One of my goals at the start of 2007 was to read a book every week. I kept up a good pace for a while, although my chance at reading 52 books fell apart around September when I started grad school. However, I did manage to finish about 40 new books this year, and I wanted to give my "best of" awards for those of you who might be looking for something worth your time.
Best Novel - A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving. The best, most memorable book that I read all year.
Best Theological Book - Holy Scripture by John Webster. Not a light read, but it will change the way you approach the Bible.
Best Book of Poetry - Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot. 'We must be still and still moving/Into another intensity/For a further union/A deeper communion.'
Best Non-Fiction - A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. Really an amazing story - Beah is a surviving child soldier from the Sierra Leone Civil War. Eloquent, important, and bluntly horrific.
Best Baseball Book - Good Enough To Dream by Roger Kahn. My favorite baseball writer, this is the story of the year Kahn spent as owner of the Utica Blue Sox, a now defunct Single A team that played five minutes down the street from our old apartment.
Best Classic - Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger. Discovered this book for the first time this summer. Honorable mention to On The Road and Pride & Prejudice, a book that revealed to me the secret of a woman's heart.
Best Short Story - Legends of the Fall by Jim Harrison. The plot is generally the same as a movie, but written in absolutely spare prose.
Most Confusing Book - The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton. With thirteen years of homeschooling, four years at a Christian college, and a semester of seminary under my belt, it seems like I should be able to understand G.K. Chesterton a little bit. But it hasn't happened yet.
Other Recommendations: Godric, by Frederick Buechnera fictional biography of an 11th century saint, is tough to read (vernacular from the Middle Ages), but it is absolutely worth it. Stuart: A Life Lived Backward by Alexander Masters, is a British biography of a homeless man, and unlike anything you have likely read.
I found something beautiful, intriguing, or redemptive in all these books. If you're looking for something to read in 2008, I'd recommend each one of these books.
-matt
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Are you feeling festive?
Christmas is one week from today!
Massachusetts had a couple of big snow storms this week. Above are some pictures after snow storm number 1.
We got our tree this week- our first Christmas tree since being married! Due to our lack of tools and the necessity of it fitting in the tree stand, we ended up trimming some of its branches with a chefmate kitchen shears. Sadly, the kitchen shears will never be the same.
And because of our childhood ornaments and the generosity of Uncle Andy and Aunt Allison, we had a nice collection of ornaments to put on the tree. Here are some pictures of our beautiful (little) tree and quaint apartment.
In other news, Matt finished his first semester of seminary today (!!) and plans to post soon.
We are looking forward to spending Christmas with the Moran family on Tuesday!
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Go Bills!
On Saturday night, Matt and I attended our church's Christmas dinner which combined members of our church, another local church and members of the local Muslim community. We heard the Christmas story read in 4 different languages- English, Hindi, Spanish and Arabic. Awesome...
At the Christmas party I befriended a cute 5 year old girl named Lauren. Now we are the best of friends. She likes to give me gifts of napkins, paper plates and plastic silverware. Because of the multitude of plates received, we might not have to do many dishes this week.
Matt is done with classes for the semester- only finals and papers to go!
The Bills are 7-6! The one Hargrove tackle was amazing- it looked like a WWF move. Still hoping for a Patriot's loss- the ecstatic Pats fans frequent the bank often and like to gloat.
Favorite bank customer of the week: An elderly lady who chats with me about the Red Sox. Apparently her husband is not a sports fan at all, but she watches all of the games during the season and even stays up to date on the current off-season trading/signing discussions. We both agree that Ellsbury should stay with the Sox. Very cool lady.
This week I misread a check (REALLY bad handwriting) and gave someone $650 instead of $65. Yikes. I quickly realized my mistake and bolted outside to catch him before he left. He almost had a VERY merry Christmas.
On Saturday Matt and I are going to get our first real Christmas tree! yay!
Happy belated birthday, Noelle!
Over Thanksgiving vacation, my family went to Hershey's Chocolate World to experience the delights of the free ride and free chocolate. Here are some of the pictures from the sweet time:
It's a VERY fun ride. :)
At the Christmas party I befriended a cute 5 year old girl named Lauren. Now we are the best of friends. She likes to give me gifts of napkins, paper plates and plastic silverware. Because of the multitude of plates received, we might not have to do many dishes this week.
