A Family of Bibliophiles

Wonders Never Cease

2011-02-12T04:41:38Z

This is the first fiction book that I've read this year. I've been eyeing it since it was released last May. Tim Downs is a favorite author of mine - he wrote the Bugman novels, as well as a few stand-alone books. (Side note - Plague Maker is excellent. I HIGHLY recommend it.)

Brief description of the book's plot: Liv Hayden is an aging movie star in a medically-induced coma due to injuries suffered in a car accident. Kemp McAvoy is a night nurse with a chip on his shoulder assigned to Liv. He comes up with a brilliant plan - adjust her meds, impersonate an angel, and sit back as the next runaway "deathbed encounter with the hereafter" bestseller makes him rich. Contrasted with Kemp's fake angel is Leah, his girlfriend's six-year-old daughter who claims to be able to see real angels.

My opinion of the book: The characters are a little thin. They're either all good or all bad. Kemp McAvoy is a low-down, despicable, completely rotten-to-the-core person with extreme narcissistic tendencies, and it's very difficult to understand how he and Natalie (Leah's mother) got together. Natalie is nearly saintly, a nurse and single mother sacrificing for her daughter by working the graveyard shift. The only hint of imperfection in Natalie comes near the end of the book, when after she and Kemp have a fight, she looks for "something stronger" to mix with her cranberry juice, but finds nothing. Without adequate character development, the story is somewhat one-dimensional.

The story itself is decent. Mr. Downs has written an entertaining story that starts a little slow, but builds to a conclusion that leaves the reader satisfied. With the Bugman novels and Plague Maker, after I finished the final page, my only thought was, "More. I must have more." This does not deliver that same feeling. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end, and that's enough.

Adapting

2011-01-11T20:39:01Z

Not too long ago my wife bought a kindle from a local used book store. She had wanted one for a while and I was delighted that it she could have what she wanted for only $100. It was a first edition but this was long enough ago that the DX was just coming out and new Kindles were around $300.

In short, she loved the new e-reader. I was still solidly in the paper category. I posed that we should each write a post on our position here. I imagine she would have pointed out the weight, the readability, and some other points as well as refute my points on note taking, cost, and ability to trade. Anyhow, these posts didn't happen - and now, I'm not sure they will

My feelings on using an e-reader have changed. Teri received a new kindle for Christmas and I have used her old one a few times. That was the hook that I needed. Many of my feelings regarding trading, writing in, and borrowing books haven't changed - you can't do it as easily with an ereader. However for simple reading that I don't think I'll be taking notes for the ereader is rewarding. I can easily switch books, return to the place that I was reading, and it makes me feel like I am reading more.

I'm not sure I'm reading more, but the page turns (or clicks) come at a faster interval and that keeps me reading and helps me to feel more accomplished in my reading. Granted this may simply be a minor appeal but appeals to our pleasure centers are important for keeping us engaged in an activity. On this, I think the kindle has a paper book beat.

While I like the kindle, I'm going to stick with paper even though after Christmas, it was reported that ebook sales outpaced paper book sales.

I'm not surprised about the post-Christmas numbers since a number of readers were given for Christmas but I don't think that it's something we'll see again soon - but I do think it will happen again. Eventually, ebooks will outpace paper sales on a regular basis. I would predict that the first place we'll see the change will be in romance novels, then, perhaps sci-fi, then moving into other novel types. Eventually, business and other non-fiction reading will pick up as well.

But, until I can write in the margins, pick them up at second hand outlets, and borrow them from the library I'm sure that I'll be sticking with paperbooks - even as the price of readers drops to almost nothing. (While I'm predicting as above, I'll add that this year or next will see some readers dropping to free for a short time to grab the next market share).

The Poetic Turtle

2010-12-22T04:27:35Z

A few nights ago Alex asked me to read Doggy Slippers for his bed time story. When I opened the cover my eye caught the words "award-winning poet" on the inside flap. I groaned a little on the inside. It's not that I don't want my children to enjoy poetry; I hope that they do. Perhaps I don't understand it enough because it seems to me that poetry in children's literature is very simplistic "the dog on the log" or just plain weird. Doggy Slippers falls into the latter.

