100 Books in 2006?

The Year Has Come To A Close

2007-01-02T13:21:00.000-06:00

Okay, i'm not sure i'll find a cool picture...maybe. i know it's already the second, but i was unable to post until just today. what a fun year! i'm actually sad to be finished this project. No no, this herculean task hasn't made me swear off reading, but it was just fun to let everyone know what i think. well, i guess nothing prevents me from doing that normally. but you know what i mean. this was a great way for me to think about and sometimes evaluate what i read. anyhoo, let me tell you my favorite five books of the year:
In a Sunburnt Country by Bill Bryson (Book 16)
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (Book 5)
Eaters of the Dead (Book 12)
The Seville Communion (Book 40)
East of Eden (Book 24)
i discovered bill bryson this year, as well as john steinbeck. i did read a lot of silly mysteries and such in order to get more accomplished, but i do enjoy the mindless read. sadly, i didn't reach 100, and not even 80, but by reading 79 books this year i made it through 1.52 books per week this year. i did read through the entire bible this year, however i don't count that since i've done that before. i am looking forward to reading through some old favorites as well, such as the lord of the rings, harry potter and dracula. i'm also excited about tackling some hard books, such as the brothers karamazov and beginning the harry potter series in german (it took me 20 minutes to get through a few pages, so it's a good thing i've waited). thanks to everyone who has faithfully read this, and to super anne for inviting me to join her. i hope that this has inspired more people to read!

Book 79: Perfume

2007-01-02T12:47:00.000-06:00

this was a good book. weird, but good. sadly, i couldn't read it in the original, german, which is the only other language i know. oh well. this is the story of a young man, jean baptiste grenouille (or something french) who has the best nose in the world. he was born amid poverty and squalor in 18th century paris and has no scent of his own. but he can smell miles away, distinguish thousands of odors and aromas and can create the most fabulous perfumes. he rises from orphan to errand boy for a tanner to the secret behind paris' most famous perfume house. this doesn't satisfy him and he goes on a quest to acquire his own scent and to create something so heavenly that all people will love him. he has never experienced anything like tenderness or belonging, due to the fact that he has no odor. it's strange and people wouldn't say that's the reason they are driven from him, but it's the reason that he has lacked human companionship his whole life. in the pursuit of scent he realizes that beautiful young women who are just on the verge of womanhood have a particular scent. so he becomes a murderer in order to preserve their odor and create perfume. it's actually not as creepy as it sounds, and yet it is pretty creepy. i would recommend this book!

Closing Thoughts

2007-01-01T14:16:00.000-06:00

What a year! I have had fun keeping track of all the books I've read and keeping all my faithful blog readers updated on my book reading. I want to thank all of you who have been reading my blog, giving suggestions and reading the books I've read. I would also like to thank my co-blogger Venus the Reader for undertaking this adventure with me and keeping me reading.

I would like to sum up the year by first listing my favorite books that I've read this year. I couldn't rank them so I'm just going to put them in the order I read them in. So, here they are...
#3: Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot
#11: In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
#36: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
#37: When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy by John Piper
#41: The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
#49: Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner
#54: Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
#58: Eragon by Christopher Paolini
If you're looking for a book to read and still haven't read any of these, put them on your list.

Some of you may be wondering what my reading goals for 2007 are so I thought I'd fill you in on those too. I don't think I'm going to worry about counting at all because I want to read some more classics (and I always read those slower). I'm not sure which classics I'm going to read but feel free to give me some ideas. I also want to reread some of my favorite books like Gone with the Wind and the Lord of the Rings books.

My final thought has to do with the best book I've ever read in my life, the Bible. I didn't read the whole Bible this year so I couldn't blog about it but I try to spend some time reading it everyday. I've never been more challenged, encouraged, and satisfied by a book in my life. Here's a verse that I love from the Bible that sums up what God's word, the Bible, is to me...

"For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." ~Hebrews 4:12

No other book in the world is as good as the Bible!

Thanks for reading this blog and have a great 2007!!!

#62: The Amber Room

2006-12-24T12:44:00.000-06:00

I ended up vetoing all of my short books fro the library and chose this 400 page suspense novel next. Reading The Amber Room was well worth the time. I read another book by Steve Berry earlier this year that I liked and I was just as pleased with this one. The Amber Room is actually the first of his novels but still a great read.

It is a story of art collectors and their employees, former employees of the Soviet Union and their children racing across and searching Europe for the missing art called the Amber Room. Now the book is fiction but the Amber Room is really a missing art and its not just a painting but a whole room made out of amber. The slight element of truth added a bit of wonder to the story. The book was hard to put down and pretty suspenseful. I never would have predicted the ending and I really enjoyed reading the whole thing.

Book 78: From Russia With Love

2006-12-22T21:47:00.000-06:00

i just finished this book about three minutes ago. i like james bond movies. as long as i can remember, i have. i vaguely remember watching them when i was little, and then during a week my sophomore year in college a friend and i watched all of them in a row. i enjoyed the latest one, and so decided i should actually read at least one of the books. who is the real james bond, as ian fleming intended? this was the earliest one available, and though it's the second movie it's actually the fifth book. i guess it's just like the movie, for those of you who have seen it. a russian spy sets out to seduce bond so some other evil henchman can kill him while traveling through europe on the orient express. but of course, in a lot of whispers and "oh, james," she falls for him. the ending was a bit of a cliffhanger, which i found somewhat intriguing. i would agree that the lastest movie, casino royale, does more to capture the author's character. bond thinks and broods quite a bit, he's not always sure of himself and cares about his job, something he never did on celluloid until now. this was an incredibly easy read, and i enjoyed it. i might read some more of them, especially since it's december 22nd and am 22 books away from my goal. as soon as i finish posting i will immediately start something new.

#61: Bleachers

2006-12-22T21:30:00.000-06:00

I will admit I have wanted to read the book Bleachers by John Grisham for awhile but I chose this one from my bag of library books because it was short. I am actually going to read the books I checked out in order from the shortest to the longest so I can get my numbers up before 2007.

Anyway, Bleachers was a good book by Grisham, although not his typical lawyer book. It was the story of a legendary high school football coach and all of his players. When the coach, Eddie Rake, was just days away from death many of his players from 34 seasons of coaching came back to pay their respects and go to his funeral. The main character Neely Crenshaw, and all-American quarterback, came back to his town after 15 years and has to fight some of his memories from his football days. It was easy to get into the story and enjoy the characters. Overall: good book.

#60: How the Irish Saved Civilization

2006-12-22T21:08:00.000-06:00

My aunt and uncle recently took a 3 week trip to Ireland to visit some long lost (they weren't really lost because my Grandparents have visited them and they write frequently) relatives and enjoy learning a little more about the country that my Grandma's parents came from. During their trip they picked up a few good books and recommended them to me. The first one that I was most intrigued by is called How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill. This is actually the first book in a series called The Hinges of History. Cahill's goal in this series it to retell the story of Western civilization through a series of stories about "great gift-givers" or those who aided civilization in getting to where it is today through their culture and passions.

This book was interesting, thoughtful, intelligent, and sometimes even difficult to read. Cahill shared the story of what drove the Irish to become great and even powerful missionaries of Christianity. He also explained their interest in literature, specifically Christian literature, during the Dark Ages. If it weren't for their desire for knowledge and making copies of books, Western civilization may have lost great pieces of literature. The reason the book was sometimes difficult to read was the historical names and literature pieces that the author mentioned were often foreign to me. But I actually read this book while I was giving finals and sitting by my computer at school so I was able to look up anything I didn't know on the Internet. Don't worry I still kept alert and watched for cheaters. I learned a lot of history about Europe, St. Patrick, about literature, and Ireland's role in a specific time period of history. This is a great book that I would recommend to anyone.

Book 77: The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid

2006-12-19T15:50:00.000-06:00

ah, another one by bill bryson. you might as well just stop reading now, because you know i'll recommend it. this was our hero, bill, reminiscing about his boyhood in des moines, iowa. he was, of course, a superhero as the title of the book implies. this was the easiest read by him yet. it was more than just his tale of growing up; it was a nostalgic look back at what some might consider the golden age of middle america: the fifties. we had just won the war, the economy was booming, many of our cultural mainstays were in full swing and just about everyone was godly and happy. it was a delightful and humorous read. as with all of his books, i had to laugh out loud which last night got me some funny looks on the stationary bike. i think this is what i'll get my dad for christmas. he is only one year younger than bill, also grew up in the midwest, and i'm sure will identify with many more of the experiences. and bill...i'm still waiting for your call. or comment.

#59: My Freshman Year

2006-12-19T15:31:00.000-06:00

My Freshman Year was an interesting book written by a middle aged professor/anthropologist who decided to go back to school as a freshman to write about college students. She found herself confused by the actions and reactions she got in class from her students so she determined her sabbatical project was going to be going back to school. She actually moved into the dorms, went to freshman orientation and signed up for a normal amount of classes. To protect the students after she wrote the book and to get realistic data, the author changed her name and hid her real identity from students most of the time unless specifically questioned. Having only graduated from college 4.5 years ago myself I didn't find her data all too shocking but I was interested to read her perspective on the American college student. This book was fairly enjoyable and informative so I would recommend it.

Book 76: Layer Cake

2006-12-18T10:34:00.000-06:00

i really love most things british. maybe that is because of my parents' influence. as i just wrote, we watched a lot of public television growing up, and most of their programming seems to come from the bbc. so when i saw guy ritchie's crime capers about inept cockney criminals, i wanted to see more. so i watched the movie layer cake, produced by the same outfit. it was okay, less funny that the ritchie films, and a bit hard to follow. so i read the book upon which the film is based. it was okay. full of dry humor and more profanities than i have ever encountered in one book. yikes. i don't think i could in good conscience recommend the book due to how much the word f*#@ appears on every single page.

our hero, nameless, is 29 and has been in the london drug business for ten years. he would like to get out by age 30, but the boss, jimmy, has one last job for him. he and his partner, one mister mortimer, go looking for some rich geezer's daughter, try to unload about two million ecstasy pills and avoid the russian mob. oh, and he meets a nice girl on the way. not unlike the film, the book was a bit difficult to follow. i thought it was a little two long, and there was an awful bit of british slang. some i figured out while other words i still have no idea what they mean. clockwork orange was easier than this. it was a fast and easy read, but my eyes did feel a bit beat up, again, due to the prolific cussing. oh well.

Book 75: The Headless Bust

2006-12-18T10:28:00.000-06:00

Ah, three-quarters of the way finished. even though i will immediately post about book #76 after this, and am almost through book #77, i seriously doubt my ability to finish twenty-three more books in two weeks. sad, i know, but i did my best. i love edward gorey and have since i was little girl. my parents were, and still are, avid fans of pbs' mystery show, which always opened with a cartoon by gorey. he writes small weird books and i recently discovered that a friend of mine also likes edward gorey. he is pretty much the first person outside of my family who has ever heard of him. what a guy. i hope you're reading this and feeling complimented. anyhoo, i read this at his house. yes, it's short but not really a children's book, so it counts. i have also taken the liberty of putting up a picture of the gashlycrumb tinies, an alphabetical exercise of the macabre.

Book 74: His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass

2006-12-10T22:29:00.000-06:00

this is the first in a trilogy of fantasy books for children. i've not yet decided if i'll continue. my sister was an education major for a while, and she still might be but i forget. i think she recommended this. it was okay...but i don't usually like fantasy. it always involves strange characters with whom i just don't feel comfortable. lyra is a little girl who lives in oxford, england, but it's not our england. all people have daemons, which are little animals attached to us. i guess they are like the personification, or animal-fication of our souls. lyra and her daemon (i can't spell his name; she calls him pan for short) embark upon an adventure when her father, who until recently she believed to be her uncle, is captured. she is going to rescue him and find out why children around the country are disappearing when they meet a beautiful woman and her monkey daemon. she finds out that they are performing experiments on the children, lord asriel (lyra's dad) is trying to use some kind of dust to bridge to another world and has all sorts of problems. there are witches, balloon aeronauts, armored bears and i thought, a lot of confusion. for a kid's book, it had a pretty mature and frightening message, namely that original sin is something adults make up to keep kids in line. in our "free" society that only wants to do what feels right, i guess it shouldn't surprise me. however, i think it shows a lack of responsibility that iss somewhat disturbing. oh well, it was quick and a pretty easy read.

Book 73: Congo

2006-12-10T22:22:00.000-06:00

Drat. i just typed about this and then accidentally lost it. will try to remember what i wrote. started out with, wow, i want to read eragon too. am not sure that will happen any time soon. so, i'm hesitant to say this... but i will....this was not my favorite book of the year. it took forever to read because it was such a chore. this was surprising to me because it came highly recommended, and i enjoyed my first crichton novel (see post 13, or something like that). the premise of this book was intriguing as well; a scientific expedition meets something sinister and previously unknown to man in the jungle. oh my, what can this be? let's send another group of inexperienced and self-absorbed people and discover the problem. but then crichton digresses; we have to learn the history of everything he mentions...like gorillas, satellite imaging, computer chips, american sign language and lots of other insignificant (to the story but to me in general) scientifc facts that due to boredom i have blocked from my memory. and then when we finally figure out what's going on, it's kind of anticlimatic and all of a sudden the book is finished. i think he had to write about all those things in great detail because if you take that out the story itself is actually only 7 pages.

