Another Good Read 7/26/07

I've gone and done it again! I started reading two more books before I've finished the dozen that I'm already working on. What's wrong with me? I have nine books here beside my chair at home, half of them with bookmarks in them, and a stack twice as large on my desk at work. Though I've finished a couple of books just this week, which feels good, I'll need to buckle down to bring my stacks under control.

• I found a copy of Ben-Hur (the book not the movie) for only four dollars at the Christian Book & Gift store in Olathe. Ben Hur (1880) was the best selling American novel for 56 years, until Gone With the Wind (1936), and was written by former Civil War general Lew Wallace.
• Here's another dispatch from Michael Yon, called "Bird's Eye View." If you didn't catch "7 Rules: 1 Oath" make sure you do. If you're going to speak intelligibly about what's happening on the ground in the battle for Iraq, Yon is a good source to start with.
• Speaking of Iraq, Ralph Peters tells it how it is in the New York Post, no holds barred. It's a fairly good summary of the big picture just in case you've been distracted by Lindsay Lohan or Mike Vick. As usual, Peters isn't shy about calling a spade a spade. Senator Lindsey Graham, who doesn't always see so clearly, writes a pretty good summary himself here.
• Finally, Victor Davis Hanson puts the "withdrawal" (read: retreat, rout, fleeing from the enemy) in an historical context. If you want to understand the ramifications you have to understand the history. What's unnerving is that some people do understand the detrimental effects this would have on our country… and want to proceed anyway.
• Brennan and Tanner are still getting a chapter of Narnia every night and they love it. The Magician's Nephew is probably my least favorite volume but they're eating it up (wait until they get to The Horse and His Boy or The Last Battle). I'm especially surprised at Tanner's interest at only five-years-old, but the discussion of the unfolding plot has become a daily topic of conversation between the boys and me.