(We’re back… had a great time. Will post more on the trip later.)
A review for MotherTalk
The Dangerous Days of Daniel X, by James Patterson
This book is part of a project initiated by bestselling author James Patterson. His goal is to encourage the publication of books that will appeal to boys, who are reading less than […]

A review for MotherTalk
The Pregnancy Journal by A. Christine Harris
I received this book in the mail a couple of weeks ago and set it aside: This won’t take long to review… a few thought-provoking paragraphs about pregnancy amid lots of empty space.
Yesterday I opened it. Oops. There’s tons of great info in this book.
This […]

The series I’m working on for Denominational Magazine will explore spiritual/Christian themes in various works of children’s literature. Here is a draft list with blurbs for each…
September 2008: Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
Our series begins with the second installment in the classic Chronicles of Narnia, in which the Pevensie children return to Narnia and take […]

A review for MotherTalk
The Working Woman’s Pregnancy Book by Marjorie Greenfield
Pregnancy is a huge topic, but let’s face it: there’s only so much you can say about it. There are lots of books out there and the difference is often not in the content, but in the tone. Some books are cutesy, others alarmist, […]

First things first: SPOOKYRACH won the 10,000th comment challenge! This was several days back but I kept forgetting to announce it. E-mail me your address, and I’ll send you some goodies sometime, oh, before the 11,000th comment.
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Next, the book challenge: I recently finished reading David Allen’s Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and […]

Gentle Readers!
I am working on a proposal for Denominational Magazine for a series of ten articles that will explore scriptural themes as illuminated in children’s literature. I have a few books in mind, namely Because of Winn-Dixie and one or more Madeleine L’Engle books, but I need some other ideas, especially current books.
If you […]

Works of Heart: Building Village Through the Arts by Lynne Elizabeth and Suzanne Young
I saw this book some months back in my hippie catalog and finally got around to reading it. What a fun book about different ways that artists have used their art to bring people together for the betterment of their communities. There […]

I’m not quite done with The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, but will finish it up shortly. This was a fun, funny and even poignant read. This could easily have been a scornful, cynical book, but it’s not. A.J. Jacobs, an agnostic Jew (basically […]

Just finished Thirst, Mary Oliver’s latest poetry collection.
As a preacher, from time to time I worry that I only have about three or four sermons that I have been preaching over and over. (I’m not the only one who gets preoccupied with this.) Well, I’m going to stop worrying, because Mary Oliver only has […]

I have read a few more books since my last post:
The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and ‘Women’s Work’ by Kathleen Norris. Great little reflection on the sacred ordinary, particularly in the domestic sphere. As one who occasionally goes nuts with the sheer relentlessness of laundry, dishes and clutter, this was a comforting read.
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So Alex at BesoMami shared some sobering statistics about reading and has set the intent to track the books that she reads this year. A cool idea, and one that Reverend Reader has elevated to an art form. Seriously, I don’t know where she finds the time to read so much! With two little boys! […]

My second review for MotherTalk.
The Right Words at the Right Time:
Volume 2: Your Turn!
edited by Marlo Thomas
“Thank you.”
“Incest.”
“Don’t be an asshole.”
These are just a few “words that made a difference” as described by a variety of folks in Marlo Thomas’s latest book. It is a followup to The Right Words at the Right Time, which […]

My first review for MotherTalk!
The Daring Book for Girls,
by Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz
Several months ago I caught an interview with the author of The Dangerous Book for Boys on The Colbert Report. My reaction was mixed; on the one hand, I agree with his premise, that childhood these days is too managed, that […]

So I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix this weekend. Mild spoilers if you haven’t seen it, mostly obscured though.
I was sad that Bellatrix hit Sirius with the killing curse before he went through the veil. That is NOT how it happened in the book—it was a less severe curse. I […]

As some of you may have seen in this Wednesday’s RevGalBlogPals Festival, Pottermania has hit the RevGals—though not all of them. Yes, I am all over Harry like a Seeker on the Snitch, but I know there are others who will be ecstatic to see the July madness end.
So today’s F5 is a Choose Your […]

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named

I think my Friday Five this week might be Potter-related, with an alternative set of questions for those who aren’t into the books—sort of a Choose Your Own Adventure. But Gord has started a prediction thread, which got me thinking about what I expect and/or hope to see in book 7 (spoilers for those who […]

So I am up early—I was tossing and turning and that finally seemed pointless. I dread the 4 a.m. bathroom break because often I’m just up after that. Only when pregnant though.
I wish I were a consistently productive morning person. I am more than I used to be, but only when I’m wide awake with […]

Jeremiah 1:1-10
1The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, 2to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3It came also in the days of King Jehoiakim […]