#58: Eragon

2006-12-07T16:32:00.000-06:00

I've had to ask many of my students to stop reading the book Eragon by Christopher Paolini several time in class. After reading it myself, I understand why they had so much trouble putting it down. It is an extremely well written story that captures the reader from the first page. I decided to read the book because I saw that it was being made into a movie and I enjoyed every page and I can't wait to see the movie. It's the first book of a trilogy written by Paolini. The third book still hasn't been published. I am expecting the 2nd book to be good and I already checked it out from the library. I'm not sure if I'll get it read by the end of this year though so I can't promise a blog entry about it.

Here is a summary I found on Amazon..."Eragon, a young farm boy, finds a marvelous blue stone in a mystical mountain place. Before he can trade it for food to get his family through the hard winter, it hatches a beautiful sapphire-blue dragon, a race thought to be extinct. Eragon bonds with the dragon, and when his family is killed by the marauding Ra'zac, he discovers that he is the last of the Dragon Riders, fated to play a decisive part in the coming war between the human but hidden Varden, dwarves, elves, the diabolical Shades and their neanderthal Urgalls, all pitted against and allied with each other and the evil King Galbatorix. Eragon and his dragon Saphira set out to find their role, growing in magic power and understanding of the complex political situation as they endure perilous travels and sudden battles, dire wounds, capture and escape."

Book 72: Enduring Love

2006-11-30T11:04:00.000-06:00

this book has been made into a movie. i saw the trailer a couple of weeks ago and thought it looked interesting, but i usually try to read the books first. this was a great novel. the writing has a dreamlike quality that pulls the reader in. i felt as though i was watching the events of the story unfold through a window on a rainy day. that might not make much sense, but it had a pleasant effect.

joe and clarissa are academic types, a childless couple living in london. clarissa is a professor of keats and joe, having once been on the path to research scientist, is now a free-lance science writer who is calm, rational, and well, scientific. they picnic one day near oxford and the events of that afternoon throw them into a whole mess. there is a ballooning accident; joe and several other men try to rescue the man and boy struggling, and one of the men dies. through this joe begins to feel guilt at his own survival, and he meets jed parry, another one of the would-be rescuers. parry begins to harrass joe, waiting outside his flat, believing joe is sending him messages of love. parry is determined to bring joe to god and to begin the love relationship he has deluded himself into desiring. it's was bizarre, but a book that i looked forward to reading. i think one of the most interesting facets of this book is the juxtaposition of joe's clinical and scientific mind with parry's, and then the unraveling of joe's mind and relationship with his wife as a result of paranoia. one thing i did find disturbing was the fact that wacko parry talked about god all the time. why do stalkers and serial killers in media always end up being "religious" while those who are sane and normal are the rational atheists. that's not quite fair. anyhoo, enough of this post. i liked the book and i requested the movie from the library. i think i would read more of ian mcewan.

#57: The Princess

2006-11-28T17:14:00.000-06:00

The Princess by Lori Wick was an entertaining novel. I have never read anything by Wick before. She is a Christian author and is pretty cheesy. The Princess is the story of Shelby and Nicolai and their journey towards falling in love. Nicolai is a young prince who agrees to an arranged marriage after his first wife's untimely death to uphold the law of his country. Shelby is the woman he married. So, as you may be able to imagine although Nicolai is kind to Shelby he has a hard time loving her and Shelby doesn't really know him at all so she has a hard time loving him. Not to spoil the ending but eventually they fall in love and this is the story of them getting there.

Book 71: Judge and Jury

2006-11-25T15:41:00.000-06:00

so i finished my last two books at anne's house, without bringing an adequate reading supply. i was stuck for a whole day without anything to read, so anne let me read this book. i do believe it was the last book she blogged about...another fabulous book by james patterson. this is only the second by him i've read. they are similar to another favorite of ours, mary higgins clark. both of these authors tend to write formulaic books...and this one was good. i read it in a day and a half. this one follows an fbi agent who has just arrested a crime boss, the horrid trial and all the intrigue we could handle the day after thanksgiving. nick, the fbi agent, gets dumped by ellen, the hotshot anesthesiologist (i had no idea you could be a hotshot in this field. i had to laugh a good three minutes about this ridiculousness before i could resume reading) and then of course falls in love with andie, the juror who experiences some personal tragedy at the hands of the crime boss. i hope i didn't give anything away by that synopsis, but i figured that out by reading the book jacket, so it shouldn't come as any surprise to anyone reading this book. i think i like james patterson. he writes mindless, easy-to-read junk. although i did just write that my brain was hurting with all the mindlessness. oh well.

Book 70: Into the Wild

2006-11-25T14:56:00.000-06:00

this is another that got me by the cover. it's brief description of the contents sounded macabre in the extreme...about someone's decomposing body being found by a moose hunter. naturally, i couldn't wait to read it. this is the story of chris mccandless, a wealthy young man from the dc area who decided, upon his college graduation, to get back to real living. he traveled around the united states for almost two years, hitchhiking and working odd jobs, living out of his backpack and tent until he headed for alaska where he met his demise. the author does highlight mccandless' foolishness and improper perspective about nature, yet he gives the guy some credit, unlike most alaskans. he was woefully unprepared and uneducated about how to survive in the wilderness. and so he died.

this was an interesting and easy read. krakauer, the author, touches on the pull the frontier exerts over all of us. especially as americans, there seems to be something about wild and beautiful places that calls to us. we have been raised in an individualistic culture, and tramping out into isolation to commune with nature and look inside oneself is a natural application of our belief that we ourselves are teh pinnacle of society. man, this keyboard stinks. still at the champaign library, by the way. mccandless was a young man with big dreams and a firm conviction that the rules of civilization, his family, society, and even common sense, no longer applied to him. sadly, this cost him his life, and while many scoffed at his death and proclaimed is was some sad dreamer's just desserts, i don't think we are really that different. as americans we believe that we can do anything we set our minds to, in fact it's our duty to push boundaries, limitations and established anything. but i'm not actually sure that any of those things are actually true. i think they are, like the american dream and paul bunyan, myths of our american society we love to believe.

Book 69: Queen's Ransom

2006-11-25T14:50:00.000-06:00

so, another murder mystery book, in the series about ursula blanchard. just a note of interest...i'm blogging from super anne's library. while i'm not loving this computer, the rest of the experience is all too heady. it's much bigger than the stow one which i most often frequent. industrial and functional, this library could use some more decorative touches, but it seems to have quite a selection. awesome. i love libraries!

on to the book. it was okay. i think i have been reading so many of these silly books that my brain is beginning to hurt. the pain is not from comprehensive difficulty, rather it's protesting drivel. this one in particular, was difficult because of the numerous sub-plots. i never quite understood what was going on, nor did i want to. anyhoo, i am going to make more of an effort to read better books. ha. think i'll have to use anne's computer at home to put up a picture. drat.

#56: Judge and Jury

2006-11-21T10:45:00.000-06:00

Judge and Jury turned out to be one of my favorite books by James Patterson. It is more of a trial story than a mystery and the Italian Mafia is involved so that makes it exciting. The two main characters are an FBI agent and a juror on the trail for the head of a Mafia family. I don't want to say too much about the story because I don't want to ruin anything. Like all James Patterson books the chapters were short, the font was big and it didn't take long to finish the book. Patterson produced another entertaining story and I enjoyed it. Sorry I don't really have much to say about this book either. It's a good Patterson book to read if you've never read one before.

#55: Calm, Cool and Adjusted

2006-11-21T10:34:00.000-06:00

Well, I read the third book in the Spa Girls series and finished it with the same feelings I have about all of them. I thought it was ridiculous but cannot wait to read the next book by Kristin Billerbeck. This book is written from the point of view of Poppy the spa girl who loves to run, is a chiropractor and believes in eating all things natural. In this story she has to deal with the fact that she has become a little obsessive about health issues and get over some of her past. The basic plot line is Poppy starts going crazy and she has to chose between two different guys. It's a funny book buy I don't really have much more to say about it.

Book 68: The Lazarus Hotel

2006-11-16T09:14:00.000-06:00

I am here at panera in the vicinity of purdue university. after i finish posting i will drive around campus. as a big ten graduate i'd like to see the other big ten campuses. this will be campus number four. it's funny, somehow i always believe that some other place, like west lafayette, will be so different. maybe not all that more interesting, as it is indiana, but this isn't all that different from penn state. well, penn state is obviously better, but it brings up an issue in my life: the fact that i'm always looking for the next thing, the more glamorous and exciting friends, place to live, activities, a more glamorous me. yet everywhere i go, i'm pretty much the same, as is my life. as i hurtle towards thirty, i need to sit back and just enjoy where i am right now, with the people around me and the circumstances in which i find myself.

anyhoo, this is no place for random philosophical musings, it's about books! i just completed book 68. it was another my mom recommended. she had said it was similar to "ten little indians" and i guess it was. kind of. six or seven people are assembled in a hotel for a personal discovery course. they then personally discover they all knew a young woman, cathy, who had recently committed suicide. one by one, they are injured. unfortunately, only one person died. it wasn't that great. i couldn't really get into the characters. i doubt i'll read any more by this author.

so, thirty-two more to go. i fully intend to take advantage of my upcoming thanksgiving break by doing much reading. i'd like to finish through at least book 71. i am looking forward to the holiday, as am spending it with my co-blogger anne. i hope we can go visit the champaign library.

Book 67: Death of A Dentist

2006-11-12T13:57:00.000-06:00

why do i keep reading these dumb mysteries? because i have just about a month and a half to read thirty-three more books. so this was the usual hamish macbeth mystery. you know, the highlands of scotland, so often romanticized in movies and trashy paperbacks must be a rather depressing place. all the women in these novels are shrewish and ugly, the men all drink an excessive amount of whiskey and beat their wives. actually, these books are just kind of gloomy that way. i will try to read more edifying fare in the future. ha ha, i crack myself up.

Book 66: Celebration of Discipline

2006-11-12T13:49:00.000-06:00

i rarely read books by christian authors that are "how-to" books. i usually find that they are poorly written, and though strive to make the christian life easier, are usually burdensome. it seems that they always boil walking with jesus down to a couple of formulas, or rules, really. i'd much rather read the bible or something that points me to god in other ways. i watch the movie "v for vendetta" last week and one of the characters said artists use lies to tell the truth. i think that can be true of secular literature; many times it shows us the character of god and the nature of man.

but this was a great christian book. richard foster takes us through the spiritual disciplines. he argues that by practicing these disciplines we place ourselves where god can meet us and bless us. some he wrote about include study, prayer, service, solitude, worship, celebration, confession, as well as several others. instead of feeling i had to do a bunch of stuff to walk with god, reading this book made me want to just spend time with him. whether that be studying the word, listening quietly as i stroll outdoors, or in serving at my church, i just felt a desire to know the lord better. this is an excellent book. i would highly recommend it and even suggest rereading it. i think i'd like to purchase if for myself so as to read more carefully again.

#54: Memoirs of a Geisha

2006-11-08T10:30:00.000-06:00

I have had the book Memoirs of a Geisha sitting on my bookshelf for about 4 years and something caused me to finally pick it up and read it. I am really glad that I finally did. The novel is a story of a girl who was sold at a young age to a family that would train her to become a Japanese geisha. If you are unsure what a geisha is, I learned through reading this book that she is an entertainer. She is trained for years in conversation, social graces, music, and dance and invited on a daily basis to entertain at multiple parties and social gatherings the gentlemen who are in attendance. Many people confuse geisha with prostitutes but they are not the same thing, although some of the morals could be questioned due to the fact that most of the men have wives but seem to spend all of their time with their favorite geisha. But, that has nothing to do with the book. It was an acceptable cultural activity in Japan prior to and shortly after WWII, which is the time period this book was set in. Although this story was fiction the depiction of this upper class society and culture in Japan was very accurate. The author, Arthur Golden, is very credible in his knowledge of the Japanese culture. His writing is also amazing. It was very easy to become captivated while reading and a beautifully written novel.

Book 65: The Devil In The White City

2006-11-06T14:20:00.000-06:00

I remember when this book was a best-seller. it must have been sometime when i was doing quite a bit of traveling, because my memory of it has to do with airport book shops. then i saw that anne read this and liked it. that must mean it's a good book. it has been quite some time since i've liked a book so much that i can't wait to get home and read it. that's how i felt abou this book. it was engaging, interesting, suspenseful and thoroughly satisfying.

if you read anne's post, you probably don't my to give you another synopsis. i found the comparison between burnham and holmes fascinating; as each built his empire i read with rapt attention, watching their plans unfold. one dreamt of architectural supremacy and a city so grand that the world would not be able to forget; the other of hideous secrets and a castle full of death. the writing was informative yet tasteful, especially as larson recounted the horrors young women met in dr. holmes. this was the perfect amount of mystery and information for the reader.

i have only been to chicago once. i now want to return and go to all the places mentioned in the book. although the fair is gone, some of the buildings burnham and his partner constructed remain, as well as the park that housed the fair. a couple of buildings from the white city were turned into permanent structures, and it would be interesting to see them again knowing their past. so many interesting things came about from the fair: shredded wheat, ferris wheels, the midway to name just a few. i would also like very much to see the corner on 63rd street, the corner where HH Holmes built a peculiar and gloomy building filled with secret chambers, soundproof vaults and unusually large and hot kilns.

