Cindy Swanson has a post on cutting, the practice of self-abuse that is prevalent among mostly teenage girls in some circles. I didn’t even know that this sad, self-abusive pattern even existed until a few years ago when a friend of one of the urchins admitted that she “cuts”. If this is a problem for you or for one of your loved ones, Cindy offers some hope.

Today at the Mission on God and creation: “The creation story tells me that God is present in our world in ways that are simply beyond our knowing – as scientists or religionists or anything else. The first chapter of Genesis tells me that God created a place where he could connect with people like you, and people like me, and we could all, you know, hang out together. Why? Because God is love and, forgive me if I’m wrong, but maybe love needs to express itself, longs to express itself, exists to be expressed, in the creation of a world with its own solar system; in the creation of a hot meal for a homeless guy who, cold and wet, sits at the dinner table in tears; in the creation of the smile on a little girl’s face as she heads out the door with her cookies; in the warm, safe beds at the shelter: in the coffee shop where a guy who hasn’t been on staff for over two years continues to meet with a former client.”

Kevin Stilley makes the case for Mike Huckabee as the best possible Republican presidential nominee in 2008: “The irony is that there is really only one candidate in the current field of Republican contenders who all Republicans would be willing to eventually invest their trust and support in the general election; and that candidate is receiving little attention, — Mike Huckabee.”

Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer reveals her struggle with panic attacks: “I spent my days huddled in a ball of anguish, feeling the waves of despair and panic wash over me, again and again. I wanted, with all my heart, to die, and I thought about it constantly. And to anyone who would listen, I would say, ‘This shouldn’t be happening to me. There’s no reason for me to feel like this,’ as though if I said it often enough, it would all go away.”

Marvin Olasky’s 100 favorite books from the last seven years of treadmill reading.

His list is mostly nonfiction; I’ve read three of them:
J. Budziszewki—How to Stay Christian in College (NavPress, 2004)
Philip Caputo—Acts of Faith (Knopf, 2005) Semicolon review here.
Lauren F. Winner—Girl Meets God (Algonquin, 2003) Semicolon review here.

I see several others on Mr. Olasky’s list that I’d like to read —someday.

NEWS from the UK: “Tori Amos, the singer, . . . is collaborating with dramatist Samuel Adamson on a hoped-for production of The Light Princess, George MacDonald’s story (which was illustrated by Maurice Sendak) about a princess cursed by a witch.” Sounds interesting.

Book-burning? Ah, but as a protest, it’s acceptable.

50 Books That Defined the Twentieth Century. Guardian and The Book Marketing Society list four, five, or six books per decade. The 1920’s rate seven books. I’ve read twelve of the twenty, and four out of seven for the 1920’s. Maybe the twenties were better.

A compendium of book links for Monday:

I found this publishing imprint, called Persephone Books, via Danielle Torres, A Work in Progress. Persephone claims to reprint “forgotten classics by twentieth-century (mostly women) writers. Each one in our collection of seventy -two books is intelligent, thought-provoking and beautifully written, and most are ideal presents or a good choice for reading groups.” Persephone sees itself as a “feminist press,” but “our titles are different from those of other feminist publishers in that they are more accessible, more domestic, the feminism is ‘softer’.”
The books look to be, therefore, more accessible to traditional homemaking moms such as myself who want something to make us think , but not something designed to indoctrinate us in the dogma of the feminist cause. Just in a quick perusal, I found a novel called The Home-maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher, an adult novel by Noel Streatfield about the family stress cause by the dislocations of World II (Saplings), and Good Things in England, a compendium of historical and literary recipes for traditional Britsh dishes such as frumenty and beef broth.

A list of LaShawn Barber’s favorite books.

Mother Reader gives us Twenty-one Ways to Give a Book. You know, you can give books anytime . . .

David Mills comments on Children of Men by P.D. James, both the book and the movie. Or there’s this scathing review of the movie by a fan of the book, Anthony Sacramone at First Things. The movie version is available on DVD now. I think it’s worth the time if you can tolerate the violence.

Marshall Zeringue muses on twice-told tales, novels based on other authors’ novels or plays. Eldest Daughter gave me a copy of Gertrude and Claudius by John Updike. I’m sure it will show up here on the blog after I’ve read it —unless I hate it. I’m trying to think of books that I like that are take-offs from other people’s books. I did enjoy the Nero Wolfe books that were written by Robert Goldsborough and the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries by Jill Paton Walsh. Both of those authors made a special effort to take the beloved characters of the original authors and remain true to the original while involving them in further adventures. If you’re going to put a new twist on an old story, either in a book or in a movie, you must know that you’ve taken on a huge task. I think movie makers are not as good about giving credit and even homage to the original work while changing and extending it to fit their own vision. West Side Story was a great version of Romeo and Juliet, but it may be the exception rather than the rule. What books based on other books or movies based on books have you enjoyed? (I’m making a distinction here between faithful, or not-so-faithful, adaptations, such as LOTR (good) and Children of Men (maybe not so good), and completely new works that are based on older works, such as Joyce’s Ulysses or the movie O, Brother, Where Art Thou?, another version of the Odysseus story.)

