Beauty

As I was in the temple the other day, I was working with a woman who was completely wrinkled. Every inch of her face was a wrinkle, it seemed. But, she was glowing with happiness and kindness and I couldn't help but think she was beautiful for that. Seeing her wrinkles, however, reminded me of an ad that's popped up on websites frequently, that shows the difference this product can make for wrinkled skin.  (Curiously, there's also a disclaimer on the ad that says the results aren't typical. Ha!) Nonetheless, it does target this supposition in society that wrinkles aren't attractive, so people must not want them. But thinking about this woman, I tried to imagine her wrinkle-free, and it just seemed to me that it wouldn't make a bit of difference. If anything, she was more beautiful for her wrinkles. But really, her kindness and happiness--that is, having the Spirit of the Lord with her is what made her beautiful. She simply glowed with it.

Then, I took another step in my thinking. Is the wrinkle-free, shininess that is advertised as making one beautiful a way of women trying to target that glow they know they want, but with a misunderstanding of the source? Is there something innate in us that sees the glowing aspect of beautiful people that makes us want to emulate it, but without a knowledge of where it comes from, it's pretty hard to replicate. You can draw the conclusions you want from here, but I just thought I'd share some ponderings.

Books I've Finished Reading in 2009

Just for record keeping's sake, I'm pasting the list I'd kept on the sidebar here. Don't think I'm a crazy reader, though maybe I am. A lot of these are short, though--picture books or easy readers. With all my tutoring and teaching ESL this summer, I've tried to keep track of the books I read. Might help me recall some good ones in later times if the opportunities arise again. Also, I did a lot of books on CD this year, driving to and from work and just around town. 

