NEW BLOG!

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I was going to wait until Monday to do this but I’ve missed blogging and I’m too impatient to wait any longer!!  I’m still working on a few cosmetics and some technical details, but I saw no point in continual postponing while I was itching to write!!  Like I mentioned in a previous post, I’m keeping Unscripted around as my book blog.  I’m making a few changes around here too, some you may have already noticed :)

Soooooooo, if you’d like to check out my new blog, click on the photo below!

spacedprofile

I’ve got several projects up my sleeve that I cannot wait to share with y’all! So as always, staaaaay tuned!

Y’all stay blessed and have a wonderful weekend :)

the happiness project review//nerdy non-fiction 2013

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I really do need to hop into bed but I have to finish this review while the material is freshest in my mind.

Today I finished Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project as part of a book swap with my friend Eddie.  I must say, it was quite the delightful read!  It was light, funny and the writer in me jumped at the bits of lists, quotes, and tips!  I’m happy I read it ;).

The Happiness ProjectSPOILER ALERT: If you have not yet read this book and plan to in the future, keep reading. I won’t give too much away! ;).

Gretchen Rubin was happy.  Or so she thought.  One day, on a crowded bus, she realized that she wasn’t as happy as she could be.  She wasn’t taking the time to enjoy the present. She realized that “The days are long, but the years are short,” and if her life was going change, she would have to change it.  So after much reading, thought, and questioning, she set out on a year-long happiness project.

She decided to set resolutions for each month of the year targeting different areas in her life from ‘Tackling a Nagging Task’ to ‘Give Proof of Love’ to ‘Laugh Out Loud’.  All the while she continued to glean inspiration from her favorite writers from past generations.  Some of what she discovered along the way about herself and her family proved surprising.  Determined to be Gretchen, she remains honest with herself as she struggles to break bad habits, acquire new skills, play more often with her girls, and quit nagging her husband.

In the end…well I’ll leave that for you to discover.  Let’s just say that with all adventures in self-discovery, there really isn’t an end.  There’s always more to learn, more to work on, more to experience.

I, of course, couldn’t help but filter this book through the lens of the Christian experience.  Everyone is searching for happiness, contentment, and fulfillment in life.  While I think that it’d do everyone a world of good to look for the tangible things that can improve that which is intangible, I personally believe there is a peace that passes all understanding and that is something that can only come from knowing Jesus Christ for yourself!  And I may be grasping at semantic straws when I say that I’m not looking for a happy life so much as I’m seeking to live a joyous one.  And that idea struck me even deeper this afternoon when I went on the Christian Audio website to check out this month’s free audio book.  I chuckled when I saw the book cover.

chose joy

How funny is that?  I’m looking forward to what this author says about joy and happiness!  You can download the audiobook for free this month at christianaudio.com.

Have any of you read The Happiness Project?  Better yet, have you embarked on one of your own?  What do you think about happiness and joy? Is there a difference?  I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Good night!

Stay blessed :).

march meme//classics club

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monthly meme button

It’s been a couple of months since I answered a Classics Club meme question! Let’s tackle this month’s shall we?

Do you love Jane Austen or want to “dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone”? (Phrase borrowed from Mark Twain). 

1. Why? (for either answer).

2. Favorite and/or least favorite Austen novel?

 

The answer is simple: Yes, I love Jane Austen’s works.  I’m not sure why Mark Twain had such a bone to pick with her (pun so intended!) but I think she was quite a clever author and enjoy her work immensely!  I’m not even sure what’s not to like about Austen! She’s a literary giant! Whatever, I’m not even going to waste my time conjecturing over the minutiae of the tasteless.

Okay, okay, so I have a confession.  I’ve only read one of her novels, the rest I’ve either heard the dramatized radio production or seen the movies.  But the fact remains, I love Austen.  Just keepin’ it real!

My favorite Austen novel? I want to say Pride & Prejudice since I’ve only listened to BBC’s dramatized radio version and, of course, seen the movies, I’ll go with Persuasion.

Y’all have a blessed day :).

update

By Posted in Life Tagged , , 1 Comment

Hello!

I only have time for a quick note! Excuse my rushed tone (if you can feel it oozing from my fingertips, that is)! I have been absent for awhile. I’ve been slacking on reading events and what not. Ergh, not cool I know. While I’m happy to say I have not dropped out of the blogosphere, I’m even more excited to say that I have a pretty legitimate excuse for being away.

Ready for it?

A NEW BLOG!!!!!

I have been waiting for this opportunity for a looooong!!! To get a domain name and drop the ‘wordpress.com’ off the end of my url! Well, it has happened and let’s just say it’s been a great few weeks. I hope to have the finishing touches finished in the next few days and will announce the launching :).

What will happen to this site? Good question. I was going to scrap it and move everything over to the new site but thought better of it. This blog will remain as my book blog. I’ve put so much into this space that I didn’t have the heart to hit the delete button! Unscripted will remain as my haven for all things literary!! Ha, well I’m not ditching the ‘wordpress.com’ after all.

Not yet anyway!

So stay tuned, dear readers! I will be keeping you posted.

