February's Voting Choices

Our next two voting choices are here, and interestingly they are both options we have had in the past and have not selected.  I will be interested to see which of the two win out this go round.  Voting will start today and will go until Saturday, January 3rd.  Also, if you have any suggestions for books you'd like to read in the future don't forget to leave a comment with the title and author so it can be added to the list.  It's always nice to add some new options to our list. 

Intertwine
by Nichole Van

Time is not a river. It is a vast cosmic sea. Where each life exists as rippling circles on its surface, past and future being eternally present. And occasionally, one expanding ring intertwines with that of another, weaving the lives of two people together. . . .
In 2012, Emme Wilde can't find the right guy. She wants to feel that swept-off-your-feet dizziness of true love. But so far, her dating life has come up short. Star Trek geek? Nice but too serious. Hippy artist? Cute but too vulnerable. Instead, Emme obsesses over the portrait of an unknown man in an old locket. Granted, a seriously dreamy guy with delicious, wind-swept hair she just itches to run her fingers through. But still. Dead men may be great listeners, but they are not exactly boyfriend material. Emme travels to England, determined to uncover his history and conquer the strong connection she feels.

In 1812, James Knight has given up finding the right woman. All he wants is someone to share his love of adventure. Instead, his life has become a Shakespearean drama. His brother languishes in a tragic star-crossed romance. His beloved sister clings to life, slowly dying of consumption. But then he finds a beautiful mystery woman, dripping wet and half-dead, beneath a tree on his estate. Now if he can uncover her history, perhaps adventure--and romance--will find him at last.

After You

by Julie Buxbaum

When tragedy strikes across the ocean, Ellie Lerner drops everything—her marriage, her job, her life in the Boston suburbs—to travel to London and pick up the pieces of her best friend Lucy’s life. While Lucy’s husband, Greg, retreats into himself, his and Lucy’s eight-year-old daughter, Sophie, has simply stopped speaking. Desperate to help Sophie, Ellie turns to a book that gave her comfort as a child, The Secret Garden. As its story of hurt, magic, and healing blooms around them, so, too, do Lucy’s secrets—some big, some small. Peeling back the layers of her friend’s life, Ellie is forced to confront her own as well: the marriage she left behind, the loss she’d hoped to escape. And suddenly Ellie’s carefully constructed existence is spinning out of control in a chain of events that will transform her life—and the lives of those around her—forever.

January's Book

January's Voting

Here are our two choices for January's book.  Voting will go until Monday, December 1st.

Graceling

by Kristin Cashore

Kristin Cashore’s bestselling, award-winning fantasy Graceling tells the story of the vulnerable-yet-strong Katsa, a smart, beautiful teenager who lives in a world where selected people are given a Grace, a special talent that can be anything from dancing to swimming. Katsa’s is killing. As the king’s niece, she is forced to use her extreme skills as his thug. Along the way, Katsa must learn to decipher the true nature of her Grace… and how to put it to good use. A thrilling, action-packed fantasy adventure (and steamy romance!) that will resonate deeply with adolescents trying to find their way in the world.

The Kite Runner

by Khaled Hosseini

The New York Times bestseller and international classic loved by millions of readers.

The Kite Runner is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that is in the process of being destroyed. It is about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption; and an exploration of the power of fathers over sons—their love, their sacrifices, their lies.

A sweeping story of family, love, and friendship told against the devastating backdrop of the history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years, The Kite Runner is an unusual and powerful novel that has become a beloved, one-of-a-kind classic.
The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father's servant,

Thoughts for November's Book

I figured that I'd post my comments here.  I read most of the book, got halfway through and decided to jump to the end.

December's Book

The Mill River Recluse Comments

December's Voting

 
 

Our voting for December has begun. It will run October 26 through November 1st.  Here are our two choices.

The Walnut Tree

by Charles Todd

The critically acclaimed creator of the Inspector Ian Rutledge and battlefield nurse Bess Crawford mystery series, Charles Todd now offers readers a bittersweet love story and romantic mystery that unfolds at Christmas during the dangerous opening days of World War I.  The Walnut Tree is an unforgettable story of a woman who puts herself in the line of fire for the sake of wounded soldiers and falls deeply in love with a man who may be forbidden to her.  For anyone who has fallen under the spell of Downton Abbey, and for all the fans of the British-set mysteries of Elizabeth George, Anne Perry, Ruth Rendell, Martha Grimes, and Jacqueline Winspear, The Walnut Tree is essential reading.

