I'm It!

Scott over at Preacher-Boy's Hideout tagged me for a book meme. Yay! It's taken me a few days, but here is my try:

1. One book that changed my life: The Way Home by Mary Pride. This book brought home schooling to my attention, and while I know I do not agree with a lot of what is in there, the fact that it got me to consider teaching the kids at home as an option certainly changed my life (our whole family life actually).

2. One book you have read more than once: Just Me and My Mom by Mercer Mayer (over and over again at bedtime), but just for me: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

3. One book you would want on a desert island: Celtic Daily Prayer: Prayers and Readings From the Northumbria Community (I figure I've been needing a silent retreat anyway. Might as well have some devotional materials.)

4. One book that made you laugh: Going Postal by Terry Pratchett. (I've also read this one more than once.)

5. One book that made you cry: The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffeneggar.

6. One book you wish you had written: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. (Though I don't think I would want to be Jane Austen, and without her experiences, I doubt the book would be as good as it is.)

7. One book you wish had never been written: Well, aside from the obvious responses, I'd have to say either Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential by Joel Osteen or The Prayer of Jabez: Breaking Through to the Blessed Life by Bruce Wilkenson.

8. One book you are currently reading: The Emotionally Healthy Church by Peter Scazzero.

9. One book you have been wanting to read: Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis by William J. Webb.

10. Booktag five other people: Steve, Markus, Happy, Not Clint, cause I don't think he'd be very thrilled with the idea and Anonymous.

11. One book you would like to see made into a movie: I enjoy movies of books I've read, but honestly prefer the books most of the time. So, I'm having a hard time thinking of one that I'd like to see as a movie.

12. One children's book you always recommend: Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovelby Virginia Lee Burton.

13. One young adult book you always recommend: Magic Bicycle: The Story of a Bicycle That Found a Boy by John Bibee.

14. One book character you'd like to have lunch with: Lunch? Who has time for lunch?

Banned Books Week

It's banned books week again. Here's a little blurb from the ALA's web site:

Often challenges are motivated by a desire to protect children from “inappropriate” sexual content or “offensive” language. Although this is a commendable motivation, Free Access to Libraries for Minors, an interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights (ALA's basic policy concerning access to information) states that, “Librarians and governing bodies should maintain that parents—and only parents—have the right and the responsibility to restrict the access of their children—and only their children—to library resources.” Censorship by librarians of constitutionally protected speech, whether for protection or for any other reason, violates the First Amendment.

2006 BBW; Read Banned Books: They're Your Ticket to Freedom

Addicted to Mediocrity by Franky Schaeffer

Non-Fiction: Social Issues. Paperback from Crossway Books. Published in 1981. 124 pages. Purchased at the Home School Bookstore.

This slim volume is a good introduction to the importance of the arts. I found it very interesting in light of some of the recent online discussion I've seen about whether Christians should spend money on art or not. It is really just a bare scratching of the surface of the topic, and I'd say look for something more indepth if you have already spent time contemplating this issue. As an aside, I found the sentence structure to be a bit difficult to follow at times.

Publisher's summary:
In this provocative book, Franky Schaeffer shows how Christians today have sacrificed the artistic prominence they enjoyed for centuries and settled instead for mediocrity. The evidence for this sad state of affairs abounds. We are flooded with "Christian" doodads, trinkets, tee shirts, bumper stickers, etc., that use God's name as an advertising slogan: "Things Go Better with Jesus", putting the Creator of the universe on the same level as soda pop!

Moreover, Schaeffer writes, "Whenever Christians, and evangelicals in particular, have attempted to 'reach the world' through the media, TV, film, publishing and so on, the thinking public gets the firm idea that, like soup in a bad restaurant, Christians' brains are best left unstirred."

Online book shopping:
Powell's: Addicted to Mediocrity
amazon.co.uk: Addicted to Mediocrity
amazon.com: Addicted to Mediocrity
Audible.com:

Possible Read

I'm not getting much done recently - too much to do so nothing gets done. I've been mostly relistening to audiobooks I've already posted here. But, I wanted to mention this pending book, The Real Mary by Scot McKnight. It's due to be published by Paraclet Press on 1 November 06. If you are interested in a preview, you can download an excerpt. It looks very interesting to me.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Fiction: Contemporary. Unabridged Audiobook from HighBridge Audio. Published in 2001, recorded 2002. 11 hours and 28 minutes. Read by Jeff Woodman. Purchased from Audible.com.

On a recent visit, my Mom recommended Life of Pi to me. So, when I needed a new audiobook, this time it was an easy choice.

It's a good book. I'd definitely recommend it. I also thought the narrator on the audio version did a good job with the Indian accent. (With a name like Jeff Woodman, I doubt he's actually Indian. But, to my minimally trained ears, he sounded authentic.)

And, as my Mom says, "We all have a tiger in our boat".

