More Copper Reserves for China

More Copper Reserves for China (April 30, 2009)

 

            The price of copper was forecasted to fall 20% this year in this economic recession but it increased 50% instead:  China is willing to pay around $5,000 the ton of copper instead of buying more US Treasury Bonds.  China has purchased 375,000 tons of copper in March and increasing each month. The Chinese Central Bank governor Xiaochuan view the US financial famine to a black hole since the US is about to print more dollars to paying the Chinese State, thus practically devaluing the US currency and reselling the Chinese more hot air.  The Chinese are not about to re-value the Yuan before the US and the European Union restore credibility and confidence in the financial system.

            Among the many industrial usage of copper is the manufacture of hybrid engines in cars that China is putting in its market.  Italy has been promoting hybrid cars for a while and many more gas stations are filling methane gas.  Methane does not emit carbon dioxide.  The driver would start and accelerate on regular gas and then shift into methane combustion.  As a matter of fact, the Green Peace advocates regards the European Union policy of selling carbon dioxides permits to the heavier polluters is not reducing the CO2 in the atmosphere.  For example, Germany has reduced its polluting energy consumption by 15% by relying on Aeolians, solar panels, and biomass; thus, Germany would sell 15% reduction in pollution to Poland and Slovenia that are still relying on coal.

            Goldman Sachs predicts that the GNP of China will surpass Japan by 2010 and the USA before 2030.  India will surpass Japan by 2030 and become third after the USA.  Brazil will be fifth after Japan in 2030.

            China is using its two trillion dollars surplus to accumulating reserves in aluminum, zinc, nickel, titanium, indium and rhodium so that it may resume its industrial acceleration once the current crisis is stabilized. This policy of purchasing minerals instead of US Treasury Bonds is compatible with China recommendation of creating an international banknote indexed on the prices of a basket of raw materials as was proposed by John Maynard Keynes at Bretton Woods in 1944; the “bancor” of Keynes was based then on 30 raw materials.

I suggest in a previous post “The Third World War is Tolling” the folowing: 

“First, the developed States have to agree on another tangible standard (like gold) for currencies.  Gold would not do because the US has abolished it in 1967 because all the gold in the world could not sustain the huge amount of paper dollars circulating or intended to circulate around the world.  The alternative is a basket of depleting minerals that are essentials for manufacturing and production.  The processed minerals do not have to be rare but very essentials for development.  The US can agree to this idea since it has huge reserves in many important minerals.

Second, all the States that can account for at least 3% of all curency circulation should join an “International Money Printing Council” with tight control and monitoring creteria.  Any combined States with over 40% of cash money shares in the global market should have a veto power.

Failing a convincing and sustainable agreement for monetary stability the Third World War is altready in the planning stage as the easiest and quickest way out of that morass.  Only in major wars do printed money with no tangible backing has mythical values.  No, the next region for the war scene is not Iran: no European or US soldiers want to fight in this “cursed region”.  It won’t be Afghanistan: if Afghanistan was worth it then Bush Junior would not have invaded Iraq before stabilizing Afghanistan.  It won’t be North Korea: it is bordering China.  The batlefield will not be in any area bordering Russia.  It won’t be the Congo River zone: no Western soldiers is about to step in this infested and contagious disease plagued region with AIDS consuming 30% of the population. The next world war is in Sudan, this continent/State rich in oil and all kinds of minerals”.

Actually, Sudan is the focus of investment for China in the last two decades.

Book Reviews - Rumour Has It by Jill Mansell

Tilly Cole is happy working in London, but realises that life isn’t going to plan when her latest boyfriend moves out while she’s at work. She decides she’s had enough and moves to the small town of Roxborough where her best friend Erin lives.

She gets a job working for a gay Interior designer and his daughter, basically as their dogsbody but soon begins to love village life. But when Max’s best friend Jack comes onto the scene, Tilly is knocked for six as she wasn’t expecting to be attracted to anyone so soon.

Tilly is soon caught up in the lives and loves of all of Roxborough, but is she going to find love even when she doesn’t want it?

The premise of the story didn’t sound too exciting when I initially read it on the back of the book, but I knew it wouldn’t be a straight-forward story like you might expect from other authors.

Jill Mansell has a way of creating stories and characters that the reader actually begins to care about and that is what drew me back to her book, and will make me read her older novels too. The story is actually relatively similar to ‘An Offer You Can’t Refuse’ but again the twists and turns along the way makes it totally readable and a brilliant book. Also, I did feel that it was a tad predictable, especially regarding the ending but that didn’t detract at all from my enjoyment of the book as a whole.

Mansell has chosen a female lead for this book, and as I always say, the lead character has to be likeable and hold the whole story together for me to want to continue the book. Luckily for me, I liked the character of Tilly straight away, mainly due to the way Mansell has written her. She is very unlucky in love and I felt sorry for her but as the story unravelled my opinion of her changed (not in a bad way!) but still I enjoyed the journey that she took along the way. However, for me it wasn’t Tilly’s story that gripped me the most, but that of her best friend Erin. To be honest, this is what I really loved about this book - it wasn’t just the main story that I loved but even the minor storylines are fantastic too.

Erin is happy in her relationship but there is someone in Roxborough who isn’t too happy. However, there is a shocking twist in here that took me completely by surprise but Mansell has tackled this perfectly and made such a wonderful story out of it, it really struck a chord with me. The characters involved all worked well in the context of this storyline and I loved it. There was a bit of a mystery about Jack that went on through the book, the relationship between Tilly and her employer Max and his daughter Lou was well explored, and Max’s ex-wife Kaye pops up for her own good storyline too. All in all, you can see there is a lot going on in the book, but its not hard at all to follow along and that’s because of Mansell’s writing talent.

Mansell has chosen to write the book in the third person, and I do love this way of writing. To me, third person is like proper story-telling because you having it told to you, rather than the first person where you almost have to imagine the lead character talking to you. The third person factor also works well when you have a few storylines going on at once because it allows it to be easy to follow, and just feels like a classic story. Mansell really delves into the relationships of her characters from the word go, and doesn’t shy away from the more tough times in friendships too. The relationships with the characters change throughout, and it just makes the book that bit more realistic and consequently enjoyable for me.

You can probably tell from the tone of my review that I really did love this book, and I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending it not only for Jill Mansell fans, but also for people who just love a good story. It is a great book to settle down with in the evening because it is easy to read and very enjoyable, the characters are all likeable and the stories all interweave nicely and come together for a predictable but still satisfying end. It’s a nice enough length for the stories to develop thoroughly, but not so long that you’re bored by the end and Mansell seems to judge this perfectly. It’s a brilliant review, and I really enjoyed reading this book, and felt a tad sad when it ended! I’ll have to look out for her older stuff now to keep myself happy until her next book! Highly recommended!

Rating: 5/5

A Jane Kirkpatrick Duet: A FLICKERING LIGHT and AURORA

A FLICKERING LIGHT

Returning to her Midwest roots, award-winning author Jane Kirkpatrick draws a page from her grandmother’s photo album to capture the interplay between shadow and light, temptation and faith that marks a woman’s pursuit of her dreams.

She took exquisite photographs,

but her heart was the true image exposed.

Fifteen-year-old Jessie Ann Gaebele loves nothing more than capturing a gorgeous Minnesota landscape when the sunlight casts its most mesmerizing shadows. So when F.J. Bauer hires her in 1907 to assist in his studio and darkroom, her dreams for a career in photography appear to find root in reality.

With the infamous hazards of the explosive powder used for lighting and the toxic darkroom chemicals, photography is considered a man’s profession. Yet Jessie shows remarkable talent in both the artistry and business of running a studio. She proves less skillful, however, at managing her growing attraction to the very married Mr. Bauer.

This luminous coming-of-age tale deftly exposes the intricate shadows that play across every dream worth pursuing-and the irresistible light that beckons the dreamer on.

AURORA:

Wrap yourself in a fantastic journey,

a remarkable commitment, and a spare and splendid story

Master storyteller Jane Kirkpatrick extols the beautiful treasures, unknown to a wider public, rediscovered in the Old Aurora Colony of Oregon’s lush Willamette Valley. The people and legacy of Aurora, a utopian community founded in the mid-1800s, will stir your imagination, hopes, and dreams; and remind you that every life matters-that our lives are the stories other people read first.

~Featuring~

Unique and treasured quilt pattern variations

More than 100 photographs, many never-before published, from 1850 to today

Cherished stories from Aurora descendants

Rich images of fine crafts from the Aurora Colony and priv ate collections

An introduction by renowned American artist John Houser

Aurora is about the difference every ordinary life can make-and a beautiful celebration of a time and place in which people expressed their most cherished beliefs through the work of their imagination and hands.

JANE KIRKPATRICK is a writer, speaker, teacher and mental health professional. Her award-winning essays, articles, and humor have appeared in over fifty publications such as Decision, Country and Daily Guideposts.  She’s written 14 novels and three non-fiction books including the Wrangler award-winning book A Sweetness to the Soul, a story inspired by a fifty-year old essay a Depression-era schoolboy wrote about his distant ancestors - the Sherars.  Her titles have been finalists for the Oregon Book Award, the Spur Award from Western Writers, Reader’s Choice and the WILLA Literary Award of Women Writing the West. Literary Guild, Book of the Month, Doubleday Book Club and Crossings have chosen her books as main features or alternate selections. Her novel A Tendering in the Storm was named a Christy Finalist and won the WILLA Literary Award for Best Original Softcover Fiction for 2008.

Jane grew up near Mondovi, Wisconsin, a little town not far from the Mississippi River. Her older sister Judy and younger brother Craig helped on the family dairy farm. Dozens of cousins lived within 50 miles providing the privilege of extended family memories. Most of the “Rutschow” clan remained in the Wisconsin-Minnesota area. Jane moved to Oregon in 1974 after completing her master’s degree in social work. She worked in the disabilities field, became the director of the mental health program in Deschutes County and eventually “retired” from there to homestead and begin a new adventure in writing, working on the reservation, growing watermelons, and attempting to grow grapes, alfalfa and cattle.   In 2007, they sold the cows, again; and now raise alfalfa they sell to neighboring ranches.

