jeudi 17 décembre 2009
Book report
It's taken three years but I can now happily report that I've met my goal of reading 100 books in a year, and have surpassed it as well! I'm going to continue recording the titles that I've read although I'm not sure if I'll subject myself to the same pressure of needing to read a certain number of books for next year. Overall, it's been a fun journey and it's been neat to see what my reading habits look like. This past year, I've read:
- 35 fiction books and 69 non-fiction books
- 67 Christian books and 37 non-Christian books
- 11 books on missions, 10 books related to work (with some overlap in missions as well), 12 books on theology/Christian living, and 5 books on leadership/ministry
- Lots of others on topics such as books (!), household management, organization, simplicity, frugality, fashion, finances, Canadian culture and interior design - an eclectic mix of things that have caught my eye at the public library
I'm excited to dive into a bunch of other titles that I've been saving for this book challenge, with the added bonus that I can go through them at a more leisurely pace now. If I could list a few of my favourites from this year, they would be:
- The Apothecary's Daughter - Julie Klassen
- The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment - Tim Challies
- Good News about Injustice: A Witness of Courage in a Hurting World - Gary A. Haugen
- Invitation to Lead: Guidance for Emerging Asian American Leaders - Paul Tokunaga
- Lady of Milkweed Manor - Julie Klassen
- Leading on Empty: Refilling Your Tank and Renewing Your Passion - Wayne Cordeiro
- The Missionary Call: Find Your Place in God's Plan for the World - M. David Sills
- Persuasion - Jane Austen
- Why We're Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be) - Kevin DeYoung & Ted Kluck
I've noticed a shift in the type of books I currently read compared to the ones I went through in college and seminary, the most noticeable being that I have gravitated toward more practical books. While I still enjoy books on theology and Christian thinking, I'm starting to take up books on Christian living. Next year's list might reflect this as well; now to get started on that!
Libellés : books
dimanche 5 avril 2009
Wanted
A Christian ministry book for church workers that doesn't talk about leadership, vision, success, and management. I'm not criticizing these topics - they're all valid - but I am looking for something different. Something biblical and practical.
And if it's for women, great. Just as long as there isn't a picture of a successful-looking woman with her arms crossed (or something) and a big lipsticked grin on the cover, I'm happy. Trees are good. Actually, this last criteria might make it too narrow that such a book probably doesn't exist. I know, I'm being pretty picky but I would be thrilled with any good suggestions.
Libellés : books
samedi 10 janvier 2009
Reading predictions
I think I'm spending too much time exploring a new feature from LibraryThing called Will You Like It? I started off by looking up books I've read and enjoyed but don't own and am now trying out books that I know I definitely will not like. So far, the latter part hasn't been as accurate as the first part but I know the system isn't perfect. For instance, LT thinks that I will love Brian McLaren's A Generous Orthodoxy (not just like but love), which I seriously doubt. Actually, any emergent book or book on mysticism I plug into it is coming out with a prediction of love. Oh well, at least there were more correct results for popular novels I don't think I'll ever read/enjoy and the books that I knew I'd like. It's pretty entertaining to use and I'm sure this feature will be improved in the future so I'll have to check back to see if these results change.
Libellés : books
samedi 27 décembre 2008
Reading record
Two years ago, I made the goal of reading a hundred books a year - to this day, I don't know why I made this decision or why I picked this number. I also don't know why I decided to start this after my first semester of seminary so ever since I've been tracking my progress, I've had to begin my count on December 15 (of all days). It would have made more sense to begin on September 1 or January 1 but alas, I'm stuck with this strange date now.
The first year, I was fairly close to reaching my goal but I fell behind by twelve books. I attribute this to living in Montreal that summer and only reading three books throughout my three months there. This past year, I fell even more behind by twenty-five books. I'm blaming the four months I spent working on my thesis, resulting in not fully reading any books and the summer in Montreal again (four books - what a terrible record). Perhaps this year I won't have any more excuses and I'll actually make it to my goal?
One neat thing that has come out of this goal has been in figuring out fun statistics about my reading habit. I only wish I had started doing this much sooner :) As a result of doing this, I've discovered that I have the propensity to zip through lots of public library non-fiction books but that I take forever on the non-fiction I own. Another thing I've noticed is that I rarely purchase fiction except for on my birthday so I'm lacking a bit in this area - it's largely dependent on what I find at the public library or the church library.
As for 2009, here are a few books I'm hoping to dive into:
- The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World by John Piper
- Just Jane by Nancy Moser
- Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney
- Throw Out Fifty Things by Gail Blanke
- God's Continent by Philip Jenkins
Any suggestions for others I can add to my list?
Libellés : books
jeudi 9 octobre 2008
It's that time again
I always look forward to the Thanksgiving long weekend every year, mostly because my birthday usually falls on or around it, making it more special for me. The funny thing is that growing up, I never had the traditional turkey dinner - my family is simply too small. It actually wasn't until high school that I had my first taste of turkey. Now I can't escape these dinners, which is a good thing since I really like turkey, and a bad thing because I eat way too much turkey to make up for the lack of it. Anyways, enough talk of turkeys...
