#20
Title: Position Yourself for Greatness
Author: Joel Osteen
Genre: Religion
Challenges: 100+, Audiobook, Read and Review, Seconds, Support Your Local Library,
Rating: B+
CDs/No. of Hours: 2/1 3/4
Originally Published: 2005
Dates read: 3/28/09 - 3/29/09
Read by: author

From the back cover - “One of the most important secrets to living a victorious life is making wise choices about the company we keep and the activities we pursue. With so many pressing influences and urgent needs surrounding us, it can sometimes be difficult to discern the voice of wisdom over the clamor of opinion. We can’t always know what challenges may lie ahead, but there are simple steps that each of us can take to prepare ourselves for success.

“In his series, Position Yourself for Greatness, Joel Osteen lays out a clear-cut path for living a happy and fruitful life. These messages include:

· Staying in the Right Environment
· Feed Yourself the Right Things
· Don’t Get Stagnant

“Making the decision to do our part, opens the door for God to do His. Our faith and cooperation with His plan for us allows Him to fully guide and bless us with His favor and goodness.”

This book was one I listened to while walking on a women’s retreat over this past weekend. I knew I couldn’t keep up with the hikers so I popped the umbrella and strolled up hill and down dale to the small town of Indianola about a mile from our camp. I had to change my shoes, socks and cords upon arriving back about an hour later. Yet I loved hearing Joel speak about the subjects listed above with warmth and humor and homilies. What a great speaker he is as well as a wonderful witness to our Lord.

#VIII
Title: Judges
Book: The Daily Bible in Chronological Order 365 Daily Readings, New International Version (NIV) with devotional insights to Guide You through God’s Word.
Commentary: F. LaGard Smith.
Genre: Religion
Challenges: 100+, Read & Review, Operation Actually Read the Bible
Rating: B+
Dates read: 3/16/09 - 3/25/09
No. of pages - 15

Smith’s summary of this era follows. “The fact that territory has been given to a tribe or individual does not mean that the land can be immediately occupied. The inhabitants living in the land must first be driven out. While some of the territorial conquests occurred when Joshua was still living, additional conquests are made after Joshua’s death.

“Despite all the conquests which have been made, there are still sections of unclaimed territory and, more importantly, still inhabitants who have not been driven out, contrary to God’s specific orders. The danger of an incomplete conquest is the lingering presence of pagan influence. As long as the Canaanites remain, the Israelites will inevitably intermarry with them, and, just as inevitably, turn to worship their pagan gods.
Failure to drive out the inhabitants may indicate not only the softness of Israel’s resolve but also a certain fascination with the pagan culture about them. Whatever the reasons for their failure, God considers it a breach of covenant and knows that widespread idolatry is soon to follow.

“A number of lands and peoples are never conquered. Interestingly enough, neither Judah nor Benjamin is able to completely drive out the Jebusites from the city of Jersualem, which is within the region of their common boundary (even despite the fact that Judah has already attacked the city once and put it to the torch).

“Politically and militarily, there is need for a more complete conquest of the promised land. … The incomplete conquests have left Israel vulnerable to the pagan influence around them” and they head into both spiritual and political decline. The Israelites evolution towards a more agricultural society attracts them to Baal, associated with fertility and crops. They alternate between dominance and oppression. During these cycles “God raises up a leader to deliver them. Each of these ‘judges’ leads only a few tribes” and their overlapping leadership amounts to about 335 years.

Some of these leaders are Othniel, Ehud and Shamgar; Deborah and Barak; Gideon and his son; Jephthan and Samson; Micah and the Danites and Benjamin.

“It seems that Israel’s moral decline has so affected the people that even honest attempts at goodness are blemished. Even in the sincere efforts made to forgive and restore the Benjamites, there is an indication that the Israelites have exercised extremely questionable moral judgment as far as their methods were concerned. This entire period of the Canaan conflict is a sad testimony to the relationship between God and man. From a pinnacle of adherence to law under Moses (as imperfect as their obedience was, even then), the nation of Israel has sunk to a low ebb in which moral authority is no higher than self-will. The inspired record sums it up with a disappointing epitaph.”

#19
Title: Revolutionary Road
Author: Richard Yates
Genre: General Fiction
Challenges: 100+, Audiobook, Read and Review, Seconds, Support Your Local Library, Pages Read, New Author
Rating: B+
CDs/No. of Hours: 9/11.5
Originally Published: 1961
Dates read: 3/9/09 - 3/25/09
Read by: Mark Bramhall

From the back cover - “In the hopeful 1950s, Frank and April Wheeler appear to be a model couple: bright, beautiful, talented, with two young children and a starter home in the suburbs. Perhaps they married too young and started a family too early. Maybe Frank’s job is dull. And April never saw herself as a housewife. Yet they have always lived on the assumption that greatness is only just around the corner. But now that certainty is about to crumble.

