Today’s question: Here is a list of the main areas of Library Thing:
1. Home (http://www.librarything.com/, before you log in)
2. Home (once you log in, contains Your Home, Your Profile, Connections, Recommendations, Reviews, Statistics, Clouds, Gallery, Memes)
3. Profile (Recent activity, tags, comments, members with your books)
4. Your Library
5. Your Tags
6. Add Books
7. Talk
8. Groups
9. Local
10. Search
11. Zeitgeist (Stats, Top Lists)
12. Tools (Widgets, Store)
13. Blog

What area are you most familiar with? What area is your favorite? What area are you curious about? Are there any that you have not really looked at?

I joined in October and got really serious just this month. I know the Add Books and Your Library sections pretty well. Today I found the Talk and Groups areas. Then I found the Group for the 999 Challenge and spent another 30 minutes creating my post with my list for 9 books in 9 areas in 09. The Touchstones feature is great, it adds the LibraryThing link to the book so quickly! After that I updated my library so now my Touchstones on my post have a green check mark to show which books I own. That way I know which ones I’ll need to borrow or acquire some other way.

I haven’t done much with reviews or tags. I started doing more with tags today and will plug in some reviews as I go through my list.

Today my favorite would be the Groups area. My favorite discovery for the day is under Home  |  Statistics | Series Coverage. I already knew most of this since it takes effort to collect all in a series and read them in order. But I discovered that Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler is the second of a trilogy so now I have two more books on my To Be Read list.

There is still a lot on Home and Recommendations that I haven’t looked at yet. Some day. But right now I need to get back to reading!

Wow, a month has gone by already.

What’s on my shelf for the next month? 

Curate of Glaston, The

How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk

Hamlet (The New Folger Library Shakespeare) as part of the Classics Bookclub at 5 Minutes for Books. That can be found in Project Gutenberg and today we got a copy downloaded onto the Kindle (for free!) so I’ll be reading it that way.

I am also going to read through all 4 gospels again. I’m about 1/2 way through Matthew already this week. And continuing Mere Christianity and rereading Home to Holly Springs (see below).
 

Below are the books I included on my list last month.

Mere Christianity is part of Tim Challies reading the classics. That has gone well but I’m not finished so I don’t have a review up yet.

I did read Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers by Ralph Moody and really enjoyed it. Here is my overview. I highly recommend it for adults and teens.

I read Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking and we tried some of the bread. It was good but I just don’t think we’re the home made bread kind. At least we know where to look when we are ready to try again.

I read Home to Holly Springs (Father Tim, Book 1) once. I will read it again before the book club meeting in January.

I also read A Christmas Carol along with 5 Minutes for Books Classics Bookshelf.

Way back in September I signed up for the Fall Into Reading challenge. My post is here.  

It is time to see how I did with my goals.

First – the books I listed in my post and progress made with them.

Something by Elizabeth Goudge – 4 books

Battling Unbelief by John Piper

What Happens When Women Say Yes to God by Lysa Terkeurst with Proverbs 31 Ministries

The 7 Hardest Things God Asks a Woman to Do by Kathie Reimer and Lisa Whittle – I have read the first chapter and this is another winner.

The Iliad – way too busy to tackle this. Maybe some other year.

Now – books I didn’t know about in September but that I have read and reviewed since.

Little Britches by Ralph Moody and The Place to Be by Roger Mudd

The Instinct to Heal

Anticancer

Antsy Does Time

Everlost

The Grand Weaver by Ravi Zacharias

Plus, I have read (but not reviewed yet) Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon for our new book club starting up in January.

You can read it online here.

You can find the starter questions at 5MinutesforBooks

The Link to other reviews can be found here:

It has been years since I’ve read this story. I havee seen a few versions of the movie since then. The description of the cold is so well done that I can see and feel it (the heat’s running here which is a blessing). I thought the nephew’s description of Christmas was worth noting.

“There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,” returned the nephew.  “Christmas among the rest.  But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round — apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that — as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.  And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!”

