Shelby Elizabeth

Check it out at The Pseudobook Review!

Since the summer is very nearly over, I suppose it’s time to publish the list of books I was able to read and enjoy throughout the summer. (It should be easy to guess whose personal/family library I raided this summer!) Here it is: 

The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis

1. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

2. Prince Caspian

3. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

4. Silver Chair

5. A Horse and His Boy

6. The Magician’s Nephew

7.The Last Battle

8. Ender’s Game - Orson Scott Card

9. Further Up, Further In - Bruce Edwards

10. The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis 

11. Velvet Elvis - Rob Bell 

12. The Great Divorce - C.S. Lewis

Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency Series - Alexander McCall Smith

13. The Number 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency 

14. Tears of the Giraffe 

15. Morality For Beautiful Girls 

16. The Kalahari Typing School for Men 

17. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling

18. Sex God - Rob Bell (audio book; does that count?) 

Hope to finish this weekend: 

Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency Series - Alexander McCall Smith

19. The Full Cupboard of Life 

20. Speaker for the Dead - Orson Scott Card

 Can you guess this classic 1984 film cast before I discuss it in the 2nd paragraph?

Still not actively doing much, however I’m getting ready for a whirl-wind of a month! So it’s okay to continue relaxing while I can. 

I just watched the 1984 film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension last night. I’m not sure I have words to describe this film accurately and with any real justice. Wacky, brilliant, and hilarious? That doesn’t even begin to cover it. I suppose the only real thing to say is, have someone (politely) force you to watch it and you’ll see for yourself what I experienced last night! 

Reading has consumed much of my ’spare’ time lately, in addition to the movie watching. I recently finished Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. I was pleasantly surprised by the readability of Bell’s writing, having never read nor listened to his work before. I found quite a few stirring messages, as well as some references and stories which were previously unfamiliar to me. I was able to really use much of Bell’s book to help continue my search for deeper understanding and in some sense, a renewal or like the subtitle of the book, a “repainting of the Christian faith.” I’ll just leave you with the text of a passage, from the section Difficulty, Suffering, and Hope, which I enjoyed:

“Ultimately our gift to the world around us is hope. Not blind hope that pretends everything is fine and refuses to acknowledge how things are. But the kind of hope that comes from staring pain and suffering right in the eyes and refusing to believe that this is all there is…It is in the flow of real life, in the places we live and move with the people we’re on the journey with, that we are reminded it is God’s world and we’re going to be okay.”