Doggy Slippers is a collection of various poems about pets. They don't tell a story and seem to be in no particular order. Some seemed just plain bizarre with comments like "He can't remember now that he was hit by a truck..."

My favorite of the bunch was about a turtle:
My turtle, Coco, is happy,
is green,
is slow,
except when she falls
down the stairs.

The accompanying sketch of a turtle sailing through the air after bouncing on several stairs adds to the flavor...as does the owner in a cape.

In the end, we discover that many children contributed to this book, which, I suppose, gave it an odd fell.

What poetry do you share with your children?

Beginning Reader

2010-12-01T21:16:04Z

A few years ago Kevin used Hooked on Phonics and essentially taught himself to read. Today, with help from Mom and Dad, Alex has begun that same journey by reading his first story.

An Achievement

2010-11-27T19:58:35Z

Today Kevin hit what I would consider a milestone: he's read over 1,000 books this year - yes, thousand.

Kevin loves to read so much that we're able to use it as an encouragement tool to make sure that chores are completed or reward him with reading time when he's done something special.

Last year I thought he was reading a lot of books so I decided that we would start counting them. I started a list on our family wiki and watched it grow. What started as a neat project turned into a big task - over 100 each of the first four months. Camp and warm weather caused a lull during the summer, but he's heading back toward 100 again as the weather gets colder.

While he could read whatever he wished, not everything would go on the list: no early reader (level 1 and below), no repeates (he reads some books 3 or more times), and no magazines.

Typically he reads each night before bedtime. They go to bed around 7:30-8 and are allowed to read until 9:30. Sometimes he uses some earned time to go beyond this limit and sometimes we forget to tell him lights out. If you follow the link, you'll see that his choices in books are all over the place, history, animals, fiction, gross things, earth science, and on and on. Some picture books, many chapter books (his favorite) and a few really long books.

The vast majority of the books are from our local library but we did start heading to a second library when Kevin read through most of his favorite series at the local library. This, of course, opened up new avenues of reading and learning.

His favorite series are Geronimo Stilton and Me Weird School and lately things that are gross (animals, food, bugs).

Tonight at dinner we'll be celebrating his accomplishment and hearing about some of his favorite stories.

What are you doing to encourage readers in your home?

Bedtime Stories

2010-09-28T15:39:15Z

The past two nights have brought two interesting and different stories into our bedrooms. First came Fred Stays With Me! a story told by a young girl about her life that is split between living with mom and with dad. She opens saying, "Sometimes I live with my mom. Sometimes I live with my dad. My dog, Fred, stays with me." The book is not preachy, does not judge, and does not really explain divorce but it is instantly relatable by children in split families. I enjoyed this story because it lets children of divorce know that they are not unique and it has the potential to start conversations with children who are unaware that others live in that world.

Baxter, the Pig Who Wanted to Be Kosher is about a pig that wants to be and is eventually invited to Shabbat dinner - a great story about inviting others to be a part of your faith traditions no matter what they believe. This book also led us into a great discussion about Judaism, the Bible, what others believe and expanded our children's vocabulary.

While our life doesn't line up with either of these books and yours may not either they are both great opportunities for engaging with your children.

Is Reading Fundamental?

2010-08-08T04:42:22Z

Almost 5 years ago I blog a short article, on a now defunct blog, about the lack of reading in our country. I did so in conjunction with the goal of reading 10 books for 2005. Since then I've made that goal, lately with ease. I'm reposting the article because the topic of aliteracy seems to be recurring.

RIP - RIF
"The Reading is Fundamental program isn't in trouble as the title implies indeed it is sorely needed. While I was at the NYWC one of the speakers noted among other sobering statistics that most high school graduates will not read another non-fiction book. That struck me as odd since I've read 6 just this year - not counting textbooks.
As Teri and I talked we began to wonder what percentage of the population reads 10 or more books each year. While I haven't found the answer to that here's some statistics that shed some light on the sad problem of America's literacy.
Only about a third of the nation's public school children read proficiently
Circulation of English-language papers in the United States has declined 11 percent since 1990.
One-third of high school graduates never read a book for the rest of their lives.
Fifty-eight percent of the U.S. adult population never reads a book after high school.
Forty-two percent of college graduates never read another book.
Eighty percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
Seventy percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
Fifty-seven percent of new books are not read to completion. Most readers do not get past page 18 in a book they have purchased.
Of the people who do read books 53 percent read fiction 43 percent nonfiction.
Of the top 50 books fiction outsells nonfiction about 60 percent to 40 percent.
Each day people in the U.S. spend four hours watching TV three hours listening to the radio and 14 minutes reading magazines.

