A Melodious Sonnet

420 Hamburgers (aka, Butchering Day)

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I have concluded that occasionally my family is a little bit crazy, like the day last week when we made 420 hamburgers, just for fun.

My brothers like going hunting, and when my oldest brother heard that Mom wouldn’t mind having some more meat, he went out with a friend, and they came back with two deer. That was quite a blessing—they don’t always even see deer when they go out!—and we gratefully received the meat.

Last Thursday, almost everyone in our family worked to break the carcasses down and debone the meat.

By lunchtime, we were almost finished with the deboning process, and started grinding the meat.

We made quite a bit of the meat into bulk sausage/sausage mince:

And then came the biggest job: Making hamburgers!

So, without further ado, here is how you make 420(ish) hamburgers at once. First, flatten your pile of meat and then hollow out the center:

Pour on cup after cup after cup of oats,

and crack 60 eggs into the middle. (Sprinkle on some dried onion, salt, and pepper, too.)

Pour more wetness in, just for fun—jars and jars of tomato juice. Don’t let it breach its banks!

(And this is the part where I didn’t get a picture, because my hands were coated in the mixture.) Carefully mix it up, and DON’T let the dam burst, and the contents slide onto the floor. We had several tense, exciting moments, but managed to avert disaster, on the whole.

Mix it until it’s all one uniform stack again (my siblings decided to make the world’s biggest hamburger, below; I’m not sure how we were going to manage to get it to a barbecue in one piece, though).

Then, divide your huge hamburger out into patties, with cling wrap in between each layer. It’ll seem like an endless job…

…but it really isn’t. It only takes around 30 minutes.

Freeze them, and the next day (sorry, I forgot to get a picture), pop them loose and re-bag them, and then enjoy having (almost) all your work done for you the next time you want to have hamburgers for dinner.

Oh, and if you’re interested, here’s the recipe we used (in case you want to be as crazy as we are):

What would you do if you were given 420 hamburgers to eat?

September TBR List // going WAY overboard with my selections (14 books!)

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It’s been a good few months since my last TBR list post (or any post, for that matter!). In the intervening time, I was blessed to be able to go to the States with two of my brothers, where we were able to spend a month catching up with almost all of our extended family and a few friends from way back, too! It was such a special, precious time. God is good!

We got to visit with a cousin and see the Golden Gate Bridge on our long layover in San Francisco!

I didn’t get much reading done over the past two months, partly because of the (almost) impossible tasks I set myself before leaving for the States, and then because I prioritized time with family over reading while there. So now that we’re home again, and I’ve recovered from jet lag enough to think again, I’m super excited to get back into reading! That means I’ve given myself a rather ambitious list this month, but I think that’s okay, too!

Some links in this post are affiliate links. Your purchase through these links helps keep this blog going, at no extra expense to you. Thanks for your support!

New Releases/ARCs:

Freedom Was in Sight! by Kate Masur
City Bird by Vinet and Harrison
All We Thought We Knew by Michelle Shocklee

Publishing September 3: Freedom Was in Sight! by Kate Masur. According to the book, this is a graphic history (like a graphic novel, but more historical). Although some elements are (as expected) on the politically correct side, I’m enjoying the book so far—I just started it last evening.

Publishing September 3: City Bird by Angela Harrison Vinet and Janis Hatten Harrison. I enjoyed reading Country Bird earlier this year—a fun, playful way to look at some of the different birds God created. I’m looking forward to this short read.

Publishing October 1: All We Thought We Knew by Michelle Shocklee. I’m a sucker for dual-timeline stories, and the description of this one reminds me of Things We Didn’t Say by Amy Lynn Green, a 5-star read from earlier this year. I’m hoping it’ll be good!

Read Your Bookshelf Challenge:

Mother Teresa: Angel of the Slums by Lewis Helfand and Sachin Nagar

I swapped my September and August prompts this year, because a book I read in August fits September’s prompt perfectly. So for September, I need a book with a house on the cover. I’ve chosen to go with Mother Teresa: Angel of the Slums by Lewis Helfand. I’ve been wanting to read this graphic biography for at least a year now, and this seems like the perfect opportunity!

