Books Read 2011

January
Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka -O*
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath -O*
A Good Man is Hard to Find and other short stories by Flannery O'Connor-*
Library and Information Center Management by Stuart and Moran-T
The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt-Y*
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaimen-*
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway-*

February
Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose by Flannery O'Connor, selected and edited by Fitzgerald
The Hunger Games, Book 1 by Suzanne Collins-Y*
For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway-*
The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger-G
Body Politics: Five Practices of the Christian Community Before the Watching World by John Yoder-O

March

The Dreamer by Pam Muñoz Ryan-Y*
The Hunger Games Book 2: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins-Y*
Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder by David Weinberger-T
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't by Jim Collins-T
Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to accompany Good to Great by Jim Collins-T
Death with Interruptions by José Saramago (fabulous)
Blankets by Craig Thompson-G
La Perdida by Jessica Abel-G
The Hunger Games Book 3: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins-Y*
The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses by C.S. Lewis-*
All The Names by José Saramago


April

For the Time Being by Annie Dillard-*
Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System by Raj Patel-O
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
The Illumined Heart: The Ancient Christian Path of Transformation by Frederica Mathewes-Green
Great Lent: Journey to Pascha by Alexander Schmemann
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith-*
The Gift of Acabar by Og Mandino and Buddy Kaye-Y
Alice in Sunderland: An Entertainment by Bryan Talbot-G
That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis-*
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech-Y*
The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by Jose Saramago-O (It's the only Saramago that I haven't enjoyed, and I own it, seeesh)
Show Me The Way: Readings for Each Day of Lent by Henri Nouwen-O
Death Note, Volume 1: Boredom by Tsugumi Ohba-G
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson-* (crap!)


May

The Jesus Prayer: The Ancient Desert Prayer that tunes the Heart to God by Frederica Mathewes-Green
Deathnote, Volume 2: Confluence by Tsugumi Ohba-G
Deathnote, Volume 3: Hard Run by Tsugumi Ohba-G
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot-*
Deathnote, Volume 4: Love by Tsugumi Ohba-G
Deathnote, Volume 5: Without by Tsugumi Ohba-G
Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life by Kathleen Norris-O* (so good.)
The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrota-*
Deathnote, Volume 6: Give and Take by Tsugumi Ohba-G
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen-O*
Columbine by Dave Cullen-*
Deathnote, Volume 7: Zero by Tsugumi Ohba-G

June

Deathnote, Volume 8: Target by Tsugumi Ohba-G
The Ask and the Answer: Chaos Walking Triology Book 2 By Patrick Ness-Y*
Deathnote, Volume 9: Contact by Tsugumi Ohba-G
Bossypants by Tina Fey-*
Deathnote, Volume 10: Deletion by Tsugumi Ohba-G
Deathnote, Volume 11:Kindred Spirit by Tsugumi Ohba-G
Deathnote, Volume 12:Finis by Tsugumi Ohba-G
Xenocide by Orson Scott Card-*
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
I am the Cheese by Robert Cormier-Y (sooooo good.)
The Big Crunch by Pete Hautman-Y
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt-O (I visited Savannah.)

July
Facing East: A Pilgrim's Journey into the Mysteries of Orthodoxy by Frederica Mathewes-Green
The Basics of Social Research by Earl Babbie-T (almost all of it, minus a few pages)
Monsters of Men: Chaos Walking Book 3 by Patrick Ness-Y*
Statistical Methods for the Information Professional by Liwen Vaughan-T(over half of it)
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell-*
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque-*

August
The Magicians by Lev Grossman-*
First Fruits of Prayer: Fourty Days through the Canon of St. Andrew by Frederica Mathewes-Green
How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read by Pierre Bayard-O
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making by Catherynne Valente-*M

September
The Writing Life by Annie Dillard-O
Adam Bede by George Eliot-* (hilarious.)
Way of the Ascetics: The Ancient Tradition of Discipline and Inner Growth by Tito Colliander
The Help by Kathryn Stockett-*

October
A Moveable Feast (updated and expanded) by Earnest Hemingway-*
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier-*
And then there were None by Agatha Christie-*

November
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman-*M
Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels by Scott McCloud-G
Developing an Outstanding Core Collection: A Guide for Libraries, Second Edition by Carol Alabaster-T

December
The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald-*
Are Women Human? by Dorothy L. Sayers-O
Mirror Mirror: a book of reversible verse by Marilyn Singer-PB
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz-M
Savvy by Ingrid Law-M*
Children's Literature Gems: Choosing and Using Them in Your Library Career by Elizabeth Bird
Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Nine Horses by Billy Collins
Is Everyone Hanging out Without me? and other concerns by Mindy Kaling-* (Tina Fey's book was funnier.)
Travels With Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck-*
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, Illustrations by Siobhan Dowd-M
Heartbeat by Sharon Creech-M
Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters by Annie Dillard
The Mailbox by Audrey Shafer-M*
Out from Boneville (Bone #1) by Jeff Smith-G (why is this in the cannon of classic Graphic Novels??)
The Perfectly Imperfect Home: How to Decorate and Live Well by Deborah Needleman
Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas by Plough Publishing-O

(the month where i read lots of short books!)