“With heartbreaking compassion and remorseless clarity, Richard Yates shows how Frank and April mortgage their spiritual birthright, betraying not only each other, but their best selves.”

This book was originally published in 1961 and was renewed in 1989. Now it’s a movie starring Cate Blanchett and Leonardo De Caprio. I pretty well enjoyed it because it depicts the 1950s well. The setting is the Connecticut sub-division of Revolutionary Hill with office-going via train into New York City. Office politics abound as well as affairs, parties, lunches and pregnancy. Had the women’s movement occurred earlier, the end may not have been as tragic. The story keeps you guessing about what’ll happen next.

#VII
Title: Ruth
Book: The Daily Bible in Chronological Order 365 Daily Readings, New International Version (NIV) with devotional insights to Guide You through God’s Word.
Commentary: F. LaGard Smith.
Genre: Religion
Challenges: 100+, Read & Review, Operation Actually Read the Bible
Rating: B+
Dates read: 3/22/09
No. of pages - 3

It never ceases to amaze me the extent of learning that happens when I’m doing Bible study. I’ve read the story of Ruth a number of times. In reading through the Bible chronologically now, though, I’m also referring to my Oxford Companion to the Bible to research other words, places and names that come up. For example, in reading the section on Ruth in the Oxford Companion the word “megillot” comes up. It refers to the five books for the Bible - Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther, and means scrolls, a name given to the collection of these shortest books of the Writings that comprise the third section of the Hebrew Bible. Each book is read on a particular feast day. The Song of Solomon is read on the feast of Passover; Ruth at Pentacost; Ecclesiastes on the Feast of Booths; Esther on Purim and Lamentations, a series of dirges commemorating the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, is read on the ninth of the month of Ab, a fast day on which these events are said to have taken place.

The Pentacost association (which comes between Passover and Tabernacles) with Ruth is probably due to the feast of weeks, an agricultural season consisting of counting off seven weeks and then presenting an offering of the first fruits of wheat. This celebration culminated on the fiftieth day of the period counting. The subsequent reading of Ruth in New Testament times would have been appropriate because Ruth went into the fields and picked up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes she found favor and gleaned and gathered among the sheaves behind the harvesters.

Even more importantly in the story of Ruth, chronologically set in the midst of Judges ca 1100 B.C. in Moab, is a woman who follows her widowed mother-in-law, Naomi and lives with the Israelites and their God. Her choice brings her the blessings of both a new husband and a son, through whom Ruth becomes the great-grandmother of David, who will be king of all Israel.

This beautiful love story shows the law of levirate marriage and foreshadows the grace which one day will extend to Jews and Gentiles alike through still another Descendant of this godly Gentile woman named Ruth.

#VI
Title: Joshua
Book: The Daily Bible in Chronological Order 365 Daily Readings, New International Version (NIV) with devotional insights to Guide You through God’s Word.
Commentary: F. LaGard Smith.
Genre: Religion
Challenges: 100+, Read & Review, Operation Actually Read the Bible
Rating: B+
Dates read: 3/10/09 - 3/16/09
No. of pages - 15

Smith writes “With the burial of Moses, the focus of leaderships falls upon Joshua, who will lead the Israelites west across the Jordan River into Canaan -- the land first promised to Abraham some 685 years previously.”

Joshua, a righteous and courageous man God has chosen, mobilizes the nation, prepares for conquest, keeping in mind the rededication to God and the holy purposes for which battles will soon be fought. Even the name “Joshua” which means God is salvation, indicates Joshua is a savior of the nation as will the Messiah be the Savior of the world.

God empowers the Israelites to be victorious over the towns of Jericho and Ai. They erect an altar which God commanded through Moses. With the initial invasion successfully completed, the Israelites will engage in two subsequent campaigns -- first against an alliance of southern kings, then against a confederation of kings in the north. Trickery of Joshua ensues, however, “when the men of Gibeon trick Joshua into making a forbidden covenant with them, and thus place upon Joshua’s failure to consult God in the matter.”

Smith writes, “(n)ow that the general conquest of Canaan is complete, it is time to partition the promised land among the remaining 9 ½ tribes who will be occupying the land west of the Jordan River.”

With this accomplished, Joshua prepares his three farewell addresses. The first is “to the soldiers of the eastern tribes who have joined the western tribes in taking Canaan;” the second is “to the western tribes, is a review of God’s blessings and a stern warning against involvement with pagan people and their idolatry;” and the third “calls the people to renew their covenant with God” and “Joshua constructs a memorial of this third covenant between Israel and God.

