Watching the Oscars last Sunday got me thinking about favorite things:
Favorite story/play/movie/music.... Les Miserables
Favorite places... Homer, AK, Portland OR and the OR coast, Skaneateles, NY
Favorite "wild" places... Kodiak, AK; Okefenoke Natl Wildlife Refuge, No. FL; Denali Natl Park, AK; Watkins Glen St Pk, NY; Redwoods Natl and St Parks, No CA
Favorite book stores: Powell's in Portland; Title Wave in Anchorage, AK
Favorite authors: Anne Tyler, Ann Patchett, Barbara Kingsolver, Eugene Peterson, Anne Lamott (whats with all the Anne's?), Philip Yancey, Tim Egan, Graham Greene, Virginia Stem Owens, David James Duncan ....
Favorite Classics: Brothers Karamazov, Count of Monte Cristo, Les Miserables, Tolstoy's "short" stories....
Favorite Biblical authors: F.D. Bruner, Gordon Fee, Fred Craddock, William Willimon, Stanley Hauerwas, John Goldingay, Karl Barth, N.T.Wright, Elizabeth Achtemeier, Kenneth Bailey ...
Favorite restaurants: Spenard Road House, Snow City Cafe and Middle Way Cafe in Anchorage AK; any one of many in Homer, AK; Dougs Fish Fry, Skaneateles, NY; Burgerville in the NW, In and Out Burgers in CA; Five Brothers in FL; Panera Bread, all over; Tim Hortons in Canada and WNY.....
Favorite coffee: Kaladi Bros in AK; K-Bay in Homer, AK, Harborside in Kodiak, AK; Stumptown coffee in the NW;
Whats on the nightstand right now? Francona by Terry Francona and Dan Shaughnessy, The Comedians by Graham Greene, Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen, The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein
Favorite movies of the past year: Les Miserables, Argo, Moonrise Kingdom, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Anna Karenina, Flight, Skyfall, Hobbit, (I have not seen Lincoln but I'm sure it will be on the list of favorites).
Favorite TV shows: Downton Abbey, The Good Wife, Person of Interest, Parenthood,
Favorite books of the past year: Caring for Mother by Virginia Stem Owens, Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo, Sacred Hunger and Quality of Mercy by Barry Unsworth, Wild by Cheryl Strayed, The Halftime Walk of Billy Lynn by Ben Franklin, God's Hotel by Vi Sweet, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harld Frey by Rachel Joyce, Faith of Cranes by Hank Rentorf, The Cutting Season by Attica Locke, Zeitoun by David Eggers, Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln by Stephen Carter, Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Wynne, Half a Yellow Sun by C.N. Adiche, Short Night of the Shadow Catcher by Tim Egan, Summoned From the Margin by Lamin Sanneh (2013), Farewell Fred Voodoo by Amy Wilentz (2013), Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (2013), The Big Truck That Went By by Jonathan Katz (2013).