The Kirkpatrick’s new life has included “clearing sagebrush and wrestling wind and rattlesnakes” while “homesteading” land on the John Day River in a remote part of Oregon known locally as Starvation Point. She and her husband Jerry still live there today. “It’s our ‘rural 7-Eleven’ since our home sits seven miles from the mailbox and eleven miles from the pavement” notes the author. Additionally, she worked for seventeen years as a mental health and educational consultant on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in Central Oregon with both Native American and non-Indian communities a position she left in 2002.  Jane has two step-children.  Kathleen lives in Florida with her family and youngest granddaughter, Madison.  Matt lives in Wasco and works on the ranch full time when not looking after his family including granddaughter, Mariah.

A lively and humorous speaker, Kirkpatrick is a frequent keynote presenter for conferences, women’s retreats, and workshops.  In addition to her historical fiction which dramatizes pioneer life, Homestead relates, with love and laughter, her own family’s modern-day struggle to catch a dream in the Oregon Territory.

Jane believes that our lives are the stories that others read first and she encourages groups to discover the power of their own stories to divinely heal and transform. Visit her blog for more information about her current projects and the joys of living on Starvation Lane.

My inner geek and interrupting Jesus...

I got this in the mail today and my inner geek is going nuts!  Bart Ehrman is a textual critic (someone who analyzes a text in a family of manuscripts to determine what the original most likely said) who has arrived at the conclusion that much of the Bible isn’t what it seems.  I received this copy and was asked to read it and blog about it, so I’ll be reading it and posting on it in the next 30 days.  I’ll give you my scoop.  The publisher’s little blurb says Ehrman suggests, “not only that the Bible is riddled with inconsistencies and outright forgeries, but that many of Christianity’s fundamental stories and doctrines don’t actually exist within its pages—they were later inventions by people trying to make sense of a disconnected collection of texts. The Scriptures did not come down to us through the ages in one, harmonious, unbroken version. The story of Jesus was, in fact, interrupted.”  You can read more about the book here.

You can watch Bart Ehrman talk about it on YouTube here…

or

You can watch Bart Ehrman get interviewed by the distinguished journalist Stephen Colbert here…

Just curious: anyone else reading this?  I’d love to hear your thoughts…

Daughter of the Blood Prologue by Anne Bishop

Prologue

Tereille

I am Tersa the Weaver, Tersa the Liar, Tersa the Fool. When the Blood-Jeweled Lords and Ladies hold a banquet, I’m the entertainment that comes after the musicians have played and the lithesome girls and boys have danced and the Lords have drunk too much wine and demand to have their fortunes told. “Tell us a story, Weaver,” they yell as their hands pass over the serving girls’ rumps and their Ladies eye the young men and decide who will have the painful pleasure of serving in the bed that night.

I was one of them once, Blood as they are Blood.

No, that’s not true. I wasn’t Blood as they are Blood. That’s why I was broken on a Warlord’s spear and became shattered glass that only reflects what might have been.

It’s hard to break a Blood-Jeweled male, but a witch’s life hangs by the hymenal thread, and what happens on her Virgin Night determines whether she is whole to practice the Craft or becomes a broken vessel, forever aching for the part of her that’s lost. Oh, some magic always remains, enough for day-to-day living and parlor tricks, but not the Craft, not the lifeblood of our kind.

But the Craft can be reclaimed—if one is willing to pay the price.

When I was younger, I fought against that final slide into the Twisted Kingdom. Better to be broken and sane than broken and mad. Better to see the world and know a tree for a tree, a flower for a flower rather than to look through gauze to gray and ghostly shapes and see clearly only the shards of one’s self.

So I thought then.

As I shuffle to the low stool, I struggle to stay at the edge of the Twisted Kingdom and see the physical world clearly one last time. I carefully place the wooden frame that holds my tangled wed, the wed of dreams and visions, on the small table near the stool.

The Lords and Ladies expect me to tell their fortunes, and I always have, not by magic but by keeping my eyes and ears open and then telling them what they want to hear.

Simple. No magic in it.

But not tonight.

For days now I have heard a strange kind of thunder, a distant calling. Last night I surrendered to madness in order to reclaim my Craft as a Black Widow, a witch of the Hourglass covens. Last night I wove a tangled web to see the dreams and visions.

Tonight there will be no fortunes. I have the strength to say this only once. I must be sure that those who must hear it are in the room before I speak.

I wait. They don’t notice. Glasses are filled and refilled as I fight to stay on the edge of the Twisted Kingdom.

Ah, there he is. Daemon Sadi, from the Territory called Hayll. He’s beautiful, bitter, cruel. He has a seducer’s smile and a body women want to touch and be caressed by, but he’s filled with a cold, unquenchable rage. When the Ladies talk about his bedroom skills, the words they whisper are “excruciating pleasure.” I don’t doubt he’s enough pf a sadist to mix pain and pleasure in equal portions, but he’s always been kind to me, and it’s a small bone of hope that I throw out to him tonight. Still, it’s more than anyone else has given him.

The Lords and Ladies grow restless. I usually don’t take this long to begin my announcements. Agitation and annoyance build, but I wait. After tonight, it will make no difference.

There’s the other one, in the opposite corner of the room. Lucivar Yaslana, the Eyrien half-breed from the Territory called Askavi.

Hayll has no love for Askavi, nor Askavi for Hayll, but Daemon and Lucivar are drawn to one another without understanding why, so wound into each other’s lives they cannot separate. Uneasy friends, they have fought legendary battles, have destroyed so many courts the Blood are afraid to have them together for any length of time.

I raise my hands, let them fall into my lap. Daemon watches me. Nothing about him has changed, but I know he’s waiting, listening. And because he’s listening, Lucivar listens too.

“She is coming.”

At first they don’t realize I’ve spoken. Then the angry murmurs begin when the words are understood.

“Stupid bitch,” someone yells. “Tell me who I’ll love tonight.”

“What does it matter?” I answer. “She is coming. The Realm of Tereille will be torn apart by its one foolish greed. Those who survive will serve, but few will survive.”

I’m slipping further from the edge. Tears of frustration spill down my cheeks. Not yet. Sweet Darkness, not yet. I must say this.

Daemon kneels beside me, his hands covering mine. I speak to him, only to him, and through him, to Lucivar.

“The Blood in Tereille whore the old ways and make a mockery of everything we are.” I wave my hand to indicate the ones who now rule. “They twist things to suit themselves. They dress up and pretend. They wear the Blood Jewels but don’t understand what it means to be Blood. They talk of honoring the Darkness, but it’s a lie. They honor nothing but their own ambitions. The Blood were created to be the caretakers of the realms. That’s why we were given our power. That’s why we come from, yet are apart from, the people in every Territory. The perversion of what we are can’t go on. The day is coming when the debt will be called in, in and the Blood will have to answer for what they’ve become.”

“They’re the Blood who rule, Tersa,” Daemon says sadly. “Who is left to call in this debt? Bastard slaves like me?”

I’m slipping fast. My nails dig into his hands, drawing blood, but he doesn’t pull away. I lower my voice. He strains to hear me. “The Darkness has had a Prince for a long, long time. Now the Queen is coming. It may take decades, even centuries, but she is coming.” I point with my chin at the Lords and Ladies sitting at he tables. “They will be dust by then, but you and the Eyrien will be here to serve.”

Frustration fills his golden eyes. “What Queen? Who is coming?”

“The living myth,” I whisper. “Dreams made flesh.”

His shock is replaced instantly by a fierce hunger. “You’re sure?”

The room is a swirling mist. He’s the only thing still in sharp focus. He’s the only thing I need. “I saw her in the tangled web, Daemon. I saw her.”

I’m too tired to hand on to the real world, but I stubbornly cling to his hands to tell him one last thing. “The Eyrien, Daemon.”

He glances at Lucivar. “What about him?”

“He’s your brother. You are you father’s sons.”

I can’t hold on anymore and plunge into the madness that’s called the Twisted Kingdom. I fall and fall among the shards of myself. The world spins and shatters. In its fragments, I see my once-Sisters pouring around the tables frightened and intent, and Daemon’s hand casually reaching out, as if by accident, destroying the fragile spidersilk of my tangled web.

It’s impossible to reconstruct a tangled web. Terreile’s Black Widows may spend year upon frightened year trying but in the end it will be in vain. It will not be the same web, and they will not see what I saw.

In the gray worlds above, I hear myself howling with laughter. Far below me, in the psychic abyss that is part of the Darkness, I hear another howling, one full of joy and pain, rage and celebration.

Not just another witch coming, my foolish Sisters, but Witch.

Pierced For Our Transgressions

Recently I read this book and I thought it was well worth recommending!

The book aims to explore the Biblical view of Jesus’ substitutionary death and whether this is a true and valid doctrine. It stands up against the claim from some that the belief in God punishing His Son on our behalf would be nothing more than ‘cosmic child abuse’.

Between the three authors (Mike Ovey, Steve Jeffrey and Andrew Sach) they start off by looking at many biblical passages that teach penal substitution. They then explore the doctrines’ history throughout the church to see if this is a well grounded teaching through histrory and if the first Christians really believed this. Last of all they then counter the many arguments people have produced against the doctrine of substituition, and give responses that are both biblical and insightful.

Well worth a read as your head and your heart will know more of the great doctrine of the Crucified Christ who truly was ‘pierced for our transgressions’ (Isaiah 53:5)

Influential Books & Authors from Bill Mounce

Bill Mounce is well-known for his Basics of Biblical Greek series. I’m especially grateful to him for the way he practically teaches the language of Koine Greek, as I have learned the basics of Koine through this book. Mounce was also the New Testament chair for the English Standard Version translation of the Bible. So it’s no surprise that I would be interested to hear what books and authors have been most influential in his life. Watch below.

Bill Mounce on J.I. Packer, John Piper and other writers from Zondervan on Vimeo.

Book Review: The Book Thief

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Recently I’ve been envious of a lot of other writers (pretty much after every book I read).  It may be the way they can create vivid images in my mind with apparent ease, or the way they can use dialogue to make their characters come alive effortlessly - or just their success.   Well, add Markus Zusak, the award-winning Australian author of The Book Thief, to that list.

I bought The Book Thief almost a year ago, but it wasn’t until my recent European trip that I actually got around to reading it.  Here’s what I thought of it.