“Having led the Israelites into Canaan, and having completed the general conquest and partition of the promised land, Joshua now faces the end of his life. … And with Joshua goes the high priest, Eleazer, who has served the people’s spiritual needs throughout the conquest. With the passing of these two men of God, the last immediate links with Moses and Aaron will be severed, and a new era will soon find the Israelites in spiritual eclipse. Never again will the Israelites as a nation be this closely united, either among themselves or with their God.

“About the same time as Joshua’s and Eleazar’s deaths, the people also bury the 400-year-old bones of Joseph, which were brought out of Egypt during the exodus, in keeping with Joseph’s deathbed request. It is an appropriate tie with the early patriarchs, to whom God first promised this land.”

#V
Title: Deuteronomy
Book: The Daily Bible in Chronological Order 365 Daily Readings, New International Version (NIV) with devotional insights to Guide You through God’s Word.
Commentary: F. LaGard Smith.
Genre: Religion
Challenges: 100+, Read & Review, Operation Actually Read the Bible
Rating: B+
Dates read: 2/5/09 - 3/9/09
No. of pages - 22

Smith writes “… aware that his own life is very near the end, Moses … feels keenly the responsibility for orienting a new generation to the history of their young nation, its unique relationship to God, and their purpose in the conquest which will begin shortly …”

Moses addresses the tribes twice -- once with “some surprising and interesting details not included in any previous accounts” and secondly emphasizing “even more forcefully the need for obedience to God’s laws and statutes. At this point in his second address Moses begins an exposition of principal laws, some of which he gives here for the first time -- or at least they are recorded her for the first time -- and some of which he has already given but now further explains or reemphasizes.” Throughout these laws, Moses restates the ten commandments as they relate to the various laws.

Smith goes on with the renewal of the covenant and says “With this restatement of the laws completed, it is an appropriate time for the Israelites to reaffirm their covenant with God, just as they had done at Mount Sinai when the law was first given….”

Next is the transfer of leadership to Joshua where the Lord commissions Joshua to be strong and courageous. Smith speaks to a song of unfaithfulness where Moses, “anticipating the fact that, despite their recently renewed covenant, the Israelites will soon breach their vows of commitment to him, God asks Moses to teach the Israelites a song, and to command its transmission from one generation to the next. Moses does this and then blesses each of the 12 “tribes of Israel as they prepare to take over the land which was promised to their forefathers.”

Moses next prepares for his death and burial by ascending Mt. Nebo and viewing the promised land that he will not otherwise see in person. And “(s)o ends the life of the greatest man of God since Abraham. As Abraham had taught a family about faith, Moses had taught a nation about law. And in centuries to come, One greater than them both will teach the whole world about love and grace.”

#IV
Title: Numbers
Book: The Daily Bible in Chronological Order 365 Daily Readings, New International Version (NIV) with devotional insights to Guide You through God’s Word.
Commentary: F. LaGard Smith.
Genre: Religion
Challenges: 100+, Read & Review, Operation Actually Read the Bible
Rating: B+
Dates read: 2/4/09 - 3/2/09
No. of pages - 26

Numbers includes establishing of the laws, counting the tribes with particular emphasis on men of fighting age, establishing the role of the Levites in maintaining the tabernacle and a promise from God to lead the Israelite armies safely to Canaan, the promised land. To scout out the promised land, spies are sent out from each of the twelve tribes and report back what they find. Two of the spies, Caleb and Joshua, encourage the Israelites to put their faith in God while the other 10 paint a less than encouraging picture of what they’re up against. Because of this God sets them wandering in the wilderness for 40 years so that none of the fearful and disbelieving Israelites will enter into the promised land.

Smith writes, “Postponement of the advance into Canaan and defeat by the foreign armies has a calamitous effect on the Israelites. They become even more quarrelsome and rebellious to the point of wanting another leader. This front is led by a Levite named Korah. Due to his assault against God’s chosen He declares that the priests and Levites will have no inheritance in Canaan, but will rather be supported through the practice of tithing.

“Moses and Aaron and their sister Miriam will so displease God that they too will be denied entrance into the promised land. Apparently their sin involves not simply failure to follow God’s specific directions, but manifestations of pride and self-importance which minimize God’s power …”

During this time Moses has been grooming Joshua to take over his place as leader to take the community into Canaan. Under God’s protection, Joshua leads the battle of Jericho and other skirmishes until their enemies are killed and the land taken. Each of the tribes is given land and towns to live in.

#III
Title: Leviticus
Book: The Daily Bible in Chronological Order 365 Daily Readings, New International Version (NIV) with devotional insights to Guide You through God’s Word.
Commentary: F. LaGard Smith.
Genre: Religion
Challenges: 100+, Read & Review, Operation Actually Read the Bible
Rating: B+
Dates read: 1/15/09 - 2/26/09
Pages: 18

The nice thing about the chronological reading of the Bible is that Smith combines events, for example, like establishment of the laws from Leviticus and Deuteronomy and Numbers together so that you’re not re-reading the same thing more than once in these books. These three books also dovetail with my Bible Study Fellowship (BSF). Among the works in Leviticus are sacrifices and offerings which include cereal, peace, sin, and guilt offerings and their rules; rules for the priests, the sabbatical year, the year of jubilee, purification for things such as after childbirth, leprosy, discharges; vows of dedication, laws of separation; laws of special crimes such as crimes against the person for mayhem; personal rights and remedies which includes an economic aspect to cases of seduction such as killing animals; a section about masters and servants and the prompt payment of wages, and acquiring slaves; contracts and agreements involving oaths; weights and measures; sexual violations involving pagans, adultery, prostitution, incest; violations of uncleanness, bestiality; health and dietary laws; general welfare laws involving parents, the elderly, strangers, deaf and blind, and neighbors; and responsibilities under the laws pertaining to obedience and disobedience.

From reading Leviticus one can see where some of our laws come from. Many of these laws are no longer applicable in this day and age.

#II
Title: Exodus
Book: The Daily Bible in Chronological Order 365 Daily Readings, New International Version (NIV) with devotional insights to Guide You through God’s Word.
Commentary: F. LaGard Smith.
Genre: Religion
Challenges: 100+, Read & Review, Operation Actually Read the Bible
Rating: B+
Dates read: 1/22/09 - 2/7/09
Pages: 24

From F. LaGard Smith’s commentary, Exodus begins ca.1525 about 400 years since the death of Joseph. Moses emerges as Leader, Smith writes, “a man of education, training, and royal upbringing. He will be an author, lawgiver, builder, and military leader. Most importantly, he, like Abraham, will be a man of faith in God and an intermediary between God and his people. The story of Moses’ ascension to a place of leadership over the Israelites is a fascinating one in which the providential hand of God can be seen to lift Moses from his lowly birth as a Hebrew to a place o honor in the very household of the ruling Pharaoh. Then, during a time of exile in the land of Midian, just east of the Sinai Peninsula and across from the Gulf of Aqaba, Moses takes a wife named Zipporah.

“It is in Midian that Moses is called by God to lead the Hebrew nation out of the oppressive bondage into which they have fallen since the days of Joseph. It is clear that Moses is reluctant to take on the responsibility of leadership, and therefore God must demonstrate the power that will be given to Moses in order to accomplish the mission which God has assigned him. It is near Mount Horeb, also know as Mount Sinai, that God confronts Moses, and it will be on this same mountain that one of the most important events in the history of the Hebrew nation will later take place.

“The Exodus record now begins where Genesis ended, with a last recital of the sons of Israel who had first emigrated to Egypt.”

The story of Moses is the one my Bible Fellow Study is studying this year. I love to study the detail as outlined in the questions asked in each week’s lesson. I join other multi-faith women who meet each Tuesday morning. This study allows four ways to learn -- through lecture, reading notes, answering questions in writing and in a small group setting. Most of all, my small group is 11 women who have achieved koinonia -- the coming together of hearts of the same mind in a safe environment meant for sharing. Everything said is held in strict confidence both in the classroom and in our monthly luncheon meetings.

#18
Title: My Life as a Fake
Author: Peter Carey
Genre: Fiction
Challenges: 100+, Audiobook, Read and Review, Seconds, Support Your Local Library, Pages Read
Rating: C
CTs/No. of Hours: 7/9.75
Published: 2003
Dates read: 2/19/09 - 3/9/09
Read by: Susan Lyons

From the back cover - “Two-time Booker Prize winner Peter Carey, author of True History of the Kelly Gang, shows again why he is one of the most acclaimed writers in the word with this ambitious novel. My Life as a Fake is Carey’s brilliantly fictionalized spin on the greatest literary hoax in Australia’s colorful history.

“In the 1952s poet Christopher Chubb teaches Australia a lesson about pretension when he composes a body of sexually charge poems, then dupes a trendy literary magazine into believing the poems were written by the late Bob McCorkle, an undiscovered genius. But the trick backfires, and soon Chubb finds himself tormented by the very monster he creates. Decades later a literary editor named Sarah Wode-Douglass beings peeling back the layers of the Chubb mystery in, of all places, Malaysia -- where the reclusive poet remains in hiding.

