Child.of.God.1989

Oh, wonderful! Yes, Frankie, I suppose I was looking more for written versions of comedians' routines, but this book about jokes rather than of jokes looks even better. My search was kind of broad. Thanks muchly for the link for the preview. I saw that he had a very modern quotation from Demetri Martin, a young up-and-coming comedian I like. I will have to look for this one nearby!

Kell, congratulations on your recent arrival! He still must be so tiny. I was delighted to read his name, because my oldest sister is your age AND she just had her second child Xander last August. You never fail to add some wit to a discussion and, more often, well-thought-out opinions and reflections. I hope you still have time to read!

I couldn't think of any until reading some of your posts... I realized there were quite a few where I was glassy-eyed, but I must have shoved the "embarrassing" memories deep down. No piece of media has made me weep except for something about a third-world country on the news when I was little; and The Passion of the Christ a couple of Decembers ago. As for making me glassy-eyed in spite of myself: - The Atonement Child by Francine Rivers ~ do look it up, ladies especially! It wasn't so much the traumatic things that the main character goes through as when she said to another, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed your transgressions from you." (Psalm 103:12) Ahh, what a balm to my guilty heart! - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling ~ I accidentally spoiled a huge part for myself by losing my place, but when I knew it was coming up, it felt just as shocking and sad. I'm a sucker for when someone you're not sure loves you so much makes some huge sacrifice, and then you KNOW. - Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers - uhh, I would have to read it again to see what specific spot broke my heart's walls, but I know the whole story was touching. - The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks ~ I hope my future husband and I will have the same enduring love as a couple of the characters in the book. - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis ~ Ohh, dear Edmund! Oh, wonderful Aslan, with the power and gentleness to transform whoever lets him! I was sixteen or seventeen when I read this. Almost all of these are romantic books:roll:. I wish I could say some gripping non-fiction book made me cry from some deep, shocking fact... but it usually comes down to a boy and a girl. Mush, mush, mush.

Wow, you love it that much, Kathleen? I looked up the synopsis on Barnes and Noble, and it sounds like the perfect one to usher myself into this genre. I might pass it to my fantasy-loving friend at Bible school here, too. I usually only find myself re-reading when I'm supposed to be organizing whatever area my books are in. That has happened quite often with packing books up for school and moving back home for breaks! Certain intimate books, like The Atonement Child and pretty much anything by Francine Rivers, make me recall scenes that I flip through the book to find and enjoy again. Exciting adventure books like The Zion Chronicles series by Bodie and Brock Thoene have the same specific-part effect.

Well, I usually like a movie upon seeing it a few times, but if it were always that way that wouldn't be a very good credit to movies that actually ARE initially GOOD. One that would never draw me to it if I saw it four times is Saved!. Ooh-ughhh, I can't believe I had to watch that arrogant, crude film with my older sister one of the few times she is able to visit! The producer is entitled to his opinion that Christianity is fake and only Hollywood's idea of love will bring anyone happiness... but s/he doesn't have to be so pompous and self-assured about it. Yuck.

We have a little gelato shop near my school building... as many new flavors may come up, I always have to choose cake batter! Mmmm! Love that warm vanilla taste. My favorite has been chocolate chip cookie dough for thirteen years. Recently, though, I've been having just vanilla ice cream with a pat of peanut butter stirred in the bowl. Peanut butter just makes everything so much more satisfying, from apples to sandwiches, for not too much oil or fat!

These remind me so much of my younger brother! They were all book report choices for him in elementary. What young man doesn't love jumping into these adventures even bigger than their backyard?

Does anyone know of any good humor books? Most good stories are infused with a touch of humor, and especially irony in the characters' actions. Nevertheless, I would like to know about more books like Jerry Seinfeld's Sein Language. It's merely a written version of his bits shown on TV, with not too much introduction for each section, and not too much embellishment. (He says the delivery is up to you; perhaps it's meant kind of as a mentoring little book for rising stand-up comics.) Those kind of books are nice to break the ice with an interested stranger on the plane/train, or just to read a little bit at a time like savoring a little chocolate once in a while. I hope this is not an affront to those looking for informative, more educationally profitable non-fiction. I hope we will enjoy each other's recommendations.

