Bringing Home the Prodigals by Rob Parsons

Jul19

I didn’t get all the answers I wanted from reading Rob Parsons’ short book called Bringing Home the Prodigals. (I don’t get all of the answers I want when I read Scripture either.) I didn’t read the book, and immediately receive a phone call from one of my “prodigals” saying that she was returning to the faith and wanted to go to church on Sunday. I prayed the prayers printed in the book, and my prodigal son hasn’t come home—yet.

However, I was reminded of the truths that God has already spoken to my heart during this time of waiting on Him and trusting Him to do His work in my life and in the lives of my family members:

Ultimately, we are all prodigals, Elder Brothers and Younger Sons and a little of both, and Christ is our only hope.

We the people of God’s church, by our legalism and our unloving attitudes, have made open rebels of some who were never rebels in the first place. We have driven God’s children away from us because of the color of their hair, or the clothes they wear, or the beverages they drink, or the language they use, or the piercings or tattoos they have on their bodies.

The great problem with the church in the Western world is that half the prodigals are still in the pews—and don’t realize their lost condition. “Our churches are filled with nice, kind, loving people who have never known the despair of guilt or the breathless wonder of forgiveness.”

Seeds sown into the soil of our children’s lives go deep into the soil of their very being. Never give up.

We cannot live someone else’s life for him. Children make choices. And sometimes those choices are bad ones.

“Our children are ultimately God’s responsibility. He is their Father. He does not ask the impossible of us. Only that we love them.”

“You and I cannot bring up godly children; it is not our responsibility—it is too heavy a burden. We are called instead to live godly lives.”

“In love’s service, only the wounded soldiers can serve.” ~Thornton Wilder.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ~I John 1:8-9
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. ~I John 3:1-2

More History and Heroes: 55 Biographies and Memoirs I Want To Read

Jul18

Anthony, Carl Sferrazza. Florence Harding: The First Lady, The Jazz Age, And The Death Of Americaâ€™s Most Scandalous President
Berg, A. Scott. Lindbergh.
Brookiser, Richard. James Madison.
Buechner, Frederick. The Sacred Journey: A Memoir of Early Days.
Byrne, Paula. Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead.
Carter, Jimmy. An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood.
Chang, Jung. Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China.
Chesnut, Mary Boykin. A Diary from Dixie.
Colledge, Gary. God and Charles Dickens: Recovering the Christian Voice of a Classic Author. Recommended by Gina Dalfonzo at NRO’s Summer Reading List.
Conroy, Pat. My Reading Life. I just got this one from the library, and Eldest Daughter is reading it. I’ll see if I can get her to post a review when she’s finished.
DeMuth, Mary. Thin Places: A Memoir.
Dineson, Isak. Out of Africa.
Foer, Joshua. Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything.
Freeman-Keel, Tom. The Disappearing Duke: The Improbable Tale of an Eccentric English Family.
Godden, Rumer. A Time to Dance, No Time to Weep.
Goodwin, Doris Kearns. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln.
Gourevitch, Philip. We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families.
Hall, Ron. Same Kind of Different As Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together. I just borrowed this book from the library, too.
Harrer, Heinrich. Seven Years in Tibet.
Harrison, Rosina. Rose: My Life in Service to Lady Astor.
Hemingway, Ernest. A Moveable Feast.
Hirsi, Ayaan. Infidel.
Hitchcock, Susan Tyler. Mad Mary Lamb: Lunacy and Murder in Literary London.
James, Marquis. The Raven.
James, P.D. Time To Be In Earnest: A Fragment Of Autobiography.
Junger, Sebastian. The Perfect Storm A True Story of Men Against the Sea.
Kamara-Ummuna, Agnes and Emily Holland. And Still Peace Did Not Come: A Memoir of Reconciliation.
Kendall, Joshua. The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death, Madness, and the Creation of Roget’s Thesaurus.
Kirkby, Mary-Ann. I Am Hutterite: The Fascinating True Story of a Young Womanâ€™s Journey to Reclaim Her Heritage.
Korda, Michael. Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia.
Korda, Michael. Ike: An American Hero. Recommended by Patrick Lee at NRO’s Summer Reading List.
Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild.
Kullberg, Kelly Monroe. Finding God at Harvard.
Mandela, Nelson. Long Walk to Freedom.
Markham, Beryl. West With the Night.
Massie, Robert. Peter the Great: His Life and World.
Massie Robert. Catherine the Great. Recommended by Samuel Gregg in NRO’s Summer Reading List.
Matteson, John. Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father.
McCullough, David. Truman. I got a copy of this book for Christmas, but I still haven’t read it. Before next Christmas?
Millard, Candice. Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President.
Morris, Roy. Fraud of the Century: Rutherford B. Hayes, Samuel Tilden, and the Stolen Election of 1876.
Naidi, Azar. Reading Lolita in Tehran.
Nevin, Allan. Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage.
O’Brien, Michael. Mrs. Adams in Winter: A Journey in the Last Days of Napoleon.
Orwell, George. Down and Out in Paris and London.
Panter-Downes, Mollie. London War Notes 1939 to 1945.
Roe, Dianah. The Rossettis in Wonderland: A Victorian Family History.
Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
Steinmeyer, Jim. The Last Greatest Magician in the World: Howard Thurston versus Houdini & the Battles of the American Wizards.
Taylor, Hudson. The Autobiography of Hudson Taylor: Missionary to China. I have this one on my Kindle.
Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher. A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812
Ung, Loung. First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers.
White, William Allen. A Puritan in Babylon: The Story of Calvin Coolidge.
Wilbur, Gregory. Glory and Honor: The Music and Artistic Legacy of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Wolff, Tobias. This Boy’s Life.
Wrong, Michaela. Itâ€™s Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle-Blower.

