Book Review: Lost in a Good Book

Lost in a Good Book
A Thursday Next Novel
by Jasper Fforde
Rating: 5 starts out of 5
"it was amazing"

Lost in a Good Book is book 2 in the Thursday Next series. This book starts out with the Goliath Corporation a bit upset with Thursday Next for marooning Jack, a big to-do employee, inside a book. They want him back. Goliath always gets what they want. Next, of course, refuses to aid them so a little blackmailing is in order. Goliath teams up with the ChronoGaurd, who goes back in time and eradicates Landon, Thursdays husband. This is the best way possible to get Thursdays attention. They promise to bring him back if she will bring Jack back from the book.

In book one Thursday is able to enter books through a prose portal her uncle invented, which has now been destroyed. She is willing to do anything to get Landon back, so Thursday starts on her quest to learn how to book jump on her own. Once Thursday makes her first jump into Jurisfiction she is welcomed by the Cheshire Cat (from Alice in Wonderland) and assigned to be an apprentice to Miss Havisham (from Great Expectations - just don't mention that wedding!).

The book is full of hilarious interactions of famous characters from different literary works. It makes me wish I'd read a few more of the classics. Overall this is a great book. It's a bit of a slower read, probably due to the writing style. Fforde plays with words in a way that makes you read a paragraph twice to make sure you understand, then realize it makes perfect sense and no sense at the same time, all in a humorous way.

The Allegory of Zenos or “I’ve Been Pruned”

On Sunday I snuck into the Fireside at the tail end of the Mid-Singles Conference. I didn’t really have much interest in the Conference as a whole, but the speaker for the Fireside is a man I greatly admire and have learned from him at every encounter. His name is Brother Nyles Salmond and he was the director of the Seattle LDS Institute of Religion which is where I met him. I had the opportunity to take a number of classes from Brother Salmond while attending the UW as an undergrad. I had a very good idea what to expect from this man, and I was not let down.

Brother Salmond spoke of the hardships we face today and the trials that we are individually called to go through. At the time I recall thinking that life wasn’t so bad. I have things pretty good right now with no major complaints. I feel happy, I have family and friends close by, I have a job I love, life is pretty good. Then I felt a slight sense of foreboding. The ‘life is good’ feeling never remains for long. Life continues to change and with it both the good and the bad will come and go.

I’m getting ahead of myself.

Brother Salmond likened this to the Allegory of Zenos found in Jacob Chapter 5 of the Book of Mormon. For those who may be unfamiliar with this it tells the story of a vineyard where the master discovers his tame olive tree is beginning to decay and does all that he can to save it. There are 4 specific ways in which the master works to save his tree: pruning, digging, grafting, and dunging. Many members of the Church are familiar with this allegory and its standard interpretation of the House of Israel, but instead Brother Salmond pointed out other things we can learn from the allegory.

At this point I will pause and remind you of a story told in the Church of a man who was due for a promotion. During the interview for the possible promotion he is asked if he is Mormon and ultimately loses the promotion because of his affiliation with the Church. The unfairness of it all hurts this man and he asks God why. He deserved this promotion and had worked hard for it and had now been denied it. I forget the specifics of the story but basically what happens is the man sees a tree and realizes that a gardener knows exactly what this tree is supposed to be. With proper pruning and the skill of a master gardener it will occasionally need to be cut back so it can grow into what the gardener knows it is capable of.

This is where I will come back to the tame olive tree. The lord of the vineyard had to prune his tree. It had to be cut back. The same is in our lives, our own Master sees fit to prune us and cut us back so that we can be molded into what our Savior knows we are capable of. Then Brother Salmond pleaded with us to accept our pruning and move our lives along the path the Lord has for us.

Brother Salmond went on to talk of the 3 other ways to save the tame olive tree. The ‘digging about the tree’ is the Lord changing our environment, the grafting in of the wild olive tree, and then the dunging for nourishment. I wish I had taken notes and could better remember his comments, but the pruning is what stuck out to me the most.

Last week life was good. This week life happened and I’ve been pruned. It hurts. However I am grateful I went to that fireside so now whenever I think I do not want to deal with this I hear Brother Salmond’s loving words in my mind to ‘accept our pruning’. The Lord obviously has other ideas in mind for my life. It’s now up to me to accept that and move along the path He has laid out for me.