Y’all have a blessed day :)

the wheel has spun!

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The Classics Club Spin has commenced! The wheel has spun, the number chosen and Classics Clubbers are scanning their lists for the lucky book which is to be finished by April 1st!

And the number is…14!!

That means I will be reading The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass!!

Douglass book cover

Changing it up with a little non-fiction!  This is great because not only is this a title on my Classics Club list and my TBR 2013 list, it’ll also count toward the Nerdy Non-Fiction Reading Challenge so I’m doing triple duty with this one :).   Unfortunately, I don’t own this beautiful Barnes & Noble copy, but I do have it on my Kindle Paperwhite so all is well :).

How’d y’all make out?  Are you excited about the book you ended up with or perhaps a bit terrified?

let’s spin, shall we?

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introducing-the-classics-clubThe Classics Club is hosting a Classics Spin!  Quite an interesting game really :)  I am to make a list of 20 books from the remaining books on my CC list. On February 18, a number will be randomly chosen and I have until April 1st to finish the book with that corresponding number!  As an added twist, I can organize my Spin List into different categories. For example:

  • 5 books you are dreading/hesitant to read,
  • 5 books you can’t WAIT to read,
  • 5 books you are neutral about,
  • 5 free choice

Should be fun!!

MY SPIN LIST

5 Re-Reads

1. Little Women//L.M. Alcott
2. Anne of Green Gables//L.M. Montgomery
3. Jane Eyre//Charlotte Bronte
4. Stuart Little//E.B. White
5. What Katy Did//Susan Coolidge

5 Titles I’m Dreading

6. Robinson Crusoe//Daniel Defoe
7. The Grapes of Wrath//John Steinbeck
8. Moby Dick//Herman Melville
9 Don Quioxote//Miguel de Cervantes
10. Crime and Punishment//Fyodor Dostoyevsky

5 New Titles I’m Excited to Explore!

11. The Jungle//Upton Sinclair
12. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings//Maya Angelou
13. The Pilgrim’s Progress//John Bunyan
14. The Narrative of Fredrick Douglass/Fredrick Douglass
15. Invisible Man//Ralph Ellison

5 Titles I Know Very Little About

16. The Warden//Anthony Trollope
17. Pygmalion//George Bernard Shaw
18. For Whom the Bell Tolls//Ernest Hemingway
19. Madame Bovary//Gustave Flaubert
20. Portrait of a Lady//Henry James

Modern March

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Allie over at A Literary Odyssey is hosting A Modern March, beginning the 1st of next month.  As the title of this event implies, readers will be focusing on the modernist period of American Literature.  I’m looking forward to this since I only had time to skim through this era while studying college American Lit.  I was scanning my CC list yesterday and after adding several new titles, I’ve decided to shift gears and pick up some poetry.  Hopefully, that’ll allow me more room to catch up on my TBR list a bit :).

Modernist Lit Button

I’m going to be reading T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land.  I have never just sat and read poetry so I’m looking forward to it!!

For now, I need to keep up with my February reading!!!

Happy Monday!

read along tuesdays – week 5

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What?!  A Read Along Tuesday post on a Tuesday?  No lame Wednesday or Thursday edition?  I’m actually getting it together!!

Nope not really.

I was going to skip again like I did last week because I’m shamefully behind (and no I’m not telling you how far behind!) and didn’t feel like pretending I knew what just happened in the last several days (K, I guess that gives you a rough idea of how far behind I am! XD).  But then I thought, “Elyssa, why do you have to pretend?  You’re not the only person who has slacked off while reading the Bible in a year!  It’s a hard challenge, especially when you get to books like Leviticus where there aren’t anymore stories…” Okay, starting to see where I’m struggling?  Leviticus is NOT a particularly exciting read like Genesis and Exodus were.  So you can imagine my amazement when I realized that, alas, I am now supposed to be in Numbers! Whaaa?  And now, tomorrow, I’m starting Deuteronomy?  Oi!  Yeah, something has definitely got to change!  The Enemy knows I’m struggling with some of these ‘less intriguing’ passages and thinks that I’m going to just drop the ball here.

Yeeeeeah, no.  Not happening!  I’ve come to a bump in the road, not the end of the line.

Soooooooo, since I have no commentary today, (I’m going to have to do special Read Along editions for Leviticus and Numbers!) I thought I’d put together a short list of tips for reading the Bible in a year!

1. Pray

This is huge.  If you’re reading the Bible simply for academic or literary purposes, that’s great!  You’re reading the best authority on literature and philosophy out there!  (And of course, as a Christian, I must say that hope you feel God tugging on your heart and you respond to Him!)  If you are reading the Bible to grow spiritually then you know that Satan does have it in for you.  Big time.  When God’s people read His word, that deepens our connection with our Heavenly Father and makes us stronger Christians and brighter lights in a dark world and Satan can’t stand that.  So it’s imperative that you pray for the Holy Spirit to guide your heart and your thoughts as you read the Bible.

