Debbie Macomber

I was reading some Chic-lit that Aunty Florence lent me, which were Sisters-in-law by Nina Bell and Reluctant Cinderella by uh.... I forgot *sheepishsmile*. Both of them were fairly interesting, all though a bit generic, but what I didn't like was that it had uh.... graphic descriptions in them.

But the third book I read, which was The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber totally blew me away, it was that good. For one thing, the plot was really interesting, and second, there wasn't any graphic stuff inside. It's basically about 4 ladies who became friends through a knitting group at a knitting shop called A Good Yarn. And for some reason, I like knitting too, although I can only do the knit stich and nothing else >.<

Although the book was outwardly secular, I kept getting the niggling feeling that Debbie Macomber was a Christian, I guess from the passing (but respectful) references to God. But I wasn't sure, so at that time, I was just very happy that I found a book series (the Blossom Shop Street) that didn't have nudity or anything else.

But the next day (which is today), I read One Simple Act, which took me a few chapters to read before I realised that it was by Debbie Macomber, and *shout and flourish* she IS a Christian. Praise God! One Simple Act (subtittled Discovering the Power of Generosity), is about incorporating thankfulness in our lives, and allowing God to use that to work through us. The book is very inspirational, and I really really love it.

Although, like the old me, I didn't put it into practice straightaway. I woke up almost 40 minutes late today, which wrecked my schedule, so I was a little upset when I was leaving the house. But on the MRT there, I read (and finished) One Simple Act, and on the MRT back, I was thinking about being thankful. I guess that to be thankful for that would be I got more sleep (always a good thing) and I probably set my record of getting out of bed, folding my blankets, eating breakfast, changing into uniform, eating medicine and leaving the house in 15 minutes flat. (:

But during the day, I was still upset at little things, such as when almost all the group members (6 out of 10) people, left during lunch and didn't come back til the end of the session (during tea break). And since they came back late, they asked me to help "cover" them, which was getting hard because the organisers started taking attendence. But thankfully, I didn't have do anything, because they got booked, so I didn't have to falsify anything (ok, this is really weird, and probably a little mean to be thankful for - I guess my real intention is to say that I'm glad I didn't have to lie or anything).

And on the way back, I was even more upset, because I went to Popular at Brash Pasah to buy the 50th anniversary edition of To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee) and Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro) since I'm a Popular Member (mostly for the Harris Bookstore in Johor) and got a $20 voucher (though I'll infinitely prefer one by Kinokuniya, Borders or Littered with books! (But I don't think Littered With Books have them)). But when I get there, To Kill A Mockingbird was completely sold out, even though I saw it 2 days ago! And this was the main branch! But it didn't make sense to just buy a $17 book (cause TKAM is only $9+ so the $10 voucher won't cover it); so I more or less left in a huff. But after thinking it over, the good thing about this is that I have an excuse to buy more books from Popular and that I can probably find TKAM cheaper from Littered With Books, which I will be going to anyway on Friday to return Aunty Florence's book.

But on the MRT home, I started thinking about my attitude, and realised that it was very wrong, and is also very disrespectful to God. So from now on, I want to try and change my attitude, to incorporate a heart of thankfulness and generosity.

Wow! I spent more than half this post not-talking about books, although I suppose that really good books will impact your life. ^_^