Continue reading »]]> Total Pages Read: 6,820
Shortest Book: 96 pages
Longest Book: 576 pages
Fiction: 16
Non-Fiction: 3
Poetry: 1
Cookbook: 3

Last Book Read:
23.  The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides.  It’s the 80s and the recession is looming over soon to be college graduates.  Mitchell loves Madeleine who loves Leonard who well…you’ll need to read the book.  406 pages. (Finished 11 May 12).

Full List below the cut:

Past Lists:
2011 List
2010 List
2009 List
2008 List
2007 List

1. Binocular Vision by Edith Pearlman.  A collection of short stories set anywhere from Europe around WWII to contemporary United States (mainly around Boston).  373 pages.  (Finished 7 Jan 2012).
2. The Artist of Disappearance by Anita Desai.  Three novellas of life and expectations in contemporary Indian culture.  156 pages.  (Finished 9 Jan 12).
3. The Redbreast by Jo Nesbø.  Dectective Harry Hole makes a mistake and gets reassigned to monitor neo-Nazi’s threatening Muslim’s at an upcoming holiday shared by both Norway and Islam.  In the course of his investigation he discovers a plot with roots in WWII and soldiers who had fought alongside the Germans in opposition to the exiled Norwegian government and royal family.  576 pages.  (Finished 13 Jan 2012).
4. Canning & Preserving with Ashley English: All You Need to Know to Make Jams, Jellies, Pickles, Chutneys & More (Home Living Series) by Ashley English.  Basic info on canning & preserving, the equipment needed, some history, and some classic and seasonally influenced recipes.  136 pages.  (Finished 17 Jan 2012).
5. All-American Poem by Matthew Dickman.  Another of my former classmates’ (and twin brother of Michael from last years list) first collection of poems.  96 pages.  (Finished 17 Jan 2012).
6. Platform by Michel Houllebecq.  A disintrested civil servant in Paris goes on a tour package vacation to Thailand after the death of his father.  There he meets Valerie, a rising executive in the tourism industry herself.  They end up creating a concept promoting sex tourism that ends up causing a disastrous result.  272 pages. (Finished 21 Jan 12).
7. Nemesis by Jo Nesbø.  Inspector Harry Hole must try to help solve a bank robbery and a murder (that he is a prime suspect of).  480 pages.  (Finished 24 Jan 12).
8. The Devil’s Star by Jo Nesbø.  Inspector Harry Hole is about to get fired and gets called out of a drunken binge to work one last case.  This time he must work with his long time nemesis, Tom Waaler.  452 pages.  (Finished 26 Jan 2012).
9. The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan.  Alive for almost two hundred years, Jake gets the news that he is now the last werewolf on earth.  Two organizations are closing in hoping to be the ones to capture the last of species.  293 pages.  (Finished 31 Jan 12).
10. Home Dairy with Ashley English: All You Need to Know to Make Cheese, Yogurt, Butter & More (Home Living Series) by Ashley English.  Basic info on making cheese, yogurt, butter and other milk products.  136 pages.  (Finished 1 Feb 2012).
11. For the Relief of Unbearable Urges: Stories by Nathan Englander.  A collection of stories revolving around Orthodox Jews and their interactions with the world outside their communities.  224 pages.  (Finished 8 Feb 12).
12. The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market Cookbook by Christopher Hirsheimer and Peggy Knickerbocker.  Part reference guide…part cookbook.  I nice reference to the seasonal goods of California’s markets (even though this is focused on Northern California).  288 pages.  (Finished 9 Feb 12).
13. The Snowman by Jo Nesbø.  Inspector Hole finds himself tracking down a killer that strikes on the day of the first snow.  400 pages.  (Finished 11 Feb 12).
14. The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing by Taylor Larimore, Michael LeBoeuf, & Mel Lindauer.  Its a book about investing.  307 pages.  (Finished 16 Feb 12).
15. Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi.  A business book on why you should build relationships to improve your roles in job.  Or something like  that.  320 pages.  (Finished 29 Feb 12).
16. Headhunters by Jo Nesbø.  Oslo’s self proclaimed best corporate headhunter also dabbles in art theft.  When he meets the ex-CEO of a GPS tracking company, he get’s a little more than he expected.  256 pages.  (Finished 5 Mar 12).
17. Blue Nights by Joan Didion.  A mother reflects on the loss of her daughter, aging, & motherhood in this book that partners well with her earlier work A Year of Magical Thinking, that focused on the loss of her husband.  188 pages.  (Finished 6 Mar 12).
18. The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes.  An old man looks back on the suicide of one of his high school friends after receiving an unexpected inheritance from the mother of an ex-girlfriend.  Winner of the 2011 Booker Prize.  163 pages.  (Finished 9 Mar 2012).
19. What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Nathan Englander.  The latest collection of short stories centered around Jewish lives from the author.  207 pages.  (Finished 19 Mar 12).
20. The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta.  On Oct 14th, millions of people just disappeared like the Rapture had happened.  But it wasn’t just Christians, but people of other faiths and no faiths at all.  Three years after the Sudden Disappearance, the citizens of Mapleton are all recovering in their different ways.  355 pages.  (Finished 22 Mar 12).
21. The Leopard by Jo Nesbø.  Former Inspector Harry Hole reluctantly returns to Norway to help solve a new series of gruesome murders.  528 pages.  (Finished 27 Mar 12).
22. The Angel Esmeralda by Don DeLillo.  A collection of short stories from throughout DeLillo’s career.  208 pages.  (Finished 12 Apr 12).
23. The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides.  It’s the 80s and the recession is looming over soon to be college graduates.  Mitchell loves Madeleine who loves Leonard who well…you’ll need to read the book.  406 pages. (Finished 11 May 12).

