A Tolkien Blog Party of Special Magnificence 2015!

The awesome Hamlette at The Edge of the Precipice is having a Tolkien Blog Party of Special Magnificence! Go to her blog and join in the fun!
She has some great questions for participants to answer so here are my answers!

1. What draw's you to Tolkien's stories? I'd definitely say the world building. Tolkien has created a masterpiece in his creation of Middle Earth and I think that it will never be surpassed! 
2. What was the first Middle Earth book or movie you read or saw and what did you think of it? To be honest I'm not sure. It seems to me to make logical sense that I would have read The Hobbit first but what I remember reading first is The Fellowship of the Ring. So not positive on that point. However, I remember being fairly passive about the book. I was really only reading it because the only way my dad was going to let me go see the movies in theater was if I read them first. So at the tender age of six I slogged through that book so I could go see the movie in theaters! 
3. Name three of your favorite characters and tell us why you like them? Okay here we go! First off Samwise Gamgee! He is awesome! The way he sticks with Frodo and is so patient with him throughout it all is incredible. After that I'm not sure.... I love them all! Faramir for sure... though how they portray him in the movie drives me crazy sometimes. Then I also love Eowyn.... though they change her some in the movie too. Oh well. Gandalf, Aragorn and Bilbo are also a couple of my favorites but now I'm going over the limit! 
4. Are there any secondary characters that you think deserve more attention? Eomer! He's great and needs more screen time. They scarcely explain him in the movies! 
5. What middle earth character do you relate to the most? I'd say probably Bilbo but I think in some ways Eowyn. However, Zimbio says I'm Merry so the internet quiz has spoken! ;)
6. If you could ask Professor Tolkien one Middle Earth related question what would you like to ask him? If you could write more about any one aspect of Middle Earth what would it be? 
7. Are there any pieces of Middle Earth merchandise that you particularly want to own but don't? As a matter of fact there are! I've wanted this scarf for about two years now! I love it! It's awesome! But it's forty bucks so.... 
   
8. What Middle Earth battle would you absolutely not want to be a part of? I think I'd go with the battle at the Black gates in Return of the King but anything with the undead people might be a little much for me too. 
9. Would you rather eat a meal at Rivendell or Bag End? I love them both but Bag End without a doubt! I'm a hobbit at heart. :)
10. List up to ten of your favorite quotes from the books or movies. Goodness! Here goes! 

Thank you Hamlette for doing this! I'm excited for what the rest of this Tolkien themed week brings!

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Top Ten Books on my Fall TBR List 2015

This week's Top Ten Tuesday theme is my Top Ten Books on my Fall TBR list!

1. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
2. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
3. The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker 
4. The Little Britches series by Ralph Moody (8 novels) (half of them are re-reads)
5. Room with a View by E.M. Forster
6. A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond (re-read)
7. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
8. Mysterious Island by Jules Verne
9. Carry on Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham 
10. The last three books of the Swallows and Amazon series by Arthur Ransom 

As you can see I have lots to read but thankfully a fair amount of time to read in now that I'm out of school! I'm now almost caught up with my reading according to Goodreads as I've been making more of an effort to get my reading done and when the night shift is slower at work I can read then.
So what are you looking forward to reading this fall? :)

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Emma- Week 11 (Chapters 51-55)