Perfect on Paper

by Maria Murnane

Anything can look perfect on paper. When her fiance calls off their wedding at the last minute, Waverly Bryson wonders if her life will ever turn out the way she thought it would...or should. Her high-powered job in sports PR? Not so perfect. Her relationship with her dad? Far from it. Her perfect marriage? Enough said. To keep sane, Waverly makes a habit of jotting down "Honey Notes," her own brand of self-deprecating wisdom and a pipe-dream for a line of greeting cards.

As Waverly stumbles back into the dating scene (no stalkers or jean shorts, please), her personal and professional lives threaten to collide. Perfect on Paper reminds us that everyone has a bad date (or twelve), and that everyone eventually needs a best friend to tell them,"Honey, you are not alone."

Comments for The Night Circus

November's Book

Check back October 26th for our December voting choices.  If you have any Christmas or holiday themed books you'd like to read for December please leave your suggestions here, otherwise we will just read from our usual list.

November Voting

It's time to vote for our November book.  Voting will start today and will run through September 27th.  Our two choices are:

Intertwine

by Nichole Van

Time is not a river. It is a vast cosmic sea. Where each life exists as rippling circles on its surface, past and future being eternally present. And occasionally, one expanding ring intertwines with that of another, weaving the lives of two people together. . . .

In 2012, Emme Wilde can’t find the right guy. She wants to feel that swept-off-your-feet dizziness of true love. But so far, her dating life has come up short. Star Trek geek? Nice but too serious. Hippy artist? Cute but too vulnerable. Instead, Emme obsesses over the portrait of an unknown man in an old locket. Granted, a seriously dreamy guy with delicious, wind-swept hair she just itches to run her fingers through. But still. Dead men may be great listeners, but they are not exactly boyfriend material. Emme travels to England, determined to uncover his history and conquer the strong connection she feels.

In 1812, James Knight has given up finding the right woman. All he wants is someone to share his love of adventure. Instead, his life has become a Shakespearean drama. His brother languishes in a tragic star-crossed romance. His beloved sister clings to life, slowly dying of consumption. But then he finds a beautiful mystery woman, dripping wet and half-dead, beneath a tree on his estate. Now if he can uncover her history, perhaps adventure—and romance—will find him at last.

This is Where I Leave You

by Jonathan Tropper

The death of Judd Foxman's father marks the first time that the entire Foxman clan has congregated in years. There is, however, one conspicuous absence: Judd's wife, Jen, whose affair with his radio- shock-jock boss has recently become painfully public. Simultaneously mourning the demise of his father and his marriage, Judd joins his dysfunctional family as they reluctantly sit shiva-and spend seven days and nights under the same roof. The week quickly spins out of control as longstanding grudges resurface, secrets are revealed and old passions are reawakened. Then Jen delivers the clincher: she's pregnant.


Our next vote will be for December books.  If you are wanting to read Christmas themed books please start leaving your suggestions.  If we don't get any Christmas themed suggestions, we will just vote on books from out usual list.

October's Book

Come back for November's voting September 21st through September 27th.  If you have any book ideas please leave them in the comments so they can be added to our list.

Comments for The Blue Castle

October Voting

Voting for October's book is here.  Voting will close on Sunday, August 31st.  Here are the two choices.

The Storyteller

by Jodi Picoult

Sage Singer is a baker. She works through the night, preparing the day’s breads and pastries, trying to escape a reality of loneliness, bad memories, and the shadow of her mother’s death. When Josef Weber, an elderly man in Sage’s grief support group, begins stopping by the bakery, they strike up an unlikely friendship. Despite their differences, they see in each other the hidden scars that others can’t.

Everything changes on the day that Josef confesses a long-buried and shame­ful secret and asks Sage for an extraordinary favor. If she says yes, she faces not only moral repercussions, but potentially legal ones as well. With the integrity of the closest friend she’s ever had clouded, Sage begins to question the assumptions and expectations she’s made about her life and her family. In this searingly honest novel, Jodi Picoult gracefully explores the lengths to which we will go in order to keep the past from dictating the future.