Along with these yummy dinners at my friends' houses, I also buy myself books that I can't justify buying the other eleven months of the year. (Do other people do this? Buying oneself gifts seems lame but my parents aren't really into gift-giving). Usually, I end up getting fiction books - a tradition which first started during my second year of college when my professor went to Paris and I spent the cancelled English class in a bookstore instead. I'd like to keep this up, if possible.
It feels silly thinking about this considering the state the economy is in but maybe it's my last chance to be frivolous? I'm not as worried as I maybe should be but I partly blame a report in the newspaper a few months ago that mentioned that the costs of books were going down (this was when gas prices were going way up). In any case, I'm late on my order this year because I'm waiting until a particular book gets released in a couple of weeks, so I guess I won't have any birthday reading to do this long weekend. Maybe I'll finally tackle that work reading!
Libellés : books
vendredi 26 septembre 2008
Storage and such
In my unending search for another bookcase/shelving unit, I've come across four potential candidates that are fairly inexpensive. The only requirement I have is that they must be narrower than the average bookcase because of limited space. Here are the choices:
IKEA's EINA bedside table
Pros:
- It has wheels
- It has clean lines and looks sturdy
- It does not require a wall attachment
Cons:
- It only has three shelves
- It won't hold too many of my extra books
- It looks like a bedside table, which it is :)
IKEA's FLÄRKE bookcase
Pros:
- It's an actual bookcase
- Lots and lots of shelves
- I can store more than just books
Cons:
- It's taller than I'd like
- The wood appears to be very thin
- Dusting the top of the case
Canadian Tire's Sauder Mission Cherry Bookcase
Pros:
- The colour
- Just the right amount of shelves
Cons:
- Wider than I'd like
- Uncertain if the price corresponds to the size that I want
Canadian Tire's Sauder Oak Bookcase
Pros:
- Economical
- Portable
Cons:
- Shelves are not very deep
- Less storage overall
- Plain appearance; nothing remarkable
Choices, choices! I also checked out Walmart but they don't have much furniture selection. There are probably more options out there but I can't think of other Canadian stores that have websites I could browse through to help me in my decision. Hmmm...
Libellés : books
mardi 5 août 2008
In other words
I can understand why people who work on computers all day want to avoid being on them when they get home. That's pretty much where I'm at right now.
Anyways, things have been wonderful since I've gotten back. I went from one wedding to another (somehow I ended up attending three weddings within the span of three weeks!) and then I had a week to organize my room and get rid of school-related stuff that was no longer necessary. Admittedly, this is still a work in progress as nineteen years of schooling doesn't disappear that easily. I'm practically drowning in school supplies and am wondering what to do with it all. I also started work, which was quite a shift from the previous semester and from summer school.
Life post-grad has been interesting to adjust to, and by interesting, I also mean stressful, confusing, fun, and challenging - all of the above being good things, I suppose. As I've mentioned to friends, I've become stressed over the fact that I have no reason to be stressed (i.e. from homework or research) so I've been organizing things to keep me occupied. I do have to admit that I am really enjoying the concept of free time and that I can fill it with things I love doing, like reading or watching movies, things I didn't always have time for in school.
And speaking of reading, although I've spent most of this summer reading fiction so far, I'm hoping to finally get into the untouched non-fiction books that I've collected over the years. One funny thing that I came across today was Amazon's Christian textbook centre, something that would have been fun to see while I was in school. Oh well, if I ever do finish the books that I've accumulated, maybe I can browse for some new ones :)
Libellés : books, everyday life, work
lundi 12 février 2007
Verbosity
I used to receive comments on my papers from professors about my frequent use of complex or wordy sentences. Although I've worked to combat this problem, I can still see cases where it pops up quite a bit (at least I've learned to identify them!). I didn't understand just how frustrating reading long sentences could be until I went through the classic work of Christ and Culture. I've really enjoyed this book, save for a couple of long-winded sentences that required re-reading just to make sure I got the gist of it. Here's one example - and it really is one sentence:
[Calvin's] more dynamic conception of the vocations of men as activities in which they may express their faith and love and may glorify God in their calling, his closer association of church and state, and his insistence that the state is God's minister not only in a negative fashion as restrainer of evil but positively in the promotion of welfare, his more humanistic views of the splendour of human nature still evident in the ruins of the fall, his concern for the doctrine of the resurrection of the flesh, above all his emphasis on the actuality of God's sovereignty - all these lead to the thought that what the gospel promises and makes possible, as divine (not human) possibility, is the transformation of mankind in all its nature and culture into a kingdom of God in which the laws of the kingdom have been written upon the inward parts. (Niebuhr, 217-218)It's understandable that the first part is a list, which makes it long, but this type of phrasing is not atypical for the rest of the book. Phew, it's like Paul in the epistles and his famous run-on sentences! Now that I've gone through the difficulty of trying to comprehend such long sentences-turned-paragraphs, I have more sympathy for my profs who've had to endure needless bantering on my part :)
Libellés : books
lundi 23 octobre 2006
Cornucopia of thoughts
1. It has been many a day since I've signed into Blogger now that I'm trying to cut back on Internet time to work on homework instead.
