some general thoughts

I never stopped reading, but I did stop blogging. For almost ten months. I miss it, but I also miss having extra physical and mental energy, so there you have it. I'd like to return to blogging consistently but I don't know if that's possible, but in the meantime here's some miscellaneous reading goodness for you.

• A new Credenda/Agenda Magazine is out! Because they formerly published solely through the generosity of donations, there was no print issue for the last two years. They were still posting new issues at credenda.org, but there's nothing quite like holding an actual magazine in one's hands. From now on, the folks at Canon Press will publish each issue as though it is a separate book. You can sign up at canonpress.org. This issue reminds me of what I've been missing the last few years. Some highlights include an interview with Tom Wolfe, an article by Peter Hitchens asking in the era of globalization, who is my neighbor, really? and general mocking of various follies. Welcome back, Credenda. You've been missed. 
• Have you signed up for Goodreads yet? I particularly like the iPhone app for convenience. I use it to keep track of books I'd like to read, and I find other reader's reviews are helpful. Add me as a friend if you're curious what's on my list to read next.
• Justin Taylor posted something intriguing which which makes me want to read Moby Dick, something which I find quite remarkable. You can read his blog post here.

Happy reading, friends!

Just a general update

I love to read. I love to blog. But lately, not much of either has been happening. I'm okay with it--I'm reminding myself that this particular season of life, with two little ones and a husband who frequently travels, is a temporary one. Right now, I'm just trying to savor all the sweet moments that two little girls bring me. For now, that means more raspberries and snuggles and walks, and less blogging.

Once I get a break though, watch out! I have a huge list of books I'm looking forward to reviewing. But for now, I'm going to go downstairs, savor a cup of coffee, and enjoy some excellent company. I hope wherever you are, Dear Reader, you are able to do the same.

In progress

Has anyone else read A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving?

If so, has anyone else found it fantastically boring?

I kept coming across it in lists of great literature, and when I saw a free ebook version of it, I downloaded it right away. I'm still slogging through the novel (right now I'm on page 216) but I checked reviews on Amazon.com to see what others thought. At last count there are 816 five-star reviews. Just typing that made me sigh again. It's supposed to be an amazing, funny, brilliant novel about faith, which inspired the movie Simon Birch. I found that movie okay, although a bit emotionally manipulative. I've forgotten how it ended but some of the reviews on Amazon gave away enough plot points that if I stop reading A Prayer for Owen Meany I won't wonder what happened to the characters. I also learned that it contains 512 pages of narrative, which begin in the 1950s and keeps trudging on through all the way to Vietnam and Iran Contra. To top it all off, the book is also considered an excellent critique of the faults of American foreign policy. Haven't we been here before? Can we move on to something else now, please?

This reminds me of the preface of Fanny Herself, by Edna Ferber. Click here to read it. I might give up on this one. Life is too short to read boring books.

The latest news

This is why I haven't posted lately....


We welcomed Faith Susannah into our hearts and home on March 24. She's such a blessing, but it doesn't leave much time for blogging. I have quite the backlog of books to review, but for now, I'm going to try to take a nap.

Hello? Is anybody still out there?

I really miss my poor abandoned blog. Don't think I've forgotten you, kind readers. I haven't stopped reading (never!), but I just can't keep up with blogging right now. I'm two weeks away (or sooner) from having our baby, and at this point I'm doing good just to get dinner on the table and keep our toddler diapered.

Incubating a baby is hard work. This is me, two months ago:


This is me, now.

(Photo credits here)

I'll be back this summer!

Bush's reading list

Reason #862 to feel badly about myself: President Bush reads more books, and reads more intellectual books than I do. See the article here. (HT: JT)

Say what you will about Bush, but the scope and volume of the list shows someone who is not only intelligent (gasp!) but is disciplined in what free time he has. After I'm done berating myself for spending too much time on the internet, I'm going to see if my library has some of these titles. Who knows--maybe I can match Bush's 40 books read in 2008. I'm staying realistic, though, so I'm not aiming for Karl Rove's 64. These are busy men, but they're not pregnant stay-at-home moms caring for a toddler.

And yes, I'm playing that card as long as I have it!

Happy Anniversary, Me!

I was just browsing some old posts, and I realized that I started this blog exactly one year ago. How cool is that? Usually, I don't remember dates until it's too late to do anything, so I'm glad Providence directed me towards introspection tonight.

I started this blog on October 4, 2007, with the hopes of sharing my thoughts with you, gentle reader, and learning a bit more about myself. Hopefully you've liked what you've read. Or at least, you know which books to avoid. Browsing through the categories, I'm surprised by how much fiction I read, and a little embarrassed by the fluffy stuff there. I definitely went through a foodie phase earlier this year. Christianity is a constant category. (Whew!) The titles I've chosen to read are revealing, but what has surprised me the most is how much I've come to enjoy the process of writing my thoughts, and not just giving out recommendations. I hope I am becoming a more discerning reader through the process of blogging. Thanks for reading along with me.