In Newbery news, Nattie Writes has a Newbery Challenge —to read six Newbery Award books by the end of the year. Also, children’s literature fans need to check out The Newbery Project for more reviews of Newbery Award winning books.

The Carnival of Children’s Literature is up for May at Chicken Spaghetti. Don’t miss the fiesta!

Scroll down or click here for the Saturday Review of Books, May 19th. We’ve got reviews of all sorts of books, children’s literature and adult reading, fiction and non, classics and hot-off-the-presses.

I just found this series of Reading Interviews posted by Josh Sowin at Fire and Knowledge. He interviews various friends and folks including pastors, professionals of various stripes, and authors Doug Groothius and Justin Taylor. I’m very tempted to “borrow” his idea, tweak the questions, and interview some homeschool moms and others that I admire. Maybe, maybe not, in the meantime, read the interviews. They’re great.

Pick the Brain on 5 Types of Books That Increase Intelligence: “A great amount of time is wasted reading books that are forgotten a short time after they’re completed. But time spent reading books that cultivate intelligence and wisdom is a labor that yields continuous benefit over a lifetime.”
I don’t agree with everything in this article or at this website. Sometimes I read simply for entertainment and recreation. However, the article is interesting, both as to the types of books he included and the types he didn’t. (Biography, anyone? Or is that a part of history?)

The Headmistress on commonplace books.

Not exactly a book, but I am very much enjoying (chuckling audibly) Sarah Beth Durst’s take on Obscure Fairy Tales. This one involves cabbages, sentient household tools, and Death. Scroll to the bottom of the post for links to the rest of her Obscure Tales. Then, come back and tell me which one you liked the best. I choose the one I linked to, formally titled: Godfather Death.

The Happy Wonderer: “This year I took a suggestion to read through the Bible in a different way. Retention is not my strong point. I have to write things down and read them over and over to really get the point, so this Bible reading method was a great suggestion for me. I am reading every book of the Bible 20 times before I move on to the next. I’m starting with the shortest New Testament Books. At this rate I’ll not finish till I’m dead…but that’s OK. I find myself in 2 Timothy on my 17th read.”
I had planned to follow a method something like this one this year, but I haven’t done it. Maybe I can get back to reading one book at a time daily for a month or so. I think it might be quite profitable.

John Mark Reynolds’ list of 30 books every college student should read.
Joe Carter’s 30 Essential Books for Students and Autodidacts.
Both of these are good lists. Reynolds’ list is, commendably, skewed toward the classical and the ancient. Carter tries to cover important disciplines outside of literature, such as philosophy, military science, architecture, and business. I would make a quite different list, and of course, by the time we all got through making our lists, our poor college student would be overwhelmed with reading material. On second thought, not such a bad thing, to be overwhelmed with books. An embarrassment of riches.

While I was out, my favorite un-blogger, Mental Multivitamin, nominated me for a Thinking Blogger Award. I’m honored, and I’d nominate her right back, but I think that would defeat the purpose of the award: to publicize and honor MORE blogs that make you think. So here, as instructed by the originator of this award, are my five nominations for The Thinking Blogger Award:

1. The Thinklings: Jared, Bird, Blo, Shrode, Kenny, Michael, and De. It doesn’t look as if these guys, who do manage to intersperse a lot of actual thinking into their group blog, have been nominated yet. Or else they haven’t responded to their many accolades. After all, it’s the “nexus of the intellectual universe,” and they’ve got a lot of thinking to do. You’ll find down-to-earth Christian thought at Thinklings with a debt and proper credit to C.S. Lewis and other thinkers of that ilk.

2. Phil and Lars at Brandywine Books are also busy thinking, and reading, and writing the great American novel. That would be Lars Walker who is, I’m convinced, busy writing that novel —in between house maintenance and repairs. Brandywine Books was also nominated for a Litty Award recently. They didn’t win, but they should have.

3. Debra of As I See It Now makes me think all by herself (it takes nine guys working together in the first two nominees :)). Debra writes about the everyday thing of life in away that makes me take another look —and see God in the details.

4. Finally there are the ladies at The Common Room: Headmistress, and her progeny, Head Girl, Equuschick, Pipsqueak, and Jennyanydots. They always have much wisdom to impart; most recently Headmistress has an excellent post on narration.

So, those are my nominations for Thinking Bloggers —although I could have named at least a couple of dozen more. May we all continue to read, think and learn ala Mental Multivitamin, and may iron sharpen iron as we blog together.