Top Ten Books on my Summer TBR List and Piggy Peeps Post #3

This list and my list of books that will be in my "beach bag" this summer are pretty much the same but here it is. I am currently reading Little Dorrit (halfway through!) so I'm not including it.

1. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
2. The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
3. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
4. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
5. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
6. Always Ready by Greg Bahnsen
7. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
8. As You Like It by William Shakespeare
9. The Book of Lost Tales by J.R.R. Tolkien 
10. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

I have no WiFi where I am at the pig farm this summer so if I don't respond to comments don't take it personally. ;) I am scheduling the few posts that I am posting right now. My cousins and I just completed our first week of work at the pig farm and my was it an adventure! We spent the whole week 6-3 processing (cutting tails, castrating, and giving shots) pigs and we were very excited for the weekend. 

This week though I am in Costa Rica on a mission trip with my church. I am very excited about the opportunities I'll have to share God's word and minister to the people there as best as I can. 

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Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I've read so far this year

This might actually be a harder list to make than I first thought. I've actually read a lot of great books this year so far. Links go to my review of the book if I reviewed it.

1. The Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara
3. Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
4. Hard Times by Charles Dickens
5. Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card
6. The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde
7. The Warden by Anthony Trollope
8. The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare 
9. Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper
10. The Princess Bride by William Goldman

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Piggy Peeps Post #2

I told y'all that we would be starting work this past Monday but then we had some issues with the housing situation and as it was just too far to drive and be worth it we decided to hold off till the next week to start. However, we ended up being able getting a ride from someone else Wednesday and Thursday so were able to go up to the pig farm and see just what we had gotten ourselves into! Let's just say it was an experience... an adventure! :) I don't know if I would say I enjoyed it but I don't know if I would say I didn't enjoy it. I am a little disappointed I didn't get to do any pig midwifery yet but hopefully coming soon. :) What did I get to do? Read on!
The first day we got to give some Oxytocin shots to the sows that had just delivered and then we gave some "newborn" shots to their piglets. This was a pretty good warm up for me as I've given plenty of shots in nursing. Then after lunch though (and thank goodness it was after lunch) we got to process pigs, which involves giving piglets iron and antibiotic shots, cutting off their tails and then for the males castrating them. When it was casually mentioned to us that castrating pigs might be part of the job, my cousin and I didn't envision ourselves doing it our first day of work, or with so little training, or actually really at all. We sort of envisioned it being done by someone else. They expect us to castrate pigs? Nah! Someone else must do that... We wish. Let's just say we now both wish all pigs to be female. :)
Overall I think my cousin and I are enjoying it. By the second day we were able to laugh about it and I think that is a good sign. :) We'll be starting full time next week so we'll see how that goes! I'm sure the adventure will continue and will be quite the experience!
P.S. WiFi connection is pretty much nonexistent out in the boonies so I don't know what my blog posts are going to look like. I'm lucky if I can make a phone call.

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Book Review- The Princess Bride

I grew up loving the movie, never knowing that a book existed until only a couple years ago and now, finally, I've read it! First off, while the book was great, the movie is just undeniably better! It smooths out the story and makes it even better. While reading the book, I was impressed with how similar many of the lines were from the book to the movie. All of the great lines we love to quote from the movie were in the book, still inducing a smile from me even though it was the hundredth time. The characters were slightly different and the story ran somewhat differently from the movie but not too far off. What I found interesting was how the rhyming that is so much fun in the movie plays out differently in the book. In the book, Fezzik loves to rhyme things because he likes how it sounds so him and Inigo rhyme stuff together randomly, sometimes to help them through tense situations. To my disappointment, the whole rhyming sequence from the movie isn't in the book.
I also really loved the style in which the books was written. The author writes it like he is editing a book already written that his father used to read to him as a child but actually, there never was any other book and the author is just having fun. Goldman writes quirkily and sarcastically and I love it! It's an odd style in some ways but one that I enjoy.
Overall, I recommend the book whether you're a fan of the movie or not. :)

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Book Review- Agnes Grey

I was not excited about reading this book but as I got it for my Classics Club spin I decided to buckle down and tackle it. Surprisingly it was actually not that bad, however, while reading it and looking back, I definitely felt like it was a story I had heard before... it just seemed cliche. However, there were plenty of good points about the book.
Agnes Grey tells the story of a young governess named (you guessed it) Agnes Grey as she carries out her duties staying true to her virtues. She has two different positions throughout the book, both hard. The last one she sticks with for a long time as she teaches two young women; one who is a perpetual liar and the other a determined flirt. Along the way she falls in love with a parson.
I appreciated that Agnes stayed true to what she believed and wasn't wavered by the many bad influences around her. The story was told rather journal like so you saw everything through her eyes and felt like you knew her very well. Her pupil that was a flirt never failed to annoy me. She reminded me a lot of Cynthia from Wives and Daughters. I felt like though she got at least somewhat of what she deserved in the end.
All in all, while it did seem like a story told many times before, it was enjoyable and I would recommend it to those who enjoy Jane Austen novels or Jane Eyre. I haven't read any of the other Bronte sisters' books so I don't know how similar it is to them but I am a little more amicable to the idea of reading them after having read this.

