Next book

Bethany has spoken...
The next book will be The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Plan on it for the trip to Massachussetts!!!

The Hunger Games

It has been a while since we put anything up.  So, for the Hunger Games book, just leave a post about your general feelings on the book.  You can include characters, plot, flow of the story, etc.  Anything that you want to vocalize, do it.
So, basically, the question is:
What are your general (or specific) feelings about the book?

Quotes Diana Loved

1. When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody's bothering to tell you anymore, that's a bad place to be. You may not want to hear it, but your critics are often the ones telling you they still love you and care about you, and want to make you better.
2.  Self-esteem? ...really only one way to teach kids how to develp it: You give them something they can't do, they work hard until they find they can do it, and you just keep repeating the process.
3. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.
4. Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won't make us happier.
5. If you wait long enough, people will surprise and impress you. When you're frustrated with people, when they've made you angry, it just may be because you haven't given them enough time. In the end, people will show you their good side. Almost everybody has a good side. Just keep waiting. It will come out.
6. Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.
7. The person who failed often knows how to avoid future failures. The person who knows only success can be more oblivious to all the pitfalls.
8. When giving an apology, any performance lower than an A really doesn't cut it.
9. Proper apologies have three parts: 1-What I did was wrong. 2-I feel badly that I hurt you. 3-How do I make this better?

Great book!

Quotes Jenny Loved

1 - Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcome.

2 - Self-esteem isn't something you can give, it's something they have to build.

3- Brick walls aren't there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.

3 - Through the whole ordeal, I don't think we ever said to each other:'This isn't fair.' We just kept going.

4 - Time is all you have.

5 - Almost everybody has a good side. Just keep waiting. It will come out.

6 - It's not how hard you hit, It's how hard you get hit...and keep moving.
7 - If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?

8 - What makes me unique?

9 - We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.

10 - Just because you're in the driver's seat, doesn't mean you have to run people over.

Quotes Bethany Loved

1 - When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody's bothering to tell you anymore, that's a bad place to be.  You may not want to hear it, but your critics are often the ones telling you they still love you and care about you, and want to make you better.

2 - Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted.  And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.

Quotes Kara Loved

1 - My dad always taught me that when there’s an elephant in the room, introduce it.

2 - I thought it was funny to hear how his mother talked to him growing up. First about being frugal: “Why do you need to go to the circus you’ve already been there.” Or  “You buy new clothes when your old clothes wear out not when they ‘go out of fashion’ “ and then about calling him Randolph. I thought that was funny.

3 - Let kids express themselves – I really liked the story about him painting his bedroom walls.

4 - Even though I didn’t reach the NFL, I sometimes think I got more from pursuing that dream, and NOT accomplishing it, then I did from many of the ones I did accomplish.

5 - Self-esteem isn’t something you can give – it is something they have to build and there’s only one way to teach kids how to develop it: You give them something they can’t do, they work hard until they find they can do it, and you just keep repeating the process. (I liked this.)

6 - “I don’t believe in the no-win scenario.”

7 - I loved his story about how people are more important than things when his sister warned her kids not to make a mess in his car and he poured out his pop in it.

8 - I, like Lisa, LOVED the brick wall analogies. “Brick walls are there for a reason – they give us a chance to show how badly we want something. (This really resonated with me.)

9 - No matter how bad things are you can always make things worse. At the same time it is often within your power to make them better.

10    10 - It’s not helpful if we spend every day dreading tomorrow.

11       11 - I loved how one of his bullet points was to rethink the telephone. (For all you out there who know I suck at talking on the phone….I am not alone in it!)

12    12 - When it comes to men who are romantically interested in you, it’s really simple. Just ignore everything they say and only pay attention to what they do. (This advice will be shared with my kids later in life too – it’s true!!)

13      13 - I also liked a quote mom liked…”A lot of people want a shortcut. I find the best shortcut is the long way, which is basically two words: work hard.”

14    14. -  I really liked when he was teaching his students how to apologize and he told them: “If other people owe you an apology too – you may not hear from them for awhile. After all, what are the odds that they get to the right emotional place to apologize at the exact moment you do?”
      15 - I REALLY enjoyed this book and many things sunk in to me. I think what I have been going over most, though, is trying to figure out some of the questions he asked about himself:

-        What makes me unique?

