Books

Categories Book Notes, Faith

Your Kingdom Come

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Notes on Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck’s
Why we Love the Church:
in praise of institutions and organized religion
Chapter 1: The Missiological (Jesus Among the Chicken Littles)

The two groups that talk the most about bringing the kingdom are dominionist/theonomist types and the emergent/missional crowd. Dominionists think, “All of creation belongs to Christ. It must all submit to His kingly rule.” So they want to change laws and influence politics and exercise Christ’s dominion over the world. On the other end, missional types think, “Jesus came to bring the kingdom of God’s peace and justice. We must work for shalom and eliminate suffering in the world.” Fascinating–one group goes right wing, seeking to change institutions and public morality, and the other goes left wing, wanting to provide more social services and champion the arts.

Both camps have a point, but both are selective in their view of the kingdom, and both have too much “already” and not enough “not yet” in their eschatology.

~Why we love the church, page 39

I am not incredibly familiar with emergent/missional theology or emphasis. I have observed some themes through my blog reading, but have not done any in-depth exploration of missional or emergent ideas. So my thoughts on the missiological argument against church are written based on DeYoung and Kluck’s description of missional goals and the little that I have observed from web-surfing.

According to DeYoung and Kluck, the missional perspective says that the goal of the church is to bring Christ’s kingdom of peace, justice, and blessing to the world. They do this by emphasizing community and global transformation. This movement is strong on social justice, on taking a political and personal stand against racism, poverty, exploitation, etc.

I am much more familiar with the dominionist/theonomist perspective, as I belong (and have always belonged) to a conservative Christian congregation in which many believers desire to change the world through legislating Christian morals.

Each of these groups has a goal: bringing the kingdom of God to earth. And that is the goal of God. Jesus taught us to pray “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” God wants His kingdom to come on earth.

This raises a couple of questions for the believer. First of all, what does God’s kingdom on earth look like? Second, what is the role of the believer in seeing God’s kingdom come on earth?

To the missional/emergent believer, God’s kingdom come means there is no inequality and mercy reigns supreme. To the dominionist/theonomist believer, God’s kingdom come means there is no immorality and justice reigns supreme.

And, according to both of these groups, the role of the believer in seeing God’s kingdom come on earth is to affect social and political change.

But is this what God’s kingdom on earth looks like? Is this the role of the believer in seeing God’s kingdom come on earth?

I don’t think anyone can read Scripture without agreeing that God’s kingdom is a place of peace and morality. This is clear. But does that mean that if peace and morality exist in a certain place, that God’s kingdom has come there?

Does the lack of inequality mean that God’s kingdom has come? Does the lack of immorality mean that God’s kingdom has come?

No. Because while God’s kingdom might be characterized by lack of inequality and immorality, God’s kingdom is not defined by lack of inequality and immorality. God’s kingdom is defined by God’s rule. God’s kingdom comes on earth when individuals and communities submit to God’s gracious rule. It is possible that a community can be moral without having submitted to God’s gracious rule. It is possible for a community to have equality without having submitted to God’s gracious rule. And in those cases, the community might be nice, but it isn’t God’s kingdom come.

So what should the role of individual Christians be in seeing God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven? I would argue that our role is to be witnesses to the greatness of God. Our job is to testify to the power and love of Christ, and to call all peoples to submit to His gracious rule. Apart from submitting to God’s rule ourselves, our primary focus in seeing God’s kingdom come on earth should be evangelism.

Now, this is not to say that Christians should not be eager to affect social and political change. It is good to seek to feed the poor. It is good to seek to eliminate abortion. These are good things. But what does it matter if the world is composed of well-fed, moral citizens–who still die and go to hell? What does it matter if the world has feel-goods and moral standards because of Christian social action–but God is never glorified in their eyes? If that is the result of our “kingdom building”, then our “kingdom building” has been for nothing. For God’s kingdom is not built of governments, laws, and social programs. God’s kingdom is built as Christ becomes king of individual hearts.

We should be giving drinks of water to children in Christ’s name. We should be looking after widows and orphans. We should be concerned with moral standards. James 1:27 says that this is pure and undefiled religion. But we should also be proclaiming the glories of God in salvation. Either by itself is something less than pure religion.

