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My next-town-over neighbor and former co-worker -- Brendan DuBois, has a new novel out! "Betrayed."
A starred review from Publisher's Weekly said, "DuBois... sets up another frighteningly plausible scenario in his latest and heartbreaking thriller."
I just got my copy and will be devouring it on the first rainy weekend - which is forecast to be the upcoming one!
Anyone else found any "ripping reads" for the summer?
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"Tess of the D'Urbervilles" by Thomas Hardy. one of the most disturbing books I've read. there is no romance suggested by the name and I don't like author's attitude toward women. he says that a man in a field is a person and a woman is so close to nature she is part of the field.
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"Tess of the D'Urbervilles" by Thomas Hardy. one of the most disturbing books I've read.
Now, now... calm down. You have to remember the time period that this book was written. Women were seen as less than men or as belonging to them. A woman was a man's chattel, as were his horse, his home, his fields, etc...
So pop a vicadin and be the mellow...
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Vika i'm with you.. i hated Tess, and don't much like anything by Hardy (on the other hand, my daughter loves the book, and everything she has read by Hardy!)
i thought the book depressing. since fiction, like life becomes more interesting when we see change.. growth, in some way, in the characters.. and i didn't see any in Tess. things happen to her, she is not in control of any part of her life.. except her thoughts, and here she thinks thing happen i can't control them.. oh well.
i am a generally happy person. i have had adversity in my life.. I haven't been blessed with endles bounty (physical, or emotional or any other way) its not been perfect, hererofore, but my feeling about things are idependant almost of reality...
sure i had a rotton childhood.. but every year it becomes less signicant in my emotional life (it still shows up in somethings,) but my past (and even my current circumstances!) don't keep me from being happy!
I think i am young, and act young, and people respond to me, as if i where younger than i am... the reality about my actual age doesn't interfer with my feelings!
Tess is the oposite! all of hardy's femine character are the same, there is not one i would want as friend!
Yeah, he wrote of a specific time.. but even in that time others were writing about a different reality!
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even in that time others were writing about a different reality
I could never manage to read 'Tess'. The emotions are too strong for me to wish to cope with and I agree that Hardy is nearly always depressing; I guess he was a man with a mission and he aimed to change attitudes rather than celebrate what was already changing.
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In reply to:
i thought the book depressing
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i agree strongly. it is so disappointing when TH says "if this would have happened then they've lived happily ever after...but it didn't...". i mean we all miss some opportunities but not all the time. nobody is doomed
i think I'll try to read something else by Hardy and compare. his analysis of the process of peasants turning agricultural workers is quite striking but...but...but
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I've started All The King's Men, which reads like poetry. The language is rhythmic and richly evocative. He reminds me a lot of another KY author, Jesse Stuart. I was reading ATKM in a coffee shop with my kids the other day and I read something in it - I forget what it was exactly - that caused me to laugh uncontrollably for several minutes. I had tears in my eyes and was coughing. My kids were giving me evil stares, though, and when we left asserted they were never going ANYWHERE with me again, as they were embarrassed to admit even my acquaintance, let alone my kinship with them.
I also started The Emperor's Codes, which is an account of WWII codebreaking.
Interesting detail: I'd always thought the Brits broke the German codes and the Americans broke the Japanese codes. Turns out the Americans broke a few of the Japanese codes, BUT most were also broke by the Brits.
Also, I retreived my copy of volume I of Feyman's Lectures on Physics and plan to spend a fair chunk of the summer on it.
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think I'll try to read something else by Hardy and compare. his analysis of the
process of peasants turning agricultural workers is quite striking but...but...but
Try The Mayor of Casterbridge. The mayor in question is a prizewinning jackass and the female characters pretty well take charge. It's the only thing I've read by him, but from what people in this forum have had to say, I may leave well enough alone.
And I figured out how to write in blue.
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"I retreived my copy of volume I of Feyman's Lectures on Physics..."
Feynman also wrote (at least) two books for the layperson: 'Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character' and 'What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures of a Curious Character.' They tickle and enlighten... and I'd be grateful if anyone can suggest more works by the same author intended for a similar audience...
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I read the first of the two books which Feynman wrote "for the layperson" and found him to be among the most egotistical, self-obsessed, self-promoting, self-congratulatory writers I have ever read. Needless to say, I did not / will not read the second.
