Reading My Way Through Vacation, Part II

Last week I posted Part I of my reading list during furlough/sabbatical. Well the library kept seeing lots of me, and here's the continuation!


Audition: A Memoir, by Barbara Walters

I love biographies and this was a doozie at 579 pages! Certainly Barbara Walters is a fascinating person with an interesting life (and did you know about her mentally disabled sister and adopted daughter?), but this book has been on my list since published to get a glimpse into the lives of those she interviewed. It didn't disappoint, although she has interviewed and known so many 100s of celebrities, world leaders, powerful politicians, infamous criminals, first ladies, etc., etc., that only a small piece could be written on those she remembers best. Unexpectedly, I learned how TV has changed news and entertainment over the past 60 years.


My Hands Came Away Red, by Lisa McKay

Thought-provoking novel but possibly not in the way the author, a psychologist in humanitarian aid relief, intended! She wanted to play through what might happen on a "mission trip gone wrong" whereas I was feeling very old as I did not relate with the hormone-ravaged teens as much as the stuck-in-the-mud adult leaders who obviously don't know how to have fun but just wanted to protect the kids. ANYWAY, it was still a spell-binding read (I was consumed until finishing it) and I look forward to any future books by the world-traveling author.


The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath, by Mark Buchanan

One of my top favorites these past months! Mark Buchanan beautifully sets Sabbath living in a new light while giving fresh insight into familiar Bible stories. What descriptions!! If I would have purchased any book it would definitely be this one, so I did the next best thing and basically read it twice - a chapter or two a day first, then re-reading and typing out 10 pages of notes. I looked at several places for his other books and couldn't find any, but definitely a new favorite author.


Communicating Effectively for Dummies

I only got to read part of this manual. The chapter on active listening was the most memorable for me, and I most identified with being the person who "reads into" what the other is saying without truly listening, and thus jumping to conclusions or assumptions.


The Connected Child: Bring Hope & Healing to your Adoptive Family, by Karyn Purvis, Ph.D., David Cross, Ph.D., and Wendy Sunshine

This book is a better training/discipline manual than most for us at Casa de Amor because the authors are focused on traumatized, special needs, formerly abused or neglected children. I copied some of the charts out and probably need to buy it someday. I plan on incorporating lots of their ideas into our future meetings and policy and procedure manuals to give the staff more tools for situations we see in the homes.


The Hotel, by Sonny Kleinfield

This book about the Plaza Hotel in NYC, written in 1989, was a fun book to read, even though the author definitely seemed to be the "glass half empty" type. That just added to the charm though and now I know more than I ever needed about running a hotel!


Also filling up my reading time were loads of cookbooks and books on learning Italian!

I loved making all sorts of fabulous, bright and colorful salads with the many ingredients available here in the US. My most used cookbook to give me fresh ideas for those was Simply Salads by Jennifer Chandler.


And so - apart from what I find to read on the 24+ hour trek back to Bolivia the next two days - ends my happy reading journey!