7 Quick Takes Friday: Links and Thinks

Jan2

George W. Bush, the Reader. Of course.

Africa needs God, says atheist. “Missionaries, not aid money, are the solution to Africa’s biggest problem – the crushing passivity of the people’s mindset.” Again, natch.

Conservative Snobs Are Wrong About Sarah Palin: One British journalist says Sarah Palin has a lot in common with Margaret Thatcher after all.

We knew that Tasha Tudor died in 2008. But did you know that the following notables also received their obituaries this year: Phyllis Whitney, Pauline Baynes, Ivan Southall? If you know who those people were, you might enjoy this list of “children’s book creators we said goodbye to in 2008” at Collecting Children’s Books.

Randy Alcorn: “Here’s a New Year’s resolution to consider: Every time you see or experiencing something beautiful and wonderful in this world, from a loved one’s smile to a wonderful meal and laughter to a snowfall or waterfall, wildflowers or animals, music or art, resolve to thank God that this fallen world is but a hint of what awaits us on the New Earth, the place He’s preparing for us.”

Banned in France, being made into a trilogy of movies directed by Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, Tintin is on the verge of becoming a phenomenon. Or maybe it’s just a halfway decent comic book.

Jen linked to this interview with Peter Kreeft. I love Peter Kreeft’s writing. I haven’t read the interview yet, but I will make time later.

7 Quick Takes is sponsored by Jen at Conversion Diary.

12 Best Semicolon Posts of 2008

Jan1

Sinners Need Silence, and Ultimately, a Saviour. Thoughts on chapter 2, Method, of Christianity For Modern Pagans by Peter Kreeft, a commentary on Pascal’s Pensees. Kreeft quotes Kierkegaard: “Therefore, create silence.”
The purpose of the silence is to make a space for the truth to be heard and experienced.

Why Read? I give four reasons that Christians especially should be readers.

What To Read? Some suggestions on choosing reading material.

Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry. My thoughts on my favorite author of the year.

Semicolon Author Celebration: Charlotte Zolotow. On June 26, we celebrated Charlotte Zolotow’s birthday with a list of favorites and links to your posts.

Semicolon Author Celebration: Tasha Tudor. Ms. Tudor died earlier this year at the age of 91. On her birthday in August, I celebrated her life and work as did others.

100 Pumpkins. A celebration of pumpkins and all things pumpkin-ish.

To Vote or Not to Vote? I believe in voting, prayerfully, and leaving the results to God.

War and Reconstruction: Establishing Democracy in Italy and Iraq. In which I discuss two books, A Bell for Adano by John Hersey and Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers, and the efficacy of reconstruction efforts in Italy after WW II and in Iraq now.

Interview with Author Andrea White. My only author interview this year: you should read her books, especially Window Boy.

Humor in the Bookstore. Snarky review of the latest sales flyer from LargeWeight Christian Bookstore.

12 Projects for 2009. I am planning to keep referring back and linking back to this one since I want to complete and enjoy all of these projects.

12 Books I’m Looking Forward to Reading in 2009

Jan1

Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins. OK, so listing this one is both a cheat and a tease. I’ve already read Ms. Perkins’ new book (ARC), and I’m planning to review it here just as soon as it hits the bookstores sometime after the publication date of January 13, 2009. Trust me, it’s worth the wait.

Tuck by Stephen Lawhead. This third in the trilogy that began with Hood and continued with Scarlett promises to be another adventurous story with some thoughtful moments thrown in to make the mix delightful.

Foundling and Lamplighter, both by D.M. Cornish. I have review copies of both of these books, but what with all the Cybils reading, I haven’t managed to start this series. The blurb says that they’re about Rossamund Bookchild, an orphan with an unfortunate name, and Europe, a girl who can shoot electricity out of her body. The series is called Monster Blood Tattoo, which I think is an unfortunate name, but since Lamplighter was one of the finalists for the Fantasy and Science and Fiction Cybil Award, I’m also thinking I can overlook the series title.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Barrows and Annie Barrows. Recommended by caribousmom. I think it was the quotations that Wendy included in her review that got me on this one. It’s about a literary society with an unwieldy name that serves as a front for resisting the Nazi occupation of one of the Channel islands. I still haven’t read this book, but I requested it at the library today. Everybody seems to have loved it.

