Final book count for the year 2003 was 106. Among the the books I read over the holidays, I'd like to point out two. First, Don Cook's book The Long Fuse: How England Lost the American Colonies was fascinating throughout. It almost convinced me that the american revolution should be considered more a subset of English history than american history. The star of the book was Ben Franklin, who spent much of the period in question in London. One of the most interesting tidbits to me was how the English received the Declaration of Independence. It was published toward the back of a periodical called Gentleman's Quarterly, and in reponse received only one letter to the editor, which letter pointed out, among other things, that it was ridiculous for the americans to be talking about all men being created equal since they practiced slavery.

The other book is The Truth About God: The Ten Commandments in Christian Life by Stan Hauerwas and William Willimon. This is a brief examination of what the commandments have to say to (american) christians today. The book is liberally sprinkled with quotes from the great theologians: Augustine, Luther, Calvin and Wesley. By count, Calvin actually gets the most space. The book cover indicates that a study guide is available, so I'll be recommending this to my small group for a future study.

Hoping to get to my religion list--2003 tonight. I haven't made any sort of goals or commitments for 2004 at this point, other than to spend some time re-reading Gene Wolfe and Patrick O'Brian.