40-Audiobooks-*
1-Picture Book-PB
7-Textbooks-T
14-Owned Books-O
18-Graphic Novel-G
7-Middle Childhood-M
12-YA lit-Y
100-Total Books


To Read in January (or Feb or March) because I ran out of time:
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
An American childhood / Annie Dillard
Bright's passage : a novel / Josh Ritter
Emily of New Moon / L. M. Montgomery
The name of the rose / Umberto Eco
The spirit of the disciplines : understanding how God changes lives / Dallas Willard
Seeing / José Saramago
Saint Francis of Assisi / G.K. Chesterton
The remains of the day / Kazuo Ishiguro
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek / Annie Dillard
Of Water and of the Spirit / Alexander Schmemann
Moon Over Manifest by Vanderpool
Cutting for Stone by Verghese
The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy Sayers
Celebration of discipline : the path to spiritual growth / Richard J. Foster. Killer Cronicas: Bilingual Memories by Chavez-Silverman
Radical: Taking Your Faith Back From the American Dream by David Platt
Confessions of a Knife by Selzer
More Information than you require by John Hodgman
Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
The Road Less Traveled: A new psychology... by M. Scott Peck


(also, various books about Children’s Librarianship AND some good Children’s lit from another list…and maybe all the Newberry and Caldecott award winners. Some stuff by Robert Webber, Graham Greene, and really looking forward to Still by Winner, and some hispanic authors, AND the 19 bajillion free books/essays I've already downloaded to my sweet kindle. If I spent less time plotting what I want to read next, I think I'd get more reading done.)

Next year I'd like to challenge myself to not keep track of how many books I read until December 31, because it puts unnecessary pressure on me. I'd also like to read more theology next year and read more books that have been on my list for longer, instead of getting new recommendations and running with those. I did EXCELLENT at reading books I already own, which was an important goal. I still did not finish my Bible in Spanish, disappointing, I need a better plan than just having it in my purse all the time. It was this fall that killed me from getting all my reading done, and then I crammed a bunch into December. But on the upside, I now have a Master's Degree!! yay! Audiobooks saved my butt, as per usual. After reading so much Hemingway, seeing "him" in the movie Midnight in Paris totally made sense! I didn't realize I would like him so much.

As always, if you have questions about any of these, I'd love to give you my take or my recommendations.

ok. mandatory sentence wherein I remind myself that I will never be able to read all the books I want to because it's physically impossible. :) Happy New Year!!

Incarnation.

I've already shared this on facebook, but I wanna find it someday, and so this is a much better place to put this...It was on Fr. Ted's blog yesterday.

"From the human point of view, the coming of Christ undoes the Fall and restores the human race to its intended path; but this fall-redemption arc must be seen as a subsection of the greater arc stretching from creation to deification. The Incarnation is not primarily a remedy for something gone wrong; it inaugurates the union between God and his creation for which all things were created. The cosmic dimension of salvation is clearly expressed in Orthodox worship. The rejoicing of all creation at Christ’s birth, the sanctification of water at his baptism, the darkening of the sun at the crucifixion as ‘all things suffer with the Creator of all’ – these are not mere literary devices. They signal the intimate connections between the work of creation and the work of bringing what is created into union with God in Christ.” (Elizabeth Theokritoff in The Cambridge Companion to Orthodox Christian Theology, pg. 69)

Teaching a Stone to Talk

Quotes from Annie Dillard's Teaching a Stone to Talk

pg 32- A high school stage play is more polished than this service we have been rehearsing since the year one. In two thousand years, we have not worked out the kinks. we positively glorify them. Week after week we witness the same miracle: that God, for reasons unfathomable, refrains from blowing our dancing bear act to smithereens. Week after week Christ washes the disciples' dirty feet, handles their very toes, and repeats, It is all right- believe it or not- to be people.
Who can believe it?

pg 72- The point of going somewhere like the Napo River in Ecuador is not to see the most spectacular anything. it is simply to see what is there. We are here on the planet only once, and might as well get a feel for the place. We might sa well get a feel for the fringes and hollows in which life is lived, for the Amazon basin, which covers half a continent, and for the life that- there, like anything else- is always and necessarily lived in detail: on the tributaries, in the riverside villages, sucking this particular white-fleshed guava in this particular pattern of shade.

pg 77- The Napo River: it is not out of the way. It is in the way, catching sunlight the way a cup catches poured water; it is a bowl of sweet air, a basin of greenness, and of grace, and, it would seem, of peace.

pg 110- What if we the people had the sense or grace to live as cooled islands in an archipelago, live, with dignity, passion, and no comment?