Nice one going with your intuition and making a good selection, Bookwormmum! Other ancient Rome books I can think of are Quo Vadis, Ben Hur, and the contemporary Mark of the Lion trilogy. Well, the last one concentrates more on the characters than what took place for the general population of Rome in that time... but it was still pretty easy to imagine the life of those central characters. Have you any other recommendations for this time? Or was this your first fiction taking place in Ancient Rome?

Ooh, Echo, you saved yourself some heartache, as I'm sure every average resident of the Pacific NW has told you. I had to rib my friend at school here a little bit, as she and our pastor are from Pittsburgh... ugh! For me, to watch: American football, the Seattle Seahawks, especially with my dad; local and major-league baseball, local basketball To play (NOT at ALL competently, sadly): low-key basketball, American soccer, kickball because I have mind of a ten-year-old apparently, softball

Oh! My older sister and I just watched the 1994 movie with Winona Ryder a couple of days ago. I think the only time I have read it is when our oldest sister gave it to me when I was eight (they were nineteen and twenty). I was so proud to read a book that was so thick, even though it was only that thick because it was kind of a stout square size. The part about the dead canary escapes me, too... Not all people, though, would be pragmatic to the point of sacrificing a person's honor or life for the sake of imposing their rules! When you're a mom, don't you have to show your children that when they break the rules or are irresponsible, consequences are going to come up, even naturally as well as what your authority does? My favorite part that has stayed with me those eleven years was The only sequel I read was Eight Cousins. The other ones will certainly be on the To Be Read list, a little farther down.

That is an interesting recommendation, Twinkle. I am going to share it with my cousin studying Mandarin Chinese. She stayed in Taiwan helping teach at a small school for maybe a month or longer this summer. I can relate to the sentiment you shared, your surprise at how different this other country is. I have ignored my school's library's little section of books on different countries and religions, but I think I will pick up two or three after Thanksgiving break! Thank you. I don't want to be like so many other young people who neglect the fact that there are bigger things than themselves out there.

I still have so many to compare my current favorites with! This will be fun for us to look back on in a year or so. It is so difficult to make this decision, with indecisive worrying about not paying homage to a certain author, or whether to go for ones whose stories really wowed me or taught me... Perhaps if I read these again, and other classics, I will see books that both delight and teach. In no particular order, my current indispensables are: - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - A Daughter's Devotion by George Macdonald - Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maude Montgomery Wow, I certainly like the noble, blossoming heroines! Edit: I can't believe I didn't include The Pilgrim's Progress. We're studying that in my church's Sunday school right now; I forgot how influential and full it was and is.

Ohh, I love Jane Eyre! Unfortunately it's the only Bronte book I've read. I really need to re-read it as well, since last time I read it fully I was thirteen. When was the last time for you? I read Les Miserables and A Tale of Two Cities my sophomore and senior year of high school, respectively. Have you not had the chance to go through them fully yet, Echo? Do you like British classic literature mostly? I was embarrassed the beginning of my sophomore year when my wonderful, brilliant English teacher Mrs. Frisk said something like, "I know you were in a different high school last year; have you read Les Mis?" and I said, "Oh, yes, I just started it two weeks ago and finished it a couple of days ago." Ahh, the dramatic look on her face, that tinge of pity that I was going to have to go through it analytically rather than just for fun! Heehee!

This year was my first Thanksgiving away from my parents' house. I took the train from Wisconsin to my sister's dorm in Michigan, and was able to sit in on her classes for a couple of days. She has so much reading to do over the break! I have a little bit, too; I love train rides and cold weather as excuses to curl up and read. My sister, a couple of her roommates, an exchange student from Korea, and I all made something for today. We made salmon marinated with orange, homemade Betty Crocker Cookbook dinner rolls, spring salad with eggs and peppers and carrots, and delicious corn bread stuffing. I had Korean spring rolls with vegetables and soy sauce for the first time, and now I really want to buy some rice wrappers. I made the main dessert, chocolate chip pumpkin cookies with real pumpkin.