So many books. So little time. Have you read any of these books? Do you recommend that I move any one or more of them to the top of the TBR list?

Book Tag: Rivers

Jul17

The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes
I’ve known rivers:
I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy
bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I’ve known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

Rivers are fascinating. And traveling down a river is such a rich metaphor for traveling through life. A river can be adventurous (Huckleberry Finn) or languorous (Langston Hughes’ poem) or perilous (River Rising by Athol Dickson). So in today’s edition of Book Tag, please suggest your favorite book, fiction or nonfiction, that features rivers.

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

My suggestion to start the game off is Athol Dickson’s River Rising. The book I’m reading now, Same Kind of Different as Me, reminded me of Mr. Dickson’s novel, since the man in my current book, Denver Moore, grew up in southern Louisiana, where Dickson’s story takes place. However, River Rising is about the Mississippi River flood, the greatest flood in modern history on the lower Mississippi River and about how such a flood can be horribly destructive, but also can provide an opportunity for cleansing and for a new beginning.

Your turn. What river-themed books do you recommend?

History and Heroes: 55 Recommended Books of Biography, Autobiography, Memoir,and History

Jul16

Ambrose, Stephen. Band of Brothers.
Bowen, Carolyn Drinker. Miracle at Philadelphia.
Catton, Bruce. Civil War Trilogy: The Coming Fury, Terrible Swift Sword, Never Call Retreat.
Chernow, Ron. Washington: A Life.
Chesterton, G.K. The Autobiography of G.K. Chesterton.
Colson, Chuck. Born Again.
Costain, Thomas. The Conquering Family, The Last Plantaganets, The Magnificent Century, The Three Edwards. A fantastic series of four books telling all the history of medieval England from
Doss, Helen. The Family Nobody Wanted. This story of international adoption made a huge impression on me when I was a teenager.
Eliot, Elisabeth. Through Gates of Splendor.
Forbes, Esther. Paul Revere and the World He Lived In.
Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.
Gaskell, Elizabeth. The Life of Charlotte Bronte.
Hastings Max. Winstonâ€™s War: Churchill, 1940-1945.
Hautzig, Esther. The Endless Steppe: Growing Up in Siberia.
Hayden, Torey. One Child.
Hillenbrand, Laura. Seabiscuit: An American Legend. Semicolon review here.
Hillenbrand, Laura. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. Semicolon thoughts here.
Hochschild, Adam. Bury the Chains. Thoughts on the book and on parallels between slavery and abortion.
Jenkins, Peter. A Walk Across America.
Jordan, River. Praying for Strangers. Prayer adventures after reading this book.
Kennedy, John Fitzgerald. Profiles in Courage. I need to re-read this book. I remember it as inspiring and revealing in its stories of political courage.
Kidder, Tracy. The Soul of a New Machine.
Kililea, Marie. Karen. Another book that captured my attention and my heart when I was a kid of a girl.
Lâ€™Amour, Lois. Education of a Wandering Man. Semicolon thoughts on education and Louis L’Amour.
L’Engle, Madeleine. Crosswicks Journals: A Circle of Quiet, Summer of the Great-Grandmother, The Irrational Season, A Two-Part Invention. Madeleine L’Engle favorites.
Lewis,C.S. Surprised by Joy.
Lindbergh, Anne Morrow. Bring Me a Unicorn: Diaries and Letters of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1922-1928 and the other volumes of Mrs. Lindbergh’s diaries.
Massie, Robert K. Nicholas and Alexandra: An Intimate Account of the Last of the Romanovs and the Fall of Imperial Russia. Reading about the Romanovs.
McCullough, David. 1776. â€¨
McCullough, David. John Adams. Semicolon thoughts here and here.
McCullough, David. Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt.
Metaxas, Eric. Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Prophet, Martyr, Spy. My thoughts on Bonhoeffer and his classic, The Cost of Discipleship.