What is it about?

I never like to give away too much plot, so all I will say is that The Book Thief centers around a young girl named Liesel Meminger (who, of course, is the Book Thief), and the story takes place during World War II in Nazi Germany.  Sounds pretty familiar right?  But don’t be tricked by the premise.  The Diary of Anne Frank it is not.  The Book Thief is, without a doubt, one of the most unusual books I have ever read.

What makes it unusual?

For starters, the storyteller of the novel is Death.  Yes, that’s right, Death.  A rather apt choice considering that the story takes place during the Holocaust.  However, despite the grim topic and the grimmer narrator, Zusak manages to convey the story in a (for the most part) lighthearted manner that is brimming with its young protagonist’s curiosity and mischief.  Perhaps it takes away some of that realism and genuine horror, but having the story told by a character supposedly detached from humanity was eerily effective.  Further, the story is told largely from the point of view of the Germans.  In fact, there’s only one main Jewish character in the whole book.

The Book Thief is also a love affair with books - and a examination of the power of words and stories.  Indeed, Zusak alludes to the view that Hitler was able to become who he was because he was a master of words - a master at using words to manipulate people.  He didn’t need to be big and strong or wealthy, and he didn’t need a gun.  He became the most powerful man in the world because he understood the power of words.

So, how was it?

To be honest, it took a while for me to get into The Book Thief.  Not because it was boring (though it was slow in certain parts), but because of the book’s unusual style.  The narrative jumps around a bit, and there’s the occasional poetic extract in bold from the narrator that breaks things up.  Each section of the book also has a tiny summary at the front, comprised primarily of single words, short phrases and things that don’t make much sense until you finish the section.  It was highly unusual.

Furthermore, despite the scope of the events surrounding the characters, The Book Thief is a very personal story.  It is essentially focused on a single town, a single street (which happens to be the street on which the protagonist lives) and on a small handful of characters.

Even when I finally got used to it, for a while I wondered where the story was going and what it was getting at.  Dare I say I even found it difficult to read on, despite the fact that the book was clearly fabulously written.

But I’m glad I did, because gradually, I realized that it wasn’t all just aimless wandering.  Before long, I realized that I actually cared about the characters.  I realized that I was sympathizing with Germans in the Holocaust.  Though their suffering paled in comparison to the Jews, that does not mean they were not victims too.

By the end of the book, I was deeply moved.  At some point (and I don’t know exactly where, except that it was quite late), The Book Thief stops being just an exceptionally written novel - it simply becomes exceptional.  It’s one of those books with the ability to linger in your mind long after the final page.

Overall, I’d say it was a good book that unfortunately didn’t become great until it neared the end.  Perhaps a little too long and a little tedious at times, but there was no doubting how well it was written.  And it does pack an emotional punch at the end.  3.5 out of 5 stars!

Zuzak’s writing style

While the novel has its problems it does not mean the author is not worthy of praise.  I grew increasingly envious of Markus Zusak’s writing ability as the book progressed.  In particular, Zusak has a knack for descriptions (which I consider one of my weakest points as a writer).  In The Book Thief, some of his descriptions are so out of the ordinary and so brilliant that it made me shake my head.  Especially those relating to character traits.  For instance, Liesel’s foster mother is repeated referred to as a ‘cardboard woman’; her foster father has ’silver eyes’ and her best friend has ‘yellow hair’.  These may seem unremarkable but whenever I saw these references in the book I would instantly recognize the character.  These images are so ingrained in my memory that I can still immediately come up with them off the top of my head despite having finish the book weeks ago.  Some may be unimpressed with his overuse of metaphors (like ‘the sky was the colour of Jews’) or even find his style pretentious, but as an aspiring writer trying to learn the craft, I was intrigued by his confident use of unusual descriptions and imagery.

I also found Zusak to be a great craftsman who is able to shape a story with control and subtlety - he doesn’t rub anything in your face.  He builds it up, gives you the chance to learn the characters.  At the same time he gives you room to think about and interpret the imagery (and there is a lot of that, especially in the short stories and hand-drawn artwork in the book).  Even if you don’t enjoy the book, it doesn’t hurt reading it just to see and learn from the way Zusak writes (regardless of whether you like his style or not).

It doesn’t appear that Zusak was naturally gifted with these skills.  I just read a fascinating interview with the author entitled ‘Why I write’ in which he describes his struggles with writing (see here).  It also has some terrific insights into the craft and process of writing which I found very useful.  Another great article on his personal journey in creating The Book Thief can be found here.  Just shows it’s not easy coming up with an international bestseller.

Maybe there’s still hope for me.

LIFE STRATEGIES

Life Strategies by Dr Phillip C McGraw

Dr Phil needs no introduction.  Just mentioning his name creates a reaction.  His book Life Strategies was first published 10 years ago, before he became a popular television talk show host.  While his modus operandi on television might be controversial, I was curious to read his message before I judged the messenger.

He makes it clear that for those that finish life well, they did not made it that far by fluke, but rather by careful planning.  He speaks of being a Life Manager of your own life as well as being your own Client.  These two roles, functioning simultaneously, will define the way going forward. 

By implementing the 10 Life Laws that he suggests, these Life Laws will govern the game and provide the basis for a solid foundation in the various areas of your life.  Just as penalties are the consequences for breaking the rules in a sports game, so penalties are the consequences for breaking a Life Law.  He goes on to say that if everything is relative and there are no absolutes, then there is no standard to achieve and if there is no finish line, how do you know when you have crossed the line?

By focusing on behaviour and patterns of thinking he challenges one to consider changing the things in your life that are not working.  Accepting responsibility and being accountable one can no longer make an excuse for how and why your life is the way it is.  He states that if one doesn’t accept accountability you will misdiagnose every problem one has.  If you misdiagnose, you will mistreat and if you mistreat things won’t get better.  

He reminds the reader that the one person we spend most of our time with is - ourselves.  The journey is long and we are the driver every single day.  While he is known to aim straight for the bull’s eye, I didn’t find his book to be insensitive to suffering or circumstances beyond ones control.

Although one may not agree with all his recommendations, there are nuggets of information throughout the book that are worth practising.  After all, if it’s not working, do something about it, “stop making excuses….you choose the behaviour, you choose the consequences” - Dr McGraw

The Bare Bum Gang and the Valley of Doom written by Anthony McGowan

  Hi peeps! This book is very interesting and adventurous. You all can buy this book at POPULAR or borrow at the Woodlands Library near the Causeway Point.

                                               KEEP OUT!!!

  Ludo, Noah, Jamie, Phillip and Jennifer are THE BARE BUM GANG! They may have a silly name, but they have an extremely cool den, defended by kick-ss traps.

  But now the gang are in desperate trouble, ambushed deep in enemy territory. How can they possibly escape? And who is the mysterios boy who helps them?

  Things spiral out of control and Ludo finds himself expelled from the Gang. Will he really join their ancient enemies to get his revenge on his old comrades?

If you want to know what happened, go and borrow or buy this book.

Picture of Book:

Web: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/anthony-mcgowan/

The Reluctant Fundamentalist, by Mohsin Hamid

“…America was engaged only in posturing. As a society, you were unwilling to reflect upon the shared pain that united you with those who attacked you. You retreated into myths of your own difference, assumptions of your own superiority. And you acted out these beliefs on the stage of the world, so that the entire planet was rocked by the repercussions of your tantrums…” p. 167

This book articulates the many tensions that have occured in the post-September 11 world. The story is told by the central figure Changez sitting at a Cafe in Pakistan; Changez is dictating his life story to a American who is on edge and nervous of the environment around him. But Changez assures him he has no need to worry as he describes his life in America at a high flying job and how would eventually become disillusioned working for the emporors. The book creates remarable tension and is written with a refined clarity. The book is written with great depth but also has very simple devises. The love affair Changez has with Erica uses a obvious metaphor that Erica who cannot forget her dead boyfriend Chris eventually makes love to Changez but cannot only do so but pretending Changez is Chris. Erica being Am-Erica, Christ being a slight analogy to Christianity maybe although this could be debated and of course Changez equates to changes. However, this description makes it seem so crass but Hamid makes it all seem so seamless and fitting. For a great review of the book see James Lasdun.

Rebel in Blue Jeans (Beverly Stowe McClure) A Must Read for Your YA Library

 

 

 

 

 

In the blink of an eye, Rebel Ferguson’s world turned upside down and shattered. Her mother’s announcement that she was leaving the family behind…to be with the drummer of a rock band came as quite a shock. This simply couldn’t be happening - after all, parents don’t run away….do they?

 

What an attention grabbing opening scene!

 

I thoroughly enjoyed Rebel and would most definitely recommend it. Ms. McClure has an amazing sense of the relationships between her characters. The characters in this novel are very realistic and easy to identify with. The story is told from the sixteen-year-old protagonist’s point of view and you are immediately pulled into her world. Having to cope with the imminent divorce of her parents, a budding romance with a childhood friend, and all the attention she is getting from a very cute college guy (who just happens to have a really bad reputation), Rebel Ferguson finds many challenges being thrust upon her and faces them with courage and humor. She is lucky to have the help of some compassionate friends that are determined to help in her time of need by providing the support and voice of reason she needs to get her past the feelings of betrayal and anger.  

 

I think the author definitely knows her audience and young adult readers will relate to the contemporary theme of dealing with the parents’ pending divorce, the support system of friends and family teens rely on, dealing with new relationships and established relationships that take an unexpected turn into something completely new. Suddenly, it seems like everything Rebel depended on in her world has changed. She feels as though there isn’t anything she can count on – people are not what they seem and nothing is turning out the way she always thought it would. The author shows some tender moments where the teen identifies very strongly with her love for animals and all the pets she keeps in the country home.

 

Ms. McClure has done an excellent job of capturing the range of emotions the young protagonist is going through, the roller coaster of feelings from the cornucopia of life events she is experiencing. In the midst of all the serious and intense story threads woven into this tale, Ms. McClure has built in many humorous antics from some of the characters in this book to lighten some of the scenes and make this a very enjoyable read. I definitely give this book a five star rating and a place on my bookshelf with my other favorite books.

 

Rebel in Blue Jeans can be found at retailers where books are sold, online at Amazon, and through the publisher.   

