100 Books to Read in Your Life

My aunt recently sent me a list of 100 books you should read in your lifetime. Now that I'm finished with all my college classes (you heard me right...FINISHED!) I'm beginning a new adventure. I want to read and own (hardback only please) every book on the list. I can just see my bookshelves now filled with all the greatest literary works...*sigh*.

Although I'm extremely turned off to fantasy books I will at least read the first book in the series. (I apologize to all my Twlight, Harry Potter fanatics. Plus, I know Aunt J will be proud :) Besides, reading only the first book brings my total to exactly 100.

Here's the list if you would like to join me on this adventure...

A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens

I think I'll begin with this one...since it's Christmas time and all :)

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
The Holy Bible (I have started this but would rather stick to the BOM because it's so much easier.)
Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte
Nineteen Eighty Four, by George Orwell
His Dark Materials, by Philip Pullman
Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
Tess of the D'Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy
Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
Complete Works of Shakespeare (Oh boy, this will be a doozy! For those of you wondering, it includes 42 pieces of work that are basically written in a foreign language.)
Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier
The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulks
Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
Middlemarch, by George Eliot
Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Bleak House, by Charles Dickens
War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh
Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame
Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens
Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis
Emma, by Jane Austen
Persuasion, by Jane Austen
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis (I'm not sure why this is listed separately as it is part of the Chronicles of Narnia.)
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, by Louis De Berniere
Memoirs of a Geisha, by Willaim Golden
Winnie the Pooh, by A.A. Milne (This one should be easy...I hope.)
Animal Farm, by George Orwell (I've actually already read this. I know I'm from Mississippi, but we were actually required to read this in high school. But I think I will read it again :)
The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown
One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabrial Garcia Marquez
A Prayer for Owen Meaney, by John Irving
The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins
Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery (I love this movie!)
Far from the Madding Crowd, by Thomas Hardy
The Handmaids Tale, by Margaret Atwood
Lord of the Flies, by William Golding (I read this one too in high school. It's crazy! I highly recommend it.)
Atonement, by Ian McEwan
Life of Pi, by Yann Martell
Dune, by Frank Herbert
Cold Comfort Farm, by Stella Gibbons
Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen
A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth
The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens (Believe it or not, I did start this one...it's incredibly hard to read. I might have to move it to the bottom of the list.)
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, by Mark Haddon
Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
The Secret History, by Donna Tartt
The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas
On the Road, by Jack Kerouac
Jude the Obscure, by Thomas Hardy
Bridget Jones’s Diary, by Helen Fielding (I hope the book is as good as the movie.)
Midnight’s Children, by Salman Rushdie
Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens
Dracula, by Bram Stoker
The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson (I love love LOVE the 1993 adaptation of this movie. It's so sweet.)
Notes from a Small Island, by Bill Bryson
Ulysses, by James Joyce
The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath
Swallows and Amazons, by Arthur Ransome
Germinal, by Emile Zola
Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray
Possession, by A.S. Byatt
Cloud Atlas, by Charles Mitchell
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker (Another great movie!)
The Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro
Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert
A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry
Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White
The Five People You Meet In Heaven, by Mitch Albom
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Faraway Tree collection, by Enid Blyton
Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad
The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint Exupery
The Wasp Factory, by Iain Banks
Watership Down, by Richard Adams
A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
A Town Like Alice, by Nevil Shute
The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas
Hamlet, by William Shakespeare (Again, I don't know why this one is listed seperately from the works of Shakespear.)
Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl
Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo

Gollee, that's a lot of books! Can't I just watch the movies?...just kidding.

Where Did November Go?

This month just flew by. I know I probably say this every month but this time it really did.

Let's recap....

The hubby took me camping.

I turned 25.

We visited grandparents in Alabama.

The hubby killed a doe (yes, he is turning into a redneck. i'll give more details later).

Spent some time with the brand spanking new cousin.

Took family photos.

Ate turkey with the in-laws.

Decorated our tree.

Ran another 5k in a new age group (25-29) and placed second.

MSU won the Egg Bowl.

So close to finishing my master's I can taste the success.

"What's That?"

A few months ago I was picking up my 4-year-old niece and as she climbed into my 10-year-old truck she pointed at the manual window crank and asked, "What's that?"

I paused, thought for a second...and then it dawned on me. She's probably never seen one of those before!

At first, it made me feel extremely old. But then I started to think of all the things that are totally familiar to me but won't be to my future children. It's kind of like eight-track tapes or drive-in theaters for my generation.

So now I'm wondering what my kids are going to be pointing at and asking, "What's that?"

What do you think?

I'm Impressed

On Wednesday morning, I was in charge of hosting a 5k at my work. The event culminated with our annual Share Thanksgiving Food Drive where we put boxes around the various buildings and ask people to bring in canned/dried goods to benefit local food pantries before the holidays.

At the race, we asked all participants to bring one canned/dried good to donate to the drive. We had about 170 participants so you can imagine the chaos. Overall, we collected two big boxes of food and we were very satisfied with that.

So when I got to work this morning I was very impressed to see people dropping by my office and calling me to bring the canned/dried food in that they forgot to bring on Wednesday. We didn't keep track of people who brought food and who didn't. We didn't send out a reminder saying "If you didn't bring your food today please bring it on Friday." We were pleased with what we had and left it at that.

These people did not have to put forth this extra effort--maybe go out and buy the food, remember to bring the food from home, bring it to my office (which is set away from all the other buildings), etc. But they did!

And something as tiny as this gives me a new found hope for the human race.

Women Finally Onboard

On Saturday, I watched the movie G.I. Jane. I've always liked this movie. It's one of those that I can watch every time it comes on no matter how many times I've seen it before. It's just so empowering! (You can watch the trailer below.)

