Got snagged into this by Justin, and all the cool people are doing it, anyways…
Number of books on the shelf
Tons. I don't read as much as I used to, but I still keep a lot of books around. I'll throw out a ballpark figure of 50.
Last book purchased
Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity by Nancy Pearcy. Been looking forward to reading this one for a while now: there's a new edition coming out in the fall, but I couldn't wait that long and ordered it last Sunday. :)
Book reading right now
Total Truth, if I'm lucky. UPS should be dropping it off some time today, but I doubt anyone will be home to sign for it.
Last 5 books read
The Sovereignty of God by A.W. Pink. Excellent, excellent read.
The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats edited by Richard J. Finneran. Slowly making my way through this. A lot of Yeats' stuff is excellent; some of it is downright weird.
Polgara the Sorceress by David & Leigh Eddings. I have to admit this is a guilty pleasure. I bought this book years ago to complete David Eddings' Belgariad/Malloreon saga and never got around to finishing it. To be honest, at 600+ pages, it's rather ponderous. The Eddings have a knack for putting believable, very human characters into massive eon-spanning epics, but all the humor and situations start to sound the same every couple of generations.
Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites: by Louis Rosenfeld and Peter Morville. I love this whole web thing I'm into (and I love being paid for it), but man, some of the books are so boring.
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen. Ok, I'm stretching the meaning of "read;" I actually listened to the audiobook at work as part of my "Culture that shockingly uncultured fellow" program. Since I was actually working at the same time, I think I only got about half of what was going on. I wonder if they have Audio Cliff's Notes…
Meaningful Books
The Holy Bible. It profoundly changed my life, and continues to do so every day. It would be more correct to say it gave life where there was none before.
Only because the title implies more than one book should be here, I'll include Creating Killer Web Sites by David Siegel. The book is nearly ten years old and thus is obsolete from a purely technical standpoint. Ok, more than obsolete…it's often villainized by the web standards community as the most visible catalyst for the quagmire that is nested-table-based design, a fault Siegel himself confessed to in "The Web is Ruined and I Ruined it". Nonetheless, had I not glanced at this book in my high school library five years ago, I would never have thought that the web had the potential to be much more than research papers and dancing hampsters. I'd probably be an English major today, as opposed to a wannabe English major. More importantly, I would never have taken up a curiosity that became at turns a hobby, an obsession, and an opportunity to get paid to do something I love. So hats off to you, Mr. Siegel.
The title Killer in Creating Killer Websites truly says it all. Thanks for the link to the Siegel article, never seen that one before but it's a great read. HTML Terrorists, ha! If Bush would only go after them with the same tenacity as the real-life terrorists, maybe then we'd get consistent cross-browser standards support.
"If Bush would only go after them with the same tenacity as the real-life terrorists, maybe then we'd get consistent cross-browser standards support."
That, my friend, would be the day when web designers and developers get paid the millions of bucks we deserve. ;)
You really need to do Pride and Prejudice more justice than half attention! It really is a wonderful book. I also highly recommend the BBC series version of the book with Colin Firth (but you will need a free 6 hrs).
Recommendation duly noted, Katharine. Half attention is still attention, though. I can totally do a plot summary: there's, like, this girl, and she, like, does stuff. Yeah.
Al..as long as you don't get roped into watching the Indian version "Bride & Prejudice" half attention to the real version is a step in the right direction...I have yet to watch the original, and am almost not wanting to since the Indian version left me in such agonizing pain...oh the horror.....Karina how could you??!!!
Aliotsy, you have definitely earned yourself a look from me that is a cross between a scowl and a look of exasperation. Half attention to P&P will not enable you to fully appreciate this English masterpiece! You cannot have possibly caught the subtle humor, the witty discourse, the numerous subplots and charming 19th century mannerisms that make the book simply delightful.
Hey Al,
I recommend the Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice, but if you want a 2 hr movie,then watch the black and white version. Same lines, but shorter plot. Bride and Prejudice, was very funny, beautiful costumes and e did not stay, so she missed the ending.There was hardly any singing and dancing at the end:)
*e: Deep down inside, you know you liked it. >:)
Bethany: I had no idea this was such a big deal. The girl's name is Lizzy…does that help me any?
Karina: What's wrong with singing and dancing?
Al: Actually...no..I left, that says it all, no room for discussion.
Bethany: I will have to admit, the Colin Firth 6 HOURS version looks better than the new one releasing next fall Karina and I saw the trailer for....but again...my mind thinks...6 or 2 hours of an "English Masterpiece"...mmmm I may just eat a scone.
Karina: I did like the costumes, it was the dialogue, singing and dancing that did me in...I don't like Grease either, and I was IN that musical with the kid from O-town...come on...there are just some things I just don't enjoy.