Waiting by Henri Nouwen

(This is kinda long, but so worth it. These are a bunch of quotes taken from an essay entitled "Waiting" by Henri Nouwen. I have the full essay if you're interested, just shoot me an email. Hopefully it speaks to you as it did to me.)


For many people waiting is an awful desert between where they are and where they want to go. And people do not like such a place. They want to get out of it by doing something.

Fearful people have a hard time waiting, because when we are afraid we want to get away from where we are.

Now Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary, Simeon and Anna are waiting for something new and good to happen to them.

Waiting, as we see it in the people on the first pages of the Gospel, is waiting with a sense of promise.

They have received something that is at work in them, like a seed that has started to grow. This is very important. We can only really wait if what we are waiting for has already begun for us. So waiting is never a movement from nothing to something. It is always a movement from something to something more.

Second, waiting is active.

The secret of waiting is the faith that the seed has been planted, that something has begun. Active waiting means to be present fully to the moment, in the conviction that something is happening where you are and that you want to be present to it. A waiting person is someone who is present to the moment, who believes that this moment is the moment.
A waiting person is a patient person. The word “patience” means the willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us. Impatient people are always expecting the real thing to happen somewhere else and therefore want to go elsewhere. The moment is empty. But patient people dare to stay where they are. Patient living means to live actively in the present and wait there. Waiting, then, is not passive. It involves nurturing the moment, as a mother nurtures the child that is growing in her.

For this reason, a lot of our waiting is not open-ended. Instead, our waiting is a way of controlling the future. We want the future to go in a very specific direction, and if this does not happen we are disappointed and can even slip into despair. That is why we have such a hard time waiting: we want to do the things that will make the desired events take place. Here we can see how wishes tend to be connected with fears.

Hope is trusting that something will be fulfilled, but fulfilled according to the promises and not just according to our wishes. Therefore, hope is always open-ended.

[Mary] trusted so deeply that her waiting was open to all possibilities. And she did not want to control them. She believed that when she listened carefully, she could trust what was going to happen.

We should wait together.

Elizabeth and Mary came together and enabled each other to wait. Mary’s visit made Elizabeth aware of what she was waiting for.

Mary affirmed Elizabeth’s waiting.

These two women created space for each other to wait. They affirmed for each other that something was happening that was worth waiting for.

Waiting together, nurturing what has already begun, expecting its fulfillment – that is the meaning of marriage, friendship, community, and the Christian life.

Travels w/Charley... 3

For how can one know color in perpetual green, and what good is warmth without cold to give it sweetness?

I wanted to go to the rooftree of Maine to start my trip before turning west. It seemed to give the journey a design, and everything in the world must have design or the human mind rejects it. But in addition it must have purpose or the human conscience shies away from it. Maine was my design, potatoes my purpose.

Travels w/Charley... 2

We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us….relax and go along with it. Only then do the frustrations fall away. In this a journey is a like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.


(on packing too much) I suppose our capacity for self-delusion is boundless…Also I laid in a hundred and fifty pounds of those books one hasn’t got around to reading – and of course those are the books one isn’t ever going to get around to reading.

[best place to eavesdrop are the bars and churches] Early rising men not only do not talk much to strangers, they barely talk to one another. Breakfast conversation is limited to a series of laconic grunts.

-Steinbeck, Travels with Charley

Travels W/Charley... 1

Four hoarse blasts of a ship’s whistle still raise the hair on my neck and set my feet to tapping. The sound of a jet, an engine warming up, even the clopping of shod hooves on pavement brings on the ancient shudder, the dry mouth and vacant eye, the hot palms and the churn of stomach high up under the rib cage. In other words, I don’t improve; in further words, once a bum always a bum. I fear the disease is incurable. I set this matter down not to instruct others but to inform myself.
When the virus of restlessness begins to take possession of a wayward man, and the road away from here seems broad and straight and sweet, the victim must first find himself a good and sufficient reason for going. This to the practical bum is not difficult. He has a built-in garden of reasons to choose from.
-Steinbeck