Stats

Here is my geeky sum-up of 2010's 52in52.

Fiction (23)
General fiction (8)
Mystery (8)
Young adult fiction (4)
Graphic novel (2)
Short stories (1)


Poetry (3)

Non-fiction (26)
Personal narrative or memoir (9) (of these, 4 were about Christianity or faith, 2 were about writing, 2 were about food, and one was about faith and writing)
Sociology/cultural studies (4)
Parenting (4)
Spiritual life (4)
Cookbooks (3)
Biography (1)
Essay (1)

52 of 52

If you're a child of Bob Lepine, and if Tim Keller has a new book out, you can be pretty sure about what you're recieving for Christmas. I really loved this book, which is about social justice, and I hope everybody reads it.

51 of 52

This makes only the second book that Katie, Elliott, John, and I all read for 52 in 52 this year (the first being Wesley Hill's Washed and Waiting). It's an interesting story about love, depression, art, and the things that makes life worth living.

50 of 52

I read this, a slightly expanded version of a commencement address that Ann Patchett gave at her alma mater, Sarah Lawrence, yesterday while we drove from Georgia to Arkansas. I liked it, and was glad I took the suggestion from Katie and Elliott.

48 of 52

I guess it's true that during Christmas break, all I want to read are murder mysteries. (Number 1 of my 52, read during the end of last Christmas break, was also a Miss Marple.) I didn't want to include this in my 52, because it's really nothing more than escape reading, but time is getting short. And to be honest, it's still the case that all I want to do when it's cold and grey outside is make myself a hot chocolate and curl up with Miss Marple.


Hot Chocolate

Combine
2 Tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
2 scant Tbs sugar
pinch of salt
drop of vanilla
1 cup whole milk

in a small saucepan on the stove. Whisk until combined, and heat to desired temperature.

I like to then add a splash of coffee and/or a drop of starbuck's peppermint syrup. And I like to top it with marshmallows.

It's extremely decadent and may be the reason that at almost 6 months pregnant I already look more like 8 months. But I don't care.

47 of 52

This was a book I picked up off my parents' shelves while home this weekend for my cousin Tricia's wedding. I'd been wanting to read it since it was published in September. Wesley and I were acquaintances in highschool or early college. His book, subtitled "Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality," is wonderful; painfully honest, kind and gracious towards the fundamentalist traditions in which he was raised, and full of heart. He is a good writer, a good thinker, and most of all, he is a brother who is fighting for sanctification. Reading about his struggles encouraged me to be less passive in my own growth in sanctification.

46 of 52

Katie was right. This was good.

45 of 52

I have really enjoyed some of Billy Collins's earlier collections. This one was just ok. I actually read half of it this summer as we drove from Washington to Indiana, and then finished it this week.

This poem makes me laugh uncontrollably, though, and for that I do love it:


Tension
By Billy Collins

Never use the word suddenly just to create tension.
-Writing Fiction

Suddenly, you were planting some yellow petunias
outside in the garden,
and suddenly I was in the study
looking up the word oligarchy for the thirty-seventh time.

When suddenly, without warning,
you planted the last petunia in the flat,
and I suddenly closed the dictionary
now that I was reminded of that vile form of governance.

A moment later, we found ourselves
standing suddenly in the kitchen
where you suddenly opened a can of cat food
and I just as suddenly watched you doing that.

I observed a window of leafy activity
and beyond that, a bird perched on the edge
of the stone birdbath
when suddenly you announced you were leaving

to pick up a few things at the market
and I stunned you by impulsively
pointing out that we were getting low on butter
and another case of wine would not be a bad idea.

Who could tell what the next moment would hold?
another drip from the faucet?
another little spasm of the second hand?
Would the painting of a bowl of pears continue

to hang on the wall from that nail?
Would the heavy anthologies remain on the shelves?
Would the stove hold its position?
Suddenly, it was anyone’s guess.

The sun rose ever higher in the sky.
The state capitals remained motionless on the wall map
when suddenly I found myself lying on a couch
where I closed my eyes and without any warning

began to picture the Andes, of all places,
and a path that led over the mountains to another country
with strange customs and eye-catching hats,
each one suddenly fringed with colorful little tassels.

44 of 52

This book was interesting, though not extremely well-written. The author weaves together so many ideas that the connections among the ideas are not always altogether clear. To say that it deals with "women and a spirituality of the body," as the subtitle reads, is a good indication of how broad and vague the conclusions can be.

That said, I did find a lot of worthwhile and engaging strands of ideas, whether or not they were woven together well. The book is primarily about the modern disconnect between body and soul, and how that affects women in particular. Barger argues that the incarnate God, Jesus, offers a solution to this disconnect and the problems caused by it, and encourages us to embrace our bodies by embracing local communities, geographic place, and bodily presence, "based on faith that an invisible kingdom is being made visible in the bodies of the men and women who actively follow the crucified and resurrected one."

