55 Books I’d Like to Read from the Reading Lists I Perused

Aug29

1. Overseas by Beatriz Williams. From NPR’s Lesser Known Lit List.

2. Mrs. Robinson’s Disgrace: The Private Diary Of A Victorian Lady by Kate Summerscale. From NPR’s Summer Reading List. Nonfiction about a Victorian scandal.

3. Canada by Richard Ford. Recommended lots of places, but I saw it at NPR’s Summer Reading Critics’ list.

4. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce.From the Man Booker long list. Actually what sold me on this one was not its place on the list, but rather this review by Susan Coventry. Thanks, Susan.

5. The Fault in our Stars by John Green. Recommended everywhere, and no, I haven’t read it yet.

6. The Jane Austen Guide to Life: Thoughtful Lessons for the Modern Woman by Lori Smith. Recommended by Gina Dalfonzo at NRO. I read Ms. Smith’s first book about Jane Austen and loved it, so this one one should be a good read, too.

7. Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics by Ross Douthat. Recommended by Patrick Lee at NRO.

8. One Second After by William Forstchen. Recommended by Clifford May at NRO.

9. And the Show Went On by Alan Riding. Recommended by John O’Sullivan at NRO. Paris during WWII’s German occupation, “a story of secret heroism, hypocritical cowardice, subtle evasion, or double-dealing on every one of Mr. Riding’s pages.”

10. Wish You Were Here; Travels Through Loss and Hope by Amy Welborn. Recommended by Elizabeth Scalia (The Anchoress) at NRO.

11. The Presidents Club: Inside the World’s Most Exclusive Fraternity by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy. Recommended by Al Mohler. Actually, while I was in the process of making this list, I read this book and enjoyed it immensely.

12. The Art of Intelligence: Lessons from a Life in the CIA’s Clandestine Service by Henry A. Crumpton. Recommended by Al Mohler.

13. The Grace Effect: How the Power of One Life Can Reverse the Corruption of Unbelief by Larry Taunton. Recommended by Eric Metaxas at Breakpoint.

14. Dark Eyes by William Richter. Recommended by Kim Moreland at Breakpoint Youth Reads.

15. The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King Roland, the world’s last gunslinger, tracks an enigmatic Man in Black toward a forbidding dark tower, fighting forces both mortal and other worldly on his quest. Recommended at NPR’s list of 100 Science Fiction, Fantasy Favorites.

16. Stardust by Neil Gaiman. In the quiet English hamlet of Wall, Tristran Thorn embarks on a remarkable journey through the world of Faerie to recover a fallen star for his lover, the hauntingly beautiful Victoria Forester. Recommended at NPR’s list of 100 Science Fiction, Fantasy Favorites.

17. The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon “Hurtled back through time more than 200 hundred years to Scotland in 1743, Claire Randall finds herself in the midst of a world torn apart by violence, pestilence and revolution, and haunted by her feelings for a young soldier.” Recommended at NPR’s list of 100 Science Fiction, Fantasy Favorites.

18. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I’ve heard good things about this novel somewhere else. Recommended at NPR’s list of 100 Killer Thrillers.

19. Teenager in the Chad Civil War: A Memoir of Survival, 1982-1986 by Esaie Toingar. Recommended for the Olympic Reading Challenge at Lists of Bests, this book fits inot my North Africa Reading project, and it sounds educational.

20. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie King from Independent Mystery Booksellers Association list of 100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century.

21. A Dram of Poison by Charlotte Armstrong from Independent Mystery Booksellers Association list of 100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century.

22. The Thin Woman by Dorothy Cannell from Independent Mystery Booksellers Association list of 100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century.

23. The Diary of a Country Priest by Georges Bernanos from Image Journal’s 100 Writers of Faith.. I have this one on my Kindle, ready for the right reading mood on my part.

24. Thus Was Adonis Murdered by Sarah Caudwell from Independent Mystery Booksellers Association list of 100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century.

