I was tagged…sometime…with a “book” survey. My record for
actually doing these things is pathetic, but I do read a lot, and this one sounded interesting. I said I’d try.
So here I am to torture myself (and you).
Disclaimer: I must
confess to hating “pick one” questions. I can’t seem to commit–so my
answers may not be brief.
1) one book that changed your life:
Besides the Bible? (obvious
since it has everything to do with my greatest hope) Actually,
the book of Exodus (ch. 4, more specifically) had a profound
affect on me when I heard a sermon on it last Sunday. I like this
new church–I never knew Exodus could be so fascinating. But I
should have known…all he had to do was point out God in it.
*smiles*
I could list a recent read, Revolution Within
(Dwight Edwards). I haven’t actually even finished it, but the first several chapters have really worked on me.
Fiction has also had an affect on my life. The books I read as a child shaped much of who I am now…Little House on the Prairie
series, C.S. Lewis, Louisa May Alcott, and Louis L’Amour.
And now, lately, almost anything by Francine Rivers.
I told ya’ll I couldn’t pick just one.
2) one book you have read more than once:
Ha! All of them? It
would be faster to list the one or two I probably didn’t read again.
Oddly, as much as I liked it, I never re-read Till We Have Faces.
Why is that? Mostly, if I didn’t like a book I never finished
it. (That is not to say that I don’t like all the books I’ve
never finished.)
3) desert island book:
How to Win Friends and Influence People, definitely.
*impish grin* Okay, I’ll behave…
Well, considering that by the time
I’m stranded alone (or not alone) I will have memorized great portions
of Scripture (hey, we all have our delusions of grandeur), while
the Bible would have otherwise been my first choice…well, I’ll pick Robinson Crusoe or the Swiss Family Robinson, as these may contain information pertinent to my situation. What is it with these Robinsons anyway?
4) one book that made you cry:
Again–ha! It doesn’t take much. I will list, most recently read, the Mark of the Lion series (Francine Rivers) and Rilla of Ingleside
(L.M. Montgomery). The first grabs me with the real and raw
emotions so well described, and the intensity of each character’s
encounters with God. The second…WWII,
deaths, homecomings, and Dog Monday’s that wait for a year at the train
station for his boy to come home.
5) one book that made you laugh:
While that also does not take much,
for I “dearly love to laugh” out loud, I do laugh hardest at any
books involving children and their antics. Rainbow Valley and Little Men are listed among my favorites.
(I think I switched those last two questions. I suppose the survey police are on their way over.)
6) one book you wish had been written:
All books are new discoveries to me, and I always wonder, how can you wish for something you didn’t even know existed?
I could say that I have sometimes
wished for a guidebook that would help me in ordinary, every-day living
as well as the intense experiences that often surprise us, but I have a
sneaking suspicion that It’s already been written and I just don’t read
it enough.
7) one book you wish had never been written:
any and all secular romance novels
8) one book you’re currently reading:
Once again I must choose from among
many–I’ve never been able to finish one book before stumbling upon another
that deserves my immediate attention. Among the currents, The Jedbourghs (excellent recounting of some of the secret forces sent into France during WWII), and The Story of Liberty (reprinted from the original 1879 manuscript). And just this afternoon I finished re-reading a novel, Sanditon (by Jane Austen and “another lady”, it’s Jane’s last novel, which she never finished herself).
9) one book you wish you were reading:
Must I choose? Bondage of the Will (Luther) or The Guns of August (Tuchman)–one I started and didn’t finish before I had to take it back
to the library. (But I go to the library almost every week, so I
can get it again.) And Emma.
In the absence of an even number of
questions, which bugs me, I have one of my own for anyone who wishes to inform
me–curiosity brought on by my own experiences…
10) one book on your shelf that you’ve never even started to read:
I’m ashamed to admit the number…I seem to love collecting books as much as reading
them. Thus I have no problem limiting my answer to one: The Answer is God, an autobiography by Dale Evans, wife of Roy Rogers, which is possibly out-of-print since I can’t find it on Amazon.
Okay, there’s your survey. I was called “a thinker” by the
person who tagged me;
I’m not sure if I did his opinion justice with
this post. But I only said I’d try. No promises.
Isn’t it amazing what you can do with a little time on your hands?
p.s. I hate tagging with a passion, but I am
curious how my siblings and several dear friends would answer
this. If you qualify (*grin*), have at it.
