Booked by 3 for March: Repeats

from Shelly's Book Shelf

1. Do you reread books? Yes, sometimes. I wish I had more time to reread more.

2. If yes, which ones have you reread and why?
Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass because they're my favorite stories. I've also reread Ray Bradbury's Farenheit 451. I reread reference books, history books, puzzle books and some others like that when I want to look up certain information or work on puzzles and such. I also reread children's books because my little niece likes to read certain ones over again. Right now, one of her favorites is the Little Golden Book The Lion's Paw.

3. If not, would you want to if you had the time and if yes, which ones?
I plan on rereading the Earthsea books, the Lord of the Rings trilogy and a few others.

Jill Carroll Released

If you haven't heard or read the news yet, Christian Science monitor writer Jill Carroll has been released in Iraq. I'm sure we'll be hearing more about it in the upcoming weeks.

On a side note, my friend S. will not be traveling again to Iraq to help the CPT as she first thought. That's all on hold for now.

The remaining three CPT hostages (Harmeet Singh Sooden, Jim Loney and Norman Kember) were rescued by a joint U.S. and British military operation. They're unharmed, and I'm sure they and their families are not only grateful but ecstatic.

There are a lot of articles out there related to their rescue if you google for them. Here are a few.

Reassing Presence in Iraq
CPT Press Release
More of the Rescue

Still missing is Christian Science Monitor journalist Jill Carroll. Prayers and good thoughts are with her and her family. I hope they receive good news as well soon.

Tom Fox

I've been meaning to post this for a week now.

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) member Tom Fox, along with three of his colleagues - Harmeet Sooden, Jim Loney and Norman Kember, was abducted on November 26, 2005. His body was found on March 10, 2006; he'd been murdered. His teammates are still missing, held hostage by the people who took him, and there's been no word on how they are, as far as I know.

Tom's blog: Waiting in the Light
CPT photo gallery: http://www.cpt.org/gallery/
Memorial for Tom on CPT site: http://www.cpt.org/memorial/tomfox/main.php
Letter from Sheila* to Tom: I want you all to know him more
from AP, 3/11/2006: Quakers Remember U.S. Hostage's Mission

I wanted to make a little list of sites for others to visit, to learn about Tom Fox and about the group he worked with. I wanted to post quickly so anyone who's surfing through or stopping by my site to see what's up with me will see the little collection of links and will hopefully visit them, read through them, and if not, then, in the very least, I hope whoever stops by will take one moment to remember Tom and all the others who've been kidnapped or tortured in Iraq & elsewhere, remember their families and friends. What I ask is that you think about the people. not the governments, not the war. Think about the people living there, dying there, the family & friends left behind. Soldiers, police, peace activists, shopkeepers, taxi drivers, children in the street .. I think many of us tend to forget that each of those people has a face, a family, a story of his or her own. In the news, it all blurs, and everyone on all sides becomes nameless and faceless. It's not done on purpose, but it makes it easier for the rest of us to forget and for some of us (on any & all sides of an issue) to place blame and to hate the others. We're all others. It just depends on what side of the fence you're standing on.

Please take a moment to read through, look at the photos and reflect.

* I just read an email from my friend Sheila*, a former CPTer who knew Tom while she was over in Iraq. She's decided to return to Iraq for a month to help out the CPTeams in Baghdad because of staffing problems and to relieve the current team that's there. Please keep her in your thoughts. Thanks. :)

Music and Ployes

On Friday the 19th I went to see Cristina Branco perform which, of course, inspired me to download some of the songs she sang from Ulysses along with some more songs by Amalia Rodrigues (see also Wikipedia or a host of other sites on the web) and Misia. :) I'd planned on seeing Cyanide Valentine at T.T. the Bear's Place in Central Square (Cambridge) tonight since it'd tick off an item from my 101 in 1001 list. More than that, I'd really like to see Jake perform. :) The timing is wrong though with the train, and I'm too tired to deal with cabs tonight. I didn't budget for a taxi or an overnight stay in town so .. I guess I'll have to wait for next time to see Cyanide Valentine.

I bought a package of ployes from the Bouchard Family Farm (in the supermarket - I didn't actually visit the farm itself) last weekend and am anxious to give it a try. No milk, no eggs, no fat, no cholesterol - just add water! (hee!) I figured since it's a French Acadian thing my uncles would get a kick out of it, too, so I showed it to my sis for her next hiking trip, when it's her turn to cook. She thought it most excellent. : )

10 to Try

*originally posted on my livejournal

from 10 on Tuesday

10 Things You'd Tell Other People to Try
1. Farscape
2. Caldo Verde aka Kale Soup
3. Whale watch
4. Snorkeling
5. Taking a cruise
6. Seeing some of the sights in their favorite city as if they were a tourist
7. Swan boats in the Public Garden, Boston
8. Attending an awards show that they usually watch on TV (instead of just wondering what it'd be like to be there)
9. Stargazing
10. Something they never tried before

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I watched that last night for the first time. Wow. And .. Wow. That was fantastic!

I've only read "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," but now, I really want to get a hold of the other books if only to read Goblet of Fire for myself. That movie rocked. The stakes have gone up in a major way.

My sis promises me they get better, too. J.K. Rowling's strategy of writing each book so the readers will grow up with Harry Potter is ingenious. What I mean is that each story and the method of telling that story matures with each book, as Harry matures, and as the reader herself matures with each book. It makes perfect sense to do it that way, and wow, it works in this film.

I'll have to rewatch before making any sensical statements. For now .. Wow.

Signed by the Author

from Booking Through Thursday

This week's questions are from Cate.

1. Do you have any books that are signed by the author? Yes, I have four.


2. Do you have a story behind the autograph? The first autograph is from Keith R.A. DeCandido for "House of Cards." He signed it at my first Farscape convention (my second science fiction convention ever) in NYC (2001). I have a copy of "Neverwhere" signed by Neil Gaiman that I had signed at Worldcon in Boston (Noreascon Four) 2004. I also have two books signed by writer Traci Briery.