25. Godric by Frederic Buechner from Image Journal’s 100 Writers of Faith..

26. I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb from Image Journal’s 100 Writers of Faith..

27. All Hallows Eve by Charles Williams from Image Journal’s 100 Writers of Faith..

28. Cloudstreet by Tim Winton from Image Journal’s 100 Writers of Faith..

29. West With the Night by Beryl Markham from National Geographic’s 100 Greatest Adventure Books of All Time.

30. The Gay Place by Billy Lee Brammer. From Book Lust to Go and also recommended by A.C. Greene in Texas Monthly’s The Fifty Best Texas Books. In my library basket right now.

31. Life After God by Douglas Coupland. Recommended by Garry DeWeese, Professor of Philosophy of Religion and Ethics at Biola.

32. Between Two Worlds by Miriam Tlali. Recommended by Natasha Duquette, Professor of English at Biola.

33. Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation by Jonathan Kozol. Recommended by Bradley Christerson, Associate Professor of Sociology at Biola.

34. The Shadows of Ghadames by Joelle Stolz, translated by Catherine Temerson. Set in 19th century Libya.

35. The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela: Through Three Continents in the Twelfth Century by Uri Shulevitz.

36. Arabian Sands by Wilfred Thesiger. Recommended at Longitude’s 86 Greatest Travel Books of All Time.

37. Down the Nile, Alone in a Fisherman’s Skiff by Rosemary Mahoney. Recommended at Longitude’s 86 Greatest Travel Books of All Time.

38. The Nomad: The Diaries of Isabelle Eberhardt. Recommended at Longitude’s 86 Greatest Travel Books of All Time.

39. Me, Myself and Bob by Phil Vischer. From the Hutchmoot reading list.

40. Real Love for Real Life: The Art and Work of Caring by Andi Ashworth. From the Hutchmoot reading list.

41. Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl by N.D.Wilson. From the Hutchmoot reading list.

42. Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok. From the TAYSHAS list.

43. Illegal by Bettina Restrepo. From the TAYSHAS list.

44. Across the Universe by Beth Reavis. From the TAYSHAS list.

45. We Are Anonymous: Inside the HackerWorld of Lulzsec, Anonymous, and the Global Cyber Insurgency by Parmy Olson. Recommended by Janet Maslin in the New York Times. Nonfiction about computer hackers.

46. Off Balance: A Memoir by Dominique Moceanu. Recommended in the Chicago Tribune, but I heard Dominique being interviewed on the radio just before the Olympics started I would like to read this memoir, even though it promises to be somewhat disillusioning and heart-rending.

47. Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West by Blaine Harden. Recommended by the panelists of the PBS program Washington Week.

48. Crow Lake by Mary Lawson. Recommended by Sarah Bessey.

49. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. Recommended by Sarah Bessey.

50. The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge. Carnegie Medal Winner.

51. The Lark on the Wing by Elfirda Vipont Foulds. Carnegie Medal Winner.

52. River Boy by Tim Bowler. Carnegie Medal Winner.

53. The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng. From the Man Booker long list.

54. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman. Recommended at Hermeneutics.

55. Noticing God by Richard Peace. Recommended at Hermeneutics.

Beautiful Lies by Jessica Warman

Aug27

Confusing. Twins, Rachel and Alice, go to the carnival in the village. One sister gets on the Ferris wheel, and the other disappears. Can the narrator, the twin who rode the Ferris wheel and stayed safe, find her sister before it’s too late? Is our narrator at all reliable? And which twin is which? Can identical twins really feel each other’s pain?

I must admit that although I was absorbed and intrigued by this YA thriller up until the very end, I’m not sure I got it. One of the narrators is delusional (or is she?), and I never did figure out what was real and what was imaginary. I even went back and re-read the beginning and the final chapters, and I still didn’t understand. It made me feel dumb.

So, I recommend this novel, with all its twists and turns, to readers who are smarter than I am, or who pay better attention, or who don’t mind ambiguity. Actually, I don’t mind ambiguity, if I know that’s what it is and if it’s not just me being slow-witted. Would someone else out there read it and ‘splain it to me?

The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi

Aug26

The Drowned Cities is a companion novel to Mr. Bacigalupi’s award-winning dystopian novel Ship Breaker. Both stories take place in the same nasty, war-torn world: “a world destroyed and reconfigured by climate change and the greed of oil hungry corporations and industries. By the time the story opens, oil is an extremely scarce commodity, and the world’s transportation systems run on other forms of energy, for the most part.”