"I checked this out weeks ago for a bit of light reading."

Nothing is better than a good laugh

At one point in my book two young boys are talking. Bran had just related a story to his friend Will:

"The tension inside Will snapped like a breaking spring, and he began to laugh. Once he had started, it was hard to stop. Bran paused, grinning, and then the grin became a chuckle and before long they were reeling with laughter, roaring, tottering, clutching at one another, in a wild fit of chortling mirth with the dog Pen leaping about them happily."
- The Grey King by Susan Cooper -

When was the last time you laughed that hard?

Sister Day

I have three sisters who I absolutely love. Somehow we convinced our oldest sister to fly out for just one day so we could have a "Sister Day" and do nothing but hang out with each other.

Meet Merry, Dragon Tamer and Mother Extraordinaire. Merry is the oldest of the bunch. She taught me to love adventure, imagination, and (of course) dragons. She always has a welcoming house and something exotically tasty made for dinner.


Meet Sandie, the RED Hot One. Sandie has a knack for just knowing things. She can fix, mend or clean anything you can think of. She even seems to know where mom keeps things at home that I cannot find (even though she's not lived there in years). She definitely has a loud personality and just enough sass to make you like her even more.



Meet Melanie, the Creative One. I am always impressed with whatever Melanie's latest project is. Just this weekend she was showing me a gift bag I'd given Matthew (her son) a present in and how she turned it into a picture frame. The design on the bag and the tissue paper inside made fabulous patters for the frames. Super cute. Mel is also the supplier of my hair-color-changing addiction.



We spent all of Saturday together, eating, shopping, enjoying the beautiful weather and lakes here in Washington. We played games, we went hot tubing, we talked, we even ate cheesecake.

I think my favorite moment from our adventure was in a little shop chatting with the owner. She was making conversation with us and found out we were sisters and at one point asked, "What do you do when you get mad at another sister, do you call another one to complain?"

We all stared blankly at each other not knowing how to answer... until one of us finally ventured, "I don't think we've ever been mad at each other..."

Ha! I really do have the best sisters anyone could hope for.

Part 2: Socks

A sock is a knitted or woven type of hosiery garment for enclosing the human foot. Socks are designed to ease chafing between the foot and footwear, protect footwear by absorbing perspiration and dead skin lost from the foot, provide comfort, be fashionable, and keep the feet warm. sourse

I. Love. Socks.

Which is really rather a strange thing for me to love. Those who know me know I do not like shoes at all and much prefer to be barefooted whenever possible. Putting aside from that minor fact, I do collect socks. It all began with a need. As much as I love to be barefoot I loath having cold feet. I wear socks primarily to be warm in the winter. That said, when my feet are cold I do love to wear socks (although I still hate those shoes!).

I not only collect socks I collect pictured socks. Every pair I own has some sort of picture or design on them. My absolute favorite pair is, of course, my Harry Potter socks. I mean, who else has HP socks?? They are just that cool.

Speaking of Harry Potter, I happened to see the new movie this week and loved it. It might just be my favorite one yet... I will definitely need to see it again in the theaters. And now I have a craving to reread the series again.

Check out a few other pairs that I love. Make special note of the Bety Boop sock, I love those too!


I probably own over 75 pairs of socks (I'm not going to bother to count them). Almost every pair was a gift to me. (Hint, hint, if you ever want to buy something for me and don't know what, socks are a sure win).

Part 1: Hats

A hat is a head covering. It may be worn for protection against the elements, for religious reasons, for safety, or as a fashion accessory. In the past, hats were an indicator of social status. In the military, they denote rank and regiment.
source

I always say, "I collect hats," primarily because I buy them all the time and then so often forget to wear them. They sit on my hat rack at home where I admire them and wonder when I will wear one again.

