Lars Book Club 2017

Just like last year, I'm heading up the book club on my friend's blog

The House that Lars Built

and I LOVE it. I scoured best seller lists and Amazon, old books and new books, all different types of genres, and put a good list together. It's SO FUN!

January's book was all about reclaiming snail mail, and how it benefits both the receiver AND the writer! We read 

The Art of the Handwritten Note 

by Margaret Shepherd.

Go here to read my short intro!

And every month, my friend Brittany finds an illustrator to create a printable bookmark or wall hanging to go along with each book. I usually read and take notes for each book months in advance to find good quotes or thoughts for the artist/illustrator to use, and they always manage to create something beautiful! :) Here's the link for January's printable, some questions, and (because I just have to) some further reading suggestions!

In February, Brittany and her blog team had plans to travel to Cuba, so we thought we'd do a book about Cuba. BOY, have I learned ALOT. I'm fascinated (and slightly horrified) by this island and its political upheaval. Unbelievable! We read

Dreaming in Cuban 

by Cristina Garcia.

Go here to read my intro. It was quite the book! Complex characters, a mystical religion, families and relationships torn apart by Castro's revolution, and the subsequent poverty and hardships that resulted from his rule. 

Brittany actually created this printable herself (below), after being inspired by all the gorgeous tiled flooring she saw in Cuba. So pretty, huh? Here's the link for the printable, questions, and further reading suggestions (almost all of which I've read! They were incredible! Cuba now intrigues me).

For March, we're heading to Denmark to figure out why (according to surveys) they're the happiest country and people in the world - a title they've had for 40 years running! WOW!

We're reading

The Year of Living Danishly

by Helen Russell.

Go here to read my little intro! 

We'll see later what this month's artist comes up with for a bookmark/printable!

Follow along on Instagram if you like - the account I post on is called @larsbookclub , and I don't think you don't have to be an Instagram member to see them. I post quotes or facts from the book, along with pretty pictures, of course. :)

My personal account (often with daily family pictures) is @joolee28 !

2016 Favorite Reads

Before January officially draws to a close, I wanted to post my favorite books from last year.

Non-fiction:

Nathaniel Philbrick's books are always impressive! They're filled with facts and background info enough to make you feel smarter but without making your eyes glaze over, haha! He's got a knack for writing about historical events in a "let me tell you a cool story" sorta way. You'll just want to keep turning pages. Valiant Ambition was terrific (Oh Benedict! Why?? How could you?? Philbrick will tell you...) and In the Heart of the Sea was tragically amazing as well.

Giuseppe Catozzella's Don't Tell Me You're Afraid is the incredible story of a girl from Somalia whose goal is none other than to compete in the Olympics. She grows up running races in her war torn town, even as her family struggles to survive. Your heart will tear in two as you learn her inspiring story. I had to google her and watch her on video. It's a novel, so technically fiction, but I put this in non-fiction just because it's based on a true story.

                    

Among other chapter books, I read both The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (young reader addition) by William Kamkwamba and A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park aloud with the kids last year. These stories really touched them, I think. There wasn't always super easy content to read about (poverty, villages attacked by soldiers, kids picked off by lions, etc.), but I could see their wheels turning as they learned about these children on another continent that did amazing things because they HAD TO. They survived, they persevered, and they were appreciative of all they had. And I'm hoping their stories helped my kiddos feel the same way.

And fiction, of course!

 

Historical fiction:

After reading Secrets of a Charmed Life and A Fall of Marigolds, Susan Meissner has become a new favorite author. Her stories weave past with present during big events in history, making that "history" so real, as if you're living it yourself. I'm excited to read her other works AND her new book coming out in March! 

 

Fantasy:

  Have you heard of the Shades of Magic series?? V. E. Schwab has created an amazing magical world, where multiple versions of the city of London exist, and only certain people possess the power to travel between them. The levels of magic differ in each London (Red London, Grey London, etc.), and the balance of power gets upset and things get tense. It's really, REALLY good, and her third book comes out in February. Yesssss.... In the meantime, start with A Darker Shade of Magic and A Gathering of Shadows.

Mystery:

I wouldn't really consider myself a murder mystery reader (although I do enjoy the Flavia de Luce and Maisie Dobbs series), but I've also liked Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series. Set in a little Canadian town called Three Pines, everyone seems to know each other, then a murder happens, and a thoughtful, wise inspector arrives on the scene. Recipe for a good story, I think! I've only read two so far (Still Life is the first), and have surprised myself with how much I've wanted to read the whoooole series in one shebang. Must space them out! :)

                                                 

Tell me what YOU read last year! What were your favorites? I already posted about last year's Lars Book Club books as well (see here). Those were all fantastic reads too! Find me on Goodreads.com too, if you like, and you can see all my reading updates. Here are some previous years' favorites!