 

 

REBEL IN BLUE JEANS

By Beverly Stowe McClure

Publisher: Twilight Times Books

www.twilighttimesbooks.com

Genre: YA Fiction

ISBN:  Paper: 978-1-933353-49-4

                        1-933353-49-X

                        1st edition October 2008

 

 

 

Belle - by Cameron Dokey

Now, I’ve read almost all the books in Simon Pulse’s Once Upon a Time series (only one more to go) and Cameron Dokey’s contributions are my favorites. I also adore Beauty and the Beast, so it would be very difficult for this book to go too far wrong. I did really enjoy it, though I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite of her books. Dokey stays fairly close to the original plot of the fairy tale, while adding back-story and fleshing out the characters to make the story her own. Belle lives in the shadows of her two Beautiful (with a capital B) older sisters and often feels misnamed. She avoids going out into town with them and prefers to stay in her father’s workshop and practice her woodcarving. When the family is hit with an economic disaster, they move out of the town in into the country, traveling through the mysterious Wood where a monster is said to live. There is also a story about the magical Heartwood tree, the wood of which, when carved by the right hands, will show the face of true love.

Interestingly, the heart of this story lies, for me, more with Belle’s family and her relationship with her sisters than with her relationship with the Beast. For one thing, there is far more time spent on Belle’s childhood and the events leading up to the moment when she meets the Beast than on the weeks she spends with him in the Wood. The result is that the reader doesn’t get to know the character of the Beast nearly as well as Belle and her family. I would have liked to see more of the development of their relationship, although I really enjoyed the development of the relationship between the sisters and I would have liked to see even more of that as well. At any rate, it is a worthy addition to the series.

Gale Gand's Brunch -- So tasty you'll want to lick the cover!

Brunch! 100 Fantastic Recipes for the Weekend’s Best Meal

By Gale Gand with Christie Matheson

 

I admit it. I picked up this book not because it looked healthy, but because it looked yummy. There was enough fat and cholesterol in the front cover picture alone to change my lipid profile. Besides, I love breakfast food at any time of day, and believe that brunch is the greatest meal ever invented. (Although I still think the British are really onto something with “elevenses” and “tea time.” But I digress…)

Gand’s book is broken down into short chapters and full of luscious color photos. In addition to “Brunch Basics” and “Brunch Bites” she has individual chapters devoted to eggs, pancakes, waffles and French toast, salads and soups, and condiments. There is a wide variety here, and several of the recipes would make a nice, light supper as well. Some of the recipes are very involved, but others seem pretty simple and demonstrate what can be done with a small number of high quality, fresh ingredients. The Crunchy Zucchini rounds with Goat Cheese, Panini Finger Sandwiches, and Cheddar Grits are things I wouldn’t be afraid to try. Even the more elaborate recipes have clear directions and rarely require exotic or inaccessible ingredients. Although this book is not targeted toward those trying to maintain either a vegetarian or organic diet, many of these recipes could be adapted to either simply by judicious choice of ingredients. If you are a fan of all things brunchy, this is well worth picking up.

Brunch!

 

reflections on leadership

It’s been great to be accepted as minister of Kangaroo Valley. Our family is very excited and we see God’s clear intervention in our thinking and planning . What a relief that he is in charge and is the perfect leader! You can read about Kangaroo Valley here. Our last Sunday at Mittagong is May 17, we’ll move the next day to KV, then unpack as quickly as we can then take some hols. We’ll start at Kangaroo Valley on June 9. Thank you for your prayers. God has answered in a wonderful and creative way.   

I’ve been reflecting on my leadership with the upcoming move. Lately I’ve been reading a book called ‘Strengthening the Soul of your Leadership’ by Ruth Haley Barton. Although I think her attempt to link between the book of Exodus and her consequent psychological assessments of Moses are a bit of a stretch, she says some great stuff about leadership and ourselves. I wonder if, upon reflection, you would agree with these comments:

A leader is a person who must take special responsibility for what’s going on inside him- or herself, inside his or her consciousness, lest the act of leadership create more harm than good.

Taking responsibility for oneself may well be more demanding than taking responsibility for a congregation or an organization! (p48)

The more volatile and out of control our responses are, the more we can be sure that we are reacting out of old adaptive patterns rather than God-graced, Spirit-filled responses.  (p51)

 

Powerful and very true words.

Book Review: John Ajvide Lindqvist - Let The Right One In (2004)

- - Contains Spoilers for the book, and possibly the film (I haven’t seen it yet) - -

My first introduction to Let The Right One In, came via Geekscape - back in Episode #93 when Jonathan reviewed it on the show - did a quick google search, and when I realised it was based on a book, I decided to read the book before seeing the film, if at all possible.

Roll on a few months later, and I finally got my hands on the book, and started reading it, on March 6th (I told y’all my internet connection had impacted on the ol’ reading time ). I finally finished reading it earlier on today, and I’ve gotta say, although it’s taken me a while to read, I really, really dug it.

It starts off a lil uncomfortable (I’m no prude, but I hardly recommend reading a book in which a central character talks about getting a blowjob from a pre-teen boy, while you’re on a crowded bus full of mostly drugged up chavs), but after that, although there are some other “akward” bits, the central story is the one that sticks out - the story of Eli and Oskar.

The book is mostly set in Blackeberg, a Stockholm subburb, in the 1980s, and revolves around Oskar, a perpetually bullied 12 year old boy, who befriends another child in the same housing block - Eli. Their friendship develops and evolves, whilst at the same time a series of grusome murders are taking place. At first Oskar thinks Eli is a lil bit weird, however he soon realises the truth - the girl across the hall is actually a boy, and a vampire to boot.

The revelation about Eli - specifically that she’s a vampire, and then that she’s actually a he, and how these factors influence the relationship between him and Eli, is actually a lot more interesting than the actual “vampire” element of the story. At the books heart, it’s actually a story of how two outsiders - Oskar due to his constant bullying, and Eli, an outsider due to his “illness”, condemed to rely on a paedophile for the blood he needs to survive (in the guise of Håkan, who represents the “horror” element of the book - not just because of the fact he’s a paedophile, but because of what happens to him during the course of the book) come to depend on each other, and draw strength from each other.

What I really, really loved about the book, is how the author seemed completely determined to ignore the cliches - yes Eli is a vampire, but not in a “stereotypical” way. He doesn’t kill for the sake of killing - indeed one scene details the lengths he’ll goto, in order to get blood without resorting to killing. I also loved how Oskar is at first worried about the fact that Eli is a vampire, but that goes out the window when he realises the girl he’s falling in love with is actually a boy

The book is violent, there’s no two ways about it. What happens to Håkan, and another character who is “turned” into a Vampire, are pretty graphic, but they work well, imo, to show how the violence that Elis illness causes, and further enhance why he tries to avoid killing. There are also some flashback sequences that show how Eli was turned, as well as a torture sequence that resulted in him looking like he does.

I loved the ending - it’s completely open-ended,and allows you to form your own opinion on what happens, once the book has finished, which is something that I think works really, really well.

So that’s the book - I’m actually gonna try and catch the film, either on Friday, or Tuesday next week. Based on the trailer, they seem to have ditched the gender ambiguity of Eli - it seems as if they’ve decided to make him a her - but that might be wrong, as it’s only based on a trailer. I’m also guessing they’re gonna have toned down Håkan quite a bit, but other than that, I’ll be interested to see how the film matches up against the book.

So yep, that’s Let The Right One In - I’ve actually started the next book I’m gonna read - I’m reading Crime Beat by Michael Connelly. Connelly is perhaps my favourite author, and Crime Beat is basically a collection of some of the stories he covered as reporter, that would influence him both as a writer, and which would influence his two most famous creations, Hieronomous “Harry” Bosh, and ‘The Poet’. So far I’m only 25 pages into it, but I’m really enjoying it, and it’ll hopefully serve well as a re-introduction to Connellys style of writing, in anticpation of his next novel, The Scarecrow which is released next month.

Innovate We Can!

    by Avanti Fontana

    Management - Innovation Management

    316 pages

    2009

 

 

 

“Buku ini baik dalam menginspirasi kita semua, bahwa inovasi wajib untuk terus-menerus dilakukan sesuai dengan needs, wants, demands target market yang dituju, dan tentunya dalam melakukannya harus diatur…” (Bryan Tilaar, Direktur Utama PT. Martina Berto, Martha Tilaar Group)

 

”Inovasi merupakan salah satu penunjang penting di dalam pengembangan usaha dan memastikan usaha yang berkesinambungan. Oleh karena itu, upaya Avanti Fontana untuk menyajikan buku Manajemen Inovasi dan Penciptaan Nilai memberi kontribusi berharga bagi dunia bisnis yang membutuhkan inovasi pada era krisis dewasa ini dan masa post-bubbling economy.” (Putri K. Wardani, Wakil Presiden Direktur PT. Mustika Ratu, Tbk)

 

”Dalam era krisis dan transisi menuju era post-bubbling, individu, oraganisasi, dan komunitas, serta pemerintah perlu melakukan inovasi dalam setiap aktivitas – menciptakan nilai bagi kepentingan yang lebih besar. Paradigma pembangunan inovasi Indonesia yang tidak sebatas invensi, tetapi hingga menghasilkan nilai sosial dan ekonomi perlu diangkat. Buku ini perlu menjadi referensi para pemimpin Negara, anggota legislatif, dan semua pihak yang mau berkontribusi bagi Indonesia baik di lembaga-lambaga pemerintahan maupun swasta.” (Phillip Gobang, Pengamat Pembangunan Sosial Politik Indonesia, Center for Innovation Studies)

 

Satu hal yang pasti, beli buku ini ngga rugi. Dengan harganya yang cuma 90rb kita sudah dapat ilmu dan wawasan mengenai konsep inovasi dan berinovasi. Buku ini cocok untuk para manajer dan atasan juga mereka para calon manajer ataupun mereka yang mengejar posisi manajer, namun jika dibaca lebih dalam buku ini sebenarnya cocok bagi mereka yang ingin maju, ingin sukses, dan ingin turut membangun bangsa ini kearah yang lebih baik.