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If you can find it try Paul Gallico's "The Adventures of Hiram Holiday" it is so much deeper and richer than the adventure story promised by the blurb. Another that is a bit lighter is "Mrs 'Arris Goes to Paris" also by Gallico.
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What, you mean i am not the only person on earth to have read Mrs 'Arris Goes to Paris?
i enjoyed them several of the Mrs 'Arris books as a kid.. i am afraid to read them again.. even as a kid i thought them well, silly.
(maybe i just didn't get the class thing... why should a cleaning lady have a custom ball gown.. oops, there are no cleaning ladies in UK, they have cleaning woman..)
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Try re-reading Mrs. 'Arris. I didn't find the sequels anything special but as an adult you may get the subtext of the char woman understanding just how silly she is being but wanting that moment of glamour anyway.
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"...found him to be among the most egotistical, self-obsessed, self-promoting, self-congratulatory writers I have ever read."
It's been some time since I read those books... He might've been egoistic, but that just might be a part of his personality (which I'm neither qualified nor interested in commenting upon.) As a reader, I still remember the books as being amusing...
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..and both books were written by him for the purpose of glorifying himself.
Personally, my feeling is that if you have as much insight and intelligence as he did - not as a writer particularly but as a physicist - then you're entitled to as big an ego as you want. (Impersonally, of course, I think he was supremely egotistical and self-obsessed.)
For another (and more balanced) assessment of this amazingly versatile, fascinating, multifaceted person I unhesitatingly recommend Feynman , the biography by James Gleick.
Edit: Correction -- that's Genius, by James Gleick. Thanks, ff.
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self-obsessed, self-promoting, self-congratulatory
When's the last time *you figured out how to break into everybody's safe in your place of business?
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When's the last time *you figured out how to break into everybody's safe in your place of business?
My strong suspicion is that neither my Bishop nor the Chief Justice would be amused if I did.
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oops, there are no cleaning ladies in UK, they have cleaning woman..8what do you mean there is no cleaning ladies in UK? we have all sort of ladies (including cleaning), UK is the country of origin of the ladies  and secretaries we don't have, there are some personal assistants
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We do keep private secretaries in the cabinet though.
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We do keep private secretaries in the cabinet though.
It must be an English thing... Harry Potter kept in a cupboard under the stairs and private secretaries kept in cabinets... I guess it is a testament to the strength of English woodworking...
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Interestingly (or maybe not) there's a coworker of a coworker where I work who actually worked with RPF and said the same thing.
I'm not sure which books you mean, though, his pseudo-autobiographical books or the ones like "Six Easy Pieces?" I can understand dislike of his conceit that comes through in the former, but the latter books are brilliant. He has a method of cutting right to the important stuff with just the right amount of supporting detail.
Examples:
1) his discussion of symmetry in SEP
2) his explanation of energy and entropy in FLOP (I gotta believe the acronym is intentional) is extremely clear and has been borrowed by others to make the points.
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Feynman , the biography by James Gleick.
I think the title of the book is Genius. Not to start a reading preference war, but I find Gleick a little irritating. It's a good read, but I kept wanting more and more personal interaction stuff (with other scientists) and it wasn't there. Nevertheless, it is easy, it's worth the time, and there's some very interesting and maybe surprising details. For example, Gleick says that an IQ test given to F in highschool gave a score of 126. This is nothing to sneeze at, really, but on a wild stab I'd guess nearly every reader of this forum is at least that high, and most probably higher. (Okay, I don't believe IQ is 'really' intelligence, per se, but that score is still a big surprise BECAUSE the kinds of things tested on IQ tests is exactly the kind of thing at which RPF excelled.)
My preference in the science biography thing is the autobiography. Marc Kac's "Enigmas of Chance," for example, or Heisenberg's "Physics and Beyond." I love this stuff.
Kac has an interesting take on Feynman, btw. He says that there are two kinds of genius. As is always the case with me, I can't recall the specifics, but my assimilation is this: The first kind of genius, you look at what the person has done and you think to yourself, "Man, if I had tried harder, worked smarter, or done this instead of that, I just *MIGHT* have come up with this myself." The second kind of genius, you look at what the person has done and you think to yourself, "This is magic! How could this person possibly have gotten from point A to point B? Even after the steps are revealed, it still seem like mysticism." (I'm quoting a hypothetical person in my assimilated and faulty understanding, and not the actual book.) Feynman, Kac says, is an example of the latter kind of genius.
