Saturday, April 24, 2010

Lost But Not Forgotten

It brings me great sadness to share this news with you. On Friday, April 24, my uncle, Donald Miller, was killed tragically in an automobile accident. He has sadly left behind my aunt Patty and son Brice, age 9, as well as many others who loved and cared dearly for him.

As a result, I am returning to Pennsylvania on Sunday morning. I ask that when saying your prayers, you throw one in there for my aunt and little cousin - they need all they can get.

A song very fitting for our situation..

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Sex & the City News!!


I had to quickly share this bit of news with you! It's almost as exciting as the latest addition to the Twilight series! The Sex and the City creator, Candace Bushnell, is coming out with a book about our beloved Carrie's life - pre-New York! YAY! Although this book is to be geared more toward the teenage audience, that certainly didn't stop me with Twilight, and it won't stop me with this. The book is going to outline Carrie's life as a teenager in Connecticut. I have literally watch SATC since its debut on HBO YEARS ago. In fact, I was probably too young to be witnessing that stuff at the time, but I turned out okay right? :) The title of the book is called "Carrie Diaries" and will be released on Tuesday, April 27. Candace also plans to release a second book in this series (or mini-series, we'll see) in the summer of 2011, which will depict Carrie's first year in NY, and when she met Samantha. I'm squealing over here with joy people - I cannot wait to read these!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Three Cups of Tea - By Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin


I've recently finished reading Three Cups of Tea. Back whenever I purchased this book, my attraction to it was the word 'tea' in the title (yes, I do judge a book by it's cover). I love tea - all kinds of tea! And if you know me, then you know my favorite is Chai! But, I digress. I recently discovered that the book club at my church was reading this, and I thought it was about time to pull it out and give it a shot myself. It was, afterall, on my 2010 book list.

Three Cups of Tea is about an American mountaineer named Greg Mortensen. Greg takes a trip to northern Pakistan to attempt to climb K2 - one of the highest peaks in the Himalayas. However, Greg doesn't make it to the top because a fellow climber falls ill, and they are forced to quickly descend the mountain. Upon their descent, Greg gets lost and eventually ends up in this Pakistani village where he is taken in by the village leader, Haji Ali. The village is so gracious to Greg that he promises to build them a school as soon as he can raise the money in return for their generosity. Throughout the next 10+ years, Greg manages to raise money continuously for the building of schools all throughout Pakistan. Greg's first trip took place in the mid 90s, so as time goes on in the book, eventually it brings us to September 11, 2001, and the chapter titled "A Village Called New York" addresses the events of that day from the perspective of a small village in Pakistan. This was one of my favorite chapters because it really showed the innocence of many people in the Middle East, which I think is something many people in the U.S. don't think about or don't realize. This chapter is titled as such because the village leader where Greg was staying during this particular visit was listening to a very staticky radio broadcast that day, and heard about the attacks. He ran to wake Greg up, and said to him: "Greg, Greg - a village called New York has just been bombed." I just found it heartbreaking reading this chapter and that sentence. It just goes to show how many innocent people in the Middle East are being affected by this war our country is fighting. That village didn't even know what New York was! The different towns where Greg built schools helped him realize that the key to solving terrorism was to educate the Middle Eastern children - essentially helping them learn right from wrong so they can make an informed decision when extremists come their way attempting to entice them with their radical ways.

I really enjoyed the book - it wasn't always a page turner, but I did learn a lot about the Middle East. It was also very inspiring - if everyone had the determination that Greg did/does, much would be different in this world today. Out of 5 stars, I would give it 3.5/5.

My next book is Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult! Happy Reading friends!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Welcome to the World Conner Joel!

This is the newest addition to my family! Conner Joel Pribesh (lovin that middle name!) was born on April 5 and weighed in at 7.8 lbs. I cannot wait to see this new little man!! He is my cousin Angie's son and lives back home in Pennsylvania. AND he was born the day after my birthday - yay! April truly is the best month!

Monday, April 5, 2010

Twilight, Real Housewives of NYC, & Little Women - Oh My!

I just love sharing book updates with you! It makes me feel good to not only share current book events with you, but to also help promote books about things that I love and/or enjoy! Yesterday I nearly jumped in my chair when I saw that Stephenie Meyer (Twilight author) is coming out with a 'novella' in relation to Eclipse in June! AHH!! This book is about the vampire Bree, and her short lived story in Eclipse. The book is called "The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner". I'm having a hard time remembering her appearance in the book - I think it says in the article that she was only talked about for 10 pages - but regardless I will be buying this very soon! I may also have to squeeze this in to my reading reperatoire for 2010 because I just need some more Twilight in my life.

The next book news I have to share is about Jill Zaren - one of the rich ladies from The Real Housewives of New York City (on Bravo). I just saw this bit of news this morning. The book is called Secrets of a Jewish Mother. Ironically, I just watched the episode this past weekend where they were doing a photo shoot for that book, and now it's come out! I doubt I'll pick this one up just because I didn't care for how her mother acted on the show. She was rude and snotty during the photo shoot. I just love this show by the way - in particular, the NYC ladies. I actually quit watching it for awhile because after I got HD, I found myself only indulging in the HD channels. Then I made this accidental discovery a few weeks ago and found like 30 extra HD channels that I didn't even know I had, and Bravo was one of them! Now I'm really hooked again on the show AND the Millionaire Matchmaker! I cannot get enough!
My last bit of book news is about the author of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott. Remember that book/movie? The movie had Winona Ryder in it? Anyhow,
Kelly O'Connor McNees has written a book about Alcott's love life, which apparently Alcott never married. The book is called "The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott".


That's all the book news I have for ya for now!



You May Also Like: