If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything - Mark Twain

This has been a great period in our lives as far as pursuing our passion for reading. Here are the books that we are at various stages of reading (and in some cases re-reading). Please note, none of these books are "required" reading - Love2Read

Devotions for Men on the Go - Stephen Arterburn and Bill Farrel

The MacArthur Study Bible

Masterworks of Asian Literature in Comparative Perspective

Imaginary Weapons - Sharon Weinberger

The Elements of Style - William Strunk Jr. & E. B. White

250 Essential Kanji for Everyday Use (Vol. 2) - Kanji Text Research Group (University of Tokyo)

Dragons of Spring Dawning (Dragonlance Chronicles - Vol 3) - Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman

Basic Connections (Making Your Japanese Flow) - Kakuko Shoji

Japanese Language in Use (An Introduction) - Toshiko Yamaguchi

The Teenage Liberation Handbook - Grace Llewellyn

The Invitation - Oriah Mountain Dreamer

The High School Handbook - Mary Schofield

Black Pain - Terrie M. Williams

We finished the 3rd volume in the Left Behind Series. We're still repeating the part. I believe the last time we did the series we stopped in the middle of the next book so I'm really hoping it will come in from our library hold soon.

-Love2Read

Two more Ghost Hunt mangas were finished. They sure get expensive but thankfully we are able to get them from the library. We do a lot of holds. Sadly, they often don't come in order but we were able to do #2: House of Horro and #3: School Nightmare

-Love2Read

Just finished another audiobook - Raymond Chandler's Trouble is My Business. Have you ever read or listened to a book and afterwards still couldn't say if you like it or not? Well that is me with this one. Not sure if I will try any more of Chandler's stuff. It has been a blah period lately so I may give it another shot after I shake these blahs which are overdue to leave

-Love2Read

I know death is inevitable. I still get a bit sad when it happens. found via EW where you can find complete article by clicking link.

Arthur C. Clarke Dies at Age 90

The prolific science-fiction writer of ''2001'' and more than 100 other stories passed away Wednesday at his home in Sri Lanka

Arthur C. Clarke, the prolific science-fiction writer who wowed readers for decades with groundbreaking books like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Childhood's End, has died. The British-born author passed away on Wednesday at his home in his adopted country of Sri Lanka at age 90. He had been chronically ill, sometimes using a wheelchair, with post-polio syndrome since the 1960s. Late last year, he reportedly recorded a video for friends and fans saying ''goodbye.''

I found this interview at metro.co.uk. I've included the link so you can check it out for yourself.

Here is a very small snippet.

Did you offend any medieval literature experts with the adaptation of Beowulf?
Some were outraged before they saw it and wrote on the internet that they wouldn’t be going to see the film. Others were offended because our version of Denmark was supposedly too mountainous. They’ve also complained about Angelina Jolie’s high-heeled feet, as women didn’t have high-heeled feet in medieval times. To be fair, women have never had high-heeled feet; it was something the animators did as a weird doodle. At no point did I write ‘she has high-heeled feet’, but then I find myself having to explain she’s a shape-shifting monster who can have high-heeled feet if she wants them.

Why does the Angelina Jolie character look like Angelina Jolie but Beowulf doesn’t look like Ray Winstone?
You’ve just answered your own question. The performance capture effects work well because Beowulf ages 40 years over the course of the story, going from being a vigorous youth to a man in his 60s. Our original script had lots of swearing in it and the first day we met Ray, he said: ‘Great to meet you lads. You know what I love about this script? All the f***ing swearing.’

I've recently listened (and relistened) to Langston Hughes Reads. This was an audiobook of him reading his poetry. It also included commentary and reflections. I think I like his work even more now (and I really liked it before). Once again Thank You Los Angeles Public Library!

You know a while ago we checked out a book "Marvelous World" by Troy Cle from the library that I just knew would be a hit at home. Meanwhile other books have been read and sent back and this book is still here. It was started, yet there seems to be no motivation for reading it. Maybe it is the characters, the plot, or maybe it is just the timing.

Anyway, we decided to send this back today. I'm sure it will find the reader it was meant for.

