Jan
16
2008
16
2008
Book Bliss
Filed under: Books
I fall into a completely euphoric state of being when I have a huge stack of wonderful books next to me. Clearly, I am also one of those readers who can’t just stick with one book at a time. I must have TEN. Here is what I am reading right now:
Simple Living
The Good Life
Three Cups of Tea
Eat. Pray. Love.
Simple Food for the Good Life
Circle Houses: Yurts, Tipis, and Benders
The Excellent Wife
Living Artfully: Create the Life You Imagine
Scrapbook of a Taos Hippie
A Handmade Life: In Search of Simplicity
Posted by Sara @ 5:06 pm | Leave a Comment
16
2008
I have enjoyed reading your blog for awhile now. Thanks for so many inspiring ideas!! I really identify a lot with you! How did you make some of these drastic changes without alarming your friends and family? From what I can tell, you have changed your lifestyle, your personal look, even your home so much in the past year. How have your parents and long-time friends responded to this? Has your husband ever NOT wanted to do something that you were passionate about trying?
16
2008
Oh Sara I totally understand. My husband thinks amazon.com personally knows where we live. I have read four of the books you have listed and truely enjoyed them. Eat, Pray, Love is great. I am to the end of the Pray section. I am also reading “Into the wild”. Maybe you should consider starting a reading group, hint hint, or reading BLOG so we could all participate and come together as Christian women? BTW since the live lightly tour will end this summer wouldn’t NOW be a great time for Bella to gain a sibling? You’d be back in time to use your same midwife!!!
16
2008
I have followed your advice several times on book choices with happy results so I always love it when you recommend books- I have Eat, Pray, Love on request at my library, can’t wait to start reading!
16
2008
Love “The Excellent Wife” book!
Looks like you have lots of great titles there. Thanks for sharing!
16
2008
Eat Pray Love was one of my most favorite books last year, and maybe ever. It was hard for me at first, everything in me wanted to hate that book (it is a bit new agey) but at the end, I was hooked. She is so very real and honest and it is refreshing to hear one woman speak in such a way, and not try to make it all flowers and roses about life, love, and motherhood (or lack of it).
16
2008
That is so funny!! I have read all those books too!! They are each wonderful and special in their own way!!1
Love your blog- wish you and your family the best this New Year!
17
2008
What a great mix of books. I am like you I always have about 10 going at the one time! I wish mine were all the same size because that makes for a great photograph! Love how you took the picture of them like that!
Happy Reading.
17
2008
Getting some good ideas to add to my already huge list!
17
2008
Hey Sara,
Looks like y’all have a great library out there! Cool! What a great way to spend some cold, January days.
See ya soon -
Jen.
17
2008
Jen…it’s actually a super small library with hardly anything I would want to read. Let’s just say interlibrary loan is my friend.
I was REALLY excited when I found out that I could “reserve” books online and that I didn’t have to go fill out any paperwork to get them. Most of them came from larger cities in Minnesota. Yay!
17
2008
Ooh, I see some of my favorite in there, as well as a few I better go look for! Happy reading!
17
2008
I just started Eat, Pray, Love yesterday. I first saw the book mentioned on your blog. Then when shopping at books-a-million store – I walked straight to it when browsing. I knew then that I must buy it. My good friend at work was so excited to see it on my desk that afternoon. She said I was going to love it. I’m not sure if I have ever cried that much when reading a book. I can’t wait to get home from work and read some more. Thanks.
17
2008
Hi Sara:
I’ve read a few of those, and I’ll take your recommendation on the others. I discovered Simple Living at my local library not long after it came out in the early 90’s. The couple that wrote it also have a TV series on PBS, and your library might be able to get the DVDs to the previous seasons. The Good Life has always been a tremendous inspiration to me; in fact I wondered whether you might visit The Good Life Center, the homestead that the Nearings built in Maine, while you were in the area. I hope to go there someday soon myself!
I agree, there’s nothing more satisfying than a good stack of books you can’t wait to dig into!
17
2008
I loved Eat, Pray, Love – it was a bit slow at first, but it only gets better
17
2008
I cannot wait to read Eat, Pray, Love. I have heard so many great things about it!