2. I feel a bit guilty that I've neglected this blog so much but relieved that I've been able to do other things like read or catch up on errands.
3. I'm saddened to hear the latest news of Quebec's plans for sovereignty by 2015.
4. What's worse is the indifference of young Western Canadians who could care less about this separation issue.
5. Admittedly, I was one of those indifferent people back in 1995 (although my excuse is that I was a little kid and Quebec didn't affect me then as it does now).
6. I don't know why I don't listen to French radio more often. It's been pleasant to hear bands like Malajube and Les Cowboys Fringants again.
7. I get to return to Quebec in just a few months (providing I survive this semester)!!
8. In non-Quebec/French news, I'm getting there with my clutterless room. I'm waiting until Christmas break when I can finish what I had planned to do this summer - purge through all the papers I've collected since kindergarten!
9. I found this "Praying with Scripture" booklet from my first year of Bible college and realized that there are really bizarre things in there I didn't notice before.
10. Such as: "Posture - Relaxed and peaceful. A harmony of body with spirit."
11. And, "Read aloud or whisper in a rhythm with your breathing - a phrase at a time - with pauses and repetitions when and where you feel like it."
12. I think I've mentioned before how uncomfortable I am with this type of theology but I'll leave it at that.
13. I just finished a great book on evangelism for one of my courses which I recommend: Evangelism for "Normal" People. It's even on sale for ten bucks less than I had to pay for it (sigh, the fluctuating market of books which I can never benefit from)!
14. God has been teaching me so much through one of my Old Testament classes and I have really enjoyed spending this year taking a deeper look at the OT books.
15. I'm going to get back to my assignments now but I don't think I'll be as sporadic this time around on posting. After all, term papers are coming up and the opportunity for procrastination abounds!
Libellés : books, Montreal, procrastination
lundi 28 août 2006
Hitting the books
It's hitting me that I'm starting seminary in a week now! Summer has gone by quickly and all of a sudden, I'm only left with a few days before I'm back in classes. School itself is enough of a shock but this time, I won't be seeing the familiar walls of my college. I should be getting prepared but I don't know what classes I'm taking this fall or even how many. My course schedule depends on whether I will receive transfer credit and advanced standing, so at this point it's a matter of waiting (and worrying!). In the meantime, I can finish up some errands and post fun things like this book meme:
1. One book that changed your life: Perspectives on the World Christian Movement
2. One book that you've read more than once: Unfortunately, Society: The Basics - I had read this for Sociology 30 in high school but had the exact same textbook for my college Intro to Sociology course again
3. One book you'd want on a desert island: The Bible!
4. One book that made you laugh: What a Girl Wants - these lines crack me up every time: "I call Jim 'Wild at Heart Man' because he can't seem to say a thing without quoting John Eldredge. Trouble is, I think Jim missed the message of that book because he's not more masculine, just more annoying."
5. One book that made you cry: Redeeming Love
6. One book you wish had been written: A book about Quebec churches and the state of Christianity in that province that looks like an updated form of Transforming Our Nation
7. One book you wish had never been written: Anything by Brian McLaren (I'll probably get flack for this)
8. One book you're currently reading: The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind
9. One book you've been meaning to read: Chasing the Dragon (since high school now)
Hmm, a few things to do before I'm swamped with homework:
- See Bon Cop, Bad Cop
- Go to IKEA
- Finish reading library books
- Sleep (not a very exciting list but I'm sure other things will pop up!)
Libellés : books
samedi 5 août 2006
Church s/hopping
"No wonder Paul calls the metaphor of the Church as the bride of Christ a profound mystery! God invented romance and pursuit and the promise of undying love between a man and a woman so that throughout our lives we could catch a faint glimmer of the intense love Christ has for those He died to save. What passion He has for His Church! Even if you've never studied the Bible, you've heard the echoes of this amazing love throughout your life. Every true love story has hinted at it. Every groom weakened at the sight of his radiant bride has whispered of it. Every faithful, committed, and loving marriage has pointed to it. Each is an imperfect echo of the perfect love song of heaven." - Stop Dating the Church! by Joshua Harris, page 30
I've just started reading this book after seeing it in my church library, and it has been amazing so far. Definitely a wake-up call for us who have treated the church as another "market" so to speak, where the consumer's needs come first. I appreciate that this book tackles a relevant subject for Christians today; before attending Bible college, I had no idea just how many Christians did not go to church. I was quite shocked after finding out that some people my age thought church had no place in their lives even as believers.