Matt is done with classes for the semester- only finals and papers to go!
The Bills are 7-6! The one Hargrove tackle was amazing- it looked like a WWF move. Still hoping for a Patriot's loss- the ecstatic Pats fans frequent the bank often and like to gloat.
Favorite bank customer of the week: An elderly lady who chats with me about the Red Sox. Apparently her husband is not a sports fan at all, but she watches all of the games during the season and even stays up to date on the current off-season trading/signing discussions. We both agree that Ellsbury should stay with the Sox. Very cool lady.
This week I misread a check (REALLY bad handwriting) and gave someone $650 instead of $65. Yikes. I quickly realized my mistake and bolted outside to catch him before he left. He almost had a VERY merry Christmas.
On Saturday Matt and I are going to get our first real Christmas tree! yay!
Happy belated birthday, Noelle!
Over Thanksgiving vacation, my family went to Hershey's Chocolate World to experience the delights of the free ride and free chocolate. Here are some of the pictures from the sweet time:
It's a VERY fun ride. :)
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Pictures of Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving! Matt wrote a new post (see below), but here are some pictures from all of the festivities.
With the Morans...
Highlights:
a. delicious food
b. shopping on Black Friday
c. playing a wild game of spoons
d. FAMILY!
With the Hoffmans...
Highlights:
a. meeting our niece Emma Grace for the first time (I'm a proud aunt- thus the many pictures of Emma and Ashton!)
b. seeing Grandma Hoffman delight in Emma (I miss Grandma's joy, but it came back over Thanksgiving!)
c. delicious food
d. FAMILY!
With the Morans...
Highlights:
a. delicious food
b. shopping on Black Friday
c. playing a wild game of spoons
d. FAMILY!
With the Hoffmans...
Highlights:
a. meeting our niece Emma Grace for the first time (I'm a proud aunt- thus the many pictures of Emma and Ashton!)
b. seeing Grandma Hoffman delight in Emma (I miss Grandma's joy, but it came back over Thanksgiving!)
c. delicious food
d. FAMILY!
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
The Hidden Glory of Thanksgiving
matt: I know this is late ... Laurel and I both got sick over Thanksgiving break and are a little behind in the blog. But while everyone shifts into Christmas mood, here are a few thoughts about Thanksgiving (by the way, I enabled the comment section so that anyone who wants can comment, you don't have to belong to blogspot).
Pictures of our time at the Moran & Hoffman household are forthcoming.
But, in no particular order, here are my favorite things about Thanksgiving - in my opinion, easily the most underrated holiday on the calendar.
1. Stellar food.
2. Football the entire day.
3. Nothing is actually required, other than showing up. I know, I can say this because I am not cooking, but I like the simplicity. Thanksgiving doesn't cost money. No gifts, no church, no local parades, no formal clothing. You just come.
4. Even though Thanksgiving is not a religious holiday I think that saying 'thank you' is probably one of the most genuinely spiritual things that we do. If you could only choose two words to pray, those would be the ones to pick.
5.I like that we choose to give thanks in November, a visually ugly month, that is a precursor to 4 1/2 months of snow and cold If you say that you are grateful in November, you probably mean it.
'Let us not be afraid to look at everything that has brought us to where we are now and trust that we will soon see in it the guiding hand of a loving God.' - Henri Nouwen
Pictures of our time at the Moran & Hoffman household are forthcoming.
But, in no particular order, here are my favorite things about Thanksgiving - in my opinion, easily the most underrated holiday on the calendar.
1. Stellar food.
2. Football the entire day.
3. Nothing is actually required, other than showing up. I know, I can say this because I am not cooking, but I like the simplicity. Thanksgiving doesn't cost money. No gifts, no church, no local parades, no formal clothing. You just come.
4. Even though Thanksgiving is not a religious holiday I think that saying 'thank you' is probably one of the most genuinely spiritual things that we do. If you could only choose two words to pray, those would be the ones to pick.
5.I like that we choose to give thanks in November, a visually ugly month, that is a precursor to 4 1/2 months of snow and cold If you say that you are grateful in November, you probably mean it.
'Let us not be afraid to look at everything that has brought us to where we are now and trust that we will soon see in it the guiding hand of a loving God.' - Henri Nouwen
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