We're done!!! Well.... as I admitted last week, I did finish a week early, but all of the rest of you should be done now (unless there's slackers... for shame! ;)).
I spent the last week re-watching all the different versions of Emma (except the 1972 version... I'm not really interested in watching it). It was very cool to see them back to back right after re-reading the book. I'll be putting out reviews of all of them with some assistance from Heidi who will be supplying some guest post reviews! :) Be sure to look for those this week!
Next week I'll be hosting some giveaways to close out our 200th Anniversary Read-along! Stay tuned for those as well!
Now on to our final book discussion!
First let's discuss Frank's letter to Mrs. Weston. To begin with, his excuses for his behavior with Emma are dumb. I'm just going to be blunt here.... dumb! He can't just assume that Emma is someone who won't be attached to him! That's ridiculous! Additionally, he opened himself and Emma up to gossip! Plus it caused Jane so much pain!!! Also, yes, thank you for admitting you were a jerk and didn't come until Jane was in Highbury! I did think when Emma and Mr. Knightley were talking about the letter it was so cute when Emma wanted him to read it that he said "I'd much rather be talking to you." :)
A few last thoughts on Frank Churchill, I would say that in his conversation with Emma at the end, you could tell he was scarcely repentant of his actions. I love this quote after their conversation "She (Emma) had never been more sensible of Mr. Knightley's high superiority of character." That's right Emma! Frank is a numbskull! That was obvious from day one! Mr. Knightley for the win!
I love that Mr. Knightley and Emma work out the plan to live at Hatfield after they are married. One thing I always love about Emma is how considerate she is of her father and how much she loves him. I imagine he would not have been the easiest person to love sometimes.
Poor Harriet loses again in this situation.... at least first off. I'm glad she ends up with Mr. Martin after all and I'm glad that Emma finally has the sense to see the good of the match. I do think Mr. Knightley was right when he said about Harriet, "I should say she was a good-tempered, soft-hearted girl, not likely to be very, very determined against any young man who told her he loved her." I think Harriet is rather persuaded by her emotions.
Emma also finally takes the effort to become friends with Jane and while I don't think they'll ever be super close, I think that they will be good friends still. Jane is an intriguing character and I'll just say that I would not have put up with Frank one bit! She is far more forbearing than me.
It's cool that Mrs. Weston gets a baby girl! I can only hope with the three new couples that more babies would be on the way!!! :)
I think Emma and Mr. Knightley's conversation about calling him by his first name was hilarious! Mostly I thought so because I always call him Mr. Knightley and I am always forgetting this first name. Most of the time I have to go look it up. His name just is Mr. Knightley. :)
Overall at the end of the book, you can see how Emma has been completely turned around and how all of her fantasies have been destroyed. I think in a lot of ways Emma needed to pay attention to reality and stop living in a world of imagination. Thankfully she had Mr. Knightley there to straighten her out! ;)

So thoughts on these last few chapters? Gushings to convey on the cuteness of Mr. Knightley and Emma?!?! ;) Comment below!

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Top Ten Favorite Non-Fiction Books

This week's top ten Tuesday theme is a freebie so I decided to go with my top ten favorite non-fiction books. I read a lot of fiction and that tends be what I talk about the most here on my blog so I think it would be fun to look at my favorite non-fiction books. :) We'll take the Bible as a granted. :)
Because I couldn't narrow down my list I'm going to make two top ten lists.... ten that are theological and ten that are not. With some of these the lines between theological and non-theological are blurred so I just threw the book where I thought it fit best. :(
Also there are a lot of great non-fiction books I have yet to read so just because it didn't make it on the list doesn't mean I hate it... I might just have not read it yet.

Top Ten Theological Books 

1. Chosen by God by R.C. Sproul- I know I've mentioned this one before here. It made a big difference in my life when I read and really helped me to understand a subject that had always confused me. 
2. The Westminster Confession of Faith- Another book that hugely influenced me when I read it. It was somewhat tedious to read but once again it helped me to understand theology that I hadn't quite grasped yet. 
3. Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts by Jerry Bridges- I just read this for the first time this year but I absolutely loved it! My advice.... read it before life hurts. I read it after the hurt of life (many deaths in the family) and it was so helpful but I also know that it will help me to handle future life hurts so much better than I handled the previous. 
4. Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machem- A thought provoking and insightful book. Read it! 
5. The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers- I got this for my birthday this year and read through it slowly, reading a couple prayers every night. This books, as I said in my review, was almost like scripture. I know the Puritans get a bad rap nowadays but I think it is so unfairly bestowed. Read this book and you'll know what I mean. It's beautiful! 
6. The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer- I read this a couple years ago. I loved it for just speaking the truth even though sometimes it wasn't what you as a Christian weren't used to saying. Tozer had a very unapologetic way of writing. It encouraged me in my walk with God. Highly recommend this book! 
7. Pushing the Antithesis by Greg Bahnsen- A great look at presuppositional apologetics and far more readable than Van Til's (considered the "father" of presuppositional apologetics) books. 
8. Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper- About not wasting your life.... duh. ;) A great read and a good poke in the side. :)
9. Christian Love by Hugh Binning- A recommendation from my brother and I'm glad I took it. It makes you re-think love. Another Puritan author.... take a chance! 
10. The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis- An often funny little book with a guest appearance by G.K. Chesterton.... read it! I'm not sure if this is theology or not so.... theology! It makes the lists even anyways. ;) 