Brett Lott, author of Jewel (Semicolon review here) and A Song I Knew By Heart (Semicolon review here), has a new book, Ancient Highway.. It’s about “the hopes and regrets of three characters from three generations as they reconcile who they are and who they might have been.” And the grandfather is from Texas. How could I not read that one?

I still haven’t read Leif Enger’s not-so-new anymore book, So Brave Young and Handsome, although I plan to do it soon.

Nor have I read Marilynne Robinson’s Home, although I really, really want to, and it’s in my library basket NOW.

C.J. Sansom, Revelation. 4th Matthew Shardlake mystery; his search for an old friend’s murderer leads him to Bedlam Hospital for the insane and also to Katherine Parr and the dark prophecies of the Book of Revelation. Due out in February, 2009.

Anne Perry, Execution Dock. The return of police superintendent William Monk; Victorian mystery. Due out in March, 2009.

For my U.S. Presidents Reading Project, American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham sounds like a winner. But first I have to finish the George Washington bio I’m reading now and the John Adams biography by David McCullough that’s the next one on the list.

The Duggars: 20 and Counting!: Raising One of America’s Largest Families–How they Do It by Jim Bob Duggar and Michelle Duggar. I’ll admit that I’m curious. Aren’t you?

The Appeal by John Grisham. I’m always a sucker for a good Grisham thriller. All work and no play makes Sherry a dull reader.

Cybils Middle Grade Fiction Finalists

Jan1

We had a list of 129 books nominated for the Middle Grade FIction Cybil Award. Of the 129, I managed to read 93. We discussed and chose favorites and changed our minds and listed more favorites and eliminated titles for various and sundry reasons and finally came up with a list of five finalists. Although these are not all my favorites, they are all excellent children’s fiction from 2008. I can recommend them all, and I wish you happy reading in 2009.

Alvin Ho
written by Lenore Look
Schwartz and Wade Books

Alvin Ho is brave (as long as he has his Personal Disaster Kit), a gentleman (in training), a good friend (but NOT to girls), and an interesting kid (who doesn’t talk in public). It’s just that he’s allergic to everything: girls, substitute teachers, airplanes, escalators … and anything else that’s even remotely scary (like leaving the house). However, he loves explosions, his dog Lucy, Plastic Man, Wonder Woman, the Green Lantern, Aquaman, King V, and all the superheroes in the world. The illustrations are unique and flavorful, and so is the Ho family. A book that everyone — from the
struggling second-grade reader through to the adults who know that struggling second-grade reader — will fall in love with.

Diamond Willow
written by Helen Frost
Farrar, Strauss & Giroux

Helen Frost tells the story of Willow, a young girl living in a remote Alaskan town. When Willow gets her first chance to mush the family dogs, everything
changes. Told in a series of diamond-shaped poems, with sporadic prose every few chapters, Frost has woven a beautiful coming-of-age story fraught with realism and magic. Braiding the stories of Willow, her family, the dogs, and her family’s ancestors, the story is simple and
middle-grade students will easily connect with Willow and her family. The deeper themes of love, respect for nature, and being yourself are carved into the poems, just like the diamond willow stick can be carved.

Every Soul a Star
written by Wendy Mass
Little, Brown

Three middle school students are brought together along with thousands of eclipse-chasers to witness a rare full solar eclipse. Told in the three voices of Ally, Bree and Jack, the alternating narrations are beautifully written and increasingly weave together. Ally (short for Alpha) and her family own the Moon Shadow campground, and have been preparing for their eclipse-chasing guests for years. Bree’s parents have bought the Moon Shadow and are dragging
her from city life to try running a campground. Jack is along for the ride as his science teacher’s assistant in an amateur astronomy experiment they plan to run during the eclipse. Every Soul a
Star offers three humorous and insightful journeys of self-discovery mixed with an intriguing dose of astronomy lessons.

