The Road Not Chosen

I'm an avid reader but even I think it will be a miracle if I get through this list in the next 3 months. Here's my Everest that I am attempting to climb:

1. Crime & Punishment by F. Dostoevsky
2. The Idiot by F. Dostoevsky
3. A Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
4. Bryson's Dictionary for Writers & Editors by Bill Bryson
5. From Brokeness to Community by Jean Vanier
6. Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World by Henri Nouwen
7. Addicted to Mediocrity: Contemporary Christians & the Arts by Franky Schaeffer
8. Art & the Bible by Francis Schaeffer
9. Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations by Alex Harris & Brett Harris

Books 1-3 are ones I'd like my class to read next year. I'm trying to decide which Dostoevsky to give them so I'm reading both. I might also give them one book from 7 - 9 so will have to read all to pick one. Books 4-6 are for my personal enjoyment.

So how am I going to do all this? Well, the ones for my class I will try to read during the day at work because teaching the class is part of my job, so I get to read. Maybe. If things aren't too busy. Hopefully. I'm currently reading 25 pages a day of Crime & Punishment which will get me through it in a month. I can easily read 100 pages a day (or should I say a night?) so I can fit some of the other books in there. For instance, numbers 5 through 8 are less than 125 pages each so they should be a snap.

One other way I'll get through this list is canceling 3 of my magazine subscriptions. I am cutting out The New Yorker, The New Republic and The Smithsonian. Oh, but I did just subscribe to Poets & Writers but still I'm down by two!

I'm also finding T.V. to be an even vaster wasteland than usual so am planning on spending less time on it.

What are you planning on reading this summer? Do tell!

Technorati Tags: books, reading

What I'm Reading & Why

Technorati Tags: Politics, religion, books

I'm always reading, all day long and well into the night. My friend Sarah D. came over the other day & said she always looks to see what's in my reading stack. What she can't see is my long list of things to read on the web. Here's a little glimpse into what is catching my eye (pun intended) this week:

C.J. Mahaney of Sovereign Grace Ministry had a great blog article about the words we use (or don't use) to confess our sin. It really made me stop and take stock of what I say when I have to 'fess up. His starting point is the Roger Clemens/Andy Pettitte steroid controversy and  C.J. comes up with some practical applications for all of us.

My Language Arts class & I are studying political rhetoric at the moment. As I told my students, it's all about the words, baby! Today we will begin dissecting speeches made by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain & Mike Huckabee. Everyone except Huckabee has their speeches on their web sites. I've had to dig for his but have found some. (I guess because he doesn't have as much money as the others he is limited on what he can put into his web site.) The kids are pretty excited but that may change when they actually have to read the speeches, most of which are quite long!

Speaking of elections, Britain's Daily Mail has an interesting article on Michelle Obama. It was fun to read the Brit's take on her, compared to what Newsweek had to say in it's cover story about her. (Thanks to Barbara Curtis for the link.)

Hard-print wise I'm finishing up John Grisham's The Appeal, which I am greatly enjoying. Also I'm working my way through the 900-ish pages of Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth, which takes place in my favorite time period, the Middle Ages.

What are you reading these days? Anything caught your eye? Feel free to share with us!

Technorati Tags: politics, religion, books

Random Trails

I love how I stumble across interesting things seemingly at random. It's kind of like when you are sitting around thinking about nothing in particular and realize you have taken quite a rabbit trail in your mind, ending up considering the amount of fabric it would take to make a teepee. (Not that making a teepee is all that fascinating, but you get my point.)

So today's adventure in randomness lead me to discover the book you see here. I had never heard of Dinesh D'Souza or this book. I found myself at the National Review's website where they had an audio interview with Mr. D'Souza discussing his new book. Of course, the title just sucked me right in! After listening to what he had to say, I immediately knew this was a book I had to read.

In the interview he mentioned a couple of facts that surprised me. First, that Europe is being evangelized for Christ mostly by Asian & Indian Christians. They have immigrated to various European cities and have taken their Christianity with them. Who knew? The second surprise was that Christianity remains, secular wishes to the contrary, the fastest growing religion in the world. I'm a bit reluctant to admit being surprised by that but there you have it. I just figured maybe we had fallen behind to the Muslims or the Atheists. Good to know that's not true!

I also came upon an excellent outline of a talk that scriptwriter Barbara Nicolosi gave to the San Diego Christian Writers Guild. The talk was titled Heroes In Storytelling. It was so inspiring that I read most of it to my L/A class today since they are getting ready to embark on 25,000 word stories of their own for NaNoWriMo. She apologizes for the rough state of the notes that she transcribed onto her blog, but there was plenty to challenge me & make me consider how I (and society) view what a true "hero" is. It is definitely worth a read!