Top Ten Non-Fiction Books (non-theological) 

1. Miniatures and Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen by Peter Leithart- I've read this book so many times! It's an incredible analysis of Jane Austen's novels and points that you never would have even considered are brought to light. Very insightful! 
2. Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington- I found this highly inspirational when I read it back in high school. Washington didn't spend time complaining about his plight in life.... he worked.... and he worked hard. A little lesson people need to take to heart. 
3. Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit by Corey Olsen- I read this a little bit before the Hobbit movies started coming out. I picked it up randomly but I'm so glad I read it. It was an interesting analysis of The Hobbit. I think people focus on analysis of LOTR and others of Tolkien's works more so than The Hobbit but The Hobbit actually has a lot to look at as well. Corey Olsen is also known as The Tolkien Professor. My brother is a big fan of his stuff. 
4. The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang- Wow! This book is scary and amazing! If Foxe's Book of Martyrs shocked you than this one will too. 
5. Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther by Roland Bainton- Very well written and researched. I learned so much about Luther from this. 
6. Foxes Book of Martyrs by John Foxe- I read this in high school and it shocked me! It was sad and inspiring at the same time. 
7. The Best Things in Life by Peter Kreeft- I read this in high school and it is so funny by so thought provoking! The catchphrase for it is "A contemporary Socrates looks at power, pleasure, truth and the good life." Pretty much that's the book. :) Kreeft also wrote another book that's great called The Unaborted Socrates. 
8. A Child's History of England by Charles Dickens- I know I just read it a couple weeks ago but it deserves a place on this list. I wish all history was as fun to read as this book and as funny! 
9. Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazzlit- The best book about economics I've read. Simple enough even I could understand it. ;)
10. I Kissed Dating Goodbye and Boy Meets Girl by Joshua Harris- Now I don't agree 100% with these books. I know sometimes they can be controversial. However I do think they have some great points. And when it comes to courtship or dating... honestly I don't think it's about the terms.... it's about what you're actual doing. You can label something anything you like but that  doesn't mean it is that. For me, the most important thing in a relationship is not whether you are following the "Ten steps for a perfect courtship" but whether you and your S.O. are following God. 

As you can see I love non-fiction almost as much as I love fiction and non-fiction has also had a huge impact on my life... probably more so than fiction... which is saying a lot.
Any great non-fiction books you'd recommend? You can kind of tell from lists what I like when it comes to non-fiction: theology, history and satire. However I'm always ready to try something new. :)

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Emma- Week 10 (Chapters 46-50)

Confession time.... I was so excited about being done with Emma that I went ahead and already finished it! Sorry! However, I'm still only posting discussion and questions on chapters 46-50 as scheduled. Next week is chapters 51-55 and the end of the book!
So let's talk about Emma. 
Revelations happened in these chapters that we've been waiting for the whole book!
First off, we find out that Frank Churchill has been playing us this whole time and has actually been engaged to Jane Fairfax for some months! Not cool Frank.... not cool. Selfish actually Frank.... selfish.  You guys have heard me rant about Frank some throughout our discussion so I won't add to it here. I just don't like Frank.
Then we come to Emma.  Emma feels bad. Emma thinks Harriet liked Frank Churchill. Emma finds out that Harriet doesn't like Frank Churchill after all. Emma finds out that Harriet actually likes Mr. Knightley. Emma doesn't like this. Emma realizes SHE likes Mr. Knightley. Finally Emma! However, there we are in a tricky situation with Harriet.
Then we come to Mr. Knightley. Knightley comes back from London after hearing about the Churchill/Fairfax engagement. Knightley loves Emma. (duh) Knightley has loved Emma for a long time. In a beautiful passion of speech, favorite line being "If I loved you less I might be able to talk about it more", Mr. Knightley proposes to Emma!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
So I've read this book a couple times before so I knew what happened but boy was I just giggly and excited when I read their conversation and engagement. :)))))))))))) I loved it. :)))))))))))))
Emma is still stuck in an awkward situation with Harriet and is starting to realize that maybe she didn't do her friend a service after all... as Knightley had said. What will happen there we have yet to find out (insert dramatic music here).
I'm going to forgo talking about Frank Churchill's letter to Mrs. Weston until next week as I think that will flow better as Emma and Knightley discuss it in chapter 51.
I hope you all are as excited about these last few chapters of Emma as I am and stay tuned for giveaways and movie reviews coming soon. Also, if after finishing it you want to write a character analysis or some other post as a guest post to wrap up this read-along let me know! :)


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Book Review- The Wisdom of Father Brown

For the author A-Z challenge, the alphabet soup challenge, mount TBR challenge and the audiobook challenge I read (listened to) G.K. Chesterton's The Wisdom of Father Brown.