The Drowned Cities, however, is a much more violent and horrific novel than Ship Breaker was. Mahlia and Mouse, the two children who are the central characters in the story, are the victims of a society in which war has become the focal, salient fact of life. Mahlia is a half-breed, the daughter of a Chinese peacekeeper/soldier and his Drowned Cities (American) wife. Deserted by her father and with her mother dead, Mahlia has already experienced the horrors of a civilization in chaos that has become the playing ground for competing factions who war incessantly against each other for the sake of power. Mahlia and Mouse are so powerless that they don’t even count as pawns in the schemes of the groups that are fighting each other. They are nothing, “war maggots”, insects to be ignored or carelessly squashed unless they get in the way or are unfortunate enough to capture the attention of someone powerful.

I read this one with a kind of sick horror. The violence is the violence of war, not gratuitous in the sense that it is true to the realities of war. But on the other hand, the violence of war is gratuitous, unnecessary, and certainly unwarranted in the case of children who should never suffer or be enlisted as soldiers in the wars that adults start and prosecute. Just as we react with outrage when we hear of the child soldiers in some African conflicts, I wanted to pluck Mahlia and Mouse out of their appalling situation and somehow save them.

I predict you’ll feel the same way as you read The Drowned Cities. My other thought was: could The United States of America ever come to be such a barbaric, brutal place? I’m fairly sure we could. The Germans thought themselves to be one of the most civilized nations on earth before World War II. No one would believe the horrors perpetrated by such a civilized, Christian nation until they saw the proof of the Holocaust after the war was over. If our economy fell apart, for whatever reason, and our infrastructure collapsed, and most importantly, we had no real sense anymore of moral responsibility before a holy God, we could very well fall into anarchy.

55 Reading Lists That I Would Love to Read Through . . .

Aug19

IF I could live to be 300 or 400 years old. Maybe eternity is still linear enough for us to read all the books that we never got around to in this life? In the meantime, summer is not over yet, and I’m going to do all the reading I can before it ends.

1. Got Summer Reading? by NRO’s Symposium. Books recommended by Hunter Baker, Joseph Pearce, Gina Dalfonzo, Elizabeth Scalia (The Anchoress)and other like-minded and erudite people–what a treat!

2. Al Mohler’s Recommended Reading List for the summer of 2012.

3. 2012 Summer Books: NPR Critics’ Lists. Several lists here, including historical fiction, romance, sci-fi, and teen reads.

4. Devon Corneal: Summer Reading 2012, Books for Kids of All Ages.

5. New York Times: New Under the Sun, Books for Basking

6. Chicago Tribune: It’s summertime, and the reading is easy.

7. Texas Monthly: The Fifty Best Texas Books. I would love to at least take a look at each one of these and see what’s really good out of the bunch.

8. A Fuse #8 Production: Top 100 Chapter Books

9. A Fuse #8 Production: Top 100 Picture Books

10. Washington Week Summer 2012 Reading List. Lots of politics and history on this list, but those are some of my fascinations.

11. 10 Books a Day series by Sarah Bessey

12. Girl Detective hosts The Summer of Shelf Discovery: (Re)reading Teenage Classics I just couldn’t fit this odyssey inot my schedule this summer, but you can still read along with Girl Detective and others as they rediscover the YA books of the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s.

13. Byliner’s 101 Nonfiction Stories, not exactly a book list, but I do want to read all of these stories from the world of journalism, what they used to call “human interest stories” and “investigative journalism.”

14. Carnegie Medal Winners. Wouldn’t it be fun to read through this list of children’s literature from the U.K., roughly equivalent to our Newbery Award winners? This same list at Lists of Bests.

15. Recommended summer reading from professors at the University of Texas at Austin.

16. Jared Wilson’s Fave Fifty. This list is just a list of favorites from a guy whose blog and taste in literature I happen to admire.

17. Great Summer Reading Suggestions by the team at Breakpoint.

18. Youth Reads Summer 2012 Recommended Reading List at Breakpoint.

19. 2012 Longlist for the Man Booker Prize.

