Wednesday, August 09, 2006

I've been tagged by Jim Martin

1. One book that changed your life: The Blessing - it has made me try to affirm people on the spot when I see something in them that is admirable, unique, or God like.

2. One book that you’ve read more than once: Mudhouse Sabbath by Lauren Winner

3. One book you’d want on a desert island: Armchair Mystic. It would help me focus the "alone time."

4. One book that made you laugh: Soul Salsa - I love the intensity of Len Sweet's style and the dry humor.

5. One book that made you cry: Nelson Mandela - a Biography. I am proud to say that this man was the president of my country. Potentially he is the only person who was capable of presiding over a country during the years of transition from Apartheid to Democracy, and he did with grace.

6. One book you wish had been written: "10 easy steps to moving churches from institutional to missional" - teehee, just makes me smile thinking that any of those steps would be easy.

7. One book you wish had never been written: Baby Wise. It just about put my husband and I in the grave trying to put a two week old baby on a schedule. We celebrated by "trashing" it and going with our gut!

8. One book you’re currently reading: The Young Evangelicals by Robert E. Webber

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read: A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian McLaren

10. Tag 5 others: Amy Grant, Angela Bruce, Dena Johnson, Don Eudayle, Gina Robinson - Bek, if you could find your password I would have tagged you too....

3 comments:

Amy S. Grant said...

Great list! I'm loving #6. And can just imagine your pain over #7, I never tried to be Baby Wise.

Thanks for the tag. I'm extremely poorly read but will think about it!

Jim Martin said...

Arlene,
Sounds like Mudhouse Sabbath was a good read. I have read a number of articles by Lauren Winner and one book. I would like to read this one.

dutro said...

Arlene, I was gone for a few days, just now saw your photo of the habitat house, and your tag list of books. (Nice house, by the way, to be given the keys to. I'll bet that felt good to give them away.)

Also, thank you for the tag, but like Amy, I am very poorly read. I just don't have the time (I guess I don't make the time), and don't see movies, either, and not much t.v., though I do watch a little now and then.

I think the last book I read was actually a series--Hank the Cow Dog, volumes 1-4. If you haven't read them yet, go get them now. Your kids will love them, and you will enjoy them even more than the kids. They are written by a man from Dumas, and describe ranch life in your area to a "T", but more than that, are written from the perspective of Hank, the Barney Fife-esque "head of ranch security" cow dog who loves to roll in the cesspool before going to the next ranch to visit his sweetheart because she loves the aroma so much. It is really humor written on a kid's reading level, but understood best by adults. The thing I really like about them is that I could take 5 minutes and read a chapter, and not have to think deeply, and still be in a better mood for having read them and laughed.

Other than that, I will simply tell you what has impacted me recently as much as any reading, and that is being a part of a group that meets in a coffee house on Thursday nights to write Christian music. Some of it has turned out to be stuff we could sing congregationally, and some of it is best suited for performance like a concert, but it has all been enjoyable to hear and be a part of.

Most of my reading has been current events/blogs/etc. The best thing I have gotten out of that has been new friends. Glad to count you as one of those...