Millard, Candice. River of Doubt: Theodore Rooseveltâ€™s Darkest Journey. Books about Teddy.
Muller, George. Autobiography of George Muller.
Philbrick, Nathaniel. Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War.
Richardson, Don. Peace Child. Semicolon thoughts about this exciting, classic missionary story.
Saint Exupery, Antoine de. Wind, Sand and Stars.
Shapiro, James. A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare. Semicolon thoughts here.
Sobel, Dava. Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time.
Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr I. The Gulag Archipelago. A Solzhenitsyn Celebration.
Stone, Irving. Men to Match My Mountains: The Opening of the Far West, 1840-1900.
Tada, Joni Eareckson. Joni: An Unforgettable Story.
Ten Boom, Corrie. The Hiding Place. Semicolon thoughts here.
Thoreau, Henry David. Walden, or Life in the Woods. Thoughts on Thoreau and clothing.
Tuchman, Barbara. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century. Good companion piece to the Costain books listed above on the same time period.
Turkel, Studs. Hard Times. Oral history recorded in this book of memories of the Great Depression.
Twain, Mark. Life on the Mississippi.
van der Bijl, Andrew. With John and Elizabeth Sherrill. God’s Smuggler. Another book that made a deep impression on me when I was a teen.
Vanauken, Sheldon. A Severe Mercy.
Washington, Booker T. Up From Slavery.
Wilkerson, David. The Cross and the Switchblade. Semicolon thoughts about Pastor David Wilkerson and his book about gangs and Jesus in NYC here.
Williams, T. Harry. Huey Long. I read this twenty years ago when Engineer Husband was in college and brought it home for a class he was taking. I still remember scenes and details from the life of this larger-than-life politician.
Winner, Lauren. Girl Meets God. Semicolon review here.
Yutang, Lin. The Importance of Living. A Chinese American man writes about Chinese philosophy and life.
Zacharias, Ravi. Walking from East to West.

Brenda at Coffee, Tea, Books and Me names some of her favorite biographies and autobiographies.
Ben House recommends Pulitzer prize-winning biographies.

The Best Advice I Ever . . . 55 Words of Wisdom

Jul14

So, in honor of Wisdom and Wit and 55, here is collection of 55 “words of wisdom” gathered mainly from children’s literature, picture books and the like. Follow these bits of sage advice, and you’ll likely stay well.

1. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. … ~Dory, Finding Nemo.

2. “Do the little things.” ~St. David.

3. Encourage one another. ~Donna

4. Being careful isn’t nice; being friends is better. ~A Bargain for Frances by Russell Hoban.

5. “If the person you are talking to doesn’t appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.”
~A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

6. “Begin at the beginning, and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” ~The King, Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

7. “You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.”
“One runs the risk of crying a bit if one allows oneself to be tamed.”
~Antoine de Saint-ExupÃ©ry, The Little Prince.

8. “Housekeeping ain’t no joke.” ~Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

9. “A person’s a person, no matter how small.” ~Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who.

10. “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
~Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!

11. “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
~Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

12. “No fighting, no biting!’ ~Else Holmelund Minarik.

13. “People in masks cannot be trusted.” Fezzik, The Princess Bride.

14. “Never get involved in a land war in Asia; never go against a Sicilian when death is on the line!” Vizzini, The Princess Bride.

15. “Winter may be beautiful, but bed is much better.” Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel.

16, “Let us eat one very last cookie and then we will stop.” Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel.

17. “When you say what you think, be sure to think what you say.”
~Carol Kendall, The Gammage Cup.

