nonfiction – Page 3 – Kristin Houlihan, Writer

A Rock Can Be… – Picture Book review!

We recently checked this book out from the library – I’m not sure who picked it out, because when it comes to my 4-year-old, it’s a big hodge-podge of stuff she likes the covers of and things my husband or I intentionally seek out for her. However we got our hands on it, I’m glad we did!

To be honest, I’m not sure if my kids are nearly as taken with the book as I am, but I have really enjoyed reading it to them a handful of times over the past two weeks. Essentially, the author takes a simple object — a rock — and shows how many diverse ways we see it around us, from the natural (lava!) to the man-made (stepping stones, stone fences for pastures). I might argue she left out “playground” with a picture of a rock climber, but I can let that one go 🙂

The artwork throughout is beautiful and eye-catching, and the text is beautifully simple; it’s easy enough to read to my toddler. At the end of the narrative, there are several pages over which the author explains each iteration of the rock throughout the book, which was wonderful to read/talk about with my 4-year-old. There’s also a glossary of terms at the very end, and I’m working on convincing my almost-7-year-old that she would actually find the book interesting (she’s skeptical of most anything she doesn’t pick out herself).

Also, I just discovered that this is part of a series! So now I’m excited to take a look at the author’s other books, too 🙂

5-stars, highly recommended!

Misplaced Monday – The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger

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So this is a new meme I learned about from The Cozy Pages, and hosted by Merv Reads. The idea is to review a book you read a long time ago — either before you started blogging or from early in your blogging career, or that you just plain forgot to review (more info here). I’m also going to borrow the bullet-format review from Merv (which I also discovered at The Cozy Pages) this week (with commentary, of course!), because I don’t have a lot of in-depth stuff to say about this book since I read it in January of 2016. Bottom line, though, is that it is phenomenally well-written. I remember thinking, at the time, that it was one of the best-written books I had read in a long, long time. So, without further ado — my bullet review of The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger:

The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea

○ i have a physical copy
○ read an e-version, will definitely purchase physical book
○ read an e-version, a physical book will be appreciated
● read an e-version, not interested in its physical book — Mostly because I own waaaaay too many books and I’m trying not to be a hoarder
● a page-turner — I remember reading it in the backseat of my in-laws’ car on my Kindle in the dark on the way home from Disney. I read it any chance I got.
● less than 500 pages
○ diverse in any way
○ something’s lacking
○ took me a long time to finish
○ an LMAO read
○ i laughed more than a few times
○ it’s j u s t awkward
○ gave me goosebumps
● one of the best books I’ve read — Like I said, SO well-written. Also, the story is particularly gripping because it’s true, and it’s incredibly well-researched. I learned so much.
● painful & sad — If you’re not familiar with the story, it’s about a fishing boat that disappeared in a huge storm. Junger recreates what happened, including the rescue efforts. It’s a tragic story by its very nature.
● tear-jerker — Like I said – they disappear at sea, lives are lost. Enough said.
● a roller-coaster of emotions — Junger catalogs the emotions of the crew, the rescuers, and the surviving loved ones, which packs in a lot of ups and downs and varying coping mechanisms.
○ thrilling
○ confusing
○ sooo relatable
○ it is kind of annoying
○ it has a lot of flashbacks
● it moved me
● would recommend!
● great even for a reread
● definitely a YAY
○ i’m sorry it’s a NAY
○ it’s between YAY and NAY

It’s been over two years since I read the book, but I still think of it as one of the best books I’ve ever read. It’s definitely one of the best non-fiction books. I would, at some point, love to see the movie but I know that it’ll be an emotional one…maybe I should wait until I’m not a pregnant emotional mess! Ha!

Five stars!!!

Book Beginnings and Friday 56: Reflections on the Psalms by C.S. Lewis

So I just realized that my last post for Book Beginnings (hosted over at Rose City Reader) and Friday 56 (hosted at Freda’s Voice) was also a C.S. Lewis book. What a lovely coincidence!

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you might remember that my daughter gave me Reflections on the Psalms as a birthday present last year — an incredibly thoughtful birthday present at that! I love C.S. Lewis, but I’ve found this one a little hard to get through, unfortunately. It’s full of genius, as are all of his books that I’ve read, but this one puts me to sleep a bit. That said, I’m highlighting it this week because 1) I’m almost done! (half a chapter left), and 2) Despite it’s slowness, I have learned a lot from it and I’m still glad I’ve read it; you might find it worth your time as well!

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Here goes:

Beginning:

This is not a work of scholarship. I am no Hebraist, no higher critic, no ancient historian, no archaeologist. I write for the unlearned about things in which I am unlearned myself.

Page 56:

There is a stage in a child’s life at which it cannot separate the religious from the merely festal character of Christmas or Easter…But of course the time will soon come when such a child can no longer effortlessly and spontaneously enjoy that unity. He will become able to distinguish the spiritual and festal aspect of Easter…And once he has distinguished he must put one or the other first.

The opening lines are a little off-putting if you don’t recognize Lewis’s genius; it is precisely this “unlearned-ness” that makes his writing approachable and understandable to so many. My excerpt above from page 56 is just one example of his ability to speak spiritual truths in a straightforward manner. This one happens to be timely, too, given that Christmas just recently passed!