Other Reading Challenge Prompts:

Besides the Read Your Bookshelf Challenge, I’m also trying to do the 2024 Buzzword Reading Challenge and a variation on the 2024 Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge. I’ve decided that next year, I only want to do one reading challenge—having three going concurrently has been just a bit much for me. So this month, I’d like to focus on (mostly) finishing up the other two. We’ll see if I can make that happen!

Street Kids, Solvents, and Salvation by Natalie Vellacott
A Papa Like Everyone Else by Sydney Taylor
Alone Yet Not Alone by Tracy Leininger Craven

A title that includes one of the following words: There, their, or they’re: Street Kids, Solvents & Salvation by Natalie Vellacott (formerly They’re Rugby Boys, Don’t You Know?, which was the title when I got the book, so I’m counting it). I’ve been wanting to read this story about a missionary in the Philippines for years, so I thought this was a good time to fit it in.

A title that includes the word “every”: I found A Papa Like Everyone Else by Sydney Taylor a while back—one I’d never heard of before, but it sounds like a fascinating story!

A title that contains repeating words: Alone Yet Not Alone by Tracy Leininger Craven. I just brought this all-time favorite book back with me when we came home from the States. We used to have it on cassette tape, and I almost wore those tapes out by listening to them so much as a child. I can’t wait to read this book again!

If Only It Were Yesterday by A.M. Heath
The Last Holiday Concert by Andrew Clements
Under the Hibiscus by Chautona Havig
What I Promise You by Liz Tolsma

A title that contains the word “only”: One of the few A.M. Heath books that I haven’t read yet is If Only It Were Yesterday, and I’ve been wanting to pick it up for ages. This is an excellent excuse!

A title that includes a holiday-related word: I found The Last Holiday Concert by Andrew Clements in a thrift store in the States. I’ve loved other books he’s written, so I can’t wait to try this new-to-me one out, too!

The first book in an unfinished series: This was a hard category to find a book for, but I finally found Under the Hibiscus by Chautona Havig. I’ve been hearing a lot about this series, and can’t wait to try it!

A book that has a door on the cover: What I Promise You by Liz Tolsma. I read What I Would Tell You, the first book in the series, in early 2023. Now that we have book two on the shelf, I’m looking forward to reading it.

Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster
Rise of the Fallen by Chuck Black

A book shared in a newsletter or podcast episode: A Noble Scheme by Roseanna M. White. I’ve been wanting to read this book ever since it was published at the beginning of the year, so with the author’s newsletters mentioning the story, this fits the prompt perfectly!

A classic I started on the way home: Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster. I’ve heard good things about this book, and I was thrilled to find a copy in a second-hand bookstore while we were at Sault Ste. Marie with my aunt and cousins! I’ve decided this is my souvenir of that trip. So far, I’m loving the book.

And finally, I’m including a book I’ve been avoiding since 2017. I listened to the audiobook of Cloak of the Light by Chuck Black seven years ago, and that creeped me out so much that I didn’t ever get around to finishing the series since then. My brothers have assured me up and down that the rest of the series makes that first book a lot better, and on this recent trip to the States, one of my brothers bought the whole series in paperbacks. That means I really don’t have any excuses now, so I’m planning to read Rise of the Fallen soon. I am looking forward to seeing what happens to the characters; I’m just nervous about how long it might take me to recover from the story after reading it! Pray for me.

September 2024 TBR List

Fourteen books! Okay; there’s no way I’ll get through all these books in the next month (unless I get sick and can’t do anything for a month, or something like that). They’ll probably roll over into October, and that’s fine, too. There are just so many I want to read, and I’m feeling rather deprived after only finishing three books in the past month, so I want to just read, read, read!

Have you ever read any of these books? Are you in a reading slump, or are you in reading mode, too? Do you have any recent favorites that I ought to add to my list for October?

My May TBR: A Solid Dose of Historical and Contemporary Fiction

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The beginning of April was a bit of a whirlwind, so I never managed to make up a TBR for the month. It was interesting to not have the guidance of a list for the month—and even more interesting to realize how much I enjoy having a TBR list to follow!

April still ended up being a fairly successful reading month, in my opinion. Here are the books I finished last month:

Gods & Kings by Lynn Austin
★★★★ ½
Wings to Soar by Tina Athaide
★★★★ ½
Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis
★★★★
Byrd's Eye View by Chautona Havig
★★★ ½
For a Lifetime by Gabrielle Meyer
★★★★ ½
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
★★

Some links in this post are affiliate links. Your purchase through these links helps keep this blog going, at no extra expense to you. Thanks for your support!

