The Historical Figure of Jesus E.P. Sanders

The Barbarian Conversion: From Paganism to Christianity Richard Fletcher

Computer Science Illustrated Nell Dale & John Lewis

At End of Day George V. Higgins

The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy, 318 – 381 R. P. C. Hanson

The Early Church Henry Chadwick

The Blind Side Michael Lewis

The Complete World of the Dead Sea Scrolls Philip R. Davies, George J. Brooke, Phillip R. Calloway

Augustine of Hippo Peter Brown

Want to read my science fiction book in futuristical, SF-format?  It’s now available in a Kindle edition.

Buy my book!

Universal Principles of Design: 125 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach Through Design William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, Jill Butler

Martin Eden Jack London

The Steep Approach to Garbadale Iain Banks

Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881 – 2001 Benny Morris

The Collected Stories Benedict Kiely

The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace Dennis Ross

Myths and Facts: A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict Mitchell G. Bard

Revelation Space Alastair Reynolds

The Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year’s Best Science Fiction ed. Gardner Dozois

Antique Maps Carl Moreland & David Bannister

A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War Victor Davis Hanson

A Savage War of Peace: Algeria, 1954 – 1962 Alistair Horne

Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present Michael B. Oren

Introduction to Financial Math Dr. Norman Troy

Only a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America’s Soul Kenneth R. Miller

I have posted about some of the many churches in my neighborhood here.  It is through walking the dogs that I have been by all these various houses of worship, and on one street there are three halal stores and one storefront mosque and on that street I hope my dogs don’t give offense.

Anyway, there is one building that obviously once was a church but which has been mostly vacant or unused in the eight years we have lived nearby.  For awhile it was functioning as a club for live music on weekends, but that didn’t last long.

About a year ago I noticed that it had developed a new congregation.  A small sign in one window announces the tenancy of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.  There is an Eritrean Coptic church two blocks away, and I hope there is no conflict.

It’s a handsome building and I’ve always wondered if a congregation would move in a fix the steeple.  I’m not sure if that matches the aims of Ethiopian Orthodoxy.

Anglo-Saxon England Frank Stenton

Collected Short Stories of John O’Hara ed. Frank MacShane

Your Heart Belongs to Me Dean Koontz

Surface Details Iain M. Banks

The Road to Serfdom F.A. Hayek

Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises Charles P. Kindleberger & Robert Aliber

The Complete Stories & Parables Franz Kafka

Home Marilynne Robinson

Neptune’s Ark: From Icthyosaurs to Orcas David Rains Wallace

Goodbye, Columbus Philip Roth

James Tiptree, Jr: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon Julie Phillips

The Blue Flower Penelope Fitzgerald

South Asia: A Short History Hugh Tinker

The Way We Live Now Anthony Trollope

AC/DC: Maximum Overdrive Murray Engleheart & Arnaud Durieux

The John Varley Reader: Thirty Years of Short Fiction John Varley

I might as well shamelessly link to anyone who is so kind as to mention any of my work on their website.

In other news, publication of Time is the Water in Which We Swim mostly awaits news on how much it will cost me to quote several hip-hop lyrics I feel are vital for a particular characterization.  No idea yet of when that will be resolved.

At the Strange Maps website (I just read the book, how old school of me) is this hilarious map, showing the location of all of Ludacris’ hoes, as he identifies them by area code.  Per the map, Ludacris has nary a ho in the state of Oregon; nothing in area codes 971, 541, nor 503.  However, in the song “Hip Hop Quotables,” Ludacris clearly states that he gets “chicks from Portland, Oregon, to Portland, Maine.”  It doesn’t appear from the map that those Maine hoes have been properly reported, either.  Since the Area Code song is from an album released two years before “Hip Hop Quotables,” I see an opportunity for Ludacris to update the record.

We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live: Collected Nonfiction Joan Didion

Tortilla Flat John Steinbeck

Thousand Cranes Yasunari Kawabata

The Immigrants’ Children: Jewish  & Italian Memories of Old South Portland Polina Olsen

War and Peace Leo Tolstoy

Jan Vermeer Arthur Wheelock, Jr.

The Classical World: An Epic History from Homer to Hadrian Robin Lane Fox

Gilead Marilynne Robinson

Strange Maps: An Atlas of Cartographic Curiosities Frank Jacobs

Main Street Sinclair Lewis

Babbitt Sinclair Lewis

Arrowsmith Sinclair Lewis

The Mapmaker’s Eye: David Thompson on the Columbia Plateau Jack Nisbet

The Year’s Best Science Fiction, Twenty-Eighth Annual Collection ed. Gardner Dozois

Cataclysms on the Columbia: The Great Missoula Floods John Eliot Allen, Marjorie Burns, Scott Burns

The Monster of Florence Douglas Preston & Mario Spezi

Les Géorgiques Claude Simon

Under the Jaguar Sun Italo Calvino

California: A History Kevin Starr

Mary Cassatt: Paintings and Prints Frank Getlein

While I’ve been getting my novel, Time is the Water in Which We Swim, ready for publication, I have polished off a few stories and submitted them to various magazines.  One story, titled “Little Brother,” has been accepted and is already up at Planet Magazine.