Speaking for myself, church has been absolutely essential to my growing as a Christian. When I became a Christian over 7 years ago, I was forbidden to go to church. My parents were against it and I would say it was an opportune time for me to convert back to Chinese folk religion, which was precisely their goal (a smart way to do it wouldn't you say - preventing contact with other Christians or anything having to do with Christianity would have discouraged me from pursuing my faith further).
As I didn't have much of a choice then, I ended up taking books out from the public library and trying to read as much as I could on Christianity. But that could not have substituted for church. I was able to go to a church nearby a few times despite my parent's ultimatum, but I wasn't part of any community there. It wasn't until the beginning of high school that God brought me to a different church through some fun circumstances that I finally felt connected to the family of God. And miraculously, my parents didn't object to this church which I am now a member of! I am so incredibly grateful to my church; without its influence and impact on my life for over the past 6 years, I know I wouldn't be the person I am today.
I guess I could say that after looking back at how I desperately wanted to go to church but couldn't, that I can't understand why Christians who have the opportunity and freedom to choose not to. I don't want to be insensitive to those who have not yet found a church to belong to for whatever legitimate reason, but I do know of those who are simply stubborn and willfully resist being part of a local church. I'm hoping to finish this book after completing some more assignments as the first few chapters have really grabbed my attention. It's not too long of a book and I recommend picking it up, even if you are already committed to a church as it will only reinforce your love for it even more. And if you aren't part of a church, well you're pretty much the target audience!
jeudi 3 août 2006
Double-booking
In between writing papers, I've been going through some books this summer. Not all of the ones that I've been meaning to read but a couple of surprise ones that have popped up along the way. One of them has been So Many Books, So Little Time and while I had almost no clue about most of the books that the author was talking about, there were a few fun quotes:
I talk about my books as if they were people, and I choose them the way I choose my friends: because somebody nice introduced us, because I liked their looks, because the best of them turned out to be smart and funny and both surprising and inevitable at the same time.One of the other books that came up has been All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. I'm reading it for the storyteller aspect but it's been great having a light read to turn to when I get a chance. I've met two raconteurs in my life and I am constantly amazed by how well they can tell anything, no matter how mundane. So far, my favourite essay in this book is "Help", which has something to teach Christians (although it comes from a Unitarian Universalist minister).
"How do you choose your books?" my friends had asked. Less than a week into my project [of reading a book per week and journalling the experience], I can now tell them the beginning of the truth. I don't always choose the books, I'll say. Sometimes the books choose me.
"Always have a couple of things going at once.... That way, you'll never be lonely...." By double-booking - keeping one book at home and another in my backpack or glove compartment - I always had something to do while stuck in traffic, stranded in a long line, [etc.].
Well, I should be getting on with the books I really need to read for my course, after which I can finally delve into the ones I've been triple/quadruple-booking :)
Libellés : books
jeudi 22 juin 2006
Missions, books, organization
Just some of the things that I dearly love.
During the last few weeks, I've had the opportunity to talk to people about the spiritual needs in Quebec, which is why this journal entry caught my attention right away. I'm glad that word is getting out about this mission field within North America and I pray that God will continue to send workers into the harvest there. I think the coolest thing for me now is that when I mention Montreal and Quebec as a mission field, people are no longer surprised like they were a few years ago. It's become generally accepted that I don't need to go overseas in order to be a cross-cultural missionary - I can do it within my own country (clarification: missions can and should be done everywhere, but it's not necessarily cross-cultural everywhere).
This is an illustration that I heard at a conference in Quebec: if you had 13 daughters and one of them was really sick, which one would you tend to? A bit simplified but true. Quebec needs Jesus so much and she needs people who are willing to go there to build up the church. The Joshua Project reports that the percentage of evangelicals among the Quebecois now totals 0.8% of the population, which is an increase from the frequently quoted 0.5% but that is still less than 1%. I love what Tim says about how Christians there "worship like they mean it". It's true - and it's one of the things that I miss about being in Montreal.
In a complete change of topic, I've realized today that I have absolutely no more room on my bookshelves. My room is a current mess from trying to sort things out so that I can make more space, but alas - you simply cannot squeeze books. I hate to break it to my parents who have already built a huge storage unit inside my closet for this very reason, so I think I need to make a trip to IKEA... I also have the problem of cataloguing what I own so that I can avoid having to return duplicate books again. I'm using LibraryThing at the moment but I know I'm going to surpass 200 books soon and will need to subscribe to this service because it is abolutely wonderful. I do have to say that I've never gotten the point of tags; I must be the only person out there who believes that one tag is sufficient for each item that needs to be categorized. But using LibraryThing beats an Excel spreadsheet anyday; it's quite possibly the best internet thing I've used since Blogger.