For May, I’m wanting to read all the books, but I know that’s impossible. I am expecting to have a little more reading time than I had over the first few months of the year, so that should be fun! I’m also coming out of a bit of a reading slump (a couple of the books I read this past month weren’t the most gripping/fun reads for me), so I want to read at least a few books that I know I’ll probably love.

New Releases/ARCs:

Between the Sound and Sea by Amanda Cox
All the Ways to Go by Jessie Janowitz
In the Shadow of Stalin by Andrea Chalupa and Ivan Rodriguez

Publishing August 6: Between the Sound and the Sea by Amanda Cox. I’ve loved every single Cox book I’ve read so far (do two books count? she’s published three total), and I can’t wait to dive into this one! I have no idea what it’s about, but I suspect it’ll be good. There’s a lighthouse on the cover, so that must mean something good, right?

Publishing September 3: All the Ways to Go by Jessie Janowitz. I loved The Doughnut Fix when Mom read it aloud to us last year, so when I saw this one coming out, I snatched it up asked nicely for it. It’s about a chess prodigy who doesn’t want to play chess anymore. I can’t wait to get into it!

Publishing September 3: In the Shadow of Stalin by Andrea Chalupa and Ivan Rodriguez. I debated about whether or not to ask for this book, but curiosity won out. It’s based on the true story of a reporter who investigated Stalin, if I remember right. I’m expecting it to be a bit on the icky side, but it’s a piece of history I don’t feel like I know very well, so I thought it was worth the risk.

Read Your Bookshelf Challenge:

The Light in the Window by June Goulding

I’ve decided to stick to the Doyle side of this challenge over the next few months, which means I need to read a book that’s by a new-to-me author. That’s not hard; I’ve got a stack of them in my room! I think I’ll read The Light in the Window by June Goulding, a book I picked up when second-hand shopping at some stage. This is a memoir about a midwife who worked in an unwed mother’s home in Ireland in the 1950s. I’m guessing it’ll be a difficult read, but I’d like to know what it’s about, to decide whether I want to keep the book or not.

Other Reading Challenge Prompts:

Besides the Read Your Bookshelf Challenge, I’m also trying to do the 2024 Buzzword Reading Challenge and a variation on the 2024 Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge. These two challenges aren’t priorities for me; I’d love to finish them, but it’s not a big deal if I don’t. I’ve decided to pick a few prompts this month, to see if I can check a few more off. We’ll see how we go!

How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr
Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
Like Dandelion Dust by Karen Kingsbury

A book with two POV: How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr. Mom read this book last year, and wanted me to read it, to see what she thought. I’ve tried at least two other books trying to fill this prompt (what is it with books with three or more points of view?), but I’m fairly certain this sticks to two.

A book by a favorite author: I just picked up Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw last night. This has been a long-time favorite of mine, and I’ve loved every McGraw book I’ve ever read or heard!

A book with a title that includes the word “like”: Like Dandelion Dust by Karen Kingsbury. I’ve had this one on the shelf for a while, and I’d like to see if I want to keep it or not. I read my first Kingsbury book a year or two ago, and that was so-so; I guess we’ll see what I think about this one!

On Moonberry Lake by Holly Varni
The Foxhole Victory Tour by Amy Lynn Green

A 2023 debut novel: On Moonberry Lake by Holly Varni. I’ve had a hard time deciding which book to choose for this prompt, but I can get this book in audiobook form, so this is the one I’ve chosen. I’m looking forward to it!

A book that was blurbed by a favorite author: The Foxhole Victory Tour by Amy Lynn Green. I haven’t decided yet whether to read this or listen to the audiobook, but there’s a blurb on the back from Sarah Sundin, who is a new favorite author of mine (a favorite counts if you’ve read two of their books, right?). I’ve been wanting to read this book anyway, so this seemed like a good excuse. 😉

Well, I think that should keep me busy this month! I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up skipping a few of these, or swapping some out if I end up getting an unexpected review book or something like that.

What are you hoping to read in May? Do you tend to get over-ambitious about your reading plans, too?