18. “If you don’t look for Trouble, how can you know it’s there?”
~Carol Kendall, The Gammage Cup

19. “The best thing to do with a bad smell is to get rid of it.”
~Carol Kendall, The Gammage Cup

20. “In some cases we learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.”
~Lloyd Alexander, The Book of Three

21. “Sometimes standing against evil is more important than defeating it. The greatest heroes stand because it is right to do so, not because they believe they will walk away with their lives.”
~N.D. Wilson, Dandelion Fire

22. “Always sprinkle pepper in your hair!” ~Shel Silverstein.

23. “It is helpful to know the proper way to behave, so one can decide whether or not to be proper.” ~Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine.

24. “Get a pocket.” ~Katy No-Pocket by Emmy Payne.

25. “Crying is all right in its own way while it lasts. But you have to stop sooner or later, and then you still have to decide what to do.” ~The Horse and His Boy by C S Lewis.

26. “Perhaps there some things that we are not meant to understand. Without a few mysteries and a few giants, life would be a very small thing, after all.” ~The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton.

27. “Life is a mess and a miracle. So pick up a broom and dance.” ~The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton.

28. “If this island is all there is, and we are trapped here with a sleeping giant, we have little hope. But . . . what if there are things under our feet and things beyond the sea that we have never dreamed of?” ~The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton.

29. “Where there’s life there’s hope, and need of vittles.” ~The Fellowship of the Ring by J R R Tolkien.

30. “Books we must have though we lack bread.” ~Alice Brotherton.

31. “You can pick up more information when you are listening than when you are talking.” ~The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White.

32. “You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.” ~Winnie The Pooh by A.A. Milne.

33. “Any time you want to spend a nickel, you stop and think how much work it takes to earn a dollar.” ~Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

34. “All get what they want: they do not always like it.” ~The Magicianâ€™s Nephew by C S Lewis.

35. “Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed.” ~The Magician’s Nephew by C S Lewis.

36. “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” ~The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien.

37. “Don’t be afraid to be afraid.” ~A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine Lâ€™Engle

38. “Read in order to live.” ~Gustave Flaubert.

39. “There is hardly any grief that an hour’s reading will not dissipate.”
~ Montesquieu

40. “Reading is one form of escape. Running for your life is another.” ~Lemony Snicket.

41. “Never explain anything.” ~Mary Poppins.

42. “Vote for Pedro and all your wildest dreams will come true.” ~Napoleon Dynamite.

43. “Just fly the plane, Maddie!” ~Code Name: Verity by Elizabeth Wein.

44. “Eat chocolate cake. Listen to happy music.” ~Ruby Lu, Star of the Show by Lenore Look.

45. “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” ~William Morris.

46. “When you are imagining, you might as well imagine something worthwhile.”
~L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables.

47. “Do not be so open-minded that your brains fall out.” ~G.K. Chesterton.

48. “If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.” ~G.K. Chesterton.

49. “Never hurry and never worry!” ~E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web

50. “Be obscure clearly. Be wild of tongue in a way we can understand.” ~E.B. White

50. “You need two when the road is rough.” ~One Is Good But Two Are Better by Louis Slobodkin.

51. “Put it all back where it belongs.” Bored–Nothing To Do by Peter Spier.

52. “The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.” ~Robert Louis Stevenson

53. “There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid.” The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.

54. “If you dare nothing, then when the day is over, nothing is all you will have gained.” ~Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book

55. “I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia.” ~C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair

Saturday Review of Books: July 14, 2012

Jul13

â€œStories . . . really can influence you. If you read the Twilight novels once a month for a year, I think youâ€™d be a different human afterward—and not a sparkly one. Stories are like catechisms, but theyâ€™re catechisms for your impulses, theyâ€™re catechisms with flesh on.â€ ~N.D. Wilson

Welcome to the Saturday Review of Books at Semicolon. Hereâ€™s how it usually works. Find a book review on your blog posted sometime during the previous week. The review doesnâ€™t have to be a formal sort of thing. You can link to your thoughts on a particular book, a few ideas inspired by reading the book, your evaluation, quotations, whatever.

Then on Friday night/Saturday, you post a link here at Semicolon in Mr. Linky to the specific post where youâ€™ve written your book review. Donâ€™t link to your main blog page because this kind of link makes it hard to find the book review, especially when people drop in later after youâ€™ve added new content to your blog. In parentheses after your name, add the title of the book youâ€™re reviewing. This addition will help people to find the reviews theyâ€™re most interested in reading.

After linking to your own reviews, you can spend as long as you want reading the reviews of other bloggers for the week and adding to your wishlist of books to read. That’s how my own TBR list has become completely unmanageable and the reason I can’t join any reading challenges. I have my own personal challenge that never ends.

