And the Best of Non-Fiction

Today I bring you my list of favourite non-fiction books this year. It isn't a complete list, but it is a list of what I considered the best of the lot. Much of what I read was various classes, either at school or church. After I finish my degree in the spring, I'm going to have to be more deliberate about reading non-fiction since there won't be any required reading. That's going to take a bit more work. For now, though....

1. John Bunyan, The Acceptable Sacrifice. We read this one for Bible Study. We all enjoyed it, although it was a challenging read (well, after all: 17th Century literature).
2. Thomas Schreiner, Paul, Apostle of God's Grace in Christ. This one was for school. It looks at Paul's theology as revealed in his epistles.
3. Roger Olson, The Story of Christian Theology. This was another school book. It gives the history of Christian theology from the end of the apostles to the present age. It's a great book, and I really enjoyed it. I plan to read it again one day when I'm not worried about learning it all for an exam!
4. Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers. I stumbled upon Gladwell several years ago. I like the way he writes and the way he looks at the world and our assumptions about how things work.
5. Jerry Bridges, The Fruitful Life. This was for another Bible Study. I have always enjoyed his writing (we have done a few of his books before now). He talks about leading a godly life without making it all about works.
6. John MacArthur, Worship, the Ultimate Priority. I picked this one up at school one year and finally read it this year. He talks about the need for proper worship and having a life of worship.
7. James M. Hamilton, Jr., God's Glory in Salvation Through Judgment. I had this one on my list to read one day so I was happy when it showed up on a required list for a class. I love the way he writes.
8. Elyse Fitzpatrick, Because He Loves Me. This one was for a class at the church on women discipling women. It looks at the reason, the need, and the way to live a godly life.
9. Elyse Fitzpatrick and Carol Cornish, Women Helping Women. This was for the same class at church. It was a very good book, demonstrating the importance of same gender counseling and then the means. It's proper Biblical counseling, not straying into psycho-talk or humanistic teachings.
10. John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad. I read this one many years ago, and it showed up on a reading list this year so I read it again. I like his look at God's sovereignty over missions and how that makes them possible and important.
11. Mabel Williamson, Have We No Rights? This one was also for school. It's a short book and focuses on the "rights" that missionaries have to give up in order to serve well. Although the focus is missions, I think much of it can apply to all believers, at least the willingness to give up our rights.

Fiction List

Here is my list of the top fiction books I read and enjoyed this year. Tomorrow I'll give you the nonfiction. I kept careful track this year (well, mostly; I may have missed a few). These are the ones worth reading.

1. JRR Tolkien, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I'd read The Hobbit years ago (I think in grade 7) but I didn't remember much more than the riddle scene. When the movie came out, I decided to read it again. I enjoyed it, so I decided to finally try The Lord of the Rings. I loved them. Tolkien was a genius and these may go down as my favourite books ever.
2. Brandon Sanderson, books 1-3 of the Alcatraz series; the first Mistborn book; Warbreaker; Steelheart. I discovered Sanderson thanks to a friend telling me that last year's Christmas concert didn't have enough beheadings; he was taking a line from one of the Alcatraz books. Alcatraz are for children; that's where I started, then moved to the others. Sanderson is a fantasy writer and his books are well written. He creates worlds that are not quite Earth and are consistent to themselves. I think they might be next on the list for my nephew.
3. Terry Pratchett, The Fifth Elephant; Interesting Times; and Jingo. Pratchett was my main author last year; this year I slowed down a bit from reading his books (there are still more; I just got distracted by other books). He's still one of my favourite authors, and was my primary introduction to fantasy as an adult.
4. Madeleine L'Engle. I re-read several of her books at the beginning of the year. She's a very good writer and I still enjoy her stories.
5. Okay, these are only sort-of fiction, and I wasn't sure what list to use. I read 2 books from the "Chosen Daughters" series. They're fictionalized biographies, or biographical fiction. The main characters (and most of the others) are real, and the overall structure is real, but the details are fictional. They're really good, and a great way for preteens and teens to learn about people and times throughout Christian history. Anyway, I read Against the Tide by Hope Irvin Marston and Dr. Oma by Ethel Herr.

Those were my favourite fiction books this year. There were more, and for the most part they were good, but not on my top book list.

And...and honorable mention to a TV show (I know, I know...it doesn't belong here, but I'm not starting a new list for one program). This year I started watching Doctor Who (in fact, I'm watching it as I write this). I'm up to season 4, with the 10th doctor (so the new stuff, not the original). My advice: don't start or you'll never be able to stop. I get the DVDs from the library and watch them fairly steadily. Even when it's really, really odd, or really, really sad, I can't stop. I'm still not sure whether to blame or thank my friend for introducing me to the program.

