A Gem from Agatha Christie

Nemesis, p. 158

speaker: archdeacon brabazon, a minor character

"I know when a couple are really in love with each other. And by that I do not just mean sexually attracted. There is too much talk about sex, too much attention is paid to it. I do not mean that anything about sex is wrong. That is nonsense. But sex cannot take the place of love, it goes with love, but it cannot succeed by itself. To love means the words of the marriage service. For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health. That is what you take on if you love and wish to marry. Those two loved each other. To love and to cherish till death do us part."

andrew peterson plug

...i believe He is the Christ
Son of the living God

all i know is that i was blind and now i see
that though i kick and scream, love is leading me
and every step of the way His grace is making me,
every breath i breathe, He is saving me...

resurrection letters, volume II is a brilliant piece of work - the songs are good (some of them are better than good), but together the album is stunning. lyrical and musical motifs are woven throughout (as andy p is wont to weave). right now, this portion of "I Believe (The Good Confession)" is what is stuck in my head, especially the line "every breath i breathe, He is saving me." knowing andy p's body of work like i do, i think what he is getting at here is not that Jesus needs to keep saving me all the time, but that my need for Him and His grace is ongoing. i need Him now as much as i did at 5 years old when i "prayed the prayer," but i also HAVE Him now as much as i ever have or will.

we never stop needing Jesus. we never outgrow the Gospel.

[also, i just bought north! or be eaten today and started it. looks to be even better than it's predecessor.]

The Other Kind of Bookie...

it's kinda like a "foodie..."

(got this from kari)

1) What author do you own the most books by?
Agatha Christie, hands down. She's so addictive, so relaxing, and she wrote SO much!

2) What book do you own the most copies of?
Pride and Prejudice. And that's AFTER throwing out like 3 copies.

3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
No. I don't really believe in that rule anymore.

4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Good heavens, that's hard to pin down. There are so many fabulous heroes.

5) What book have you read the most times in your life?
I'm not sure whether Kay Arthur's Israel, My Beloved wins or Francine Rivers' Redeeming Love - I read both of them multiple times a year for several years in middle and high school.

6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
I was really into this Zion Chronicles series by Brock and Bodie Thoene back then. Probably my favorite was the first, The Gates of Zion.

7) What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?
Usually, if I really don't like a book, I quit reading it. The only one that I can remember the name of is Bag of Bones by Stephen King, which I read some of last week and decided I didn't like. I know that is terribly uncool of me to say.

8) What is the best book you’ve read in the past year?
That is soooooooooooo hard. How about in the past month? That would be Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle.

9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
I will be nice and choose a fictional work, since those seem to be the most universal. And I'm going to go with The Odyssey - translated by Robert Fagles. And if you absolutely refuse, you can read Howard Pyle's The Story of the Champions of the Round Table. I think we all need a little more in the way of the heroic epic.

10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for literature?
I have no idea.

11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Rick Riordian's The Lightning Thief. It'd be a really cool - and not cheesy - way to bring Mt. Olympus into the 21st century. (Yay YA fiction!)

12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis. The book (and the others in the series) have an old-school PI hero.... but it's set in ancient Rome. It would be absolutely absurd and not fun at all on film.

13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
I mean, once I dreamed that Jesus was a biker-hippie who rescued me from a kidnapping by throwing grenades at the would-be kidnapper, but He's real... That should count though. He's in lots of books, and it is a REALLY weird dream.

14) What is the most lowbrow book you’ve read as an adult?
I think probably The Secret History of the Pink Carnation. Sorry, Lauren Willig...

15) What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?
The first time (in high school) The Sound and the Fury was pretty dang hard. I was all kinds of confused. But Faulkner made much more sense in college.

16) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
Oh the Russians.

18) Roth or Updike?
I plead ignorance, since I couldn't make it through The Plot Against America and haven't read any Updike.

19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
Sedaris. But I am basing that off a reading he did on The Late Show.

20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Shakespeare for sure.

21) Austen or Eliot?
Austen.

22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
Probably that I haven't read the entire LOTR trilogy - and barely made it through the first 60 pages of The Hobbit.

23) What is your favorite novel?
Pride and Prejudice. Although I have to say that

24) Play?
A Midsummer Night's Dream is tied with Henry V.

27) Short story?
"The Fall of the House of Usher."

28) Work of non-fiction?
John Piper's The Pleasures of God.

29) Who is your favorite writer?
Too many... we'll go with the living ones:
Fiction - Deanna Raybourn, Dianne Setterfield, JK Rowling, Jane Yolen
Memoirs, etc. - Lauren Winner
Theology - Elisabeth Elliot, John Currid, John Piper, Paul David Tripp

30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
David Baldacci. Good gosh, but The Camel Club was an experiment in hilariously bad fiction.