 

The Mill River Recluse

by Darcie Chan

From the outside, Mill River looks like any sleepy little Vermont town where everyone knows everyone and people never need to lock their doors. There are newcomers for whom this appeals, from police officer Kyle Hansen and his daughter Rowen, who are starting over after heartache, to Claudia Simon, the schoolteacher who is determined to reinvent herself.

But on closer inspection, there are those in Mill River—including a stealthy arsonist, a covetous nurse, and a pilfering priest—who have things they wish to hide. None more than the widow Mary McAllister, who for the past sixty years has secluded herself in her marble mansion overlooking the town. Most of the residents have never even seen the peculiar woman. Only the priest, Father O’Brien, knows the deep secrets that keep Mary isolated—and that, once revealed, will forever change the community.

Heaven is For Real

September's Book

Our book for September is

And don't forget to give me some titles of those books that have been sitting on your shelves for awhile but haven't gotten around to reading.  Let's get some of those neglected books read!  We will vote on a couple of these starting August 25th.

September Voting and a thought for October

 I was thinking about our choices for October, and I don't know about you guys, but I tend to buy books and then they can sit on my shelf, unread, for ages.  So let's get some of those books read.  Everyone leave me the name of a book that is already on your shelf, that is just sitting waiting to be read.  We will pull our choices from October from those titles.

Until then, here are our two choices for September. Voting will close August 2.

Calling Me Home

by Julie Kibler

Eighty-nine-year-old Isabelle McAllister has a favor to ask her hairdresser Dorrie Curtis. It's a big one. Isabelle wants Dorrie, a black single mom in her thirties, to drop everything to drive her from her home in Arlington, Texas, to a funeral in Cincinnati. With no clear explanation why. Tomorrow.

Dorrie, fleeing problems of her own and curious whether she can unlock the secrets of Isabelle's guarded past, scarcely hesitates before agreeing, not knowing it will be a journey that changes both their lives.

Over the years, Dorrie and Isabelle have developed more than just a business relationship. They are friends. But Dorrie, fretting over the new man in her life and her teenage son's irresponsible choices, still wonders why Isabelle chose her.

Isabelle confesses that, as a willful teen in 1930s Kentucky, she fell deeply in love with Robert Prewitt, a would-be doctor and the black son of her family's housekeeper--in a town where blacks weren't allowed after dark. The tale of their forbidden relationship and its tragic consequences makes it clear Dorrie and Isabelle are headed for a gathering of the utmost importance and that the history of Isabelle's first and greatest love just might help Dorrie find her own way.

The Night Circus

by Erin Morgenstern

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.

Comments for Waiting to Be Heard

The Light Between Oceans

Comments and thoughts on The Light Between Oceans

August's Book

The Blue Castle

by L.M. Montgomery

Voting for September will begin July 28th. 

Vote for August's Book

The month got a bit away from me and it is past time to vote for August's book.  Voting will start today and will remain open until Thursday, July 3rd.  I will be out of town for a week after that so I wanted to make sure to have everything wrapped up before I left and still leave time to track down copies of books.    Hope this leaves everyone enough time to consider the choices and vote for their favorite. 

Firefly Lane

by Kristin Hannah

From the New York Times bestselling author of On Mystic Lake comes a powerful novel of love, loss, and the magic of friendship. . . .
In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the “coolest girl in the world” moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all---beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn. Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer’s end they’ve become TullyandKate. Inseparable.
So begins Kristin Hannah’s magnificent new novel. Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the bulkhead of their lives.
From the beginning, Tully is desperate to prove her worth to the world. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, she longs to be loved unconditionally. In the glittering, big-hair era of the eighties, she looks to men to fill the void in her soul. But in the buttoned-down nineties, it is television news that captivates her. She will follow her own blind ambition to New York and around the globe, finding fame and success . . . and loneliness. 
Kate knows early on that her life will be nothing special. Throughout college, she pretends to be driven by a need for success, but all she really wants is to fall in love and have children and live an ordinary life. In her own quiet way, Kate is as driven as Tully. What she doesn’t know is how being a wife and mother will change her . . . how she’ll lose sight of who she once was, and what she once wanted. And how much she’ll envy her famous best friend. . . .
For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship---jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment. They think they’ve survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart . . . and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test.Firefly Lane is for anyone who ever drank Boone’s Farm apple wine while listening to Abba or Fleetwood Mac. More than a coming-of-age novel, it’s the story of a generation of women who were both blessed and cursed by choices. It’s about promises and secrets and betrayals. And ultimately, about the one person who really, truly knows you---and knows what has the power to hurt you . . . and heal you. Firefly Lane is a story you’ll never forget . . . one you’ll want to pass on to your best friend.