I suppose getting this book will help me to figure out how to categorize things in real life and not just on the internet. It's probably my favourite HGTV show because I can actually put their concepts into practise. Even though I tend to be pretty neat, the biggest problem I run into is with paper. I have piles and piles of paper (not to mention numerous boxes filled with them in the basement) that I need to go through this summer and decide how to organize them all. I never realized I would need to find books on "home economics" and orderliness this soon. As an aside, it's funny that when I see books published in 2001 or earlier, I think "that's a little old." Well, off to do some more organizing!
Currently listening to: The Book of Genesis (not that I understand Hebrew)
* This blog is now 3 years old!
jeudi 8 juin 2006
Uncommon thread
It's funny that I now have a chance to get on here to write something just when Blogger shuts down for maintenance. Well, classes are finishing up and I have four exams to go through today and tomorrow. After that, I am off! I don't know what my plans are for Montréal while I'm there but I would like to go to La Ronde. Other random thoughts along the lines of Michelle:
1. Reading Mara's blog has made me realize how much I miss books in general. I have had dreams of my bookshelf while I've been here. And it's a small world after all - there's a girl in my class who was in her Bible study group (all the way on the other side of the country!) :)
2. Typing on a French keyboard is something I am getting used to but it takes me twice as long to get anything written. I practised on my English keyboard at home but it's actually different when there are extra keys.
3. I am terrible at predicting the weather. It's a good thing I am not a meterologist. A couple of times now I have been caught in the rain and wind without a coat as well as baking in the sun because I did bring one.
4. I just learned yesterday where the 3-hole punch is at my university. Three days before the end of the course. Now I feel silly for lugging around tons of unpunched paper, scared that they would fall somewhere.
5. Reading Leviticus has given me a new awe for the holiness of God. Reading Numbers has made me realize that were it not for the intercession of Moses for the Israelites, they would have been wiped out time and again for their sins. What a heart Moses had for his people.
6. Not cooking at all this past month has made me really appreciate mothers who spend time in the kitchen everyday preparing culinary delights so that their family can savour a new feast together.
7. The nicest thing about taking classes in a hotel is that there is a chipper doorman to greet us everyday, although he hasn't been present lately and that makes me a little sad. Speaking of chipper, I frequently see squirrels and chipmunks when I walk to class.
8. The title of this entry originally made no sense, showing how my English has deteriorated over the weeks that I've been trying to pick up French. I think all my language learning attempts cancel each other out though as I now think in a mixture of three languages. Oy, adventures in words.
9. I am in a wedding next week! I can't believe that my friend is getting married in a few days! I remember lunches spent at Pizza Hut talking about boys and now she will married. Another one of my friends whom I used to have these chats with is also getting married at the end of summer, leading me to believe that someday, these conversations could become reality.
10. Because Blogger goes to French by default on the school computers, I am unable to check my spelling on here. Not that I rely on the checker, but it's always funny to see the word «blog» appear as a misspelling. I think I'm getting better at figuring out what button to press though.
11. When I get back home, I will have eighteen books waiting for me at the public library. Some of the ones I'm really anticipating (sorry, no links):
- The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (Samuel P. Huntington)
- Is the Reformation Over?: An Evangelical Assessment of Contemporary Roman Catholicism (Mark Noll)
- Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity is Transforming China and Changing the Global Balance of Power (David Aikman)
- The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World (Alister E. McGrath)
12. Thanks for still linking to me even though I've been away for a month :) And for reading this, bien sûr.
Libellés : books, French, travel
mercredi 5 avril 2006
Order of viewing
Would you prefer to read a book and then watch the movie adaptation of it, or would you prefer to see a movie and then read the original source?
I've always held to the former option, but there have been instances where I happened to watch the movie first. I find that I'm more strict about this policy when it comes to classic novels but more lenient towards modern ones.
Just a thought before I nod off.
Libellés : books
mercredi 22 mars 2006
Hooray for online books
Having left all of my novels (romans) at home, finding this audio book has been such a delight for my days here. I was going to download the zip file but it would have taken five hours, so I'm listening to it as it streams in the background. I think if I were stranded on an island somewhere, I would have to bring the Bible, Pride and Prejudice, and Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. Truth, fiction, and missiology - I couldn't ask for more (well, I could but that would defeat that whole island imagery). Wow I hope I don't ever get stranded - it would be so hard not to have many books to go through!
(LibriVox has quite a number of works you can peruse; do check it out!)
Libellés : books
mercredi 8 mars 2006
That one publisher
I forget where I found this link to the 100 Best First Lines from Novels but I loved going through it! Ever since my English Lit course a few years ago in college, I've come to enjoy classic British literature the most. For that course, I had to read the following (publisher in parenthesis):
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Dover)
- Silas Marner by George Eliot (Penguin)
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (Wordsworth)
- Howards End by E.M. Forster
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (Wordsworth)
- Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (Wordsworth)
- Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray (Wordsworth)
- The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy (Wordsworth)
- A David Copperfield book though I don't recall which
Whenever I'm at a Chapters bookstore, I always browse through the bargain literature section to see what else I can add to my collection. The problem however lies in the publisher of the book. Because I'm such a stickler for uniformity, I would appreciate having all of my books come from the same publisher. My favourite is Wordsworth Editions, mostly for their excellent endnotes, their price and their appearance (covers do count). Yet most Chapters don't always have the Wordsworth book I'm looking for (Kim, help!) and I'm unable to buy these books online because they're considered bargain books and therefore, temporarily unable to order.
