Friday, December 27, 2013

A Winter Blues Solution - Stone Cottage Adventures

Hello to everyone at Inspiration Café!  I love being a monthly contributor!  My name is Marci and I blog at Stone Cottage Adventures.  Normally, you see me sewing, gardening and crafting.  Not today! 
Monday laughter :)


When our clocks "Fall Back" and the evenings are dark so early, something changes for me.  Some folks call it Winter Blues.  Once home from work after cooking and eating, I do absolutely nothing!  This year I challenged myself to fight this strange behavior with reading!  My goal is to read one book per week until the clocks "Spring Forward".  With my schedule, that's been working out about right.  It has been a GREAT battle plan and my Winter Blues have not been so bad!  BTW...  I am so very grateful to live in a society where girls are allowed to read! 
In the comments, please answer at least one of the following questions: 

1.  What are currently reading?  I'd love to hear about it!
2.  Tell us your favorite line from a book.
3.  How many books have you read this year?  Do you set reading goals for yourself?
4.  What do you think are the best or worst book to movie adaptations?

If you are curious about the books I've been reading, just click on the title to see my review!  Here they are in no particular order:

One Summer in Arkansas by Marcia Kemp Sterling
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussman
Christmas Pudding by Nancy Mitford
I Want to be Her by Andrea Linett
The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan

My favorite line from a book is:  "She is too fond of books and it has addled her brain."  Louisa May Alcott.

I am frequently disappointed with book to movie adaptations, but must admit I love Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea.

OK!  It's your turn!  Let's hear your thoughts about books!

;-)  -Marci

22 comments:

  1. Hi Marci,
    Your plan is excellent. I'm so glad that it is working for you.
    In answer to your questions:
    1. I am currently reading Carolina Gold by Dorothy Love. Look for a review in January. I've also started reading a non-fiction book, Jesus on Every Page.
    2. Favorite line- who can choose one? Here's a favorite that I truly need to implement in my life-

    "Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life become a beautiful success, in spite of poverty."
    ~Louisa May Alcott Marmee's Advice Little Women

    3. I've reviewed 28 books. I've read/listened to the Bible through three times with YouVersion.com's reading plans. I love to check those boxes. ~smile~ I used to set a goal to read 50 books a year, but with the extra Bible I've been reading and listening to, I just don't have the time.

    4. I think Anne of Green Gables was an excellent adaptation. I was pleased with Little Women (Winona Ryder version). I think that the Percy Jackson movies have been very disappointing.

    Hmmmm... this looks like the beginning of a post!

    I think I'll just save this. Perhaps you'll see it in a few days at Harvest Lane Cottage.

    God bless you, Marci. May the peace of God rest upon you.
    Laura

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    1. Oh, wow! I love that quote, Laura! Louisa May Alcott is awesome, don't you think? Thanks for all the great answers! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures

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  2. I read every single night to fall asleep. Just last night I finished The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out A Window and Disappeared. It was quirky and fun, and definitely an enjoyable read.

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    1. What a wonderful title!! I'll put that one on my list! Thank you! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures

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  3. My favorite quote from a book..“The basis of optimism is sheer terror.” from The picture Of Dorian Gray. This isn't my favorite book, but I like that line because I am a very optimistic person and I think it might be true that it stems from "sheer terror"! ;) I like your reading plan, I hope you enjoy it! I love reading pretty much anything I can get my hands on!

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    1. "Sheer Terror" is probably just about right! I know I like sticking with my comfort zone, but then life comes along and yanks me right out of it! 'Great quote, Jody! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures

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  4. Aw this is an awesome post Marci. I have to admit my reading list has been very short this year, I've been so busy with my jewelry. So you have inspired me to start again, although no -one sees me until the book is finished lol.