• A Friend for Dragon; Dav Pilkey
• A Snout for Chocolate; Denys Cazet
• A Year Down Yonder; Richard Peck
• All Things Bright and Beautiful; Cecil Alexander, ill. Anna Vojtech
• Appointment with Death; Agatha Christie
• Austenland; Shannon Hale
• Bear Snores On; Karma Wilson
• Bee-bim Bop!; Linda Sue Park; Ho Baek Lee
• Blink; Malcolm Gladwell
• Bones and the Math Test Mystery; David A. Adler; Barbara Johansen Newman
• Boo to a Goose; Mem Fox and David Miller
• Book of a Thousand Days, Shannon Hale
• Born Blue, Han Nolan
• Clarice Bean Spells Trouble; Lauren Child
• Clarice Bean, Don't Look Now; Lauren Child
• Clifford's Happy Easter; Norman Bridwell
• Consider Love; Sandra Boynton
• Crash; Jerry Spinelli
• Crispin and the Cross of Lead; Avi
• Crispin at the Edge of the World; Avi
• Dancing on the Edge; Han Nolan
• Dragon's Fat Cat; Dav Pilkey
• Dragon's Merry Christmas; Dav Pilkey
• FableHaven, Grip of the Shadow Plague; Brandon Mull
• Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star (Fablehaven, #2); Brandon Mull
• Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg; Gail Carson Levine
• Fancy Nancy at the Museum; Jane O'Connor
• Fancy Nancy Sees Stars; Jane O'Connor
• Flat Stanley: Jeff Brown
• Flipped; Wendelin van Draanen
• Flush; Carl Hiassen
• For Biddle's Sake; Gail Carson Levine
• Good Night, Washington DC; Adam Gamble
• Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods; Suzanne Collins
• Gregor and the Marks of Secret; Suzanne Collins
• Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane (Book II); Suzanne Collins
• Hercule Poirot's Christmas; Agatha Christie
• Hiroshima; Laurence Yep
• Hooray for Fly Guy; Tedd Arnold
• Huggly Gets Dressed; Tedd Arnold
• Iris and Walter, the School Play; Elissa Haden Guest; Christine Davenier
• Jody's Beans; Malachy Doyle; Judith Allibone
• Julep O'Toole Miss Independent; Trudi Trueit
• Julep O'Toole: Confessions of a Middle Child; Trudi Trueit
• Just Me and My Little Brother; Mercer Mayer
• Le Petit Prince, Antoine de St. Expuery
• Leaf Man; Lois Ehlert
• Letters from Rapunzel; Sara Lewis Holmes
• Little Monster's Neighborhood; Mercer Mayer
• Little Rat Sets Sail; Monika Bang-Campbell; Molly Bang
• Little Whistle's Dinner Party; Cynthia Rylant, Tim Bowers
• Little Witch Goes to School; Deborah Hautzig; Sylvie Wickstrom
• Llama Llama Red Pajama; Anna Dewdney
• Madeline; Ludwig Bemelmans
• Marvin K. Mooney will you please go now!; Dr. Seuss
• Max the Great; W.L. Heath
• Millie Waits for the Mail; Alexander Steffensmeier
• Mississippi Trial, 1955; Chris Crowe
• Money Troubles; Bill Cosby; Varnette P. Honeywood
• Moon Glowing; Elizabeth Partridge and Joan Paley
• Nake Mole Rat Gets Dressed; Mo Willems
• Nate the Great and the MIssing Key; Marjorie Weinman Sharmat; Marc Simont
• Nate the Great Saves the King of Sweden; Marjorie Weinman Sharmat; Marc Simont
• Now You See It...; Vivian Vande Velde
• One of the Third Grade Thonkers; Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
• Pish and Posh Wish for Fairy Wings; Barbara Bottner and Gerald Kruglik
• Pollyanna; Eleanor Porter
• Redwall; Brian Jacques
• Scat; Carl Hiassen
• Seven-Day Magic; Edgar Eager
• Spiderwick Chronicles #1; The Field Guide; Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi
• Spiderwick Chronicles #2, The Seeing Stone; Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
• Spiderwick Chronicles #3, Lucinda's Secret; Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
• Stan the Hot Dog Man; Ethel and Leonard Kessler
• Tales from the Hood; Michael Buckley
• Teachings of the Presidents of the Church, Joseph Smith
• Tess of the D'Urbervilles; Thomas Hardy
• The Bear Snores On; Karma Wilson
• The Berenstain Bears and the D... The Berenstain Bears and the Double Dare; Stan and Jan Berenstain
• The Berenstain Bears and the In-Crowd; Stan and Jan Berenstain
• The Cat Who Went into a Closet (Reader's Digest Book version); Lilian Jackson Braun
• The Dark Hills Divide; Patrick Carman
• The Everafter War; Michael Buckley
• The Fairy's Mistake; Gail Carson Levine
• The Foot Book; Dr. Seuss
• The Frog Prince; Gillian McKnight
• The Graveyard Book; Neil Gaiman
• The Last Book in the Universe; Rodman Philbrick
• The Long Winter, Laura Ingalls Wilder
• The Midwife's Apprentice; Karen Cushman
• The Nake Mole Rat Letters; Mary Amato
• The Name Jar; Yangsook Choi
• The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency; Alexander McCall Smith
• The Princess Test; Gail Carson Levine
• The Secret of the Old Clock; Carolyn Keene
• The Silly Gooses; Dav Pilkey
• The Three Silly Girls Grubb; John and Ann Hassett
• The View from Saturday; E.L. Konigsburg
• The Warrior Maiden; Ellen Schecter; Laura Kelly
• The Wednesday Letters; Jason Wright
• The Willoughbys; Lois Lowry
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond; Elizabeth George Speare
• The Worst Witch Saves the Day; Jill Murphy
• The Year of the Dog; Grace Lin
• There was an Old Lady who Swallowed Fly Guy; Tedd Arnold
• Things are Gonna Get Ugly; Hillary Homzie
• Three Stories You Can Read to Your Cat; Sara Swan Miller
• Toot & Puddle: Charming Opal; Holly Hobbie
• Waiting for Normal; Leslie Connor
• We the Kids; Founding Fathers and David Catrow
• When Zachary Beaver Came to Town; Kimberly Willis Holt
• Where the Wild Things Are; Maurice Sendak
• Whoosh Went the Wind! Sally Derby and Vincent Nguyen
• words + math + seasons = mathematickles!; Betsy Franco and Steven Salerno
• Young Cam Jensen and the Ice Skate Mystery; David Alder