Synopsis from Goodreads: Father Brown finds himself in many far-flung places to solve the next set of mysteries. Whether in Italy, France, London or Cornwall, this most surprising of sleuths always manages to out-think the others. Using a combination of his innocent wisdom and spiritual insight, Father Brown solves all twelve of the cases in this second collection of Father Brown stories.

This was my second Father Brown to read/listen to. Personally I think the first one The Innocence of Father Brown is better but they are both good.
I feel like this collection of stories had more where everything looked supernatural but then turned out of course to be normal.... I am ok with those kinds of stories... but I don't like so many of them. I just felt like these stories were weirder. I know it's not fair to compare but I can't help it!
Father Brown as always was funny with his quaintness. He's a great character. I love how innocent he seems and how much people overlook him but then he always surprises them all by solving the case. Flambeau made an appearance again as well.
So overall I did enjoy it but I just preferred it's predecessor.

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Book Review- A Child's History of England

For the non-fiction reading challenge, the mount TBR reading challenge and authors A-Z challenge I read Charles Dickens' A Child's History of England.
As you may have guessed from the title, this book is a history of England starting at the very beginning and going right up to Dickens' time with Queen Victoria. If you're like me you probably had no clue Dickens wrote a history book... yet he did. Though it is a history book it still contains Dickens' classic humor, which surprised me. I found it to be a very enjoyable history book to read because of that. Dickens just always kept it interesting and engaging. It was obvious that he was very opinionated about the different rulers of England so you were getting a fairly biased history of England. However, from what I already know of the history of England, I'd say his biases were fairly accurate. I'm no history expert though by any means.
I did love that while he's an Englishman he says lots of good things about William Wallace and Robert the Bruce. :)
While it is a child's history of England it is pretty brutally honest about the evils of mankind. I don't think I'd have any qualms handing it to my children (in fact I plan to someday!) but I could definitely see other parents having second thoughts about doing so.
This book also just reminded me how brutal mankind was in those times.... but yet it also reminded me brutal mankind is still. A reminder that sin isn't something that just goes away.

Overall quite an enjoyable surprise! :)

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Ten Finished Series I Have Yet to Finish

The theme for this week's Top Ten Tuesday is ten finished series that I have yet to finish.
I'm not sure I have ten unfinished series but I guess we'll see!

1. The Giver series by Lois Lowry- Hoping to finish it next year. 
2. The Little Britches series by Ralph Moody- Planning on finishing it this year. 
3. The Scarlet Pimpernel series by Emmuska Orczy- Maybe next year? I really want to read the rest of the books but I'm not sure when I'll find time. :(
4. Dune series by Frank Herbert- This series is kind of on the back burner for finishing. I liked the first one but I'm just not sure when I'll read the rest of the books in the series.
5. Mary Poppins series by P.L. Travers- I have two left of the series. I re-read the ones I'd already read last year and loved the so I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the rest of the series. 
6. The Three Musketeers series by Alexander Dumas- I never realized there were more than one until just recently. I don't know if I'll finish the series or not. The Three Musketeers was not one of my favorite books.
7. Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz- I loved the first one so hopefully I'll find time to read the rest in the series soon. 
8. The Wingfeather saga by Andrew Peterson- I loved this series so much but I haven't read the last book yet. We just got it recently. 
9. The Father Brown series by G.K. Chesterton- I now have two of them read. I'll get around to the rest as time allows. No hurry. 
10. The Freddy the Pig series by Walter R. Brooks- A favorite childhood series. My parents keeping getting us one or two at Christmas time to finish off our collection of them but I can't keep up! 

So I lied. I did have ten unfinished series! There were probably more if I had looked harder.

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Emma- Week 9 (Chapters 41-45)

So yes, I did change my blog header. I know it's kind of big. I might resize that a bit later but for now that's how it's going to be.