20. NPR 100 Best Beach Books Ever.

21. NPR Top 100 Science Fiction, Fantasy Books

22. NPR’s Top 100 “Killer-Thrillers”.

23. Olympic reading list: everything you need to know about the history, legacy and risk of the Games. From the blog run by social scientists from the London School of Economics.

24. bartzturkeymom’s 2012 Olympics Reading Challenge The point is to read one author per each of the 205 nations participating in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games by the end of the games. Obviously, I won’t make the challenge, but I do like the list.

25. 100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century, compiled by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. All of my favorites are on this list: Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Rex Stout, Ellis Peters, Josephine Tey, P.D. James. Plus there are several I’d like to read more of: Ruth Rendell, Laurie King, Carl Hiaasen, Minette Walters, and more.

26. Image Journal’s 100 Writers of Faith. Some of my favorite writers are on this list, and I’d really like to at least try all of the books listed here. I have started a couple of the books that are listed and found that were not for me, or it wasn’t the right timing, or something. (I’m not a fan of Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany nor of Updike or Walker Percy.) Still, there are some great books on this list.

27. National Geographic’s 100 Greatest Adventure Books, courtesy of Carol at Magistra Mater. Here is the same list at Lists of Bests.

28. Jesus Creed by Scot McKnight: Top 10 Jesus Books. I’ve not read a single one of these “best books to read about Jesus.” But maybe I should?

29. What Are You Reading This Summer? from Hermeneutics, the Christianity Today blog for women.

Oh, my, while making this List of Lists, I found this website called Lists of Bests where you can check off the books (or movies or places or music) you’ve “consumed”, and it saves your lists and tells you how much you have to go to finish the list. And I love it. I could spend all day long on this website, just checking off lists. Am I obsessive or what?

30. Christianity Today’s 100 most spiritually significant books of the 20th century at Lists of Bests.

31. Newbery Medal Winners at Lists of Bests.

32. Newbery Honor Books at Lists of Bests.

33. Petersens’ 100 Christian Books That Changed the Century at Lists of Bests.

34. Books from The Well-Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer.

35. 25 Books Every Christian Should Read from Renovare at Lists of Bests.

36. Hugo Award Winners for Excellence in Science Fiction at Lists of Bests.

37. Nebula Award Winners for Science Fiction and Fantasy.

38. Edgar Award Winners for Mystery Novels at Lists of Bests.

39. Printz Award Winners at Lists of Bests.

40. Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography at Lists of Bests.

41. Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize at Lists of Bests.

42. The Ultimate Summer Reading List from Biola Magazine.

43. Evan Johnson’s Reading List.

44. Horn Book International History List.

45 NPR’s Best Ever Teen Novels. Just published on August 7th, this list includes some of my favorites: To Kill a Mockingbird, The Hobbit and LOTR, Anne of Green Gables, and Divergent. It also includes some un-favorites, which I won’t name. So I’d like to read the rest to see where they fall.

46. Longitude: 86 Greatest Travel Books of All Time.

47. Hutchmoot: Recommended Reading. (Even though I can’t go ’cause it’s full, and it’s in Nashville, and I’m in Texas, and I wish I could, but I can’t. But I can read the books.)

48. 2012 TAYSHAS Reading List. This list comes from a committee at the Texas Library Association, and it focuses on books, adult and YA, that are of interest to young adults. Of course, if you’re young at heart, like me . . .

49. Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List 2012-2013.

50. Excellent Books for Teens Between Cultures by Mitali Perkins.

51. 55 Biographies and Memoirs I Want to Read.
52. Reading Through Northern Africa for my Northern Africa Project.

53. My own Classics Club List.

54. My Own To Be Read List.

55. Dr Peter Boxall’s 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die at Lists of Bests.

‘

Book Tag: Dog Days

Aug14

These are the dog days of summer (where does that phrase come from?), and we have a dog. Not my choice, my son brought him home and foisted him upon us in a moment of weakness on my part, but he is kind of cute, both actually the dog and the son.

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So let’s play Book Tag again. In today’s edition of Book Tag, please suggest your favorite dog book. If the dog doesn’t die in the book, you get extra points.

Remember the rules: In this game, readers suggest ONE good book in the category given, then let somebody else be “it” before they offer another suggestion. There is no limit to the number of books a person may suggest, but they need to politely wait their turn with only one book suggestion per comment.