Book 64: Death Of A Celebrity

2006-10-29T14:46:00.000-06:00

i've fallen prey to these ridiculous mysteries once again. my mom is right, though. they grow on you. so anyhoo, this one was exactly like all the rest. they never really make much sense, but oh well. am here at the new kent free library, and so am going to check out death of a dentist. it's getting colder, an excellent reason to stay in and read murder mysteries.

Book 63: Purity Of Blood

2006-10-25T15:35:00.000-05:00

I have been remiss in my reading lately. I don't know why, but i've been so darn lazy. tonight i will not watch television (except LOST) and i will not let my neighbor come over and manipulate my time. i will read!

anyhoo, this is the second in the series i began earlier this year. i thoroughly enjoy this author, and am somewhat sad that i am coming to the end of his works. the next three in this series will be released one per year. drat. this time we are dealing with the inquisition and corruption in the catholic church. due to a job as a hired sword, altatriste loses his page inigo to the inquisition's prisons. it was much more complex than i'm letting on, yet at the same time a nice simple adventure story. i just like the way perez-reverte writes. he chooses his words carefully for the most weight and beauty. this was great and i'm eagerly awaiting the next installment, due out sometime next year.

#53: Mudhouse Sabbath

2006-10-23T19:16:00.000-05:00

After reading Girl Meets God I was intrigued by some of the Jewish traditions so I checked out the book Mudhouse Sabbath by the same author, Lauren Winner. This was a short book where Lauren explains some of the Jewish traditions such as fasting, observing the Sabbath, lighting candles, and mourning. She takes the stance that although the Jewish faith is a faith built on doing and the Christian faith is a faith built on a relationship with God, some of these traditions could benefit the Christian's relationship with God. Winner was Jewish for many years before she became a Christian so she has a great understanding of the Jewish tradition.

One of my favorite parts of the book was Winner's reflection on the Jewish tradition of praying specific liturgical prayers throughout the day. They have prayers for everything, including after they've gone to the bathroom. The prayers are meant to repoint the person praying towards God. My favorite quote from the book was, "Sure sometimes it is great when, in prayer, we can express to God just what we feel; but better still when, in the act of praying, our feelings change."

#52: Isaac's Storm

2006-10-23T19:07:00.000-05:00

I really enjoyed the last book I read by Erik Larson called The Devil in the White City so I checked out another book by him from the library. I was not disappointed because Isaac's Storm was another excellent and captivating historical book by Larson. In it he tells the story of the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history that hit Galveston in September of 1900. Larson included a great deal about the history of the National Weather Service and the science of meteorology, which made the book very interesting. He also meticulously researched journals and personal accounts of the storm to give and accurate portrayal of the strength and amount of destruction the storm brought. There were a few points that the sheer volume of destruction/loss of life was too overwhelming for me to read so I just had to take a break from the book.

I have decided that I really like reading books about specific events in history but I am also afraid I will check out a boring one. So, if you have any recommendations please send them my way.

#51: Worlds Collide

2006-10-12T21:08:00.000-05:00

Alison Strobel, daughter of Christian author Lee Strobel, has written an interesting Christian fiction novel called Worlds Collide. A friend of mine gave me this book to borrow and I quickly was engrossed in the story of how Grace, an ordinary school teacher, and Jack's, a famous TV and film actor, worlds collided. If you are already groaning because you think this is a ridiculous story of a movie star falling in love with an average girl you are right. But it was endearing to read because it was obviously Christian. Strobel did a good job writing a story about two people finding God because of another person's courage to share about a relationship with God. I did tear up at least once. I don't really have anything else to say about this book, but I had fun reading it.

Book 62: To Shield The Queen

2006-10-11T22:06:00.000-05:00

i am writing here from the living room of some friends. they have the largest tv i have ever seen. we just watched the second episode of lost. it was good, but i feel like romeo when he askes juliet "wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?" when is something going to come together with this? anyhoo...on to my book.

this was a murder mystery that takes place in the court of elizabeth I. ursula blanchard is a lady in waiting to the queen. she comes from a modest background and is now reliant on the kindness of those at court. she is put in charge of amy dudley, the dying wife of the queen's flame. in the sickhouse she discovers murder and plots. it was pretty good. i will read more in this series.

Book 61: Surfacing

2006-10-11T14:24:00.000-05:00

i don't quite recall much of this book. i started it about a month ago, then it was overdue at the library, so i rechecked it out last week. i like the idea of margaret atwood, but in practical application am not quite sure. perhaps i'm just not smart enough, or i wasn't intrigued enough, but i don't think i really got it. maybe it's because i'm an american, and she constantly expressed her dislike for americans. (she, along with her characters, is canadian) the narrator and her lover, along with another couple, go to rural quebec, the land of her childhood, to discover what happened to her father. he has been missing for some time. during the course of their week at his cabin in the woods, relationships and sanity slowly unravel. at the end, she is trying to morph into an animal. i don't really have the time to reflect on what all of this might mean, nor do i really care to at this time. i'm about to have an appointment with one of my favorite girls, and i'd much rather spend time with her than rack my brains for symbolism. perhaps i will think about this and tell you my revelations in a later post. but i doubt it. this was an okay book. i still think i'll read more margaret atwood. i enjoyed the robber bride a few years ago. fie! again cannot get picture to upload. will try later tonight.

#50: The Weight of Your Words

2006-10-09T13:50:00.000-05:00

Well, I actually made it halfway to 100. I realize that the year is well over half over but I'm happy with 50 books as of Oct. 9th. I decided if I only read 52 books this year I'll be happy because that's one book a week.

This last book I finished called The Weight of Your Words by Joseph Stowell was just ok. I was challenged by it but not always engaged in reading it. Stowell begins the book with a few chapters addressing the problems we have with our tongues including things like deceit, lying, gossip, slander, boasting, and contentious words. It was challenging to think about watching my words more carefully. Then the second half of the book he addressed the heart behind our sinful words by writing about pride and anger. The last chapters seemed to be more practical advice in conflict management. Stowell included several references to scripture which I found very encouraging. I don't know if I would recommend this book, but the concepts in it are great so it doesn't hurt to read it. Stowell actually included discussion questions at the end of every chapter so it might be a good book to go through in a Bible study or small group.

#49: Girl Meets God

2006-10-09T13:35:00.000-05:00

Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner was an excellent book. Winner is the daughter or a Jewish father and a Southern Baptist mother. When her parents were married they decided to raise their children Jewish. Despite the fact that her parents were divorced when she was a child, Winner's mother decided to keep sending her children to the Jewish synagogue. Partially because of the Jewish influences of her childhood Winner decided to become and Orthodox Jew. After studying under a rabbi and becoming well educated in the laws of Judaism, Winner felt a pull from God and started on the road to becoming a Christian.

In the book Girl Meets God, Winner takes the reader through a year in her life as a Christian. She shares her story of converting from Judaism to Christianity and educates the reader on many Jewish customs and rituals. Winner is very well read and educated and her hunger for learning is evident in this book. It is clear that her relationship with Jesus is very personal. She is open about sharing her struggles and trials with being a Christian. It was a refreshing story that was real and challenging.

Book 60: Wisdom from the Dali Lama

2006-10-05T15:35:00.000-05:00

actually, i don't remember the name of this book, and it's not the one pictured. i just really like having pictures to accompany each post. this book was more of an inspirational gift book...small and only 116 pages, condensed from the dali lama's previous works. probably the one pictured here. do i usually read things by buddhist monks? no. but my dad reminded me that it's good to sometimes read things with which you don't agree. and my neighbor tony lent me this book and suggested i read it after a recent spiritual conversation, and i said that i would. i am thankful for tony, because he is someone who has totally different beliefs than myself. i find that refreshing. i like the things that we can talk and argue about. oops, dangling preposition.

so, after reading this book, i have too things to say about buddhism. i admit, all i know about it is what i read in this gift book, but here are my two impressions: that it's vague and that it's exhausting. what do i mean by this? well, it's just vague. he talks about how we need to focus on positive emotions, thoughts, and attitudes. we need to have self-confidence and realize our own amazing potential while making ourselves happy. but how one might do that is unexplained. however you might achieve those things is up to you, as long as you don't let hatred or anger into your mind in the thought process. this makes me think that buddha must have smoked a lot of weed. the second observation is that this kind of life path must be difficult and exhausting. basically, one must be happy all the time and never think bad thoughts. that's crazy discipline. it's really up to you and all the goodness deep down to make this philosophy work. but i think his constant exhortations to think good happy thoughts is an admission that we aren't naturally good. more often than not, we seek our own selfish ends, not the good of society or whomever. why should we do this? he mentions in the last chapter that we need to be nice to others so that when we are in need, we'll have friends to catch us. that doesn't sound all that self-sacrificing; it smacks of veiled self-interest.

he talks about the path to enlightenment and happiness and the need to end all suffering. at the same time, he encourages his readers to do what they like. well the world just cannot function like that. without some kind of absolute standard, we cannot live in peace. he mentioned the captivity of his native tibet under chinese rule. the very assertion that this is somehow wrong or immoral, in my opinion, discredited the rest of his statements. communism, in theory, is great. i'm sure that there are some well-meaning officials in china who truly believe that government by the people's republic of china is a wonderful thing, leading to health and happiness. who is the dali lama to say that they are wrong? especially when he advocates everyone doing what they want.

Book 59: The Chosen

2006-10-04T19:14:00.000-05:00

Oh my word i am a reading and blogging fiend. my goal is to finish at least two more books by the end of this week. am at the library, so will have to get some more easy reads. this one, by chaim potok, was a fairly easy read. a friend recommended this author, so i tried him out. the story is of reuven malter, a young jewish boy in new york and the friendship he forges with danny, a boy from a strict and even more orthodox family. while the plot was not especially gripping, i did enjoy the slowly unfolding of the story and feeling my regard for the characters grow as their relationship deepens. i thought that it was a rare glimpse for me into an entirely different culture. the expectations placed on these young me by their families and synagogues to grow into rabbis and religious leaders is tremendous. this might offend, but it didn't make judaism attractive; it had rather the opposite effect. i know that jews worship the god of the old testament, but it seemed that they were trying intensely to please an angry sovereign. interesting. i think that i will read the sequel, the promise. i think i would recommend anything he writes.

#48: A Girl's Best Friend

2006-10-03T17:57:00.000-05:00

I finished reading this book over a week ago and now I finally sat down to blog about it. I don't know what is happening to my reading ability as of late. Thanks for still checking the blog. At least Jerusha is doing a great job with her reading. I think this school year is just a little more draining for me than last year so when I get home I am more likely to watch TBS syndicated television than to read a book. I'm reading a couple of good books right now though so maybe I'll finish them soon and get back up to speed.

A Girl's Best Friend was another cute/ridiculous book by Kristin Billerbeck. She writes Christian Chick Lit and its always an easy, funny, light read. The funny thing is I really don't remember what the book was about. I do remember enjoying it though. So you should read it.

Book 58: Evan Help Us

2006-10-03T17:34:00.000-05:00

so i am at home in pennsylvania, visiting my family. i really do enjoy being around them and dislike the fact that i live as far away as i do. it's a seven hour car ride, and i just don't have the time to visit them. and isn't there just something nice and comforting about home? especially in the fall, when it's good to sit around, reading and snacking on dad's homemade chex mix, drinking hot apple cider. very picturesque. anyhoo, my mom has been reading another murder mystery series, and she gave me this one to read during my visit. that's why i'm telling you all about being at home.

this is another series in the vein of hamish macbeth: a local village constable, colorful local characters, a somewhat silly mystery and easily read in two hours. evan evans is our hero of llanfair, north wales. apparently evan and evans are very popular names in wales, as no fewer than six characters seemed to be named evans. they are helpfully labeled by their occupations...evans the butcher is always referred to as "evans-the-meat"; the milkman as "evans-the-milk." how odd the welsh are. evans, like his scottish counterpart macbeth, has a love interest. her name is bronwen and she's the local schoolteacher. i have a friend from college who's second child is a little girl named bronwen. when i heard her name i thought, wow, people my age have multiple children and wow, that makes me think of paper towels. back to the book. a nice old colonel is murdered, and then the prodigal son who wanted to turn the quaint village into an amusement park is the next to turn up dead. evans is told not to interfere, being merely the local bobby, but we know better. with wit and insight far superior to the city cops, evans solves the case. it was okay.

