If you're not sure what a Mormon is, let alone a Mormon Mention, allow me to explain:  My name is Susan and I'm a Mormon (you've seen the commercials, right?).  As a member of  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (commonly known as the Mormon or LDS Church), I'm naturally concerned with how my religion is portrayed in the media.  Because this blog is about books, every time I see a reference to Mormonism in a book written by someone who is not a member of my church, I highlight it here.  Then, I offer my opinion—my insider's view—of what the author is saying.  It's my chance to correct misconceptions, expound on principles of the Gospel, and even to laugh at my (sometimes) crazy Mormon culture. 

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In Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult, 13-year-old Jenna Metcalf is trying to find her mother, who disappeared ten years ago.  While reading a book about how to become a P.I., she sees this:

"The book had other suggestions, too: searching prison databases, trademark applications, even the genealogy records of the[sic] Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  When I tried those, I didn't get any results." (Page 23)

I talked a bit about genealogy in yesterday's post, but I'm happy to revisit the topic.  The LDS Church is well-known for its interest in families—both in strengthening present bonds and linking current generations with their ancestors.  Why?  Because we believe that family bonds endure not just through mortal life, but throughout all eternity.  Families are Forever is a statement familiar to all members of the church (you're pretty much guaranteed to find it stamped, painted or cross-stitched somewhere in an LDS home).  

Because of this interest, the LDS Church has amassed a huge amount of family history resources.  Many of the records are digitized and available to the public for free on FamilySearch.org.  Thanks to the enormous amount of hours volunteers (including Yours Truly) spend transcribing such documents, more are being added all the time.  With a couple clicks of your mouse, you can access records of all kinds—birth, death, marriage, census, passenger lists from immigrant ships, etc.  You'll be amazed at how much information you can find (even if Jenna Metcalf wasn't)! 

While Googling a disgraced psychic, Jenna comes across this (fictional) news story:

"In January 2004, Jones told Yolanda Rawls of Orem, Utah, that her missing five-year-old daughter, Velvet, had been brainwashed and was being raised by a Mormon family, touching off a wave of protests in Salt Lake City.  Six months later Yolanda's boyfriend confessed to the girl's murder and led police to a shallow grave near the local dump." (Page 35) 

I'm sure everyone's heard the rumor that the LDS Church is a cult.  It's not, although considering some of the practices of Mormon spin-off groups, I can understand the misconception.  I belong to a regular, old church, I promise.  Don't believe me?  Find a Mormon chapel near your home and attend a meeting or two (or three or five or ten ...).  You can see for yourself.     

Orem is kind of a wonky place, though—just ask Suey over at It's All About Books.  Kidding, Suey!  I love the Provo/Orem area.  The six years I spent living there were some of the most memorable in my life.    

I feel like I'm always behind on something when it comes to this blog.  I've got books I read back in November sitting on my desk still waiting to be reviewed, emails I haven't answered, scheduled reviews I'm not getting to ... heck, I haven't updated my All Reviews list since 2013!  Yikes.  I'm still plugging along, though, clinging to the dream that one day I will be all caught up.  Think it will ever actually happen?  Yeah, me neither.  Oh well, a girl can dream ...

For now, we're going to do a little this and that:

First of all, I should mention that a couple weeks ago, my husband and I took a fun road trip.  Our destination:  Salt Lake City, Utah.  In the LDS church, we all have "jobs" (I use the term loosely, since it's voluntary) we do to help our congregations (known as "wards") run smoothly.  In addition to being a Cub Scout den leader, I'm also a family history consultant, as is my husband.  Even if you're not LDS, you probably know what an emphasis the church places on families—not just strengthening the bonds we have in the present, but also creating links between us and our ancestors.  Thus, each ward has 2-3 people assigned to help others work on their genealogy.  Since the husband and I are still learning the ins and outs of this job, we decided to head to SLC for the annual RootsTech genealogy conference.  It's a big deal (like, 20,000+ attendees big).  We spent the days going to classes, listening to some great speakers (A.J. Jacobs, Laura and Jenna Bush, Donny Osmond, Nicole Pikus-Pace, Al Fox, etc.), and enjoying performances by local celebs like Alex Boyé, David Archuleta, and Studio C.  It was fun.  A great trip.

Even though we spent time relaxing at our very comfortable B&B, I didn't get tons of reading done.  However, I did have a very cool bookish experience.  Salt Lake City boasts the biggest family history library in the world.  As you can imagine, it has a huge collection of family history books, including one my cousin wrote about our Clark/Cochran ancestors.  I've been interested in learning more about these early adventurers for awhile now and couldn't wait to see what information the book contained.  Since SLC has the only physical copy of the volume, I insisted we drop by the family history center so I could copy some of its pages.  I worried there might be copyright issues, but the kind, helpful senior missionaries who serve at the center assured me that—if I had the time—I could copy the entire tome onto a thumb drive without risking jail time.  As I gleefully scanned the pages, my husband did some Googling and discovered that the author of the book had, in fact, died ten years ago—almost to the day.  We figured there was no better way to honor this cousin I never knew than by sharing his life work with the next generation of our family.

I know this will make me sound like a senior citizen, but genealoy is a fun, exciting work.  If you're at all interested in learning about your family's history, check out: www.familysearch.org.  You don't have to be LDS to use this free service.  It's an incredible resource, available to everyone, anywhere in the world.

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Speaking of all things LDS, I've signed up once again to participate in the Whitney Awards Read 'Em All Challenge.  The Whitney Awards are given out annually for the best novels published in a given year by authors who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Hosted jointly by the lovely ladies at New LDS Fiction and LDS Women's Book Review, this challenge encourages people to read all of the books that have been nominated to receive a 2014 Whitney. This is no small task as there are—wait for it—40 novels in total.  As part of the Whitney Academy, I get the privilege of casting my vote to help determine the winners, so I'm going to read as many as I can.  Wish me luck!

