Places I've Lived & Books I've Read This Year

I know the two don't go together but it's just what popped out of my head so I'm stickin' with it. It's come to my attention that writing my life's journal over there on Triond has forced me to think of all the places I've lived and has also made me realize that life has been quite an adventure. . . wouldn't you agree?

The Places I've lived:

Papua New Guinea (Hollandia)
The Netherlands (Beverwijk and some other town I don't remember)
Australia (Nashville, Ascot, Albion, Brighton, Strathpine)
USA (Washington, California)

Whew, I'm homesick.

Books I've Read This Year:

It's been my goal to read at least 10 books this year. I'm not gonna make it!!

1. The Handmaid's Tale written by Margaret Atwood
(Thumbs down)
Okay, here's the deal. I read all the positive reviews on Amazon and I'm a little perplexed. The characters were not real to me and most of them sounded dumb (not intelligent) sex craved and even the ones we were supposed to like never evolved. They all stayed dumb and . . . you know. There really wasn't any plot and nothing in the book actually led to a satisfying conclusion. Wait, there was no conclusion. And trust me if women in America actually became baby producing machines for the higher ups . . . oh never mind.

2. Bad Girls of the Bible written by Liz Curtis Higgs
(Thumbs Up)
Liz is incredibly funny. She's also a seasoned writer and has wisdom to impart. This book made me laugh, cry and learn to accept myself for who I am. Forgiven, beautiful and good to the bone in spite of all the bad.

3. Arms of Deliverance written by Tricia Goyer
(Thumbs Up)
Wonderful WWII story with a beautiful romance weaved in. I'm determined to meet Tricia one day.

4. Oxygen written by John B. Olson and Randall Ingermanson
(Thumbs Up) Awesome, down-to-earth characters who are loveable and annoying. I can't believe I read a Sci-Fi book written by two weird (in a good way) guys.
I took a mentoring class from Randy--I'm not worthy. Get this, John has a Ph.D. in biochemistry and Randy earned his Ph.D. in theoretical physics at UC Berkely and did postdoctoral research in superstring theory at Ohio State. Can anyone tell me what the heck that is. Great book though.

I met them both at Mount Hermon. It was the year John lost his voice (I think he got it back) but he wrote this in my book: "To Debby, One of the newest, most shiny Mount Hermon gems. Hope this is a breath of fresh air." Awwwww.

Randy wrote: "To Debby, Take a deep breath! It could be your last . . ." Mmmmm.