31) What is your desert island book?
Probably The Pleasures of God.

32) And … what are you reading right now?
The Lightning Thief, Get Married, and the Bible.

Now tagging.... whoever wants to be tagged.

no place like home for the doctor's visits...

i am back in dallas. in december i left charlotte for greenville, nashville, dallas, charleston, and greenville. last week i took one of those condensed classes - acts-romans, which was fabulous - and i came back to texas last night for a doctor's appointment today. hopefully this guy will figure out why i have been soooooooooooooo tired.

it's really much funner to go to the doctor's office with your mother, and not just because there are two people to remember everything.

i just finished reading Rhett Butler's People, which was fun, especially since i read Gone with the Wind this summer. as much as i enjoyed them both, i must confess i totally don't get how this is the greatest love story ever. to live a life like scarlett o'hara - or rhett butler, for that matter - would be terribly sad. the one great promise that is offered, at least on some level: there is redemption and healing at every turn of life. that is a somethign we don't hear often enough.

Top Ten Books I Was Surprised to Love

these books are books i read for class or fun, books i really didn't know that i would be sucked into, would fall in love with, would lose myself in, would even in some cases be changed by. so here you go. i'm not really sure why the list is ordered this way, but it made sense.

10. love, rosie - a modern epistolary novel, this fluffy piece of chick lit is the traditional story of love derailed by circumstances... and eventually remedied, through no disloyalty of the main characters. a little bit like jane eyre in its heart.
9. running with scissors - ok, so skip the sex scenes - it's quite easy to see them coming - and this book is hilarious, shocking, tragic, fascinating, and brilliant. dry, a memoir about overcoming alcoholism, was much better, but by then i was hooked on augusten burroughs, so it came as no surprise.
8. the lord of the flies - really quite excellent book about sin nature run amock. think LOST but with little boys, and no enemies but each other.
7. the constant princess - this very compassionate reading of katherine of aragon captivated me. i love how philippa gregory tends to root what she writes in history, and this book did a great job of explaining the facts in a way that really made you rethink the whole story, because it's possible that katherine's story really did unfold this way.
6. the opposite of fate - this memoir by amy tan really brought out my inner-writer. having read most of tan's work, it was really interesting to learn about her personal life and her relationship with her remarkable mother, who has clearly shaped quite a bit about her books. i loved it.
5. the historian - this is a novel about dracula. i mean, what are the odds that i would go for that? to make matters more unlikely, it's by a dracula expert - and over 650 pages. boy was i surprised. it was AWESOME.
4. the thirteenth tale - ok, so there's some weird twin psychology, but never have i been so shocked by a book's ending. the twist caused my jaw to hit the floor - for two days at least, my mouth hung open most of the time after i finished the book. it's a traditional gothic novel, but with a unique structure. ok, maybe not unique, but structurally very woman in white while being more in the spirit of wuthering heights. an absolute blast.
3. mama day - i used to wonder what married people fought about. now i know. that sounds awful, but it's really wonderful. kinda like this book. yay for sacrificial love being chosen by selfish people.
2. the harry potter series - i read the first book when i was working at barnes & noble in the kids' section, largely to see it for myself and make up my mind about recommending it or not, but also to see what the hype is about. i guess it really took until the next february for me to really get hooked (book 3 did it for me, and right after my car accident, you might remember), and i loved them so much i went to one of those crazy book release parties last summer. so that's pretty surprising.
1. the time traveler's wife - this book was remarkably good. i cried like a baby. there were a few r-rated scenes, so read with caution, but it's powerful, beautiful, and good - changed the way i think of myself as a single woman who hopes to get married, as a part of the church that the Lord Jesus died for and is coming back for, and as a person who loves novels. they are really powerful things.


in other news, i am reading wendy shalit's latest - girls gone mild: young women reclaim self-respect and find it's not be to be good, which will be released in paperback this summer under the title the good girls' revolution: young rebels with self-esteem and high standards. it is FABULOUS. anyone who knows women or girls should read it. i'm serious.

Two Lists for Book Lovers

i love books. i read voraciously, to an almost sickening degree (strike the almost if you're my sister). so i have decided to compile a couple of lists about books. tomorrow i'll post a more positive list.

the first list is of books i hate. in order for me to hate a book, something serious has to have happened. i mean, we aren't talking mere about disliking or being disturbed. i rarely really hate books. it makes them special. these are listed in terms of how virulent my hatred is, not the books' own merits. incidentally, several of these i haven't finished because i got worked up too quickly and strongly.