Avanti berhasil menguraikan satu persatu isi bab dengan detail sehingga kita tahu step step dalam berinovasi, mulai dari idenya, perencanaannya, pengerjaannya, pemasasarannya, hingga kegunaannya bagi masyarakat luas secara ekonomi maupun sosial. Secara bahasa buku ini memang bukan sekedar buku ngemang-ngemeng, buku ini jelas berbobot dan ngga mungkin cukup hanya dipahami hanya dalam waktu dua-tiga hari. Tapi sangat worth it untuk dibeli dan dibaca. If you think that you are one of our future leaders, buy it.

Bagian yang paling saya suka tentu saja bagian akhir, mengenai inovasi di Indonesia. Bagian terakhir ini seolah membuka mata saya mengapa Indonesia yang sebegitu kayanya akan sumber daya alam dan manusia ini masih disini-sini saja. Ada apa dengan inovasi di Indonesia? Kalau kamu tertarik untuk turut membenarkan bangsa ini, then go on, buy, read, and implement you ideas for a better future J

 

Rating: 4 dari 5

 

I just keep reading...

Ever since I re-discovered that the public library is an endless source of free books (!), I have been a reading fool.   This weekened, I read :

This book was fantastic.   The story of two women living in Afghanistan, it provides a unique glimpes into the culture and the lives of Muslim women in the Middle East.   I loved every second of this book. 

Yesterday, I started and finished a much funnier, lighter read.

To be honest, Olivia’s over-active imagination reminds me of my own at times.  The main difference, however, is that my adventures rarely end up being so…adventurous.   This book was charming and enjoyable.   Definitely good for a cold, rainy Monday evening.  

Next up: The Areas of My Expertise, by John Hodgman.  I’m already on page 61, and so far, I like it. 

Blazing an Unfashionable Trail for Today's Evangelicals

Some evangelical Christians believe that the best way to win the world is to be like the world. Looking like the world might help us gain a hearing for the gospel.

In Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being Different (Multnomah: 2009), Tullian Tchividjian demolishes the fallacy of such thinking. Instead, Tullian skillfully shows how we as Christians make the biggest difference in the world when we are most different from the world.

The power behind our proclamation of the gospel comes not from our being in step with the world, but from our being out of step with the surrounding culture. Once you sacrifice the counter-cultural nature of the gospel in order to be “cool” in the present, you abandon the greatest opportunity you have to make a difference that will last forever.

Unfashionable is a book of depth and breadth. Tullian doesn’t leave us with superficial spiritual sayings. The book demonstrates a passion for theology. Tullian goes deep into the truth of God’s Word in order to emerge with a robust, strengthened Christianity for the world we live in.

But the book also contains a variety of topics. In less than 200 pages, Tullian writes about:

• the atonement
• the purpose of Jesus’ resurrection
• God’s intention to renew the cosmos
• the loss of Truth with a capital “T”
• our culture’s hunger for trascendence
• the importance of the church’s “togetherness
• sex and lust
• greed and theft
• anger and truth-telling

This is a short, accessible book that ably covers a number of subjects. The thread that holds all of these topics together is the drum that Tullian beats page after page:

“Christians make a difference in this world by being different from this world; they don’t make a difference by being the same.”

“The more we Christians pursue worldly relevance, the more we’ll render ourselves irrelevant to the world around us.”

Tullian believes that a biblical understanding of Christology and eschatology will lead to a view of mission that will transform the church and the world. We are called to be God’s ambassadors in this world, to join him in his mission to redeem and restore the world.

“Since God is on a mission to transform this present world into the world to come, and since he’s using his transformed people to do it, our commitment to living unfashionably has cosmic implications.”

Unfashionable resonates with me. Like Tullian, I want it all. I don’t want to choose between the cultural mandate and evangelism. I don’t want to choose between Christ’s kingdom and Christ’s cross. I don’t want to choose between individual salvation and the connectedness of Christian community. I want it all.

Unfashionable is God-centered and gospel-soaked. And yet it is immensely practical. This book displays Tullian’s passion for Scripture and his heart for personal application. You will be convicted, challenged, and encouraged as you read. 

written by Trevin Wax  © 2009 Kingdom People blog

Speculative Fiction roundup for the Ledger

“War, Murder, and fantastic adventure in these reads”

by Elizabeth Willse, for the Star-Ledger

April 12, 2009

The Steel Remains Richard K. Morgan Del Rey, 432 pp., $26

Battle-weary, grouchy Ringil the swordsman thinks epic battles are behind him. But when his mother sends him to rescue a cousin from slavery, joined by Eran of the steppes and Arceth, the last of the Kiriath, his journey takes him through several riveting battles against both mystical and all-too-human enemies. Although Ringil’s numerous homosexual encounters are rarely described in graphic detail, they combine with the profane language salted throughout the text to make this a tale strictly for adults only.

It’s a shame the story marginalizes itself to a mature audience, when there’s so much to like about the adventure. The zombie-like steppe ghouls and corpse mites, or the mystical half-forgotten Aldrain race could be part of a creepy, spellbinding tale for any fantasy fan; and the grumbling of anti-hero Gil makes for a wryly funny spin on the usual fantasy quest yarn. Relentless coarse language and sex scenes make Gil’s misfit identity verge on camp, although they echo the plot’s darker, more macabre aspects.

Ender In Exile

Orson Scott Card

Tor Books, 384 pp., $24.95

Intended to fill in the gap between Card’s Hugo and Nebula award winning novels: “Ender’s Game” and “Speaker For The Dead,” this novel is wonderful in the same ways as its companions in the Ender Wiggin series. Realistic, morally nuanced characters retain some of their Earth cultures and customs as they explore among the stars. Ender Wiggin’s formidable intelligence guides him to insights beyond any average 15-year-old, even as the brutalities of the war against the alien buggers trouble his conscience. Part of a mission to colonize a new planet, Ender seeks a new beginning.

Card does an excellent job blending action and meditation, insights into human and alien culture, and writing both child and adult characters full of hopes, doubts, moral dilemmas and wisdom. However, this cannot be a stand-alone novel, but an invitation to read Card’s series beginning with “Ender’s Game.” For fans of the series, this novel fills in the gaps by showing Ender growing up, and tells its own adventurous tale.

The Illumination

Jill Gregory and Karen Tintori

St. Martin’s Press, 320 pp., $24.95

“The Illumination” is steeped in mythology and cutting-edge action. Reporter Dana Landau finds a golden amulet half-buried in the sand in Baghdad. Thinking it merely a symbolic trinket, she sends it to her sister, Natalie, a museum curator in the states. Dana’s brutal murder is the first hint that the amulet is a precious prize that everyone from religious factions to the U.S. government will stop at nothing to obtain. With Jim D’Amato, Dana’s boss, Natalie races to unravel the amulet’s mystery, staying ahead of everyone who wants them dead. Can she trust D’Amato, who carries multiple passports and knows more than the average TV newsman about guns and car chases?

With a relic tied to Hebrew legend and the Old Testament’s David, frenetic chases, suspense and violence, the novel might invite comparisons to “The DaVinci Code.” Some similar plot twists aside, this is a better story. More nuanced characters and vastly superior writing quality make for a breathlessly fun read.

The Horsemen’s Gambit

David B. Coe

Tor Books, 368 pp., $26.95

Although this is the second volume in Coe’s “Blood of the Southlands” series, readers beginning here will be launched immediately into an adventure that blends magic, ancient feuds and elements of a medical thriller into a fantastic adventure. A plague is killing Qirsi magic users and unleashing their magic in destructive waves. Interwoven plots shift the action between Eandi merchants unknowingly spreading the plague, frantic Qirsi trying to stem the outbreak, and a swordswoman who hopes that the plague’s chaos might bring the key to her destiny. Coe handles the bigger picture deftly. Carefully detailed descriptions of magic make the plague threat real. It’s easy for readers to get swept up in the innovative blend of fantasy and medical thriller as more and more magic users die, consumed by their own spells run riot. But Coe’s individual characters tend towards flattened fantasy cliches and ciphers. It’s unclear whether Coe intends character development to stretch across multiple books, or it was sidelined by the frenetic suspense plot.

Bones of the Dragon

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Tor Books, 416 pp., $24.95

“Bones of the Dragon” will appeal to fans of previous Dragonlance books, as well as fans of fantasy role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons or World of Warcraft. This installment introduces the lands and the gods of Vindras, clearly intending to launch characters and readers on a multi-book adventure saga of epic proportions. The village of Torgun falls prey to a savage attack by ogres. Their dragon-gods have seemingly deserted them. The Norse-influenced gods’ doings are much more of a factor than in previous Dragonlance books.

Weis and Hickman weave Norse influences through this adventure. Many descriptions and dialogue ring with cliches and the reams of world-building explanation needed to launch a new adventure series. Some scenes and coarser language hint at a darker, more realistic level of violence too harsh for pre-teen D&D players. It’s a credit to the pair of authors to see characters so jealous, arrogant, worried and flawed in a basic adventure tale like this.

Book review: The Intentional Spinner

I recently ordered spinning guru Judith MacKenzie McCuin’s new book The Intentional Spinner: A holistic approach to making yarn (Interweave Press, 2009). Even though, on the face of it, the description sounds like many learn-to-spin books, I think this is more of a book for the intermediate/advanced beginner spinner. The first half is devoted to fibre characteristics, but goes into more detail than Maggie Casey or Lee Raven’s excellent introductory texts and has a more scientific approach.

The sections on spinning techniques deals only very briefly with wheel mechanics and fibre preparation, instead going in-depth on the question of drafting methods. She deals with a great variety of yarns and shows in clear pictures how to make them. I find it a little hard to read this book straight through because of the great profusion of pictures and the numbered references to them throughout the text. But whenever I decide to try one of the techniques, I’m sure I will appreciate the abundance of pictures.

This is a great book, which, coupled with Maggie Casey’s Start Spinning, should keep a relatively new spinner happily occupied for a long time. I would not recommend it as a starting book, as it contains too little info on wheel or spindle mechanics and fibre prepping.

Lush Life by Richard Price

Lush Life by Richard Price reads exactly as you’d expect from someone who has written for HBO’s The Wire. The strength of this book rests in the characters that are given to the reader.  A wealthy restaurateur who may or may not be connected with the wrong people, a young bar-tender who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, inner city youth who lack options, a grieving father; all of these characters who live in our world, the world outside of fiction and that as I’ve said is the strength, real characters that just happen to be placed in a world of fiction.