DeYoung’s comment couldn’t be more true: “Both camps have a point, but both are selective in their view of the kingdom, and both have too much ‘already’ and not enough ‘not yet’ in their eschatology.” It is worthwhile to value social justice. It is worthwhile to value morality. But the kingdom is not social justice and morality. The kingdom is Christ’s rule–and the result is social justice and morality. Both views seek to put the cart before the horse–trying to obtain social justice and morality without the gracious rule of Christ in the hearts of people.

So let us pray for, let us seek, let us work towards seeing the kingdom of God come on earth. But let us remember that the kingdom of God comes not from social programs or political activism, but as people and nations submit to the gracious rule of God. Let us take on, as our true role in kingdom-ushering, the job of inviting peoples and nations to submit to the gracious rule of God through world evangelization.

More notes on Why We Love the Church by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck:

Categories Reading My Library

AL (a potpourri of children’s books)

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I’m still trecking (slowly) through my public library’s children’s picture books–mixing together my read every book goal with Carrie at Reading my Library‘s personal challenge.

Carrie is moving much more quickly than I–her last count had her at 558 picture books read (Wow!) and partway through the “B” section. In my defense, I don’t have any toddlers to read for–and I’m a full-time graduate student and teaching assistant.

Reading My Library

My last trip to the library gave me a modge-podge of books. The library had only one title per author for most of the authors in this trip–and I could find no discernible theme in what I found, except of course, that the author’s last names all began with the letters A and L.

The Butter Man by Elizabeth Alalou

The Butter Man by Elizabeth Alalou and Ali Alalou (illustrated by Julie Klear Essakalli) has a story-inside-a-story narrative. The young narrator is impatiently waiting for the couscous her baba (father) is cooking to be done. When she complains that she’s starving, her father begins telling her the story of himself, as a young boy in Morocco during a drought, waiting for the butter man. He and his family were hungry. There was no butter to dip their bread in. What’s more, the pieces of bread grew smaller and smaller with each day. To keep her son’s mind off the hunger–and to make the bread last longer–baba‘s mother tells him to sit by the road each day and wait for the butter man, who perhaps might give him some butter for his bread. If he ate the bread too soon, he would not have any butter to dip in the bread should the butter man come. So he waits each day with each day’s portion of bread, until the hunger is unbearable and he eats it without butter. Until one day, when he sees a man coming down the road. It’s not the butter man, but it’s even better.

I enjoyed this book. It’s a bit more text-heavy than the picture books intended for toddlers–it’s probably more suitable for slightly older children. But the cross-cultural story is engaging. The authors subtly contrast the waiting the narrator experiences–waiting for dinner to be done–with the waiting her father experienced in Morocco during a famine. The book gently encourages children to be patient–and to be thankful for what they have–without ever once mentioning a “moral”.

Louella Mae, She’s Run Away!, written by Karen Beaumont Alarcon and illustrated by Rosanne Litzinger, tells the story of a great search underway for Louella Mae, who has apparently run away. The story is told in lilting rhyme, with one stanza per layout. What makes this book unique and special, though, is that the last word of each stanza is left out, only to be revealed in the next page–allowing the reader to try to guess where the family will next search for Louella Mae. For example, one rhyme is…

“Round up the horses!
Hitch up the team!
Hop in the buckboard
and look by the…”

The next layout fills in the missing word “stream.” I enjoyed guessing at what location will be search next, and had a delightful surprise when Louella Mae turned out to be–well I won’t tell you what she turned out to be. You’ll just have to read the book!

Ten Little Wishes: A Baby Animal Counting Book I recognize the value of counting books, but I generally tend to hate them. I find them simplistic and boring. I mean, how many times can you handle “Two Birds”, new layout “Three Ladybugs”, new layout “Four Caterpillars”. Ughh!

So I wasn’t too excited when I found a counting book amongst my latest library pile. But I was pleasantly surprised. Ten Little Wishes: A Baby Animal Counting Book by Andrea Alban Gosline is NOT your typical counting book. Ten Little Wishes has a family taking their new baby on a walk through the countryside, taking a look at all the baby animals about and saying a wish for the baby at each stop. The family meets a doe and her 1 little fawn, a couple of mares and their 2 little foals… Each layout introduces a number, an animal, and the correct names for the adult and baby version of each animal.