55 (Mostly) Short Videos Worth Watching

Jul12

Humor:
1. Tim Hawkins: Things You Don’t Say to Your Wife.
Chick-fil-A
I Don’t Drink Beer

Tim Hawkins Comedy website.

2. Rhett and Link youtube channel
Facebook Song
The Barbecue Song
The Guacamole Song
3. Igudesman and Joo: Rachmaninov had BIG hands
I will survive
Ticket to Ride
4. Leonard Nimoy singing The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins. Unforgettably bad.
5. Chonda Pierce: What a Friend We Have in Jesus
Chonda Pierce: Honeymoon Package

Books and Reading:
6. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.
7. Mark Dever: Creating a Culture of Reading in Your Church
8. The Joy of Books

9. Louis Markos: Introduction to Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
10. The World’s Longest Children’s Book Domino Rally
11. A 26-minute interview with JRR Tolkien at his home

History:
12. A Trip Down Market Street, 1906, San Francisco.
13. Art of 1908
14. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, 1911
15. Titanic, 1912, original photos from the ship
16. Red Skelton interprets the Pledge of Allegiance
17. Louis Zamperini on CBS Sunday Morning

Poetry:
18. Robert Frost Reads his poem, The Death of a Hired Man
19. The Creation by James Weldon Jonson, performed by Wintley Phipps
20. Go Down, Death by James Weldon Johnson, performed by Wintley Phipps
21. How To Be Alone by Tanya Davis.
22. Michael Gough reading T.S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
23. Henry V, St. Crispin’s Day Speech
24. Sarah Kay: If I should have a daughter . . .
25. Taylor Mali: Like, You Know?
26. Neil Gaiman: Instructions

Movies and Songs:
27. Popular Music, 1900-1909
28. The Movies of 1939: THe Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and Gone With the Wind
29. Gershwin Playing I Got Rhythm and An American in Paris and Rhapsody in Blue
30. Heart of Texas movie trailer. Watch the entire movie if you can. I thought it was wonderful.
31. The Keith Green Story: a one hour documentary about the life of Christian musician Keith Green.
32. Giant Wooden Xylophone in the woods play Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring
33.Som Sabadell Flashmob: Jesu, God of Man’s Desiring
Flash Mob Hallelujah Chorus

Christian Life:
34. Unexpected Joy: The Dailey Family. Frisco, Texas.
35. Resurrection Sunday Dance in Budapest, Hungary, 2010
36. The Kimyal people of Papua, Indonesia receive the Bible in their own language
37. The Story of Jonah, retold by a master storyteller.
38. Cardboard Testimonies
39. I Am Second: These videos of Christian testimonies of people from all walks of life are powerfully moving and inspirational.
40. Ryan Ferguson recites (and interprets dramatically) Psalm 22.
Ryan Ferguson: Hebrews 9 and 10. I highly recommend that you check out this dramatic presentation of God’s Word.
41. Nick Vujicic: Extraordinary. Nick Vujicic Fully Living for Jesus Christ

Current Events:
42. 180 Movie: What changed their minds . . . in seconds? (For adults and young adults only)
43. will by Eusong Lee. An animated film about 9/11 and its aftermath.

Miscellaneous:
44.Much Better Now. A bookmark, yes, a bookmark, discovers life and the great wide world.
45. Crayola Monologues
46. TangleDoodle Art
47. A Murmuration of Starlings
48. Snoopy versus the Red Baron, aka Snoopy’s Christmas
49. Nature by Numbers A video about mathematical patterns in nature.
50. Roger Scruton on Why Beauty Matters. This is an hour-long BBC documentary on beauty in art and architecture, well worth the time to watch. “Not only has art made a cult of ugliness; architecture, too, has become soulless and sterile.”
51. Adam Savage at MakerFaire on Why We Make. “It doesn’t matter what you make and it doesn’t matter why, the importance is that you are making something!”ï»¿
52. How Great Is Our God with Louie Giglio. If the Earth were a golf ball, then the sun would be 15 feet in diameter. And our God made it all!
53. Heartless: The Story of the Tin Man, a short movie from Whitestone Motion Pictures.
54. Whodunnit? An Awareness Test How observant are you?
55. Validation, a short film about parking, photos, and smiles. It’s not the whole gospel, but it’s got a lot of Truth.

Something Like Normal by Trish Doller

Jul11

This YA novel is a relatively new book (publication date: June 19, 2012) about an old topic: how does the warrior come home from the war?

