Tomas Update: Week 17 in Trenčín

This is Bryce here, not Tomas. While he didn’t say outright that he wouldn’t be sending an email this week, I’ll be very surprised if he does. He found out last week that he’d be training a new missionary, and that started on Saturday, so he’s got his hands more than a little full right now. Training a new missionary is already an added load, but this particular instance makes it even more challenging. His new companion was called to the Czech-Slovak Slovak area, just like Tomas. However, he was assigned to teach the Gospel in Ukrainian. This means that

Book Review: The Glass Castle

This was such a stunningly good book. I usually read more squarely in the area of genre fiction. Fantasy, thriller, science fiction. I read books for escapism, so the fact that I loved this one speaks to just how great it is. Because it’s anything but escapism. Wells writes a memoir of her childhood, growing up in conditions that bring new meaning to the word squalor. She pulls no punches, portraying her family and the people she knew back then for both good and ill. Her father was both a raging alcoholic and someone who really wanted to be a

Farmington Fair on an Off Day

We had planned to go to the fair on Monday, as we usually do. Mondays they have ride bracelets, so the kids can ride as many rides as they want for one price. However, the rain had different plans. Monday wasn’t an option, so we had to reevaluate. We’ve gone Wednesday before (the other ride bracelet day), but it’s been such a bad experience: so, so, so many people. Huge lines. Just chaos. So instead, we decided to go yesterday on my birthday. It was the first time we’ve tried going on a night that didn’t have ride bracelets. On

On Birthdays: 2023 Edition

It looks like it’s that time of year again! My Facebook feed is exploding with well wishes, and I’ve got people knowing about my birthday left and right in person. (I have many complaints about Facebook, but this is not one of them. I think it’s great that it gives people something small like this to connect over, though I am a habitually terrible Happy Birthday wisher.) When you’re a kid, a birthday is an extremely exciting event. I mean, cake and presents? How does it get any better? I think it’s also big, because people pay extra attention to

What Makes Something “Young Adult”?

I read reviews and chatter about books online. It comes with the territory of being an author and librarian. And a personal pet peeve of mine is when books are dismissed as being “too young adult.” (I mean, of course it would irritate me, seeing as how I write young adult literature. I’d like to make a particular side note of an even bigger pet peeve: when adults criticize a YA book for being “too YA.” That’s like me getting angry that my chocolate ice cream tastes like chocolate.) From context, I gather that when people talk about something being