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More fun roller coaster!
Shayla, Emily and Cole
Our Visit with Aunt Kelsy in early January
So, the past few years I have put off making a yearly family photo book as I could not decide how I wanted to deal with all my digital photos! With digital photos being so easy to take (with plans to edit) and with such cute kids (: I think I end up with a few hundred digital photos a month. So between ALL those photos and trying to decide what I wanted to do with them, I had not come up with a solution. I was pretty certain I did not want to do a book a year for each kid as that seemed too much to do even with only two kids, but I did/do want to have a hard copy of my photos. I do have a first year book for each child as those are worth doing as there are so many milestones and changes the first year! So, as seems to happen more and more these days, I was inspired by someone's blog. A blog post showed how this mom creates a month in review each month of her photos for her blog, and I thought PERFECT - I will do a photo book each year that has a 2-page spread for each month (and an extra page for birthdays!). Such a simple solution - organize a photo book by month highlights and limit the number of photos per month to 2 pages. That means narrowing down each month of photos to 10-15 or so photos of significant things that happened that month, or favorite photos from the month. I started with 2011 and have to work back through 2007 (or actually 2001 when I was married but maybe that will be a page a year). I am planning on moving forward with it this year by compiling my page at the end of each month, a small doable task, so that at the end of each year my photo book is complete and ready to print. FYI: I use Picaboo and like to create my book and wait for a good coupon to come out or a groupon so I never pay full price for the book. The 2011 cost less than $20 with a group! So, maybe this idea will work for some of you - here is my first book of YEAR OF PHOTOS! Click here - http://app.picaboo.com/WebView/Project.aspx?clientID=677e0266438b52ce5a7d0291d99f1408&version=198671&siteID=FB-WallShare
It is now time for my annual book wrap up blogging post! Last year I read around 25 books (actually I listened to most of them but same thing!) so I wanted to share my top favorites! My reviews are short and sweet (who has time for lengthy reviews when there are so many good books out there still to be read!) So these would all be 4 stars, two thumbs up, must reads, etc!
1. Prince of Tides, Pat Conroy
Description: Spanning forty years, this is the story of turbulent Tom Wingo, his gifted and troubled twin sister Savannah, and their struggle to triumph over the dark and tragic legacy of the extraordinary family into which they were born.
MY THOUGHTS: This has been on my list of books I have wanted to read forever – I am glad I finally got to it! It is a beautiful, poetic, lyrically written story. I LOVED this book and think it is a masterpiece of literature! Talented authors like this just amaze me. The story had a few holes and there were a few somewhat graphic parts, but overall a wonderful book and story about a family finding their way after a lifetime of craziness and abuse.
2. Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese
Description: Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. Orphaned by their mother’s death in childbirth and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution. Yet it will be love, not politics—their passion for the same woman—that will tear them apart and force Marion, fresh out of medical school, to flee his homeland. He makes his way to America, finding refuge in his work as an intern at an underfunded, overcrowded New York City hospital. When the past catches up to him—nearly destroying him—Marion must entrust his life to the two men he thought he trusted least in the world: the surgeon father who abandoned him and the brother who betrayed him.
MY THOUGHTS: This book was one of those that I stumbled upon and so glad I did because it was an AMAZINGLY well written book and story! I never wanted it to end but wanted to get to the ending to see what happened! I really enjoyed the story and although it is fiction the author based a lot of the story's background on his own life as an Indian Medical student from Ethiopia. He intersperses medical terminology into his story but it is interesting and not boring at all and true to form. The way the story was put together and brought together at the end was very poetic!
Description: Reclusive author Vida Winter, famous for her collection of twelve enchanting stories, has spent the past six decades penning a series of alternate lives for herself. Now old and ailing, she is ready to reveal the truth about her extraordinary existence and the violent and tragic past she has kept secret for so long. Calling on Margaret Lea, a young biographer troubled by her own painful history, Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good. Margaret is mesmerized by the author's tale of gothic strangeness -- featuring the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess,a topiary garden and a devastating fire. Together, Margaret and Vida confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves.
MY THOUGHTS: I really enjoyed this book! Very enthralling and enchanting! It was one of those books I did not want to put down (or in my case of audio book- did not want to turn off!) Although a bit slow to start, I really delved into the characters and the book. It is a neat story within a story and so creative and mysterious! I also really enjoyed how intertwined in part of the story was a thread about the beauty of books and about reading! Reading is a true beauty of life! I NEVER got close to guessing the ending - which always helps to make it a great book in my eyes! And the overall theme of the book really came down to what makes a true family and how important family is in one's life. Give it a read and you will surely enjoy this book!
I also read most of the Eragon Series last year (finishing up the last book now). If you like light fun fiction like Harry Potter, etc, this is a fun young adult easy-to-read series I have enjoyed (although the last 2 books have been a little LONG they are very entertaining)
What are some of your best reads last year – please share so I can enjoy too!
If you don’t want to wait a year to read what I am reading you can join me at Goodreads at http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/641993
For past year’s favorites, go to http://niftynelsonnews.blogspot.com/search/label/books