March TBR List // I’m Trying to Keep it Short!

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February ended up being a great reading month, overall; I had five 5-star reads and two 4 ½-star reads, which feels incredible after some months with what feels like almost all sub-par books! If you’re interested, click on the pictures below to be taken to my reviews of the books, where a review is available.

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
★★★★★
Embers in the London Sky by Sarah Sundin
★★★★ ½
The Brontë Plot by Katherine Reay
★★★ ½
While the City Sleeps by Elizabeth Camden
★★★ ½
Seacrow Island by Astrid Lindgren
★★★★★
Return to Eden by Paco Roca
★★★ ½
Selina by Pauline Cartwright
★★
Now We Are Six by A. A. Milne
★★★★★
Her Mother’s Hope by Francine Rivers
★★★★ ½

Some links in this post are affiliate links. Your purchase through these links helps keep this blog going, at no extra expense to you. Thanks for your support!

March is shaping up to be a busy month for me, with several trips away planned. I’ve intentionally tried to pare down my TBR list for the month (in other words, I only have 7 books on the list, instead of the 10 I wanted to do . . . !). I’m hoping to read more than what I’ve put on the list for this month, but if I don’t, that’s okay, too.

New Releases/ARCs:

These Tangled Threads by Sarah Loudin Thomas
10 Women Who Changed the World by Daniel L. Akin
Chernobyl by Matyas Namai

I currently have three ARCs I’m hoping to read this month, and so far, I’m enjoying them! I hope that will continue.

Publishing April 2: These Tangled Threads by Sarah Loudin Thomas. I’m still trying to figure this book out, to some extent, but it is intriguing—especially the Biltmore aspect. This is my third Thomas book, and so far, she’s been pretty good. I have high expectations for this one!

Publishing April 2: 10 Women Who Changed the World by Daniel L. Akin. This book has been a breath of fresh air for me! It’s a cross between a set of short biographies and a devotional. I’ve been taking my time as I read, enjoying getting to know these women (many of whom are unfamiliar to me), and appreciating the rich Biblical truths brought out through the biographies. Highly recommended so far!

Publishing April 16: Chernobyl: The Fall of Atomgrad by Matyáš Namai. This is a graphic novel about Chernobyl. I’ve read the first few pages, and they were fascinating. Can’t wait to get back to it!

Read Your Bookshelf Challenge:

Gods & Kings by Lynn Austin
Byrd's Eye View by Chautona Havig

This month’s prompt was hard! I finally found a book that had more than two points of view, but it took a while. I picked Gods & Kings by Lynn Austin. It has at least three POV, maybe more, and it’s been on my “want-to-read” list for a long time, so it’s about time I finally gave it some attention!

Just because it looks fun, I’ve decided to try to do both sides of the challenge (both Doyle and Montgomery). Although Doyle will be my “official” side for this challenge, for the L.M. Montgomery prompt, I need a book with two POV. I found out Byrd’s-Eye View by Chautona Havig fits the bill. I’ve been wanting to read it ever since it was released, anyway, so this seemed like a good chance to do that!

Borrowed Books:

Imprisoned in Iran by Dan Bauman
Tomorrow You Die by Reona Peterson Joly

I’ve had these borrowed books on my shelf since August, I think. I’m guessing it’s about time to get them back to their owners, who I will hopefully be seeing at the end of the month.

Imprisoned in Iran by Dan Baumann: I read a book about a missionary imprisoned in Sudan last year, and this one looks like it will be good, too. I can’t wait to read it!

Tomorrow You Die by Reona Peterson Joly: I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book set in Albania before, so that’s intriguing. The title is also intriguing. Another one I can’t wait to get into!

Here’s my March TBR stack:

March 2024 TBR

I’m so tempted to add more to this list, but I don’t think I will. I may end up adding more later in the month, if I realize I’m running out of options.

Have you read any of the books I mentioned? What are you hoping to read in March?

What I’m Reading in February

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I was hoping to get to a February TBR post this month, and that just hasn’t happened. We were away on holiday for the first few days of the month, and then when we got home, it seemed like one thing after another happened, and I haven’t had the time or brain space to sit down and think about a post until now.