I’ll start off with a classic, sort-of dog book, the series by Yorkshire veterinarian James Herriot that begins with All Creatures Great and Small. I’m not even much of an animal lover, but I love these books. The stories Herriot tells are funny, poignant, sometimes dramatic or sad, but always absorbing and full of human (and animal) interest–and lots of dogs.

The Presidents Club by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy

Aug14

The Presidents Club: Inside the World’s Most Exclusive Fraternity by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy. Recommended by Al Mohler.

Fascinating. I learned a lot about the presidents of the latter half of the twentieth century and their post-presidential lives.

I learned that both Truman and Hoover were at first rather neglected and forgotten after their respective presidencies were over, but that later presidents came to rely on them for advice and encouragement and sometimes (Hoover) help in carrying out humanitarian initiatives. According to the book, Hoover was great at organizing and carrying out post-war recovery programs to help refugees and starving people in the war zone, something he did after World War I and before he became president and after World War II, after he was president.

Johnson was a pain and a blowhard who nevertheless agonized over his role in escalating the Vietnam War. I don’t think I would have liked LBJ very much.

Nixon came across as a very complicated, arrogant, insecure, devious, and intelligent man. He knew a lot about the Russians, and thought he knew even more than he did. He advised presidents on foreign policy, towards the Soviet Union/Russia in particular, and he very much wanted to be recognized and admired for his contributions.

The authors depict Gerald Ford as a courageous man who knew that his pardon for Richard Nixon would heal the country and strengthen the presidency but knew also that it would seriously undermine his chances to serve as an elected president.

Carter was apparently a loose cannon, talented in diplomacy, but prone to go off on his own and cut his own deals without consulting the sitting president or the State Department. He practically worked miracles when he was sent on diplomatic missions to North Korea and to Haiti, but everyone back in the U.S., the president and all his advisors, was on high alert, wondering what he would do or say next.

George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton became close friends after their time as president was over, working together to raise money for disaster relief after Hurricane Katrina and after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Then, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton became friends and cooperated to raise funds for Haiti relief.

That’s the kind of stuff ex-presidents do, and the thesis of the book is that they form a sort of “club” made up of the very few people in the world who know what it’s like to deal with the pressures and responsibilities of being the president of the United States of America. They become concerned with their own legacy to some extent, but also with the guarding of the office of the presidency. So they cooperate with each other and with the president who is in office to protect the prestige and honor of the presidency, even while possibly disagreeing in fundamental ways about policy and politics.

Sunday Salon: Books Read in July, 2012

Aug12

Children’s and Young Adult Fiction
Chronal Engine by Greg Leitich Smith.
Crazy Dangerous by Andrew Klavan. Semicolon review here.
Something Like Normal by Trish Doller. Semicolon review here.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Saenz. Wonderful writing, appealing characters, not so appealing theme or plot.

Adult Fiction
The Hypnotist’s Love Story by Liane Moriarity.
The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith. Semicolon review here.
A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar by Suzanne Joinson.

Nonfiction
The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8. Lee. Semicolon review here.
Goodbye to a River by John Graves. Semicolon review here.
Bringing Home the Prodigals by Rob Parsons. Semicolon review here.

55 Recipes I’d Like To Make

Aug7

Now I haven’t made any of these, but I am in need of some new ideas. So, these are the ones I’ve found that I’m planning to try out soon.

1. Chocolate Cherry Cake from Brenda at Coffee, Tea, Books and Me (who shares my reason for celebrating at this particular time of year)

2. Sweet Sour Meatloaf from Norma at Collecting My Thoughts

3. Pumpkin Bread Pudding from The Anchoress. I’ll probably save this recipe for autumn, the time for pumpkin.

4. Sweet and Sour Meatballs and Cherry Crockpot Cobbler from Dawn at By Sun and Candlelight Dawn always has such wonderful posts about homemaking and homeschooling and organization and loving life.

5. The winner of Rachel Held Evans’ Recipe Contest of Biblical Proportions: Medallions and Carrots It’s actually Pork and Carrots, and I think my family would like it because it’s a bit sweet. We’re all sugar addicted.