NEA chairman Dana Gioia said 'We have a lot of functionally literate people who are no longer engaged readers. We're seeing an enormous cultural shift from print media to electronic media and the unintended consequences of that shift.' According to an NEA study only 57% of adults read any book at all during 2002. While the drop in reading is wide spread it was marked for adult men of whom only 38% read any literature.

Of course none of the statistics answered my question "What percentage of the population reads at least 10 books a year(a high volume of books)?" (for children who are encouraged to read by their parents 63% read more than 10 books a year and 51% of children whose parents leave it up to them)

What are you reading?

2010-01-27T03:30:12Z

More than a few years ago I set a goal of reading at least 10 books each year. I've not had any problems making this goal - in fact, this year I'm already half way to that goal.
I don't plan on expanding that goal nor do I plan stopping once I reach it but I thought I would change things a little this year by formalizing a reading list. Last year I realized, in December, that I hadn't read any fiction and a lack of variety can lead to burn out foe me - so a reading list may help. Here's what I plan to read this year:

Books Related to Ministry or Leadership: Think Orange: Imagine the Impact When Church and Family Collide...; The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be; The Power of Team Leadership: Achieving Success Through Shared Responsibility (Barna Reports); Leadership Essentials for Children's Ministry: Passion, Attitude, Teamwork, Honor
Parenting: Covering Home: Lessons on the Art of Fathering from the Game of Baseball; Family Driven Faith: Doing What It Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk with God
Theology: Theology for the Community of God; How to Think Theologically, 2nd Edition; The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible
Biography: Me, Myself, and Bob: A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables; The Church of 80% Sincerity
Fiction: Angel of Wrath: A Novel (The Voice of God series); Blown Coverage (Riley Covington Thriller Series #2); Act of Treason

same lake, different boat

2010-01-19T19:17:52Z

I just finished reading same lake, different boat and enjoyed it more than I initially thought I would. Honestly, I didn't think I would enjoy it - it addresses a subject that is out of my comfort zone, ministering to people with disabilities. It's not that I do not like people with disabilities or think that they should be ministered to by someone else - indeed, some of my best moments in ministry have come while serving along side people and parents of people who have a disability.

I suppose that my discomfort stems from two things, both of which are addressed in Stephanie Hubach's writing. First, disabilities are not thought of as mainstream, even though they are all around us. And secondly, I live in a fallen world and struggle with sinful attitudes and the desire to put myself first.

Stephanie, who writes of her struggles, fears, and joys of raising Timmy, her youngest son who was born with Down Syndrome points out the churches strengths and weaknesses in addressing people with disabilities. Same Lake, Different Boat is not a "how to minister to people with disabilities" book rather a "questions you need to ask as you minister to all people" book. She points out how our churches can be strengthened and draw closer to God as we minister to those who are disabled but is honest in the struggles it brings...but rightly points out that when we abandon "the lame, the blind, and the sick" that our ministry moves from a place of life saving to a social club.

For me, her prominent point is how the Fall changed our creativity and productivity.

"Instead of operating from a God-centered, relationship based hub of creative and productive activity, we now struggle with an agenda-centered focus that reveals our underlying lust for personal control. We want our lives to be organized around our individual goals, while relationships to God and neighbor remain secondary - or, even worse, nonexistent. The problem with an agenda is not necessarily the content of the agenda, though that can be an issue, but it is the context of the agenda."

This brought to mind an interview with Phil Vischer, the creator of Veggie Tales. You can see the whole interview, but specifically of relevance is the wrap up beginning at 4:09.

have a little faith

2009-12-07T02:14:50Z

At Catalyst this year I had the opportunity to hear Mitch Albom talk about his new book, "have a little faith." He spoke of getting to know Reb, his rabbi, after the strange request to speak at the rabbi's funeral. He also shared a parallel story about getting to know a minister in Detroit that had a strange path to the pastorate. After hearing Mitch speak, I knew it was a book that I would enjoy and indeed it was.