The Blue Castle

by L.M. Montgomery

All her life, Valancy Stirling lived on a quiet little street in an ugly little house and never dared to contradict her domineering mother and her unforgiving aunt. Then she gets a letter—and decides that very day things need to change. For the first time in her life, she does exactly what she wants to and says exactly what she feels.
At first her family thinks she's gone around the bend. But soon Valancy discovers more surprises and adventure than she ever thought possible. She also finds her one true love and the real-life version of the Blue Castle that she was sure only existed in her dreams...

A Half Fast Memoir

Here is the place for your comments and thoughts on Kate Lee's A Half Fast Memoir.

July's Book...or Books...

Voting was a tie this go round so for the month of July pick your poison and enjoy!  We will have a place for comments on both books at the end of the month.

Vote for July's Book

Our choices for July's book are here.  You can vote for your favorite until Saturday, May 31st.  And as always, if you have any books you'd like to share with us and have added to our list of options, please leave their title and author in the comments of this post and I will add them. 

Heaven is for Real

by Todd Burpo

“Do you remember the hospital, Colton?” Sonja said. “Yes, mommy, I remember,” he said. “That’s where the angels sang to me.”
When Colton Burpo made it through an emergency appendectomy, his family was overjoyed at his miraculous survival. What they weren’t expecting, though, was the story that emerged in the months that followed—a story as beautiful as it was extraordinary, detailing their little boy’s trip to heaven and back.
Colton, not yet four years old, told his parents he left his body during the surgery–and authenticated that claim by describing exactly what his parents were doing in another part of the hospital while he was being operated on. He talked of visiting heaven and relayed stories told to him by people he met there whom he had never met in life, sharing events that happened even before he was born. He also astonished his parents with descriptions and obscure details about heaven that matched the Bible exactly, though he had not yet learned to read.
With disarming innocence and the plainspoken boldness of a child, Colton tells of meeting long-departed family members. He describes Jesus, the angels, how “really, really big” God is, and how much God loves us. Retold by his father, but using Colton’s uniquely simple words, Heaven Is for Real  offers a glimpse of the world that awaits us, where as Colton says, “Nobody is old and nobody wears glasses.”
Heaven Is for Real will forever change the way you think of eternity, offering the chance to see, and believe, like a child.

Waiting to Be Heard

by Amanda Knox

Amanda Knox spent four years in a foreign prison for a crime she did not commit.

In the fall of 2007, the 20-year-old college coed left Seattle to study abroad in Italy, but her life was shattered when her roommate was murdered in their apartment.

After a controversial trial, Amanda was convicted and imprisoned. But in 2011, an appeals court overturned the decision and vacated the murder charge. Free at last, she returned home to the U.S., where she has remained silent, until now.

Filled with details first recorded in the journals Knox kept while in Italy, Waiting to Be Heard is a remarkable story of innocence, resilience, and courage, and of one young woman’s hard-fought battle to overcome injustice and win the freedom she deserved.

With intelligence, grace, and candor, Amanda Knox tells the full story of her harrowing ordeal in Italy—a labyrinthine nightmare of crime and punishment, innocence and vindication—and of the unwavering support of family and friends who tirelessly worked to help her win her freedom. 

June's Book Selection

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman is our book for June.

Voting for July's book will start May 25th and go through May 31st.  If you have any books you would like to read leave them in the comments so I can add them to our list to be randomly chosen for voting.

Hands Free Mama Comments

Voting for June is Here

Our voting choices for June's book selection are here.  You have until May 3rd to cast your vote.

The Light Between Oceans

by M.L. Stedman

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.

Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.

M. L. Stedman’s mesmerizing, beautifully written novel seduces us into accommodating Isabel’s decision to keep this “gift from God.” And we are swept into a story about extraordinarily compelling characters seeking to find their North Star in a world where there is no right answer, where justice for one person is another’s tragic loss.