Some of them I made:


And some I earned:

B.A. Mathematics

Some are to protect me from my accident-prone tendencies:

Skydiving Helmet

Zipline Tour in the Jungles of Costa Rica

My niece modeling my motorcycle helmet

But most came from my love of trying on hats at every hat store that I pass:






I wear a few other kinds of "hats" with the things I do. While I am at work I put on my 'math teacher hat' to help students understand their homework. This one quickly comes off as I leave so that no one will know what a big geek I am about math.

Other times I wear the 'student hat' while at school, or reading my scriptures.

When I go to our YSA Committee meetings I have a 'hat of leadership' but this hat I am still afraid of and typically hold it instead of wearing it.

The rest of the time is my 'everyday hat' that places me in the role of daughter, sister, or friend.

What hats do you wear?

3 Part Mini Series

I collect things.

This week I've decided to do a 3-Part Mini Series on items I collect.

Why, you might ask? I have no idea. It just came to my mind and I'm going with it.

ROAD TRIP!!

Today I am going here:


To see these guys:


Play a little of this:

So Excited!!

How many Windy's does it take to change a light bulb?

About a year ago my headlight burnt out and I decided I would replace it on my own (I always use the excuse of “I’m a mathematician, surely I can figure this out!”). So I bought a new headlight, looked up in that little book there to make sure I got the right one, brought it home, read the manual (hey, I am a girl) and attempted to replace the bulb on my own. For whatever reason I could NOT get the connecting cable off the headlight. Even my dad couldn’t get it off… long story short I had to get an oil change in about a week so I just had them do it (and they forgot, so when I pointed it out they were sorry and did it for free). I then had this new headlight that I did not use. I stored it safely in my car knowing I’d eventually need it.


A year has gone by and my other headlight burns out. I once again tell myself, “I can do this… I have a degree in Mathematics” (which by the way, I am aware that math and cars are not the same thing). I pull out the manual again and it tells me this time I’ll need to move the battery over so I can reach in, etc. I even have my own tools to do this with. Not hard. I pull the connecting cable off with no problems this time (much to my relief) and slip the headlight out. I then open my new headlight bulb and attempt to put it in place, but it will NOT fit!! I’m so annoyed at this point. I thought back to when I bought it and was sure I double checked and bought the right bulb. I tried again. I tried forcing it. I tried comparing it to the old bulb, they looked exactly the same to me. I went online and double checked that it was in fact the correct bulb, and it was. This annoyed me. I mean, how hard can it be to change a headlight!? My dad offered to help, but me and my pride refused. I was going to figure this out on my own.

I decided I must have some variation of the bulb or something odd like that so I went back to Shucks and looked through the book again and ended up talking to a guy there about my problem. He offered to come out and take a look for me. And then, because it was obvious to him, he told me my problem was simply that I was attempting to replace the high beam bulb and not the actual headlight bulb. Yeah. All that looking around under the hood and I didn’t notice another bulb just inches away to the one I’d been messing with for so long.

I felt pretty dumb. Thanked the dude. And then replaced the bulb in its proper place with no problems whatsoever.

I’ve always wanted to be a car-savvy chick, but I’m just not. At least I figured it out in the end.

Richard Starkey #69

Q: Are you a Mod or a Rocker?
A: Um, no, I'm a Mocker.

Happy Birthday
Ringo Starr!

The 4th at Gasworks Park

This year's Independence Day was low key and fun. Sasha and I had a picnic on the beach at Carkeek Park followed by a movie and then fireworks. I ventured out to Gasworks Park for the fireworks this year. I've never actually been before, but I've often heard about how amazing it is there. The park was a sea of people in all directions. I was not let down. It was a beautiful 15 minute show with a soundtrack to go along. Happy 4th of July!

Green Day Sings the Song of the Century

Sing us a song of the century
That's louder than bombs and eternity
The era of static and contraband
Leading us into the promised land

Tell us a story that's by candlelight
Waging a war and losing the fight

They're playing our song of the century
Panic and promise and prosperity
Tell me a story into that goodnight
Sing us a song for me

Billie Joe Armstrong - Guitar, Vocals

Mike Dirnt - Bass

Tre Cool - Drums

My ears are still buzzing. The energy from the crowd still lingers, even though I've already showered and washed their sweat away. When I actually fall asleep tonight a smile will stay fixed upon my face.

Billie Joe - Love of my Life