A Wednesday hodge-podge

Screwtape reviews Da Vinci...The Carnival of Beauty...My friends blog...AI marches on...and some fantastic new fiction

Several different things to mention today. By the way, the pic is of my darling niece, Channing, playing soccer. She's the one (obviously) directly above the soccer ball. Unfortunately, I wasn't actually there...Channing lives in Texas. When I look at her, I see so many different members of our family, it's incredible!

The Da Vinci Code According to Screwtape

If you're a fan of C. S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters (and I am), you must read this.

It's a letter from Screwtape to Wormwood, telling him about the book. (He loves it, of course.

A long read, but well worth it! (Hat tip to the wonderful Robin Lee Hatcher.)

The Carnival of Beauty

It's a good idea to enter your blog in one or more of the various "carnivals" in the blogosphere. I've entered posts in The Christian Carnival and The Carnival of the Recipes several times, but this was a first for me. I participated in The Carnival of Beauty.
Unlike some of the other carnivals, this one has a theme that changes from week to week. This week's theme was "The Beauty of Aging Gracefully."

The delightful Carol of She Lives hosted the Carnival this week, and she presents it in fine fashion. Check it out...and think about entering a Carnival next week. It's a great way to get your blog out there and find out about other terrific blogs.

Speaking of new blogs...

Another friend of mine has made the leap into the blogosphere. Randy's blog is Reflections, and I can already tell that it will be a great venue for his talented writing and insights. Check it out.

Like Joel, Randy is a former co-worker of mine, and we have a history of going through some crazy times together here at the radio station!

American Idol recaps

I didn't get to watch American Idol last night, but here are a couple of takes on it from people I trust:

Beth
Robin

I'm starting to feel a little detached from the whole thing. There's no one that I think stands out as "THE" American Idol this time. Same with "The Apprentice"...no one is really blowing me away. In fact, IMHO, the apprentices this season are among the most inept I've ever seen on that show.

By the way, if you are a big fan of "Idol" and you miss an episode and don't have TiVo or didn't tape it, here's a website where you can see and/or hear the performances the day after.

I interviewed Tracey Bateman

I had the pleasure a couple hours ago of interviewing Tracey Bateman, author of the book I raved about the other day, Leave it to Claire. I hope to blog about our interview within the next few days and hopefully provide an audio excerpt as well.

Meantime, I've plunged headlong into not one, but TWO books by two of my very favorite authors! I'm reading Dark Water by Linda Hall and A Clearing in the Wild by Jane Kirkpatrick.

Folks, fiction writing doesn't come any better than these two ladies, and I'm thrilled that they've both started new series after having been relatively quiet for a while. Have you noticed that I LOVE TO READ?!!!!!!!!