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Book Review- God's and Generals

God's and Generals by Jeff Shaara is the prequel to his father's book Killer Angels and tells the story of the War between the States from the beginning up until before Gettysburg.
After having read  Killer Angels back in high school I've always wanted to read God's and Generals. While it isn't as good as Killer Angels, it is still quite good and I enjoyed it a lot. It was kind of a depressing book though as you watch different people chose their sides of the war and watch their lives fall apart. I suppose it shows the harsh realities of war though, especially a civil war. For me, the two friends who ended up fighting on separate sides of the war was the hardest part. It was fascinating seeing the motivations of each person and I feel like the author did a really good job, as was done in Killer Angels of not showing preference for either side.
Having read Killer Angels first did not at all ruin the experience for me either. If you like history I would highly recommend both God's and Generals and Killer Angels as accurate and personal stories of the men who fought in the War between the States.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books that will be in my book bag this summer

I hope I'll be reading more then ten books this summer but here are ten that I definitely want to get done this summer and I will be bringing with me in my suitcase to the pig farm (not in my beach bag... I don't go to the beach). The first five books are the ones I got from the library so are a little time sensitive. The others are just ones that are on my reading challenges list, though actually the ones I got from the library were on my reading challenges list too.

1. Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens (TBR Pile Challenge, Classics Club)
2. The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens (Classics Club)
3. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (TBR Pile Challenge, Nonfiction reading challenge, Classics Club)
4. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte (Classics Club)
5. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (Classics Club)
6. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens (TBR Pile Challenge, Classics Club) 
7. Always Ready by Greg Bahnsen (Nonfiction reading challenge and Clouds of Witnesses Reading Challenge)
8. War of Words by Paul David Tripp 
9. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott (A Year in Re-reading Challenge)
10. As You Like It by William Shakespeare (Shakespeare Challenge, Classics Club)

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It's Monday! Reading and Life :)

As I mentioned in this post last Saturday, they're was lots going on last week so I didn't post her on the blog. Be sure to check that post out to see what's going on with me right now. :) And for now, what am I reading?

I finished God's and Generals and really enjoyed it. Now I want to watch the movie as well as the movie of Killer Angels (Gettysburg). That's my second book completed for my TBR Pile Challenge.

I'm still in progress with North and South but haven't been listening to it of late. I really want to finish it and then rewatch the miniseries. This will be for my TBR Pile Challenge as well.

Last week I read Agnes Grey in one day. It was short and I was sick so it was an easy accomplishment. I guess I would say I liked it but when I read it and looking back at it, I definitely felt like I had heard the story before so it just seemed cliche to me. However, it was enjoyable enough and I'm glad I read it. That was my Classics Club spin so I'm glad I got it finished up really quickly.

I started reading The Princess Bride at long last. I'm getting close to the end of it and by the end of today I could be done. It's not the same as the movie but it is great in it's own right. The style it is written in is one that has always appealed to me and I find it very humorous. This will also go towards my TBR Pile Challenge.

So overall I've gotten plenty of reading done but I'm still behind for my Goodreads challenge of reading 60 books this year. I fell behind at the end of the semester. Reading wasn't really a priority then. :) However, hopefully this summer I can catch up and get ahead even so I don't fall behind horribly when school starts up again this fall.

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Piggy Peeps Post #1

I have been dismally absent from blogging this week. Why? Well life got in the way in the form of family coming in from out of town so I am glad it did. :) My cousins and aunts and uncle from one side of the family all were at my house so it was tons of fun and laughs. Now they're gone though and I have a little time to post and let y'all know what's going on my life. First off, not all of the family left. I still have two of my cousins here with me. Why? Well starting next week we (my two cousins, my brother and myself) are going to begin working at a pig farm; the boys building farrowing huts and the girls birthing pigs! It's probably going to be a crazy adventure this summer but I'm sure it will be tons of fun as well! We plan on spending our spare time introducing the cousins to Doctor Who so they two can be obsessed fans. ;) Please pray for us all as we make this transition as we won't be living at home but a couple hours away (we'll be home on the weekends) so there is lots to work through before we start next week. I'll try to keep you all updated about our shenanigans this summer as best I can though our internet will be limited to our phone hotspots so I don't know how much I'll be able to blog. However, keep on the lookout for my "Piggy Peeps" posts. :)
Thank you and many blessings to you all. :)

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My Dream Home

Today I'm linking up with Mama Kat to describe my dream home. This will obviously involve a lot of pictures. :) I'm actually not really sure what my dream home is... I'm kind of attached to three houses currently... my parents home, my house (i.e. my grandparents house) and my other grandparents house. So I guess there are several different elements from each of these houses I like.

From my parents house I love the huge living room. I remember when we first walked into it we asked if it was the ballroom.... true story... we were young!

From my house I pretty much love everything about it except the fact that it isn't actually mine. ;) Honestly I hope someday I can raise my kids there. We'll see though... probably an unrealistic dream but hey we're talking dream house here! The house is very open, which I really like. The dining room, kitchen and living room are all pretty much one room but with some dividers to make them not too much one room. It also has really big windows to let sunlight in which is perfect as you don't often have to turn on lights until dark. The bedrooms, family room, all of it is perfect. :) The only downside is if I have tons of children like I want to, I'll grow out of it fairly quickly as there is only three bedrooms. :(

My other grandparents house I pretty much love everything about too. There is an enclosed porch that I remember spending tons of time playing on when I was young. There is a window seat by some massive windows that would be an amazing reading spot. There are lots of bedrooms and a large kitchen as well, which is really important. It would be pretty amazing to raise my kids there too.

So those are kind of some pointers of what I want in my dream home. Besides that though I also really want a big wrap around porch like this one.

I also want a balcony like the one picture above on the left hand side of the house. 

I also want one of those tower looking rooms. like the one pictured below. 

A spiral staircase would also be super cool... especially with a slide. ;)

Or a book staircase. Have you seen this picture? That would be super cool! 

So those are some of the fun things I would want in my dream house. How about you? What do you want in your dream house? 

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