I guess my reaction to snotty and condescending people is the same as Father Steve's. I'm also repulsed by them. OTOH, I work with a LOT of people who are a lot smarter than I'll ever be (not to mention most of my friends are a lot smarter). These people have varying supplies of patience and other social skills. I've learned to appreciate them for what they offer and not necessarily for what I expect them to be.
Way off the subject:
When I was a freshman, a new sophomore came, a filthy rich, spoiled snotty guy who was also very smart. He invited me to come to the lab where he was tutoring. The girl was trying to write a FORTRAN program that would multiply to arrays. He gave a lecture to her, essentially writing the important section of code to her. Now I did something stupid. If I'd been minding my manners, I should have understood that it's not an invited guest's place to question the teacher, but it's not easy (not for me at least) to know what the right thing to do is on the spur of a the moment. I said simply, "I don't think that's right." I didn't say this in a nasty way or a gotcha kinda way, but in a sincere and maybe even self-effacing way, I swear. Suddenly, this fellow I hardly knew at the time rips into me - for about 10 to 15 minutes - maybe longer he keeps ripping me, yelling calling me every kind of idiot imaginable, making devastating use of sarcasm. I never said a word in reply. His student was mortified. I realized my mistake and felt horrible myself, but I didn't know what else to do other than stand there, take it, and give him a chance to cool off. Eventually he does cool off and he asks me state my point. I ask three questions, the first two of which he answers very quickly: "When you multiply a 5 by 5 matrix by a 5 by 5 matrix, what do you get?" "Another 5 x 5 matrix, of course." "Okay, if you have a new 5 by 5 matrix, that means you somehow have to define all the elements of the new matrix, for example, say there must be an element (3,4), correct?" "Of course." "Very good, then, how do you get element (3,4) from that algorithm?"
He pauses for maybe 5 minutes and doesn't say a word while he looks through the program and finally he says, very meekly, "You know ... you're right." That was it. After that we were always very good friends. He never said another bad word to me, never lost his temper - in fact, he always seemed uncommonly polite. He became my teacher for PASCAL (another computer language) and I learned the finer points of recursion (cool programming technique) and a few other things from him. I feel bad that he never learned anything from me. (Being a freshman, I didn't have much to offer.)
This is not my only experience like this. I'm not saying we should tolerate bad behavior, but it's easy, I think, to get caught up in the snottiness of it all and fail to appreciate what the other person does bring to the table.
(BTW, this matrix thing is no great feat. The mathematician(s) in here will attest that this is trivial stuff, and it's very easy to make a simple error in programming. Even brilliant programmers get bugs.)
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If you liked Surely, you're Joking, Mr Feynman, you may also like
Science:
"Six Easy Pieces" by RPF
"The Character of Physical Law." by RPF
(Actually I think the stuff about symmetry I mentioned in the other post was from this second title instead of the first.)
History:
"Longitude" by Dava Sobel (which we discussed a bit in here some time ago).
This is extremely good and very easy to read.
Autobiographies:
"Enigmas of Chance" by Marc Kac
"Physics and Beyond" by Werner Heisenberg
"What is Life" by Erwin Schroedinger
(One of the SJ Gould books talks a bit about his interaction with his dad, but I don't recall which one ... maybe Panda's Thumb, but I'm not sure.)
(Also there's a great biography of Herman Helmholtz I read way back in junior high, but i can't think of the title, but it was a small orange paperback.)
Fiction:
"Cambridge Quintet," by John Casti, hypothetical dinner and conversation (in the vein CP Snow's The Two Cultures or maybe something like Steve Allen's Meeting of the Minds - in fact, Snow is the host in the story!)
On my list to read
"I am a Mathematician" Norbert Wiener (a friend gave it high ratings)
Oppenheimer's autobiography (forgot the title)
Gödel: A Life of Logic, the Mind, and Mathematics
I, Asimov
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>Even brilliant programmers get bugs.
I have long espoused Fischer's Corollary: In any piece of software there are at least five bugs. This holds true even after you remove a bug. (iterate as needed)
BTW, I agree with everything that's been said about Feynman; genius, egotistical, great read--not uncommon traits to find conjoined; take, e.g., Isaac Asimov.
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Genius it is. I think one of the most endearing things about this board is the enthusiasm everyone shows in recommending more and favorite books, whenever anyone asks about one! 