I don't like Penguin as much because they can be about 2 to 3 times more expensive than Wordsworth and Dover is actually less expensive but I don't enjoy them as much (I don't have a book on me so I can't relay why). I have found a partial solution in that Wordsworth has all of their books available for purchase on Amazon UK for 1.99 pounds (which comes out to 4 dollars Canadian more or less) but their overseas shipping rates are exorbitant! I shouldn't be surprised. So now I'm back to my dilemma - having to scour bookstores at random times to see if they have the elusive books I'm in pursuit of from the one publisher I'm after. I'm looking forward to the day when the majority of my book collection can look consistent :)
Update: I went to a Chapters today and they didn't have any books from Wordsworth at all! There is only one other store location in my city, so I really hope I'll find something in the bargain literature/fiction section there!
Libellés : books
jeudi 22 décembre 2005
2 posts!
Being off the internet means I haven't read blogs for a while, so I can't resist Kim's questionnaire. Actually I'll do that after I go through this insanely long literature post from her first (Blue=read, red=started/read parts):
1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. 1984, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corellis Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Sorcerers Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Susskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnights Children, Salman Rushdie
101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
102. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
103. The Beach, Alex Garland
104. Dracula, Bram Stoker
105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz
106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson
111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy
112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 1/2, Sue Townsend
113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat
114. Les Miserables, Victor Hugo
115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson
117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson
118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
119. Shogun, James Clavell
120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham
121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson
122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
129. Possession, A. S. Byatt
130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
131. The Handmaids Tale, Margaret Atwood
132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl
133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck
134. George's Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson
140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson
141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson
143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
144. It, Stephen King
145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
146. The Green Mile, Stephen King
147. Papillon, Henri Charriere
148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett
149. Master And Commander, Patrick OBrian
150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz
151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett
153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
154. Atonement, Ian McEwan
155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson
156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier
157. One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, Ken Kesey
158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
160. Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon
161. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
162. River God, Wilbur Smith
163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon
164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
165. The World According To Garp, John Irving
166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore
167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson
168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye
169. The Witches, Roald Dahl
170. Charlottes Web, E. B. White
171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway
174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco
175. Sophies World, Jostein Gaarder
176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson
177. Fantastic Mr. Fox, Roald Dahl
178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach
180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery
181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson
182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay
184. Silas Marner, George Eliot
185. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Gross-mith
187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh
188. Goosebumps, R. L. Stine
189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri
190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. Lawrence
191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons
193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett
194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells
195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans
196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White
199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews
201. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
202. The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan
203. The Great Hunt, Robert Jordan
204. The Dragon Reborn, Robert Jordan
205. Fires of Heaven, Robert Jordan
206. Lord of Chaos, Robert Jordan
207. Winters Heart, Robert Jordan
208. A Crown of Swords, Robert Jordan
209. Crossroads of Twilight, Robert Jordan
210. A Path of Daggers, Robert Jordan
211. As Nature Made Him, John Colapinto
212. Microserfs, Douglas Coupland
213. The Married Man, Edmund White
214. Winters Tale, Mark Helprin
215. The History of Sexuality, Michel Foucault
216. Cry to Heaven, Anne Rice
217. Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe, John Boswell
218. Equus, Peter Shaffer
219. The Man Who Ate Everything, Jeffrey Steingarten
220. Letters To A Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke
221. Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn
222. The Vampire Lestat, Anne Rice
223. Anthem, Ayn Rand
224. The Bridge To Terabithia, Katherine Paterson
225. Tartuffe, Moliere
226. The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka
227. The Crucible, Arthur Miller
228. The Trial, Franz Kafka
229. Oedipus Rex, Sophocle
230. Oedipus at Colonus, Sophocles
231. Death Be Not Proud, John Gunther
232. A Dolls House, Henrik Ibsen
233. Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen
234. Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton
235. A Raisin In The Sun, Lorraine Hansberry
236. ALIVE!, Piers Paul Read
237. Grapefruit, Yoko Ono
238. Trickster Makes This World, Lewis Hyde
240. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
241. Chronicles of Thomas Convenant, Unbeliever, Stephen Donaldson
242. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
242. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
243. Summerland, Michael Chabon
244. A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
245. Candide, Voltaire
246. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, Roald Dahl
247. Ringworld, Larry Niven
248. The King Must Die, Mary Renault
249. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein
250. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L'Engle
251. The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
252. The House Of The Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne
253. The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
254. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
255. The Great Gilly Hopkins, Katherine Paterson
256. Chocolate Fever, Robert Kimmel Smith
257. Xanth: The Quest for Magic, Piers Anthony
258. The Lost Princess of Oz, L. Frank Baum
259. Wonder Boys, Michael Chabon
260. Lost In A Good Book, Jasper Fforde
261. Well Of Lost Plots, Jasper Fforde
261. Life Of Pi, Yann Martel
263. The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver
264. A Yellow Raft In Blue Water, Michael Dorris
265. Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
267. Where The Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls
268. Griffin & Sabine, Nick Bantock
269. Witch of Blackbird Pond, Joyce Friedland
270. Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH, Robert C. O'Brien
271. Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt
272. The Cay, Theodore Taylor
273. From The Mixed-Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsburg
274. The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster
275. The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin
276. The Kitchen Gods Wife, Amy Tan
277. The Bone Setters Daughter, Amy Tan
278. Relic, Duglas Preston & Lincolon Child
279. Wicked, Gregory Maguire
280. American Gods, Neil Gaiman
281. Misty of Chincoteague, Marguerite Henry
282. The Girl Next Door, Jack Ketchum
283. Haunted, Judith St. George
284. Singularity, William Sleator
285. A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
286. Different Seasons, Stephen King
287. Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk
288. About a Boy, Nick Hornby
289. The Bookmans Wake, John Dunning
290. The Church of Dead Girls, Stephen Dobyns
291. Illusions, Richard Bach
292. Magics Pawn, Mercedes Lackey
293. Magics Promise, Mercedes Lackey
294. Magics Price, Mercedes Lackey
295. The Dancing Wu Li Masters, Gary Zukav
296. Spirits of Flux and Anchor, Jack L. Chalker
297. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
298. The Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices, Brenda Love
299. Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace
300. The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
301. The Cider House Rules, John Irving
302. Enders Game, Orson Scott Card
303. Girlfriend in a Coma, Douglas Coupland
304. The Lions Game, Nelson Demille
305. The Sun, The Moon, and the Stars, Stephen Brust
306. Cyteen, C. J. Cherryh
307. Foucaults Pendulum, Umberto Eco
308. Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson
309. Invisible Monsters, Chuck Palahniuk
310. Camber of Culdi, Kathryn Kurtz
311. The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
312. War and Rememberance, Herman Wouk
313. The Art of War, Sun Tzu
314. The Giver, Lois Lowry
315. The Telling, Ursula Le Guin
316. Xenogenesis (or Liliths Brood), Octavia Butler
317. A Civil Campaign, Lois McMaster Bujold
318. The Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold
319. The Aeneid, Publius Vergilius Maro (Vergil)
320. Hanta Yo, Ruth Beebe Hill
321. The Princess Bride, S. Morganstern (or William Goldman)
322. Beowulf, Anonymous
323. The Sparrow, Maria Doria Russell
324. Deerskin, Robin McKinley
325. Dragonsong, Anne McCaffrey
326. Passage, Connie Willis
327. Otherland, Tad Williams
328. Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay
329. Number the Stars, Lois Lowry
330. Beloved, Toni Morrison
331. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christs Childhood Pal, Christopher Moore
332. The mysterious disappearance of Leon, I mean Noel, Ellen Raskin
333. Summer Sisters, Judy Blume
334. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo
335. The Island on Bird Street, URI Orlev
336. Midnight in the Dollhouse, Marjorie Filley Stover
337. The Miracle Worker, William Gibson
338. The Genesis Code, John Case
339. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevensen
340. Paradise Lost, John Milton
341. Phantom, Susan Kay
342. The Mummy or Ramses the Damned, Anne Rice
343. Anno Dracula, Kim Newman
344: The Dresden Files: Grave Peril, Jim Butcher
345: Tokyo Suckerpunch, Issac Adamson
346: The Winter of Magics Return, Pamela Service
347: The Oddkins, Dean R. Koontz
348. My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok
349. The Last Goodbye, Raymond Chandler
350. At Swim, Two Boys, Jaime ONeill
351. Othello, by William Shakespeare
352. The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas
353. The Collected Poems of William Butler Yeats
354. Sati, Christopher Pike
355. The Inferno, Dante
356. The Apology, Plato
357. The Small Rain, Madeline L’Engle
358. The Man Who Tasted Shapes, Richard E Cytowick
359. 5 Novels, Daniel Pinkwater
360. The Sevenwaters Trilogy, Juliet Marillier
361. Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
362. To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