17
2008
Hi Sara!
I have read most of the books you listed there, am just now getting to Bill Coperthwaite’s. You should read Eric Brende’s book, “Better Off”
and a book called The One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka.
I also recommend Into the Wild and
Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales (I think your husband would like these last two as well).
Best wishes to you and God Bless,
AG
18
2008
I just found your blog and love it!
Eat, Pray, Love and Three Cups of Tea were both excellent reads. I will have to look for the others.
btw – I’m with you on the “10 at a time” thing. I’m always in the middle of about 10-15 myself.
18
2008
Ariel…I have read Better Off as well. It’s a good read! I’ll have to check out the other ones. Thanks for the recommendations!
18
2008
I have not read any of those books and I am always looking for recommendations. After you are finished with them I would love to know which ones were your favorites.
18
2008
As if I need to add any more books to my wish list… but this selection looks great!
18
2008
I’m the same way exactly- I have a stack of books that I’m dipping into right now. I need to find a way to post a little column on my blog that says what I’m reading- I’ve seen that a couple different places. I will be writing down your titles for when I go to the library tomorrow. P.S. Did it arrive yet? Diditdiditdidit? I’m so excited for Bella to have this book!!! Send it Tuesday morning.
18
2008
Me too. Now, how bad is that for a lover-of-simplicity to have a stack of 15 or 20 books crowding her out of eating space all the time?
20
2008
I am guilty of having a few books going at once, but WOW, you give a whole new visual of “multi-tasking/reading.”
21
2008
It hit me that the theme of most of your books right now deals with SIMPLE living. I am SOOOO into that. In fact, if I’m ever blessed to buy land out here, I have seriously considered living in a yurt…but mornings like this (10 below) do tend to make me wonder. I have many friends who do it, though, and there are so many options to make it “doable.” I’m going to have to check into some of these books.
21
2008
I have been wanting to read Eat.Pray.Love. and I am on the waiting list at our library….#25!! Reading Simple Food for the Good Life right now…she’s too black/white for me, but I’m finding some great ideas.
22
2008
Missing you. Somehow reading what you are makes me feel closer. Funny that a couple of our choices were exactly the same thousands of miles apart and out of communication! Love you.
)
22
2008
Okay, don’t fall over, its me. Just had to say hi, have you gotten my latest card and miss you. You, of course know I love reading. I am a one book at a time girl myself. I love to be immersed in one and really digest it. I am in a study with 6 other women with the book, “Ordering Your Private World” I have read it at least three times and look forward to getting even more out of it. For fun I am reading the Anne of Green Gables series right now. I just finished an autobiography about John Ashcroft (amazing book) so my book list looks quite different than yours but there are so many great books in the world and I love hearing what you are reading. Love you!
22
2008
I love your blogs! Your book choices are great, I’ll have to check some of them out.
22
2008
Nat…oooh so good to hear you’re still alive
If you sent the card to our SD address I haven’t gotten yet…I’ll have it all forwarded to us soon. You’ve always been a great source of good reads for me! Do you remember that we did OYPW as our first small group Bible study waaaaay back in Lincoln? Fun times 
Good to hear from you my friend. xxoo
23
2008
I have a question about the ethics of simple living. I totally get the “don’t buy what you don’t need” part, and our family strives to reduce our consumption.
On the other hand, I feel conflicted about the advice to buy second-hand from thrift stores or yard sales. I feel that on some level it’s wrong for a person who can afford to buy new to buy used clothes or household items that some person living in poverty might actually need.
I haven’t bought any clothes other than socks and underwear in a long time, but my raincoat (which is about 14 years old!) is falling apart, and I feel that I should buy a new one. I might find a nice raincoat at a thrift store, but what if someone who could never afford a new raincoat really needs that coat at the thrift store?
By the same token, I feel that if I don’t need something, I should give it away rather than sell it. We live comfortably and don’t need to rely on income from a garage sale.
Sara, what do you think about this issue?
23
2008
I understand completely I have suffered with this forever.
I am one of those persons who have read just enough of all of the classics to talk about them without seeming dumb. te he. I have read and finished quite a few but I have just as many on my shelfs have read and dusty.
