Books of 2010 & 2011

First of all, I changed the design and the header on my blog a bit. I feel that there's more room now to read and maneuver. I hope the design shows up as well for you as it does for me!

Now, a look back at the books I read in 2010:

• Heart's Desire by Patsy Oda (re-read)
• I Kissed Dating Good-Bye by Joshua Harris (re-read)
• Curtain by Agatha Christie
• Crooked House by Agatha Christie
• Faith of the First Lady by Jerry MacGregor & Marie Prys
• Let Me Be A Woman by Elisabeth Eliot
• Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler
• Time Will Tell by Laralee Bliss
• A Bride By Christmas by Linda Goodnight, Kelly Eileen Hake, Vickie McDonough & Therese Stenzel
• The White Flower by Grace Livingston Hill
• Miss Lavinia's Call (and other stories) by Grace Livingston Hill
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
• The Bird's Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggins

Not bad all told but I hope to do even better in 2011! I've selected 30 books to read, most of which are books that have laid unread too long on the bookshelf. Here's my reading list for the new year:

-20 Fiction & Non-fiction Books:

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (re-read)
• Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
• Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
• North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (re-reading, I will have to buy my own copy)
• Deadly Disclosures by Julie Cave
• The Shadowed Mind by Julie Cave
• The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis (re-read)
• The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis
• Villette or Shirley by Charlotte Bronte
• David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
• another by Charles Dickens such as The Old Curiosity Shop
• The Young Visiters by Daisy Ashford (re-read)
• The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliff
• Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (re-read, after reading Udolpho)
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Jane and the Wandering Eye by Stephanie Baron
• The Sonnets by William Shakespeare (poetry)
• Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin (biography)
• an Agatha Christie novel for fun, probably re-read Tuesday Club Murders

-10 Spiritual & Christian Books:

• Boy Meets Girl by Joshua Harris (re-reading)
• Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman
• Footprints of a Pilgrim by Ruth Bell Graham
• The Measure of a Woman by Gene & Elaine Getz
• Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (I hope to buy my own copy)
• Dating Mr. Darcy by Sarah Arthur
• God's Priceless Woman by Wanda Kennedy Sanseri (Bible study)
• For Such A Time As This by Lisa Ryan (re-read)
• Passion & Purity by Elisabeth Eliot (or another book by her, I'd have to buy my own copy)
• The Secret Keeper by Dannah Gresh (re-read)

Both of the Gaskell novels I'll be reading between January 1st - June 1st for the Gaskell Reading Challenge.

My goal is to read at least 3/4 of the books on this list. I'm not a great reader, sometimes it takes me a while to get through long books, so I'm going to stick to reading only the books on the list and try not to read other things. I'm really looking forward to getting some reading done and am enjoying Deadly Disclosures by Emily Cave which was a Christmas gift.

What are you reading this year?

Very Truly Your's,

Miss Laurie

Happy New Year!!!

Book Review: The White Flower

The White Flower by Grace Livingston Hill is the story of young Rachel Rainsford who all alone in the world since the death of her professor father. In an attempt to support herself she answers a newspaper ad to become an old lady's companion and begins her journey by train out west. Wealthy Chan Prescott sees Rachel's red hair and immediately recognizes her as the daughter of his old professor who inspired him to truth and excellence. Sitting quietly reading on the train Chan overhears Rachel's traveling companion selling Rachel to businessman Mr. Shillingsworth and submit her to "a fate worse than death". It is then that Chan makes his own plans to warn Rachel of the plan and get her off the train and to safety out of these evil men's grasp. They hop off the train at a remote location and the chase begins - hiding in trees, running through the countryside, jumping onto moving trains, and renting rooms from old ladies in farmhouses. Suspense abounds as the pair think their safe only to run into the bad guys and off they have to run again. But God is looking out for Rachel and her protector guiding them to safety and Chan to a saving knowledge of Himself.

What I most appreciated about Grace Livingston Hill is the purity and high spiritual ideals she writes both into her stories and her characters. In this book Rachel is a born-again believer who's very character breaths modesty, sweetness, kindness and purity. These are things that Chan loves about her, he sees right away in the way she dresses and conducts herself that she is different than other girls he's known, and he really appreciates that. She is a special lady and throughout the story she inspires in him a desire to be a man worthy of such a woman. To be a noble protector, loyal, kind and pure gentleman who she can trust. She also inspires in him a desire to "Live pure, right wrong, and follow the King" and to wear "the white flower of a blameless life". Another things about Ms. Hill's is that she always tried to include the salvation message and spiritual truths in her novels, which is a great blessing.