When Travis returns home from Afghanistan, his parents are fighting, his brother has stolen his girlfriend, and he keeps seeing his friend Charlie in odd places, even though Charlie died in Afghanistan. Can Travis be vulnerable enough and honest enough to build a relationship with Harper, the girl whose reputation he ruined back in middle school?

I liked the story part of this novel, but the crude and profane language and the casual attitude toward premarital sex, although realistic, made me want an expurgated version. I get it: Marines talk and act like, well, Marines. But a little of that goes a long way. And author Trish Doller didn’t really put as much profanity and crude guy talk in the book as she could have. I still could have done without.

That issue aside, Travis is, as the blurb says, a young man with an “incredible sense of honor, . . . an irresistible and eminently lovable hero.” The religious and moral ideas and choices that define Travis are questionable, but Travis is still an honorable man trying to understand himself and come to terms with his war experiences in a complicated world with very little guidance. I think there a lot of Travises coming back from Afghanistan, and this book would speak to them and to their loved ones in a very immediate way.

Thanks to the publisher, Bloomsbury, for sending me an ARC of this timely YA novel.

55+ Texas Tales: From Galveston to Amarillo to Brownsville to El Paso

Jul10

I must admit that I’m a proud Texan with a mild Texas accent and a whiff of Texas braggadocio. And I think reading books by Texan authors or books set deep in the heart of Texas is a great way to spend a summer afternoon.

Adams, Andy. The Log of a Cowboy. Semicolon review here.

Anderson, Jessica Lee. Border Crossing. YA novel about an Hispanic teen who is dealing with paranoid schizophrenia. I will be looking for a copy of this novel soon.

Appelt, Kathi. The Underneath. Animal story from the Big Thicket of East Texas. Semicolon review here.

Baker, Betty. Walk the World’s Rim. The tragic story of a Native American boy named Chacko and of Esteban, the slave who accompanied Coronado on his search for the Seven Lost Cities of Cibola.

Baker, Nina Brown. Texas Yankee. A children’s biography of inventor Gail Borden.

Beatty, Patricia. Wait for Me, Watch for Me, Eula Bee. Captured-by-Indians fiction set in West Texas, 1860â€™s. Semicolon review here.

Bertrand, J. Mark. Back on Murder. A murder mystery/police procedural set in Houston. Sequels are Pattern of Wounds and Nothing to Hide. Semicolon review here.

Bissinger, H.G. Friday Night Lights. The book that started it all, led to a movie and then a TV Series. I read that the people of Odessa are still mad at Bissinger for his portrayal of their town. I’m not mad, but I do think he probably misunderstood a few things. Semicolon book review here.

Brammer, Billy Lee. The Gay Place. This novel is supposed to be about LBJ in disguise. I haven’t read it, but I’d like to check it out.

Brett, Jan. Armadillo Rodeo. A picture book about Bo the Armadillo who longs for adventure.

dePaola, Tomie. The Legend of the Bluebonnet. A picture book telling the Native American legend concerning Texas’s state flower, the bluebonnet.

Dobie, J. Frank. Up the Trail from Texas. This book, published in 1955, is one of the Landmark History series from Random House. J. Frank Dobie wrote over twenty books about the history, folklore, and traditions of Texas. If anyone was qualified to write a Landmark history book about the history of the cattle, cowboys, and trail drives of Texas, it was Mr. Dobie.

Donovan, James. The Blood of Heroes: The 13-Day Struggle for the Alamo–and the Sacrifice That Forged a Nation. Semicolon review here. Al Mohler recommends it.

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

Erdman, Louella Grace. The Edge of Time. Newlyweds in North Texas build a farm and a marriage in the middle of ranching country.

Erickson, John. Moonshiner’s Gold. Great action-packed adventure with engaging characters and a lot of history sneaking in through the back door. John Erickson is known for his Hank the Cowdog series, but this stand-alone adventure is just a good as the Hank books and should be just the right reading level for most sixth graders.

Erickson, John. The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog. Early and middle grade readers will enjoy this series of tales about a lovable cowdog.

Ferber, Edna. Giant is really a fantasy. I just don’t know very many people in Texas who live like the Benedicts or who ever did. And Ms. Ferber was from Michigan. But Giant is a fun Texas fantasy, and it does manage to give the sense of how everyone in Texas wants to at least pretend that Texas and all its cultural appendices are bigger than life.

Fritz, Jean. Make Way for Sam Houston. Semicolon review here.