So far this year, I’ve read 19 books (some of those are included in the list below). I’m not sure how that happened, aside from the fact that I read a LOT of audiobooks . . . but I’ve also read a lot of other books, too. I was also on a classics reading kick last month, which was a lot of fun! I’d like to return to that, but we’ll see how the next few weeks go.

Some links in this post are affiliate links. Your purchase through these links helps keep this blog going, at no extra expense to you. Thanks for your support!

New Releases/ARCs:

Embers in the London Sky by Sarah Sundin
While the City Sleeps by Elizabeth Camden

This month, I’ve had a few ARCs to read. Those have taken highest priority in my reading list.

Released February 6: Embers in the London Sky by Sarah Sundin. I loved this story! Fascinating history, sweet romance, an intriguing mystery . . . there was a lot to love here. If The Wednesday Wars wasn’t my top read of the month so far, I think Embers could be this month’s favorite pick.

Released February 13: While the City Sleeps by Elizabeth Camden. I didn’t enjoy this one as much as Embers, but it was still a fun history/mystery/romance read.

Releasing February 27: Return to Eden by Paco Roca. I haven’t started this graphic novel yet, but I’m hoping to in the next day or so. It sounds intriguing; I believe it’s a true story, based on the author’s mother’s life after the war. I’ve hardly read anything about Spain in recent years, which makes me interested in the story, and I’m really hoping it won’t have anything icky in it!

Return to Eden by Paco Roca
Selina by Pauline Cartwright

Read Your Bookshelf Challenge:

This month’s prompt says I need to read a book under 250 pages. I’m going to go with a super short book this month, Selina by Pauline Cartwright (47 pages long; it’s an early chapter book), and if I have time to do something more after that, I may end up swapping out books later on. I wouldn’t normally go with such a short book, but it fits the prompt, and it’s one I own but haven’t read yet—and I have a goal of working through some of the books I own this year.

Library books:

The Brontë Plot by Katherine Reay
Seacrow Island by Astrid Lindgren
Her Mother’s Hope by Francine Rivers

I got to go to the library near the end of January—the first time in a year or more for me! What a treat! Even more of a treat, I found some books by authors I’ve wanted to try for a while or old favorite authors, but titles I haven’t read yet, so I ended up checking out three books. I’ve read one, am almost through another, and have yet to start the third.

The one I’ve finished: The Brontë Plot by Katherine Reay. I’ve been wanting to try her books for a while. This wasn’t my most favorite read ever, but I’m excited to read more of her works. I loved all the references to classics that she wove into this story, as well as the way she told a story of transformation and hope.

The one I’m currently reading: Seacrow Island by Astrid Lindgren. She’s one of my favorite authors from childhood (Pippi Longstocking was a particular favorite), and this book is the most darling story! I’ve laughed more with this book than almost any other book this year (The Wednesday Wars was also pretty funny), and am absolutely delighted at the whimsical way this story is told. I’m currently trying to convince Mom to read this aloud before it goes back to the library. 😉

The one I haven’t started yet: Her Mother’s Hope by Francine Rivers. Rivers has been slightly hit-or-miss with me, but for the most part, I’ve enjoyed her works. It seemed like a good time to take the chance to read another of her books.

Audio Books:

Christy by Catherine Marshall
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

I still have quite a bit of gardening ahead of me this month, so I’ll be turning on audiobooks to keep myself entertained through that.

First up: Christy by Catherine Marshall. I’m re-reading this book as an audiobook. SUCH a good story. Thoroughly enjoying it again!

And if I have time: The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo. I just recently got Les Misérables in print, so I’m hoping to start reading it soon(ish), but for now, I’m content to get my classics in audio format. I’ve heard mixed feedback on this one, so I’ll be interested to see what I think about it.

Here’s my (physical) February stack. It looks pretty small, but if you count in the ebooks and audiobooks I’ve read/am reading this month as well, it would be quite a bit taller.

Feb Stack

I’m also hoping to have a peek at the Brighter Winter Reading Challenge yet this month, but I know my time is running out . . . I just haven’t had enough time to even really think about it. I believe I did manage to fill in about seven boxes last month, but I haven’t had time to look at the list for quite a while. If you manage to complete the challenge, or even part of it, I’d love to know what you read for it!

What are you reading this month? What is the best book you’ve read so far in February?