I loved the descriptions of different ways Rachel wore her hair and the 1930's clothes she wore. The way Ms. Hill writes it's so easy for the reader to see the picture she's painting of places and characters.

Another thing I enjoyed was Rachel's explanation to Chan about her Christian view of love and marriage, and why she would only marry the man God wanted her to. Below is an excerpt from Chapter 9 where Rachel is explaining:

"You see, this house we live in...This house of flesh is full of electrical currents, like the wiring of a house. That's how father explained it to me, and when we bring the wires together the current is bound to flash along the whole circuit. And we have no business to bring them together unless we really belong. That was why father objected to dancing. He said it gave license for too much personal contact, and young people especially were misled and took it for a deeper feeling. They thought it meant mind and spirit too, when it was only just the senses. And then when it was too late and they had spoiled their lives they found out it was only the flash deceiving them. He said that those feelings were meant to come after and add beauty and light and glory, just as the lighting system of a house is not the place we live in, but only an added beauty; a thing to rejoice in, but not a thing to shelter us. ...Mother used to say the light of the house were not for everybody to turn on. They are for the master's hand only. They are the crowning glory. She said that for anyone else it was uncleanness, impurity."

How does the story end? Very well, wrong is righted when Chan leaves vengeance to the Lord and chooses to follow Christ as his King! This is such a sweet and interesting story a bit like a mystery and the "romance" doesn't really happen until the very end of the story. I hightly recommend this books and other from Grace Livingston Hill. I'm afraid that his good Christian author has been forgotten in recent years.

Have you every read anything by Grace Livingston Hill? What did you think?

What have you been reading lately?

Your's Very Truly,

Writing Advice

I'm getting myself re-introduced to the characters of my projected NaNoWriMo novel.
So far I've found myself among a sweet young heroine, a silly aunt, a couple of giggling girls, a vicar with strong faith and a brother who is humorous but wise.

Today I opened a fortune cookie and the little slip of paper inside rather fit my novel writing frenzy:

"Write your life's events in a journal"

Well, while I won't be taking that advice literally I shall be adding many of my own life experiences to the stories to come.

I am enjoying getting to know my characters more and learning where their lives may take them. I tremble at the idea that November 1st is just a few days away and I must start writing more than I've written in months!

November is National Novel Writing Month

Since the first time I heard NaNoWriMo mentioned I thought it was a lovely idea to try and write a novel in a month. I knew at first that November would be a very busy month for me to begin such a project so had quite put it out of mind. But after a few other blogging friends mentioned having joined NaNoWriMo I decided I might as well take the plunge. (Here's my profile if anyone wants to add me as a writing buddy)



So I literally have a box of story scriblings under my bed that hold story ideas, plots, and character sketches. This past week I opened that box and took out one forgotten young miss I've been longing to write about.





So lovely Miss Cassandra has been awakened and her friends and adventures are being turned over and over in my mind. Above is a poster/book cover I have designed being very pleased to find a face that rather suits my idea of Cassie. Yes, it will be a piece of Historical Fiction of the Jane Austen type. The title is not official I have another title in mind.

Writing begins November 1st and the goal is 50,000 words by the end of the month. I doubt very much that I will meet that goal but perhaps I may be able to get a head start on Cassie's story and see what happens.

To The Burdened Heart

I wrote this poem over two nights at work and it really didn't take long for the words to form together. This poem originates from word spoken by my dear friend Karis to my family on the death of my maternal grandmother.
This is really just a first draft so I haven't measured the meter and rhythm of the poem and no one else has read this yet so I'm not sure if the thoughts come across clearly or not.