By the time Eric made it around to the front of the store again, Fenton Ma had been spelled by an older cop, his shield reading LO PRESTO.

“Can I ask you something?” Eric said lightly, not knowing this guy. “Have you seen her in there?”

“Who, the Virgin?” Lo Presto looked at him neutrally. “Depends what you mean by ’seen’.”

“Well, I’ll tell you.” He looked off, palming his chest pocket for a cigarette. “About eight this morning? A couple of guys from the Ninth Squad went in there, you know, curious? And kneeling right in front of that thing is Servisio Tucker, had killed his wife up on Avenue D maybe six months ago. Now, these guys had been turning that neighborhood upside down looking for him ever since, right? And this morning alls they did was waltz on in there and there he was, on his knees. He looks right up at them, tears in his eyes, puts out his hands for cuffs, and says, ‘OK. Good. I’m ready’.”

“Huh.” Lo Presto finally fired up, exhaled luxuriously. “Did I see her? Who’s to say. But if what I just told you isn’t a fucking miracle, I don’t know what is.”

The city of New York comes alive with Price and if you have not had the joy of watching The Wire and are worried about getting involved in a long show with many seasons you cannot afford, then at the very least pick up this novel and give yourself a treat.  Price allows you to get frustrated along with the detectives that have been assigned to the case in question. The politics and bureaucracy of the police and their worries of how crime is perceived by the larger public, these are all issues that Price lays bare for the reader.  The novel is quick and fast paced (455 pgs) and I was tempted to quit half way through, not out of any lack of interest but because Price frustrates you as a reader. It is hard not to get involved with the characters and become upset at the walls that keep on popping up as the detectives struggle to figure out the crime. That is what Price is wanting to happen though, for you as a reader to become involved and annoyed at how frustrating it is to solve the crime, to put every little piece together in order to lay out a proper case for the district attorney.

Check it out, and in case my recommendation is not good enough. [ As if! ]. This book is number 3 on The 2009 Believer Book Award Reader Survey.

READER SURVEY RESULTS

1. 2666—Roberto Bolaño
2. Unlucky Lucky Days—Daniel Grandbois
3. Lush Life—Richard Price
4. The Lazarus Project—Aleksandar Hemon
5. Netherland—Joseph O’Neill
6. Vacation—Deb Olin Unferth
7. Unaccustomed Earth—Jhumpa Lahiri
8. Arkansas—John Brandon
9. A Mercy—Toni Morrison
10. Indignation—Philip Roth
11. Death with Interruptions—José Saramago
12. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle—David Wroblewski
13. Bottomless Belly Button—Dash Shaw
14. A Heaven of Others—Joshua Cohen
15. So Brave, Young, and Handsome—Leif Enger
16. How the Dead Dream—Lydia Millet
17. Personal Days—Ed Park
18. A Fraction of the Whole—Steve Toltz
19. The Drop Edge of Yonder—Rudolph Wurlitzer
20. Ghosts of Chicago—John McNally

Enjoy.

Next up on the chopping block: The Years by Virginia Woolf

Astonishing Splashes of Colour

Morrall, Clare. Astonishing Splashes of Colour. New York:  Harper Collins, 2004.

This is the kind of book I could read a thousand times over. This is the style of writing I most identify with. Astonishing Splashes of Colour is so intimate and in-your-face I feel as if Morrall’s main character, Kitty, is leaning in to tell me deep and dark secrets, stories of embarrassing moments, and airing her dirty laundry with a wave of her hand and an air of factual nonchalance. She makes me squirm with her frankness, her vulnerability. Helpless and hopeless, Kitty is the me in the mirror.

Kitty is a thirty-something with something to hide. Her past has as many demons and devils as it does angels. Losing her mother at three years old, the knowledge of an older sister who ran away from home, the fact having four brothers who not only are disconnected from one another but only pretend to be connected to her, the frustrations of having a father who loses himself in painting and has episodes of pouting, the confusion of having an excessively neat husband who lives across the hall in a separate apartment, the heartbreak of a miscarriage Kitty insists on waiting for after school…then there are the colors. Kitty has the uncanny ability to see human emotion, human circumstance as a myriad of color. Her world is not black and white sane, but rather a rainbow of mental chaos. As if all this wasn’t enough everything turns out different from what one would expect. I couldn’t put it down…

Lines I can relate to: “I fight back a wave of giggles that threatens to ripple through me” (p 63). I laugh at inappropriate moments, too.

“I can’t decide which is worse, to not have a mother, or to not have children. An empty space in both directions. No backwards, no forwards” (p 65).

“I would have books around me even if I were blind. I need the smell” (p 138).

There are, of course, many more lines I could quote. This novel, this flash of brilliance definitely resonated with me.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called, “Sibs” (p 201).

The Dark Prince by David Gemmell

 

 (buy at Amazon)

Another Gemmell book, another solid outing.  The Dark Prince follows up on the Lion of Macedon.  In Lion of Macedon, we follow Parmenion as he rises from a mix-blood outcast in Spartan society to become the Death of Nations.  As an unbeatable mercenary general, he eventually comes into the employ of Philip of Macedon.  Teaming with Philip, Macedon soon becomes the power in Greece. At the end of the first book, an unlikely string of events conspire to have Parmenion sire Alexander unbeknownst to Philip.  However, in doing so Parmenion introduces the chaos spirit into the world, with Alexander as the host.

That’s where the Dark Prince picks up. Alexander is a lonely boy fighting the demon within.  People are afraid to touch him because he causes pain and death to those he does touch.  If that sounds strange, don’t worry, because it’s about to get stranger.  Philip from an alternate Greek reality summons Alexander into his world in order to eat his heart and gain immortality.   Strange indeed.  Aristotle, an immortal mage – who knew – helps Parmenion reach that alternate Greece in order to save Alexander.

In bizzaro Greece, the creatures of myth are real.  Minotaurs, centaurs, and nymphs are commonplace.  Parmenion and Alexander reunite and try and save the creatures of the enchantment while fighting off the evil Philip.

You’d think that storyline would be enough for one book, but it’s not. After Alexander and Parmenion make it back, the last quarter of the book follows Alexander’s meteoric rise and fall.  Gemmell basically condenses the entire Alexander story into 150 pages. 

I enjoyed the book, I guess. It stands in stark contrast to his Troy series. In the Troy books, he takes myth and turns it into historical fiction. In the Dark Prince, he takes history and turns it into myth.  It’s an interesting idea, but I think it ultimately falls flat.  The short portion of the book that chronicles Alexander’s conquest of Asia is really a cliff notes version of the Alexander story, with Alexander’s sometimes strange behavior explained by the chaos spirit that lives within him.

I’m not sure why Gemmell rushed through the end of the book instead of making this into the trilogy it seemed to want to become.  Either way, I found it entertaining if a trifle odd.

3 stars

Book Review: Holding Fast by Karen James

Note: This is the first review I have done for Thomas Nelson. It has taken a long time to get done because it took three months for the book to arrive!

‘Holding fast’ is a true story, told by the wife of Kelly James, an architect and keen mountaineer who died following a tragic accident on Mount Hood, (near Portland, Oregon)  just before December 2006. The book is well-written, engaging and intriguing. I read it in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed it. It has a number of colour photographs, some poignantly from the camera of Kelly James which was recovered after his death.

The account is pretty harrowing and very real, and the pictures help to bring the words to life. As it is not known precisely what happened to Kelly and his two friends who perished, there is a little artistic licence in the opening of the book which struck me as odd initially, but it began to make sense as the evidence for events was unfolded. I’m being guarded here because I don’t want to spoil it for a potential reader.

The one point I feel is a little weak in the work is the lack of explanation of precisely why Kelly James and his wife believed themselves to be Christians. The book is tragic, and the faith of the family shines through, especially in the dignified public statements of Kelly’s brother, himself a former professor at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando. The book is inspiring and encouraging. It is profound and worth your time – but I would say that due to the vagueness of sentiment regarding the way of salvation that I’d not recommend it to a non-Christian friend in the hope of it pointing to Christ. That said, I commend this book. Buy it, read it, weep if you will, be inspired by the testimony, and give God the glory.

book review, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, pt. 1

It would be great if we could blame it all on a conspiracy, but we cannot.  The empire depends on the efficacy of big banks, corporations, and governments - the corporatocracy - but it is not a conspiracy.  This corporatocracy is ourselves - we make it happen - which, of course, is why most of us find it difficult to stand up and oppose it.

We would rather glimpse conspirators lurking in the shadows, because most of us work for one of those banks, corporations, or governments, or in some way are dependent on them for the goods and services they produce and market.

We cannot bring ourselves to bite the hand of the master who feeds us.                                                             

                                                                               - John Perkins, page 256

As much as this book is a confession, it is also an accusation.  It is an accusation leveled at those of us who benefit from the American Empire and every attempt at empire before ours.

I had heard of this book in passing conversations, but really hadn’t given it any thought until it was quoted in one the best conspiracy theory movies of all time, Zeitgeist.  If you get a kick out of conspiracy theories, then you have to download and watch Zeitgeist.  It’s free, it fun, all the kids are doing it!  Just fast forward through the first few minutes of some Indian guy rambling.

But I digress.

Perkin’s starts on in his preface defining two terms.  Economic Hit Men (EHM) and Corpratocracy.

• EHMs are the men and women who help saddle massive amounts of debt on developing countries via false and unrealistic economic development forecasts, bribes, and other less than savory means.
• Corporatocracy (who) is the collective of corporations, banks, and governments who use the EHMs and other means to profit  from a system designed to fail.  It is made up of “a close-knit fraternity of a few men with shared goals”  who move “easily and often between corporate boards and government positions. (pg. 32)”
• Corporatocracy (how it works) It starts with supplying loans to developing countries based on false economic forecasts of a particular infrastructure program, then provides the engineering and construction know-how to build said infrastructure, while also providing the support to maintain the infrastructure.  Ultimately, when the country defaults on its loans because it was counting on revenue from the falsified economic forecasts, the corporatocracy swoops in to put yet another country under its thumb to do its bidding at a later date.