“With its breathtaking scope and limitless inventiveness, My Life as a Fake is a triumph of the imagination. Carey’s masterful tale receives a sparkling narration by Susan Lyons, who provides authentic and compelling voices for the full cast of vivid characters.”

While I totally loved The True Story of the Kelly Gang a few months ago, I wasn’t a fan of this novel. Carey, I find, loves to take a real character and spin his take on what could have, would have, should have happened. Some parts of it were intriguing -- a bit about the background of the editor Sarah Wode-Douglass and her “boyfriend”, the kidnapping of Chubb’s daughter, and his ultimate demise.

#17
Title: The Stranger
Author: Albert Camus
Genre: Classic
Challenges: 100+, Audiobook, Read and Review, Seconds, Support Your Local Library, Pages Read, Book to Movie, London Olympics
Rating: A
CDs/No. of Hours: 4/4.5
Published: 1943
Dates read: 3/2/09 - 3/7/09
Read by: Jonathan Davis
Translated by: Matthew Ward

From the back cover - “Albert Camus’ The Stranger is one of the most widely read novels in the world, with millions of copies sold. It stands as perhaps the greatest existentialist tale ever conceived.

“When a young Algerian named Meursault kills a man, his subsequent imprisonment and trial are puzzling and absurd. The apparently amoral Meursault -- who puts little stock in ideas like love and God -- seems to be on trial less for his murderous actions, and more for what the authorities believe is his deficient character.

“This remarkable translation by Matthew Ward has been considered the definitive English version since its original publication.”

I enjoyed this straight-forward story, told in the first person of Meursault. While nothing means much to this man, he does care that he doesn’t want to talk about why he doesn’t believe in God, nor does he have time to think about such a concept while awaiting his trial in prison. It’s a fascinating story and left me wondering about how he had time to write the story before he went off to the guillotine.

#16
Title: The Matisse Stories
Author: A. S. Byatt
Genre: Short Stories
Challenges: 100+, Audiobook, Read and Review, Support Your Local Library, Seconds, Support Your Local Library, Pages Read, Short Stories
Rating: C+
CTs/No. of Hours: 3/2.5
Published: 1993
Dates read: 2/27/09 - 3/2/09
Read by: Nadia May

From the back cover - “In this elegant set of stores, three modern women are touched in different ways by the paintings of Henri Matisse.

“In ‘Medusa’s Ankles,’ a distinguished translator visits a hair salon hoping to regain a hint of her youthful looks. Hung on the wall before her is one of Matisse’s iconic portraits.

“In ‘Art Works,’ the three inhabitants of one household -- a generous wife, her petulant husband, and their regal housekeeper -- make very different artists.

“And in ‘The Chinese Lobster,’ a self-tortured, anorexic art student confronts the smug opulence of Matisse’s nudes while pondering suicide.”

Medusa’s Ankles was pretty funny, especially when our heroine went nuts in the salon and reduced it and all it’s refurbishments to debris, fit only for the dustbin. Art Works was hilarious, too, and I loved how it ended. Also in the household is a precocious child who loves Mrs. Brown’s artwork better than the dad’s. I couldn’t get into The Chinese Lobster except to say Byatt had a ball describing the lobster before they became dinner.

Kathrin's Pages Read (1/1/09 - 12/31/09) see: http://cozymurders.blogspot.com for details

I've chosen to read 20,000 pages by 12/31/09. I see others have signed up for as few as 10,000 and as many as 100,000! As this is my first time I'll be a bit conservative and just do a few. Thanks Kathrin!

#B
Title: Two Gentlemen of Verona
Author: William Shakespeare
Genre: Play
Challenges: Shakespeare, Seconds
Rating: B
Published: 1598
Dates read: 2/10/09 - 2/26/09
No. of Acts: V
Type of Play: Comedy

No. of Pages: 20

This is my second play by Shakespeare. As I menioned in my review of The Tempest, one of the reasons I'm taking on the bard is because I do so poorly on Jeopardy. Earlier this week I did answer a -- the answer was a Midsummer Night’s Dream and I was able to give it because I’d actually seen the play on stage in Tacoma, WA, a few years ago. Maybe as I read more and more, I'll be able to go faster, not have to translate and complete a play in less than 30 gulps.

This was a funny story -- though the plot is timeless -- boys have girls, boys loose girls, boys find each others girls for themselves. I enjoyed it. I still must write down in modern English what I’ve read in olde English. And it takes me most of a month to do this -- maybe as I go along things’ll speed up, I’ll get the hang of it and be able to down these draughts in less than 30 swallows!