Cure Tooth Decay, by Ramiel Nagel

I read this book because I recently received bad news at the dentist's office about my own teeth. Mr. Nagel claims, and backs up his claims with a lot of scientific evidence, that modern dentistry does not truly help teeth, but that changing one's diet in specific ways can stop the decay and can even reverse the decay. His dietary recommendations are very similar to those of the Nourishing Traditions cookbook and the Weston A. Price Foundation, but even more restrictive.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking to promote their dental health without following the methods of modern dentistry.

Gates of Excellence: On Reading and Writing Books for Children, by Katherine Paterson

Gates of Excellence collects some of Mrs. Paterson's writings on the subject of children's books, including portions of her acceptance speeches for the awards she's received, and some reviews of other authors' books. I enjoyed the book, the insights into how to read and write children's books. I enjoyed the insights into Mrs. Paterson's own character and upbringing. I would think, though, that this is not a book for many readers. If you already have a keen interest in Mrs. Paterson and would like to know her better, or you already have an interest in reading about reading and writing, then you would like this book. Otherwise, I expect you wouldn't.

"To read a great novel is to lay yourself open for a conversion experience...A great novel is a kind of conversion experience. We come away from it changed."

"Another distinction I might make as an aside is that you don't speed-read art. When I see or hear those boasts of a speed-reading-school graduate having read Jaws in an hour, I am pleased--think of all the time he's saved. But when someone brags to me that he's read War and Peace in five hours, I get sick to my stomach. You do not read War and Peace in five hours or even five days. You live for a season with Natasha and Pierre and Andre, and when at last you come to young Nicholas Bolkonski's words '...Oh, Father, Father! Yes, I will do something with which even he would be satisfied...' you are simply not the same person who weeks before opened the book..."

"And as for being the delight of logicians, it was only when it finally dawned on me that I was not dealing with rational beings, but with children, that I was able to summon the strength to survive motherhood."

"But those of us who have followed Frodo on his quest have had a vision of the true darkness. We know that we, like him, would have never gotten up the steep slope of Mount Doom had the faithful Sam not flung us on his back and carried us up, crawling at the last. We know, too, that we would never have parted with the baneful ring of power had not the piteous Gollum torn it from our bleeding finger and, in the effort, fallen screeching into the abyss, clutching his damned treasure and ours."

"I love revisions. Where else in life can spilled milk be transformed into ice cream?"

Well, Hello There!

Long time, no see. I know. But we have officially made the big move, unpacked enough to establish housekeeping, set up a good internet connection at the house, and started the school year. Thus, I feel the freedom to attempt blogging once again.

I thought for this first-post-in-a-long-time post that I would simply list the books I've read since I last blogged, and perhaps the books I'm currently reading. Then resume writing a separate post for each book I finish with my next post.

Surprised by Oxford, by Carolyn Weber. This is a spiritual autobiography, detailing how the author found God (was found by God) at Oxford. I would recommend this, but not to just any ol' reader. I can't imagine my husband finding much for himself in it. I think that those who already like biography/autobiography, and those who are seeking for God but have unanswered questions, could find much in this book.

Why We're Not Emergent, by Two Guys Who Should Be, by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck. This is an important book, deftly but sympathetically exposing the serious problems in the emergent movement. I would recommend this book to concerned Christian readers.

Vermeer's Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World, by Timothy Brook. This book uses objects depicted in Vermeer's art as the starting-points for relating the history of global trade in the 17th century. I found it fascinating, and would recommend it to readers of history.

Boys and Girls Forever, by Alison Lurie. This book collects a series of brief biographies of the authors of children's literature. I like reading books about books and authors, so this was right up my alley. I learned of some authors I was previously unaware of, such as Tove Jansson. I would recommend it to readers who like books about books and authors.

Light of Eidon (Legends of the Guardian-King), by Karen Hancock. This fantasy kept me up late at night. I had to finish it! And I'm not even a big reader of fantasy. This is the first in a series, and I am eager to gets my hands on the other books in the series. I guess you can already tell that I'd recommend this to readers of fantasy.

I'm not sure this is all I've read since I last blogged, because, not only have I read a lot less than normal these last several weeks, but I stopped logging my reading.

As for what I'm reading right now, here goes.

Loving the Little Years, by Rachel Jankovic.
Cure Tooth Decay, by Ramiel Nagel.
Gates of Excellence: On Reading and Writing Books for Children, by Katherine Paterson. (Because I like books about books. Surprised?)

