Curled Up With a Good Book and a Cup of Tea

While separation of church and state exists in the United States today, a look at the culture and politics of the country shows that religion still has a major influence in society. This is because religion and history will forever be tied together in the US. When you look at the history of immigration and expansion, the Civil War, the Civil Rights Movement and other critical time periods, Christianity is heavily linked to the mood and actions of the times. In The Sword of the Lord: The Roots of Fundamentalism in an American Family , Andrew Himes lays out this connection between US history and religion in an easy to read and gripping manner. Himes is the perfect person to tell the story - his grandfather, John R. Rice, was a leading fundamentalist and editor of the popular The Sword of the Lord newspaper. Anyone interested in the history of the United States and the role Christianity played in its development will find this book invaluable. From the immigration of the Scots-I

Happy Friday!!! It's time for the Book Blogger Hop, an awesome weekly book party hosted by Jennifer at Crazy For Books . We had a lovely long weekend last week, and this Friday has snuck up on us quickly. Things are very exciting around here as this weekend is my 5th wedding anniversary! Hard to believe it's come so fast and yet, as my husband often says, sometimes it feels like 50! This weeks hop question is: What book-to-movie adaption have you most liked? Which have you disliked? So I often don't watch movies if I really liked the book. I just don't want a book that I loved to be ruined by what someone else thinks it should be. For example, I haven't seen the movie The Reader (book by Bernard Schlink) because I loved the book so much and I don't plan on watching it. However, one of my favourites has to be (and it's not a movie but a mini-series): The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. I absolutely love the series and whi

Seventeen-year-old Tommy and his family have just moved to Ajax, a small town close to Toronto. His parents are Ismaili Muslims who immigrated to Canada before Tommy and his sister were born. Life in Canada has been fairly good to the family and they consider themselves Canadian. But the arrest of a terrorist group in Toronto turns things upside down in their world. Tommy's sister starts to wear the hijab and hang out with a new group of friends. And Tommy, someone who was barely noticed before, is singled out at the coffee shop he works at and starts feeling the sting of racism. When a group of young men begin to bully Tommy, he commits an act of revenge against the group's ringleader and has to deal with the consequences of his behaviour. The Picture of Nobody by Rabindranath Maharaj takes an issue that is familiar to everyone and puts a voice to it that is not often heard - those who are dealing with the fallout in their everyday lives, especially those who are

Oh dear. I'm not doing so well reading-wise, and this meme is a reminder of that! It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey . Usually it is a weekly organizing tool for me when it comes to my reading, but as of late I haven't had much to organize. That's okay though, it's for good reason - the warm weather is here and the family is spending much more time outdoors. I think things are going to slow down around this blog for the summer. Last week I did get one book read - Words by Ginny L. Yttrup. I read it as part of the Christian Fiction Book Club and you can see my post here. I have a few books I plan to read next, though I'm not sure in what order or timing: The Sword of the Lord by Andrew Himes The Guardian Angel's Journal by Carolyn Jess-Cooke If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won't) by Betty White

Happy Monday!!!! This meme is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey . The organizational freak in me loves this meme because it gets my reading organized for the week. However, this is the first week that I don't really have much of a plan! That's okay, because it's a busy week for me so I probably won't get much reading done anyway. What I Read Last Week: The Cause Within Yo u by Matthew Barnett Daughters-in-law by Joanna Trollope Bringing Up Girls by James Dobson What I'm Reading Now: Irma Voth by Miriam Toews What I'm Reading Next: The Sword of the Lord: The Roots of Fundamentalism in an American Family by Andrew Himes

Happy Friday, it's time for the hop! Stroll on over to Crazy For Books and check it out! Tons of book bloggers in one spot, what more could you ask for? This week question: Are you going to Book Expo America (BEA) and/or the Book Blogger Convention BBC this year? My answer: Unfortunately no. I would love to go to something like that but there are many reasons why I can't. One is that I don't live in the US so that's a lot of money for travel. Plus I'd have to get my passport renewed which wouldn't happen in time and is more money. Plus I have a 4 year old and 2 year old who need to be looked after. Plus that's the week of my 5th wedding anniversary and we're taking a trip for that. Plus....anyways, lot of reasons I can't go, but I would love to be there. For all those who are going, enjoy!!!! Have a great weekend everyone!