While you have to be a member of the Academy in order to vote for the winners, you don't have to be part of the Academy or even LDS to participate in this challenge.  Anyone can sign up.  The finalists are, in general, not LDS novels at all, just general fiction that can be enjoyed by readers of any—or no—religion.  You can win weekly prizes and a nice grand prize.  If you're interested, hop on over to this post and sign up.

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Last but not least, you may recall the giveaway I had going for a copy of Fairest by Marissa Meyer.  It seems like ancient history, but I'm finally going to announce the winner!  Rafflecopter picked a random entrant, sooo ... Congratulations to:

Y'all know how much I love Top Ten Tuesday.  It's a fabulous weekly meme hosted by the ladies over at The Broke and the Bookish.  If you're looking for great new book blogs to follow, lots of reading recommendations, and traffic for your own blog, you want to get in on this.  Plus, it's fun to respond to the weekly question.

Before we get to that, though, I want to make sure you know about the awesome giveaway I have going on right now.  Up for grabs is a signed hardcover copy of Fairest, the newest book in The Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer.  It's a prequel that tells Queen Levana's story.  The winner also gets a signed bookmark.  Cool, right?  Click here to be redirected to the giveaway post.  Don't forget to come back after you enter!

Alright, back to the TTT topic du jour:  Top Ten Books I Can't Believe I Haven't Read From X Genre.  I chose dystopian/post-apocalyptic books because even though I'm a big fan of the genre, there are lots of classic dystopian books I've yet to read.  Here are the top ten that came to mind most readily:

1.  The Road by Cormac McCarthy—I broke one of my cardinal rules by watching the movie version of The Road before reading the novel.  One of these days, I'm going to brave the book.



2.  1984 by George Orwell—My husband is aghast at the fact that I haven't read this dystopian classic.  I need to remedy that soon.


3.  On the Beach by Nevil Shute—I didn't love this bleak tale in movie format, so I don't know how I'll feel about the book.  Still, it's on my need-to-read list.


4.  Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card—I've tried to read this one a few times and can never get past about Page 50.  I'm not planning to attempt it again, but I still can't believe that I've never read it all the way through.


5.  The Stand by Stephen King—Right?  I need to read this one, like, ASAP.


6.  Under the Dome by Stephen King—Ditto for this one.  I've got a copy on my bookshelf, it's just so dang HUGE.  I'll get to it one of these days.


7.  Lord of the Flies by William Golding—I'm pretty sure I have read this one, it was just so long ago that I don't remember much about it.  Either that or I've never read it.  I definitely should.


8.  The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood—I started this one a few months ago, but put it down in favor of a newer, shinier title.  I need to get back to it.


9.  Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury—I read this book-burning dystopian classic back in junior high or high school (you know, a million years ago).  A re-read is long overdue.


10.  The Time Machine by H.G. Wells—I've never read anything by Wells.  This would be a good place to start.

What do you think?  Which dystopian big hitters do I need to read ASAP?  Which have you read and loved?  What books can you not believe you've never read?  

*All book images from Barnes & Noble

Even though we're in the second month of the new year, I'm still living in the past.  I know it's SO 2014 of me to be reviewing books I read LAST year, but hey, I'm nothing if not thorough!  I was catching up, too—the last book I reviewed was one I read in October, after all—and then, this happened:


This furry ball of cuteness is an 8-week old purebred Australian shepherd.  He's adorable.  The kids named him Rory (I have a couple Whovians in the house) and we're all in love.  As you can imagine, this pup's got a lot of energy.  A lot.  And since I'm a SAHM, Rory and I spend a lot of time together.  A lot.  Needless to say, I haven't gotten much done lately in the way of reading, reviewing, housework (especially since Rory doesn't believe me when I tell him the softest, most comfy place to pee/poop is outside in the grass), or really anything.  It's like having a new baby in the house, except worse because this baby is mobile!  Aussies are super smart and Rory's no exception—he'll be fully trained in no time.  I hope ...

In non-dog related news, I went to a fun book event last night.  As a late birthday present for my 13-year-old daughter, I bought tickets for the two of us to see Marissa Meyer at Changing Hands Bookstore.  The new Phoenix location opened recently and, while it's not as cozy-funky as the one in Tempe, it's roomier.  Less space for actual books, but more for author events.  At any rate, the event was billed as a Lunar Ball.  There were decorations, food, face painting, and a number of people dressed in formal/party wear (DD and I not included—we're party poopers like that).  "Queen" Marissa was very charming.  She chatted with the crowd, answered questions, and did a reading from Winter (available November 10, 2015).  Then, she signed books, very graciously agreeing to autograph and personalize all five of our books, plus two bookmarks and a Lunar Chronicles sweatshirt that I received as a thank you for participating in the Scarlet blog tour.  All in all, it was a good time.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.


As part of the ticket price for the event, each person received a hardcover copy of Fairest, Meyer's new book.  We don't need both our copies, so I'm giving away one.  It's signed (not personalized) and includes a signed bookmark (as shown below -- sweatshirt is not included).  If you're not familiar with The Lunar Chronicles, it's a series of "rebooted" fairy tales featuring a cyborg Cinderella and her friends.  A prequel, Fairest tells the story of Levana (who's based on the evil queen in Snow White).  The series is clean, clever and fun—I've loved all the books and can't wait to delve into this one!

If you're interested in winning, please feel out the Rafflecopter entry widget below.  Contest ends on February 20 and is open to readers with U.S. and Canadian addresses only.  Good luck!

  a Rafflecopter giveaway