All of this is done in sweet rhyme–

Around the corner, what a surprise!
10 new puppies with sleepy eyes.
A litter for Mama to cuddle and tend,
born before my story ends.
May baby make some special friends.

This book is definitely a keeper!

As a sidenote, the illustrations done by Lisa Burnett Bossi add an additional dimension to this book. I enjoy them as illustrations alone, but I especially enjoyed that they portrayed the father holding baby in a sling and mom and daughter wearing dresses. It’s a bit fun to see a little old-fashioned-ness in such a new book!

Categories What's on Your Nightstand?

Nightstand (February 2010)

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It’s time again for 5 Minutes 4 Books’ monthly meme.

What's on Your Nightstand?

Last month’s nightstand:

On my nightstand

I’ve done quite a bit less reading than usual this month, partly because the time between meme posts is shorter, but mostly because I’ve been so busy with Love Month (and keeping up with school).

What I actually read this month was:
(Links lead to my reviews of the book, never to a site selling you something.)

Fiction

  • Beyond the Gathering Storm by Janette Oke
  • How Do I Love Thee? by Nancy Moser

Nonfiction

  • The Best Case Scenario Handbook by John Tierney
  • The Bombshell Manual of Style by Laren Stover
  • Cassell Dictionary of Cynical Quotations by Jonathon Green
  • Christmas Letters from Hell by Michael Lent
  • Dave Barry Hits Below the Beltway by Dave Barry
  • The Two-Headed Boy and other medical marvels< by Jan Bondeson
    Interesting information, reads like a academic journal–not EXACTLY my favorite kind of reading (although I do quite a bit of it, I prefer it to be in my field!) I stopped this title after 80 pages. But with this one officially done, I’ve finished the Dewey Decimal category 610 at my library.

Juvenile

  • 7 titles by Allan Ahlberg
  • The Anne of Green Gables Storybook
    Why does anyone write adaptations? And why does anyone read them? This is basically all the worst attributes of the Anne movies without any of the redeeming attributes of the Anne books. Ugh!
  • Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
  • Lucy Maud Montgomery by Alexandra Wallner
    Meh. This children’s biography of LMM wasn’t anything spectacular, IMHO.
  • The Mystery of the Broken Blade by Franklin Dixon
  • Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

On my nightstand for next month:

On my nightstand

Fiction

  • John 3:16 by Nancy Moser
  • When Tomorrow Comes by Janette Oke

Nonfiction

  • Don’t Waste Your Life* by John Piper
  • Dug Down Deep* by Joshua Harris
  • Forgotten God by Francis Chan
  • When God Writes Your Love Story* by Eric and Leslie Ludy
  • The World’s Last Night and other essays by C.S. Lewis

Juvenile

  • Bus Station Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner
  • Celtic Fairy Tales by Philip and Brent
  • The Complete Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault by Perrault and Holmes
  • Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
  • The Flickering Torch Mystery by Franklin Dixon
  • The Illustrated Book of Fairy Tales* by Philip and Mistry
  • Children’s picture books AJ-AL

*The asterisk marks books I’m currently in the middle of.

Drop by 5 Minutes 4 Books to see what others are reading.

Categories Reading My Library

Not quite nursery rhymes (I like Allan Ahlberg)

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How do children learn nursery rhymes?

I certainly don’t know how I learned them–but learn them I did. Whether I was taught them by my parents, read them in books, or heard them from an audio cassette tape doesn’t really matter. I learned them any way.

Allan Ahlberg’s books Each Peach Pear Plum and Previously aren’t nursery rhymes–but they draw upon the grand store of English nursery rhymes to tell their tales.

Each Peach Pear Plum

Each Peach Pear Plum is an “I spy” book in which readers are given opportunity to find nursery rhyme characters in the illustrations.

Each Peach Pear Plum
I spy Tom Thumb

Every layout builds upon the previous layout–so Tom Thumb is easily seen in the second page, but Mother Hubbard is hidden.

This is a fun, not too difficult book/activity to do with young children who are already familiar with a decent collection of nursery rhymes and children’s fairy tales. (And if they’re not, you should remedy that post-haste!)

