Happy New Year!

My Top Five Books of 2007

Some of these are from before I started this blog, and others are already on here and reviewed. Either way, these are my top five for the year (in no particular order):

1. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini

2. Dreams from my Father, Barack Obama

3. Full of Grace, Johnette S. Benkovic

4. A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini

5. The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri

I just watched the movie that is based on The Namesake, and it was pretty good. There was a lot of the story that was left out, and I thought that detracted from the story. I watched the movie with my husband who has not read the book, and I found myself constantly explaining what was going on to him based on what I remembered from the book. So the book is great, the movie is okay. If you're going to watch the movie, read the book first. I think it'll make it much more enjoyable!

I hope everyone has a wonderful, blessed New Year! I plan on reading more, and I've already started my first book of the New Year. #22 is The How-To Book of the Mass: Everything You Need to Know but No One Ever Taught You by Michael Dubruiel, and it's actually really interesting. I am learning a lot of things about Mass and the Catholic Church that I look forward to bringing into my Sunday school class this year. I teach fourth graders, and I think they'll have fun learning the origins of the word "mass" and more. Dubruiel combines fun facts with doctrine and his real life experiences to present information about the Mass in a new and interesting way. I can't wait to read the rest!

Prayer for the New Year:

Dear God,
Bless our family and all its members and friends;
Bind us together by your love.
Give us kindness and patience to support each other;
And wisdom in all we do.
Let the gift of your peace come into our hearts,
And remain with us.
May we rejoice in your blessings for all our days.
Amen.