The Light Between Oceans is exquisite and unforgettable, a deeply moving novel.

The Accidental Hero

by Matt Myklusch

All Jack Blank knows is his bleak, dreary life at St. Barnaby’s Home for the Hopeless, Abandoned, Forgotten, and Lost—an orphanage in the swampland of New Jersey. Covertly reading old comic books is Jack’s only solace. But his life changes forever when he meets an emissary from a secret country called the Imagine Nation, an astonishing place where all the fantastic and unbelievable things in the world originate. Including Jack.

Jack soon discovers that he has an amazing ability—one that could make him the savior of Imagine Nation and the world beyond…or the biggest threat they’ve ever faced.

May's Book

A Half Fast Memoir

by Kate Lee

Keep the suggestions for future book selections coming and come back April 26th-May 3rd for June's voting.

May Voting

I am going to be unavailable for a few days coming up, so even though voting was supposed to start Sunday, I am going to go ahead and open it now so it's not late.  Voting will close Saturday, April 5.  Here are our two choices.

A Half Fast Memoir

by Katie Lee

Growing up in a family of twelve, things were at times "Half Fast", but that's when life got hilarious. Half Fast is a collection of bizarre but true stories from my life. Stories like Mom wanting to sacrifice a lamb in our suburban backyard, signing my brother and I up for a pain study and giving me my dead Grandma's tights for Christmas. Also included are my personal bad choices like running a marathon, hypnobirthing, and assaulting myself with my own arm. Whether you are laughing with us or at us, it only matters that you are laughing. Enjoy!

The House I Loved

by Tatiana de Rosnay

Paris, France: 1860’s. Hundreds of houses are being razed, whole neighborhoods reduced to ashes. By order of Emperor Napoleon III, Baron Haussman has set into motion a series of large-scale renovations that will permanently alter the face of old Paris, moulding it into a “modern city.” The reforms will erase generations of history—but in the midst of the tumult, one woman will take a stand.

 Rose Bazelet is determined to fight against the destruction of her family home until the very end; as others flee, she stakes her claim in the basement of the old house on rue Childebert, ignoring the sounds of change that come closer and closer each day. Attempting to overcome the loneliness of her daily life, she begins to write letters to Armand, her beloved late husband. And as she delves into the ritual of remembering, Rose is forced to come to terms with a secret that has been buried deep in her heart for thirty years. Tatiana de  Rosnay's The House I Loved is both a poignant story of one woman’s indelible strength, and an ode to Paris, where houses harbor the joys and sorrows of their inhabitants, and secrets endure in the very walls...

Comments for Finding Emma

I just finished reading the March book and I wanted to comment right away before I forgot what I was thinking. I will post in the comments though in case of spoilers.

April's Book Selection

Our book for April is:

And thank you to all of you that have left comments about the group and book suggestions.  I really appreciate the input.

Come back March 30th for our voting for the month of May. I know it's not very far away but I'd like to get back on track so people have plenty of time to find a copy of the book.  I've been thinking of some different ideas about choosing books as well...I'll keep you posted as I firm them up a bit.  In the meantime, happy reading!

Quick Question

Is anyone having trouble viewing the blog?  Blogspot has been giving me some problems logging into this site recently and the background seems to jump when I am scrolling through. I am trying to decide if the problem is something on my end, with my computer, or if it is a site problem that others are also experiencing.  Please let me know how things are working for you. 

Austenland

Here's your chance to share your thoughts and ratings on our February selection,  Austenland by Shannon Hale.

A Question and April Voting

So I haven't heard back from anyone, regarding my last post requesting book suggestions.  I have not yet had time to go through old comments and track down those suggestions that have been left previously.  I am hoping to get to that sometime in the near future.  However, the lack of response has led me to question again people's response and desire to continue with this group.  I enjoy reading with all of you and sharing our thoughts but it does take up some time to keep things up and going.  If no one is interested in participating any more then that's ok.  I just want to know so that I can take something off my plate.  If you still are interested then I am happy to continue.  Also, if you'd like to continue and you have any suggestions for how you'd like to see things happen around here, I am always open to suggestions as well.  Is a selection once a month still working?  Would you prefer two months per selection?  Any other ideas you'd like to pass along?  Just let me know.  While I wait to hear what you are all thinking regarding the group in general I have decided to go ahead and put up two books, that have been on my reading list for quite sometime, as our voting choices. Actually, they've been on my wish list for so long I may have a hard time deciding which one to vote for.  I may have to let you guys decide for me. :)  We can see where things go from there.  All that being said, here are the two choices for April's vote.