Book 57: A Walk In The Woods

2006-10-02T20:39:00.000-05:00

Bill! are you reading this! i am feeling wretched and insecure because i want you to read this and then call me up and invite me on your next adventure! i would be great company sailing down the amazon, as well as good for suitable comic relief. alas, like most men i find strangely alluring you choose to ignore me.

okay, i am pathetic. bill bryson is never actually going to read the reviews i write and i will never meet him. it's time for me to live in the real world. this book was great. i read it more quickly than any previous volume by bill. i think i'll start referring to him by his first name only, as if we're close and intimate friends. some people have crushes on gwen stefani and call her just gwen...my crush is on bill. okay, back to the book. he and his friend stephen katz hike the appalachian trail. there are embarrassing incidents, horrific near-death experiences and a wealth of information about the woodlands of the eastern united states. all very interesting. so much so that i dug out some maps and brochures i have from the pennsylvania park service. a couple of summers ago i wrote to the pa department of parks, and of alberta, canada (my dream vacation is to the canadian rockies) to ask for trip planners. i think i'd like to head out to western pa soon to do some hiking and camping. my parents, in addition to taking us to tacky tourist traps, took us camping all the time growing up. sadly, it's not something i have made time for recently. that must change.

so this was quite interesting. i read it at the perfect time of year: the start of autumn. this is my favorite season. i love looking at the sky when it is so blue it hurts your eyes, and when the clouds are dark and gray promises of rain...the gray against the brilliant hues of the trees makes me shiver with delight and think wow, how fortunate i am to behold all of this. i like feeling a slight chill in the air, holding hot drinks in my hands, wearing comforting sweaters and trusty boots. some people who have read this book have commented, in a derogatory way, about bill's agenda. if he has any, it's to make his readership aware how lucky we are to have such a vast landscape of breath-taking nature at our very fingertips...and how all too quickly and easily it is slipping away. why, in evangelical circles, is desiring to be good stewards of the earth and voting green on par with being pro-choice, supporting john kerry and being a crazy sinning liberal? maybe that's unkind and harsh, yet it never ceases to amaze me that people who claim to love god and care about his people have so little regard for the incredible world he has made and contempt for those who would work to save it. i want that too to change. god's creation is beautiful....let's honor him by our responsiblity and pointing others to the great creator.

Book 56: The Invisible Man

2006-10-01T22:30:00.000-05:00

so i read this book because i like to do crossword puzzles. what, you ask, does that have to do with anything? well, there are only so many puzzles clues. and one of them is always about the thin man's dog. so then i thought i should read that book since i'm always penciling in the name of his dog in my little book, but got confused at the library and checked out the invisible man instead. it was okay. i don't usually go for science fiction. this story by h.g. wells is about griffin, a brilliant young mind somewhere in england at the turn of last century. he's not only brilliant, he's selfish, grasping and unkind. in his ambition and recklessness to distinguish himself in his field of physics, he kills his mentor and discovers a way to make himself invisible. weird. so he then burns down his house, for reasons that presently escape me. this forces him to go on the run in search of some missing scientific journals. in the process he terrifies several villages, meets up with various people and coerces them into becoming his evil minions and strives to produce a reign of horror by stealing and killing. again, it was okay. i won't tell you what happens at the end. if you really want to know, i'll tell you. i doubt i will read more of wells' work. it was reminiscent of frankenstein, which i read earlier this year. can man do the scientifically impossible and unnatural? and should they? is science for man's gain acceptable and morally right? apparently not in this case.

wow! we might be fairly far off in our individual reading goals, but anne and i have read 103 books combined this year. i hope to be finished with sixty by the end of this week.

Book 55: A Murder, A Mystery and A Marriage

2006-10-01T22:17:00.000-05:00

i enjoy mark twain. actually i'm not sure why i say that because i've never read any long book by him, at least i don't think so. but he's rather funny...with such a dry sense of humor. this was a short book that was found upon his death and published fairly recently, as i believe the introduction said. it's about a cad from france trying to marry a sweet and rather stupid missouri gal who's come into some money. i liked the illustrations immensely. it was a cute story and i was able to read it in about an hour. so that was even more fun.

mark twain reminds me of when my family would drive out to colorado every other summer. one year we stopped in hannibal, missouri, which is the hometown of samuel clemens. we took a tour to see his house, the cave where tom sawyer and becky-what's-her-name were lost and the graveyard where injun joe hung out. actually, i'm not sure if any of those previous assertions are correct because i was only about nine or ten at the time. and i've never read tom sawyer. that was just one of the things/places my mother would drag us to see so we could be cultured and learn something important. i'm not sure how cultured they were, but we've seen every tacky tourist spot (and the untacky ones too) this side of the continental divide. my parents own album upon album of surly-looking children in front of prairie dog towns (usually ones that housed genetic mutants, like a six-legged cow), Abraham Lincoln's log cabin, complete with re-enactors, the Buffalo Bill museum, a roller skate museum (somewhere in Kansas), Wall Drug in South Dakota, stupid stuff in Indiana, old west towns in Colorado, rodeos in Wyoming and the Elvis is Alive Museum (if it's still in operation, it's just west of St. Louis on I-70 and worth the trip). Ah, what memories we have in our family. I do hope to have my own children someday so that i can put them through similarly tragic experiences. i think due to overexposure as a child, i eagerly look forward to both the historical and the absurd.

Book 54: Death of A Dustman

2006-10-01T22:03:00.000-05:00

Why do i read these books? Well, I'll tell you why. I go to my safe place, the Stow Munroe-Falls Public Library, and I think about how much I would like to be sitting in a nice and cozy english pub, drinking beer and chatting with the colorful locals. then i remember that i don't like capitalizing anything while typing, that i live in northeast ohio where there aren't cozy pubs and the locals, while colorful, aren't usually up for talking with strangers. so i wander back the mystery section and pick up another hamish macbeth mystery, because i really can't find any other good ones. this one was the same as always, minus the pathetic and whiny female character. it was okay, as usual, and fast, as usual. as some slightly unhelpful commenters keep reminding me, i only have three months of this challenge left and 44 more books to read. you read that correctly; i'm going to post about three books in a row.

Book 53: God

2006-09-22T12:45:00.000-05:00

i know, i know. i have not been reading as i ought. this is partly due to the fact that i know have cable tv and am often taken hostage, against my will, by vh1 countdowns. i recently was forced to relive my junior high and high school years, in the form of i love the 90s. it was pretty awesome. but i will start reading fervently soon. i'm also a bit sad, as i just don't love any of the books i'm reading. i want to get sucked in and have the wonderful feeling of anticipation...i keep hearing despite its length, atlas shrugged is engaging. perhaps will try it.

this book, by bill bright, the founder of the organization for which i work, was easy to read and yet very good. he is not like many christian authors, who kind of bend scripture to make their points and have only the vaguest biblical grounding for their theses. he sticks to the simple and yet amazing truths of who god is. i liked how each chapter dealt with an attribute of god and then had a page for life application. the first application was usually something about meditating on the truths and allowing them to change our hearts. i liked that. and it was so easy to read! now, only 47 more.

#47: The Bell Jar

2006-09-17T16:55:00.000-05:00

Although well written, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath was not very enjoyable to read. It was a depressing story that I really didn't want to finish. But for the sake of my book numbers I decided to just finish it. The first half seemed to be a decent story of a college-aged woman coming of age. Then all of a sudden she started to go crazy and the second half detailed her time spent in a mental home recovering from her suicide attempts and depression. I know its considered a classic but it wasn't very uplifting to read.

#46: Invitation to Solitude and Silence

2006-09-17T16:38:00.000-05:00

Invitation to Solitude and Silence was another book that I finished this weekend. I thought the book was decent and it reminded me of the importance of spending and guarding my time in solitude and being silent before God. The author, Ruth Haley Barton, detailed her journey to solitude and silence in God's presence while encouraging the reader to practice solitude in his or her own life. Her overall premise was this solitude and silence is what will ultimately help us to know and experience God at the deepest level. I was challenged by some of her ideas but by the end of the book it seemed like she was repeating herself. I really liked one thing she said so I will end this post with the quote. "Without solitude we are dangerous in the human community and in the Christian community, because we are at the mercy of our compulsions, compelled by our inner emptiness into a self-oriented, anxious search for fullness in the next round of activities, accomplishments or relationships."

#45: Boy Meets Girl

2006-09-17T16:15:00.000-05:00

I really enjoyed reading the book Boy Meets Girl by Joshua Harris. For a little background, Harris wrote the popular book for Christians called I Kissed Dating Goodbye in effort to encourage people to make the decision to give up the casual dating game and focus on serving God as a single. A few years later he followed up that book with Boy Meets Girl: Say Hello to Courtship. This book offers wisdom from the biblical perspective for those who are in or desire to be in non-casual dating relationships. Harris calls this courtship but spends a whole chapter explaining the mindset not the terminology is important. Throughout the book Harris shares several stories from his own experience courting/dating his wife and gives very practical advice centered on honoring God in any relationship to explain this mindset.

Book 52: The Other Boleyn Girl

2006-09-13T15:25:00.000-05:00

this was yet another 600+ page book i chose to read this year. these are foolish choices. this book, as well as other such historical fiction novels by this author, are everywhere. so i decided to check this one out. it chronicles the relationship between mary boleyn and her infamous sister, anne. mary tells the story of her rise to power as king henry viii's mistress and then her fall as her cunning and beautiful rival, her sister anne, ensnared henry to become his second queen. i suppose it was interesting, as it is a period of history i generally enjoy. however popular she might be, i don't think phillippa gregory is a terrific writer. her style is fairly straightforward and easy to read, if a little dull. i suppose she had a lot of ground to cover in the 15 years of our story, but there was little characterization or description. this is how it felt: "we did this and then he said that. and then this happened and it was nice. and then that happened. and then this." and so on and so forth. for such a thick book, it was quite easy to read, and so not bad. i'm not sure if i will read another. they are somewhat vacuous reading, and i think i've had enough of that. will move on to bigger and better things, hopefully. i have been quite lazy and undisciplined in most areas of my life the past month, not least to say in my choices of ridiculous reading material. Drat! I hate when they have those funny arrows telling us to look inside the book. oh well. i suppose that's better than no visual aid at all.

Book 51: The Knight and The Rose

2006-09-08T16:33:00.000-05:00

So this was about the beginning of the War of the Roses. I hope you all know about that. Can't find a picture, but oh well. It was okay, as I do enjoy history. Sorry these are such short posts, but sadly the last few books I've read don't have much redeeming value that merits comment. Maybe I need to ready something heavy.

Book 50: Matilda's Last Waltz

2006-09-08T16:28:00.000-05:00

At last, am halfway to the goal! Hm, i don't want to be down on myself or anything, but I'm not sure I'll make it to 100. But I'll keep trying. So, this was about a sheep station in Australia, which is why I read it. I searched for Australia in the card catalogue. It was a sweeping drama, said the cover, and it was okay. A little silly, but picking up some slang was worth it.

#44: Just Walk Across the Room

2006-09-06T17:50:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading the book Just Walk Across the Room by Bill Hybels. I bought it about a month ago at a conference I went to at Willow Creek, the church Hybels pastors, in the Chicago suburbs. I was interested in the book because it appeared to be a challenge to evangelize more effectively in everyday relationships and encounters. Hybels challenges the reader to get up and walk across the room, if that's what it takes, to engage in relationship with people. He outlines the three D's he uses in evangelism of Developing friendships, Discovering stories, and Discerning the next steps to take. Hybels stresses the importance of being sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leadings when it comes to relationships with people. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who wants to be challenged to share Christ with others. The stories that Hybels shared were interesting and the way he intertwined scripture was encouraging.

#43: Murder Unleashed

2006-09-03T23:00:00.000-05:00

Murder Unleashed by Elaine Viets was dumb. Don't waste your time reading it.

Book 49: Death of A Hussy

2006-09-02T09:36:00.000-05:00

So to try and read lots of books quickly, I return to this mystery series. It might have taken two hours to read this. It was okay; again i found the pathetic female character irksome and, well, pathetic. There really isn't much to say about this one, except that Hamish MacBeth does it again. yesterday and this morning i spent some quality time at the laundromat. Is that how you spell that word? It was pretty great. I am looking forward to my times there, as all sorts of interesting people do their laundry there. it's expensive, so i'll have to start wearing all the clothes sitting at the bottom of my drawers that i forgot i owned. Maybe i'll even go back today for the penn state game. how exciting. okay, this isn't about books anymore. being surrounded by the breadth of human nature at the laundromat does make me want to watch my favorite documentary movie of all time: Trekkies.

Book 48: Everything Is Illuminated

2006-09-02T09:24:00.000-05:00

I read this book because I saw a preview for the movie. It looked like a creative and interesting film, yet I always try to read the book first. Maybe I'll still see the movie, if i can get if out of the library for free. This book took quite a while to finish. It started out humorously and entertaining. I wanted to keep reading to find out what happened. Would they find Augustine? Would Sammy Davis Jr, jr, the deranged dog, eat all the heroes papers, leaving him stuck in Ukraine indefinitely? If that sounds confusing to you, that's kind of how the second half of the book goes. The story is the correpsondence of Jonathan, an American Jew, and Alex, a Ukranian translator and employee of Heritage Tours. Alex and his Father run a touring company for Jewish Americans who would like to find their families, or what's left of their families' homes in the aftermath of World War II. Jonathan is a college student who has a picture and two names: Augustine and Trachimbrod. Augustine is the woman saved Jonathan's grandfather from the Nazis when they destroyed their small Ukranian village of Trachimbrod. So one chapter is Jonathan's novel, a story of his family starting with an ancestor, Brod, in the late 18th century. Then a chapter is a letter from Alex, and one is about the adventures Alex, his grandfather, Jonathan, and the crazy dog are having. It is somewhat interesting how the story moves both backwards and forwards, but it became extremely dull. I suppose critics would call it creative and artistic, and I generally enjoy that kind of thing. Maybe it has something to do with Jewish culture, being an outsider, that I just don't understand. I felt there were many references to the life of the synagogue, etc, that I didn't understand, and so perhaps that is why I had difficulty in grasping the plot. And towards the end it was a bit sad, but I was actually elated when it was over.

