Finishing well . . . Walking in faith . . .

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Weekend Read - Readathon Day #3

Up early with coffee and a Bible reading.  Day 3 of the Sisters Readathon.  By now I can say that I am loving the book choice I made . . .

Talk Before Sleep by Elizabeth Berg.

I voiced a challenge for this a.m. and if you are reading along with us today for the Sister's Readathon feel free to leave your comment after this blog!   Challenge was to read the next 10 pages in your book and share something from it!

Oddly, my book doesn't have chapters numbered??  But about page 119 is where I started from today and read on about Ruth and Ann.  Best friends.  Ruth has advanced breast cancer and eventually it has spread to her bones, lungs, and brain.  Although it tugs at my heart to read it there are many times that I have chuckled at how strong and witty the two friends are.

In the ten pages I read for the challenge - the friends are all discussing the fact that they feel possibly Ruth is not dying afterall.  In fact they feel she has been healed - or could be healed - and that they should not give up hope.   It reminded me back over twenty years ago well 25 to be exact that one of my first cousins was diagnosed with an advanced and rare form of cancer in the sinuses and nasal area including lymph nodes.  2% chance of survival for five years.   He was tried on the newest trial regimen and although he had to have tube feedings for awhile and suffer through chemotherapy . . . He has survived and beaten the odds!  I sent him books about visual imagery and that technique is used in this story I'm reading - picturing the cancer cells being beaten and destroyed, starved to death, ordered to leave!!   I believe that works!!   So secretly I'm hoping that is how the book Talk Before Sleep ends - with her defeating the awful C word . . . but I'm thinking not.

Very good book choice - it gets 5 stars from me so far!

How is your weekend readathon going and what are you learning?



1 comment:

  1. Cancer seems to be so prevalent these days, Nearly everyone has experienced the disease in themselves or someone close to them. So stories of beating the odds are so encouraging!

    For those who don't know, Teri is reading this book because I raved about it. My best friend died from cancer in 2004, so the story was very personal to me. I'm sure Teri's experience of losing her mother-in-law to cancer will make it very personal for her as well, but in a different way. I think that anyone who reads this story brings their own personal experiences to it and is touched in a unique way.

    This brings up a sequel to my question from yesterday, "Why do we read and what do we gain from it?"

    Today I want to know: Why do we read painful things, or emotional things, or frightening things? What do we get from reading a story that makes us cry? And on the flip side, what do we get from reading "they all lived happily ever after" stories? Tell what genres you are most drawn to and why.

    Happy reading!

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