6. Gingery Marinated Beef Cubes from The Reading Zone Sometimes in addition to all the yummy books and teaching tips, Sarah includes a “slice of life”, which is where this recipe idea comes from.

7-12. Cranberry Ketchup.
Wisconsin Cheese Soup.
Spinach Lasagne.
Surprising Chili
Cheeseburger Soup
Strawberry soup
All from The Common Kitchen. A lot of the Headmistress’s recipes are way too “healthy” or labor intensive for me, but the above look just right, veggies and all that good stuff, but easy and tasty, too.

13. Recipe for a Sweet Smelling House from Carol MagistraMater.

14. Best Scones Ever from LiterariTea

15. Fruit Crisp from Like Mother, Like Daughter. Actually, I’ve made lots of fruit crisp, but Aunt Leila suggests making the crisp part ahead and freezing. I like that idea.

16. Our Favorite Potato Soup from Melissa Wiley Melissa says she’s a “disorganized cook”, like me! So her recipe should work perfectly in our disorganized, soup-loving house.

17. Spicy Lentil Meatball Soup from Violet at Promptings.

18. Winter Fudge Cake from Farm School

19. Moo-Shu Pork from Jessica Snell at Homemaking through the Church Year. Jessica is a lovely and inspiring Anglican writer, homemaker, and mom.

20. Root Beer Bundt Cake from Girl Detective. I’ve made 7-up Cake and Coke Cake, but never root beer. Girl Detective, by the way, not only reads and reviews great books; she also bakes bodacious birthday cakes. I am much too lazy to go to this much work for a birthday cake, even though I love my urchins very much.

21. Pumpkin Rolls from Sheila at Book Journey. I’m sensing a pumpkin, soup, chocolate theme in the recipes that appeal to me. Sheila’s blog is is lovely place for readers and bloggers and writers to meet together and discuss books, maybe over a slice of pumpkin roll.

22. White Chicken Chili from Hope Is The Word. I made this on Sunday, July 1, and we all enjoyed it very much. I wanted to add some corn to the recipe, but I didn’t have any.

23-24. Jama Rattigan at Jama’s Alphabet Soup is all about food and fun and books and celebration, so I found a couple of recipes there that I’d like to try
Black-eyed Pea Salad Medley.
Tracie’s Cheatin’ Shells

25. Potato Casserole from My Friend Amy.

26. Corn Salad from Heather at Sprittibee.

27. Lemony Buttered Shrimp from Jennifer at Conversion Diary Jen is a hilarious Catholic mom who lives and writes from Texas.

28. Chicken Marinara from Kim at The Upward Call

29. Banana Sheet Cake from Rebecca Writes Rebecca is a theologian as well as a homemaker, and she is worth reading on either subject.

30. Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes from Chef in Training (Actually I found a link to this and several other recipes from Pinterest at Shonya’s blog, Learning How Much I Don’t Know)

31. Chocolate Chip Pie from Renee at Add More Chocolate. Renee hasn’t posted in a while, but she still has a whole bunch of chocolate recipes in her Month of Chocolate feature that she did in February, 2010.

32. Cranberry Salsa from A Circle of Quiet. She has a food blog called Notre Pain Quotidian.

33. Gooey Butter Cake from Laura at Lines in Pleasant Places.

34. The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake Ever from The Pioneer Woman via Beth at Weavings. I actually made this cake for the 4th of July, and everyone loved it.

35. White Chicken Enchiladas from Donna at Quiet Life.

36. Picadillo from Dorian Speed at Scrutinies.

37. Ammie’s Unbeatable Beef Stroganoff from Heather at Sprittibee.

38. Delicious Chicken Skillet from CIndy at Notes in the Key of Life. More links to Cindy’s favorite recipes.

39. Hawaiian Bread Sandwich from Staci at Writing and Living.

40. Breakfast Cookies from Susan Wise Bauer.

41. Jambalaya from Amy’s Humble Musings.

42. Seven Layer Salad from Barbara at Mommy Life.

43. Chicken Piccata from Seasonal Soundings.

44. Crockpot Swiss Chicken Casserole from These Four No More.

45. Crockpot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup from Kathie’s Garden of Life.

46. Crack Dip from Shannon at The Mommy Diaries.

47. Crockpot Cranberry Pork Tenderloin from Tiny Tidbits.

48. Greek Potatoes and Chicken from The Southern Belle.

I found the preceding four recipes at Kelly’s Korner blog on a crock pot link-up called Crockpotalooza.
49. Patty Melts from The Pioneer Woman.

