyed this year and I have read 23 books and counting, so it was been a great year for this bibliophile.
Here's my list of books for 2017:

-Liturgy of the Ordinary
-Grace Not Perfection
-Barefoot
-Two Steps Forward
-Sensible Shoes
-An Altar in the World
-A Great Reckoning
-You are Free
-Still Life
-Chasing Slow
-A Brutal Telling
-If Not For You
-Bury Your Dead
-A Fatal Grace
-Murder stone
-The Beautiful Mystery
-A Trick of the Light
-The Cruellest Month
-How the Light Gets In
-Of Mess and Moxie
-Long Way Home
-Braving the Wilderness
-Nature of the Beast
-The Life She Was Given

Thursday, December 14, 2017

navigating

Some people have an amazing sense of direction. My 5 yr old daughter often knows where we are when I am driving, commenting that we are passing grandpa's, or the church etc even if we are just passing by and no one else has mentioned where we are or where we're going. Others do not.  I do not have a good sense of direction, but neither does my friend Shelle. We recently attended a concert and missed the same turn off twice (or was it three times). Of course, we were busy talking, so it wasn't totally a lack of direction, but still. Yesterday, we found ourselves searching for our rides on the wrong floor of the parkade. Need I tell you that it's challenging to find a car that is one level above you? Luckily our friendship is not based on our "excellent" navigating skills, unless navigating away from people counts, lol. I met Shelle through the choir. She seemed nice enough, but hard to really know based on shallow convos during practice breaks. But then I sat next to her at dinner on our retreat and she seemed to want to run away as badly as I did. The introvert in me who was having anxiety over socializing all weekend with 50+ people I barely knew rejoiced. It's so rare to come across people who really get me, so to find someone who wasn't in her glory being a social butterfly all weekend was a relief. Yay, rejoice, all ye people, but separately, in your own corners please.