Book 47: Made In America

2006-09-02T09:18:00.000-05:00

I just cannot get enough of Bill Bryson. Speaking of which, Bill, why have you not responded to my pleas for your attention? You apparently don't read this blog, nor do you care that your biggest fan is feeling a bit snubbed. Anyhoo, this book, like all his others, was great. It's all about the English language we Americans speak. I learned all sorts of useful tidbits about where we get certain expressions, which phrases are actually quite old that we still employ and have died out in England (such as "fall" for autumn), and some lovely historical facts. Not only does Bill take us on the journey of the making of American English, he also gives insight into the icons of our culture that spawned our phrases, idioms, etc. It was very interesting. I am going to start one called Mother Tongue, that's about English in general. A very good, entertaining and informative read. I am also excited about his forthcoming book, a memoir titled in a suitably ridiculous fashion, Thunderbolt Kid, or something like that.

#42: The First 48

2006-08-21T23:01:00.000-05:00

Well school starts up again in 2 days and I didn't get quite as far as I hoped I would in my reading over the summer. I hoped I would at least make it to 50 books. And unless I read 8 books tomorrow I'm not going to make it.

I just finished the book The First 48 by Tim Green and it was pretty good. The story was filled with suspense so I wanted to keep reading. Basically a couple of guys have 48 hours to find one of the men's kidnapped daughter. A few complaints are sometimes the story jumped around too much so I didn't really know what was going on. I also felt like there were a few loose ends that never were tied up or resolved. People just died and that was resolution enough for the author. So, it was fun to read but not my favorite suspense novel.

#41: The Devil in the White City

2006-08-16T18:26:00.000-05:00

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. Larson told the story of two men, Daniel Burnham and H.H. Holmes, who were linked together by the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. Burnham was the directing architect behind the beauty and wonder of the fair and Holmes was a serial killer who built a hotel near the fair.

The book was intriguing because Larson did an excellent job jumping between the stories of the two men. Although they never met, their stories compliment each other well. I found myself captivated by the descriptions of the World's Fair and often rereading parts of the book to pick up on small details. It is rare that I want to see a place so badly after reading a book, but I really wanted to see the Chicago World's Fair. If only someone would invent time travel. Larson did such a great job telling the story that I was fascinated with learning more about the World's Fair so I often found myself reading articles or looking at pictures on the Internet. The book was a little long but it was worth reading every page. I would highly reccomend it.

Book 46: Azur Like It

2006-08-10T10:04:00.000-05:00

This book is one of several author Wendy Holden has written about the forlorn in England. I read a couple of them several years ago, as they are good and silly fluff reads. Basically these are less funny Bridget Jones knock offs. This one is about Kate, a frustrated reporter working for some local newspaper in the north of England, living with her parents and dreaming about getting away. She of course meets a gorgeous yet totally unsuitable young man, a complete cad, and they set off for the south of France. He's using her, she finds out and is left heartbroken. Making the best of things, Kate finds several jobs, a French love interest, some crime and drama and some good friends. They turn around an ailing restaurant-cafe, catch some bad guys and all fall in love. So very silly, somewhat witty though not as much as I would like. It is exactly what I would like to do with my own life: leave the barren wasteland in which I currently reside and set up a cafe or bar in the sunny south of France. We'll see how that goes. Azur Like It was alright...an easy summer read.

Book 45: Death Of A Prankster

2006-08-09T09:46:00.000-05:00

I have got to read more of these books...i finished this one in just under three hours. We travel once again to the highlands of Scotland to some inpronounceable village where Hamish Macbeth is the local constable. This time a nasty old man who of course has millions dies. He's a horrible prankster and falls victim to one of his own jokes: he falls out of someone's closet with a knife in his chest. Who done it? One of the daughters, the adopted and ne'er do well son, the clutching actress, the estranged brother and his greedy wife? Well I won't tell you. You'll just have to read it for yourself.

MC Beaton does seem to always bring a little bit of calss warfare into her books. In this the third I've read, there's always at least one character with humble, working-class background who is trying not to give that away. And there's always some upper class twit who is unkind to that pathetic character. I suppose she just wants to make it interesting and help us to like some of the characters and dislike others, but it just seems to make everyone a little desparate.

Book 44: Of Mice And Men

2006-08-08T17:23:00.000-05:00

My second John Steinbeck book this year. I find his books tragic, depressing and strangely wonderful. He has a pleasant style of writing, and sitting on my porch today, the summer breeze blowing, I rather felt that I was in the Salinas Valley. So perhaps most of you read this book in high school; the tale of Lennie and George, their friendship and misfortune. Every single character seems to be trapped; George by his responsibility of caring for Lennie, Crooks by racial prejudice, Candy by poverty and old age, Curley's wife by gender roles and a bad husband. You can tell that this is written from desparate circumstances, at a time in American history when most people were experiencing the hopelessness of the Great Depression. And yet it seems somewhat American in that we choose to go on, the characters rationalize their actions, press on in the face of the consequences, and continue to dream the American dream. Lennie and George had a dream of a farm. Lennie actually believes it can come true; George is the more cynical and yet he continues to make the plans he knows he'll never see come to fruition. A sad story, and I don't have anything particulary deep to say about it, but i enjoyed this one. AGAIN am experiencing technical difficulties and can't post a picture. will try later. how vexing.

#40: Candy and Me

2006-08-08T16:19:00.000-05:00

Yum candy! As I was at the library looking at cookbooks, although I'm not entirely sure why I was doing that since I have no clue what 75% of the ingredients in cookbooks are, I found the book Candy and Me: A Love Story by Hilary Liftin. I was intrigued because every chapter is titled a different candy name and seemed to be a detailed account of Hilary's love of candy. If you have ever been to my house I'm sure you have noticed or taken advantage of the candy bowl. Many people ask how I can have a candy bowl that is always full and not eat all the candy. The answer to that question is I do eat it, I just have lots of candy in my cupboard so I can always refill. I don't even want to think about the amount of money I've spent on my candy bowl. But it is worth it if only for the joy on people's faces (including my own) as they are devouring my candy. When I was a young child I daydreamed about having a house made of candy that always replenished itself. Most little girls want a pony. There are only 2 things in this world I will eat on a full stomach and they are McDonald's and candy.

So about the book. It is a story of Hilary's life from childhood through present time. She tells the story of her life revolving around candy humorously incorporating the type she liked at the time, where she bought her candy, and what kinds of candy her friends liked. It reminded me of the book Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby because in that book he told his life story based on what was happening with the soccer team that he was a huge fan. My favorite chapter in Candy and Me is titled Trix. It goes like this..."'In 1954, Trix breakfast cereal was introduced by General Mills. The new cereal a huge hit with kids was 46.6 percent sugar.' ~UselessKnowledge.com. I loved Trix." That was the chapter and it resonated with my heart because I love sugar cereal. Cute book but maybe not worth everyone's time and energy to read.

Book 43: The Crusades Through Arab Eyes

2006-08-07T13:27:00.000-05:00

This is something I've been meaning to read for a couple of years now. During college I took an entire course on the crusades which was very interesting (filled with those sorts of history majors who like to dress up like people from the middle ages). I saw the Orlando Bloom movie about the crusades with my heartthrob struck sisters last summer (it was okay) and what with the current state of affairs this seemed a timely choice.

I liked it, I enjoyed learning about the history from a different perspective. The author, whose name I forget, wrote about the time period between 1096-1244. There were other crusades after this time period, but mostly took place outside the middle east (the reconquest of Spain from the Moors, for example). I thought he gave a surprisingly balanced and shall we say, kind picture, of this military venture. He didn't mince words about the atrocities of the Frankish armies, but he wasn't overly kind to the Muslim forces either. But he did present the facts: this was an invasion of peoples' homelands for little more than economic and political gain. The Europeans were especially cruel and bloodthirsty, and it's hard to admit but there is really no excuse for such barbaric actions.

As a Christian, it's difficult to come to terms with the Crusades. In Germany today, for example, the word "crusade" is never used figuratively, as it might be here in America. They are simply not something thought of in any kind of positive light. They did, however, introduce the western world to spices, oranges and other delicious and useful things. The downfall of the Arab world, the most civilized society in the early medieval period, began to be eclipsed by the rise of the West. How could such awful things be done in the name of God? Why would any kind of God allow that to happen? How do we even reconcile the deeds of Richard the Lionheart, who mercilessly slaughtered thousands of men, women and children on his quest to regain Jerusalem, with the hero of merry olde england we all believe in? I'm not sure. I don't think the trite answers work. It's not okay to just say that those people weren't really Christians and it was just a political thing and the Muslim people should just get over it because it's been almost a thousand years already. But I don't know what the solution is. I'll tell you this much though: while I don't think that terrorism is in any way right, and the conflict that is happening currently is not good, I do think I can empathize more with an Arab people who have bitter memories of a West that seeks only to kill and destroy.

Book 42: Agatha Raisin and The Murderous Marriage

2006-08-03T19:57:00.000-05:00

am feeling a little inadequate in my reading in that i don't read much that's all that great. i haven't, like anne, been reading missionary biographies or anything much except for fluff mysteries. and here's another one. but oh well. i like them and can read them in an afternoon. so anyhoo, this is also by mc beaton, and i read it quickly. this sleuth is, wait for it, agatha raisin. she's pathetic, so much so that i couldn't stand her. she always "says things gloomily" and is trying to get some stupid guy to marry her. he's a total bastard and she has no self-respect for sticking with him. but they do manage to solve the mystery of her estranged husband together. it wasn't great and i probably won't read any more agatha raisin books. i'm not sure i'll read more mc beaton. must find something slightly more intriguing and intellectual. well, maybe next week. Drat! can't upload the stupid picture.

#39: Bruchko

2006-08-03T15:26:00.000-05:00

I spent this afternoon reading a great book called Bruchko by Bruce Olson. Olson told the story of his calling from God to go to the jungles of Venezuela and Columbia to share the good news of Christ with the Motilone Indians. The faith that he had in God as he embarked on his calling is unbelievable. Even better were the stories of God's transforming power in the lives of the Motilone people. As I was reading this book I was most impressed by the greatness and depth of God's love. It was clear to me that God loves these people. I felt an even greater understanding of how much God loves all people because of the Motilone's story.

#38: Courageous Leadership

2006-08-01T17:43:00.000-05:00

I have a confession to make. I have done little to no reading that will benefit my blog in the last 2 weeks. For some reason everytime I pick up a book I have been distracted by other time wasting opportunities such as Dr. Phil, eating, taking a nap, looking at pictures, playing with my new phone, using the internet, watching Seinfeld, cleaning, doing laundry, watching a movie, and the list goes on. Take today for example. I fully intended on reading the last 70 pages of this book and getting well into another one. But, after 5 hours I had only finished this book. Tomorrow I'm getting back on track. I promise.

I don't really have too much to say about Courageous Leadership by Bill Hybels. I was pretty bored with the first part of the book. I thought it offered a great deal of practical advice and good stories about Hybels experience with ministry but most of it did not seem that applicable to my life right now. However, the last few chapters about self-leadership, our own personal walk with the Lord and encouragement to develop and enduring spirit were pretty enjoyable and I got something out of them. In no way would I not recommend this book. It was well-written and had good perspective. It just wasn't one of my favorites.

Book 41: Death Of A Gossip

2006-08-01T16:00:00.000-05:00

i started this book last night, read for about thirty minutes and then finished it by the pool this afternoon. i was only at the pool for an hour due to the sweltering heat, and i'm one who likes hot humid weather. i would go for swim and instantly, upon getting out of the water, i would sweat profusely. it was ridiculous. i wonder what the heat index and such was. it felt like a million. so this is one in a series my mom enjoys...hamish macbeth is the village constable in the scottish highlands and while loafing about and not taxing my brain he solved the murder of a nasty gossip columnist on holiday. it was okay. i'll probably read more by this author, m.c. beaton, because they are so easy and i need to get my numbers up. i have one about another sleuth of his that i'll start tonight.

Book 40: The Seville Communion

2006-07-27T14:30:00.000-05:00

another by one of my favorite authors, arturo perez-reverte. they are always mysterious dramas that take place in europe, however usually spain, amid art, literature, history, or the like. this one followed father lorenzo quart, a priest from rome, to seville to investigate mysterious deaths around our lady of the tears church. these aren't typical mysteries with detectives and motives and such, but stories about people holding onto the past with both hands, unable to stop what's happening to them. bankers want to demolish the church, yet several people are unwilling to let go. among them is the beautiful macarena, daughter of one of the oldest family's of spain's aristocracy. she lost her heart to the ancient church when she was a young girl, reading love letters a great aunt sent to a penniless sailor. an american nun, gris marsala fights to save the church as well. she is running from a life that she feels she wasted, and the restoration of this church gives her meaning and purpose. an old country priest, father ferraro, shepherds the unlikely parishoners and refuses to give into rome or "progress." quart comes back to spain haunted by his own ghosts to figure out the entire mess and along the way he loses a little bit of himself to the old church, and to macarena. i liked this book, as i like all of perez-reverte's. he writes about interesting places in such a way that you feel as if you belong. i imagined myself strolling through the santa cruz district of seville in the hot sun, enjoying the cafes and orange blossoms. there is a certain sadness in his characters that i find appealing, maybe because i like tragedy. there is also some ambiguity that can be refreshing and frustrating at the same time. there aren't good guys and bad guys in his books, nor are there clear cut happy endings. maybe as a european, he realizes that events and life seldom wrap up neatly. rather there is good and bad in everyone and everything, and all we can do is go on. i recommend this book, as well as all others by him.