Shooting the Moon
written by Frances O’Roark Dowell
Atheneum

Both the characters and the setting are fully fleshed out and believable in this Vietnam era novel. Born and raised in a career army family, 12-year-old Jamie explores her changing feelings as her brother enlists in the army and is sent far away to fight. While offering no easy answers, this is a thought-provoking page-turner that will have lots of appeal for kids.

The London Eye Mystery
written by Siobhan Dowd
David Fickling Books

This story has Ted and Kat searching for a cousin who disappears from the London Eye Ferris wheel. The two siblings must work together to solve the mystery. What’s unique about this tale is how Ted’s Asberger’s doesn’t stand in the way of him being active in solving his cousin’s disappearance. The portrayal of Ted is a refreshing change from stereotypical characters in some books.

If you compare this list to the committee members’ individual favorites, you’ll see that we had a wide-ranging discussion and a lot of very good books from which to choose. I’d suggest you start with these five and then go on to the finalists in other categories and the committee favorites if you’re looking for some great children’s books from 2008.

Finalists in other categories:
Easy Readers
Fantasy and Science FIction
Fiction Picture Books
Nonfiction Picture Books
Poetry
Graphic Novels
Young Adult FIction

More Cybils Favorites:
Semicolon: 12 Best Children’s Fiction Books I Read in 2008
Semicolon: 12 Best Young Adult Fiction Books I Read in 2008
Melissa’s Book Nut list of Cybils favorites.
2009 ACPL Mock Newbery Nominees.
The Reading Zone: Best of Cybils
All of the Cybils Nominees with links to panelists’ reviews.

12 Best Nonfiction Books I Read in 2008

Dec31

Secret Believers: What Happens When Muslims Believe in Christ by Brother Andrew, author of God’s Smuggler and co-author, Al Janssen. Semicolon review here.

The Case Against Adolescence by Robert Epstein. Quite thought-provoking. Recommended by MatthewLee Anderson at Mere-O.

How to Read Slowly by James Sire. I read this book in preparation for teaching a literature and worldview class to my daughter and some other students at our homeschool co-op. I found it to be quite a good introduction to how to read and evaluate literature from a Christian perspective.

The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan. Semicolon review here.

Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis. Semicolon review here.

Gracefully Insane: The Rise and Fall of America’s Premier Mental Hospital by Alex Beam. Semicolon review here.

Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Isamel Beah.

The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad. Semicolon review here.

A Royal Affair: George III and His Scandalous Siblings by Stella TIlyard. Semicolon review here.

Walking From East to West by Ravi Zacharias.

The American Patriot’s Almanac by William Bennett and John Cribb. Semicolon review here.

Christianity for Modern Pagans: Pascal’s Pensees by Peter Kreeft. I did a series of posts on this book:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2: Sinners Need Silence, and Ultimately a Saviour
Chapter 3: Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me
Chapter 4: Animal or Angel?
Chapter 5: Vanity, Vanity, All Is Vanity
Chapter 6: Every Day in Every Way
Chapter 7: Hobgoblins or Habits
I quit there and never came back to this book, not because it wasn’t good stuff, but because I went on to other things. But I plan to finish the book, and the series of posts on it, this year.

12 Best Adult Fiction Books I Read in 2008

Dec31

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Semicolon review here.

The Winds of War by Herman Wouk.

War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk. I didn’t review these two novels of World War II because I wasn’t sure what to say about them. My pastor recommended them because they’re a couple of his favorites, and I enjoyed them voraciously. Epic. Classic.

Eifelheim by Michael Flynn. Recommended by Elliot at Claw of the Conciliator.

Old School by Tobias Wolff. I never reviewed this one either, but I found it curiously satisfying. It’s a prep school story about a boy who makes a bad decision, similar to A Separate Peace or the movie The Winslow Boy.

The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton. Semicolon review here.

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. Semicolon review here.

Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry.

Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry. Semicolon review here.