Amelia
23
2008
Laurie…I think everyone has to examine their own beliefs and motives and decide what is best for them. I don’t share your opinion about buying used, but it doesn’t mean that your philosophy is wrong. It does makes sense. But for me, buying used is much more than just “taking” something that someone else could use instead. It’s about stopping the cycle of production/consumption. From what I have seen, there is so much excess, that there is enough used stuff to go around for everyone anyway. Beyond thrift stores, there are churches and other charities with many resources. And going even further, eBay is an excellent source of quality used items. Plenty of raincoats to go around
I would be elated if all the wealthy people in our country would start shopping for used clothing/items instead of at the mall. The more recycling/sharing of items we can do, the better.
Regarding garage sales…again, a personal preference. I think garage sales are a great way to make a little extra money that you wouldn’t have normally had to pay bills, pay for a move, etc. But like you said, if you don’t need the money, just give it away (and get a tax deduction too!). So, there isn’t one answer that solves it.
23
2008
Hi Sara,
First, love your blog. Second, super love your insight. God sends me here at just the right times, for just what I need. All that to say…I’d love to hear your thoughts on Eat, Pray, Love sometime. I loved (super loved) the book, but as an earlier commenter said, it is a bit new agey. So I’m trying to find the right space for it in my heart…
23
2008
“But for me, buying used is much more than just “taking” something that someone else could use instead. It’s about stopping the cycle of production/consumption. From what I have seen, there is so much excess, that there is enough used stuff to go around for everyone anyway.”
SOOOOO very true, Sara. We live in a glutton society that has skewed the word “need” right out of the dictionary…(Okay, I’m not even sure if that sentence makes any sense, but I’m leaving it.)
I’ll stop there…
We have similiar views, Sara. Nice to find your blog.
23
2008
Book bliss, indeed! That perfectly describes my feeling when there is a luscious stack on my nightstand… and more coming from my favorite place, AbeBooks.
24
2008
Hey there, so since you left I’ve been wanting to read Irresistable Revolution (so hasn’t Kahl) and I finally bought it a few weeks ago and got it Tuesday. I am about 200 pages into it so far. Some things I don’t quite agree w/ but lots of stuff I do and a lot of challenging stuff. Kahli and Dane are next to read it, and I told Aaron (our pastor that you met) about it and he’s interested in reading it too…. anyway. Just thought I’d mention it to you. I hate buying books as they can be so expensive, and if I don’t like them I feel so gyped (jipped…. however you spell it), so I’m happy, happy, happy that this is a good one.
26
2008
It’s a valid point about stopping the cycle of consumption and production. That would take a massive retooling of our economy, though. As things stand, if everyone stopped buying new, millions of people would lose their jobs. Not everyone can make a living selling used stuff on e-bay!
27
2008
Thank you for the book list. I clicked on the ‘Excellent Wife’ books (I am always in need of help in that area
, it has some interesting Amazon reviews, both the 1 ratings and 5’s 
27
2008
I just want to say thanks again for offering up such a beautiful and insightful blog. You and your family are blessed. Keep up the great work.
)
28
2008
Are you enjoying “The Excellent Wife?” I really like that one. Our premarital counselors recommended them (the husband one as well) to us over any other book before we got married. I think the illustrations are a bit of a waste of space, but the content makes it one book I can always come back to and God teaches me something new every time, no matter how many times I’ve read it before!
30
2008
Great stuff!!! Didn’t you say recently that you found “Three Cups of Tea” at Goodwill or something? I love Goodwill; you’ll have to jump over and read my most recent post about Goodwill – haha
30
2008
All of these look like good reads to me. I have read The Excellent Wife and it is good, convicting, but good.
30
2008
Yep…I got it at Goodwill. It was so fun. I just finished it… and it was such a great read.
The Excellent Wife is definitely a good read as well…but as you have all said, convicting. Your heart has to be in a place where you are open to what she has to say to get something out of it
1
2008
I’ve had “The Excellent Wife” for a while, but haven’t started it. I just got “Three Cups of Tea” and look forward to reading it too.
23
2009
I am really inspired by your blog. I checked my library website today and requested a few of the books on your list. Thanks for the suggestions!