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an IQ test given to F in highschool gave a score of 126
I wouldn't put it past him to have decided what IQ he wanted people to think he had and have taken the test in such a way as to get that IQ.
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I wouldn't put it past him to have decided what IQ he wanted people to think he had and have taken the test in such a way as to get that IQ.
Maybe. I've heard that theory before. Teenagers love playing pranks. But generally they don't intentionally do things that might adversely affect their college admissions.
Seems just as likely to me that smarter people often see ambiguity where others (including test designers) see clarity (and vice versa).
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Gee whiz - don't you folks ever read anything light?
Tess and physics and all that are just tooooo heavy for summertime reading!
As to "Mrs.'arris" are you aware a movie was made of the book ? Not bad. I read it years ago and enjoyed it.
In the same vein "The Duchess of Duke Street" is a goodie.
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Try The Mayor of Casterbridge.
thanks, birdfeed , I've seen it on a shelf and I'll definitely try it.
"Longitude" by Dava Sobel (which we discussed a bit in here some time ago).
This is extremely good and very easy to read.
but awfully difficult to translate. i am racking my brains over all "midshipmen", "king's ransoms" etc. one day AWAD will be inundated by my questions about it
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most recently read and recommended (but neither of which I would call "light"):
The Gate, by Francois Bizot - the only Westerner to be imprisoned by the Khmer Rouge and live to tell the tale
Mystic River, by Dennis Lehane - Crime Noir
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don't you folks ever read anything light?
Well ... yea, but most of my light stuff is SF and I'm not sure, but I always get the feeling most people don't care for SF (except for the fantasy sf, which is not a genre I like very much).
But I've put the physics thing off for way too long while my FIL borrowed my book. (The other physics books I mentioned are very simple books - really, they're for the layman.)
I love the BOLO series of books (started by Keith Laumer and continued by David Drake, et. al.). Particularly, I think they contrast nicely with Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series. In Bolo, the robotic tanks are the heros. In Berserker, they're as relentless as the borg. (I suspect strongly that the Veger episode of startrek was based on this idea.) The Berserkers are not villains, per se. The really evil ones are the people who SIDE WITH THE ROBOTS to destroy all life.
I also like the Midnight at the Well of Souls pentology. (The second series, a trilogy isn't near so good.)
Brin's Sundiver trilogy (aka the uplift saga) is pretty good, as is the second trilogy.
For fantasy, I like the Book of the Dun Cow (which may be a children's book, but it's still good). Also, Anne Mcaffrey's Dragon books are really good. And Mary Stewart's Crystal Cave trilogy.
I guess if you really only want light reading, I doubt you could find better way to while the time than a collection of short stories by O Henry or HH Munro.
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Aside from SF - which I read and enjoy - what about books by living authors. The boys and girls need to make a living awready!
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I recommend anything by Ian Banks (except the most recent one as i didn't read it) and by Ian M.Banks - good science fiction
I love SF and fantasy. I am currently working my way through Terry Prachett's Discword novels and I am happy. Although "The hitchhiker guide to Galaxy" is voted by British public as one of the 100 best books of all times I only moderately enjoyed it. probably, all fine sarcasms are wasted on my thick Belorussian skin
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A midshipman is a sort of apprentice officer. It's used by USns to refer to a student at the US Naval Academy, but in the old days it was more On the Job Training (OJT). King's Ransom is just a very large sum of money. It's a metaphorical usage, the amount of money it would take to pay someone for the release of a king taken hostage.
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Terry Pratchett is great especially for punny people.
Another favorite of mine is anything by Yvonne de Bremond D'ars a Parisian antiques dealer who writes what I think are amplified rather than fictionalized autobiography.
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Father Steve quoth: In reply to:
I read the first of the two books which Feynman wrote "for the layperson" and found him to be among the most egotistical, self-obsessed, self-promoting, self-congratulatory writers I have ever read. Needless to say, I did not / will not read the second.
Right on, Padre. Me too. I thought I was almost on my own. Come to think of it, I may be!
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Anything by Peter F. Hamilton or Iain Banks is worth the effort. Hamilton's "Night's Dawn" trilogy is an amazing feat of imagination. Hamilton was born and still lives in Rutland. They're all pretty odd from there - it's just up the road from me.