(ps - this book was for a book club I've been invited to join! We met last night, and it was wonderful. A book club where members actually read the book! And take notes! And have strong, well-reasoned opinions! Finally a group in which I'm not the dorky over-achiever.)

43 of 52

Yesterday I pulled out our Christmas decorations. It's early, I know; but we'll be gone for half a week at Thanksgiving, and we'll be gone for the last two weeks of December too, so setting up for Christmas now will just give us one month with Christmas in our house.

Plus, Jack was away at a TESOL conference, I was bored stiff, and the weather turned from gorgeous to cold and grey. I was in need of twinkly lights.

We don't have a lot in the way of Christmas decorations. This is the first year in our four years of marriage that we have both a child and a house of our own, so it's the first year that I've really put any thought into the Christmas traditions that I'd like to establish in our family.

Jack's mom gave me this book at my bridal shower (it was thoughtfully themed a "book shower" - some people know me so well). The book has been extremely helpful as I've been thinking through what traditions are, why we should have them, and how we should establish them. It has influenced me quite a bit in planning for our own Peterson family traditions....which I'll share with you in another post someday soon :-)

And when your children say to you, "What do you mean by this service?" you shall say, "It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt" (Exodus 12:26-27). Moses assumes children will ask why. And he instructs parents to give an answer that speaks of reality.

...

Year after year the traditions were there, a shadow of our God who is rock-steady and dependable year after year after year. When God created seasons and memories and celebrations -- traditions -- he knew our need for security. And he knew that even paltry red Jello year after year can provide enough steadiness to keep us going until we find our only real security in him.

But how much more of God is there to find when we are on the lookout, when we shape our "everyday" and "especially" around him. God will show himself in special and new ways when we celebrate him.

42 of 52

I absolutely loved this book. Usually, I am not a fan of short stories, primarily because I read to be drawn into other worlds, and I like to stay in those worlds for more than a short time. I guess this book did it for me because the stories are connected by the title character, Olive Kitteridge, who appears in some stories as a central character and in other stories is merely mentioned, or appears fleetingly. The stories are about the inhabitants of the small town of Crosby, Maine. They are beautifully told, heartbreaking and true. Read it!

"What young people didn't know, she thought, lying down beside this man, his hand on her shoulder, her arm: oh, what young people did not know. They did not know that...love was not to be tossed away carelessly, as if it were a tart on a platter with others that got passed around again. No, if love was available, one chose it, or didn't choose it. And if her platter had been full with the goodness of Henry and she had found it burdensome, had flicked it off crumbs at a time, it was because she had not known what one should know: that day after day was unconsciously squandered."

41 of 52

I feel more of a sense of accomplishment about finishing this book than I do about reading all of the previous forty. First of all, it's 542 pages long. Second of all, it's inspiring.

I will say that if you decide to try it, you should be prepared to find not only the story of Bonhoeffer's life, but also a great deal of German church history and World War II history. The scope is very broad.

Prior to reading this book, I knew of Bonhoeffer as the author of "Life Togther" and "The Cost of Discipleship". I knew that he had been involved in a plot to assassinate Hitler. I imagined him as a stodgy, overly intellectual German theologian. After reading this book I find him to be much more than that. And, after reading this book I feel compelled to read more of his writings, and also to read Karl Barth and Jean Lasserre.

40 of 52

A 2010 Newberry Honor book, this tells the story of 11 year old Calpurnia, who is growing up in a wealthy farming family in Texas at the turn of the 20th century. A nature lover, Calpurnia scorns the traditional female role that she sees in her future, and spends more and more time studying the natural world with her grandfather.

Since I'm a sucker for spunky young female heroines who defy conventions, I expected that this book would be right up my alley. I was disappointed. The plot is not tightly woven together, and the characters lack some originality. Plus, the story implies that the "intellectual" work of the mind is greater than the other valuable works of the traditional female roles at that time, which I found off-putting. Can't we value both?

As a side note, the author is a practicing doctor, lawyer, and (now) novelist, which kind of blows my mind.

And as one more side note: maybe next year I will read all the Newberry and Caldecott winners that I've never read...

39 of 52

I bought this cookbook because over the last year or two, one of our favorite tv shows has been the "River Cottage" series, which is nearly impossible to find on dvd and was introduced to us by some friends in Seattle.

This cookbook is designed to be used by families, so that even the youngest kids can participate and learn how to cook the basics. With kids in mind, each section has a "project" families can take on, like making homemade butter. It's also filled with interesting facts about the histories of different foods and the farming techniques currently used. It is unabashedly in favor of free range eggs and meats. I think it would be a great cookbook for any family to use for the basics, and it was fun to read.

38 of 52

I really loved The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd's first work of fiction) when I read it six years ago. Honestly, I think I might have read some of her other books - The Dance of the Dissident Daughter or The Mermaid's Chair - but I can't remember at all.