Perkins uses several excellent example of how these men move about:

•  Robert Mcnamara’s moves between the World Bank’s presidency, Ford Motor Company’s presidency, and his position as Secretary of Defense. (pg. 32)
• George Shultz’s moves between engineering firm Bechtel’s presidency, Secretary of the Treasury, Chairman of the Council on Economic Policy, and Secretary of State. (pg. 91)
• Caspar Weinberger was Bechtel’s VP and then Secretary of Defense. (pg. 91)
• Dick Cheney was Secretary of Defense, Halliburton’s president, and then Vice President of the USA. (pg. 91)
• George Bush Sr. founder of Zapata Oil, was a U.N. Ambassador, Director of the CIA, VP of the USA, and ultimately President of the USA. (pg. 91) 

As a side note of connectedness.  Bush senior raised money for Zapata Oil with Bill Liedtke, who became Nixon’s and Bush’s campaign finance chairman.   Bush also raised money from Eugene Meyer.  Meyer had a seat on the NYSE board, was Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and was a part of AlliedSignal, which as a conglomerate, is in the defense industry.

Have some fun on Wikipedia and start following the links.  You’ll see what Perkins is talking about when it comes to a “close-knit fraternity.”  More importantly though is the connectedness it all has.  In chapter 7, Perkins retells a story of going to see a political puppet show in Bandung, Indonesia in the early 70s.  The show is decidedly anti-American-policy using puppets to show an Indonesian take on the Communist Domino Theory of Asia.  Two puppets were on stage, Richard Nixon dressed like Uncle Sam, and another man in a suit carrying a bucket with dollar signs. (pg. 49)  Perkins recalls on pages 49 and 50:

A map of the Middle East and Far East appeared behind the two…

…Nixon immediately approached the map, lifted Vietnam off its hook, and thrust it to his mouth.  He shouted something that was translated as, “Bitter!  Rubbish.  We don’t need any more of this!”  Then he tossed it into the bucket and proceeded to do the same with other countries.

I was surprised however, to see that his next selections selections did not include the domino nations of Southeast Asia.  Rather, they were all Middle eastern countries - Palestine, Kuwait, Saudia Arabia, Iraq, Syria, and Iran.  After that he turned to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Each time, the Nixon doll screamed out some [anti-Islamic] epithet… “Muslim dogs,” “Mohammed’s monsters,” and Islamic devils.”

Jump ahead to how dismal American/Islamic relations are and I wonder if Obama is trying to reconcile America to the Muslim world with his latest speech in Turkey or justify more military action in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Finally, we share the common goal of denying al-Qaida a safe haven in Pakistan or Afghanistan. The world has come too far to let this region backslide, and to let al-Qaida terrorists plot further attacks. That’s why we are committed to a more focused effort to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaida. That is why we are increasing our efforts to train Afghans to sustain their own security, and to reconcile former adversaries. That’s why we are increasing our support for the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan, so that we stand on the side not only of security, but also of opportunity and the promise of a better life.

Actions speak louder than words and our increasing troop numbers in Afghanistan and bombing raids in Pakistan seem to lend a prophetic touch to the Indonesian puppet-master.

I think ending on a current event is appropriate.  This should be a two-part series as I am trying to keep my word limit for each post to around 1000.

- mike

 

Metro Eireann reviews 'Hitler and Mars Bars'

I just read Metro Eireann newspaper’s review of Hitler and Mars Bars and thought I’d pass on the highlights to you.

Hitler and Mars Bars was praised for being “tightly written, and the characters very much believable” by Irish newspaper Metro Eireann’s reviewer, Jeanette Rehnstrom, in her review last week. She says “the evocative language is seemingly effortless; one has an easy time going with the flow and living the lives of the characters”.

 

While the newspaper review is not available online, the full review will be re-printed soon on the Irish Writers Exchange at: http://irishwritersexchange.com/news.html and on their MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/irishwriter39sexchange.

PLAGIARISM - ARTHUR ALERT

Let’s start something new, shall we?

In keeping with my post on An Author vs. An Arthur, I’d like to start ARTHUR ALERTS.

Plagiarism is the cardinal sin. Authors do not plagiarize other writers’ materials and post that material as their own, either in print or on blogs. Authors always credit the actual author, and in the case of blogs, a link to the original site is posted.

However, an Arthur has been found on Google. The Bookworm (http://book-reviewsnews.blogspot.com/) has been plagiarizing book reviews from across the web. If you’ve posted a book review, you might want to go and see if it’s been plagiarized by the Bookworm.

If you find your work has been plagiarized by this individual, then go to http://www.google.com/blogger_dmca.html and file a complaint.

Meanwhile, spread the word . . .

Review: NUMBER THE STARS by Lois Lowry [You've GOTTA read this!]

Sandra from You’ve GOTTA read this! recently reviewed Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.  Here’s an excerpt:

I know I will sound like a broken record, but Lowry’s stories are something very special. They have a touch of magic, a touch of whimsy, and a touch of unflinching stone-cold reality. Lowry isn’t afraid to unveil a bit of brutality, death or prejudice, which makes us all a little bit afraid of what is going to happen in each chapter of her books.

Read the rest of the review here.

**Attention participants:  remember to email us a link to your reviews, and we’ll post them here so we can see what everyone is reading!**

Getting Beyond the Bible

I’ve just finished reading I. Howard Marshall’s ”Beyond the Bible: Moving from Scripture to Theology”. I’m just starting a new PhD chapter/section which will look at theology as a third level missional “speech-act” (of the church). My previous chapter/section looked at Jesus Christ as the first level missional “speech-act” and the Bible as a second level missional “speech-act”. So as I transition from reflecting on the status/authority of the Bible to the theological process I want to reflect on how we get from one to the other, ie. how we get from Scripture to theology.

Howard Marshall’s book was an interesting read especially in terms of the questions it raises with regard to how we modern day Christians treat various bits of the Bible as compared to other bits. He sees a “development of doctrine” from the Old Testament to teaching of Jesus in the Gospels and then from the Gospels to the letters of the New Testament. 

Here’s what he says about the development from the Gospels to the letters of the New Testament (which I find interesting and somewhat helpful)…

…the teaching of the early Christians was not limited to the repetition of what Jesus taught, but involved the proclamation of him as the crucified, risen, and returning Saviour and Lord who is spiritually related to his people here and now. Even where the teaching of Jesus influences the letter writers, there is scarcely any direct citation of what he said, but rather allusion and echo. (page 51)

The central theme in the teaching of Jesus was the kingdom of God, but this motif moves away from the center in the teaching of the early Christians…. The centre lies rather in the personal relationship of believers to the risen and exalted Lord. A relationship made possible by his atoning death. (page 52) 

Marshall’s aim is to look for principles in the Bible to guide is today as we are involved in the development of doctrine.

He suggests a two-fold principles which I find helpful in terms of my PhD research. The two elements are (1) the apostolic deposit (which is, the centre of Christian theology or.. the interpretive key for Christian theology) and (2) a transformed mind (ie. transformed by the Holy Spirit), or… a mind nurtured on the Gospel.

These two factors work together to detect error and to promote true development in Christian doctrine and practice. The combination of a doctrinal, Christological criterion and a renewed mind enables believers to develop the implications of their faith and to come to fresh insights to deal with new knowledge and the danger of false belief. By these means believers were able to assess new revelations by prophets and new teaching of other kinds, and this led to fuller development of doctrine. (page 71)

The most controversial thing that Marshal says, however, is in relation to some of “God’s actions” in the Old Testament (eg. the slaughter of the Cannanites or the slaying of Achan) and also Jesus’ “underdeveloped” (p.64) and ”accommodating” (to culture) teaching which may lead to “misunderstanding”.  Marshall mentions the parables in which Jesus mentioned how a “wicked servant” is “cut into pieces and assigned a place with unbelievers”  (Matt 24:51) and how a “rich man” ends up “in agony in this fire… in this place of torment” (Luke 16:25, 28).

 

Marshall states…

There would be universal agreement among civilized people that no human being should perpetrate horrors of the kind described in the parabolic imagery… (page 67)

It is incredible that God should so act. So we are alerted to the conclusion that the imagery in the parables is imagery belonging to a time in society that was accustomed to such things in real life and so no incongruity in portraying divine judgment in that way, even if this imagery is used by Jesus…. I suspect that people of his day were not as aware of the unacceptability of such imagery as we, hopefully, are today. (page 67)

There are two response chapters in the book. One by Kevin Vanhoozer and the other by Stanley Porter. Both pick up on the above.

 

Vanhoozer states…

… I am a bit troubled when Marshall appeals to the liminal period in order to relativize Jesus’ doctrine of God…. Marshall believes that some of the images that Jesus uses to depict divine judgment are inappropriate for out time… Is this really so? I am not that sanguine about this. After all, God is no tame lion. (page 85)

 

Marshall wants Christians to get ’beyond’ genocide. So do I. But I am not prepared to say that God’s judgment of the world, or of the nations, is ‘intrinsically wrong’ if it involves killing people. Marshall is doing more that ‘reconsidering’, it seems to me, when he says that we ‘can no longer think of God in that way’. Unless we are prepared to jettison significant portions of the Old Testament (or to revise their meaning in the light of contemporary sensitivities), this way of going beyond Scripture has more of Marcion that of marshall about it. For it is really not about numbers. If Marshall is to be consistent, he should say that God does not have the right to take a single a single life…. To confuse God’s love with our culturally conditioned imitations is to go beyond the Bible not biblically, but culturally. Finally, if we are shocked by images of judgment, what are we to make of the cross? Even after the fervent prayers of a righteous man in a garden in Gethsemane, the Father did not remove the cup of judgment. (page 85)

Okay… I’ll admit it. I am a bit of a Vanhoozer fan. But I do think he raises some really important points in respopnse to Marshall. Can we so easily associate, in the way that Marshall does, “universal agreement among civilised people” with minds “nurtured by the Spirit”? 

Porter makes a similar point… 

How do we know the difference between cultural bagge and contemporary inconvenience. (Marshall’s arguement) might well seem to beg the very question we are trying to answer, however, which is not just what civilized people, but rather what Christians of today, should think about such actions. (page 120-121)

The questions that Marshall raises are vital for us to ask as we think about the task of theology in the contemporary world. But on the basis of what Marshall has to say, and this particular problem he seems to get himself into, it seems equally clear that coming up with answers will not be easy. One wonders what Marshall would have to say in response to Vanhoozer and whether he would change his arguement and/or conclusion?