Garland, Sherry. In the Shadow of the Alamo. This YA novel set during the Texas Revolution is different because it’s told from the perspective of a Mexican boy, Lorenzo, who’s conscripted into Santa Anna’s army and forced to fight the Tejanos at the Alamo and at San Jacinto.

Garland, Sherry. A Line in the Sand: The Alamo Diary of Lucinda Lawrence Gonzales, Texas, 1836. A Dear America series book set at the battle of the Alamo.

Gibbs, Stuart. Belly Up! Semicolon review here.

Gipson, Fred. Old Yeller. Classic. (I once had Mr. Gipson’s ex-wife for an English teacher in high school. I think. At least that was the rumor in my high school.)

Graves, John. Goodbye to a River. A story of the author’s canoe trip down the Brazos River.

Greene, A.C. A Personal Country. Memoir/essays about the culture and people of West Texas, Abilene in particular.

Harrigan, Stephen. The Gates of the Alamo. Adult fiction. Semicolon review here.

Hemphill, Helen. The Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones. An engaging Western novel about cowboy life for middle school readers. Semicolon review here.

Hoff, Carol. Johnny Texas. Sequel is Johnny Texas on the San Antonio Road.

Hoff, Carol. Head to the West. A Christmas excerpt from this story of Galveston immigrants.

Holt, Kimberly Willis. When Zachary Beaver Came to Town. National Book Award winner.

Janke, Katelan. Survival in the Storm: The Dust Bowl Diary of Grace Edwards, Dalhart, Texas 1935. Another Dear America journal-style book for middle grade and young adult girls.

Jiles, Paulette. News of the World. Excellent adult novel takes place in post-Civil War Texas, about 1870.

Karr, Kathleen. Oh Those Harper Girls! Semicolon review here.

Kelly, Jacqueline. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. Middle grade fiction set in 1899. Semicolon review here.

Kelton, Elmer. The Day the Cowboys Quit. Kelton was born in Crane, Texas, and he used to live in San Angelo, my hometown.

Kelton, Elmer. The Time It Never Rained. Top ten Texas novels that I have read. This one should be on every Texan’s reading list.

Kelton, Elmer. Lone Star Rising: The Texas Rangers Trilogy. The Buckskin Line, Badger Boy and The Way of the Coyote. Semicolon review here.

Lake, Julie. Galveston’s Summer of the Storm. Semicolon review of this children’s fiction book set before and during the Galveston hurricane of 1900. It starts with a very lazy Texas summer with Texas foods and hot weather and front porches and grandmother’s house. Then disaster!

Larson, Eric. Isaac’s Storm. Semicolon review of this nonfiction tome about the man who was the chief weatherman for the U.S. Weather Bureau on Galveston Island in 1900.

Matthews, Sally Reynolds. Interwoven. A memoir by a pioneer woman about life on the Texas frontier.

Meacham, Leila. Roses. Tumbleweeds: A Novel. I haven’t read these “family saga” novels by a Texas author and set in East Texas and Amarillo, respectively, but they sound intriguing.

Meyer, Carolyn. Where the Broken Heart Still Beats. YA historical fiction about Indian captive Cynthia Ann Parker.

Meyer, Carolyn. White Lilacs. Early 1920’s, segregation and racial conflict. Here it is reviewed at Becky’s Book Reviews.

Michener, James A. Texas. Typical Michener, somewhat mythologized, but sprawling and readable.

Moss, Jenny. Winnie’s War. Semicolon thoughts here.

Murphy, Jim. Inside the Alamo. This nonfiction account of the famous Battle of the Alamo is a good introduction for grown-ups, too.

Owens, Virginia Stem. At Point Blank: A Suspense Novel. A very satisfying little murder mystery set in rural Texas just outside Houston. Sequels are Congregation and A Multitude of Sins.

Reading, Amy. The Mark Inside: A Perfect Swindle, A Cunning Revenge, And A Small History Of The Big Con. I haven’t read this nonfiction book either, but I saw it recommended at NPR’s website.

Rinaldi, Ann. Come Juneteenth. Slavery in Texas during and after the Civil War.

Sachar, Louis. Holes. Set in a sort of mythical, contemporary Texas, this Newbery-award winning novel is just right for a sweltering hot Texas afternoon.

Shefelman Janice. Comanche Song. Semicolon review here.

Shefelman, Janice. Spirit of Iron. Semicolon review here.

Smith, Sherri. Flygirl. YA WWII fiction about an African-American girl who “passes” for white and becomes a WASP (Women’s Air Force Service Pilot). Semicolon review here.