Top Ten Books I Hate
10. hatchet - i was highly disturbed by the ruminations of a preteen on suicide. couldn't handle it.
9. the emperor's children - just not that interesting. just enough literary proficiency to make me read the whole thing, just enough sin and disordered relationships to frustrate the heck out of me, just enough of a waste to make me like "grr" about the whole thing. especially since it was supposed to be the greatest novel of the new century according to somebody i will no longer be listening to.... if i can remember who it was.
8. the awakening - i hate to break it to you feminists who believe it, but freedom is not about escaping the responsibilities of family. it's not about escaping responsibilities period. the selfishness - claiming to speak for women - of this book really ticked me off.
7. choosing God's best - who wants to be patronized, talked down to, and lectured on romantic relationships with questionable theology? this is your book.
6. the camel club - i would hope that there would be SOME level of literary prowess in an author who has consistently made the NYT bestseller list.... but this book suggests otherwise. it's painful - full of sentences like, "not only was macon surprised to see his mother, but the sky was full of dark clouds." i made that one up, but it reflects a common sentence structure baldacci loves to use. and the plot sucks, too.
5. lipstick jungle - started reading it. stopped after page like 12 and threw it in the trash - too much sex. in the first 12 pages. not a good sign.
4. the master and margarita - this book is probably not at fault, but i read it for a class in college which was taught by a professor who totally creeped us out, especially regarding this book (jokes about the magic lotion - or "goddess cream" - that makes you gorgeous and enables you to fly were REALLY over the top). this is a case of guilt by association.
3. corregidora - the obsession of this book with the ugliness of the protagonists' genealogical heritage - a grandfather (and also great-grandfather - same guy) who was a slave-owning monster is overwhelmingly grotesque. the sexual violence, the serious dysfunction were really disturbing. and there really is no hope, because there is no exit from the cycle of dysfunction.
2. codex - the entire time i was reading this book, i was thinking "this is just completely ridiculous." i kept thinking there had to be more going on - there had to be more going on, but there wasn't. the secret of this codex was in some easter egg in a video game. and the darkness of the narrative form, which is something i generally enjoy, was weird. i actually threw the book when i finished it.
1. lolita - that same class from #4 required this book. 60 pages was enough for me - i begged off on moral reasons (and was told to read this fabulous other book, called we). nabokov is undoubtedly a genius, and lolita is undoubtedly a very important book. but sometimes i think burying your head in the sand is ok, and i for one don't need detailed descriptions of pedophilia floating around in my head.

Books

so i have been reading voraciously lately; novel after novel has been plowed through in my reading frenzy. and it has given me no little extra satisfaction to switch books from the "currently reading" shelf to the "read" shelf on goodreads, which just might be my new favorite thing. so i thought i'd share.

ps i'm writing on john owen.

Van Til Quote

as cited in Richard Pratt's He Gave Us Stories, p. 395:

"The consistency that is found in the believer is correspondent to the consistency that is found in God. This consistency in the believer consists in willingess to think God's thoughts after him, in willingness to do God's will after him, and to feel God's feelings after him."

ok that last one is what gets me.

do you think van til means "consistency" as in "what is the consistency of this polenta?" or "are you going to commit to consistency in your walk-like-an-elephant exercise class?"

do you think this is true?

does anyone have van til's Introduction to Systematic Theology who wouldn't mind looking it up? (it should be on p. 245)

Currently I Am Digging...

... dawn eden's thrill of the chaste.

I'm Sick

like missed class yesterday, went to the doctor, hacking like a smoker, super-congested, z-pack for 5 days, having trouble hearing, headachey, gross sick. i don't recommend it. in fact, i recommend avoiding it if possible. it's MIZ-ER-A-BULL. yelch.

i found out today that a miracle is occurring: my mother is reading harry potter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this is unbelievable. she freaked when i read the first one last christmas or summer or whenever it was.... but now she's reading them, i guess to see what she thinks. her biggest issue with them so far has been the lying i think. but we'll see what her verdict is after she finishes the last 3 (she's on book 4 right now).

