What We Found at the Library: Prayer and thankfulness

It's been awhile since I've had assigned reading. And then, this spring, there were three books (not including poetry) that I was supposed to be reading at once. Not for a grade. And not exactly mandatory. But still.

It started when I signed up for a book club through the women's ministry at my church. You pick a topic/book from a list (as well as a second and third choice - just in case), and they put you in a group with 5-7 other women who chose the same thing.


Right about the time I heard back which book club I'd be in (topic: gratitude) and that we'd be starting right away, my small group leader decided we should discuss a book at our twice-a-month meetings.


Not long after that a third book came my way, but that is another story for another What We Found. Suffice it to say, it was all a little overwhelming.

So even though the Hubs and I try to avoid buying many new books, we found ourselves purchasing Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy for my book club and A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World for our small group the same week. (We actually couldn't find them in the library.)


In the end, it was really neat to be reading Choosing Gratitude and A Praying Life at the same time. The topics meshed together beautifully: giving thanks in all things and praying continually. Being thankful for what you have and praying for what you need. Expressing gratitude for others and lifting them up in prayer. Sometimes I have trouble remembering what I read where.

Both books were honest, insightful, practical and focused on the deep-rooted attitudes behind our actions, rather than just overwhelming you with a big checklist of Things You Must Do.

I recommend reading them both. Maybe even at the same time - or at least one after the other. My book club has even talked about reading A Praying Life in the near future.

What books have you found at the library - or your local bookstore - lately?

What We Found at the Library: Poetry

Even though I'm kind of already in the middle of three different books, I grabbed a few poetry books off the shelf in honor of National Poetry Month and took an occasional poetry break.


So, here's what I found in our library...

In Spanish:

• Five Decades: Poems 1925-1970 (Pablo Neruda)
• The Poems of St. John of the Cross
  

Both have the original Spanish poetry with an English translation on the facing page, which helps, but I'm not a huge fan of these translations. For some reason, they tend to throw out the simple, elegant language of many of the original poems and opt for flowery, arcane words instead. The moral: don't judge a Spanish poetry book by the English translations. Ugh.

In English: A Murmur in the Trees (nature poems by Emily Dickinson)

I'll leave you with one of her more familiar poems, which seems particularly apropos in this era of follower counts, social networking and (ahem) blogging...

I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you–Nobody–Too?
Then there's a pair of us?
Don't tell! they'd advertise–you know!

How dreary–to be–Somebody!
How public–like a Frog–
To tell one's name–the livelong June–
To an admiring Bog!

What We Found at the Library

Last time the Hubs was headed to the library, I asked him to bring me back a book.


He brought home How to Shoot and Sell Animal Photos - as a joke. (Plus, who can say no to yawning kittens? Awww...)

Anyway.

He also checked out the book I was actually looking for, Vintage Paper Crafts by Anna Corba.


I was looking for inspiration for bridal shower centerpieces, and I knew I could find it there.

I've checked out Vintage Paper Crafts before. I think I just stumbled across it the first time, and it's come home with me a time or two since then, as well. (Who knows? I may even buy it someday!)

What I love about it is not so much the explanation of paper crafting methods and techniques (it has a fair amount of that too), but the ideas it inspires for collage art, cards, gifts and scrapbooks. Just flipping through it gets my creative synapses firing!

I'll probably never follow a project from the book step by step to completion (even if I did break down and buy it), but it always brings to mind new possibilities.

...And that's what we found at the library!

Share your library finds tomorrow!

I don't know how I missed this before, but every month Sarah from This Heavenly Life hosts What We Found at the Library. I'm so excited about this, because there are some books I've been thinking I should tell you about, and this is the perfect occasion!

Sarah's latest picks were children's books that (as you may have guessed) they found at the library. But she confirmed that you can share about whatever it is you're reading – even if it didn't come from the library.

The next What We Found at the Library is April 1. (Nope, not a joke.) I'll be posting what I'm reading, and I'd love to know what you're reading too!