Then Monday I came to work and started catching up on all the Navy news. I came across an article entitled "Navy Picks First 4 Subs to Get Female Officers." Huh?

So I started reading...

The first sentence states, "The Navy has selected four commands as the first submarines to integrate women, a process expected to begin late next year, the Navy announced Thursday." Hold up. Let me get this straight. It's 2010 and the Navy is just now allowing women to board submarines!

G.I. Jane came out in 1997 and there is a particular scene where Demi Moore's character mentions that she was turned down for a position on the submarine because there were no female bathrooms onboard.

So 13 years later the Navy is finally considering this to be a major issue. And they are acting as if it's an act of heroism. As if women should have never expected to be allowed onboard and they are simply doing us a favor. Well, thank you very much United States Navy for suppressing the female gender.

Not-So-Green Thumb

I love gardens. I think they're beautiful, inspiring--God's gift on earth. I often find myself browsing through Better Homes & Gardens just so I can admire other people's amazing work.

When we got married and had our own place I had dreams of making my backyard look like this...

picture from www.bhg.com (I love tulips!)

It's a little far-fetched I know, especially for someone with a not-so-green thumb. We literally have tons of empty pots sitting around just waiting to be filled with flowers, herbs, anything!

I'm just scared to start a project until I figure out what the heck I'm doing. Afterall, I haven't had much luck so far...

Our first summer in the house I decided I would start with a small flower garden on the side of the house. Little did I know that it would be way more work than I bargained for. Just creating the garden was back-breaking. Digging up the dirt, placing the weed barrier, shoveling the dirt back on top, buying the plants, digging holes for the plants, and on and on and on...Plus, I wanted to be environmentally friendly. So instead of laying down non-biodegradable weed paper, I used newspaper. BAD IDEA! I had weeds just two weeks after I planted. And I didn't have a lot of time to weed the garden so it basically turned into a jungle.

I also tried growing some hanging plants. My mother-in-law gave us some ferns. I killed those. My impatiens were the only thing to survive my garden so I replanted those into hanging baskets. They lasted a month or two but eventually died also.

This summer I officially gave up on my garden. Actually, I didn't really have a choice after the hubby mowed over my overgrown plot.

Nevertheless, I decided to stick with my hanging baskets (I didn't want to be a total quitter). But this time, I checked out a gardening book from my grandmother's very extensive library collection. I searched and searched for a hearty plant ideal for hanging baskets that didn't require much sunlight or water. What did I find?...Portulaca (aka moss roses). Oh my precious portulaca. They have done amazingly well. I have both light pink and yellow and also a very bright pink color. They open up in the early morning and begin to close-up as the day goes on. Their colors are so vibrant and the vines grow like wildfire. And I only water them every two to three days. They do require some pruning, and I try to do this about once a week.

They have done so well this summer that I'm actually going to move them indoors for the winter (I never had this problem before because all my plants died before the summer was over). I just hope they survive indoors. Keep your fingers crossed.

p.s. I have also managed to keep my camelia plant alive (wedding gift from Ms. L-thanks!), but only after some much needed TLC because apparently I wasn't giving it enough water. And I have managed to keep an aloe vera plant. I don't exactly know what those brown spots are, but I just told the hubby that they are freckles from all the sunlight. Hey, it keeps growing :)

86-year-old Apostle Stirs Up the Nation

Read here>>>>Mormon leaders remarks spark outcry on same-sex marriage

During the 180th Semi-Annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which aired on October 2-3, President Boyd K. Packer stated, "We teach a standard of moral conduct that will protect us from Satan’s many substitutes or counterfeits for marriage. We must understand that any persuasion to enter into any relationship that is not in harmony with the principles of the gospel must be wrong. Some suppose that they were preset and cannot overcome what they feel are inborn temptations toward the impure and unnatural. Not so! Remember, God is our Heavenly Father."

Picture from http://www.lds.org/

He is clearly stating that the church believes feelings towards others of the same-sex are disagreeable with God's plan. And he is also explaining that those people with these types of feelings should not give up because there is hope.

So why then has his comments sparked such an outrage in America?

The gay and lesbian community has responded with protests and petitions as if they are surprised by what Packer said. The church's stance on same-sex marriage has been known for a long time, and it will most likely never change. In case the gay and lesbian community didn't know, we live in a free country and we are free to practice and preach what we believe. Not everyone has to think and feel the same way you do. This is the beauty of freedom.

I am a Latter-day Saint (LDS) but my best friend is a lesbian. She knows how I feel about her sexual orientation and she respects what I believe. I know about her feelings for the same sex and I respect those feelings. Do I go out rallying against same-sex marriage and protesting gay and lesbian relationships? No. Am I going to go out and vote for the legalization of same-sex marriage? No. How can I do this to my friend you might ask. Because it goes against what I believe in, and it is my right to hold to that belief just like Packer.

It is hypocritical for gays and lesbians to protest against what Packer said. They are mad at the LDS church for not agreeing with their way of life, but at the same time they are not agreeing with ours.

In the soundoff section of the article (I always like to read these :), Bill replies to someone calling Mormons a hate group by stating, "Hate speech? Hate speech? Really? I don't agree with what this guy said, nor do many others, but calling it hate speech is reactionary and self serving of his opponents. It shows just how crazy people can get. This guy didn't call for people to be harmed, ostracized, excommunicated or discriminated against. He said that their orientation was wrong and could be changed with enough faith. Where is the hate in that? Put it in perspective and put your soapbox away. Just because you disagree with someone does not make the other person a bigot, racist, liberal, left winger, right wing nut or Hitler reincarnate." I couldn't agree with you more, Bill.

So what then is the solution? Learn to coexist!

And this process begins with a little r-e-s-p-e-c-t. Respect others beliefs!