Voting will begin today and will continue through Friday, March 14th.

 The Bride's House

by Sandra Dallas

From the New York Times bestselling author of Whiter Than Snow and Prayers for Sale comes a novel about the secrets and passions of three generations of women who have all lived in the same Victorian home called the Bride’s House.
It’s 1880, and for unassuming seventeen-year-old Nealie Bent, the Bride’s House is a fairy tale come to life. It seems as if it is being built precisely for her and Will Spaulding, the man she is convinced she will marry. But life doesn’t go according to plan, and Nealie finds herself in the Bride’s House pregnant---and married to another.
For Pearl, growing up in the Bride’s House is akin to being raised in a mausoleum. Her father has fashioned the house into a shrine to the woman he loved, resisting all forms of change. When the enterprising young Frank Curry comes along and asks for Pearl’s hand in marriage, her father sabotages the union. But he underestimates the lengths to which the women in the Bride’s House will go for love.
Susan is the latest in the line of strong and willful women in the Bride’s House. She’s proud of the women who came before her, but the Bride’s House hides secrets that will force her to question what she wants and who she loves.
Sandra Dallas has once again written a novel rich in storytelling and history, peopled by living, breathing characters that will grab hold of you and not let you go.

Hands Free Mama:

A Guide to Putting Down the Phone, Burning the To-Do List, and Letting Go of Perfection to Grasp What Really Matters!

by Rachel Macy Stafford

“Rachel Macy Stafford's post 'The Day I Stopped Saying Hurry Up' was a true phenomenon on The Huffington Post, igniting countless conversations online and off about freeing ourselves from the vicious cycle of keeping up with our overstuffed agendas. Hands Free Mama has the power to keep that conversation going and remind us that we must not let our lives pass us by.”
--Arianna Huffington, Chair, President, and Editor-in-Chief of the Huffington Post Media Group, nationally syndicated columnist, and author of thirteen bookshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/
DISCOVER THE POWER, JOY, AND LOVE of Living “Hands Free”
If technology is the new addiction, then multi-tasking is the new marching order. We check our email while cooking dinner, send a text while bathing the kids, and spend more time looking into electronic screens than into the eyes of our loved ones. With our never-ending to-do lists and jam-packed schedules, it’s no wonder we’re distracted.
But this isn’t the way it has to be.
In July 2010, special education teacher and mother Rachel Macy Stafford decided enough was enough. Tired of losing track of what matters most in life, Rachel began practicing simple strategies that enabled her to momentarily let go of largely meaningless distractions and engage in meaningful soul-to-soul connections. She started a blog to chronicle her endeavors and soon saw how both external and internal distractions had been sabotaging her happiness and preventing her from bonding with the people she loves most.
Hands Free Mama is the digital society’s answer to finding balance in a media-saturated, perfection-obsessed world. It doesn’t mean giving up all technology forever. It doesn’t mean forgoing our jobs and responsibilities. What it does mean is seizing the little moments that life offers us to engage in real and meaningful interaction. It means looking our loved ones in the eye and giving them the gift of our undivided attention, leaving the laundry till later to dance with our kids in the rain, and living a present, authentic, and intentional life despite a world full of distractions.
So join Rachel and go hands-free. Discover what happens when you choose to open your heart---and your hands---to the possibilities of each God-given moment.

Lost

Hi everyone. 

I sat down this afternoon to run our book list through the website that randomizes it and I realized that I have lost our book list.  Between last month's vote and this month's posting we have had some nasty computer problems here at our house, resulting in the loss of some items.  Our book list appears to be one of those items as I cannot find it saved anywhere.  I apologize for this.  As I have time I will try to go through past comments and fine those books that have been mentioned before but I would also like to ask all of you to start sending me suggestions as soon as possible, especially if you've mentioned it before, please send it again so I can begin to reconstruct our list. 

Due to the loss of the list I am going to postpone the voting for a week.  I am hoping to get some suggestions in that time that we can use for our April voting.  If I don't have any suggestions to pull from at that time I will pick two books from my list of want to reads and we can go from there. 