If you're tempted to buy "The Shelters of Stone" by Jean M. Auel, don't bother. It's rubbish and I wasted £5.99. IMHO, of course. She really only comes to life in the sex scenes. A well-researched skin novel, if you'll excuse the multiple entendres. Maybe living in Colorado does that to you.
David Brin's "Kil'n People" is a completely new departure (well, after his hash of the reprise of the "Foundation" series, he had to do something to repair his reputation), and is a really good read. In spite of that, I still haven't forgiven him for the Maori drum ...
I've just finished rereading Roger Zelazny's "Amber" decalogy. Great stuff and easy on the brain. Roger's dead at the moment, so there won't be any more. No, wait! Yes there will be, but it's rubbish from a hack writer trying to ape his betters. Pretty much as bad as the "collaboration" between Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson to cash in on Frank Herbert's Dune series by writing a slough of prequels. I think they got the idea from George Lucas. It's a bad one.
Stephen Baxter's near-future stuff ("Titan" and "Moonseed" are good examples) are really worth the effort if you're a space nut.
Kim Stanley Robinson's RGB Mars series - in fact, anything he's written - is brilliant. He's also put out a collection of short stories connected to the series called "The Martians" which just makes you wish he'd write the whole thing over again so you could have more of it.
Reading (or in my case, rereading for the umpteenth time) Georgette Heyer's historical novels (not the Regency romances) is very much worth the effort. "The Spanish Bride" and "My Lord John" are both outstanding.
Martin Cruz Smith is my fav non-sci-fi author of the moment. His Renko trilogy is brilliant. Trilogy? Nope, there's a fourth book in the series, called "Havana", which sees Renko in, guess, Cuba.
I like to reread Edgar Wallace's "Sanders of the River" series, mainly because it harks back to a simpler, more innocent time, when a handful of white colonialists lorded it over millions of adoring black subjects who'd stab you in the back as quick as look. Bit like the Congo on any day ending in "y", I suppose, except the colonialists are as black as their adoring subjects.
I think that's enough to be going on with.
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The Book of the Dun Cow is NOT a children's book.
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Book of the Dun Cow
Not young children, of course. I haven't read it since maybe freshman or sophomore year of college. My recollection is that it seemed a bit like something geared towards junior high students, or possibly hs students. Been a while.
k
post edit:
Been a while since I read either of these as well, but I would think it's very roughly comparable to Watership Down or The Plague Dogs. The first of those is on my oldest daughter's recommended summer reading list for rising 8th graders.
(I don't know if that makes it a children's book. OTOH, I only said BOTDC 'might' me one.)
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Let me suggest that, like several other books which masquerade as children's fiction, The Book of the Dun Cow is a serious book, written for adults, by a serious theologian, who grapples with altogether serious issues in it.
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Carpal Tunnel
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since I teach at a middle school(grades 5-8; ages 10-14); I read a lot of fiction written for that age, and my favorites lately have been the Garth Nix trilogy Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen. great books.
I've also been reading Sherri Tepper, which I'm thinking really shouldn't be in a middle school library!
formerly known as etaoin...
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veteran
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Let me suggest that, like several other books which masquerade as children's fiction, The Book of the Dun Cow is a serious book, written for adults, by a serious theologian, who grapples with altogether serious issues in it.
Surely it's a serious book. Never meant to suggest otherwise. I had no idea he was a theologian, but it makes sense given the subject of the book. I'm probably misusing the term "children's book." Maybe that's a loaded phrase that someone would find offensive. I guess I'm not sure I agree with the implication that Children's books can't be serious. Is A Wrinkle in Time a serious book? Or The Chronicles of Narnia?
Wait ... I think I missed the very obvious message on my first reading of your post. You're saying that it is OSTENSIBLY a children's book in maybe a similar vein as The Screwtape Letters or Chronicles of Narnia, but this is a vehicle for communicating a serious idea.
Okay, sure. I'll buy that.
k
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Carpal Tunnel
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i have just started to read Year of Wonders, by Gerladine Brooks.. a novel of the plague.. i have a list of words to look up and throw out already, some must old/archic, (snape-- some sort of rake for clearing cobblestones, and others just old fashioned, handkin for hankie..) but i am gobbling up the story right now!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Master storyteller, Walt Wangerin, Jr., has been captivating both reading and listening audiences for two decades.
Pastor Wangerin is the author of more than 20 deeply spiritual and widely acclaimed books for children and adults. They include fiction, non-fiction and devotional material. He is writer-in-residence at Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana.
