Books Meme

I forgot that Esther tagged me with this meme over a week ago. Sorry Esther.

Do you remember how you developed a love for reading?

I remember learning the very basics of reading in first grade. I remember reading 'We Can Go' or some such book and being so excited when I got home and could tell my parents about it. My Dad reads a lot of books, and he does so very quickly, I'd like to be able to do that some day.

What are some books you read as a child?

Bernstein Bears, and Goosebumps books. OH oh oh, the Choose Your Own Adventure books, those rocked.

What is your favorite genre?

Most of what I've read on my own lately has been political books. I need to get back in the habit of reading, I've bought a lot of good books about the history of the church that I want to read.

Do you have a favorite novel?

I can't think of one specifically, I have read Heart of Darkness about 3 times, but that was always for school.

Where do you usually read?

Usually at my desk, because I always end up sitting at my desk.

When do you usually read?

Whenever I have time.

Do you usually have more than one book you are reading at a time?

Yes. I'm terrible at finishing books before I start another.

Do you read nonfiction in a different way or place than you read fiction?

Not really.

Do you buy most of the books you read, or borrow them, or check them out of the library?

I buy them. And almost always new. I can't stand marks in my books. Only books for school will I buy used.

Do you keep most of the books you buy?

Yes. I have stacks of books all over the place.

If you have children, what are some of the favorite books you have shared with them?

No kids.

What are you reading now?

Nothing right now, I have class so I have to keep reading for that.

Do you keep a TBR (to be read) list?

I did, but I didn't keep up on it. I need to start a new one and work on keeping up with it.

What’s next?

I have to see how I feel.

What books would you like to reread?

Crime and Punishment. I read it for class, but I feel like I could enjoy it more if I reread it.

Who are your favorite authors?

I don't usually read a lot of things from the same person.

I tag

Athanasius contra mundum when he has time and anyone else who wants to do it.

Obama for Kids

Ever since Barack Obama was young, Hope has lived inside him. From the beaches of Hawaii to the streets of Chicago, from the jungles of Indonesia to the plains of Kenya, he has held on to Hope. Even as a boy, Barack knew he wasn't quite like anybody else, but through his journeys he found the ability to listen to Hope and become what he was meant to be: a bridge to bring people together.

This is the moving story of an exceptional man, as told by Nikki Grimes and illustrated by Bryan Collier, both winners of the Coretta Scott King Award. Barack Obama has motivated Americans to believe with him, to believe that every one of us has the power to change ourselves and change our world.

I can't even believe this is a real book. I saw it and thought it had to be a joke, but here it is on amazon available for sale.

There's another one for Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton: Dreams Taking Flight, and one for John McCain written by his daughter called My Dad, John McCain, but they lack the messianic flair that the Obama book has.




In October there are McCain and Obama comic books coming out, my brother likes to collect comic books so I had him reserve me a couple of the McCains and one of the Obama ones. The description of the Obama comic to me is a little over the top, but its not as bad as the Barack Child of Hope book.

H/T Is Barack Obama the Messiah

Book Meme

I found this list from Esther over at A Catholic Mom in Hawaii.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.

2) Italicize those you intend to read (as in the book is bought and sitting on my shelf).

3) Underline the books you LOVE.

Ready? OK!
1.Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien Well I started it anyway.
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible – I read a bit daily.
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
37. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
38. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
39. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
40. Animal Farm - George Orwell
41. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
42. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
43. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
44. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
45. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
46. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
47. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
48. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
49. Atonement - Ian McEwan
50. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
51. Dune - Frank Herbert
52. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
53. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
54. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
55. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
56. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
57. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
58. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
59. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
60. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
61. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
62. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
63. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
64. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
65. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
66. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
67. Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding
68. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
69. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
70. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
71. Dracula - Bram Stoker
72. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
73. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
74. Ulysses - James Joyce
75. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
76. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
77. Germinal - Emile Zola
78. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
79. Possession - AS Byatt -
80. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
81. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
82. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
83. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
84. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
85. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
86. Charlotte's Web - EB White
87. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
88. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
89. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
90. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
91. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
92. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
93. Watership Down - Richard Adams
94. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
95. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
96. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
97. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
98. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
99. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
100. The Outsiders by SE Hinton

Hitler's Plot to Kidnap the Pope

Ronald J. Rychlak has written a review of Dan Kurzman's book A Special Mission: Hitler's Secret Plot to Seize the Vatican and Kidnap Pope Pius XII. I did buy this a few months ago, but like most of the books I buy I haven't had a chance to read this one yet. Reading this overview of the book though has rekindled my interest. This in particular sent my brain into motion...

According to sworn testimony that Wolff gave in 1972, Hitler summoned him shortly after the troops moved into Rome. Hitler said:

Now, Wolff, I have a special mission for you, with significance for the whole world. . . . I want you and your troops . . . to occupy as soon as possible the Vatican and Vatican City, secure the archives and the art treasures, which have a unique value, and transfer the pope, together with the Curia, for their protection, so that they cannot fall into the hands of the Allies and exert a political influence.

Hitler wanted to "destroy the Vatican's power, capture the pope, and say that we are protecting him."

The kidnapping never took place, but Wolff drew up the plan. It called for German soldiers disguised in Italian uniforms to invade the Vatican, kill all members of the curia, and take the pope prisoner. Other soldiers would then storm the Vatican to "rescue" the pontiff. They would kill the disguised troops, and if the pope tried to escape he would also be shot. Hitler felt it could be explained because tragic things happen during wars. Besides, the world would consider the Italians culpable.

The review goes on to criticize some other aspects of the book, but I am not particularly interested in reading more about this plot. I can't imagine what the Church would look like today if the plan had succeeded.