Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen

Out of Africa, by Isak Dinesen

Out of Africa is a memoir by Baroness Karen Dinesen Blixen, who ran a coffee plantation outside of Nairobi, Kenya, for 17 years in the early 20th century when Kenya was still a British colony. She tells anecdotes of the squatters who lived on her plantation, her servants, and her friends and colleagues. 

I greatly enjoyed reading this book, as so much of it reminded me of the people and culture of Kenya both times that I visited there. Yes, things have changed quite a bit since the early 1900s. Nairobi is a very large city and has giant slums full of poor people, it has skyscrapers, all kinds of farming, but the people are in many ways the same. 

I felt like the author had a gentle and great love for the people of Africa, as well as the land. 

I watched the movie after reading the book. Glen Close played the Baroness, and Robert Redford played Denys Finch-Hatton, her close friend or so I thought until I saw the movie, and learned he was her lover. It was modestly hinted at in the book, so I looked her up on Google, and interestingly enough, he was her lover, after divorcing her husband who married her mainly for convenience. 

The movie was a bit different from the book, no surprise at that---but the movie, I feel was based half on her book, and half on the events of her life that were recorded in history but not recorded by her in her book. It is well worth watching, but I would read the book and read a little more about her before watching the movie, for a greater appreciation of it.

 

Memory Makers Family Scrapbooks Yesterday, Today, & Tomorrow

Family Scrapbooks Yesterday, Today, & Tomorrow, by Memory Makers

I discovered scrapbooking after the birth of my second child. I attended a Stampin/ Up! home party, and learned all the ways that rubber stamps could be used, and used for scrapbooking. Then I discovered Creative Keepsakes scrapbooking magazines, and craft/scrapbooking stores. I went crazy. For a while I was scrapbooking 1-2 detailed pages a day. Then I had my third child, and suddenly just didn't have time anymore. I kept all my supplies thinking I would get back into it but never did. Then when the kids were older, I found another outlet for my creativity, and went to art college and earned a degree in fine art, painting and drawing. 

I still want to get back into scrapbooking, though.

I picked this book up at a yard sale not too long ago. It has a lot of great ideas and beautiful photos perfect for inspiring someone like me who needs to get back into it. So I plan to keep this and put it with the rest of my scrapbooking stuff, and maybe one day soon I will get it all out and make a page. I have lots of ideas swirling around in my head. We will see.

 

Falling Leaves, Adeline Yen Mah

Falling Leaves, by Adeline Yen Mah

This is the biography of Adeline Yen Mah, a Chinese girl who was abused by her parents, how she overcame the abuse, and found closure. She started out life in 1930s China, and her mother died when she was very young. Her father remarried a very abusive and manipulative woman, and she was terrible to all her step children, but poured out most of her abuse on Adeline. Her father went right along with her. She was treated like vermin scurrying across the floor. 

She talks about the harsh conditions she had to live under, being the unwanted child, how her siblings turned against her, largely from parental example.

She eventually went on to become a successful anesthesiologist in the United States, and bent over backwards to honor and support her father and stepmother, and other family members, and was treated horribly for it.

It breaks my heart that someone could treat their child the way she was treated. I just don't understand it. I am just glad that even though you might have a rough beginning, it doesn't have to stay that way. You may not ever get a Cinderella fairy godmother to step in and fix everything. You may have to make that better life yourself, but it can be done.

Would you like to buy me a book, or help keep my little free library stocked and maintained? You can donate here: paypal.me/AmyVanGaasbeck 

 

The Children's Book of Games and Puzzles by Helen Jill Fletcher

The Children's Book of Games and Puzzles, Helen Jill Fletcher

This is a lovely vintage book, dated 1961, that was discarded from the  Baker County Public Library in Baker City, Oregon. I think I have had this one for a decade or two, back when my kids were small, I homeschooled, and was involved in childrens' ministries. It is full of games, activities, quizzes, and interesting things to do that you normally don't see or hear of kids doing now. Some of them are very outdated or use racial off-color names, which was typical of white vocabulary in the time it was published, but the rest of it is usable and there are some really neat illustrations inside.

Would you like to buy me a book, or help keep my little free library stocked and maintained? You can donate here: paypal.me/AmyVanGaasbeck 

 

The Priest's Graveyard by Ted Dekker

 

The Priest's Graveyard, Ted Dekker

Ted Dekker is one of my favorite authors. It's easy for me to figure out the big reveal in many books, but Dekker always surprises me. He is a great storyteller and his stories often have a twist to them. They always have some kind of Biblical or important truth to him and the way he drives it home is never what you expect.

This book is about two people who come together for a shared purpose. You have a self-employed assassin who believes his righteous indignation is justified by God, and a young woman seeking to avenge the death of her husband. They work together, but the more they work together, the more the assassin sees that what he is doing is not right, and is corrupting the young woman. The woman's husband, we find, is not as sweet as she remembers him to be. And the party guilty for his death? Well, you will just have to read it.

Would you like to buy me a book, or help keep my little free library stocked and maintained? You can donate here: paypal.me/AmyVanGaasbeck 

Step by Step Beadcraft by Judith Glassman

 

Step by Step Beadcraft by Judith Glassman

This is a beadwork basics book, gives a short history on beads and beading, and mostly gives projects for beadwork with Indian Seed beads and similar small beads that require a needle to bead with. This would be a great resource for those interesting in this type of work, with some basic projects, some requiring a loom and others just needle and thread. 

This book has a Bookcrossing label in it. I will be releasing it into a Little Free Library so it can continue its journey.

Would you like to buy me a book, or help keep my little free library stocked and maintained? You can donate here: paypal.me/AmyVanGaasbeck 

2 Peter, Holman Christian Standard Bible

 A very small epistle written by the Apostle Peter. 

1: 3-11 states:

His[c] divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by[d] His own glory and goodness. 4 By these He has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desires. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, 6 knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, 7 godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble. 11 For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly supplied to you.