Random Harvest by James Hilton. Semicolon review here.

Scarlett by Stephen Lawhead. No review for this second book in Lawhead’s King Raven (Robin Hood) series, but I am eagerly looking forward to the third in the series, Tuck, which is supposed to ship in mid-January.

Some WIldflower in My Heart by jamie Langston Turner. Semicolon review here.

Best discovery of the year: Wendell Berry’s novels.

Book of the year: Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry.

Horsey Books

Dec31

When I was in junior high in West Texas, all my friends loved horses, and most of them were planning to become veterinarians when they grew up. Except for me. I wanted to be a teacher or a librarian.

I only rode a horse once or twice, but I did get to hear a lot about horses. And I don’t mind an occasional horse book. In honor of this charitable endeavor at Read Write Believe in support of Flying Horse Farms, an adventure camp for children with life-threatening illnesses, here are a few of my favorite horse books:

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. Classic, and I think still readable. On Anna Sewell’s birthday.

The Blind Colt and Blind Outlaw both by Glen Rounds. I read both of these back when I was in junior high or elementary school. Good stories about the survival of a blind horse in the wild.

Flambards by K.M. Peyton and its sequels. These are more YA romance/historical fiction than animal stories, but they do feature horses and horse-riding. And they were, again, popular in my junior high years.

Paint the Wind by Pam Munoz Ryan. One of last year’s Cybils nominees. Semicolon review here.

Chancey of the Maury River by Gigi Amateau. One of this year’s Cybils nominees, this one takes place on a ranch similar to Flying Horse Farms.

Black Horses for the King by Anne McCaffrey. A Roman Celtic youth, Galwyn, helps the future king of Britain, Lord Artos, acquire the legendary Black Horses of his legions. We read this book aloud this year and learned a lot about horses in the process.

The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis. This one is my second favorite of the Narnia chronicles, about talking horses.

What is your favorite horse book?

The Whiskey Rebels by David Liss

Dec29

Financiers and businessmen blackmail the U.S. government into covering their poor business decisions and bad debts as government officials, especially the Secretary of the Treasury, fear the collapse of the entire U.S. economy if banks and financial speculators are allowed to reap the consequences of their bad gambles. The government spends money that it doesn’t have, and taxes the poor who can least afford to pay, for the benefit of greedy rich men who are said to be the only bulwark that is propping up the U.S. economy.

It sounds like the lead into an analysis of the U.S. economy at the end of the year 2008, doesn’t it? And yet it’s a summary of the plot of the novel The Whiskey Rebels by David Liss, published in 2008, but set in the late 1700’s. The Treasury Secretary is not Henry Paulson, but rather Alexander Hamilton, the first to hold that office. The greedy speculators are not Wall Street gamblers and bankers and auto industry tycoons, but rather investors in the new Bank of the United States and land speculators who sell worthless Western lands in exchange for government securities and promissory notes that the fledgling government gave to soldiers of the Continental Army in place of the money that it didn’t have at the end of the Revolutionary War.

Based on true historical events and peopled actual historical characters, Liss’s novel was both an education in the history in the time period and an occasion for me to think about the parallels that exist between that time of economic turmoil and our own financial difficulties today. Just as there is now, there was a contingent who said that the government should let the financial markets do as they would, let the banks and financiers fail or bankrupt themselves, and deal with the consequences afterwards. “Better anarchy than an unjust nation that masquerades as a beacon of righteousness. That would be worse than outright tyranny.” Others said the result would be “the collapse of our economic system.” “Banks will fail, so merchants will fail, and then farms. And then starvation. That is the best we can hope for.”

It’s the same argument we’re having over two hundred years later, and the corrupt forces of financial chicanery have us in their grip just as surely as the wheelers and dealers of the American republic had the nation in a financial panic in 1792. Only the names and some of the details have changed. I’m amazed to think that this book was written before our current financial and political difficulties came to a head, and the parallels to today’s news in the book are unplanned and all the more striking for being so.

