Jen's Book Review

So in 2005 I read that Stephen King reads around 80 books a year (some are books on tape) and I decided to start keeping track of how many books I read. In 2006 I read 67 books. In 2007 I beat my record and read 71. I love to read and I do it all the time. So I thought I would give all you interested parties my book review of '07. Although, last night Doug told me that although I am well-read, I am also quite boring. (He's always keepin' real like that, gatta love him!)
So out of the 71 titles I read I can only name my favorites according to catagory.
Humor:
1. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
2. Dave Barry's History of the Millenium (So Far)
Church:
1. Believing Christ by Stephen F. Robinson
2. Following Christ by Stephen F. Robinson
Historical :
1. Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick
2. Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts
3. Ghost Ship: The Mysterious True Story of the Mary Celeste and her Missing Crew by Brian Hicks
Biography:
1. Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks
2. Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
3. Inside the Kingdom by Carmen Bin Laden
Young Adult:
1. Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer
Classic:
1. Frankenstein by Mary W. Shelley
2. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
3. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Fiction: (This list will be long)
1.Life of Pi by Yann Martel
2. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
3. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
4. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
5. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
6. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Longest:
1. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet with 973 pages that I got for Christmas and read by New Year's Eve. (DANG!!)
Best Title:
1. The Horrific Sufferings of the Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot: His Wonderful Love and His Terrible Hatred by Carl-Johan Vallgren

In 2008 I am hoping to add the Old Testament to the list since I am teaching it for seminary.
If you read any of these books and like them then I am glad.
Happy Reading!

Abby the Flabby Tabby

Abby is doing pretty good. Her tumor has already grown back and is as big as it was 4 months ago when it was removed. We are waiting for a consultation with the vet to get his opinion on what we should do next. To keep putting her through surgery every 4 or 5 months seems cruel. On the other hand, the lump is big and looks uncomfortable and we love her to pieces. We would like to leave here with everyone we came with. Poor, sweet baby.

Someone's in the Kitchen with DINAH

Dinah continues to feel and look good whether she is lying on Doug, Doug's rug, Sydney's bum or peering over the stairs.

She even made a new friend- Tom, who came to our house after some Christmas caroling.

All My Cats...

Are you all dying for an update on the many stray cats we name, feed and get attached to? You may recall past blogs about Penny and Milo-two strays that have gone the way of all the earth. Now we feed these two tabbies every day, I think they must be sisters because they rub foreheads and look cute about it. Also they share food. We call them Big Mac and Smallfries. They greet us every morning and are friendly. This orange cat sitting on the garbage can talks like a teenage girl on the phone. We can hear him through the front door. We also feed a few very timid cats we only see at night- Tituba, a black cat, Little Grey and Batman.

Of course all this feeding attracts other creatures like this cute, little hedgehog we saw one night. He crunched that catfood louder than any cat I've ever heard.

Officially, we are not supposed to be feeding this cats, but we have always had a softspot for strays and have usually fed one or two everywhere we've ever lived.

A Commander's Christmas

Santa and his favorite "MSS Elf"

As a commander, Doug served Christmas dinner at the chow hall again this year. We joined him after his shift and we all ate dinner there. Thanksgiving and Christmas are the only times that dependants are allowed to eat there. It was yummy! Afterwards we took a picture of Doug in front of the buiding he works in next to his official Squadron Commander sign. Isn't he special?

Merry Merry Christmas

We had a fun and quiet Christmas. Doug took ten days of leave and we just hung out and watched a bazillion movies.

This year we each got Turkish bathrobes-they are so warm and heavy, they probably weigh 20 pounds each!

Abby enjoyed playing in the wrapping paper like the toddler she is. Meghann's big gift this year was an electric guitar. She is doing pretty great teaching herself to play.
We had Sydney's work of art framed.
Mostly we were just happy and thankful to be together at Christmastime.

Turkish Art

We were lucky enough to come across this artist who set up for a few days in one of the stores in the alley. She is one of only 7 people in Turkey who know how do this type of art. It is painting on water. She trained under a master. We watched her do it and then for $20 bucks she showed Sydney how. Sydney said it was much harder than it looked. It was amazing to watch her slide it off the water and onto the paper. She also made silk scarves and ties. We could only afford a few bookmarks. A pretty unique experience.