Oh, thank you for the correction, Kell. An autobiography would certainly be more informative. The other books and the one website I skimmed through in research told paragraph-long stories, and were not able to get into everything about the bondage of prostitution.

Hmm, it should be fun to see all the answers to your question, Tbird! Well, for me, my tastes are still developing. There are still a couple of genres that I would like to explore, like melodic/black and Christian metal, and the fun '80s stuff. The music I do like, though, I really enjoy and wish I could walk around with and share with other people all the time. I am a sucker for good harmony, though I think that's universally appealing; and for innovative instrumental parts. It's important for lyrics to stay mostly clean for me. Music doesn't have to be positive and upbeat, but I don't want to have something unreasonably angry or disgusting in my head. Bands ~> Songs: You'll see a lot of contemporary and heavier Christian, a good bit of classic rock, some big band swingy stuff, slow and mellow stuff, music with a driving tempo, and a teensy bit of pop and country. downhere ~> "The More" Frank Sinatra ~> changes every once in a while (currently 11/08 "I've Got You Under My Skin") Newsboys ~> "Million Pieces" Chris Rice ~> "When Did You Fall" Styx ~> "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)" Led Zeppelin ~> "Kashmir" Demon Hunter ~> "The Tide Began to Rise" Warren Barfield ~> "Reach" Matthew West ~> "The Next Thing You Know" Audio Adrenaline ~> "Lift Me Up" (title?) U2 ~> "New Year's Day" William Joseph ~> rockin' orchestral cover of "Kashmir" Trans-Siberian Orchestra ~> "Carol of the Bells" Josh Groban ~> "When You Say You Love Me" (shut it down, naysayers!) Barlow Girl ~> "Psalm 73 (My God Is Enough)" Cindy Morgan ~> "Dig Up" Koji Kondo (he did a lot of the older Nintendo first-part games, and some of the newer ones) ~> "Zelda's Lullaby" from the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64) Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy games) ~> "1, 000 Words Piano Version (Julia's Solo)" Coldplay ~> "The Scientist" Kutless ~> "Somewhere in the Sky" The Lonely H ~> "Lullaby Lane" (yay, local bands!) The Beach Boys ~> "Surfer Girl" Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir ~> "I'm Goin' With Jesus" Acappella ~> "Softly and Tenderly" Casting Crowns ~> "Voice of Truth" dcTalk ~> "Jesus Freak" (am I just one big cliche? Man!) Elton John ~> "Your Song" Steve Vai ~> "For the Love of God" Glenn Miller ~> "I'm In the Mood" By the Tree ~> "Wonderful Again" Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ~> "In F, K377 - 2, Tema con Varizioni" Relient K ~> "Death Bed" Queen ~> "Bohemian Rhapsody" Switchfoot ~> "Dare You to Move" Vitamin String Quartet ~> all-strings cover of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" ...and the list goes on and on.

I'm on page 100 or so and I love it! There are a few little things about Mr. Young's theology that seem a little more what HE thinks than what's in the Bible. That said, though, the story is so sweet, and I hope I remember its lessons about suffering for as long as I live. Young has a style that's pretty easy to follow, too. Edit 12/03/08: I finished it on Sunday the 30th. The second half left me a little wanting since it had much more dialogue than action, but there are still quite a few lessons I hope I remember my whole life. I do not think it merited all the giving-away-boxes-of-books hype that it generated. In what other book, though, does one find something that teaches you so much about the character of God when you hurt, that isn't so unreachable? I appreciated Mr. Young's obviously toilsome efforts to convey his answers to "Why does God allow us to suffer like this?" in so simple and direct a way that you only have to read a paragraph once or twice to understand.

Has anyone read Surprised By Joy by C.S. Lewis? It's his sort-of autobiography. I had the privilege of reading those frank, poignant accounts in summer 2006. I love how C.S. Lewis's dad bought every single book he read, and so when C.S.'s mom died, he filled his loneliness with all those once-read books.

