adventure

My vagabond friend, Joelle (whom I've even had the pleasure of meeting in *real* life after meeting her in blogosphere, very cool!), tagged me with this one (like, weeks ago!), and I'm finally getting around to doing it (again, lost it the first time)! Since it's all about favorite books and authors, it should be especially FUN! :^)

Five favorite fiction writers:

1) George MacDonald (oh, ALL of them, and I've read some of his non-fiction works too, but esp. loved the series that begins with The Fisherman's Lady!)
2) C. S. Lewis, esp. The Screwtape Letters & The Pilgrim's Regress (and the Narnia series too!)
3) Walter Wangerin Jr., esp. The Book of the Dun Cow & The Book of Sorrows
4) John Bunyan, his fictional (or arguably non-fiction, eh?) allegory The Pilgrim's Progress is my all-time favorite (and my son's too), a MUST read! I'm looking forward to reading it aloud together soon, I'll share the unabridged version with the kids this time.
5) Calvin Miller, A Requiem for Love (I couldn't put this down, read it in college, in one sitting - need to read it again!) & The Singer Trilogy

Oh, there's SO many more, but alas (see Jo, it happens to me too, writing just brings out the the wordsmith with a bent for drama in us!) meme says only 5!!

Five favorite non-fiction writers:
(off the top of my head)
1) Ruth Beechick
2) Watchman Nee
3) Matthew Henry
4) Oswald Chambers
5) Richard Booker

Five favorite children's authors:

(only five?!... no way to even begin to tell then! But, in no particular order then)
A. A. Milne, Robert Louis Stevenson, Homelund Minarik, Arnold Lobel, Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree & Where the Sidewalk Ends, C.S. Lewis, Rudyard Kipling, James Herriot & Laura Ingalls Wilder, Edgar & Ingri d'Aulaire, Holling C. Holling, William Steig, esp. Sylvester & the Magic Pebble and Yellow & Pink & Bill Peet, Hans Christian Anderson, fairy tales, etc., etc.

Favorite book read in 2005:

Redeeming Love, by Francine Rivers
I wrote about it here.

Book you're most looking forward to reading in 2006:

The Bible - I hope to read it through this year.
E. M. Bounds on Prayer

Five books on faith that you would recommend:

1) The Bible (naturally)
2) Song of Songs, Watchman Nee
3) The Miracle of the Scarlet Thread, Booker
4) Our Father Abraham, Dr. Marvin Wilson
5) Foxe's Book of Martyrs, by John Foxe

Five books that made you laugh out loud:

(mine are all childrens' books that have made us all laugh out loud together in the last two months)
1) Amelia Bedelia books, Peggy Parish
2) Just So Stories, Rudyard Kipling
3) Where the Sidewalk Ends, Shel Silverstein
4) The Crow and Mrs. Gaddy, Wilson Gage
5) Mr. Gumpy's Outing, John Birmingham & The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

A fictional character you would like to emulate:

I guess Mary Ingles from Follow the River (see below).

A fictional character you have had a crush on:

Dr. MacNeill from Christy, by Catherine Marshall (One of my favorites, an amazing historical fiction book I highly recommend!)

The best biography you've ever read:

I haven't read many... I guess Christy, mentioned above.

A book you love with a short review:

Follow the River by James Alexander Thom
This novel gripped me from the beginning... It's about the true ordeal of Mary Draper Ingles, a 23 yo pregnant Mother of two who is kidnapped by Shawnee Indians, along with her children and two other adults after their Virginia settlement is attacked in 1755. This woman had such amazing faith and fortitude! She eventually escapes from the Shawnee Indians (after having her child one night, during their month+ long journey to their camp-and having to ride immediately afterwards, clinging to her newborn and 2 terrified young sons) and French trappers who "own" her, and then makes her way back home, to her beloved husband... a 1000 mile trek, barefoot, with only a tomahawk and a blanket, and a Dutch woman (fellow prisoner).

She has to leave her children behind, but is then reunited with her oldest son, years later. There are so many detailed ways that this true story touched my heart and challenged my own spirit, but I do not want to give away the story any more. I just lent it to a friend, who just told me last Sat. that she'd stayed up all night finishing it, it's THAT good!

This illiterate (she couldn't read nor write, but had something so much more valuable within her!) woman's legacy of true love and real faith has given me much perspective. I shall never forget her, and shall always be thankful that one of her sons took the time to write down her story for her, and that Thom took the time to research and trace her steps... Now as I drive through this country side, I am haunted by the lives of those who lived here long ago, thrilled by the fullness of their journeying. I yearn for a life so lived... so true, so full.

There's another good review here, and a post, by a local historian, about her ordeal here.

Five people to tag:

How about, if you'd like to do this meme, please do, and leave me a comment to let me know. I'd love to read your answers! thanks