Albom's writing is very easy to follow and greatly helps you appreciate the people that he is writing about. One of my favorite stories was from Reb's past of him driving his son and a few of his young friends back to New Jersey from Philadelphia. "As they approach the toll booth, he asks if the boys have their passports.
'Passports?' they say.
'You mean you don't have your passports - and you expect to get into New Jersey?' he cries. 'Quick! Hide under that blanket! Don't breathe! Don't make a sound!'
In this, Albom relays how another family memory is forged.

Albom moves easily between Christian and Jewish, African-American and white, rich and poor and helps the reader grab a picture of a meaning full life and believing in something bigger than themselves.

Giving Books Away

2009-10-27T14:11:52Z

On his blog this morning, Mark Batterson expresses why, as an author, he thinks You Cannot Give Away Too Many Books. In talking about his first book, he says, "Those hundreds of copies given away translated into thousands of books purchased..."

From the reader perspective, I wholly agree. If an author is confident enough about his book to give some away and it's a good book, people will recommend the book. From the reader side of things I try to do the same thing within my limited budget. If I find a book that I think will help people I'll certainly recommend it, but I try to go a step farther and give it to them. Currently I have a stack of "multiple copy books." That I intend to give away as I come across people that would benefit from reading them. Publishers, E-bay, Amazon and other sites often make it easy to buy multiple copies fairly cheap.

Of course, there's a push back in me as well. I've noticed that our culture has a tendency to devalue things that are free - the assumption is that there is no value in it. Batterson could be taking a huge loss with no benefit when he begins giving away copies of his next book. The books I give away thinking they could add great value to a life could wind up under the couch. But, that's a risk that I'm willing to take.

How Far is to Far?

2009-10-19T02:42:24Z

Have you ever done a book review?

Tons of people have given their opinions about books they've read and added them to the publisher's site, Amazon, or any number of other sites. And, from time to time, you may come across sites that will offer to send you a book for free if you'll promise to review it. While many things on the internet have a catch, these sites generally do not. They may be the author or the publisher trying to drum up publicity for a new book. In fact, I'd venture to say that sending books to the general public if hopes of a review on a blog or Amazon has become pretty common practice.

Enter the FTC. The FTC has ruled that it is going to attempt to regulate blogs. The FTC website says:

The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement.

And yes, a free book in return for a review is considered a payment in-kind.

While I understand the idea is to prevent consumers from being misled by false positive reviews, I still think it's overreaching and basically unmanageable. It shows that the FTC is unaware of how the publishing industry gives away books in exchange for reviews and come close to (or maybe clearly breaches) free speech laws. Publishers don't give bloggers books in exchange for positive reviews - they just want publicity of any kind...and if you don't blog about the book, that's fine too.

Further, who is reading a bloggers review of a book and not double checking other reviews? If you're buying a book because Bob says it's good, even if Bob is famous, and it turns out to be a horrible book, I really don't think that Bob is to blame. If you are not already predisposed to making a purchase, do your research. If you are, don't blame anyone else when you product isn't what you expected.

I thought that this topic would get a bit more fanfare, but other than this New York Times editorial, I didn't find much else. Perhaps everyone is okay with this feeling bloggers simply have to add an "I received this book from Nelson Publishing" at the bottom of their review, what's the problem? The problem I have isn't so much the disclosure, I can certainly add that statement to my reviews...but what about my tweets? What about when I tell someone in one of my classes or at my church about the book I enjoyed? I think it's rather silly that the FTC wants to consider Joe Schmoe who happens to get a free book from a publisher a "word of mouth marketer."

I suppose it's time to figure out how to suggest a book and add "I originally received this book from Random House" in less than 140 characters in case I want to suggest a free book to a friend.