Publisher's summary:
Pi Patel has been raised in a zoo in India. When his father decides to move the family to Canada and sell the animals to American zoos, everyone boards a Japanese cargo ship. The ship sinks, and 16-year-old Pi finds himself alone on a lifeboat with a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra with a broken leg, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger.

Soon it's just Pi, the tiger, and the vast Pacific Ocean - for 227 days. Pi's fear, knowledge, and cunning keep him alive until they reach the coast of Mexico, where the tiger disappears into the jungle. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story, so he tells a second one - more conventional, less fantastic. But is it more true?

A realistic, rousing adventure and meta-tale of survival, Life of Pi explores the redemptive power of storytelling and the transformative nature of fiction. It's a story, as one character claims, to "make you believe in God."

Online book shopping:
Powell's: Life of Pi
amazon.co.uk: Life of Pi
amazon.com: Life of Pi
Audible.com: Life of Pi

Two Years

Though I started blogging on a different blog coming up on almost three years ago, Bibliophilist started two years ago today. My friend Mark started a blog with his reading list and inspired me to start my own. So, "yay!" for two years of posting on Bibliophilist and thanks to Mark for starting me on this little odyssey.

Naked Empired by Terry Goodkind

Fiction: Fantasy. Hardback from Tor. Published in 2003. 667 pages. On loan from The Kent District Library.

I did not look carefully enough at this tome before checking it out of the library, and thus inadvertently picked up book number eight. I did not suspect that it was part of a series until I was well into it and the author began to refer back to things that had happened in the previous books. Then, when I went to Amazon to get the picture of the cover to add to the "Current Read" sidebar, I found out it was not a stand-alone novel. (I really hate it when they don't prominently display on a book cover that a book is a part of a series.) Thankfully, the book was enjoyable even without having read the previous seven books. I don't think I'll go back and read the earlier volumes, but may look for any that have been written since this one.

As an aside, it was surprising coincidence to read Richard's (the main character) attempts to explain to a pacifistic people his reasons for justifying war after having just read Claiborne's discussion about feeling war is not acceptable. (Or at least this war in Iraq.)

Publisher's summary:
Now Goodkind returns with a sweeping adventure of epic intrigue, violent conflict, and terrifying peril for the beautiful Kahlan Amnell and her husband, the heroic Richard Rahl, the Sword of Truth. Richard Rahl has been poisoned. Saving an empire from annihilation is the price of the antidote. With the shadow of death looming, the empire crumbling before the invading hordes, and time running out, Richard is offered not only his own life but the salvation of a people, in exchange for delivering his wife, Kahlan, into bondage to the enemy.

Online book shopping:
Powell's: Naked Empire
amazon.co.uk: Naked Empire
amazon.com: Naked Empire
Audible.com: Not available as audio from Audible at this time.

Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne

Non-Fiction: Christianity. Paperback from Zondervan. Published in 2006. 368 pages. On loan from The Kent District Library.

Well, one more Hat Tip is due to Preacher Mike for bringing my attention to yet another challenging book. I certainly don't hear this type of preaching at church, but I do think I needed to hear what Mr. Claiborne had to say and to give it some serious thought. It's not likely that I will be suddenly giving away all my income and heading to the city to live with the poor - for one thing I have no income to give up, and secondly I've got a family to care for. But, I can see that I could make some changes that would make a difference. A very convicting book.

It did seem like a bit of a contradiction to me that he is advocating a simple lifestyle that spreads whatever money comes in around, yet he still has the resources to go all over the globe to hang out with the poor. I doubt most people who choose to give most of their income away will have the chance to go anywhere.

Publisher's summary:
Many of us find ourselves caught somewhere between unbelieving activists and inactive believers. We can write a check to feed starving children or hold signs in the streets and feel like we’ve made a difference without ever encountering the faces of the suffering masses. In this book, Shane Claiborne describes an authentic faith rooted in belief, action, and love, inviting us into a movement of the Spirit that begins inside each of us and extends into a broken world. Shane’s faith led him to dress the wounds of lepers with Mother Teresa, visit families in Iraq amidst bombings, and dump $10,000 in coins and bills on Wall Street to redistribute wealth. Shane lives out this revolution each day in his local neighborhood, an impoverished community in North Philadelphia, by living among the homeless, helping local kids with homework, and “practicing resurrection” in the forgotten places of our world.

Shane’s message will comfort the disturbed, and disturb the comfortable . . . but will also invite us into an irresistible revolution. His is a vision for ordinary radicals ready to change the world with little acts of love.

Online book shopping:
Powell's: Irresistible Revolution
amazon.co.uk:Irresistible Revolution
amazon.com: Irresistible Revolution
Audible.com: Not currently available as audio from Audible.

Christian Audio Free Download - September 06

Christian Audio's September free download is now available. This month it is Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton.

Chesterton's Orthodoxy makes Christian apologetics both compelling and delightful. Here is equilebrium of the mind's reason, the soul's imagination, and the belly's laughter!