As for the novel itself, Mr. Liss is a decent writer, has a good handle on the setting and circumstances of the early years of our American experiment. The book is quite violent, presumably because as the author says, “Conditions on the western frontier were every bit as brutal as I describe, and probably more so.” The main characters in the novel are Ethan Saunders, a drunken and disgraced ex-Continental Army spy, and Joan Maycott, a settler with her husband in the wilds of western Pennsylvania. These two tell the story, each from his or her own point of view, in alternating chapters, and the first intriguing problem that the reader is set is to figure out how their stories are intertwined, if they are. As the two protagonists’ paths do cross in Philadelphia, the next puzzle is to find out which has the upper hand and which will win the battle of wits that becomes a fight for the survival of the newborn United States of America.

Anyone who is interested in the history of the Republic or in financial crises or in the arguments for and against government intervention in the financial world will find this book enlightening and absorbing. If you don’t mind some violence and a little bit of bad language, not too much, and if the subject interests you, take a look. I like my economic and political lessons in a fictional package, so this book was just the ticket, even though I’m still not sure what to think of the government’s robbing the poor to bail out the rich supposedly in order to save both from irreparable financial ruin. It’s a conundrum that I can’t quite resolve.

Sunday Salon: Humor in the Bookstore

Dec28

Cindy wrote about Christians and humor the other day, and in the process she reminded us of her old CBD posts. You can take a minute to go read and then come back.

Anyhoo, yesterday I got a sale flyer in the mail for LargeWeight Christian Bookstore (not its real name). I’m looking for a couple of books that might be available at a regular Christian bookstore, so I flipped through the catalog. I promise that I found the following items advertised; only the names and a few minor details have been changed to protect anyone in need of protection.

For only five dollars you can get a copy of the workout DVD, Tae Bo: The Strength Within in which “Christian fitness guru BB encourages reaching out to God when another set of roundhouse kicks seems impossible.” (Another set?) For a few dollars more you can get a Rejoice Water Bottle to go with the DVD: “features Psalm 118:24 and holds 24 ounces.”

You can get any one of a variety of change-your-life books: a complete guide to health, “recommendations on what to eat heartily and what to eat in moderation,” “quick answers to your everyday financial questions,” and “advice on losing weight.” Also there are books on how to get rid of anger, counting yourself to sleep, and another with a “plethora of advice for today’s family” on parenting. Why can’t they put all this stuff in one book and save me about fifty dollars?

When it comes to The One Book, there are still so many choices that the mind boggles —and gives up. Should I get a noteworthy BIble, an illustrated study BIble, an “everyday with Jesus” Bible, a chronological Bible, a daily Bible, a Life Principles Bible, a One Year Bible, or, to shorten the time commitment and speed things up, The Bible in 90 Days? And in a modern day variation on the disciples of Apollos and Paul I can get a Bible for followers of John MacArthur, or Charles F. Stanley, or Max Lucado or a Bible study by Beth Moore (she doesn’t seem to have her own Bible yet.) For my kids I can buy an Extreme Teen BIble, a Compact Teen Study Bible, a Next Generation New Testament, an Adventure BIble, or a Small Hands Bible. One of these Bibles, available on CD, advertises “many awesome features and voices from popular shows and movies like Hannah Montana and High School Musical; your youth are sure to dig it!” (If you’re fascinated by that last item, email me and I’ll let you know the exact title, location and price.)

Finally, if the entire Bible is too much for you or you can’t make up your mind which one to get, you can purchase a verse or two printed on just about anything. Items available are a Colossians 3:17 photo album, a Psalm 27:14 photo album, a Matthew 28:20 address book (so that you can know the right address when you go out to preach the gospel), a Psalm 17:8 journal, a Proverbs 27:9 coffee mug, a Proverbs 27:9 tealight holder, a I Corinthians 13 “love” photo frame, and a Proverbs 17:17 cross with stand.