Previously by Allan Ahlberg

Previously turns the nursery rhymes and fairy tales backwards, starting with Goldilocks arriving at home “all bothered and hot.”

Previously she had been running like mad in the dark woods.

Previously she had been climbing out of somebody else’s window.

It turns out that previously Goldilocks had run into Jack (of Beanstock fame), who had previously tumbled down the hill with his little sister Jill, who had previously met a frog-prince, who had previously…

I think you get the picture.

Reading My Library

This is a fun, if somewhat inside-out romp through the repertoire of English fairy tales and nursery rhymes.

I’m enjoying Allan Ahlberg in my trip through my local library’s picture book section. Check out Reading My Library to read about Carrie’s trip through HER local library with her two sons.

Categories What's on Your Nightstand?

Nightstand (January 2010)

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What's on Your Nightstand?

It’s time again for 5 Minutes 4 Books’ monthly meme. Here’s what I had on my nightstand last month.

On my nightstand

What I actually read was:
(Links lead to my reviews of the book, never to a site selling you something.)

Fiction

  • Fancy Pants by Cathy Marie Hake
  • The Good Nearby by Nancy Moser
    This one didn’t grab me as much as I had hoped–but I think it might have had more to do with my (rather odd) moods of late than with the book itself.
  • Little Lady, Big Apple by Hester Browne
    Entertaining, not quite as enjoyable as the first book, but better than most chick-lit sequels–main character Melissa doesn’t really PROgress as a character, but at least she doesn’t REgress like many chick lit sequel characters do.
  • Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy
  • When Breaks the Dawn by Janette Oke
  • When Hope Springs New by Janette Oke

Nonfiction

  • Boy Meets Girl by Josh Harris
    I’m holding off on reviewing this one until “Love Month” in February.
  • Dave Barry’s History of the Millennium by Dave Barry
    Amusing, a little too political to be completely enjoyable (by which I mean he makes fun of MY pet topics a bit too much!)
  • Don’t You Dare Get Married Until You Read This by Corey Donaldson
    A collection of thought-provoking questions to get couple to think about the serious issues in their relationship. Some questions are absolute duds, but most of them aren’t bad at all.
  • Finding Answers in U.S. Census Records by Loretto Dennis Szucs & Matthew Wright
    I just noticed the author’s unfortunate last name. Suppose it’s pronounced “sucks”?
  • Healthcare Online for Dummies
    Not in print any longer. I wonder why?
  • How to Find Mr. of Ms. Right by Beverly and Tom Rodgers
  • An Idiot Girl’s Christmas by Laurie Notaro
    Funny, interesting, a quick read. Low levels of “naughty” humour.
  • I Married Adventure by Luci Swindoll
  • I’m More than the Pastor’s Wife by Lorna Dobson
  • The Lord’s Supper: Five Views edited by Gordon T. Smith
  • Rocking the Roles by Lewis and Hendricks
  • What I with I’d Known Before I Got Married by Kay Coles James

Juvenile

  • Four picture books by Jon Agee
  • Enthusiasm by Polly Shulman
  • Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg by Gail Carson Levine
    Bleh. Levine should stick to fairy tale adaptations. This Peter Pan spin off was boring, IMHO.
  • Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan
    I put this on my TBR list after reading a review by Amy @ Hope is the Word. I wasn’t disappointed. This really is a book worth reading!
  • Mystery behind the Wall by Gertrude Chandler Warner
  • Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
  • The Stunning Science of Everything

On my nightstand for next month:

On my nightstand

Fiction

  • Beyond the Gathering Storm by Janette Oke
  • How Do I Love Thee? by Nancy Moser
  • When Tomorrow Comes by Janette Oke

Nonfiction

  • The Best Case Scenario Handbook* by John Tierney
  • The Bombshell Manual of Style* by Laren Stover
  • Cassell Dictionary of Cynical Quotations* by Jonathon Green
  • Dave Barry Hits Below the Belt by Dave Barry
  • The Two-Headed Boy and other medical marvels* by Jan Bondeson
  • When God Writes Your Love Story* by Eric and Leslie Ludy
  • Half a dozen Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Crafts books to do projects out of

Juvenile

  • Bus Station Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner
  • Celtic Fairy Tales by Philip and Brent
  • The Complete Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault by Perrault and Holmes
  • Good Enough by Paula Yoo
  • The Illustrated Book of Fairy Tales by Philip and Mistry
  • Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
  • The Mystery of the Broken Blade* by Franklin Dixon
  • Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George
  • Children’s picture books AH-?