In personal news, we are still wrestling with various agencies trying to find some coverage for Evan during the days when he is not working. Please pray that God gives us favor with the agencies and officials who have the power to move the mountains that need to be moved. 

 

Technorati Tags: Chrisitanity, books, writing

Hi. My Name Is Lori And

I'm a book addict.  Yes, I will admit to that but compared to some of the more harmful (& illegal) addictions of my youth, a book monkey on my back isn't such a big deal. Here is a list of what is piled in my stack at the moment:

On Writing by Stephen King - This book has been recommended to me so many times I decided to finally read it. I'm also thinking I should be able to glean some good ideas for my Language Arts class from here.

Grace (Eventually) by Anne Lamott - Anne Lamott can be fairly controversial in some Christian circles. I, however, love her honesty about her journey with God. While I rarely agree with her political views, and sometimes not with her religious views, I do identify with the struggle to conform ourselves to the image of Christ, which she writes about a lot. I read my students an essay she had written about trying to not hate Pres. Bush because she knows that if Jesus loves him, she needs to love him also. Their initial reaction was to be ticked off that she hated Bush. I then asked them if there was someone in their lives that they had hated or at least disliked & what they had done about their feelings for that person. We had quite an interesting discussion!

The Scribe by Francine Rivers - I've only started reading Ms. Rivers in the last couple of years. In looking for books for my students this year, I came across this one. It's the story of Silas, who recorded a lot of the New Testament scriptures. I plan to read it this weekend. It's short so I should be able to get through it in a day.

Night by Elie Wiesel - Again, this was a book I found for my class. I really wanted to have them read "One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn but the language was way to raw. "Night" conveys a similar personal journey that I think will be easier for my students to relate to as Mr. Wiesel was just a teenager when his family was taken to the concentration camps. He discovers that "God is there in the suffering" which is something we all need to know.

Announcing the Reign of God- Evangelization & the Subversive Memory of Jesus by Mortimer Arias - Wow, what a title! It's actually about the Kingdom of God shown within the 4 Gospels.

What are you reading right now?

Book Review - "A Family Forever"

I was intrigued when I read on Brenda Coulter’s “No Rules, Just Write” blog that she was giving away 30 copies of her newest inspirational romance novel to anyone who agreed to review it on their own blog. Having never read a novel of this genre before, and promising to have an open mind, I eagerly e-mailed her. Brenda had given away all the copies, but generously sent me one anyway.

“A Family Forever” is the story of love found, love lost, love offered, love rejected, and finally, love accepted. Whew, it was quite a ride! Well written and easy to read, I found Brenda’s story drawing me in even as I pondered my viewpoint on Christian romance novels.

A quick synopsis of the story: Shelby Franklin’s fiancé, David, is killed 3 weeks before their wedding. She soon discovers that she is pregnant with their child. Tucker Sharpe had promised his dying brother, David, that he would look after Shelby. He makes good on his promise, convincing Shelby to marry him, even though neither is in love with the other. The story follows their journey as they try to rebuild their lives which have been shattered by David’s death. The question “Can love grow from a promise?” has an intriguing answer.

As I read this novel, I found myself constantly weighing the worldly perception of what romance is versus the Biblical guidelines for romance. Brenda does a good job of addressing this issue in “A Family Forever.” The story was entertaining with a plot twist or two I didn’t expect. However, I was a bit disappointed that it followed the romance novel formula where the hero is always handsome, the heroine is always pretty, and sexual tension (however tastefully stated and toned down) is in the air.

As someone who has the responsibility as a pastor’s wife of helping young women who daily face a barrage of messages from the world that says outward attraction is everything, I would like to see an inspirational romance novel where the hero is not good-looking, but has a passion to follow Christ which the heroine finds intriguing. I’d love for the hero to fall in love with a chubby heroine, drawn to her not just because she looks good outwardly, but because she has an inward beauty he cannot resist.

Overall, I liked “A Family Forever” but found myself wishing that it had pushed a bit further past the normal romance novel formula. Brenda is a talented writer and it’s hard to believe this is only her second novel! I know there are many more wonderful stories to come!

Look for A Family Forever, in stores after February 28th or order it online now from Amazon.com

Read the first chapter at BrendaCoulter.com

Visit Brenda's blog, No Rules, Just Write