Free Book: Scouting the Divine

2009-10-16T03:36:07Z

One of the biggest things that I've learned in the last two years at seminary is how our view of scripture is influenced by the things in our lives. As a middle-class white male living in the suburbs of a large U.S. city, the gospel means something completely different to me than it does to a young African girl that has to walk five miles a day for just to retrieve fresh water for her family. Our scriptures may have the same words but the messages we receive are different. This is the subject matter of Scouting the Divine: my search for God in wine, wool, and wild honey.

Margaret Feinberg, a speaker at this year's Catalyst Conference as well as recent CreationFest and YouthSpecialties event, spoke about her journey into the lives of a shepherd, a beekeeper and a vintner and how those people have forever changed the way that she reads scripture. The author of Organic God and The Sacred Echo gave each attendee of Catalyst a copy of her book and I'd like to offer it to one of our readers.

To celebrate the launch of her new book, she's organizing a 100-stop blog tour and I would like this Bookworm site to be one of those stops. Sadly, I won't have time to read the book until after classes which means I would miss the cutoff date of November 20. So, if you can read quickly (it's only around 200 pages) and will agree to post a review here (you may cross-post elsewhere) by November 20th (though I would prefer the 13th) leave a creative comment that will let me know who you are and what flair you would bring and I'll pick a winner on October 20th. I'll go for what I think will be best for the blog, but in the case of a runoff, I'll choose randomly between the best comments.

Good Luck!

Shift: What it takes to finally reach families today (A review)

2009-10-09T12:32:39Z

As a semi-veteran (if there is even such a thing) in Children's ministry, I'm excited that there is a huge push towards family ministry that is sweeping through the churches in America. It hasn't been that long since the church began segregating the families and taking over the spiritual responsibilities and I'm glad that the church of the information age is seeing the error of the church of the industrial age.

That said, I also enjoyed hearing a somewhat new voice on coming on the scene in the form of Shift, by Brian Haynes. Brian is the Associate Pastor overseeing spiritual formation at Kingsland Baptist Church in Katy, TX and has been given a great vision of leading families through the spiritual pathways of life. I stumbled on their Spiritual Milestones website a few months ago and learned a great deal of how their ministry helps families grow in Christ together. It's akin to the idea of Raising a Modern Day Knight. While Raising a Modern Day Knight focuses on marking points along a boy's journey into manhood in order to help them understand the importance of those milestones, Kingsland does the same for families by marking 7 key points in the journey of a family's spiritual life: Birth/Dedication, Coming to Christ, Preparing for Adolescence, Purity Commitment, Adulthood, Graduation, and Continuing Life in Christ.

As a children's pastor how is moving his church toward a family ministry paradigm, I found the book lacking. I think that Children and Family Pastors are the target audience, but the book does little more than give a brief overview of the ministry model of Kingsland Baptist. The theory and thought behind the milestones are presented in brief toward the end of the book and are valuable to thinking through how you may do something similar in your ministry. (Props to Brain for pointing out that this is a way that works in their context and to make sure you do what God is leading you to do in yours.) Having already looked through their website I didn't think there was much to glean from reading Shift.

However, that is not to say that the book is not valuable - it is, very much so. While I didn't think that the "meat & potatoes" were there, I did think it was a very choice appetizer. I think that passing on this book to your Senior Pastor (or whatever visionary guides your church) would be an excellent way to get them to begin thinking of bringing families together rather than always keeping them apart. I'd even say that going through the book as a church (senior) staff would be a great idea to shift your focus toward equipping parents - I think I may grab a few more copies and suggest that to our staff.
In short: Get it, read it, mark & highlight it, and pass it on to your supervisor along with your ideas of family ministry in your setting. But don't expect to use it as a resource for how to do family ministry or even how to implement Spiritual Milestones in your church.

Book Sale

2009-10-05T23:15:12Z

This weekend is the annual book sale by the friends of the Wauconda Area Library. It's one of the primary means of raising funds for the FOTL which supports improvements for the Library.

Today Teri and I helped sort though a ton of book to get ready for the sale this weekend. The sale will begin Friday, October 9 and continue through Sunday. There's a special preview sale at 7pm on Thursday for those that are current Friends of the Library. The prices drop each day and by Sunday it's $5 a bag...but by Sunday there's not much left.

If you're in the Chicago area it's well worth checking out, I think it's one of the most popular ones in the area.