True Confessions

I love fiction! This week I started reading Small Steps by Louis Sachar (it is the sequel to his popular book, Holes) on Thursday during 4th period and I was hooked. I had to finish it that night but at the same time I didn't want it to end because it was such a great story.

My obsession with YA (Young Adult) fiction is even worse when it comes to the Series of Unfortunate Events. One time last year one of my students brought the sixth book to class with her. I had just finished the fifth book during my conference period, and started reading hers while they were working on something else. Then I wouldn't even let her have it back! I read it that night and gave it back to her the next morning before first period. The final and thirteenth book is coming out on October 13, 2006 and I have already recruited my sister to send it to me since we will probably already be overseas. I told her it could be her ministry to me and my family still hasn't let me live it down.

So although my reading list on the side bar usually includes a lot of really good non-fiction you can assume that I am just zipping through my students' fiction books so quickly I don't even have time to post the updated reading list!

~A

This is a lot of fun...

O.K., here is another useless piece of information from the book Mind Hacks. "What you pay attention to determines what you see, so much so that you can miss things that are immensely obvious to others." Philip, I think you will like getting some of your friends to do this. Here's what you do. Click on the title and it will take you to a web page with a video of a basketball drill. Have a friend watch the video and explain that there is one difficult, but possible goal: to count the number of passes made by the people in white shirts only. Stress that this will take some concentration. You, on the other hand, watch the enitre thing and at the end ask, "Did you see the dancing gorilla? They will most likely say "no" to which you laugh hysterically and have them watch it again. This time, they will not be able to help but noticed the dancing gorilla that somehow completely escaped their attention!

Blue Like Jazz

This book was recommended to me by Amy and Isaac Llanes. I picked it up in B&N one day and got interested in it. This author basically puts his testimony and thoughts on life in a form that anyone could read and feel comfortable with. There isn't a "churchy" word to be found in it. If you are the least bit legalistic, however, something in this book will probably offend you. It has kind-of a post-modern feel. I would recommend this book to the "unchurched" since it is one of the only things I've found that uses secular language to say spiritual things. Personally, I found it very refreshing, and thought more than once, "Man, I wish I could sit on a covered porch overlooking a sunset and smoke a pipeful of tobacco and talk about life with this guy."