Some general housekeeping

Does nobody want a free book? Seriously people, it's not very encouraging to have one's first giveaway ignored. I'll take some blame, though. After a very long post, if you finally made it to the end to read about the giveaway, you probably felt like you had already finished the book. (Sadly, this is me trying to be concise. Long blog posts are a what happens when a quiet person receives a virtual soap box.) Well, in case you missed it, I am giving away my copy of "Banker to the Poor." I am at my parents' house right now, and I was going to bring it with me and and just leave it with them but then I forgot. I blame the babies, both of them. But anyway, now's your (second) chance to receive an inspiring book.

Also, I apologize for the unfinished blog design. I can't leave Blogger's templates alone, but I ran into technical difficulties. I can't help it: I alter my jeans, I make my own vinegar, and I can't use a stock web design. I'll eventually fix it, but you'll have to be patient with me.

Non-bookish fun

My honey brought a Southwest Airlines in-flight magazine for me to read, brought back from his latest trip. I got hooked with a puzzle called "Shinro," which reminds me of Sudoku, but more obscure and confusing. You can see the original puzzle here. Tricky, isn't it? I became obsessed with solving it. (Sadly, "obsessed" is not too strong of a word.)

At first I googled the puzzle, trying to find the methodology for solving it, but there was nothing out there. We were beginning to think it was another prank by Southwest, until I found posts like this, asking where to find more puzzles. So once I solved it, I decided to post how I got there, to help other obsessive puzzlers like myself. Enjoy! (And if you used this and found it helpful, please leave a comment.)

First, I redrew the grid larger, using a pencil with a eraser.

Then, add tick marks to show every square an arrow is pointing to. Some squares have more than one tick mark.

Here's where the fun begins. Remember, holes don't necessarily have an arrow pointing to them. So looking at the last column on the right, there are two tick marks in that column, and there are two holes in that column, but that doesn't mean that those squares are where the holes are.

Here is an example of the logic I used to solve this one. Looking at the row the pencil is pointing to, the row has only 1 hole, and it must be to the right of the arrow. Therefore the circled tick marks aren't for that hole, so I erased them.


Looking to the arrow above, that particular arrow is only pointing to one square. Therefore there that's where the hole is.

After an arrow can point to no other holes, X through it. When a column or row is complete, I check it. I erase the tic marks when they no longer indicate a hole.

Continue until the arrows can point to no other squares (Eight holes so far.) You still have unmarked holes somewhere in the puzzle. At this point, I decided to put a line through finished columns and rows to make it easier to see where the holes are.

From here, you can see there is only one spot in the top row where the third hole can be.

Keep going, and you solved the puzzle! Isn't that fun?

PS: Thanks for the math and logic classes, Mom and Dad! Education is never wasted, even if (or maybe especially if) it's used just for fun.

Nothing in particular

Hello, my bookish friends.

I just had a lovely afternoon which I want to share with you. I left the baby napping with my honey, and I walked to the library. Not really a big deal really, but I still feel a happy buzz from the experience.

Normally when I walk, it's with the baby and a hyper dog, so it was a treat to just be by myself. It's still unseasonably warm in the Shenandoah Valley, so it feels like a crisp fall day instead of dreary mid-January. The shortest route to the library is through the downtown of our little historic town. On the way I browsed in a used furniture store, and then lured by the appearance of a sidewalk sale down the street, I found myself right next the sweet shop. Three truffles later, I was on my way again. I found some great books at the library, three CD's I want to burn (I know, I know. But it's my tax dollars, right?), and some yummy magazines. I also got some cute books for the kidlet. On my way home, I walked by the park and took a hilly shortcut through an old cemetery. I weighed my loot when I got home: eight pounds of library goodness!

It's afternoons like this that make me enjoy my life. I only saved 30 cents by not driving, and my $1.58 at the sweet shop will not keep the proprietor in business. But my waist is a little trimmer, the gas tank a little fuller, the town's main street a little more vibrant, and my life is undeniably richer.

What Rachel's Reading

I'm a reader. I'm also a sporadic journal-writer. My life has calmed down enough to the point now where I have been considering starting up again. I'm on vacation right now, and I brought my old reading journal. I started it in 2001, and my last entry was from May of 2004. I just finished a book, and was thinking about my entry, when I realized alot has changed since 2004. Mainly, blogs have changed the way we can record our everyday lives. So I decided to blog about the books I read instead of keeping it in a book for only me to read.

In honor of my old journal, here's the first entry I wrote.

July 16, 2001
This is my book journal. I am starting this for a variety of reasons, but the main one is I am a sucker for blank journals. Empty pages are among the many things I cannot seem to resist.
This will also serve to be a diary of my spare time. I don't seem to have much of it, so I want to remember my leisurely moments, both how I spent them as well as the fact that I did, indeed, have some.
But these are not the main reasons why I am writing this. Dad gave me a very interesting quote once, which I think was by Charlie "Tremendous" Jones. Roughly paraphrased, it is this: Ten years from now, the only things that will have changed you are the people you have met and the books you have read. I want to keep a record of the things that have influenced me as a person.
Why do I have this desire? Maybe it goes back to the Puritans' love of journaling as a means of discovering more about themselves and God. Or, maybe it is something else entirely, which I will someday discover in one of the books I will read...