-Love2Read

We scanned two more pictures included in the Jack Benny CD set we listened to a bit ago, but I never uploaded it. So, here they are:

We've started another series (well actually completed book one). This one is part of The Malloreon series by David Eddings. We just completed Guardians of the West. It was enough to have me try to get book two. I want to see how some of the storylines turn out

This week we've been really busy. We've accomplished much but haven't found much time for blogging.

We were able to finish up another Radio Show series on CD. This one was Great Detective Radio Shows. I notice they did a lot of liquor and cigarette commercials in those days.

The 6 Classic Radio Programs included on the set we checked out from the library were
1. The Adventures of Sam Spade
2. Boston Blackie
3. Ellery Queen
4. Gangbusters
5. Richard Diamond
6. The Saint

We're currently listening to a new CD (while still reading up a storm). I've said it before but I am really glad my family is reconnecting with books/tapes/cd's this year. We also have two budding writers in the home and I hope to blog about their progress soon.

-Love2Read

We are moving full steam ahead with this series. We recently finished Tribulation Force (Book 2 of the series) and I've placed a hold for the third book. I wanted to complete the series by Summer and it looks like I'm going to meet that goal.

I'm finding this series well written and suspenseful (even though I'm still on the parts I've done before). It makes me want to catch up and get to the stuff that is new to me. I also must admit even though this is fiction it has given me new things to study in the Bible.

-Love2Read

Although it had 438 pages, Dragons of the Dwarven Depths (The Lost Chronicles, Volume 1) seemed to be breezed through over here. It is by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman and was another library find (To be honest, I saw the cover and hoped it would appeal to someone at home). We seem to do a lot of series over here and this one is no exception. I'm about to hit the library website now to see if I can put Volume 2 on hold). Evidently this is part of DragonLance, which I believe is a universe. They are definitely Fantasy books. You can find a list of the DragonLance novels at this Wikipedia page and more on Dragonlance in general here.

Here are the 3 novels of The Lost Chronicles trilogy:

The Lost Chronicles Trilogy

• Dragons of the Dwarven Depths (July 2006), by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, (ISBN 0-7869-4099-9)
• Dragons of the Highlord Skies (July 2007), by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, (ISBN 978-0-7869-4333-3)
• Dragons of the Hourglass Mage (July 2008), by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Looking it over I think I need to go back to the first trilogy? Think I will look around on the website more and see exactly which one should I do a library hold on. Wish me luck. If there is anyone who has read these books and know which one I should start with, please let me know. Your help is greatly appreciated. Evidently there are over 190 novels in the Dragonlance series - thank goodness we love to read!

-Love2Read

Over the weekend we breezed through another CD Collection. I've always heard of the name Jack Benny but I am so glad that I got the chance to listen to his work. I've really enjoyed it. I don't know how much more I'll be able to find via the libraries but I definitely plan to find out.

-ILove2Read

While checking out the abcnews.com site, I came across this. I've missed the news and GMA which I usually watch so this is my first time coming across this. So what do you think? - ILove2Read

By Susan Donaldson James

March 4, 2008 —

Using a clever strategy that has pit Christian readers against anti-censorship intellectuals, a new online bookstore has impressed some marketing experts with its enlightened approach.

Abunga.com -- a kind of Facebook meets prayer book -- touts itself as a "family friendly" Web site that allows its buyers to ban saucy books from their accounts. What's more, if enough customers block a certain book, the company removes it from the site altogether.

Just this month, the Knoxville, Tenn., site banned "The Golden Compass," a children's fantasy novel that has been targeted by religious groups as being anti-Christian since the release of the film version of the book in December.

The site launched in the fall and initially blocked 65,000 titles; since then, another 100 to 200 books have been dropped.

Abunga donates 5 percent of its revenues to charity, which are also chosen by customers. The nonprofits include Christian churches, anti-abortion rights groups and mainstream groups such as the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Critics have compared Abunga's methods to Nazi book burning, but its founders say the site is more about participation than censorship -- a cross between social networking and cost-friendly online retailing.

Abunga Chairman Lee Martin told ABCNEWS.com that censorship charges were unfounded.

"It is truly a free country, and I'm not the public library or the forced education system," he said. "I believe in free enterprise, and I think people care what we are about."

Last month, Martin sent out an e-mail to supporters, saying, "The battle has now begun."