100 Books

Nicked from Lucy’s blogVia Tracy’s Blog!

Look at the list of (100) books below.
Bold the ones you’ve read.
Italicise the ones you want to read.
Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.
Movies don’t count.

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)

2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25 . Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie(Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)

59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)

80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce

Haven’t I earned my badge yet?

Today’s Episode of Finlay the Fire Engine (cbeebies) saw the young trucks going off on a truck camp (aka cub camp/ scouts) and striving to each earn a new badge/bumper sticker. One of the trucks was going to earn his trailblazing badge. Given the various things that have happened to me in the last year it did make me think for a moment ‘hey how much more would I have to do to get my bumper sticker!’. Ok so I haven;t climbed any physical mountains since before I was ordained BUT I have been the ‘first’ in a few areas. I have been the first quite a bit in church terms. First woman to serve at a solemn eucharist (and wear earrings- shock horror!!!), First lay woman to work paid in a ministry team where women’s ministry was not accepted by all. First stipendiary woman to request maternity leave/pay etc. I am sure I could think of more. Many of these experiences have been really hard at the time but on reflection they are nothing, it only gets harder! I often say to myself ‘I don’t want to be a trail blazer, I just want to be a good parish priest and get on with it’. In reality I am not sure this is actually possible. I have turned down opportunities that have seemed to be positioning me as a trail blazer only to find the ’safer option’ turning out just as, if not more challenging. Maybe that is just a part of my calling that I have to accept. Maybe I am not going to get the badge that says ‘ you’ve done your bit- Trail blazer’. It’s not that I want recognition or something to show off but rather that I actually want an end to the level of stress and damage that I have to endure for the sake of being the ‘first’ in my situation. In the end of course I truly believe that it would be impossible to do this forever.. it’s just a case of do I decide to end it in someway, set a deadline for moving on or do I wait until the church and it’s Bishops can see me in a way that isn’t unique and risky but rather safe, gifted and trustworthy.

At the moment I am waiting to see what happens next with my ministry before I make any rushed decisions but in my heart of hearts I know already that we may need to move for me to find that safety, trust that is a gift between a church and it’s ministers.

Elias Feet at 16 days old!

Newborns are amazing!

After a good chat with the yahoo girls the other night, where Ec’ing (elimination communication) was a good part of the chat, I gave it a go ( we knew we wanted t make the potty appear sooner and regularly after ds 1’s potty fears). WOW! I held Elias over the potty and said ‘ok you can go pee and poo here if you need to’ and I then made the ‘psssssssss’ noise. He peed- first time!! So far I have offered 4 times (on waking and at nappy changes) and we have had a result 3 out of 4 times. I find I have to reassure him lots and lots so that he knows it is ok to go.. and I have to be careful about aim (!!) but he seems to really like it. Now I just need to learn how to tell when he needs to go – watching for fussyness or stillness etc. I am not sure I can catch poo tho as he only seems to poo whilst sucking on the breast.

I was never convinced about ec’ing personally but having tried it I am converted! We will continue to use nappies here but I will offer the potty when I think he might need to go and at every bum change. who knows… if it makes potty learning easier or makes it earlier that would be fab- either way it can do no harm!!

oh and I know I may sound really ‘crunchy’ but to me this just seems like common sense!!