Continue reading »]]> A year ago today I had a seizure while at work…by this time in the day, I was in the hospital (for what would be an overnight visit).  So how are things a year later?  Well I haven’t had any further events…so that’s a good thing.  I survived not being able to drive for five months living in LA.  Health wise…everything seems to be pretty stable.

Lately the biggest change has been my move back to Portland.  I’ve for the most part settled in to my new apartment.  I’m still looking for a job (I did have one temporary assignment stuffing envelopes for 2.5 days).  I’m starting to get a little bored without a job to go to.  But for the moment I’m still pretty confident that something will turn up soon.  All in all, its nice being back in the NW.

Continue reading »]]> Its official…I’m heading back to Portland at the end of the month.  I don’t have a permanent place to live yet and I don’t have a job yet (though I’m trying to continue on remotely at my current job…fingers crossed).  So this is another leap of faith.  Now to get everything done between now and the end of the month.

Continue reading »]]> A two part blog post about the Mars Hill church in Seattle and Christian discipline from Matthew Paul Turner:

Part 1: Mark Driscoll’s Church Discipline Contract

Part 2: Mark Driscoll’s ‘Gospel Shame’

Do we really wonder why people don’t like church?  This seems to me about as far from Jesus’ message of love as you can get.

Continue reading »]]> Something for all of us to remember…whether we’ve already found love or are still waiting for it to find us.

Originally posted at Brain Pickings:

“If it is right, it happens — The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.”

Nobel laureate John Steinbeck (1902-1968) might be best-known as the author of East of Eden, The Grapes of Wrath, and Of Mice and Men, but he was also a prolific letter-writer. Steinbeck: A Life in Letters constructs an alternative biography of the iconic author through some 850 of his most thoughtful, witty, honest, opinionated, vulnerable, and revealing letters to family, friends, his editor, and a circle of equally well-known and influential public figures.

Among his correspondence is this beautiful response to his eldest son Thom’s 1958 letter, in which the teenage boy confesses to have fallen desperately in love with a girl named Susan while at boarding school. Steinbeck’s words of wisdom — tender, optimistic, timeless, infinitely sagacious — should be etched onto the heart and mind of every living, breathing human being.

New York
November 10, 1958

Dear Thom:

We had your letter this morning. I will answer it from my point of view and of course Elaine will from hers.

First — if you are in love — that’s a good thing — that’s about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don’t let anyone make it small or light to you.

Second — There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-importance. This is the ugly and crippling kind. The other is an outpouring of everything good in you — of kindness and consideration and respect — not only the social respect of manners but the greater respect which is recognition of another person as unique and valuable. The first kind can make you sick and small and weak but the second can release in you strength, and courage and goodness and even wisdom you didn’t know you had.

You say this is not puppy love. If you feel so deeply — of course it isn’t puppy love.

But I don’t think you were asking me what you feel. You know better than anyone. What you wanted me to help you with is what to do about it — and that I can tell you.

Glory in it for one thing and be very glad and grateful for it.

The object of love is the best and most beautiful. Try to live up to it.

If you love someone — there is no possible harm in saying so — only you must remember that some people are very shy and sometimes the saying must take that shyness into consideration.

Girls have a way of knowing or feeling what you feel, but they usually like to hear it also.

It sometimes happens that what you feel is not returned for one reason or another — but that does not make your feeling less valuable and good.

Lastly, I know your feeling because I have it and I’m glad you have it.

We will be glad to meet Susan. She will be very welcome. But Elaine will make all such arrangements because that is her province and she will be very glad to. She knows about love too and maybe she can give you more help than I can.

And don’t worry about losing. If it is right, it happens — The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.

Love,

Fa

via Letters of Note