Food for thought… and definitely worth the read.

Book Review - Blue Like Jazz

I didn’t exactly hide the reputation of Reed College from my parents when I was doing college applications, per se. I just emphasized certain aspects of its reputation more than others. To be fair, Reed didn’t make it easy on me. The day that I called my parents to tell them that I had made my decision, the news broke that a Reed student had died of a heroin overdose. I knew that my parents had a lot of confidence in me to make good decisions, but I also knew better than to emphasize its eternal presence on the “Students Ignore God On A Regular Basis” list or its toleration of experimentation to my conservative Christian parents. Imagine my surprise, then, when my mother told me that all of her friends had already heard of Reed College through Christian writer Donald Miller’s book Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality.

In theory, this should have been the perfect book for me. I grew up in the church, but unlike myriad other gays that grew up in the church, I don’t hate it, and I don’t hate Christians. I like most Christian people, and still consider the people in the church that I grew up in part of my family, even though I think very differently than I do now. It’s one of life’s little ironies that all of the Christian education that I went through as a child worked. I carry the Bible in my heart exactly like they wanted; I can no more divorce it from my psyche than change the color of my eyes. I am comfortable with that, my problems with Christianity rarely lay in the Bible. I left the church because once I left for school I was confronted with people that made lifestyle choices and thought in ways that the church had always said would lead to immorality, and found that I could not condemn them. Once I realized that I was learning more about universal love and acceptance in a dead secular academic environment than in church, I had to leave.

That is a story that would be extremely familiar to Donald Miller. His story parallels my own, except where I left the church Donald went on an epic road trip to the Cascades and found Jesus again. This book is a collection of essays written mostly after that road trip when he first moved to Portland, Oregon and started attending church in Portland and auditing classes at Reed College.

I liked most of the book. He has a belief about the need for churches to begin again to orient themselves toward serving the poor, the homeless and the sinners than being clubs for the “righteous” that I think is absolutely true. It’s worth remembering that for most people throughout history, the church was their social security; it ensured that there were people that would help you if you fell on hard times. Like me, Miller sees almost no resemblance between the American Evangelical church and the movement that Jesus founded. He also sees the politicized church’s mobilization against gay rights and liberal and progressive politics as potentially contrary to the spirit of Jesus.  He writes honestly and from the heart, and some of what he writes is genuinely and truely moving.

And yet, there were some things that I found a little troubling. Miller writes in a loose, self-consciously ironic style filled with short, idiosyncratic sentences punctuated by non sequiters. I found it endearing at first, but then found it annoying, and later yet, confusing. Put bluntly, I worried that not only were they “Non-religious Thoughts” but “Non-religious Non-Thoughts.” I am still divided as to whether it is simply a rhetorical device or a crutch to hide behind in order to distance himself from his own ideas.

Even more than that, I occasionally found his lack of intellectual curiosity and ability to think in someone else’s shoes frustrating. The most egregious example is when he talks about his exploration of Buddhism through a Buddhist friend:

And then I started thinking about other religions. I wasn’t cheating on God or anything, I was just thinking about them… There were times I wished I was a Buddhist, that is, I wished I could believe that stuff was true, even though I didn’t know exactly what a Buddhist believed. I wondered what it would be like to rub some fat guy’s belly and suddenly be overtaken with good thoughts and disciplined actions and a new car.

This really bugged me. Either he studied Buddhism, and got nothing from it (I mean, I’m no expert on Buddhism but I would never think of “rubbing some fat guy’s belly” as the central tenant of the faith (also, it’s a little disrespectful for anyone, let alone a writer who admits that “to be a Christian you have to be a mystic”)) or he was afraid to seriously look at other religions because that might upset his faith. That’s an instinct that I see a lot in my Christian aquaintances that I have never understood. I remember one of the most uncomfortable moments ever of my church life was in a meeting in youth group before a Junior High School missions trip to a Navajo reservation. The trip leader was making fun of the Navajo belief in Skinwalkers and everybody was laughing along with him. I was drinking the Kool-Aid back then, but even then I found it hypocritcal for a man who wanted to tell the Navajos that they would burn for all eternity after death if they didn’t ask forgiveness from a man dead two thousand years.

You see it in the political arena too. It came up when I was arguing with my mom about parental notification about abortion. Personally, I find abortion to be absolutely horrific. I also recognize that there are circumstances where it can be necessary. I can certainly imagine a scenario in which an underaged woman would be in physical danger if her parents knew that she had the abortion, or even if she needed an abortion. That, for me, is enough. I was trying to explain my position to my mom, and told her that if you think that the only reason that your daughter is not having abortions left and right is because you have to be notified, something is already wrong. If the only reason that your marriage is working is that gays can’t get married, you have deeper problems. If the only reason you believe in Christ is that you are completely ignorant of other religions, your faith is not that strong.

More troubling to me is his allusion to his friendship with Mark Driscoll, one of the most loathsome people than I hope never to meet. This is Mark Driscoll:

I cannot express in words how little this young urbane bisexual male musician cares for the vision of Christianity that Driscoll projects. I can’t for the life of me understand what Miller sees in him. Here’s Driscoll again:

You have been told that God is a loving, gracious, merciful, kind, compassionate, wonderful, and good sky fairy who runs a day care in the sky and has a bucket of suckers for everyone because we’re all good people. That is a lie… God looks down and says ‘I hate you, you are my enemy, and I will crush you,’ and we say that is deserved, right and just, and then God says ‘Because of Jesus I will love you and forgive you.’ This is a miracle.

Putting aside how gross that statement is, it runs contrary to everything that Miller says in his book (except maybe the day care and the suckers).

Even with these reservations, I would definitely recommend giving it to some of my more closed minded Christian friends, to make them think if nothing more. I did a lot of internet research on the book before I bought it, and there were many positive and negative reviews. In the true spirit of Oscar Wilde, he had impeccable taste in enemies.  Most of the negative reviews castigate him for not being harder on the pot smoking, gay, promiscous hippies. If that’s where the book is hitting them, they are already lost.

*A final note: This is really picky and not important, but the title really bugged me. It makes no sense. He compares the undefinable feeling of religious peace brought on by Jesus to the “soul” that helps jazz musicians find the right notes. That is bullshit. Jazz musicians play the right notes because they’ve practiced a lot and studied more to get there. He says “The first generation out of slavery invented jazz music. It’s a music born out of freedom.” Apart from being factually incorrect (about the timeline), jazz evolved becuase black musicians could not attend traditional music conservatories and schools in America. Whole generations of black musicians moved from classical music to jazz becuase they couldn’t make a living playing or writing European music. It is a music born from a response to discrimination, not freedom.

Simple Style Reviews Coming Out: Kazumi a Favorite and other Simple Knitting

I have been Googled for reviews on simple style and am happy to say I have found a couple. Knitting Scholar has one, and I am happy to mention that Kazumi was one of the 4 listed specifically that they liked, although they did say that there wasn’t much not to like in the book. I would have to agree, it is a fantastic book.

Here are the designs mentioned that they especially thought were successful: ” Those are the exceptions, though. I really loved the Sixteen Button Cardigan with it’s basic shaping at the neck (and the fact that it can be worn with the buttons in front or in back). The Kazumi Pullover is classy with its simple ribbing with just a touch of lace at the bottom edge. I liked the Twisted-V Pullover a lot, and the Guernsey Skirt is one of the few skirt patterns I would seriously consider knitting. The Best-Fit Jumper is charming and fun”.

About.com has a review as well. Here is the short list from them on their favorites: “There are so many patterns I love in this book. I could easily see myself knitting and enjoying probably 12 of the 19 patterns, if I had that kind of time and devotion to a single knitting book.

The ones at the top of the list, though, would be the Four Quarters pullover (pictured on the cover), a cool design in which half of the arm and a quarter of the body is worked in each piece and seamed with the selvedge exposed; the Kazumi Pullover, a ribbed number with eyelets along the bottom hem and cuffs; Kaleidoscope Yoke, a pullover using a self-striping yarn for the yoke and cuffs and a solid for the main body; and the Gurnsey Skirt, which has several textured stitch patterns on the top half of the skirt and plain Stockinette on the bottom.”

I was happy to have Kazumi included in the list, and the book is delightful. The Daily Knitter has a review as well, from the Knitting Scholar. So, two reviews in three places thus far.

This particuarl design was a little different for me. It is the first one with side shaping and the fist one with a full fledged set in sleeve. I have not done that much shaping in a garment before. I have tended to stick with more traditional shapes and styles, but when your emphasis is simple, you incorporate other design elements to make your statement. Sure, this sweater could have had no shaping. But it would have lost something in the translation. That delicate eyelet lace would have been lost in the translation on the bottom of a more boxy sweater. A lot of the beauty in this garment is how the eyelets fit into the ribbing, and the patterning of the ribbing as the shaping moves into and out of the waist. It needed those extra design details in the shape of the garment. Those are things that as the book talks about you might not notice at first, but they come together to give you a successful and elegant design when using few stitch pattern elements. In Fashion we see this, and designers such as Coco Channel were famous for deceptively simple and elegant designs. Designs that relied on meticulous attention to shaping detail and construction as design element, as well as other more obvious elements such as stitch pattern or other decoration.

If you were, for example, knitting a plain stockinette sweater there are all kinds of subtle details and shaping that become very, very important. How the decreases or increases are worked on the sleeves, can that be turned into a design element and can that also be mirrored in the armhole for example. What kind of cast on you use. The texture of the yarn you use. How much ease does the garment have and do you have a straight shoulder, or did you work the shoulder in steps so that the shoulder is sloped and fits the body better? It hangs better on the body, and generally one inch is sufficient. BO the stitches in even groups at the beginning of the shoulder rows (for one shoulder it will be on RS rows, for the other it will be on WS rows because each shoulder will not have the beginning of the row at the edge with the shoulder at the beginning of the edge on the RS rows), or you can put them in hold by short rowing and work a three needle bind off or seam the shoulders together when you are done. Attention to finishing becomes very important as well.

Peace and Knitting, JoLene Treace