Book 39: Five Minute Mysteries For You To Solve

2006-07-26T20:31:00.000-05:00

Okay, i love mysteries, as you know. so i started this book last week and finished it today. each one is two to four pages of some caper, and then it gives you some kind of question...such as "what tipped off detective maylard that the skipper wasn't all he appeared?" and then there are the answers in the back. i might enjoy reading detective novels, but i am the world's worst detective. that's all there is to it.

Book 38: Singled Out For Him

2006-07-26T15:07:00.000-05:00

so i kind of rolled my eyes when my project director pulled out this book for we staff women to read this summer, but i actually enjoyed it. we were all single this summer, with the exception of one couple, and so this seemed an appropriate book. as a group we only discussed several chapters, but i finished the rest in about five minutes. nancy leigh demoss writes about the challenges and joys of singlehood and how to best use them for god's glory. as a single woman who works for a large missionary organization, i kind of get tired of talking about being single. especially since i work with college students and reassure them that the right man will come and i'm not really a total freak due to the fact that i'm 27 and single. well, i might have to amend that because i am rather odd, but it can make me roll my eyes at times. anyhoo, i liked this book because it was a super easy read, and she made some good points. one of her chapters was about being committed to relating to families. sometimes i think i do all too easily isolate myself from people who are not in my stage of life. another was about giving extravagantly because i do have more time than a wife or mom, one was about trusting god with unfulfilled longings. we have those no matter who we are. so this was good, and like i said, could be read in about 15 minutes.

Book 37: Graveyard Dust

2006-07-26T14:52:00.000-05:00

again, a mystery. as i look at the books i've read this year, i guess i should start on some more useful, or heavy things. but i really like to read in order to escape, so i like these kinds. this is the third in a series i discovered last fall. benjamin january is our hero, and he's a free colored man in old new orleans. having been born a slave, he was freed when a frenchman bought his mother and her children and made her his mistress. in these novels one enters the complex social system of the creoles, free coloreds, and slaves of lousiana. i have learned that free blacks had an entire system and nowhere else in america, and it's pretty fascinating. in this installment, olympe, january's sister who is a practioner of voodoo, has been arrested for poisoning a man. so january, surgeon and musician, sets out to find the true killer. along the way his life is threatened several times, we meet the queen of voodoo in new orleans as well as other colorful characters and dodge bronze john, as yellow fever was called.

this wasn't as good as the other two i've read, but i like the world barbara hambly creates. i might have mentioned this earlier, but we tend to romanticize the past and think that living in the old south, or any other time, might have been better and/or more exciting now. but that's not true. hambly accurately recreates the world of new orleans in the 1830s complete with the danger and dirtiness of life back then. january is three-quarters black and he is a free man, and yet he fears for his life every time he leaves his house, particularly when he leaves frenchtown (with the safety of colored society) for the rougher and less couth american side. he is thrown in jail, attacked and beaten quite often, all because he is not white. even though he is free, he was almost captured to be sold to cotton plantations up north in mississippi. i don't think that i have or ever will feel the fear he did, me being a white american, unless maybe i move to saudi arabia or iran. i am not saying that i know how it feels to be in a minority as a result of reading these fictitious stories, but i do think hambly gives the reader a rare opportunity to enter a completely foreign world and empathize with a character who's only sin is being black. i would recommend these books.

#37: When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy

2006-07-21T11:18:00.000-05:00

John Piper wrote an excellent book when he wrote When I Don't Desire God. It has taken me about 2 months to read it, and it has been a very rewarding experience. Piper starts the book by arguing that finding joy in the Lord is a battle that we must fight our whole lives. Then he goes on to give very clear battle tactics in our fight for joy. I really appreciated the practical advice and biblical wisdom that Piper had to offer throughout the whole book. Having been a Christian for years, Piper has had a great deal of experience in his walk with the Lord. He has learned what helps him connect with God the best and what brings him satisfaction. Piper's platform in much of what he write is that "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." This book encouraged me to seek to be even more satisfied with God everyday. The thing I appreciated the most about the book was Piper's clear reliance on God and the Holy Spirit to bring him that satisfaction. While he give great advice, he never once claims that man can do it on his own. This was probably the best book I've read this year and I would highly recommend it to everyone.

#36: The Kite Runner

2006-07-13T13:13:00.000-05:00

I loved The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. When I started reading it yesterday I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to really get into it or not. I can't say that I was all too intrigued but I heard it was a good book. Not only was it a good book, it was excellent. I could not put the book down. Hosseini tells the story of a young boy's coming of age in Afghanistan. The story starts out at the end of Afghanistan's monarchy and ends in present times. He addresses the topics of family, friendship, betrayal, forgiveness, pain, fear, and violence in Afghanistan in this beautifully written story. This book is definitely one of the top 5 books I've read this year.

Book 36: The Perfect Summer

2006-07-11T20:20:00.000-05:00

Hm, it actually turned out to be the not so perfect summer, in my opinion. this was the first time i've read a book by Luanne Rice. It was not bad. a friend gave this to me to read on the beach. yesterday i spent long hours at the pool and read three-fourths of this book. it's not what i would usually read, but it was a pleasant read and went quickly. the story is about people who grew up on the coast of connecticut and are beach people. Bay (what a silly name) is a mother of three and wife of handsome playboy banker. oh, they're all of irish descent, so there's an awful lot of pride in irish working class roots among these folks. a bit too much, if you ask me, which, by reading this, you are. anyhoo, sean goes missing, which leads bay to discover that he wasn't changing his ways as he said he would. in fact, he was quite a lot worse, a total cad, even. through the course of an fbi investigation, bay is reunited with an old flame, danny, who is a carpenter poet. see above comment on too much about sentimental irish-ness. i won't tell you what happens, but i was intrigued and pleasantly surprised by the mystery aspect of the book. i do like a good mystery. again, this was quite a pleasant book, very easy to read, perfect for summer. so maybe the title wasn't completely off.

i did like that it was about beach people. after almost eight weeks in wildwood, new jersey, i am back at home with my parents outside philadelphia. i love being near the water, going to the beach and looking out across the great emptiness that is the sea. i like the smell of the sea air, eating fresh seafood and generally the summertime. it makes me think i should work harder at trying to move to the coast. northeast ohio, in comparison, is pretty awful. i am watching "master and commander" as i write this review, and that makes me want to be near the ocean and travel on it as well. i love the idea of sailing to the end of the world and into the unknown, looking for exotic places, new people and adventure. that must be why my favorite narnia book is "voyage of the dawn treader." hm, these poetic musings have very little to do with the book, except that the beach makes me think on such things.

Book 35: I'm a Stranger Here Myself

2006-07-11T19:48:00.000-05:00

oh my word, another hilarious triumph from my new favorite author, bill bryson. this is book number four by him this year, and i still have two more in my possession to go. this one is a collection of newspaper columns he wrote for some british paper in the year or two after he moved back to america. he comments on everything, from post offices to winter sports to why no one in america walks anywhere. he does all of this, of course, with great depth of insight, razor sharp wit and dry sense of humor. because of its short chapters i found it quite easy to read, and probably more so than his others. it went very quickly and of course, i recommend this book. my favorite part is the article entitled "fun in the snow" where he describes receiving skis one childhood christmas. one can only imagine the hilarity that might ensue, and i literally laughed uncontrollably for about five minutes. indeed just thinking about that exploit of his makes me giggle even now. i just so enjoy bill, and i think not only is he amusing but also insightful and honest in his comments about, in this case, the differences between america and great britain. and i gather from this book that he has a son around my age. i wonder if he's single, and as wildly hilarious as his father. bill, if you or your son should happen to read this, by all means post a comment letting me know my chances. i'm pretty fun.

#35: The Alchemist

2006-07-11T16:22:00.000-05:00

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho tells a story of a boy named Santiago and his journey to follow his dream. After dreaming of finding a treasure near the pyramids, he gives up the life of a shepard boy in Spain to literally follow his dream of finding that treasure. Along the way Satiago meets many people and learns more than he ever could have imagined about the world. He is challenged to follow omens and trust his heart by many of the people he encounters along the way. In the end of the story it is an Alchemist who helps him discover how to complete his journey and offers support and wisdom to never give up on his dream. Coelho, a Brazilian author, tells a beautiful and mystical story with positive message about following dreams. It was enjoyable to read and I can understand how it became an international bestseller.

Book 34: The Discarded Image

2006-07-08T13:50:00.000-05:00

I chose to read this book because it's by cs lewis and about literature. i love literature, particularly of the medieval and renaissance period. lewis simply wrote down his lectures on an introduction to said literature. this was an okay book. it was very heavy and perhaps a bit out of my league. one thing that made it difficult was that most of the literature he referenced i had not read. he did leave us, however, with a thought-provoking statement about the purpose of writing, one which connected with my heart. i did forget my book in my room, so i can't actually tell you what that was. maybe later i'll do some editing.

#34: Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them

2006-07-07T17:18:00.000-05:00

I really enjoyed reading this book by John Ortberg about community. It was an interesting book that challenges the reader to look past the weirdness in others and engage in authentic community. As I was reading this book I was reminded of a time a few years ago when I told my mom that I thought everyone was weird. And she said she was so proud of me for figuring that truth out at such a young age. Now a few years ago, my attitude was that yes everyone is weird but some are weirder than others and maybe I should just ignore those people. Hopefully, by the power of the Spirit, I have grown, if only a little, in this area. I know that deep down I want to love everyone including the "weirdest" people, but the reality is I have a hard time doing it. What I appreciated about this book though was the practical advice on how to do this and the key elements Ortberg identifies in a healthy, supportive and growing community. His chapters highlight authenticity, acceptance, empathy, conflict, forgiveness, confrontation, inclusion, and gratitude.

My favorite part of the whole book was the chapter on conflict. Ortberg introduced an excellent rule called the "Last 10 Percent Rule." The premise behind it is that after going through the hard work of setting up a difficult conversation we often fail to clearly say the last 10 percent. When clarity is need most vagueness often prevails. His challenge is to say the last 10 percent. He doesn't mean we should just rail on everybody that bothers us but in loving confrontation we must be careful not to get fuzzy when truth is most important. What a challenging but vitally important concept for any type of community.

Book 33: The Lost Continent

2006-07-02T12:56:00.000-05:00

Yet another book by my new favorite author, bill bryson. i have now read three. and i received two more as gifts that i must read. actually, i think i need to take a break from these books. i am still thoroughly enjoying travel books and his rapacious wit, however how different are they really? he travels to lots of small towns and makes fun of the people there while giving us interesting factoids about said towns. in this volume he is traveling around america, starting in his home state of iowa and taking us with him on his adventures. i enjoyed this book. the one about australia is my favorite so far, but this is a close second. since he is writing about america and some places i've actually been, it made it all the more humorous. rather than continue to describe the book, i'll let him tell you what he thinks about the lost continent.

while watching tv somewhere in the south: "the preparation-h commercial vanished and was replaced by a clapping audience, the perky sound of steel guitars and happy but mildly brain-damaged people in sequined outfits. this was 'grand ole opry.'" and from looking at the evangelical road signs littered beneath the mason-dixon line: "I particularly fancied having the bryson city church of christ sign beside my front gate in england and being able to put up different messages every week like REPENT NOW, LIMEYS."

about washington dc and all the government stuff: "Across the street there is a permanent settlement of disaffected people and crazies, living in cardboard boxes, protesting at the Central Intelligence Agency controlling their thoughts from outer space. (well wouldn't you?)"

and on the curiosity of having columbus as a national hero, with columbus day and all that: "if you ask me, the Vikings would make far more worthy heroes for america. for one thing, they did actually discover it. on top of that, the vikings were manly and drank out of skulls and didn't take any crap from anybody. now that's the american way."
so there are some tidbits. highly recommend to anyone.

#33: The Mermaid Chair

2006-06-30T16:09:00.000-05:00

The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd was a very well written book, but I morally disagreed with the storyline. Kidd told the story of a woman who was dissatisfied with her life and ends up having an affair with a monk. "What?" I can hear you saying now. First, why a monk? Second, why would Anne read this book? Well, I didn't have anything to read so I borrowed it from my friend while I was laying out at her pool and read it all afternoon. Because it was well written, it was a quick read. It just made me sad that very popular books are condoning sad middle aged womens' right to an affair to figure out their lives. And the whole monk thing was weird.