*The asterisk marks books I’m currently in the middle of.

Drop by 5 Minutes 4 Books to see what others are reading.

Categories Reading My Library

Ag-Jon Agee

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Reading My Library

Continuing on through the alphabet in my quest to read every book in Eiseley Library, I stumbled upon author and illustrator Jon Agee. I’d heard of him before, read a review of his book The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau–but I’d never read anything of his before.

Unfortunately, my library didn’t have a copy of The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau when I was perusing the stacks–but it did have plenty of other fascinating pieces by Agee.

Agee illustrates in a blocky, just been sketched manner which I find innocently appealing–but it’s the stories that I enjoy the most. Agee’s stories aren’t fantasy, fluffy children’s stories. They’re slightly silly but otherwise relatively realistic stories which include both the young and the old. The stories are well written enough to be enjoyable for adults, and just ridiculous enough to be enjoyable for kids.

The Retired Kid by Jon Agee

The Retired Kid tells the story of 8-year-old Brian who, tired of the hard work of being a kid, goes into an early retirement. He flies off to a retirement community in Florida, where he meets a fantastic collection of old folks. He enjoys certain aspects of retirement (card games, golf, fishing, and movies)–but discovers that other parts are not so fun (prune juice smoothies, knitting classes, and weekly checkups.) He starts to think about the hard work of being a kid–and realizes that maybe his job isn’t quite so bad.

Terrific by Jon Agee

In Terrific, a grumpy old man named Eugene wins an all-expenses-paid cruise to Bermuda. His response is “Terrific. I’ll probably get a really nasty sunburn.” When Eugene’s ship is shipwrecked and he is stranded, he announces “Terrific”–and comes up with an even more pessimistic prediction for his future. But in the end, Eugene discovers something that is truly terrific–and this time, he’s not being sarcastic.

Nothing by Jon Agee

When Suzie Gump, the richest lady in town, asks Otis what’s on sale in his shop, he looks around and announces “Uh, nothing.” Suzie is eager to snatch it up, whatever the cost, starting a city-wide craze for buying nothing. Shopkeepers throw out all their best goods to make room for more nothing. Eventually, though, something will come back in style–and Otis’ll be ready when it happens!

I’ll be definitely keeping my eyes open for more Agee–his stories are a lot of fun!

Carrie at Reading to Know did an author highlight of Jon Agee when she was going through the AG’s.

Categories Books

From my readings…

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“Simonson was one of those people, chiefly of a masculine type, whose actions follow the dictates of their reason and are determined by it. Novodvorov belonged…to a group of people of a feminine type, whose reason is directed partly towards the attainment of aims set by their feelings, partly to the justification of acts instigated by their feelings.”

~from Leo Tolstoy’s Resurrection

Discuss.

Please.

Categories Book Reviews

Book Review: “The Stunning Science of Everything” by Nick Arnold and Tony de Saulles

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Got a child (or a father) who’s crazy about science? The Stunning Science of Everything: Science with the squishy bits left in might be just the book for you.

Stunning Science is filled with hard-core science (chemistry, physics, biology, astronomy, cosmology, geology, and more) delivered in a seriously fun way. Stunning Science includes comic strips, quiz shows, letters home, and some crazy amazing recipes.

Check out this first recipe for a hydrogen atom:
(Ingredients and extra notes omitted to avoid overly plagiarizing!)

  1. Preheat your universe to 10 billion degrees Centigrade and set off Big Bang
  2. Mix in the quarks and stir well.
  3. Cook the quarks for a split second until the strong force glues them together to make a proton. Be careful–if you mix two up quarks and one down quark you’ll be making a neutron by mistake!
  4. Cool slowly for 380,000 years, add an electron and serve.