I have always loved the way Scrooge excused away the spector of Marley in spite of what he sees:

“Why do you doubt your senses?”

“Because,” said Scrooge, “a little thing affects them. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats.  You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato.  There’s more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!”

Marley and the description of the spirits Scrooge sees as Marley is leaving do a great job of explaining our purpose and why anything less than that is a failure.

The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power for ever.

The second section is so sad, to see how Scrooge was and how he changed and lost so much as he became the man he is now, seeking Gain at the expense of everything else.

Christmas Present appears in section 3. Scrooge’s attitude has changed and he’s teachable now. He sees Bob Cratchit’s family and has a chance to see what they think of him. He sees people all over who celebrate Christmas, no matter how poor or how far from home. Then he goes to his nephew’s and gets caught up in the fun and laughter of the party. As the time ends he meets Want and Ignorance.

Section 4 is about the Ghost of Christas Yet To Come. I haven’t read the story in a long time and haven’t even seen a movie version in a number of years. But I remember Scrooge being more stubborn. I prefer this version, teachable and desiring to change.

“Ghost of the Future!” he exclaimed, “I fear you more than any spectre I have seen. But as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to live to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bear you company, and do it with a thankful heart. Will you not speak to me?

We see that Tiny Tim dies and Scrooge learns that when he dies no one mourns him and those whose debt he holds rejoice at his death.

In stave 5 he wakes up in his own bed. I have always loved this part and my best memories of the movie versions are how they portray this changed man with a second chance at life. 

Really, for a man who had been out of practice for so many years, it was a splendid laugh, a most illustrious laugh.  The father of a long, long line of brilliant laughs.

It took me two weeks to make it all the way through this short story, but I’m glad I read it again. It is a wonderful way to learn and encourage the Christmas spirit.

I picked this up at a women’s conference of our denomination. The speaker was also from Proverbs 31 Ministries and she did such a great job I wanted to check out some of the books.

This one had an irrisistible title. I know I should and I want to and this sounds like great encouragement to increase that desire and fight the battle. 

The book starts out with a great story of a time when God asked her to do something that seemed really hard without any clear benefit. She said yes, of course, and great things happened. She addresses how to hear God’s voice to know what to say yes to. Her five questions are very good. I especially like number 3. I have had that happen so many times and it is great reassurance that He really is talking to me.

1. Does what I’m hearing line up with Scripture?
2. Is it consistent with God’s character
3. Is it being confirmed through messges I’m hearing at church or studying in my quiet times.
4. Is it beyond me?
5. Would it please God?

Then she points out that we must pray to hear His voice. She mentions praying for desire, discipline, discernment, direction, and delight in her relationship with Him. “God wants us to live in expectation of hearing from Him.” (p 42)

Next she talks about how obedience will always result in good. We should be much more worried about what our disobedience will cause us to miss. The more we obey, the more we’ll see him and trust him and then obedience will be a delight, not just a discipline.

In one chapter she talks about how being obedient will cause us to be threatening to others, who will then try to tear us down. She quotes Rick Warren quoting John Bunyan “If my life is fruitless, it doesn’t matter who praises me, and if my life is fruitful, it doesn’t matter who criticizes me.”

She points out that condemnation leaves us feeling hopeless and worthless while conviction invites us to make positive changes in our lives. We must learn the difference and ignore/resist the one while responding to the other. She goes on to talk about the choice to worry or worship.

Each chapter has another truth that is worth meditating on for a week. In chapter six she discusses that God is our Provider. How can He be our ultimate provider if we are never weak or in need? Yet more reason to trust Him and rejoice in His work at all times.

Through each chapter she points back to Scripture and to examples from the Bible. The book meets her own test (see the 5 questions). 

Some points about our call to obedience:

• our call to obedience may challenge our pride
• God uses our experiences to equip us for our calling
• our obedience may inspire others to respond

I have found a treasure in What Happens When Women Say Yes to God: Experiencing Life in Extraordinary Ways. This is a book that I will return to again and will meditate on much.