speaking of book 7 (sorta), i loved it. L-O-V-E-D - the wish i was a songwriter so i could write a song about how much i loved it kind. it was beautiful. the overall plot, the coherence and continuity of the story, the love and selflessness, the personal growth, the sacrifice, the appreciation of the gravity of hard things, the war between good and evil, the complexity of the human soul, the responsibility of each individual for his or her choices, the importance of standing strong against evil even when there's no reasonable hope of victory, the power of friendship, the strength that is garnered from accountability and togetherness, the fact that there are plenty of things worse than death... this was good stuff, folks. i'm not saying we should pass it out to every 9-12 year old kid, or that it doesn't have its issues, because it does. i'm all into being careful about what your kids read - and KNOWING what they read is kinda an important part of that, as is knowing your kid. but i do think that rowling has offered here a lot of truth and meaningful value - a heck of a lot more than you would find in the vast majority of tv shows, movies, and books in general, let alone produced for that age range.

one great thing about the psychology of the harry potter books is that it's not fairytale-like. no one is idealized in the series - no one is perfectly admirable or worthy of utter emulation. it works the same way with people - heck, it works the same way with theologians!!!

the big debate for the characters in the deathly hallows is one of taking sides: will they side with good or evil? there is no middle ground - there is no sitting on the sidelines and watching - you have to pick. if you don't, you're as good as evil (don't think about that too hard because it's a horrible sentence). funny how we don't treat our SIN, which is waging war against us from within our own BODIES, this way........

Update

harry potter and the deathly hallows = brilliant

my best friend's wedding = this weekend

my computer = rather sick and acting weird

details to follow in about five days

Harry Potter Book Release

it's happening at midnight tonight. i am so excited i can't concentrate on my homework and i dreamed about it last night and my roommate and i keep talking about it. i swear, i'm not normally obsessive like this...

do you ever work really hard to craft the perfect sentence, mulling over in your head time and again the words, tweaking and changing and altering them until you forget the thought that got you going to begin with? i've been doing that alot lately.

i just finished reading a book called the historian, which was extremely bizarre and also one of the best books i've read in a while. if i were to list the best books i've read that were written in the past century(adult - you know my thing for kids books, but i think a respectable number of books in children's lit were written in the last century), it wouldn't be terribly long, but this book would definitely be on it. maybe i should do that sometime...

anyway, the historian is on sale right now at bn.com, so i'd head over there if you're interested in a $5.00 book. it's about 650 pages, but i read it in basically 4 days (while doing lots of other things, of course). the story is about vampires and dracula and all sorts of weird stuff like that, but it's also not at all. it occurs across many times and involves many "historical documents." the literary value of the novel is positively delicious. good times, eh?

Ethics, Weddings, and Harry Potter

so my first seminary class was, as promised, like drinking from a fire hydrant. most of the days were spent 8ish hours in class and the rest of the time trying to recover - an entire three-hour class in one week is kinda insane. it's utterly exhausting.

the class was great though - mark ross, a professor visiting from erskine theological seminary, is hilarious and effective as a lecturer, particularly notable given the length of the class each day. he reminded me alot of some bizarre cross between jack mccoy and dick van dyke. it was a blast.

so one of my best friends is married as of this time last week, and another is marrying my cousin a week from today... i'm in the midst of a very wedding-saturated summer. crazy, but true.

i'm rereading Harry Potter again to be prepared for book 7, which i await with baited breath. it's been a great break from all the reading i've been doing for class - john murray in particular is nigh impossible to read straight through.

other things that have happened of note include -
the viewing of pirates of the caribbean 3 twice, both times evoking tears. i LOVED it on a number of levels. maybe i'll post a big long review of it sometime soon, but i'd rather wait a wee bit longer so that i can make sure everyone has seen it who's going to. really, in the end, i'd rather not spoil it - it's great. : )
adjusting to the new roommates and new house and new city and hanging pictures and decorating and doing plenty of other fun things, from visiting churches to trying new restaurants. all of these are going great. it's like yay. : )
i have DVR and can record as much law and order and without a trace and such as i want. tv on my schedule, which is quite bizarre. (do i sound enough like a commercial?)

ok, so that's it for now. not much deep thought ready to spill out onto the pages yet.

Jesus, Lover of My Soul

Jesus, Lover of my soul, let me to Thy bosom fly
while the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high.
hide me, o my Savior, hide till life's storm is past;
safe into the haven guide; receive my soul at last.

other refuge have i none; i, helpless, hang on Thee.
leave, o leave me not alone; support and comfort me.
all my trust on Thee is stayed, all help from Thee i bring.
cover my defenseless head in the shadow of Thy wing.