Book 32: Stiff

2006-06-27T23:34:00.001-05:00

for this thirty second book i return to australia and the world of the hard-boiled sleuth, in the forms of melbourne and murray whelan. i was so taken by my first book by shane maloney, "the brush-off" that i looked everywhere for more of his books. sadly they were nowhere to be found. then i discovered that you can order used books and other items for ridiculously cheap off amazon.com. so i bought this one for about 60 cents. there was maybe $3 shipping, but a book, a hardback book, for $3.60? that's nothing to sneeze at. so i got this book. i love mysteries, especially for the beach, so this seemed like the perfect beach read.

well, it wasn't as good as the first, and i was a bit disappointed. in this installment, we actually go back in time, so it's like the prequel to "the brush-off." a turkish worker at a meat packing plant is found dead and frozen in one of the company deep freezes. our protagonist, murray, works for some political ministry having to do with the interior, or whatever and so he is called upon to investigate the matter. he is to make sure that the government will not be culpable for the man's death. so we start a wild roller coaster ride of intrigue and ridiculousness. murray juggles his job, his failing marriage, his eight-year old son red, his attraction and pitiful attempts at picking up young beautiful women all while running from corrupt meat packers who are seeking to end his life. it was okay, if a little confusing. murray in this volume is a little too hard-boiled. it seemed that the text was made up of not so much dialogue and then description, but quips and sarcasm. it just made it a bit hard to follow. will i read more? perhaps. especially if they are cheap. this one had less description of melbourne and australia in general, also a disappointment.

oh, in case anyone was wondering, i am sad about the socceroos recent defeat by italy in the world cup. i suppose i shouldn't be surprised, our friends from down under up against a traditional powerhouse like that. i was cheering them on and even looked into buying an inflatable boxing kangaroo. argh! cannot post picture. will attempt later.

#32: The Berlin Conspiracy

2006-06-26T19:38:00.000-05:00

A completely fiction story set in the middle of completely true events, The Berlin Conspiracy by Tom Gabbay is a gripping novel that I literally could not put down. I usually babysit on Monday afternoons and fortunately this week it got moved to Tuesday because I could do nothing but read this book all afternoon.

The Berlin Conspiracy is set in June of 1963 in Berlin. Jack Teller, a retired CIA agent, is called to the scene and given important intelligence that could expose dangerous plots within the U.S. government that seem to be spinning out of control. Jack’s fiery personality, the well developed characters, and suspenseful plotline makes every page better than the last. Set in the middle of the cold war during President Kennedy’s historic visit to Berlin, a divided city, the espionage and plot twists are enthralling. This book was great!

Two other awesome things I enjoyed about this book are…

The big day that President Kennedy visited Berlin and gave his famous speech was on June 26, 1963 and today is June 26^th. I didn’t make that connection until just now. What a perfect day to read the book.
I was able to visit Berlin during the time I lived in Germany so it was easy to visualize the story taking place in the famous city.

#31: How to Be Good

2006-06-23T00:18:00.000-05:00

Even though I didn’t really love it, Nick Hornby’s book How to Be Good was interesting and intriguing to read. When I first started reading it I contemplated not finishing it, but then I couldn’t put it down. Nick Hornby tells the story of a woman who has been married for around 20 years and is faced with the fact that she doesn’t like her life, her husband is often terrible to live with, and she has been driven to an affair. So, the book opens with Kate telling her husband she wants a divorce over the phone. Then David (Kate’s husband) meets a spiritual healer named GoodNews and his, and his families, life is changed forever.

While Kate is skeptical and sarcastic about David’s spiritual conversion, David has given up his anger, sarcasm, and otherwise rude habits because of his relationship with GoodNews. GoodNews and David team together to conquer the problems of the world; including but not limited to hunger, homelessness, and the middle and upper class living too ostentatiously. The funny part of the story is their spiritual beliefs lead to many humorous conversations with Kate and their very confused children.

Aside from the dry humor, while I was reading this book I was intrigued by the spiritual side. The characters David and GoodNews were both compassionate towards the poor just like Christians are called to be and did more for the poor than most Christians I know, myself included. But, it was sad because they had nothing to put their hope in. They just want to help the poor because it was “how to be good”. Kate was often racked by guilt because no matter how hard she tried to be good, she could identify so many areas of wickedness in her life. She was never given any hope. Although the book was often hilarious, it was full of very dark humor and was very hopeless. I praise God that I have hope in my life because I know Jesus Christ died for my wickedness and I don’t have to learn “how to be good” to know that my eternity with Him is secure. Yes, I want to be good and please God but nothing depends on my ability to be good, only Christ’s ability to be good for me. And when Christ died on the cross my sin became His and His goodness became mine. And the best part is, He wanted to give that gift, to me and everybody else.

Book 31: Notes From A Small Island

2006-06-20T21:09:00.000-05:00

Well, after such a positive experience i wasn't sure i was ready to delve again into the world of bill bryson just yet. not that i could ever tire of reading him, just that he caused me to so love australia i didn't think i was emotionally ready to love another country in that way. but here in wildwood i found this great bookshop run by a crazy irishman that had every one of his books. so i bought this, since i've been to england, i enjoy england, and would appreciate being enlightened by his comments. so i read this one. a friend just bought me two more of his, one about the development of the American English language and one about returning to the States after twenty years in Britain.

So on to the book. very funny. however, not as riotous as the one about australia. i would prefer to believe that this is simply because australia is a vastly superior place. but england seemed merry, jolly and all that. he wrote just as he and his family were about to leave to move back to the united states, and this journey was one last survey of the country he had grown to love. we went from dover to london to the west country to leed and liverpool to yorkshire and up into scotland. he did make the observation, and i got the impression, that most british towns are extremely similar, and most britons love to tell you multiple ways to drive just about anywhere. he also made mention of the habit of "walking" as an extreme sport, reserved middle aged women who rule their bed and breakfasts with an iron fist, the penchant for predicting the weather as dry and warm with some cool and rainy spells, his dislike for sand and of course, the copious amounts of beer he consumes at nearly every village pub upon which he comes. it was a delightful read and i would readily recommend it. i look forward to updating you on the net couple of books i will read. sadly, i didn't bring the book with me to the computer so i can't really type you out any of the more humorous quotations. sorry.

#30: Confronting the Controversies

2006-06-20T17:16:00.000-05:00

Confronting the Controversies: Biblical Perspectives on Tough Issues is a book that I have been reading for the past few months for my small group at Quest. We read a chapter every other week and then discuss the content during small group. This book has given us a great deal to discuss and hopefully even more to consider about how our faith relates to critical issues. I found this book because my mom read it with her Bible study last fall and gave it to me to read after they were finished. Because she really enjoyed it and because our small group seemed to be interested in the issues we decided we would also go through the book.

The author Adam Hamilton is a pastor and preached a series of sermons on the issues in the book (separation of church and state, evolution, the death penalty, euthanasia, prayer in public schools, abortion, and homosexuality). So this book is the collection of those sermons. Hamilton’s goal in writing this book was to encourage Christians to think about these issues from a sound biblical and theological perspective. In my opinion, Hamilton did an excellent job of presenting major sides on all of the issues. Then using scripture and research Hamilton presented his own conclusions on the issues. While I didn’t always agree with his conclusions, Hamilton did leave every chapter pretty open to drawing your own conclusions. The book was well written and a good choice for our small group. Tonight we will be discussing the last chapter and then it’s on to new things.

#29: Beach Road

2006-06-18T15:57:00.000-05:00

Another great mystery by James Patterson. Beach Road was a good story with murder, drug dealers, movie stars, a trial, and a great twist to the ending set in an elite beach community on the East Coast. One thing that was interesting about Beach Road is each chapter is told from the point of view of the different characters in the story. There were about 5 or 6 different perspectives and 2 of them had the most chapter time (maybe about 75%). The 2 characters that told most of the story are lawyers representing a teen who was accused of murdering 4 people right before he headed off to college and had dreams of a promising career in the NBA. I think I like this mystery because the point of the book wasn’t to find out who committed the murders but how to prove the accused teen was innocent. Also, the fact that the conclusion came as a shock was a big key to what made the story good. I would say this is my favorite James Patterson book I’ve read this year.

#28: Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Secret Pitch

2006-06-16T14:56:00.000-05:00

Anybody remember reading Encyclopedia Brown books as a child? I vaguely remembered them and decided to read one again because Matt recommended it. Even though the book was short (100 pages), I rarely turn down a recommendation. Within one page I quickly remembered Encyclopedia Brown, the 10-year-old son of the Police Chief of Idaville, had his own detective business in his garage in which he charges 25 cents to solve mysteries/crimes. To the best of my knowledge Encyclopedia has never encountered a crime he couldn’t solve.

Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Secret Pitch by Donald J. Sobol consists of 10 mysteries that Encyclopedia solved. The mysteries are presented as a short story and then at the end of each story the reader is given the opportunity to figure out how Encyclopedia solved the case. I didn’t apply my brain to any of the mysteries before checking the back for the answers so I was pretty pleased that I solved 4 of the 10. I hope that I could get a few more if I thought about it, but maybe not. If that’s the case, I just have to accept the fact that I’m not cut out to be a detective.

#27: Telegraph Days

2006-06-15T16:02:00.000-05:00

Well, this Western novel took forever to read. The only other Western I have read is Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry so when I saw Telegraph Days also by McMurtry I was intrigued. The book flap claimed this book to be McMurtry's most ambitious Western since Lonesome Dove. So, I quickly got the book from the library and then slowly read the book. I am convinced that the setting of the slow paced American West after the Civil War caused me to read this book 5 times slower than other books. There was never a point in the story where I was asking myself what was going to happen next or really ever on the edge of my seat. But with that said, I still greatly enjoyed the book. I laughed a lot and was amused by the wide range of characters.

The main character and narrator of Telegraph Days is a young woman named Nellie. She has a lot of smarts and is very “organized”. Throughout the course of her life she runs a telegraph office, writes novels, works for the famous Buffalo Bill, meets the infamous Earp brothers, Doc Holliday, and Billy the Kid. Nellie is witness to gunfights, the changing western frontier, the frequent deaths of loved ones, and the start of what later became America’s fascination with the West as specifically seen in Hollywood. I don’t know if everyone could read this book and enjoy it, but I thought it was great.

Book 29: The Princess Diaries

2006-06-14T22:59:00.000-05:00

so odd. i blogged about this book a couple of days ago and it never showed up. perhaps the network was down or some other technical difficulties ensued. so for all of you who think i just can't count, i really did finish and write about this book before the murder mystery. i'm actually blogging now because i'm trying to escape the friends trivia going on in the next room. i'm a philistine, i know, but i really do not enjoy that show. i praised god when it ended, but then all the stupid talk shows and magazines ran specials about it for so long i felt i couldn't ever escape the world of six pretty yet brainless young professionals. honestly, could their be more vapid people or plots. and it's not even that clever, like seinfeld or the simpsons are. i guess the ten years it ran did define most of my formative years, and i think our society is the worst for it. my high school role models were these people: shallow and promiscuous with nothing better to do than sit around in a coffee shop and complain about their insignificant lives.

now that i've gotten that completely snobbish rant off my chest, on to the princess diaries. i really enjoyed this book. i saw the movie several years ago, but anne encouraged me to read them. they are so funny! much more so than the movies. mia reminds me of a younger and more innocent bridget jones. i found myself continually identifying with her hilarious mishaps as she navigated her freshman year of high school. i was sad, however, to learn that in the original the setting is new york. i think new york is a bit over-rated, and like san francisco much better. anyhoo, i enjoyed walking with mia through her first two months of high school. i guess i'll have to read some more to see what happens next, as not all that much happened. lilly was ridiculous as mia's best friend, and exactly the kind of weirdo i would like to be. i must work on getting my own tv show. okay, think it's time to read. i am in the middle of three books, i should be able to post again soon!

Book 30: Enter A Murderer

2006-06-10T16:22:00.000-05:00

The cover of this book announced "agatha christie, move over. ngaio marsh is much better." i disagree. as i mentioned earlier, i rather enjoy british mysteries. i love the village ones especially. this wasn't so great. with the exception of stuffy brit talk, such as, "oh rot," and "be a darling and dash over there, nigel," it wasn't noteworthy. the entire book took place inside a theater where one of the cast of "the rat and beaver" had been shot, onstage during production. there sadly was not much characterization or detective work...mostly dialogue between detective inspector roderick alleyn and his friend nigel. i couldn't follow the plot and i guessed the murderer, a rarity for me. so i'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. people say they like marsh, so i'm thinking i should try another of her novels. but maybe not. perhaps i will just find the next princess diaries book, or mary higgins clark. now there is a mystery writer!

#26: Two Little Girls in Blue

2006-06-08T07:56:00.000-05:00

Oh Mary Higgins Clark, you are such a great author! I decided while I was reading Two Little Girls in Blue that if I was asked the question, "If you could have lunch with anyone dead or alive, who would it be?," I would undoubtedly answer Mary Higgins Clark.

I thoroughly enjoyed her latest novel and it was worth waiting over a month for the library to have it available. Two Little Girls in Blue is a story of twin girls who were kidnapped and when only one of them was returned safely the search for the other. The mystery wasn't as suspenseful as some of Mary's previous novels but it was still fun to read. Just read Mary Higgins Clark books, they are great.

