Summer Reading List

Here you will find a compiled list of summer reading book suggestions from friends. I have only read Til We Have Faces, the abridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo, one of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books, and quite a few of Chaim Potok's books. That means that I cannot personally recommend the rest of the books, but they must be pretty good cause my friends told me they were. And I like my friends.

The "summaries" are my own based on Amazon.com descriptions. I'm going to see how many of these I can read this summer. Feel free to take ideas from here for quiet reading days. Happy Reading!

Fiction

Farenheit 451: A Novel (Ray Bradbury) – Set in a dystopian future, a “fireman” has the job of burning illegal books

The Count of Monte Cristo (Unabridged = over 1200 pages) (Alexander Dumas) – A historical adventure story about hope, justice, vengeance, mercy, and forgiveness

East of Eden (John Steinbeck) – Steinbeck considered this his greatest novel

Till We Have Faces (C.S. Lewis) – Lewis’ version of Cupid and Psyche, told through the eyes of Orual, Psyche’s older half-sister

Moloka’i (Allan Brennert) – Historical fiction about a girl in a Hawaii leper colony

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex (Nathaniel Philbrick) – A true story about a shipwreck and the terrible ordeal of the survivors

Series

A Novel on the Edge of the World

Scared (Tom Davis) – A photojournalist at rock bottom travels to Africa to cover the AIDS crisis; there he meets a young orphan and his life is changed

Priceless (Tom Davis) – About the photojournalist working to educate people about social injustice and his involvement in a campaign to rescue women trapped as sex slaves

The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency (Alexander McCall Smith)

The Hunger Games Trilogy (Suzanne Collins)

The Hunger Games

Catching Fire

Mockingjay

Christian Books

Unlocking the Bible Story (Colin Smith) – Smith shows how Jesus Christ is the focus of Scripture, indirectly or directly, from beginning to end. Beginning with the Old Testament, he unlocks rich, life-changing truths while encouraging and strengthening readers in their daily walk with Christ (4 volumes).

The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University (Kevin Roose) – The true story of a secular Brown University college student who chose to spend a semester at Liberty University

Ruthless Trust: The Ragamuffin’s Path to God  (Brennan Manning) – The sequel to The Ragamuffin’s Gospel, about how true and radical trust in God can transform our lives

Stuff Christians Like (Jonathon Acuff) – A humorous look at all things Christian

Good Authors

Chaim Potok (I think I have to say that right now Potok is my favorite author)

The Chosen & The Promise

My Name is Asher Lev & The Gift of Asher Lev

David Baldacci

List of Novels: Absolute Power, Total Control, The Winner, The Simple Truth, Saving Faith, Wish You Well, Last Man Standing, The Christmas Train, Split Second, Hour Game, The Camel Club, The Collectors, Simple Genius, Stone Cold, and The Whole Truth; and in his young adult series, Freddy and the French Fries: Fries Alive! and Freddy and the French Fries: The Adventures of Silas Finklebean.

Mary Higgins Clark

I'm off camping for the weekend with friends--time for some hiking and camp desserts. Have a lovely weekend!

A Very D.C. Weekend

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

While riding the metro home on Friday, the train driver said over the PA system, "I wish you all a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious weekend." Thanks, train driver, cause that's what I had.


Rock the Mall
Apparently 2012 is the year of 100th anniversaries: for Fenway Park, the sinking of the Titanic...and the Girl Scouts. This weekend D.C. was invaded by over 200,000 Girl Scouts and the various adults they brought with them for the Girl Scouts Rock the Mall: 100th Anniversary Sing-Along. So many little girls!!!

My housemate and I rode the metro to Eastern Market on Saturday morning and experienced a preview of the sing-along. Yes, right there on the subway I sang along with "Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other's gold." I came to D.C. expecting to be far away from the whole "girls' camp" thing, but  it found me. My poor housemate, who never did girl scouts and never went to camp, was in culture shock.

Tourist-y Stuff with International Justice Mission (IJM) Interns
Eastern Market...yummy crepes...beautiful Thomas Jefferson Library of Congress building...tour of the Capital building...Good Stuff Eatery milkshakes.

Shopping
*Read in a sarcastic voice* I love clothes shopping. *end of sarcastic voice*
God has just given me other gifts... Well, I'm going to be a bridesmaid in a wedding at the end of this summer, and I had to find a dress. (Thanks to my Rachacha friend for her assistance in getting started on the whole dress shopping thing, despite our lack of success.)

I found it yesterday, though, with the help of my mom's best friend who was down in D.C. for the weekend. She also took me to church, drove me to REI (sleeping bag shopping) and Trader Joe's (must have cereal!), took me out to a Thai restaurant for lunch, and was just an all-around wonderful substitute mother and good friend.

Back to the dress and the wedding: now I am ready (I think/maybe/I hope) to wish my dear, lifelong friend well as she steps into this new stage of her life. We've known each other ever since I was born. For me, that's a really long time. Love you, Redwing!

PEI Intern at WVUS

WVI, SO, NO, RO, ADP, ...

Ah, acronyms. These are a few of my new aquaintances here at World Vision this summer. Day two and I'm on the way to learning the lingo, but some of the people who have been working here for years say they still come up against ones they don't know. Orientation is over as of lunch today, so now I get to start in on my assignments. I'm at the point where my manager has explained to me what I'm going to be doing...I understand it...but I haven't quite figured out how to put it into normal English yet. Give me some time.