-        How do I define myself?

-        What do I, alone, truly have to offer?

-        What are my childhood dreams & goals?

Once again, great book choice mom!!

Quotes Lisa Loved

I had some of the same ones highlighted that mom had, but I am going to share them anyway!

1.  We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.
(This one reminds me a lot of: life is 10% what happens to you and 90% of how you deal with what happens to you!)

2.  Just because you're in the driver's seat, doesn't mean you have to run people over.

3.  ...kids, more than anything else, need to know their parents love them.  Their parents don't have to be alive for that to happen.

4.  If I work hard enough, there will be things I can do tomorrow that I can't do today.

5.  The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough.
(I liked the whole brick wall analogy.)

6.  Not everything needs to be fixed.
(I think this was especially meaningful to me.  I am one that really wants things done a certain way and at a certain time.  But, not everything needs to be fixed, handled, organized, etc.  Sometimes, it is ok to just let things happen - like driving around in dented cars).

7.  Time is all you have.  And you may find one day that you have less than you think.

8.  Almost everybody ahs a good side.  Just keep waiting.  It will come out.
(LOVED THIS ONE)

9.  It's not how hard you hit.  It's how hard you get hit...and keep moving forward.

10.  Experience iswhat you get when you didn't get what you wanted.

11.  The person who failed often knows how to avoid future failures.

12.  Go out and do for others what somebody did for you.

13.  If I could only give three words of advice, they would be "tell the truth."  If I got three more words, I'd add: "All the time."

I thought the book and Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture" was really good.  It is interesting to think about what we would say if we had a final opportunity to share something with the world.  I felt so sad afterward to know that he had died.  He seemed like he had really come into his own and was a really genuine person.  It is sad to me that people like that have to sometimes die early.  I felt for his wife too.  I can't imagine how that would be to watch your spouse die.  And, his children.  It would be so hard to know that you would die while they were so young - some of them so young that they probably wouldn't remember you.  How inspired it was for him to do this lecture/book.  It really will be a legacy and a connection for him and his family.

Quotes Mom Loved!

1.  You can't change the cards you are dealt, just how you play the hand.  

(Sometimes we want to change our situation in life.  There are some things we can and should change, but there are also things we can't and really shouldn't change.  It takes great faith to accept where we are and what we have, but we are usually blessed by learning to deal with what we have.)

2.  I won the parent lottery.  

(I want to change that to - I won the kids lottery.  Especially after being together with all of our daughters at Time Out For Women, dad and I talked a lot about how blessed we really are to have the daughters we have.  You are each wonderful, accomplished, caring, loving, giving individuals.  You'll never know the depth of love we have for you individually, and when you times that by 5, the depth of love and gratitude we have for you as our family group.  You are really a big part of what makes our lives happy and worthwhile.  We love you.)

3.  Self-esteem is finding out how to do something you didn't think you could do.
4.  The Dutch Uncle - always tells you the way it really is.
5.  Just because something's dented - it doesn't necessarily need to be fixed.  Not everything needs to be fixed.
6.  Time must be managed - plan ahead - (HOORAY FOR LISTS!!!)
7.  Spend time on the right things.
8.  Don't worry about what other people think.
9.  Look for the best in everybody.
10.  If you want the best - don't take shortcuts - work hard.
11.  Never give up.
12.  Be charitable, be optimistic, be grateful.

The Last Lecture - OPEN COMMENTS

Please feel free to comment here at any time about anything you read in the book or are thinking about from the book (or anything else).
We will still post mom's questions too.
Happy reading!!!

The Second Time Around - Question #6

What did you think of Vivian at first?  Did your opinion change as the story went on?

The Second Time Around - Question #5

What did you think was the biggest twist?

The Second Time Around - Question #2

Do you think Carly was right to stick up for her step-sister?

The Second Time Around - Question #4

What did you like least?

The Second Time Around - Question #3

What was your favorite part of the book?

The Second Time Around - Question #1

What did you originally think happened to Nick Spencer?