When it comes to curly hair Teri LaFlesh has been there, done that. Her biracial heritage has given her tightly curly hair that for years she didn't know how to manage. She tried relaxers, jheri curls, weaves and extensions, which all resulted in damaged hair. Along the way, she began to embrace her curls and set on a journey of how to care for her natural hair, which has now resulted in gorgeous waist-length curls. In Curly Like Me: How to Grow Your Hair Healthy, Long and Strong , Teri shares everything about her hair journey and shows how you too can develop a regimen that will lead to healthy hair. There is such a wealth of knowledge in this book. Teri shares tons of "before" pictures and isn't ashamed to let readers see the many mistakes she made with her hair. She details in-depth how to care for your hair, what products and tools to use and what ingredients to look for (and look out for) in your hair care products. Most importantly, she shares the be

When Conor Grennan set off for Nepal in 2004 to volunteer at an orphanage, he figured it would be just another stop on a year-long trip around the world. Instead, his time at the Little Princes Home near Kathmandu turned his life upside down as he discovered a mission, love and faith. In Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal , shares his journey into a world far from his American upbringing. When he set off to volunteer, Nepal was in the midst of a civil war. In remote areas the rebel Army, Maoists, were abducting children to serve in their army. To save their children, desperate parents sold their children to men who promised to take the kids away for protection and an education. However, these men were traffickers, and the children were either sold into slavery or brothels. The Little Princes Home where Conor volunteered had rescued 18 of those children. When his three months were up, Grennan made a promise to the children that he wo

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend, I enjoyed my Mother's Day very much as I got to do a lot of clothes and shoe shopping, for both myself and the kids. It's always a good day when you buy yourself 3 pairs of shoes! It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey . I love this meme because it always gets me ready for the week. What I Read Last Week Whole Foods to Thrive by Brendan Brazier Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan What I'm Reading Now Daughters-in-law by Joanna Trollope Bringing Up Girls by Dr. James Dobson What I'm Reading Next Irma Voth by Miriam Toews The Sword of the Lord: The Roots of Fundamentalism in an American Family by Andrew Himes Reviewed at Faith Filled Reading : The Life Ready Woman by Shaunti Feldhahn Left To Tell and Led by Faith by Immaculee Ilibagiza Hatteras Girl by Alice J. Wisler

Wouldn't you love to have more money? Then you wouldn't have to worry about it so much. Well, what if you could have less worry with the same amount of money you currently make? Gail Vaz-Oxlade says that is very possible. On the television show Til' Debt Do Us Part ( Slice ), Gail Vaz-Oxlade shows in-debt couples how to take control of their money and erase their debt forever. She has also written numerous best-selling books on the same subject. In Easy Money , Gail provides you with the basics you need to know about managing your money, saving and paying down debt. In the book, Gail covers the topics of needs versus wants, budgets, credit, debt, planning, saving and choosing bank accounts. The book is short (86 pages) so Gail gets straight to the point in her typical no-nonsense way. If you are currently in financial trouble this is the best place to start. If you're looking to trim your budget or save a little extra money, you'll find help here. Le

For any woman who grew up in the 80's, Sweet Valley Confidential by Francine Pascal is probably their most anticipated book of 2011. It's ten years later and the girls are adults, twenty-seven-years old, and life has certainly changed since their high school years. Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield have had a "falling-out of epic proportions" and haven't spoken to each in eight months…is revenge in the cards or can forgiveness be shown and life in Sweet Valley get back to the way it always has been? Okay, seriously cheesy I know. It wouldn't be Sweet Valley if it wasn't. I was born in the 80's so I was more of a Sweet Valley Twins girl, but I did read some of my older sisters Sweet Valley High books. Obviously not enough of them because I couldn't remember most of the people mentioned in this book, but I still look back fondly at the girls and how I devoured all of the Twins books (who didn't want to start a Unicorn club at their school….

Nuri is a young boy on vacation with his father when he spots the beautiful Mona sitting by the pool. He is taken by her, enthralled and in love. It seems like Mona is able to fill the void that has been left by the sudden death of Nuri's mother a year earlier. But when Mona and Nuri's father meet, Nuri's feelings are pushed to the side as they fall in love and quickly marry. Nuri is soon sent away from his family in Egypt to boarding school in England and he is consumed by the happiness of Mona and his father. He wishes there was some way to get his father out of the picture, after all he was the one who saw Mona first. Then suddenly, Nuri's father disappears, kidnapped in the night. Nuri and Mona's world is torn apart as they begin to learn that they never really knew the man at all. Anatomy of a Disappearance by Hisham Matar is an incredible novel that asks the question "when a loved one disappears, how does his or her absence shape the lives of

It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey . It's a great way to keep track of your reading if you're one of those organization loving people like I am! What I Read Last Week: A Tiny Bit Marvellous by Dawn French Sweet Valley Confidential by Francine Pascal What I'm Reading Now: Anatomy of a Disappearance by Hisham Matar Bringing Up Girls by Dr. James Dobson What I'm Reading Next: Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna Over at Faith Filled Reading: This week I posted three book reviews: In The Midst of It All by Tiffany L. Warren (fiction) How Women Help Men Find God by David R. Murrow (non-fiction, by guest reviewer Nicole) Mom's Bible (NCV) from Thomas Nelson Publishers