Nifty Nelson News: January 2015

Friday, January 23, 2015

2015 Reading Challenge

Woo hoo! A challenge that will be fun and I am sure many of you can join me on!

I am joining my sister Amy on this reading challenge this year! Who else is in?

I always love book recommendations from friends and family and I love The Modern Mrs. Darcys 2015 Reading Challenge as it is a way to explore some new (or classic) authors!

Here’s the deal: read 12 books in 12 different categories in 12 months. It’s simple and doable. But it provides the structure you need to approach your reading list with intention in 2015. I have never picked a book based on the cover, but I guess I will this year! I think I am more looking forward to a book from my childhood or one I should have read in high school!

You can even print the list out here to check them off as you go!

I would love any suggestion you have.. Next month our book club picks the books we will read for the year with everyone's input, so I am sure some will fit these categories! But in the meantime, I have a few I am going to go for (or to recommend to you), such as:

A Book you have been meaning to read: Still Alice by Lisa Genova

A Book Published this year: At the Waters Edge Sara Gruen

A Book in a genre you don't typically read: (hhmm horror or biographies?, will have to go with biography!): My Life in France by Julia Child

A book from my Childhood: The Borrowers by Mary Norton

A Book your mom loves: WALDEN!

A book originally written in another language – Strange Pilgrims by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

A book everyone's reading All the Light we cannot see by Doer

A book you chose because of its cover: The Sweet Life in Paris By David Lebovitz (I must have been hungry when I wrote this post and chose this one!)

A Book by A favorite author: Lisa See - China Dolls OR Rainbow Rowell - Fangirl OR The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant (The Red Tent was one of my fav books of all time!)

A book recommended by someone with great taste : The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer (Thanks Chris!)

A book you should have read in High school: For Whom the Bells Toll by Ernest Hemingway

A book that's currently on the best seller list: The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

Anyway that's a start! I love seeing the book covers and I posted them all on here so that when I am ready to go on to my next read I can come here and remember which ones I am shooting for this year! I always turn to Hoopla and Overdrive first to try to get the books - they are my library's free service for audiobooks and eBooks and more! I download the audio or ebook directly to my phone or kindle! Great for kids books too! Most libraries have access to these free services and all you need is library card to sign in and have access to thousands of free books! Keeps your book budget down too!

Let me know of anything great you read this year so I can add it to my list for next year!

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Books: 2014 Favorites

Usually at the beginning of every year I share a round up of my favorite books! Goodreads makes it easy to share and in early January I posted a link to my 2014 Books on my facebook with a few of my comments on my favorites, but I cannot let my blog be neglected as I share here every year! So, here is a quick review of my favorite 2014 books! Several of these books I read with a local book club that I have enjoyed going to over the years! If there is anyone local who wants to come to book club with me, let me know! So here is my top book round up for 2014!

2014 Books - I read 21 books and 9,079 pages (thanks Goodreads Stats)
I didn't have any 5 star book reads these year, but I had a few that I still really enjoyed reading this past year.

Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls

This was probably one of my fav this year! A book by Jeanette Walls telling her grandmother's story - a story about one tough woman who lived through some amazing adventures and persevered through a lot! Jeanetter knows how to tell a great story!

Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

A beautifully written book with layers of symbolism and depth in characters and the stories alike. I am almost embarrassed that I did not know that it was based on a true story of two sisters who were some of the most prominent female abolitionists and female rights advocates of all time (The Grimke sisters! Lets get these ladies in more textbooks!)! I am glad I read it just for that fact alone - that I know more about some amazing women in history as well as for the wonderfully written story.

The Rent Collector by Camron Wright

Wow! First of all, the story is based on the lives of people who actually live and survive and raise children in a toxic dump in Cambodia. That basis alone is enough to make for a fascinating read. To read about the actual living conditions about these people is unbelievable (although the story is fiction, the dump and the way people live in the dump is reality!). With the dump as the backdrop, a beautiful story is woven into the book and it made me fall in love with reading again. The teacher character in this story shares many fabulous tidbits of wisdom about literature and quotes many famous authors in ways that made me appreciate the access to books and stories we have these days!

My Story by Elizabeth Smart

I had never really read much about ELizabeth Smart's story other than a few short newspaper articles, so wow, this was a lot to take in! I did the audio book and Elizabeth Smart reads the book herself. That being said, she is very composed and calm for telling such a horrific story. She does a great job of telling her story and there are no graphic parts (mentions rape several times but never any details) and it is obvious that she could have been a lot more graphic, but she didn't need to be to get the story out. You hear her calm voice throughout the voice which contradicts her telling of her story of fear. In that she can tell her own story, the reader does get the sense how much she has overcome and has not let this time in her life define her.

Edge of Eternity by Ken Follett - The last of the Century Trilogy and a great read. I love all of Follett's books as he is one of my top favorite authors. This book was a bit different than many of his other books as it was in the most recent past, BUT it did reveval a bit more political bias (opposing my views) in places so that was a bit annoying, but otherwise a great historical (current) fiction novel!

The Outlander Series - Each book is very long so I usually read several books between a book in series. I just finished the third book of series and have enjoyed all of them. 4 more books to go!

Honorable Mention: All very good too!

-The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin

-The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott

-The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian

So there you have it...stay tuned for the 2015 Reading Challenge I am taking part in!

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Christmas 2014

And then came the week of Christmas!

First stop - Magic Mountain with friend and family...

...and with Neil visiting from Japan!

Then off to Christmas Eve with my side of the family at my Grandma Betty's house!

Playing Minute To Win It - Christmas style!

Cookie on forehead minute to win it...try it!

The kids table!

Cookie for Santa

Santa stopped by...

Christmas morning

Stocking time!

Santa brought a tumbleweed too!

A special Christmas recipe book from my mom with all my Grandma Cera's "Blue Box" recipes in it!

Christmas day with Nana and Papa

Dog sitting Molly and Sammy (can you tell who the naughty one is in the photo)

Shayla needs her two front teeth for Christmas!

Santa Visits

Holiday Adventures 2014

We LOVE The holiday season! We always a have fun time surrounded by friends and family and lots of fun activities! This holiday season was no exception and here is a look back on some of our adventures!

Girl Scout Holiday Crafting!