I’ll spare you the details of the books (very few) and the movies advertised in the flyer, except to say that I didn’t find the two books I was looking for. However, the blurb at the bottom of the page assures me, “Can’t FInd It? Don’t Despair! Ask about our special order service.” I wonder if they can order me a copy of Paradise Lost or David Copperfield? (No, those weren’t the books I was looking for originally; I know better than that.)

Twelve Projects for 2009

Dec27

Last year instead of resolutions, I thought in terms of projects, lots of projects that I wanted to complete in 2008. I wouldn’t say I was any more or less successful with my projects than most people are with resolutions, but I like the tradition anyway and plan to to continue it this year. So here are my twelve projects for 2009, with evaluations of how I did on some of the same projects in 2008.

1. BIble Reading Project. Last year’s BIble reading project was a qualified success. I didn’t read every day, and I didn’t study the books and passages I chose as intensely as I wanted, but I did read and study some. This year’s BIble reading plan is the same as last year’s: choose a book or part of a book of the BIble for each month of the year, read it daily, and study it using some good study tools. Take notes in my Bible and maybe this year in a journal, too. The selections for this year:

January: II Samuel 1-8 Last year I read and studied I Samuel, so II Samuel seems to be next.
February: I Thessalonians
March: II Samuel 9-16
April: II Thessalonians
May: II Samuel 17-24
June: I Timothy
July: Joel
August: II TImothy
September: Amos
October: Titus
November: Psalms 1-5
December: Psalms 6-10

2. Pulitzer Project. This one will have to be a repeat from last year since I read only one of the books on my list, The Optimist’s Daughter by Eudora Welty. I didn’t review it because I didn’t really care for it much.

3. My Newbery Project for last year was also something of a bust. I think I got stuck because the winners for 1925 and 1926 were both story collections, and I don’t like story collections. I may skip the storybooks and get back on track this year.

4. My Madeleine L’Engle Project also failed to get off the ground last year. I think I just have so many good books to read, and not enough time. Anyway, this is another one I want to try again this year.

5. Operation Clean House. I figure if I take a room or area of the house and concentrate on that section each month, I might get somewhere with the de-cluttering and cleaning. Maybe.
January: My closet and dressing area.
February: The rest of my bedroom.
March: Front hallway and entryway.
April: Living Room.
May: Kitchen.
June: Laundry room.
July: Half of the gameroom.
August: The other half of the gameroom.
September: Front bathroom.
October: Z-baby’s bedrooom.
November: Karate Kid’s bedroom.
December: Sit back and enjoy my reorganized home?
I might even, if I’m brave enough, post before and after pictures to keep myself motivated.

6. LOST Reading Project. I really want to get back to this project this year.

7. The U.S. Presidents Reading Project has a list of all of the U.S. presidents and suggested reading selections (non-fiction) for each one. The challenge is to read one biography of each one. I would really like to start this project this year.

8. American History Project. In conjunction with the U.S. Presidents Reading Project, I’ll be teaching American history at home and at co-op next school year. So I’m working on planning a high school level literature/history class for co-op and condensing the Sonlight third and fourth grade curriculum suggestions for American history into one year for my little girls.

9. Poetry Project: I would like to get my urchins memorizing and reading poetry. I would like to read and memorize poetry. I would like to have more Poetry Parties.

10. Prayer Project. I need to spend some daily concentrated time in prayer and meditation. My plan is to pray and read my Bible before I get on the computer each day so that I can bathe all these projects and all my children and my husband in prayer.

11. Book Club Project. I’m really, really, truly starting my book club this year. We’re having our first meeting to discuss the books for the year this afternoon. If any of you are interested in participating (virtually), email me at sherryDOTearlyATgmailDOTcom, and I’ll send you the details. I’ll also be posting the book club selections for each month of 2009 here at Semicolon soon.

12. VIdeo Project. Engineer Husband and I are s-l-o-w-l-y watching the series Band of Brothers at night after the urchins are asleep. After we finish those videos, we’re planning to watch the HBO adaptation of David McCullough’s biography of John Adams, recommended here.

Bonus Project: I’ll keep blogging, the Good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, and I’ll keep you all updated on all my projects for 2009.