Commuting

If you haven't ever commuted via a metro system before then you should try it out. It definitely puts your head in a herd mentality mindset. Just follow the crowd (and pay attention to the signs). I really do enjoy riding the metro because I love watching people. Having had good experiences on the Tube in London also helps my appreciation of public transportation.

Here's the DL on Boston's T vs. Washington's Metro vs. London's Tube:
The T: It gets you where you need to go, but you are quite glad once you get there because you are thankful you were able to figure out where you needed to go and you are glad to get away from the interesting smells and dirtiness.
The Metro: It's very clean, the signs are clear, and life makes sense...but it's kind of boring.
The Tube: "This is livin', this is style, this is elegance by the mile" (Thanks to Grandpa from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang). Nothing quite beats the unique station decorations or the recordings of various announcements in British accents. Mind the Gap.

Trader Joe's (Last, but certainly not least)

There's one here in Arlington, VA. Yay! Trader Joe's = a familiar sight from home in the midst of all sorts of new experiences. New experiences are wonderful, but a jar of TJ's peach salsa puts some normalcy into a life of transition.

The End of SEND

Three weeks is not a very long time. It's just enough time to say hi, get to know people, and then miss them when you have to say goodbye. I finished off my internship with SEND's media department last Thursday. I'm really thankful for the time I had out in Michigan to learn what it's like to be part of the media team for a mission agency.

Here's my fancy desk with not one but TWO laptops:

 And then the media team has their own special chairs. Classy. And the director of the department is working diligently in the background.

Notice the loon? Meet Loony. He'll be traveling through D.C. with me this summer since I don't get to live on a lake in Maine all summer and listen to loons calling every morning and evening.

Missionary Prayer Letters

For my internship in the media department here at SEND I have been reading MANY missionary prayer and newsletters. Some of them have quite creative names, but my favorite, by far, was one I found today: "CZECH-ing on our PRAGUE-ress". Ah yes. Don't even think about asking me where they serve...

To my many dear friends who are going into mission work or considering going into the mission field, think very carefully about your media choices and take advantage of the assistance offered to you by the media department of your mission agency. Also, in your newsletters, tell stories, don't just repeat facts. You would think that this would be common sense...but it's not.

Tomorrow is my last day in Michigan. Time flies when you're having fun!

A Day Off

This morning, I drowned when the Titanic sank.
Honest.
Well, actually, I visited The Henry Ford (Museum) today to see the exhibit they have there this year commemorating the hundred year anniversary of the sinking (in 1912). Before you enter, they give you a boarding pass with the information of one of the actual passengers on the Titanic. Miss Edith Corse Evans was traveling to her home in New York after visiting cousins in Paris. A few days before boarding, a fortune teller warned her to beware of water. At the end of the exhibit, there was a list showing who survived and who didn't. Miss Evans didn't. Both my hosts (Dave and Liz) survived. Interesting...

In case you're thinking, "What kind of mission agency media internship is this?", I earned the break from the office today. We worked all day Saturday running a conference on how to teach ESL (English as a Second Language). Thirty people from local churches came to the SEND campus and we made sure they were fed and happy while a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) professor from Moody Bible Institute gave them tools on how to teach English. Then on Sunday we spent most of the day at a Chinese church with a man from Hong Kong. So Tuesday was our day off.

If you ever get out to Detroit, make sure to visit The Henry Ford. It's huge. And it's way more than cars. The museum building itself is gigantic. I saw the chair Lincoln was assassinated in and the car JFK was assassinated in (there's more than assassinations, too). Then there's a whole area out back of historic buildings that Ford brought together from all over the country to create Greenfield Village. In one day I visited Noah Webster's home, the Wright brothers bicycle shop, Thomas Alva Edison's lab, and the home where Harvey Firestone (think: tires) grew up. There's also a section where artisans demonstrate skills that aren't often used today: Pottery, tin smithing, weaving, carding, and printing. If you haven't ever seen glass blowing, YOU NEED TO! It blows my mind.

P.S. I have housing in D.C. for the summer. Yay! I'm quite excited that it's all finally settled.

I'm Thankful

21 Things I’m Thankful For

1. God—he’s pretty awesome
2. My family—I’m stuck with them, but I’m quite happy with the lot of them.
3. Friends—lots, and lots, and lots, and lots,...
4. Houghton—crazy meets wild and has an adventure
5. New England Camp Cedarbrook—Home: Now I’m Finally Where I Belong
6. Birds—need I say more?
7. Travelling—the US, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa…where to next?
8. Other cultures—so much to learn
9. Internships—SEND International and then World Vision
10. Professors—encouragement and challenges by the bucket-full
11. Mentors and my little sister—they’ve all taught me so much
12. The Bible—there’s a lot of good stuff in there
13. My brain—what would I do without it?
14. Water—it’s so tasty, too
15. Boats—all kinds, all the time
16. Sunshine, thunderstorms, and snow—the weather is never boring
17. Cell phones—extremely handy
18. Books on CD—“He finished his ablutions with alacrity” The Prince and the Pauper
19. Doctor Who—Bowties are cool
20. Musicals—but they get stuck in my head
21. Contacts—one of the best inventions ever!