Ping! That’s the sound of a pin dropping in the blogosphere. My RSS reader has been awfully quiet this week as I suppose the majority of bloggers are taking a break from the usual commitments. Good for them! Most people outside of the retail world are doing little if any work this week, and those of my friends and family who are working keep mentioning that they seem to be the only ones in their offices this week. I’ve been doing a little bit of work but have primarily been focusing on writing my book (that March 1 deadline is, after all, fast approaching!). According to my site statistics, traffic has fallen off by almost 50% this week, which I believe is quite typical for late December. So if you are a blogger and have something particularly profound you’d like to share, you may want to consider waiting until next week! I have been a bit lazy this week as well, trying to take a bit of a break from my usual quantity of reading and blog-writing.
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I did pause from my writing yesterday to take the children to see Charlotte’s Web. We just finished reading the book and decided to take in the movie as well. It was excellent and, unusually as these things go, was mostly faithful to the book (which is good since the book is just wonderful). Beyond a bit of attitude from children to parents, there was nothing in the film to feel guilty about seeing. I give it two thumbs up!
Bargains
I do not do much of my online buying at Christian Book Distributors, but I do keep an eye out for their sales. They often have great sales on sets of commentaries and theological volumes that are otherwise almost unaffordable. Today I noted a few excellent deals.
If you are interested in filling out your library a little bit, they are having a great sale on the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament which is a ten volume set that examines more than 2300 theologically significant words in the New Testament. Listed at $700, it is currently selling for only $99. They also have Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament, 10 Volumes: Updated Edition with CD-ROM for $69.99 (this is a good, general set of Old Testament commentaries) and Calvin’s Commentaries in 22 volumes for $99.99. Also, though I linked to this one a short time ago, they are still offering an excellent deal on Schaff’s
History of the Christian Church ($49.99 for the 8 volume set).
Children’s Books
As I mentioned earlier, I recently finished reading Charlotte’s Web with my kids and they really enjoyed it. We’ve also read Stuart Little, the Little House on the Prairie series, The Black Stallion, The Littles, Lost in the Barrens and quite a few other classics (and favorites from my childhood or my wife’s childhood). A couple of days ago I ordered another stack of books to read for them. I got The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Borrowers, The Incredible Journey, Big Red, the next in the Black Stallion series, and a couple of children’s history books (a biography of Abraham Lincoln and a history of the battle of Bull Run). While I read to both my son (age 6) and my daughter (age 4), my son is much more fond of the books and listens much better, so for the time being I read primarily for his benefit. I’d be very interested in suggestions from other parents for books that would be suitable for young children. We love to read together and work our way through books quite quickly, so I’m anticipating needing quite a few more titles in the years ahead.
And now, I’m heading back to Microsoft Word to do more work on my book. Have a good weekend. I hope to return to regularly-scheduled programming next week!