Many have also discovered that Pastor Wangerin's story telling gift transcends the printed page. He belongs in that tradition of oral storytellers who have captured the imaginations of people of all ages, through all the ages. His stories, reflections, meditations and life experiences find God in common things and proclaim Christ in our lives. Since 1994 Pastor Wangerin has been joining story and Gospel as the Lutheran Vespers speaker, receiving acclaim from thousands of listeners.
Biographical Material
Born February 13, 1944, in Portland, OR
Reared, the eldest of 7 children, in various locations:
Shelton, WA
Chicago, IL
Grand Forks, ND
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Married, father of four children
Education
Christ Seminary-Seminex, St. Louis, MO; M.Div. 1976
Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO
Miami University, Oxford, OH; M.A. in English Literature, 1968 (All course work and requirements for Ph.D. completed except the dissertation)
Concordia Senior College, Fort Wayne, IN; B.A. 1966
Concordia Junior College, Milwaukee, WI; A.A. 1964
Present Professional Activities
Professor and occupant of Emil & Elfriede Jochum Chair, Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN (1991-present)
Speaker, Lutheran Vespers (1994-present)
Frequent lecturer at universities and professional conferences
Past Professional Activities
Was the regular columnist for The Lutheran, the official magazine of the ELCA, from 1988-2000.
Book Awards
New York Times' Best Children's Book of the Year, The Book of the Dun Cow (1978)
The American Book Award, The Book of the Dun Cow (1980)
Campus Life's Editor's Choice, The Book of Sorrows (1985)
Gold Medallion Book Award, Ragman and Other Cries of Faith (1985)
Gold Medallion Book Award, Potter (1986)
CSIA C.S. Lewis Award, Potter (1986)
Association of Logos Bookstores Book Award for Best Fiction, The Book of Sorrows (1986)
Virtue Magazine Book of the Year, As For Me and My House (1987)
Gold Medallion Book Award, As For Me and My House (1988)
Gold Medallion Book Award, Reliving the Passion (1993)
Gold Medallion Book Award, The Book of God (1996)
Association of Logos Bookstores Book Award for Best Book, The Book of God (1996)
Publications
NOVELS:
The Book of Sorrows, Harper & Row, 1985
The Book of the Dun Cow, Harper & Row, 1978
The Crying for a Vision, Simon & Schuster, 1994
The Book of God: The Bible as Novel, Zondervan, Lion UK and Zondervan, 1996
Paul: A Novel, Lion UK and Zondervan, 200 (Gold Medallion Book Award, 2001
CHILDREN'S BOOKS:
Elisabeth and the Water-Troll, Harper Collins Children's Books, 1991
In the Beginning There Was No Sky, Thomas Nelson, 1986
Potter, Augsburg-Fortress Publishers, 1994 (previously, David C. Cook, 1985)
Thistle, Augsburg-Fortress Publishers, 1995 (previously Harper & Row, 1983)
My First Book About Jesus, Checkerboard Press, 1983
Six Arch Books, Concordia Publishing House, 1972-1976
Probity Jones and the Fear Not Angel, Augsburg, 1996
In The Beginning There Was No Sky, Augsburg-Fortress, 1997
The Book of God for Children, Zondervan, 1996 (previously The Bible For Children, Checkerboard Press, 1981)
The Bedtime Rhyme, Augsburg Fortress, 1998
Mary's First Christmas, Zondervan, 1998
Angels and All Children, Augsburg Fortress, August, 2002
Peter's First Easter, Zondervan, 2000
COLLECTIONS OF SHORT STORIES & ESSAYS:
Little Lamb, Who Made Thee?, Zondervan, 1993
The Manger is Empty, Harper & Row, 1989
Miz Lil and the Chronicles of Grace, Harper & Row, 1988
Ragman and Other Cries of Faith, Harper & Row, 1984
This Earthly Pilgrimage, Zondervan, Spring 2003
PRACTICAL THEOLOGY:
Mourning into Dancing, Zondervan, 1992
As For Me and My House: Crafting a Marriage to Last, Thomas Nelson, 1987
The Orphean Passages, subtitled: The Drama of Faith, Harper & Row, 1986
Whole Prayer, Zondervan, 1998
DEVOTIONAL:
Measuring the Days, edited by Gail McGrew Eifrig, Harper San Francisco, 1993
Reliving the Passion, Zondervan, 1992
POETRY:
A Miniature Cathedral and Other Poems, Harper & Row, 1987
With Paul Manz-- Una Sancta: A Mass in Thanksgiving for the Unity of the Body of Christ; debuted and toured with the Seminex chorus in 1986 and 1987
PERIODICALS:
Book Reviews for The Washington Post Book World
Book Reviews for The New York Times
Articles in numerous periodicals
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Whew! Father Steve - that's one prolific man!
