Monday, December 31, 2012

End of the year bookshelf cleaning--9 books out the door

These titles will go to the library book sale.  Most were purchased used or were from the free box at church, and they don't need to hang around.

1)  Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework (clearance sticker says $3, 9/27/05)

craft books

2) Millie's book as dictated to Barbara Bush

Millie's Book as Dictated to Barbara Bush 1990 HB 1st Edition

3)  More difficult sayings of Jesus

4)  How should we then live? The rise and decline of Western thought and culture by Francis A. Schaeffer



5)  A short exposition of Dr. Martin Luther's Small Catechism.  Concordia Publishing House, 1906.

6)  The purpose driven life by Rick Warren

7)  The Billy Graham Christian worker's handbook; a layman's guide for soul winning and personal counseling

8)  The legacy of sovereign joy by John Piper (2000)

Cover of: The Legacy of Sovereign Joy by John Piper

9)  The right man; the surprise presidency of George W. Bush by David Frum

Kim by Rudyard Kipling (1901)

The January selection for our book club is Kim by Rudyard Kipling (c1901), and I purchased a paperback copy (Penguin edition, 1987) at Half Price Books. Usually I don't write or underline in books, but I probably won't keep this one, and with confusing names and events, thought underlining might be helpful.


http://cowpattyhammer.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/kim-kipling-kamakura/

I'm finding it very interesting, and Kipling's knowledge of the country of his birth which he left at a young age is amazing. Also enlightening are the notes and introduction in my used paperback copy (Penguin, 1987) by Edward Said, probably read by thousands of high school and college students in the last 25 years. Dinesh D'Sousa calls Edward Said Obama's founding father.... "One of Obama’s founding fathers who remains relatively unknown is the Palestinian radical Edward Said. Prior to his death in 2003, Said was the leading anti-colonial thinker in the United States. Obama studied with Said at Columbia University and the two maintained a relationship over the next two decades Said is actually an excellent writer, and I’m thankful to have his critical analysis of a novel 110 years old. But as a man without a country, a U.S. immigrant always unhappy with his adopted home, he reminds me so much of all the transient (in soul and sometimes body) faculty and foreign students I knew at the University of Illinois in the 1950s-60s. Because I was a foreign language major many of my instructors were emigres—driven from homeland by politics or war. First degree relatives shot, burned or imprisoned, never to be seen again. The cultural heritage of centuries ripped away. Many of my classmates came to the U.S. as “displaced persons” as toddlers or children after WWII--grateful for their lives, but always mourning what had been lost to Stalin, or Mao, or Hitler, or Tito, etc. Some had been ethnic Chinese whose families had lived for years outside China, sort of double displacement.

No matter what is good in the novel Kim, Said can't get past British imperialism, as Obama can't get past what he calls American imperialism. One can substitute Said's situation for what he says about colonial powers/Kim's: "For what one cannot do in one's own [homeland--anywhere in the middle east or Asia] where to try to live out the grand dream of a successful quest is only to keep coming up against one's own mediocrity and the world's corruption and degradation, one can do abroad." (p. 42 introduction, Penguin ed.) I think Said enjoyed his tiny celebrity status as the ultimate anti-colonialist, and he would have been a nobody in any other country without the give and take and freedom of speech he was allowed in the U.S. and classrooms filled with adoring disciples ready to deny anything good in Western civilization.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

None dare call it treason

Title: None dare call it treason (pb 1964) John A. Stormer wrote this book in 1964. I picked it up at a sale in Lakeside--vaguely remembered the title. Here are some of the chapter titles--if the paper weren't brittle I'd think it was a 2012 paperback.
  • The growth of world Communism
  • How has it happened?
  • Education
  • Subverting our religious heritage
  • The press, radio and TV
  • The Organized labor movement
  • The tax-exempt foundations
  • Internationalism
Glancing through this nearly 50 year old book, I see some things haven’t changed much. Particularly, education, the media and tax-exempt foundations. Revising textbooks to eliminate nationalism, taking history out of the early grades, belittling patriotism, and eliminating the Pledge of Allegiance were noted (quotes suggestions from UNESCO). http://www.scribd.com/doc/52165577/None-Dare-Call-It-Treason-John-Stormer-1964

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas

I’ve decided to recommend Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas for next year’s book club selection.  In order to have it finished by the next meeting in May, I have to read at least 22 pages a day. The following description is from Truth and Triumph, for which he’d done an interview:

“Eric Metaxas is the New York Times bestselling author of Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery. His work has been published in The New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, The Washington Post, Regeneration Quarterly, Christianity Today, National Review Online, Beliefnet, and First Things. He's also been featured on CNN, The Fox News Channel, and National Public Radio. He lives with his family in Manhattan.

Last fall, Metaxas' newest book, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Prophet, Martyr, Spy, became a New York Times No. 1 bestseller. In the book, Metaxas explores what happened when the German theologian's profound faith convictions ran up against a Nazi regime determined to co-opt, corrupt, and then neutralize the voice of the church in Germany.”

Sandra Lee Semi-homemade cooking

My goodness she has written a lot of books.  It took me awhile to find the right cover photo!  I got it for 90 cents today at the Volunteers of America thrift shop on Henderson Road.  I don’t do a lot of “scratch” cooking these days, and hers are guaranteed “nothing is made from scratch.” However, the photos and menu ideas area good.

Sandra Lee

Overview
  • Recipes for every palate and mood—the Semi-Homemade way creates an inspiring pairing of fresh ingredients and packaged foods.
  • Quick-to-the-table, delicious recipes to satisfy any culinary whim any time of the day. Delectable breakfast fare, light lunch bites, family-pleasing dinners, simple appetizers and snacks, sassy cocktails, and more.
  • Most recipes prepared in 30 minutes or less.
  • All-new bonus chapters on red-hot topics: slow cooker favorites, restaurant remakes, and kid’s cooking.
  • Time-saving tips for shopping, prepping, leftover storage, and Sandra’s brand recommendations for success.
  • Wine suggestions to create delicious dining occasions every day.
  • Beautiful photo of every recipe.