363. Our Town, Thorton Wilder
364. Green Grass Running Water, Thomas King
335. The Interpreter, Suzanne Glass
336. The Moors Last Sigh, Salman Rushdie
337. The Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson
338. A Passage to India, E.M. Forster
339. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
340. The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux
341. Pages for You, Sylvia Brownrigg
342. The Changeover, Margaret Mahy
343. Howls Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones
344. Angels and Demons, Dan Brown
345. Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo
346. Shosha, Isaac Bashevis Singer
347. Travels With Charley, John Steinbeck
348. The Diving-bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
349. The Lunatic at Large by J. Storer Clouston
350. Time for Bed by David Baddiel
351. Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
352. Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyre
353. The Bloody Sun by Marion Zimmer Bradley
354. Sewer, Gas, and Eletric by Matt Ruff
355. Jhereg by Steven Brust
356. So You Want To Be A Wizard by Diane Duane
357. Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
358. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte
359. Road-side Dog, Czeslaw Milosz
360. The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje
361. Neuromancer, William Gibson
362. The Epistemology of the Closet, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
363. A Canticle for Liebowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr
364. The Mask of Apollo, Mary Renault
365. The Gunslinger, Stephen King
366. Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare
367. Childhoods End, Arthur C. Clarke
368. A Season of Mists, Neil Gaiman
369. Ivanhoe, Walter Scott
370. The God Boy, Ian Cross
371. The Beekeepers Apprentice, Laurie R. King
372. Finn Family Moomintroll, Tove Jansson
373. Misery, Stephen King
374. Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters
375. Hood, Emma Donoghue
376. The Land of Spices, Kate O’’Brien
377. The Diary of Anne Frank
378. Regeneration, Pat Barker
379. Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald
380. Dreaming in Cuban, Cristina Garcia
381. A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
382. The View from Saturday, E.L. Konigsburg
383. Dealing with Dragons, Patricia Wrede
384. Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Lynne Truss
385. A Severed Wasp - Madeleine L'Engle
386. Here Be Dragons - Sharon Kay Penman
387. The Mabinogion (Ancient Welsh Tales) - translated by Lady Charlotte E. Guest
388. The DaVinci Code - Dan Brown
389. Desire of the Everlasting Hills - Thomas Cahill
390. The Cloister Walk - Kathleen Norris
391. The Things We Carried, Tim O’’Brien
392. I Know This Much Is True, Wally Lamb
393. Choke, Chuck Palahniuk
394. Enders Shadow, Orson Scott Card
395. The Memory of Earth, Orson Scott Card
396. The Iron Tower, Dennis L. McKiernen
397. Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
398. A Ring of Endless Light, Madeline L'Engle
399. Lords of Discipline, Pat Conroy
400. Hyperion, Dan Simmons
401. If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, Jon McGregor
402. The Bridge, Iain Banks
403. How to Be Good, Nick Hornby
404. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields
405. A Map of the World, Jane Hamilton
406. Eragon, Christopher Paolini
407. A Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket
408. I'm a Stranger Here Myself, Bill Bryson
409. The Neverending Story, Michael Ende
410. The Shining, Stephen King
411. The Alien Chronicles, Deborah Chester
412. Redwall, Brian Jacques
413. Mossflower, Brian Jacques
414. The Iliad, Homer
415. Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes
416. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain
417. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
418. The Odyessy, Homer
419. A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Madeleine L'Engle
420. Sir Apropos of Nothing, Peter David
421. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, JK Rowling
422. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, JK Rowling
423. A Woman of Substance, Barbara Taylor Bradford
I'm glad I have this list for when I'll be taking transit for up to three hours a day next year!
Libellés : books
mardi 8 novembre 2005
Paper all around
It's fun to be proven wrong sometimes. I'll admit I had serious doubts about Blue Like Jazz at first, but after I started reading it, I saw that it was pretty hard to feel antagonistic towards something that read like an autobiography. I will say that it was different than most books I've read and that I appreciated some aspects of it, but I probably wouldn't read it again. I even saw a live adaptation which was pretty funny so that redeemed the book somewhat :) All to say - the things that I approach with the most reservation can still surprise me, which is probably a pleasant thing in life.
Life is busy, but that's such a Canadian thing to say. (Foreign Guy has been making me think more about what I say and do as a Canadian now.) I'm busy putting plans together for my internship next semester and I have to say, there are so many applications and paperwork to fill out! I'm also putting together a prayer and support letter and trying to be creative and non-boredom-inducing. It's a tricky balance between doing that and being dry.
And for people wondering, I am hoping to go to school in Montreal eventually but there's this matter of whether my degree will qualify as an admissions requirement there, so my current plan is attending seminary in town. It would have been such fun to go to seminary in another country (England, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, States) but that won't work out. But since I have finally decided, this means mounds of more applications to complete, eek!
dimanche 18 septembre 2005
It's come to this
It's funny that I - the labelled 'antipostmodernist' among people who know me and have had to suffer through my trite arguments - now have to read a postmodern book for work. I suppose I'll have to report on whether this book changed any of my views, if at all :)
(I've read others, even McLaren, but this book is supposed to be the one that 'changes my life'. We'll see.)
Libellés : books