Colin, you just gave me a great idea! At first I thought, "Hm, it would be nice to have audio versions of my favorite books to stretch out and listen to," and then I thought of my older sister. She is in training to be a missionary in a remote part of the world, to be determined after these last two years of training. I bet CDs of the Bible, devotionals, and her favorite suspense books would be a lot more compact and fitted to her busy future schedule than shelves of books. Thank you so much! I can't wait to shop for her! Oh, right, the thread. Young as I am, there are still so many books, whole series, that I'd like to have permanently. Mostly my shelves have contemporary fiction geared toward younger people, a handful of nonfiction school books, and classics geared toward young adults. Oh, I have a lot of sheet music thanks to my great aunt Geraldine, but those aren't typical stories one reads cover to cover!

I may like to help, if not just with monetary contributions then as a career, with a nearby organization for human trafficking. Shared Hope International goes all over to prevent future human trafficking, specifically in prostitution; and to rescue those already caught up in it. I've come across a few very informative non-fiction books on the subject of the modern-day slave trade, but this is the first fictional one that deals a little with that. Thanks for the recommendation for a realistic read, Kell!

Haha, yes, it is nice, as long as they are interesting books! Thanks for checking on this list, Echo. I'll have to see whose stories and thoughts you've been learning from lately.

Nine months and two days?! Tsk, tsk. I'll start with what I have read, and then what I'm working on. I need to look at my goals from last year; I probably have some really good ones that I lazily am missing out on! What I Have Read since February: February March April May - started Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy in May, am currently in the second volume I think June - August - Showdown by Ted Dekker - Saint by Ted Dekker - Skin by Ted Dekker - Chosen by Ted Dekker - continuing Anna Karenina on and off... - From Hope to Higher Ground by Mike Huckabee - Got a little further in <I>Heroines

Oh, Andrea... I feel like we need to start up a charity for you or something, to find a "cure," for lack of a better word, for not being able to indulge in the bit of paradise that is chocolate! (Yeesh, do you think I sounded enough like a pompous glutton? I honestly do feel a little sad you have to withhold yourself from that.) I was going to mention frappuccinos, too. Since I'm not a coffee person, and in the Seattle area and dorm life people go out for specialty drinks a lot, I had to figure out something other than hot chocolate to have in July. All right, that isn't really a new discovery for me, but I did only recently try the double chocolate chip flavor. Induuulll-GENCE!

1. Do you play any instruments? Singing - If you count your voice as an instrument, I was a soprano in a small choir from fourth grade to high school, a couple of years off. I only have a decent tone when I practice consistently for a long time, and it has been a while since high school; I would love to join a church choir or play in a light opera musical! Piano - It's a very intermediate level, but I am still privileged to play the keyboard chords on the worship team for youth group (extra church service for teens on Wednesday nights). I like playing some simple classical music, like Beethoven's Romanza. I also like playing songs that are well-known to certain people, like video game songs and movie songs. People always laugh to hear an upbeat version of Super Mario Bros.! So, I really would need to practice more to be noteworthy, but I can scrape by playing background music at events... 2. Do you like classical music? Indeed I do! Here are the ones I listen to, in order from most frequent to least: * Mozart - always cheerful or contemplative! * Debussy - especially "Clair de Lune" * Instrumental Arrangements - I highly recommend the Vitamin String Quartet. You can find them on iTunes and eMusic. They do wonderful covers of everyone from Casting Crowns to Led Zeppelin. Who knew "Stairway to Heaven" could be beautiful in the much more "timeless" sense? * Beethoven - especially Moonlight Sonata and Fur Elise * Tchaikovsky - Echo, I love thinking maybe we have been to the same Nutcracker ballet without knowing it! My grandma is an usher at the Seattle Center, so she has taken me and various other family members to the Nutcracker twice. Ah, Tchaikovsky's music has a funny balance of getting you in the mood for Christmas, and yet being enjoyable to listen to year-round.