If you haven’t figured out yet, this book is Big-Bang friendly. In fact, the Big Bang is probably found in half of the layouts. Those who are uncomfortable with the Big Bang might find this a bit too much. As for myself, I am pleased to see the topic addressed in a matter of fact way with good explanations of the implications of the big bang to life (creation of matter, heat, etc.) The big bang is currently the best theory for the origins of the Universe, and it clearly affirms the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo (creation from nothing). I am pleased to see a children’s science book focusing on this, rather than, say, evolution.

Speaking of evolution…this title includes the obligatory spread or two on evolution, but I found the coverage of evolution to be remarkably understated. While parents would want to talk openly with their kids about what the children are reading, I don’t think the inclusion of the couple of spreads on evolution should be reason to not select this book.

I was most impressed with the science found in this book–and how remarkably accurate and detailed the information is. Stunning Science doesn’t water down the facts or give simplistic explanations. It says science the way it is. My dad, on the other hand, was impressed by the humour found in this book. This title is absolutely comical. From word-play to geeky humour to occasional “bad guy gets bad stuff” and the more common bathroom humour, this book is packed with puns and more that’ll keep kids (and fathers) laughing out loud as they learn.

Rating: 4 Stars
Category: Children’s Science
Summary:A quick and humorous science of everything, from the tiny atom to the enormous universe and everything in between.
Recommendation: This title is a great bet for science-loving kids (or kids at heart). Parents might want to preview it before buying, though, to determine whether the Big Bang cosmology, discussion of evolution, and bathroom humor are within their standards of acceptability.

Categories Books, Technology

Stereotypes…following the links

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Don’t you just love the internet?

You check your twitter page to see who’s following you (You rarely use the main site for anything else, as you’ve got some fantastic twitter aps like TweetDeck and Share-a-holic.)

Turns out Matthew Paul Turner is following you (must have been that one time you linked to one of his articles using Shareaholic).

You decide to see what’s new on his site, Jesus Needs New PR and find a fun little article on “stereotyping Christians by their favorite Christian author.”

This article links to “stereotyping people by their favorite author” which quotes from “readers by author.”

Amused by the content found on this collection of linked articles, you decide to write your own blog post on the stereotypes–and link to each article respectively.

As I am a reader, I found this collection of stereotypes particularly interesting. And though I have LOTS more than just ONE favorite author, I thought these comments about some of my favorites rather interesting.

From the Jesus Needs New PR list:

  • Joshua Harris: Virgin (Yup.)
  • Beth Moore: Moms whose voices become breathy while praying aloud. (Okay, so I’m only a mommy wannabe–but the “breathy while praying aloud” is probably true.)

From the original list:

  • Jane Austen: Girls who made out with other girls in college when they were going through a “phase”. (Not even. I don’t know what Jane Austen this commentator is reading. More like, “girls with romantic fantasies of the strong and silent type”.)
  • Nathaniel Hawthorne: People who used to sleep so heavy that they would pee their pants. (Well, as a child I did. But I don’t really get what it has to do with Hawthorne.)
  • William Shakespeare: People who like bondage. (Actually, not everything is “Taming of the Shrew”–and even there, it’s not so much about bondage. Some of us just like the witty repartee and skilled linguistic jabs a la Beatrice and Benedict or Kate and Petruchio.)
  • C.S. Lewis: Youth group leaders who picked their nose in the 4th grade. (Guilty as charged–except that I stepped down from the youth sponsorship gig last December.)
  • Shel Silverstein: Girls who can’t spell “leheim”. (Had to look that one up because I didn’t realize the author was trying to say “L’Chaim”. I’m too much of a reader for this one. Spelling is usually easier for me than pronouncing–although I can pronounce this one thanks to “Fiddler on the Roof”)
  • Michael Pollan: The girl who just turned vegan to cover up her eating disorder. (Nope. I like food too much for that one.)