PennyDaisy 
You did my opinion justice and then some on being a thinker…you sell yourself short Madame Currie (sorry, it was the first smart lady who came to mind)…also was glad to see someone else who reads more than one book at a time and doesn’t finish them all…see, that right there must be the mark of a great mind because I do it…will have to check out this Mark of the Lion series, my “tagger” mentioned it too.and yes, my comment to thegreatknock was sad…not sure what to say…it was honestly how I felt at that moment probably brought about by years of increasing frustration with the subject…It’s funny, I just remebered the time I wrote a short story about it for English in high school so it goes back a while…I got an “a” on it…I sometimes forget that people who don’t write the posts on here will see the comments :0)
hello new friend! I find it amazing how many of the people who have done this survey, nay, the women who have done this survey, have listed The Mark of the Lion series, or anything by Francine Rivers. i have read all of her books, and the one I liked the least, the Sin Eater, I still really loved. She writes like no other Christian fiction author that I know of, for Jesus is all over everything, not just right in the middle, just as the young girl stranded on the farm with the family debt and six siblings to raise, after her ma and pa were killed in the indian ambush, and then the young dashing preacher rides into town on his equally dashing colt, all the while the neighbor boy who has loved her since he knew what love was sits back and wait for her to realize that he is really the one for her, and then, right there, somewhere around page 146, the old man down the road, who owns the property she lives on and was going to kick her and the family off, (which was really why she wanted to marry the dashing and arrogant preacher boy in the first place) hears the gospel, comes to Jesus, and everyone lives happily ever after, as she marries the right man, the preacher boy leaves town, and all is well that ends well.
THAT is not francine rivers, which is why we like her, I believe. I am a lot more like julia then I like to admit and I long to be more like haddasah, but I have never wanted to be that young farm girl, at least not in my sane moments.
that was kinda fun, maybe I should write a book with that plot, and we could employ fabio for the cover, as the dashing preacher boy with a busted nose. : )
“A desert island book”?What does that mean?Tell me what it meansand then I’ll do the survey thingy.Looks kind of fun.
thanks, I really liked the plot too : ) and fabio already has a broken nose from the pigeon that hit him in the face while he was riding a rollercoaster a few years back. seriously.
Lori Wicks, I think her theme is the unknown grandfather in Scotland (the father of the main characters’s deceased mother) that dies and leaves the only child of a ex-convict everything he owns, but because of her father’s reputation she is hated by everyone in the big mansion that she moves into, everyone, that is, but the nephew of the stable master, who played with, let’s call her Erica, no, with a k, erika when she was just a girl and he a wee lass, and is the only one who knows the true story of what really happened to her mother that fateful and blustery day that she plunged to an untimely death off the fateful cliffs of dover, or something romatically heathcliffian like that. Oh, and on page 146, the butler comes to Jesus, and there are lots and lots of historical facts about scotland, maybe even a few references to william wallace, and then, her father is finally cleared of the charges of murder against him, (yeah, he was the one who supposedly threw his beloved wife from the cliffs of dover, or wherever, and always maintained his innocence) erika falls in love with the stable master’s son, we will call him chase, and chase and erika live happily ever after, in Jesus’ name.
oh I think i am bitter. I hate those books. the end.
we are going to lovely destin FL, home of the, um, yeah, destin beaches, white, perfectly sandy beaches that will be my home for the entire weekend, except when i am learning about Jesus and being single. : ) you live in FL? I lived in Hudson for a year, loved it, I love the afternoon thunderstorms, and can’t imagine living somewhere that you don’t have any. that would stink.
okay, I have been inspired to go write my novel. I just need a title, cause I sure got me a plot or two! : )
no, you are from texas. yeehaa. never been, but someday I might end up driving through, on my cross country expedition that is coming sometime in december…another loud yeehaa.
Aye, and I did.
I like bumming around the grounds after dark. Dodging the guards is fun!
Yeah so I got to the hotel, biked to the capitol complex, and got there just in time to be told that they want us at the training center by riverside. Ugh!
For government agents, of course! How else do you think I get to sneak around the capitol complex after dark without going straight to prison?
why does everyone think I’m joking when I say I’m a government agent? do I need to flash my badge? it’s not like I’m a secret agent.
I didn’t know there were governtment agents on here…the heat ? the fuzz? G-men? I’ll have to conceal my identity…I’m really Jimmy HoffaI really don’t mind the long comments **grin** they make me feel important. If you really feel bad about it, you can use the message thingy that just showed up on here. But I really don’t mind the comments.yes, I really do understand football, or think I do. you can quiz me on the plusses and minuses of the 4-3 vs. the 3-4 defense and why the run-n-shoot and the spread are in fact, not the same thing if you want…that post was a dig at the men from church who are on xanga…we have some athletes but they are all like rock climbers and stuff, not gridiron guys. one pastor did play pro beach volleyball for a while, though. no joke.I have a natural brother who is 20 years older than me, so our family is a little odd like that too. my last living aunts and uncles are all mid 70’s or above. I have an aunt and a cousin who are the same age and were raised like sisters, even though my aunt is the cousin’s aunt too !!! that was and is my favorite aunt. my old brothers are the reason I like old music and old sports stars better than new ones, I think.Being a fixer is a good thing. Sometimes telling people to just get over it is a good thing. I know some people who seem to make drama out of thin air who make me want to say that to them much of the time… (“get over it, it’s just rain, for crying out loud…you won’t melt” My problem is, that when I do say it, it never comes out tactfully, so I am trying not to so much anymore :0)I probably do sound hopeless sometimes. Not always. Sometimes it is just hard for me to maintain hope that God is going to provide the earthly things I really want. Romance is, unfortunately one of the areas this affects me in. Especially as I get older. Like your uncle :0)wow, what a long comment.
That’s okay Sara.