50. Orange Julius. I have made this before, and I’ll post the recipe soon for those who don’t know it. Yummy summertime breakfast drink!

51. Flaky Apple Foldovers From my book, Summertime Favorite Recipes by Pillsbury.

52. Turkey Salad Polynesian. From my book, Summertime Favorite Recipes by Pillsbury.

53. Creamy Corn ‘n Zucchini. From my book, Summertime Favorite Recipes by Pillsbury. I can’t find it online. If it turns out good, I’ll post the recipe.

54. Country Morning Coffee Cake. Ditto #53.

55. Cinnamon Baked French Toast from The Pioneer Woman.

I know I could probably “pin” all these recipes on Pinterest, and it would be a lot easier, IF I could figure out to use Pinterest and IF I didn’t keep reading bloggers who are complaining about how Pinterest is eating up their lives and IF I hadn’t already spent hours making this list, so it’ll have to do, and if you want pictures click on the links and most of them have pics, and yes, I know this a run-on sentence, but I can’t stop myself which is why I’m not on Pinterest. END.

By the way, these recipes are mostly from bloggers who are on my Google Reader, bloggers whose recipes and book recommendations I trust. Thanks guys for all the new additions to my meal repertoire and for all the other lovely blog posts that you share with all of us each day.

Book Tag: Something Old

Jul31

It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones.
Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books. ~C.S. Lewis, Introduction to Athanasius’ On the Incarnation

Let’s play Book Tag again. In today’s edition of Book Tag, please suggest your favorite book or work of literature, fiction or nonfiction, written or published BEFORE 1800.

Remember the rules: In this game, readers suggest ONE good book in the category given, then let somebody else be “it” before they offer another suggestion. There is no limit to the number of books a person may suggest, but they need to politely wait their turn with only one book suggestion per comment.

I’m going to start off the game with Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes or El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha as it was originally titled. Published in two separate volumes in 1605 and 1615, Don Quixote was one of the earliest examples of a “novel” and has been influential in literature from the picaresque novel to modernist school of magical realism. At first people considered Don Quixote to be a comedy; the bumbling hidalgo, or gentleman, muddles his way across the Spanish countryside making a fool of himself and his faithful servant Sancho Panza. Then, later, critics sawa the book as a tragedy in which a cruel world destroys the idealism and gallantry of a good man and eventually drives him to insanity. Take your pick, but I think it’s a little of both.

En un lugar de la Mancha, de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme, no hace mucho tiempo que vivía un hidalgo de los de lanza en astillero, adarga antigua, rocín flaco y galgo corredor.
In some village in La Mancha, whose name I do not care to recall, there dwelt not so long ago a gentleman of the type wont to keep an unused lance, an old shield, a skinny old horse, and a greyhound for racing.

Now it’s your turn. What Old Book can you recommend?

Olympic Athletes: We’ve All Got a Story

Jul31

Like millions around the world, I like watching the Olympics every four years, even though I hardly ever watch sports any other time. I watch the gymnasts and the swimmers and the runners and marvel at what they can do with body that God has given them. But even more than watching the feats of athletic prowess, I enjoy reading and hearing the stories of those athletes who have trained themselves to physical preeminence, and who are also pursuing spiritual maturity in Christ. Here a links to few stories I’ve found inspiring:

Sarah Scherer, who will vie for a gold medal in the air rifle competition at the London Olympics, draws strength from her faith in God after a tragedy shook her life two years ago.

Missy Franklin, swimming gold medalist:

Brady Ellison, archery: “I just step on the field and try to let how I shoot, how I behave and how I act in my life represent myself and God. If people like that, they do; if they don’t, they don’t.”

Francena McCorory, track.

Ryan Hall, marathoner. “I was a runner who happened to be a Christian. I needed to become a Christian who happened to be a runner.”