If I were to turn the stereotypes the other direction, I should find that I enjoy:

  • J.K. Rowling: Smart geeks.
  • Anne Rice: People who don’t use conditioner in their hair.
  • Sylvia Plath: Girls who keep journals.
  • Vladimir Nabokov:Men who use words like ‘dubious’ and ‘tenacity’. (except that I’m a woman)
  • Phillippa Gregory: Women who have repressed their desire to go to Renaissance Festivals (don’t know that I’ve repressed the desire–I just haven’t actually been to a Renaissance faire.)
  • Stieg Larsson: Girls who are too frightened to go skydiving. (Not going to lie, I’m about the farthest thing from an adrenaline junkie.)
  • Dean Koontz: People who would never dream of owning any type of “toy” breed dog.
  • Richard Dawkins: People who have their significant other grab them under the table in order to shut them up whenever someone else at a dinner says something absolutely ridiculous and wrong. (Okay, so I’ve never actually had anyone grab me under the table, but I’m sure some people have felt like it on occasion. I do tend to be a bit opinionated and can be overeager to share my knowledge and, erm, “wisdom”.)

So what about you? What do your favorite authors say about you? And who should be your favorite authors according to these stereotypes?

Categories What's on Your Nightstand?

What’s on Your Nightstand? (December 2009)

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What's on Your Nightstand?

It’s time again for 5 Minutes 4 Books’ monthly meme. Here’s what I had on my nightstand last month.

On my nightstand

What I actually read was:

Fiction

  • Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes
    Bleh. I wasn’t impressed.
  • The Gatecrasher by Madeleine Wickham
  • When Comes the Spring by Janette Oke

Nonfiction

  • 101 American Customs by Harry Collis
  • Book of Common Prayer
  • Books: a memoir by Larry McMurtry
    Actually, I only read the first 60 pages of this one. I think it’s worthless. Click on the title to read the rest of my thoughts.
  • Cultural and Historical Allusions by Sylvia Cole
  • Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets Christmas Poems
  • Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Healthiness by Dean Edell
  • Michael Hague’s Family Christmas Treasury
  • Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
    I didn’t have time to finish this before it had to go back to the Inter-library loan office. My initial thoughts on what I’ve already read are that there is some truth to certain aspects of Fallon’s reasoning (specifically that red meat probably isn’t as “evil” as many people would make it out to be), but the majority of the views promoted in this book are based on tenuous science and serve only to add unnecessary stress to meal preparation. Follow Fallon’s recipes if you like them, but don’t worry about destroying your family’s health if you don’t use raw milk, sprouted grains, etc.
  • PC Magazine Digital SLR Photography Solutions
  • What Your Counselor Never Told You by Dr. William Backus

    • Juvenile

    • Cinderellis and the Glass Hill by Gail Carson Levine
      Gail Carson Levine’s Princess Tales are quick, whimsical variations on old-fashioned fairy tales. They’re a fun read for pre-teen-ish girls for whom “classic” fairy tales are just a little too “childish”.
    • Keeping a Journal by Trudi Strain Trueit
    • Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep by Gail Carson Levine

    Picture Books

    For next month, I’ve got way too much on my nightstand–and way too much weighty stuff. I feel certain I won’t be able to finish it all in time. But I’ll try anyway.

    On my nightstand

    Fiction

    • The Good Nearby by Nancy Moser*
    • Little Lady, Big Apple by Hester Browne
    • Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy
    • When Breaks the Dawn by Janette Oke
    • When Hope Springs New by Janette Oke

    Nonfiction

    • Better Homes and Gardens Making a Home
    • Confessions of an Organized Homemaker by Deniece Schofield
    • Dave Barry’s History of the Millennium by Dave Barry
    • Dearest Friend: A Life of Abigail Adams by Lynne Withey*
    • Genealogy Online by Elizabeth Powell Crowe
    • Genealogy Online for Dummies
    • An Idiot Girl’s Christmas by Laurie Notaro
    • I Married Adventure by Luci Swindoll*
    • I’m More than the Pastor’s Wife by Lorna Dobson*
    • Martha Stewart’s Homekeeping Handbook
    • Rocking the Roles by Lewis and Hendricks*
    • The Lord’s Suupper: Five Views edited by Gordon T. Smith*
    • What I with I’d Known Before I Got Married by Kay Coles James*
    • And a dozen more that I hope I can get to (but kind of doubt that I will)

    Juvenile

    • Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg by Gail Carson Levine
    • Mystery behind the Wall by Gertrude Chandler Warner
    • Picture books from AG to ?
    • The Stunning Science of Everything

    *The asterisk marks books I’m currently in the middle of.

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