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    1. Your jewelry is pretty amazing! It's so hard to find time for everything! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures

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  5. Love this post! I read every night in bed.....about 4 devotionals, my bible, and then a novel or fiction book. Right now I am struggling to find a good fiction to read! I have been cheating and watching the first 3 seasons of Downton Abbey on my computer to catch up before the new season! The best book to movie adaption I have seen is the Hunger Games series. It is right on.....a little disturbing, but right on!
    Visiting from Chain Linky CLIMB

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    1. Hello, AnnMarie! I, too, like to read in bed and USUALLY do every night. Of course, there are those days where I just get in bed and fall asleep! ;-) -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures

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  6. This is my 1st time to visit your blog - I came from a link on 'a Stroll through life'.

    First off, what's wrong with doing nothing? ;o) I sure do enjoy my nothing-to-do time & love the lazy evenings of winter!

    Still, I also love to read & rarely go anywhere or sit down without a book to read or browse. Right now I'm reading a series: 'The Million Dollar Mysteries' by Mindy Starns Clark. I'm on the 4th book 'A Quarter for a Kiss' & have thoroughly enjoyed them. I'm also reading 'Make your Point' by Kevin Carroll & Bob Elliott to improve my speaking abilities - I'll be speaking to my garden club in January. I also plan to start reading through my chronological Bible this year. My husband read it last year & now it's my turn. We both love Bible history & thought it would be fun to read it chronologically.

    I have lots of favorite verses - lines from the Bible - too many to count. It's the same with fiction but one of my favorites is from Anne of Green Gables - 'Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it'.

    i don't set goals - I just read something every day.

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    1. Hi, Jenny! Your comment made me laugh out loud! "What is wrong with doing nothing?" ;-) How true! Thank you for that perspective. I will be looking for the author, Mindy Starns Clark! 'Great quote, too! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures

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  7. I read my Bible every day and of course it's my favorite book. I have another one that I read every winter. It's called, "Follow the River" written by James Alexander Thom. It's a true story of a woman that was taken by Indians in 1755. She was pregnant with her 3rd child at the time. She escaped and walked 1000 miles through a wilderness that no white woman had ever seen, to get home to her family. It's so good!! To know what this woman went through to get back to her family is amazing. I love survival stories and this one is my favorite. I hope you will read it.

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    1. "Follow the River" sounds wonderful! I will be adding it to my list for this Winter. Thank you! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures

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  8. I've been reading Margaret Atwood. I really love her books. And I read a book called The Isolation Door that was one of the best books about the family of individuals who are mentally ill that I've read in ages. Definitely check that book out. It's really good.

    Heidi’s Wanderings

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    1. Hello, Heidi! "The Isolation Door" sounds like something I would enjoy. Thank you! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures

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  9. I read every evening in the tub. I am my mother's daughter. Normally it's a trashy romance, so nothing too inspiring, but I am a huge fan of Barbara Kingsolver. Two books of hers in particular, Prodigal Summer and Animal Vegetable Mineral. I also love The Time Traveler's Wife. Makes me cry every time. My favorite quote from a book is from Don Quixote, it's kind of my own personal mantra, "The maddest of all is to see life as it is and not as it should be."

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    1. I have a dear friend that reads in the bathtub. I'm so clumsy and absent minded, I worry I would drop my book! ;-) Those titles are being added to my reading list! Thank you! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures

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  10. reading is one of my favourite hobbies and I love all things by victoria laurie and juliet blackwell thanks for sharing visiting from all things thursday have a great day

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    1. Hello, Robin! Thanks for joining in! Those authors are new to me, too! How fun to learn about them! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventutres

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  11. this is my first visit I work in a used book store and still don't read as much as I would like to.
    I am reading Cathy Kelly Home coming right now. I enjoy her writing I read for pure pleasure.
    My favorite author is Mave Binchey ( hmmm both of those are Irish writers) favorite quote:
    “...Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was. I am I, and you are you, and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by the old familiar name. Speak of me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference in your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word it always was. Let it be spoken without effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was. There is absolute and unbroken continuity. What is this death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner. All is well.”
    ― Rosamunde Pilcher, September

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    1. Welcome! I am so glad you stopped by and shared that AMAZING quote! I am especially taken with the last two sentences. Thank you! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures

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