I know I said this last week but this week with the reading I felt it even more for sure but WE ARE ALMOST DONE!!!! Big reveal coming next chapter... that's all I'm saying... though I think most of you know it. :)
I never realized that the Box Hill escapade didn't come until this late in the novel.  I think though in a way it was Emma's final mistake.... final downfall.... and never did she fall so far.
"Badly done Emma!" Thank you Mr. Knightley! Say it like it is!
You can see Emma's true repentance for her rudeness and inconsideration.
Also in these last few chapters you can see her showing more friendship and pity for Jane Fairfax (about time Emma!).  The mystery around Jane grows. :)
Mr. Knightley is also showing himself very in tune to what is going on around him with certain characters. As always, though Emma thinks she knows what's going but really she doesn't.... and Mr. Knightley does.
I noticed so much foreshadowing to what's going to happen in the next couple chapters in these last few as well. If you're paying attention you can see who likes who... it also helps if I already know what is going to happen though I suppose. ;)
So now discussion questions!

• What does Emma think of Churchill? What does Knightley think? Account for their different interpretations. 
• What wrong does Emma commit at Box Hill? What is this significance of this event in the larger setting of the novel?
• Discuss Knightley's rebuke of Emma's behavior. and it's role in Emma's development. 

Please comment with your thoughts and as always even if you aren't participating in the read-along you can still contribute to the discussion! :)

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Sisterhood of the World Blogger Award #2

Ria over at Lilac Diaries nominated me for my second Sisterhood of the World Blogger Award! Thank you Ria! :)

The rules are:

• Thank the blogger who nominated you. Done above! 
• Use the award logo on your post. Done! 
• Answer the ten questions provided by the blogger who tagged you. Will do below. 
• Nominate ten bloggers. If you're reading this... you're nominated! 
• Ask them ten questions. I'll just use the questions from the last time I did this. #lazy ;)

Here are my answers to Ria's questions

• What got you into reading?- My dad for sure. Him and my mom. They both taught me to read and my dad was always handing me books to read as I grew up and still does to this day. 
• Do you judge a book by its cover?- No. 
• What do you love the most about blogging?- Getting nice comments. ;) I love finding other bloggers that I have random things in common with. 
• How did you come up with your blog title?- I was trying to come up with something clever for my blog title and everything I wanted was claimed except You, Me and a Cup of Tea. I planned to blog about tea.... obviously my blog has grown since then. ;) 
• Do you collect bookish items? Which is your favorite item, then?- I have a couple Doctor Who bookmarks and I have some other bookish bookmarks that I've won in giveaways. I don't necessarily go out looking for bookish items though. Any sort of Jane Austen or LOTR memorabilia I will be sorely tempted to get though. 
• Have you ever wished to have a super power? What did you wish for?- Why not? ;) Invisibility or flying. 
• Which is your favorite Christmas book/novel/novella/short story?- I'm blanking all of a sudden! I know I have favorites though. My mom always gets all of the Christmas books out and put them in a basket underneath the Christmas tree. I always liked The Bird's Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggin and I also liked The Story of Holly and Ivy by Rumer Godden. Peter Spier also has a Christmas book I liked a lot. 
• Have you ever wished to live in a fantasy world? If yes, which one would you choose? (like Hogwarts, Austen world, The Hobbit, Alice's Wonderland, The land of OZ etc).- Austen world? Yes! (Note.... Iv'e not read the Austenland books so no clue about them.) Hogwarts... duh! Middle Earth... yes! Mostly the Shire though. :)
• Did you hear about J.K. Rowling's tweet mentioning Harry Potter's son, James's first year at Hogwarts. What do you think of it? Are you excited?- I did think that was pretty cool. It makes me want to re-read the books again.... and I JUST RE-READ THEM!!!! 
• 'Happily ever after' exists only in books. Is it true? What do you think of it?- It depends on what you mean by Happily Ever After. Disney Happily Ever After... not really. Happily Ever After in general though yes. 

My Questions 

• Do you have any nicknames?
• Favorite movie?
• Favorite book? 
• Favorite TV show?
• How many siblings do you have? 
• How many kids would you like to have? OR If you already have kids... How many kids do you have and do you want more?
• What is your favorite activity to do with your family?
• What is your current school status?
• Dream vacation (if money was no object)?
• Do you like tea? (just cause) ;)

And yes.... I updated my blog header. I like it. ;)

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