This book might also be mostly forgettable. A kind of memoir/travelogue in the vein of Eat, Pray, Love, co-written by Kidd and her daughter, the book deals with life transitions that women face. As Kidd and her daughter (Ann Kidd Taylor) prepare for a trip to Greece, Kidd is facing menopause and the realities of aging and death. Taylor, struggling with depression, is trying to find her calling in life. Heavy on introspection and light on plot, the women travel through Greece, and later France, and meditate on Mary, Joan of Arc, and the women of Greek Mythology - particularly Demeter and Persephone - as a way to come to grips with their own lives.

Although I wasn't in love with this book and I found some of the feminist spirituality (you could hardly call it feminist theology) a little shaky, I did - as a daughter, and as the mother of a daughter - find the women's relationship and interactions compelling, and I did find myself thinking about some of their stories after I finished the book.

37 of 52

Last week I said to Jack, "Pick a book off the shelf for me to read." This is what I ended up with. A couple of chapters in, I was engrossed and wondered why in the world I hadn't read Vonnegut since highschool (when I read Slaughterhouse Five, Cat's Cradle, and Player Piano). Then halfway through I tired of it, but I don't know if it was me or the book. Finished it this morning when I woke up at 5 and couldn't fall back to sleep. Now I'm lethargic. The end.

36 of 52

I have been reading this book for a long time. I can't remember for sure, but I may have started it in January, because I know that I only have it because I picked it up in my parents' house in Little Rock.

I don't know why it took me so long to read. It wasn't that I didn't like it. Maybe it was because it doesn't give a lot of direct application to parenting babies or toddlers, and so I never felt compelled to continue with it out of my immediate need in the moment.

That said, this was one of the best parenting books I've read. I hardly found a thing in it with which to disagree (and as a contentious person, I can rarely say that!). (On the other hand, I did have a major problem in the concluding chapter, when he wrote, "Grace is an amazing adjective.." --- grace isn't an adjective, sir!) (Grammar and vocabulary dork here.) (Hate myself sometimes.)

To my memory, I've read seven parenting books (not including books about vaccines, sleep, baby diet, etc):

Shepherding a Child's Heart - Tedd Tripp
Parenting with Love and Logic - Cline and Fay
Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood - Fay and Fay
Parenting is Your Highest Calling (and 8 other myths) - Leslie Leyland Fields
Don't Make Me Count to Three - Ginger Plowman
Gospel-Powered Parenting - William Farley
Grace-Based Parenting - Tim Kimmel

Of these books, I absolutely recommend Grace-Based Parenting for principles, and Love and Logic for practice. And while I think I'm done with parenting books for a while, I'd still love to hear any other recommendations if my readers have them :-)

The foundational idea behind Kimmel's book is that every child's three driving inner needs are for security, significance, and strength, and that parents meet these needs by giving their children love, purpose, and hope. In delivering grace to our kids, we need to give them the freedom to be different, to be vulnerable, to be candid, and to make mistakes. Kimmel fleshes these principles out beautifully with personal examples and biblical support.

I think what was most convicting for me in the book was the idea that a graceful relationship with God is contagious. Do I know that I'm loved? Do I recognize my purpose? Do I live in hope and free from fear? It will be harder for my kids to believe in grace if I don't believe in it myself. And my deep drive to be "good enough" makes it hard for me to live in grace!

35 of 52

This was the third book in the trilogy. It's a great trilogy, but I'm not sure I enjoyed this one as much as the first two. It was a little bleaker, maybe? (If that's even possible.) And the battle scenes went on too long. And I had bad dreams last night.

But all in all, I definitely recommend this trilogy.

34 of 52

I started this book because Nancy Pearl recommended it, and it sounded like the sort of thing I would love: the early memoirs of a woman who spent most of her life as a book editor in London. I finished it only because it was the only book I had in the house, and because of 52in52. While I enjoyed some of the writing, particularly Athill's descriptions of her childhood home and the influence that that place had on her - the kind of nostalgia one has for a place that profoundly shaped one's childhood - overall, I found her secular humanist worldview to be too depressing.

I really miss the SPL. How am I going to finish the 52 in 52 challenge without it?

In other news: I'm eight weeks and two days pregnant, feeling nauseous every day, and needing naps. Oh yeah, and I'm showing. Showing! Already! Life is not fair. I have not called a doctor yet. According to our insurance there are no midwives covered by our network within a fifty mile radius of Upland. However, there is a hospital with two birthing tubs.

And in still other news: I am almost officially adjunct faculty at Taylor for the fall. Soon as a few more papers get signed, I'll be ready to teach ESL one afternoon a week. Jack will come home to watch Rosie while I'm teaching. Hurrah!

33 of 52

It was good, of course. It's P.D. James.