2. Mindset

If you come to this with the wrong mindset, you’ve already shot yourself in the foot. Rmember, you’re not reading the Bible to pass the time.  As a Christian, you’re reading the Bible to get to know the Lord better and draw closer to Him.  It’s a date you set with Him everyday to deepen the most important relationship of your life.  You think of it that way, and you’ll look forward to reading!

3. Do Not Play Catch Up!

Playing catch up is a sure fire way NOT to succeed.  If you miss a day, keep going.  You can go back when you have more time later.  JUST READ TODAY’S ASSIGNMENT.  Don’t try and go back and read what you missed before finishing what you’re supposed to read that day because, unless you have a 2-hour train commute to and from work, you’ll never make it. (And if you do commute 4 hours everyday to work, my heart goes out to you!)

4. Take Notes

This is called active reading.  The more you engage in what you’re reading, the more you’ll absorb and the more you’ll remember.  Jot down your thoughts, favorite verses, etc. You can also write down questions to ask your pastor or Bible teacher later!

5. Audio

I hesitate to include this because I don’t want it to become a crutch.  If you read my post, Audio vs. Hard Copy: How Do You Read?, you know that, while I love audiobooks, I’m more apt to regard listening as a different experience than reading print.  And I think this is especially the case with the Bible. Okay, having said that, I think audio versions of the Bible are great (especially for those 2-hour commutes!).  My mom plays the Bible on CD in her car all the time and it’s a wonderful thing.  I’m probably going to listen to the chapters I need to catch up on.  The reason why I hesitate is because it’s so easy to get distracted.  However, it’s a useful resource and it’s better than not catching up at all!

6. Set Up a Reward System

We’re human and we like goodies after we’ve completed a difficult task.  So pick some milestones and reward yourself at the completion of each!  Here’s a list of the categories found in the Bible:

Old Testament

The Pentateuch (Genesis – Deuteronomy)

History (Joshua – Esther)

Poetry/Wisdom (Job – Song of Solomon)

Major Prophets (Isaiah – Daniel)

Minor Prophets (Hosea – Malachi)

New Testament

Gospels (Matthew – John)

History (Acts)

Letters of Paul (Romans – Philemon)

General Letters (Hebrews – Jude)

Prophecy (Revelation)

Okie dokie!  There you have it!  Well we’ve got some difficult months ahead since I’m sure this is only the first of many times we’ll feel like quitting the whole thing!  But God is good and I know He’ll be there to pick us up and take our hands and continue the journey!  Just don’t quit whatever you do!!  

Y’all have a blessed Tuesday =)

word nerd

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I’m not sure what sparked this, but I started putting together a list of words that sound good to my ear.  You know when there’s that one line in a song that’ll catch your attention and you turn it over and over again savoring the way it sounds, and feels?  Or maybe you just like the way a word looks on a page?  I don’t know, maybe that’s just me.  I like words! =)

Anyway, here’s a short list of random, unrelated words that for some reason or other catch my ear.

  • Farrago
  • Unmitigated    
  • Perfunctory
  • Cognizant
  • Assemblage
  • Wherewithal
  • Surreptitious 
  • Rambunctious
  • Indubitably
  • Kerfuffle
  • Serendipity
  • Cantankerous
  • Acquiesce 

Hehe!  Yes I’m a word nerd and proud of it!  This is by no means a complete list, just what I could think of off the top of my head.  Maybe there’ll be a part 2 when I think of more!!

If you like words as well then you just might be familiar with the radio show, A Way with Words hosted by Grant Barrett and Martha Barnette.  I super like this show! It’s a great program all about language, words, literature, and how we communicate.

url

If you have never heard of it, do check it out!!  You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or check out the website, A Way With Words to check local stations and times.

What are some of your favorite words?  You don’t have to have a particular reason other than they just sound cool to you!  Are you a word nerd?

Y’all have a blessed day =)

audio vs. hard copy: how do you read?

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africa

With all this reading and book reviewing I’ve been doing will will be doing, there is a question that I’ve never quite been able to answer for myself:

I still haven’t decided whether or not I count audiobooks I’ve listened to as books I’ve read.

Part of me says yes and part of me says no.  I’ve been an audio bookworm for years and still haven’t settled that in my head.  I just think reading and listening are two different things.  Or has reading become the all-purpose term for taking in information from a book?  Whether you physically hold the book in your hands or your parents read it to you before bed or you pop the tape into your player doesn’t matter, but rather that you are taking in the story or information that the author penned.  It certainly sounds better to say, “Oh yeah I read that book awhile ago,” instead of “Yeah I listened to that on tape once.” (Okay, I know books-on-tape are so very antiquated, but you get my meaning!) Often, after I’ve finished an audiobook, I’ll want to get my hands on a physical copy so I can read it and pick up on anything I might have missed.  This is usually the case with non-fiction titles.  However, I don’t hesitate too much to say that I’ve read a novel I’ve only listened too.

I don’t know.

I know I’m probably over-thinking this :P.

What do y’all think?  How do you read?  Which do you prefer?  Do you consider audiobooks and hard copies equals?

Y’all have a blessed day =)

Image courtesy of africa/Freedigitalphotos.net