To my children I am reading:
Secrets of the Universe, by Paul Fleisher.
Christian Liberty Nature Reader.
Madam How and Lady Why, by Charles Kingsley.
The Story of the World, Volume 1, by Susan Wise Bauer.
The Door in the Wall, by Marguerite de Angeli.
The Burgess Animal Book for Children, by Thornton W. Burgess.
The Winnie-the-Pooh stories.
The Exploits of Moominpappa, by Tove Jansson.

Submerged, by Dani Pettrey

I'm not normally one for 'romantic suspense,' but this one kept me up late at night so I could finish it. It was so thrilling, in fact, that I finished the book around 24 hours after I received it. What was going to happen?

Bailey Craig must return to Yancey, Alaska, a town she had vowed she'd never set foot in again, in order to be at the funeral of a beloved relative who just died in a place accident. But was it an accident? Evidence emerges that the crash was no accident, but was caused by sabotage. Why was the plane sabotaged? And by whom?

Bailey's education as a specialist in Russian History comes into play in surprising ways, as does her skill as a diver. But to complicate matters, Cole McKenna's skill as a diver must be called upon, too. This complicates matters, you see, because when Bailey lived in Yancey a decade earlier, she and Cole had had a romantic relationship, which ended sourly because of her wild partying ways.

So, if you like 'romantic suspense' and Christian fiction, you'll undoubtedly like this book. This is the first book in a new series, and Ms. Pettrey clearly left loose ends to be tied up in subsequent books. I'll be on the lookout for the subsequent books.

I received a review copy of this book in exchange for my freely-rendered opinion both here on my blog, and on a retailer's site.

Wings and the Child, or the Building of Magic Cities, by E. Nesbit

A blog I occasionally read recently touted this as a free-for-Kindle book, the title intrigued me, and I know I like Nesbit (at least as an author for children's books). I enjoyed reading this book, but then I often enjoy reading about how to raise and educate children. Nesbit's prose, however, was a delight in itself, and would render reading her work a pleasant task, no matter the subject of which she wrote. Mrs. Nesbit wrote this book because first she built magic cities with her son, then wrote a book for children in which the children build a magic city and then become small enough to enter the city (called, surprisingly enough, The Magic City), then received letters from her young readers asking if they could build magic cities, then built a magic city which was put on display, at which teachers and parents asked her to write a book to guide them in allowing their children to build magic cities. A magic city is a city made of various materials at hand. The magic is in the imagination. Mrs. Nesbit, happily, ranged far from that topic. Her descriptions of what it is like to be a child alone are worth the reading of the book, but the whole book is worthwhile. I would only edit somewhat the length of her discussion of specific, practical ideas for building a city. The philosophical section of the book is by far the best (though, of course, I do not agree with everything she asserts; she seems to dismiss teaching children to read by phonics, and she favors redistributing wealth, for two instances). I would recommend this book to parents, teachers, and anyone generally interested in reading about the best way to raise and educate children. The book is short. By the way, I do not know why, but when I write a blog post on my iPad, it shows up in separate paragraphs in the rough draft, but publishes as one paragraph. I shall have to consult my IT dept (AKA DH).

A Jumble

Wednesday of this week marked the first anniversary of my first blog post. I had wanted to write a celebratory post about it, but I also wanted to announce some Big News, which I was hourly waiting to hear. As it turns out, I did not receive the news until Thursday, and did not have permission to share the news publicly until Friday, and then had a lot to do in connection with that news. So here I am, commenting on the first anniversary of my first blog post a few days after the fact, and preparing to share our Big News with you. I'm so happy I've blogged for a whole year now! I'm so happy to tell you that my husband has been offered, and has accepted, a job in Washington (state). We moved from there to Phoenix nearly two years ago, and have longed to return to the evergreen state and, yes, even to the rain. Now we expect to be returning to WA in July. But, that leads to a good and necessary consequence: I will almost certainly have very little, if any, time for blogging these next two months. So, do not expect to hear from me until August. Have a delightful summer!

Moonblood, by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Moonblood is a fantasy novel, in which Prince Lionheart betrays his best friend, Rose Red. Rose Red then gets captured by her wicked goblin father, King Vahe, and held for his evil purposes: to use her to awaken the sleeping children of the Dragon, to raise them up as an army he can use to conquer the world. Will Prince Lionheart acknowledge his mistake? Will he seek to remedy the mischief he has caused? Will he succeed?

I found Moonblood a fun read. I was impressed with both the depth and the breadth of the secondary world created by Ms. Stengl. Moonblood is the third book in the Tales of Goldstone Wood series, with a fourth book due out this fall. I certainly thought that there was room for more stories in Goldstone Wood, and am excited to know that Ms. Stengl has written some of those stories already. I will be keeping my eye out for the other books in the series.

If you like to read fantasy, if you like to wander in Faerie, then give Moonblood a try. If you don't already care for fantasy, there's no hope for you.