10 books that stayed with you

Every now and then it comes around again on facebook, the request for a list of ten books that you remember.  This morning there it was again, this time from an author I respect and enjoy, Clint Brill Author of Pure Control

http://www.amazon.com/Pure-Control-C-Brill-ebook/dp/B00JKTXTQE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1408920800&sr=1-1&keywords=Clint+Brill

He wrote on facebook

"In your status, list 10 books that stayed with you in some way. Don't think too hard. They don't have to be the "right" books or great books of literature, just ones that affected you in some way. Tag 10 friends, including me, so I can see your list.

Here's my list:
1. Bio of a Space Tyrant: Mercenary by Piers Anthony
2. For Love of Evil by Piers Anthony
3. The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton
4. Storming Heaven by Kyle Mills
5. Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
6. Icebound by Dean Koontz
7. Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon
8. Mine by Robert R. McCammon
9. Bronze Star by Donald E. Zlotnik
10.Lord of the Flies by William Golding"

Like

So I am including my list on facebook but decided that it was a good subject for an update here as well

Ten books that remain with me

1.  Ingathering: The complete People Stories by Zenna Henderson

http://www.amazon.com/Ingathering-Complete-People-Stories-Henderson/dp/0915368587/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408921075&sr=1-1&keywords=zena+henderson

2. Harry Potter (well of Course) and since they basically go without saying I'll do a 2 series for one and throw in the Narnia books as well

3. Ghost Boy by Iain Lawrence

http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Laurel-Leaf-Books-Iain-Lawrence-ebook/dp/B000FC1I8Q/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408921268&sr=1-3&keywords=iain+lawrence

4.  Mere Mortals by Neil Ravin

http://www.amazon.com/Mere-Mortals-Neil-Ravin/dp/B0019CC9NO/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408921365&sr=1-3&keywords=mere+mortals+neil+ravin

5. Christy by Catherine Marshall

http://www.amazon.com/Christy-Catherine-Marshall/dp/0380001411/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408921519&sr=1-1&keywords=christy

6. Somebody Else's kids (or any other book about her teaching Sp. Ed) by Torey Hayden

http://www.amazon.com/Somebody-Elses-Kids-Torey-Hayden/dp/038059949X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408921615&sr=1-3&keywords=one+child+by+torey+hayden

7.  The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

http://www.amazon.com/Hiding-Place-Corrie-Ten-Boom/dp/0553256696/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408921734&sr=1-2&keywords=the+hiding+place+by+corrie+ten+boom

8.  Trixie Belden (all  my Jr. high days one of this series was with me)

http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Mansion-Trixie-Belden-ebook/dp/B005PRJPZY/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408921852&sr=1-2&keywords=trixie+belden+series

9. Look out for Pirates by Iris Vinton

for teaching me to love adventures and to solve problems with brainpower  

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_20?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=look+out+for+pirates+iris+vinton&sprefix=look+out+for+pirates%2Cstripbooks%2C186

and last but most important to little ole me

10. All the books I write which would never have come into being without all the books I read or had read to me.

http://www.amazon.com/Dixie-Dawn-Miller-Goode/e/B004458ES2/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1408922166&sr=1-1

It's all in what you look for

So many things in life are really all about perspective - 

I live in a drafty, termite eaten old barn of a place - 

I have a wonderful, home filled with color and love

Both true statements

Bad House

 One of the saddest realities is that we never know when our lives are at their peak. Only after it is over and we have some kind of perspective do we realize how good we had it a day, a month, five years ago. Jonathan Carroll

I like to think that I have changed that, that I have been aware of the beauty and love and wonder around me, in the moments that I had it. and honestly that started for me, when my brother was born with Down's syndrome when I was 12 years old. I kept hearing proclamations of doom, 

"He'll never sit up" 

"Your family will be better off if they don't get attached to him." 

Even my optimistic Grandmother looked at him with tears and said "He'll have a tough row to hoe."

But I sat on the couch and rested his feet against my belly and his head by my knees and marveled at the way he laughed and met my eyes when I made silly faces, and I thought, even if his life is hard, and my life is miserable, it was worth being born just for this one happy, peaceful moment.

And both of us have had good, often wonderful lives.

Good House

 I love the best features of my house, and this could fool you into thinking it was all wonderful, but if you like the sunny side only, don't look at the pictures in the first collage

Great Yard

I couldn't show the Good and the Bad of our house and not show why we moved here in the first place, because of the 2 acres it sits on.

three good things
1. campfires with friends
2. Apples, plums, pears and blackberries for us and the deer and bear
3. sunflowers and dandelions and birds

When you wake up every day, you have two choices. You can either be positive or negative; an optimist or a pessimist. I choose to be an optimist. It's all a matter of perspective.

Harvey Mackay