Stokes, David R. Apparent Danger: The Pastor of America’s First Megachurch and the Texas Murder Trial of the Decade in the 1920’s (aka
The Shooting Salvationist: J. Frank Norris and the Murder Trial that Captivated America) Semicolon review here.

Thomason, John W. Lone Star Preacher. “Traces the life and times of a fiery Methodist preacher in East Texas during the Civil War era.” This novel joins my lengthy TBR list.

Tinkle, Lon. 13 Days to Glory: The Siege of the Alamo. You can never read too many books about the Alamo, and this one is classic.

Valby, Karen. Welcome to Utopia: Notes from a Small Town. “The book is a portrait of a small town in transition, a town that is growing globally and perhaps even philosophically, if not physically.” ~Booklist

Wisler, G. Clifton. All for Texas: A Story of Texas Liberation. 13-year old Thomas Jefferson Byrd gets caught up in the War for Texas Independence.

Wisler, G. Clifton. Buffalo Moon. Semicolon review here.

Wisler, G. Clifton. Winter of the Wolf. Semicolon review here.

Wisler, G. Clifton. The Wolf’s Tooth. Semicolon review here.

Wood, Jane Roberts. The Train to Estelline. From this list at Texas Reads.

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8. Lee

Jul9

So, how are fortune cookies and Powerball (lottery) related?

And who really invented fortune cookies anyway–the Chinese or maybe the Japanese?

Why do Jewish people love Chinese food, or as Ms. Lee asks, “why is chow mein the chosen food of the Chosen People?”

Do you know where in China all those illegal immigrants to the U.S. come from—and what they leave behind?

Is chop suey really Chinese?

Who is General Tso, anyway, and why are we eating his chicken? Is it really his chicken?

And what’s the greatest Chinese restaurant in the world outside of China?

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: A Book Adventure through the Mysteries of Chinese Food by Jennifer 8. Lee (what’s with the middle numeral/initial?) purports to answer all of these questions and many more you didn’t know you had about Chinese food in the United States and the rest of the world.

There are more Chinese food restaurants in the U.S. than McDonalds, Burger Kings, and Wendy’s combined. Our family only eats restaurant or take-out Chinese food once or twice a year, but apparently we’re in the minority when it comes to Chinese food lovers.

I enjoyed reading about all of the quirks and ramifications of Americans’ love affair with Chinese food, but I must admit that Ms. Lee’s writing style, journalistic in nature, sometimes gave me reader’s whiplash. The Fortune Cookie Chronicles starts out as a book about the connection between a flood of of Powerball winners in March 2005 and the fortune cookies where they all found their winning numbers. Then it becomes a book about Chinese cuisine and where fortune cookies were invented. Then, suddenly we were dealing with other topics, such as Chinese illegal immigration or the Kosher Duck Scandal of 1989 or Cajun Chinese food or the source of take-out boxes or the soy sauce controversy.

Yes, all of these topics and more are at least tangentially related to Ms. Lee’s main topic, American Chinese food, but the material, while fascinating, is not organized as well as I might have liked. A lot of back-tracking and rabbit trails lead the reader on a winding road through the world of Chinese food and Chinese restaurants and Chinese influence in the United States and in the world. As long as you can take the twist and turns, which hardly ever slow down enough to be boring, you’ll like Ms. Lee’s guided tour through the world of Chinese cuisine.

A few facts and stories I found particularly interesting:

Did you know that there’s one particular day in the year that hundreds of Chinese immigrants in New York’s Chinatown choose to get married? No, not Valentine’s Day and not New Year’s Day and not in June.

Most of the fortunes in the fortune cookies we get from our favorite Chinese restaurants are curated, written, and sold by three guys, two of whom aren’t on speaking terms as a result of stolen fortunes (the written ones, not money).

There really are a bunch of “kosher Chinese restaurants” to serve the Jewish community.

People who organize the smuggling of illegal Chinese immigrants into the United States are known as “snakeheads”.

I especially found the chapter about a specific Chinese immigrant family who bought a restaurant and saw their family implode from the pressures of running that restaurant in rural Georgia and adjusting to the cultural expectations of 21st century America. It was a sad story of family dysfunction and cultural misunderstanding and over-zealous child protection services run amuck. I wanted to know what happened to the family and where they are now. So I stopped and prayed for them. (Do you ever pray for the people you read about in magazine articles and nonfiction books?)

Real Chinese people and fortune cookies: