New Year, re-dedicated to our book club!

Hi Friends! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (almost)! I am writing this post from Merced, CA and I couldn't be happier writing from here. I LOVE MERCED! I LOVE HOME! AND I LOVE FAMILY! I am finding myself a lot more sentimental and gushy lately, haha, I wonder why. I think it is my turn to pick a book. I got this book for Christmas and have been wanting to read it for awhile. I saw the movie years ago and have been wanting to read the book but never got around to it: The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay. I can't find a short summary so if you'd like to read one you can go here. The storyline follows a man from childhood to adulthood and portrays the different obstacles he overcomes. I have been so in the mood for an amazing story of triumph, I love those. Let me know if you have read it and if most have we can maybe choose a different one. Yay for our book club!

Time For Some Book Discussion

Has anyone else finished "The Cater Street Hangman"?  I read it and thought it was okay.  Overall I felt kind of let down because I was expecting to feel more suspense.  Even though it was a murder mystery, I didn't really have the feeling of curiosity and eagerness to find out who the murderer was.  I liked the main character, Charlotte, but I thought the rest of the family was kind of annoying. 
But here is the thing that really disturbed me....did you guys know that Anne Perry, the author, is LDS?  Did you also know that when she was a teenager she and her best friend murdered her friend's mom?  Seriously.  For reals.  Before I even read the book Kim told me about this and I read about it on wikipedia.  I was, and still am, so disturbed by this.  AND she writes murder mysteries!!!  Is anyone else totally creeped out by this? 

Catch Up

Ok, I know I was supposed to pick a book for November but Kim and I were talking and we thought it would be a good idea to take a month or two to catch up.

As in, let's pick new books AFTER the holidays.

But, I still want to hear thoughts on the books from the last couple months. So let's keep up the commentary and then in January I'll pick a new one.

Today our RS lesson was about the new book about the RS that we were supposed to read. I haven't read it yet. Sigh. But, today totally inspired me to do it. Hopefully I'll have some insights to add to Camille's.

Love you all.

Happy Halloween!

I'm sorry this is so late. I'm behind in our book club and currently reading a book that is taking much too long to complete.
I wanted to choose something appropriate for Halloween. I came close to choosing Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but couldn't get past the disgusting picture on the cover. I considered Devil in the White City but figured most of you have read it. So I decided to go with one of the mysteries I read in my British Mystery Novel class while in London (best class ever).

The Cater Street Hangman

by Anne Perry

is the first of the series

Here's the synopsis (and picture) from Amazon:

Panic and fear strike the Ellison household when one of their own falls prey to the Cater Street murderer. While Mrs. Ellison and her three daughters are out, their maid becomes the third victim of a killer who strangles young women with cheese wire, leaving their swollen-faced bodies on the dark streets of this genteel neighborhood. Inspector Pitt, assigned to the case, must break through the walls of upper-class society to get at the truth. His in-depth investigation gradually peels away the proper veneer of the elite world, exposing secrets and desires until suspicion becomes more frightening than truth. Outspoken Charlotte Ellison, struggling to remain within the confining boundaries of Victorian manners, has no trouble expressing herself to the irritating policeman. As their relationship shifts from antagonistic sparring to a romantic connection, the socially inappropriate pair must solve the mystery before the hangman strikes again.

And just so America isn't outdone, here's a link to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Plural Marriage

I'm only on page 49 of September's book, but I really like taking my time with this. Isn't it great? On page 49 it tells a bit about the history of relief society relative to plural marriage. There were only a handful of decades where it was a part of the church. Can you imagine hearing the prophet, Joseph Smith's command to practice plural marriage and reconcile yourself to that, and then decades later hear President Woodruff's manifesto? Yikes!

That would have required such a deep reservoir of faith for those women. It's something I haven't spent a ton of time studying or thinking about, but yikes! Can you imagine?

Conference is this weekend and whether this controversial or not, we will receive instruction from God at the general level, and on a very personal and spiritual level. I hope I can build my reservoirs of faith so that when I hear those commands, promptings, and principles my heart can say yes because of the covenants I've made.

Yikes! I feel like the plural marriage issue is as controversial as the gay issue. But both just require faith.

THoughts?

An Idea

I know September is Debbie's month to choose a book, but I have an alternative idea since she hasn't chosen one yet (which is totally fine, by the way).  Last week in Relief Society we were all given the new "Daughters of My Kingdom" book.  I started to read it and I'm actually really enjoying it.  Not so much because of the actual words I'm reading, but because I feel the spirit helping me understand what my role is and what I need to focus on and improve upon. 

Do you all remember Sister Beck's talk last fall at the general RS broadcast?  She talked about this book. Here is what she said:

"Our presidency has prayed, fasted, pondered, and counseled with prophets, seers, and revelators to learn what God would have us do to help His daughters be strong in the face of “the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth.” ⁶ An answer has come that the sisters of the Church should know and learn from the history of Relief Society. Understanding the history of Relief Society strengthens the foundational identity and worth of faithful women.

In consequence of this, a history of Relief Society for the Church is being completed and will be available for our use next year. In anticipation of this, Relief Society history is receiving increased attention, such as on the visiting teaching page of the Liahona and the Ensign. The preparation of the history has been an inspired and revelatory experience.

As we have studied the history of Relief Society, we have learned that the Lord’s vision and purpose for Relief Society was not of a sleepy meeting on Sunday. He had in mind something much, much bigger than a women’s club or special-interest entertainment group.

He intended Relief Society to help build His people and prepare them for the blessings of the temple. He established this organization to align His daughters with His work and to enlist their help in building His kingdom and strengthening the homes of Zion."

So I suggest that we all read this book in September.  I have complete faith in the revelation the general RS presidency and the quorum of the twelve received, that the women of the church need to know about the history of Relief Society to help us do the work we are supposed to do.  And I know from experience, by just reading the first couple of chapters, that the spirit will motivate us and guide us as we read this book.  What do you guys think? Do you have copies of the book yet?

Authenticity

So has anybody finished Camille's book yet?  I am about half way through.  So far, I have agreed with most of the author's ideas.  Randi posted about courage and having courage to be vulnerable and honest about who we are.  The author...can't think of her name right now and too lazy to find it...says that living with the courage to be who we really are is living an "authentic" life.  As I read the section about authenticity, it made sense, don't do things just to fit in, be who you really are, etc.  However, I am curious about where you draw the line.  I don't believe that life is about just sitting back and being "who we are".  I think we have to try to become something more; to grow and progress. 
For example, if I were honestly to be who I am naturally, I would always have a dirty house and spend my evenings being lazy.  I don't like to clean and after work I don't feel like doing anything.  However, I don't want to be known as a lazy person or have a nasty house, so I try to force myself to clean and to be productive, even though most of the time I don't want to.  So does that make me unauthentic?  I'm sure the author would agree that setting goals and trying to improve ourselves is a positive thing, but don't we have to set goals because our natural selves aren't accomplishing that specific thing?  If it were something we did or loved to do naturally, it would already be getting done!  Right? 
So what do you guys think?  Are there certain goals that we shouldn't try to achieve because it is just so far from who we really are?  What do you think about this concept of "authenticity"?  and how does it still leave room for trying become better people?