Christmas Presents

1. My mum got me a cruise for Christmas (well, she's paying for a family cruise in the spring and said that counted as our Christmas present; I'm okay with that). I got her a puzzle and a gift card. Actually, it's only half a gift card since it was for her and Dad to go out for dinner. I hope no one is measuring love in dollars this year!
2. She also sent me a package of chocolate Twizzlers. When we spoke on Christmas morning, she said that she didn't think they were very good. If I don't like them, we agreed that I should share them with my Sunday School class.
3. A conversation with my 7 year old nephew on Christmas morning...  Him: Thank you for the present you sent me. It was very nice.  Me: I'm glad you like it. Do you actually remember what I got you?Him: Um...no.
4. The same nephew was sure that I wanted a box of tissues for Christmas. It's a very nice box, one of the square shaped ones, with a cow on it. Her face is on the front of the box and her tail is on the back and it's designed to look like her legs are on the corners. I like it. It makes me smile.
5. The same small nephew is into crossword puzzles and he found me a pair of crossword puzzle socks. I love them.
6. My sister (or maybe one of the kids) sent me a tin of pickle shaped bandages. It came with a free surprise inside. I opened it right away to discover a rub-on tattoo in the shape of a fish head. Its guts lined the neck where it had been cut off of the body. It's the most disturbing tattoo I've ever seen.
7. Not a Christmas present, but: I sent my 13 year old nephew a book for his birthday, the third in a series (it was in the Christmas parcel, so it counts for this post). We were talking about it on Christmas day. I told him that in the end there is a giant earthquake and everyone in the world dies. He said no way, because the main female character can't die. I'm a little worried now: she actually dies. I didn't tell him. I did tell my sister that he can call me when he gets to that part. I hope I haven't ruined his love of reading.
8. This nephew is a little miffed because I sent him the first 2 books in another trilogy for Christmas, but not the third. I told him that if he liked them I would get him the third book.
9. My sister, because she knows me very well, got me some nice chocolates and a Tim's gift card. Life is good!

Christmas Concert Notes

Last night was the Sunday School Christmas Concert, attended by parents, grandparents, assorted relatives forced to attend, and maybe 5 other people. Our Christmas concerts do not draw huge crowds, although the crowds are getting bigger because we are getting more children. Here are my thoughts:

1. No one fell of the stage. No one has ever fallen off the stage (although a couple of the older kids jumped off at the end despite it being forbidden) but every year I wonder if one of the angels will take one more step backwards and fall off.

2. How can it be over in 30 minutes? Granted, that doesn't count the Pastor's part (he reads a Christmas story to the children and then prays with them) or the candle lit singing of Silent Night. Still, the part I'm responsible for, which requires weeks of work, is over in 30 minutes.

3. I would make it longer, but that would require more work and stress.

4. The shepherds did their part perfectly, and about 2 Scripture readings ahead of when they were supposed to. I think not too many people noticed and we just cut out part of the the Scripture so it all made sense.

5. The young musicians were very good, especially since most of them got the songs a week or two before the performance. Some of them just started learning them this month. I'm going to do that differently next year (well, if I'm organized enough I am). One small pianist made a mistake, said "oops," and started over. It didn't bother her at all.

6. The pastor thought his wife had arranged for candle lighters and she though he had arranged for candle lighters and no one had arranged for candle lighters. What this meant is that someone lit the candle at the front of the church, then they turned out all the lights, then we sang Silent Night in the dark. During the second verse someone finally went up and lit her candle, which got other people going, so we sang the rest by candle light.

7. The same children who could not sit still and pay attention during rehearsal were complete angels during the performance. It might be the audience, and it might be the threat that they wouldn't get treat bags is they didn't behave.

8. Also, while we were getting them costumed, the shepherds would not settle down and behave properly, so Mr C (the grade 3/4 teacher) had a talk with them. He's very good.

9. For the first time, I had a real multitude of the heavenly host. Usually we have a chief angel who is joined by 3 or 4 other angels. I'm not sure how many we had this time, but there were a lot. It was good.

10. Despite being told at least 3 times about the rehearsal, one of the main readers (the older kids do readings, and the main ones are the ones reading Luke 2 because that's when the acting takes place and they have to know when to pause and such) did not show up. Happily I was able to snag her before the program and make sure she knew not to read the angel's lines. Having her at rehearsal would have helped.

11. The readers are given large index cards and write out their parts so they don't have to memorize or bring up their scripts. It works, except that they don't remember to mark the parts that the shepherd or angels are going to say so we have to double check that. Also, one student couldn't read his own writing at the rehearsal. Someone else wrote it out for him before the performance.

12. It was fun, but I'm glad it's over for another year.

Very Astounding and Interesting

I was reading some of my older blog posts and among them I found this comment which I had totally missed when it was written (it was a couple weeks after the post...and maybe I should set things to email me when someone comments). I like that my blog is "very astounding and interesting." I have no clue what that third sentence means. Anyone?

I WOULD ENJOY THE BENEFITS OF BEING YOUR NEW FELLOW BLOGGER. I FIND YOUR BLOG VERY ASTOUNDING AND INTERESTING. VERY INTRIGUING WITHOUT ANY ABSOLUTION THAT I MISSED IN EACH PARAGRAPH. MAY THIS DAY BLESS OUR FELLOWSHIP AND GUIDE US INTO THE HANDS OF THE LORD AND OUR HEARTS REST IN THE HEAVENS ABOVE AS WE WALK THIS JOURNEY INTO ETERNAL LIFE.

SINCERELY,Mr559KHALIBEATZ

I like that my blog is "very astounding and interesting." I have no clue what that third sentence means. Anyone?

Also: I discovered that I had posted The Reformation Polka twice this year. Sorry about that.

Classic Christmas

The Carol of the Bells: Two of My Favourite Renditions

Christmas is Coming

My apartment is filled with lights. I don't have room for a Christmas tree, but I have lights and greenery up all over so it still looks like Christmas.

We had the church cookie exchange today. I have a pile of cookies, so life is good.

Next week is the Bible Study Christmas party and the centre Christmas party at work. The week after is the head office Christmas party at work.

We've started plans for the church Christmas concert. It will be December 22nd. Everything will seem like it's going all wrong as we practice, and then it will all come together somehow.

I finished Christmas shopping and wrapped presents and started to get parcels to mail (but then I ran out of packing tape so they have to wait).

Everything is getting ready to stop for the holidays: work (4 days off, 1 on, 4 off over the break), Bible studies, discipleship classes at the church, Sunday School, and junior church.

Christmas is coming.