Now, just to let you know I'm not filing my brain with fluff, I am also reading some serious books.
1. "Generally Speaking" by Claudia Kennedy - the first woman to reach the rank of Lt. General (three stars) in U.S. Army. Some intersting stuff and would be useful to any young woman embarking on a career in military *or* in "real life!"
2. "Good Morning Mr. Zip Zip Zip Movies, Memory, and World War II" a semi-memoir by Richard Schickel, the movie critic for TIME magazine. The book recalls his youth and all the movies, music and memories of the 1940s and onward. A bit heavy - here and there - on mentioning the writers of movies who were, or were accused of being, Communists - but otherwise enjoyable especially for those who recall the same times.
3. Last but not least, "Always Faithful: by Capt William Putney DVM, USMC Ret. It's a memoir of the Marine dogs of WWII - Family pets who were trained and then went to war and saved the lives of thousands of soldiers in the vicious fighting across the islands of the Pacific.
After the war the Army was going to destroy the dogs but Putney fought for re-training and won (!) so that nearly all the dogs were returned to the families who gave up their family pets for the war effort. Only a very few dogs couldn't be re-trained and had to be killed. Even if you do not like dogs it's a piece of history, and will leave you, if nothing else, with respect for those Marines and the dogs that saved so many lives.
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Carpal Tunnel
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If you're tempted to buy "The Shelters of Stone" by Jean M. Auel, don't bother. It's rubbish and I wasted £5.99. Gosh, how'd you get it so cheaply? An on-line bookseller has it for four times that much. One of their critics agrees with you, though: Soon the reader realizes that half of the book has passed with just about nothing of import happening. Auel spends so much time with the stories of Ayla's past that it often seems as if this book is meant to be a refresher course instead of a new installment. Auel's research is impressive, but when it comes to character development, the novel is frighteningly juvenile. I hadn't realized the fifth one was out; I rather thought she'd given up, or died, or something, after 12 years since the 4th. one. I read the first one avidly, the next 3 less so: I too agree that all that research is remarkable, but pretty soon you get tired of reading about the minutiae which, after all, must be a good deal surmised.
I plan to find a bio of Beatrix Potter; I went to her museum in the Lake District on my recent journey, and learned that she based many of her drawings on her actual surroundings at the time. What a talented lady she was! And now, thanks to Maverick, I know what foxgloves are, and can imagine Jemima Puddleduck and the "gentleman with sandy whiskers" even better.
On a different note: how do you people find the TIME, to read all these books?! You are making me absolutely drool, but to get to even half of them, I would have to a.) lock away my computer, and b.) hire a maid, cook, and chauffeur. And probably give up sleep, too...
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Carpal Tunnel
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how do you people find the TIME, to read all these books?!
Keep a book in the car for those "I'll just be a minute stops," at all the places you have to wait : MDs, stop lights and traffic jams, hairdresser, etc.
A good book holder for when doing dishes or ironing.
One on the table next to bed. (nothing too exciting)
And that boon to researchers and book lovers : Books on Tape!
Welcome back Jackie - missed you!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Thanks, Dear One. I always take a book to the doctor's office--that's how I'm getting through "The Professor and the Madman". Not sure about stop lights, but one time I was reading while waiting in line at one of those quick oil change places. I was vaguely aware of somebody yelling in the distance. Gradually I became aware that the yelling was still going on; when I finally looked up, the oil change guy was doing jumping jacks at the back of the bay, yelling and motioning for me to drive in!  Erm, speaking of time, I checked "The Shelters of Stone" out of the library this evening. That is one thick book!
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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End of my book recommendations, then.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Yeah, well, I expect to do a lot of skimming, like I did in the last three. But I'd like to find out what kind of reception Ayla gets.
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Carpal Tunnel
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My seat mate on the flight from Newark to Chicago was reading Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
by Barbara Ehrenreich
He suggested that it was a very interesting read.
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