Thou, o Christ, art all i want - here more than all i find.
raise the fallen, cheer the faint, heal the sick, and lead the blind.
just and holy is Thy Name; i am all unrighteousness.
false and full of sin i am; Thou art full of truth and grace.

plenteous grace with Thee is found; grace to cover all my sin.
let the healing streams abound; make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life the fountain art; let me take of Thee;
spring Thou up within my heart for all eternity.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
i just finished reading the time traveler's wife, which, in the words of my cousin heather (who recommended the book rather insistently), "that book broke my heart (in a beautiful, altering, flowers-growing-out-of-the-cracks, my-heart-never-looked-so-good-before sort of way, of course, hehe)." couldn't have said it better myself. which, of course, is why i quoted it. anyway, i'm not going to recommend that everyone run out and buy it or check it out of the library. this is not a book for everyone. if you want my 5-minute schpiel on what to expect, email me at my opheliarhiana yahoo email address. it's not something i can sweepingly recommend, not by a longshot. but boy did it serve God's purposes in my heart and draw me into His love more deeply and to trust Him more fully. now of course there are alot of other extenuating circumstances which He lovingly ordained to bring me here, but that book sure helped tie them together.
so why bring this up? because one way that ttw really changed my way of thinking is that me and my lil classical self have gotten all into the idea that, in a way, i (and really the whole church) am penelope waiting for odysseus to come back. Jesus is (of course) odysseus. and there are plenty of problems with this analogy. but what makes it so helpful to me are these two ideas: 1) that Jesus really is coming back to get us. really really really. for sure. it's like the surest thing there is. 2) the fact that He's coming doesn't mean He isn't already here. this is one of those fun "already but not yet" things in the christian life. the Holy Spirit lives inside us. where we go, He's there. always. and not only that, but we feel Him. we are reminded of our security in Christ, in our hope for the future, in the depth of the Father's love for us, by His presence literally IN us. this is a huge fact - the level of intimacy i share with God (merely by reason of His nearness - He's actually INSIDE us - do not misread me and think i mean He's chilling out with our pancreas or something, but hopefully you see what i'm getting at. if not, holler.) is wayyyyyyyyyy more close and permanent than any other kind of intimacy - AND JESUS IS NOT EVEN BACK WITH US YET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Jesus, Lover of my soul" is such an understatement. consider my mind blown.

Hello World

i know i have been AWOL. sorry i didn't ask for leave before leaving. things just got absolutely insane the last week or so of school: i pulled 3 more all-nighters; i wrote gobs and gobs of pages; i studied for exams; i even threw a little dinner party. then i drove home, and guess what: my car was leaking oil. it should be ready to be picked up tomorrow. anyway, then i came home, slept a bit, and then i started back at barnes and noble for the holiday season. it has been SO fun - they've put me back in the kids' section pretty exclusively, and i love it. my favorite is when people come to ask about gifty books for kids they know pretty well. it's a blast. i can get so excited about these books, because they are good, and i love people. i love working with people, i love helping them find good things to read or give, and i love to spread the love of reading.

i know i know - i'm a total dork. so sue me.

and the last bit of my excuse for not writing is that the internet connection at my parents' house is awful most of the time. i've even been a slacker at checking email.

i did want to talk about covenant theological seminary - i know some of you were curious about what i thought. granted, i'm late enough in posting (and irregular at this point) that no one may read what i think. but at least i'm putting it out there.

i liked covenant. the people were really sweet and made me feel at home. i sat in on chapel and two classes. hans bayer, whose intro to the bible i sat in on, was sooooooooo fascinating. it was great. and i think my favorite part of the school is the focus on relationships and relational learning. the big talk of the campus was a group project that was being done for the class on the book of job - the teachers commit to fostering discussion and relationships with and between students, because the church is in many ways the antithesis of "every man is an island" and God didn't design us to be hermits. the community life is strong, particularly since there is an actual campus with a lovely library, a student center fully rigged for studyage, and on campus family housing, which brings keeps alot of the married people around. i love the fact that you can look out the window and see parents and kids playing on the campus playground.

that said, i just can't tell whether i like covenant or just seminary. i'm hoping to visit wts-dallas and rts-charlotte before march, so that should help. it should also be quite telling - i think it's more than probable that i will wind up at covenant, but i want to be totally open to what God wants to do. whatever He is up to i want to be a part of.

I'm Still Alive

things have been extremely nuts, though...

i have done alot of cool things since i wrote last. i went to visit covenant seminary. i bought a ton of christmas presents. i hung out with my fam and went to my sister's tournament. my car stopped starting, and now i have the pleasure of replacing a fuse every time i start the car. i'm taking it to get fixed on monday.

oh, and i've read a heap of novels.

you might luck out and i might tell you more about some of this, but at the moment i have a horrid headache and need to sleep before church in the morning.

consider this my shoutout to my homies.