Again, I apologize for the loss of the list but seeing as some of those books had been on there for two years, maybe this is a great time to get some updated suggestions and fresh ideas on there.  Thank you for your patience and understanding. 

The False Princess: Thoughts and Comments

Our Book for March

Our book for March will be Finding Emma by Steena Holmes.

If you have any book ideas for our list please let me know so they can be added. 

Voting for April will begin on Sunday, February 23rd and will continue through Saturday, March 1. 

Happy Reading.

2 Years

We started with our very first book back in mid-February of 2012.  As we are coming up on our 2 year mark of some great books, some so-so books, and some books we just didn't care for, I think it is fun to look back at what we've read and remember what I loved and what I didn't and what I may have forgotten about.  With that in mind I put together a little collage with the 12 books of the last year and decided to repost the collage of books from the first year as well. 

What have been some of your highlights of the past year?  The past two years?  What have been some of the low points?  Are there things you'd like to see changed?  Do you have any suggestions or thoughts as we move forward into year 3? 

I hope you all are enjoying yourself as much as I have and I look forward to the year ahead.

Happy Reading!

Year Two books.... (and technically it is missing Austenland, but since we read two books in December I didn't have room in the collage.  We'll have to have Austenland as our first book of year three.)

And because it's been over a year, here's a quick reminder of year one.

Email Notifications

Just a quick note....

I have found that one of the easiest ways to stay up to date with the group is to sign up for email notifications on the right hand side bar.  When you enter your email address in the designated spot, you will begin to receive email updates any time a new post is made to the blog.  You are not updated when comments come through, just posts, but this way you know when discussions are started about the last book, when voting is starting for the next book, or when results of voting are in.  Just thought I'd let you all know that is an option and it may save you from having to check back or keep you from forgetting to check back as you have a handy little email reminder.

Also, if you know anyone who would like to join us please don't be afraid to share about us and invite others to come and join in.  The more the merrier.

Happy Reading.

Voting for March

It's hard to believe that it is that time again but voting time is indeed here.  We are voting for our March book selection and here are the two contenders this go round.  Voting will continue through February 1st.  Just a reminder that if there are any books you'd like to read and would like added to our list of choices, just leave your suggestion in the comments and I will add it. 

 

Find Emma

By Steena Holmes

 

A mother’s near-obsessive devotion to her missing daughter threatens to destroy more than one family.

Megan is the harried but happy stay-at-home mother of three little girls living in a small town. Her life implodes when her youngest daughter, Emma, disappears on her third birthday.

Two years later, Megan is preparing to commemorate Emma’s birthday and the anniversary of her kidnapping, compelled to keep her name alive in the minds of her community and her family. Her commitment to Emma, however, borderlines on obsession as she follows the families of little girls who look like the daughter she lost.

Her obsession with finding Emma has distanced Megan from both friends and family. Her two older daughters are resentful of her relentless and fruitless search for their sister, and her husband pleads with her to accept that Emma is gone so that the family can move on with their lives.

Meanwhile, in the same small town, Jack is beginning to question his wife’s secrecy about their adored granddaughter, Emmie. As Dottie slips into dementia and becomes increasingly protective over Emmie, he can’t help but wonder if there could be a dark secret that Dottie is keeping from him.

Jack and Megan’s worlds finally intersect at the town carnival, when Megan snaps a photograph of a little girl on her grandfather’s shoulders.

 

The Scavenger's Daughter

by Kay Bratt

Having survived torture and imprisonment during China’s Cultural Revolution, Benfu escaped to find love with his compassionate and beautiful Calla Lily. Together they build a fulfilling life around the most menial of jobs—Benfu’s work collecting trash. As he sorts through the discards of others, he regularly discovers abandoned children. With unwavering determination, he and Calli spend decades creating a family of hand-picked daughters that help heal the sorrow and brighten their modest home. But all is not perfect and when crisis threatens to separate their family, Benfu—or possibly his band of headstrong daughters—must find a way to overcome the biggest hardship yet.

Inspired by a true story, and set against the backdrop of a country in transition, The Scavenger’s Daughters is a sweeping present day saga of triumph in the face of hardship, and the unbreakable bonds of family against all odds.