a perfect ten!

First, I was reminded that today starts, Banned Books Week! I’m not yet sure what I’ll read in honor of this week. The most challenged of 2006 prove sad but interesting (there are penguins!) and there are even sadder, many more lists. I really wish there weren’t soo many options.

So, in some sort of “order”…

First the Jewish learning books..

• Targum Onkelos to Deuteronomy by Drazin, Israel
  This is a translation into English of Onkelos’s “translation”. I am just happy to find an English translation. It’s frustrating seeing a Hebrew-English book and part of the Hebrew (or English) isn’t translated.

• Torah insights by Leibowitz, Nehama
  I wish I could have learned with Nechama. Torah Insights is a book aimed at those teaching Torah. I learned much from it and hope one day to add it to my library. It’s a great resource for learning how to learn. Much of it went over my head but that’s what books are meant for, to be reread!

• Studying the Torah: A Guide to in-Depth Interpretation by Bonchek, Avigdor
  Since I love Nechama, imagine my glee to read in the acknowledgement, a dedication to both the author’s wife and Nechama! This did not disappoint and I hope to one day put it beside Nechama’s treasure in my library. I learned practical keys to start understanding the p’shat (simple) meaning of the text.

• A Practical Guide to Torah Learning by Landesman, Dovid
  My Uni library has a pretty decent Judaica “section” for me to enjoy. Last week I read through this small volume which reviews the basic structure to learning and includes nice review charts. I need to review this again as I quickly read through it as my focus is on Chumash learning at the moment. I want to learn Talmud, but have much to learn. An excerpt of this book may be found here.

Now for the knitting:

• Poems of Color by Keele, Wendy
  I don’t want to go into the saga in getting this hold filled at the library. In short, if you are looking for a book and the hold list seems not to move for a while, go look on the shelf. I found three copies of this book there. *sigh*

• Crochet Lace: An Illustrated Guide to Making Crochet Lace Fabrics by Konior, Mary
  I uhm, really don’t read or use crochet patterns, but was curious about what crochet lace is out there as I procrastinate everything. This is a nice book with crochet “charts” and very clear black and white photographs.

Now for the Fantasy:

• Black Horses for the King by McCaffrey, Anne
  I tend to enjoy authurian legends and this was a wonderful delight! I need to find more gems like this. Especially when my reading schedule will once again be limited and I won’t have long stretches of fun reading time.

• Silver May Tarnish (Witch World Chronicles) by Norton, Andre and Lyn McConchie
  I have been having a hard time finding Ms Norton’s writings (in a library or book store) so I grab as I can. Wow. I agree with an Amazon reviewer who wrote that if Lyn McConchie writes a sequel they’ll definitely read it. Plus it was nice to read a positive story on bees (CU is working on it).

• Novel Ideas-Fantasy by Thomsen, Brian M.
  I picked this up more to stretch my boundaries of what I’ll read. I admit I skipped the vampire story but made myself read Card’s “ghost story” since I had returned Lost Boys unfinished I also had never read the Alvin Maker series but have been interested based on some others who recently highly recommended the series. WOW. I am definitely going to look into the full-blown works by the included authors. A much more intensive review may be found here. (I’ve run out of time and space).

Now for the work stuff.

• Managing Records: A Handbook of Principles and Practice by Shepherd, Elizabeth and Geoffrey Yeo
  I have written much for other eyes as to how much I LOVE this book. It was published a few years ago but is still quite timely. It’s great for an accidental records manager who wants a practical semi-academic introduction to this topic. It’s only negative is the cost, but I’m not going to go there right now.

• Category: books