#25: Daring to Dance with God

2006-06-05T08:19:00.000-05:00

I think book number 25 is worth noting, because now I am 25% of the way done with my years goal. Unfortuantely, the year is 42.5% over. The good news is I do have 11.5 weeks of summer to get some significant amounts of reading done. I figured out this morning if I read 50 books in the next 11.5 weeks (about 4.3 books a week) then I might be able to reach my goal. That does leave me with only 4 months to accomplish reading the last 25 books but I think with the intensity of the end of the year I can read a little faster than I did for the last 5 months. With all that said, I wonder if I will even come close to the goal.

So about Daring to Dance with God by Jeff Walling...Jeff Walling, the author, is a preacher somewhere in California and challenges the reader through scriptures and stories to encounter God's love by stepping into his embrace and dancing with him. Walling starts the book by outlining the five steps every dancer should know and I thought that this section was the best section. In case you're curious the five steps are letting go, taking God's hand, following God's lead, choosing to rejoice, and seeing the invisible. The next section of the book, which I'll admit I found slightly boring and hard to focus on, addressed the diseases that stop us from dancing such as overworking, cowardice and legalism. While I think these diseases are valid and important to pray that my brothers and sisters in Christ and I don't get, I was not into the way Walling presented them. Let me just list the chapter titles... Bethesda Blight, Marthaplexy, Simonosis, Nazaritis, and Michalepsy. And finally, Walling concludes with a few chapters on dancing in the painful times. So my overall evaluation is the premise of this book is good, but I just didn't enjoy the presentation.

Book 28: The Plaguemaker

2006-06-01T21:52:00.000-05:00

This was not a great book. It was written by Tim Downs, a Christian who is trying to write books that have spiritual messages but are not "Christian." Maybe because I knew he was trying to put something spiritual in there I found it a bit overpowering. Well, it was just boring. The cover announces it as a thriller, and yet there was nothing thrilling about it. A bitter old Japanese man is seeking to destroy America using the strain of bubonic plague he developed during WWII. Nathan Donovan is the divorced and tortured FBI agent who is working with Li to catch the plaguemaker and reunite with his ex-wife (hint hint he's bitter). I knew what was going to happen, and there wasn't really much going for it. I wouldn't really recommend it. A squiggle.

Books 26 and 27: The Twits and The Magic Finger

2006-05-29T21:36:00.000-05:00

Greeting from Wildwood, NJ. It's pretty wild down here. So, sitting in the lobby of the "Bates Motel" project house I just read two books. I love Roald Dahl. His books are hilarious. I enjoyed Matilda and The Witches as a small girl, and even more so I enjoyed his short stories that are more for adults; not in that there are lewd or anything, but they are not for children. So tonight I read "The Twits" and "The Magic Finger."

Both of these were short and cute and kind of crazy, in typical Roald Dahl style. The first, "The Twits", is about an old nasty couple, Mr. and Mrs. Twit. Mr. Twit has a big hairy face that he never washes, so that he has all kinds of old food and junk in his bristly beard. Mrs. Twit is a yucky old crone who hits cute animals and small children with her cane. They are wretched and play cruel jokes on each other. They are taught a lesson by their four pet monkeys, with the help of some local birds.

"The Magic Finger" tells the story of a little girl who is eight. Her friends are William and Philip Gregg and they like to hunt with their father. This aggravates the little girl so much so that her magic finger is activated. This once turned a mean school teacher into a cat. This time the Gregg family are turned into ducks and ducks take over their house. They learn, after several difficult incidents, not to hunt anymore. And the magic finger is satisfied.

#24: Sisterchicks Down Under

2006-05-24T08:00:00.000-05:00

Sisterchick n.: a friend who shares the deepest wonders of your heart, loves you like a sister, and provides a reality check when you are being a brat. That is the definition given on the back of the book.

I decided to read Sisterchicks Down Under for 2 reasons...1. Erin recommended this series (yes, there are more) and 2. Based on the title the book appeared to be set in my new favorite place, Australia. My major emotional reaction to the book was ridiculous. Although, I did manage to read this book in one day while I was at school "teaching" so at least I didn't waste too much time. Let me give you a brief summary...

Kathleen and her husband move to New Zealand for 3 months and Kath (that's what she's called for short) is sad because she misses her life in Southern California but after 2 weeks she decides to leave the apartment and go to a coffee shop down the road where lo and behold she meets her sisterchick soulmate Jill and they bond instantly. Now, the next 3 months are full of adventure, travel, comical dialogue and every silly thing the author could ever think of happening to these 2 middle aged women. That's pretty much it. Needless to say, I was slightly bored and probably won't be reading another Sisterchicks book anytime soon.

Book 25: Captivating

2006-05-22T21:51:00.000-05:00

Well well well. as you can see, i am only a quarter of the way to my reading goals, and have just over one month until half of the year is over. that's a bummer. i am currently in wildwood, new jersey, on summer project. i had hoped that spending seven weeks here would help my reading. now i'm not so sure. perhaps once eager young college students arrive i'll have more time during the day to read. right now we're very busy preparing for a summer adventure. and cleaning a nasty old house that resembles the bates motel. if you told me that someone was in here dead, i'd believe you. it smells bad and i can't tell if it's me or the couch i'm sitting on.

anyway, to the book. let me give you my initial reaction: gag. that's what i thought before i read the book. then i began to read and had to admit that some of the authors' premises connected with my heart. my mom always teases me that i'm an emotionless rock, which is not true. i'm just extremely selective in choosing those with whom i share such things. the book is written by john and stasi eldredge to women about recapturing their hearts. they write that women are created by god with a desire to be romanced, to share in an adventure and to be found beautiful. yes, i'll agree with that. and yes, i think those are god-given desires. but i was a little disturbed that the book seemed to only affirm that yes, i'm beautiful and yes, it's okay to long for a knight in shining armor. they touched briefly on the idea that god does those things and that we should turn to christ and reflect him in our feminine hearts, but it was all so vague and syrupy that i can't in good conscience recommend it. and don't even get me started on their writing style. it was like a 200 page hallmark card. it's one thing to use poetic license to break the occasional grammar rule for emphasis, such as an incomplete sentence. it's quite another to have five out of seven in a paragraph be phrases. another thing entirely. unacceptable. i felt as though i was wading through contrived and sugary assurances more than anything else. perhaps this is the less emotional side of me coming out and i need to seep in these kinds of things to connect with my feminine heart, but i just didn't enjoy this book. i wish that instead of telling me i was okay the way i was and encouraging me to seduce a man (that was an interesting chapter) it had pointed me more towards christ. john and stasi just didn't do that. and honestly, as a single woman of 27 (today is actually my birthday. happy birthday me) it was somewhat hard to read. it talks a LOT about the interaction, romantically, of men and women and a lot about our desires in that department. this book made me feel sad about being single, and that is something i rarely feel. maybe that's a good thing; maybe i bury things so deep i don't know they are issues and i'm really a crazy freak. i don't know. so, those are my thoughts. i realize tons of women love this book, and this review might draw and adverse reaction. i'm cool with that.

#23: Letters to a Young Mathematician

2006-05-22T15:44:00.000-05:00

Letters to a Young Mathematician by Ian Stewart was an excellent read. It is 21 chapters long and each chapter is a letter written by the author to a girl named Meg. The chapters are organized in a somewhat chronological order and written to Meg as she progress through her career in mathematics starting as a high school student all the way through getting tenure at a university. Stewart address several questions about mathematicians, who they are and what they do, and mathematics, how it can be approached and taught. I believe this book would be interesting to anyone who enjoys math and maybe some who don't.

Here's a little taste of the book...

On what a mathematician is..."A mathematician is someone who sees opportunities for doing mathematics."

On doing math..."I've begun to observe that when people ask why something is necessary, it is usually because they feel uncomfortable doing it and are hoping to be let off the hook. A student who knows how to construct proofs never asks what they're for."

On math in the world around us..."Our society consumes a lot of math, but it all happens behind the scenes...Some of us, however, need to know how to do the math, or none of these wonders could function. It would be great if the rest of us were aware of just how strongly we rely on mathematics in our daily lives; the problem with putting math so far behind the scenes it that many people have no idea its there at all."

Thanks mathematicians for making this world a better place to live!

#22: Walking Across Egypt

2006-05-14T20:54:00.000-05:00

What an interesting little book. Walking Across Egypt by Clyde Edgerton was a simple book with a thoughtful plot. The book is a story of an elderly woman named Mattie and her friendship with a juvenile delinquent named Wesley. Mattie is a Christian woman set in her ways and her routine until she met Wesley and her faith is challenged by what to do about him and how to love him. Should she invite him into her home or leave him to live the life full of bad decisions and sorrow that he has experienced for the past 16 years. I had no idea this book would even address Christianity and specifically the call to love the least. So that gave me something to think about. I did enjoy the book and it was fun to read. But, I'm most excited right now because while looking for a picture of the book to post I discovered it was made into a movie in '99 staring Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

Book 24: East of Eden

2006-05-10T22:16:00.000-05:00

i'm not going to write about hugs. Yuck. one of our regular readers commented on the lack of posts recently. I agree and apologize. These past couple of weeks have been surprisingly busy for me, and LOST tends to suck out all my emotions, thus paralyzing my reading ability. I have to sit and think about it forever. Okay that was nonsense. I will, in my defense, say that I am reading some pretty lengthy works here. This last one by John Steinbeck, was 601 pages. That's at least the 5th book this year that has been over 500. I'm currently reading the Dark Tower IV, somewhere in the neighborhood of 700. These are poor decsions on my part.

But on to the book. An enduring classic, and I can see why. I wasn't wild about the story: Adam Trask and his two sons Cal and Aron lliving in the Salinas Valley of California. It's a sweeping family saga, dealing with their relationships and internal demons. I can see why Steinbeck is such a beloved author; despite my lack of interest in the story I continued to read, drawn in by his storytelling and language. The last 50 pages were rough; I read them while watching movie trailers on the apple quicktime site. It's almost the retelling of the Cain and Abel story through two generations, almost. Here I sympathized with Cal, who is the more evil of the two sons. He is driven to destruction because he longs for love. Aron is the more innocent and beautiful of the twins and so he is cared for by all while Cal fends for himself. It was an interesting book, am glad I read it and am glad I'm finished with it. East of Eden received a squiggle from me.

#21: Love Beyond Reason

2006-05-10T15:24:00.000-05:00

If anyone reading this post has spent any time with me in the year 2006 you know this year I am not only trying to read 100 books but I am also trying to always be ready for a hug. 2006 is the year of the hug in my world. If you haven't heard about/experienced my hugging this year then you really need to hang out with me or give me a hug the next time you see me. Anyway, you're probably wondering why I'm writing about hugs in a post about a book that is clearly not a book about hugging. As ridiculous as this may sound...Love Beyond Reason by John Ortberg was like getting a big hug from God. I will admit that I hugged the book at least once (maybe more, but I'm not willing to admit that). The subtitle of the book is "Moving God's love from your head to your heart," and in a very graceful and touching way John Ortberg writes about God's love for us and ways we can love others right from the core of our hearts. My favorite chapter was called "Safe in God's Love." Just the name of the chapter is peaceful and comforting. I really enjoyed the fact that this book went along well with scripture I have been reading lately. If you get a chance read Romans 8 and Isaiah 43. It's hard to walk away from those and not sense God's deep love for you. I pray that you can enjoy God's hug today!

Isaiah 43:13, "From eternity to eternity I am God. No one can snatch anyone out of my hand. No one can undo what I have done."

Romans 8: 38-39, "And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Book 23: The Lighthouse

2006-05-02T18:26:00.000-05:00

something else i LOVE...english mysteries. i grew up reading agatha christie and then watching the adaptations on public television on sunday nights. edward gorey's funny cartoon introduction was always my favorite part. so pd james writes about commander adam dagliesh. i've seen a tv movie of one of her books; this is the first one i've read. fairly good, i'll say. it was similar to most english mysteries that i enjoy reading, not least in the fact that i couldn't guess who the killer was. i never do. wouldn't have made a very good detective. anyhoo, the fictional island of combe is a sanctuary for the wealthy and stressed. when they need solitude they come here to rest. kind of like when movie stars check themselves into hospitals for exhaustion. the completely odious nathan oliver, world famous novelist, ends up dead hanging by his neck from the lighthouse. and so the case begins.

james writes very, how shall i put it, ornately. sometimes i think she attempted to be a bit more artistic than was warranted or realistic. there was lots of detail on the personal life of dagliesh and his detective inspector, kate, and i must say i just didn't care about that crap. only want to know about the case. all in all, an enjoyable book. i might read some more of hers.

what this book did do was challenge my thinking on how "good" people really are. are we generally good? i rejoiced in the death of nathan oliver; he was a cruel man. did that mean he deserved to die, to be murdered? it's easy to read these stories and distance myself from the situations...i've never killed anyone. but am i so much better than someone who has? most people probably don't think they will do such a thing. not that i'm worried i will strike out in rage and do someone in, that's not the point of this post. but as i read these stories and then examine the thoughts and emotions deep in my own heart, i believe the theological doctrine of total depravity. we aren't generally good, naturally. there is no part of us that hasn't been affected by sin, by the sheer horror of sin. by god's grace we aren't as bad as we could be, but sin has bled into every area of our lives and we can't escape it. so that's my thought on this book. oh, gave this a squiggle. okay book.