2012, 2013, 2014, 2015

Lars Book Club 2016

Last year was a blast contributing to my friend's blog (The House that Lars Built) with the Lars Book Club! These were nine of the ten books we read - Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson isn't included here, but it was fabulous! A must-read for all you Anne lovers!

Find all the book club posts here. 

Each blog post has one or more links to the book we discussed, but here they are as well. Loved them all! I learned a lot and loved posting about them, coming up with discussion questions or further reading suggestions, etc.

Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson

The Reason for Flowers by Stephen Buchmann

The Artist's Mother by Overlook Press and Judith Thurman

Daily Rituals by Mason Currey

Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera

Wildflower by Drew Barrymore

Alphabetical by Michael Rosen

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner

Your Inner Critic is a Big Jerk: And Other Truths About Being Creative by Danielle Krysa

What was EXTRA fun was the art created for each book! My friend Brittany contacted an artist or illustrator beforehand (along with quotes from the book, via yours truly), and they'd create a free print to put on your wall plus printable bookmarks. It was always neat to see what they'd come up with! Here are some of them below.

We're ready for another year of great books, and here's January's! 

The Art of the Handwritten Note by Margaret Shepherd.

I wrote a short intro here, and the book photos that Brittany and her photographers design are always gorgeous. Am I right?? If I can remember, I'll try to post here what Lars book we read each month. It's been so fun and we've got a great bunch of books for 2017!

Happy reading. :)

Welcome to Hogwarts!

Madsen has been ALL about Harry Potter after reading the books, so naturally, a Harry Potter party was what he asked for. Fortunately for me, a friend from orchestra has FOUR daughters who all had Harry Potter parties (as well as a BIG family party they threw) and she offered to let me borrow all of her decorations, party game ideas, candy molds, costumes, etc...it was wonderful!! M's party wasn't as elaborate, didn't have 20+ kids, and wasn't 3 or 4 hours long, but we did use lots of her family's ideas. 

It all started with his invitations, a Hogwarts acceptance letter that we printed out, folded, and attached to a white balloon created to look like an owl...because the mail has to arrive by owl post, obviously. They were the cutest! And of course, I got no pictures of them. Oh well!

We did try to figure out who would make the best Dobby the House Elf for the party though...these are too funny! My friend made these ears for her 5 year old. Too bad neither Bowen or Cora wanted to be Dobby for the party!

And here's party day!

Platform 9 3/4! 

Inside we put up house flags and hung some "dementors"...

Madsen drew a lightning bolt on his forehead and had been growing his hair out for months (I couldn't stand it at this point!) to look like Harry. He said his hair had to cover the bolt just a little bit, but not all the way - so precise! :)

And Bowen just wanted pics with his "wizard robe"on:

Here was our Honeydukes candy "store":

Patronus (silver) candy in case of dementors, licorice wands, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Jelly Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Gummy Slugs, and we put Acid Pops (lollipops) in their goodie bags.

Madsen asked for the cake Hagrid gave to Harry in the very first book/movie, and BOY was that easy! Misspellings and all. I didn't even have to make it look good! :)

Alas, we had no sorting hat, so the boys came and could choose which house they wanted to be in by coloring their tie.

"Muggle Studies" class consisted of muggle objects hidden under these boxes! The boys had to stick their hands in and guess what they were. :)

 

Before the party, the kids and I made wands for each child from chopsticks, hot glue, paint, and metallic sharpies. Super easy! They really loved this 

Took some good photos with this prop my friend had made (from The Prisoner of Azkaban):

These crack me up! Ha!

Our "Charms Class" was perfecting the Leviosa spell - holding a balloon up in the air with your wand, not letting it touch the ground. The kids LOVED this, and even though it was the simplest "game", they went back outside to do this over and over! We used SO many balloons! On second thought, a bunch of kids running around with sharp sticks pointed outward was probably not the safest idea, but thankfully we didn't lose any eyeballs. Just balloons over the fence. :)

Hard at work on their Muggle Studies! :)

I was planning on a "Potions Class" with baking soda/vinegar experiments in tiny cauldrons, but Amazon didn't deliver the little cauldrons until the EVENING of the party, after it was over, dang it! We'll just have to save them for a future HP party, I guess.

This was a simple version of Quidditch with ping pong balls and nets...and a Barbie Keeper on a broom. Haha!

And there was a golden Snitch hidden in the yard, with each team's Seeker looking for it. Can you tell who found it?? :)

We had so much fun! Madsen sure is a special kid, and we're so glad he's in our family. He is a kind, obedient, soft-hearted boy and a good example to everyone around him. As Hagrid would say, " 'appy Birthday 'arry!" We love you.