Our hearts are often heavy
With burdens that we've met
But do not say you're sorry
For that sounds like regret

We don't want to be careless
We don't like to be bold
We're fearful of being rude
And certainly shan't scold

But if everything is part of
God's great and perfect plan
And His plan's been in effect
Before the wold began

Then why should we regret
The sadness, hurt and pain
If it's all part of something better
He has yet to make plain

The sadness may be real
The hurt may deeply sting
The healing may be long
But yet we still can sing

We fear a risen Lord
Who's been through death and pain
He's faithful and He's loving
His blood can cleanse sin's stain

He knows our every need
He knows each tender heart
He has said there will be trials
But our hearts won't come apart

We can trust Him fully
With our worries and our sorrow
He knows what is ahead
And He plans for each tomorrow

Will you simply trust Him?
Don't worry and don't fret
Don't say that you're sorry
For that sounds like regret

-To The Burdened Heart, 10-9-09

Mama's Name

I wrote the poem below in 2002 at the age of 14. It's not a great poem, it rhymes but the meter is off quite a bit. It's just a fun story really. The funny thing to me now is that I've just recently started loving the name Eleanor and am seriously considering it as the name for my first daughter. Just now looking at it again I realized that I had chose Eleanor for the name in this poem. :)

One day a lady asked me,
"What is your mother's name?"
Of course I said, "It's mama."
My brother said the same.

"No, the name she was given at birth.
The one her parents gave her
When she first came to earth."

So then I got a thinkin'
My brow began a wrinklin'.

So what if it were true,
That my mama had another
Name I never knew?

And then I began to guess,
Could it be Grace, Ida or Jess?

Could her name be Dorothy?
Bernice, Clara or Emily?

So I went to ask mama,
Was her name Wanda, Wendy,
Sandra? It couldn't be Zee!

"Mama," I said.
"Yes." She spoke
As she made bread.

"Is your name Mary,
Beth, Ruth or Lucy?"

"No Ellie, it's not."
She said to me.
"Well is it Katie?"

"No miss Eleanor."
"Well what then?
I can't guess no more!"

"Come close, I'll whisper in your ear."
So I leaned close to hear.
She said: "It's Eleanor, my dear."

"That's my name!" I exclaimed.
See, our names were the same!

So every time I think of this,
I think how special mama was,
And I give my daughter a kiss.

For her name is Eleanor too,
And when she feels blue,
I tell her of mama's name,
And mine is the same.

Laurie B Michael 2002

A Heedless Young Housekeeper - part 3

After Catherine had sent Dorcas to ready her dress, she turned her attention to the kitchen where their cook was already bustling about filling the entire place with tantalizing aromas. She was determined to shine in the table’s abundance, there would surely be no reason for General Tilney to find fault with their eating habits as he had on his previous visits. Mrs. Robinson, Catherine privately thought, exceeded even his cook in quality but Henry’s father too often seemed content with mere quantity, this evening he would not be disappointed.



“Dinner will be served at seven o’clock precisely.” She said more for her own remembrance than for Cook’s.
“Don’t you fret ma'am; we’ll be ready for them.” Mrs. Robinson said confidently in a tone that seemed to advise the enemy to beware.
On this note of confidence young Mrs. Tilney made her way to the drawing room, in her opinion the prettiest room in the world. She so enjoyed sitting here with its view of the apple trees and the small cottage in the meadow. It was the first room at the vicarage to feel the effect of its young mistress having been newly papered and furnished in the first year of her marriage. There Catherine straightened a candlestick and found one of Kitty’s dolls behind a cushion that had gone astray.



Later that afternoon as Catherine retired to dress before the Northanger party arrived, her husband came from his dressing room tying his cravat. “Cathy, my dear, I have been remiss in congratulating on our fifth wedding anniversary.”
“I had nearly forgotten it myself, in the busyness of the day.” She confessed and motioned for Henry to tie her sash.
“It seems like only yesterday we were engaged. I can still remember what your mother said when I asked for your hand.”
“Really, and what was that?” Catherine sat at her dressing table and slipped a pair of emerald earrings through her earlobes.
“She told me that you would make a heedless young housekeeper.” He said, smiling at his wife in the mirror.
Catherine chuckled. “I dare say she was right!”
“She also said that there was nothing like practice, and I believe in that statement she had great wisdom. I am daily filled with amazement at the way you care for our children and manage the household. I’m so proud of my little wife.”
Tears stung her eyes as she turned to look at him. “Things haven’t turned out too terrible.” She whispered.
“No indeed.” Softly Henry bent to kiss his wife the “heedless young housekeeper”.