Teachings of Presidents of the Church: George Albert Smith

8/10

I finished reading this today. I have now read every Teachings of Presidents of the Church book. I wonder if they'll ever make a Monson one? The main takeaway from this book is that President G.A.S. was a man dedicated to moving the work forward. He was a dedicated, missionary-minded disciple. It's inspiring reading about people who are so committed to the Gospel. He was also a very loving man, which I suppose goes hand-in-hand with being a good missionary and being successful in advancing the Gospel.

Two Quotes:

"Your happiness will be in proportion to your charity."

"And whatever we do let us not make those who require assistance feel like paupers. Let us give what we give as though it belonged to them."

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

10/10

Finished reading this a couple days ago and it is easily the lamest one so far... NOT! Lamest cover so far, though, probably. The series keeps building and building and has quite clearly hit its stride. Plot twists galore, weaving together more and more storylines and characters, and just really creative storytelling. There were some edge of your seat moments in this one, much more intense by far than we have encountered in any of the previous books in the series. The first chapter in this one was far superior to any of the others as it immediately jumped into the action and built the suspense from the get-go.

Rowling has really created a nice world full of lots of great characters which she can seemingly do anything with at this point. It must have been a thrilling time for J.K. as she had so much ammunition to work with in deciding what to do next. That being said, I just can't see how she can top this one. It was flawlessly executed. I'm not sure if reading these to my daughter has made me enjoy it more than I otherwise would, but nonetheless, this was very fun to read.

Here are my rankings of the books I've read so far in this series:

1. HP-4
2. HP-3
3. HP-2
4. HP-1

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Lorenzo Snow

9/10

I finished reading this a few days ago. I'm finally getting around to finishing off the last few of these books that have sat half-read for the last several years. This is my second to last one that I have left.

I enjoyed this one. He is a really faithful guy and very intelligent. I think my favorite chapter in any of the Teachings of the Presidents book is Chapter 6 in this book. It is a must-read. It is titled: "Becoming Perfect before the Lord: 'A Little Better Day by Day.'" There are lots of good thoughts and quotes from this chapter, but I particularly liked this one:

"In all your acts and conduct ever have the consciousness that you are now preparing and making yourselves a life to be continued through eternities; act upon no principle that you would be ashamed or unwilling to act upon in heaven, employ no means in the attainment of an object that a celestial enlightened conscience would disapprove. Whilst feelings and passions excite you to action, let principles pure, honorable, holy, and virtuous, always rule and govern."