i am soooooooooo brain dead now – the title should explain how far i went – and i have a handy chart to explain how stupid i get when i run – so no promises on this blog…

“every riven thing” by wiman – we read a poem by him in early january – the book was a collection of his work – probably the first book of poetry i’ve read in my adult life – and i really enjoyed it – he’s not too obscure for me

“bigger than the game” by weinreb – book about how sports changed in the mid ’80s – superstars began to rule – story of bo jackson, len bias, the boz – what was sad was that even though the book is relatively knew, some of it was dated (Joe Pa was treated like a great guy, jim mcmahon before his brain damage became noticeable and public)

“without reservations” by marriott jr. – we will blog on some of his thoughts – 80-plus year old and former head of the hotel chain with his last name – just amazing that someone can lead a company for so many years and stay humble about it

“the most important thing happening” by steele – as i told you, “the monsters win” 🙂 really did enjoy this book – surprisingly because i’d sworn off Christian fiction – and this one was very different than the genre it’s placed in – basically, a collection of stories about story – the word play was great – but the monsters won so that was sort of a bummer…

“calico joe” by grisham – the good part was i read it in a day – the bad part was that it was pretty simple – the worse part is that the cubs are still losers – thanks mr. grisham for the reminder…

i hope your week to come is great – GO SCHOLARS!!!

maf, the guy who knows the kid that’s king of the dinosaurs – that would be fred:)

four decently good reads this week

“Out of Nowhere” by Padian – coming to a bookstore near you soon – highly recommended for next year’s high school Battle of the Books (BOB) – senior soccer player who has to deal with his small town’s “issues” – and the “issues” the senior has as well – which, of course, are college related because every senior must have every life step planned prior to graduation – or else life’s a mess – sort of a fiction story that relates well to st. john’s “outcasts united” – again, really enjoyed it

“Scoop” by Nelson – story of a journalist in the south – and his story as it relates to the large stories in the South from the 1940s on – particularly, the story of Civil Rights – that said, there are lighter parts in the book too – as a writer, I definitely enjoyed it – and with the 50th anniversary of the children’s march coming soon, it’s a timely read

“goblin secrets” by Alexander – would be a good middle school BOB next year – if elem doesn’t snatch it up first – it caught my eye b/c it’d won a national award – enjoyable fiction story about a boy that comes of age thanks to goblins and puppets:)

“father’s day” by bissinger – echoes of steinbeck’s travels with charley – story of a father and his son who take a cross country trip – for the father, so that he can maybe figure out his son’s life in a more full fashion – as a friday night lights fan, i LOVED the part about going to odessa – although, it was painfully sad – lots of the book was sad – but the book was very beneficial to me – because in the end, the people around us are all that’s there – and it’s our job to love and understand them as best we can

please remember to avoid fred poems this week – and make sure you get me some literary work by friday for the magazine

mafeld

so every week i vow to read less – and then, i wake up to discover that i lead a life that just gives me loads of time to read more – so.. 🙂

“30 phone booths to boston” by kardong – THIS book is why i love to read – a book about running – a book about life – a book that made me get out thursday and run in the snow – in the wind (really, that was the noticeable element by the time i was out the door) – a book that reminded me that our best laid plans often go awry (kardong competed for the US in ’76 – his ’72 try was ruined by mono and his ’80 try by the boycott – and a volcanic eruption – talk about timing) – we may do some writing with him – journals

“detecting metal” by fred bonnie – yes, THE fred bonnie:) great read – i got the book from a dealer who knows all about bonnie’s work – his son:) the collection of short stories is excellent – engrossing characters who find themselves in unpredictable circumstances – odd situations – the title story comes at the end – but its goofyness is endearing (and probably reminds me of myself as the character george:)

“time of your life” by doerr – i think that’s the title – book about fred russell – sports writer for a billion years in nashville – loved vanderbilt – like billy though, never graduated from vandy:) anyway, the book was a biography – i thought it was a collection of russell’s work – i would’ve been more interested in comparing sports writing from the 30s with today – alas and alack, the book was just about russell’s life – and not his writing – how you biographize a writer and not include his writing is beyond me…

happy monday off – you do not have to blog while you watch TV

maf

so i’m operating on runner’s brain – i raced in mobile today – so there’s really no guessing what i’ll say or write – in fact, i can’t even remember the second book i read this week – but two is plenty to write on anyway…

“the other normals” by vizzini – new YA book – i’ve read others from vizzini – and with a movie based on one of his books, i thought it was cool that i found him before others – that said, i really didn’t enjoy this book at all – i’m sure there are high school kids who will – it wouldn’t surprise me to see this as a high school BOB next year – but i couldn’t get into the two worlds that were interrelated – and yet ever changing – sort of like a comic book alterworld – except in this book, the main character’s fascination with grid games disappeared – that all said, it did get me through some rough patches of boring south alabama driving:)

“road to 14” or something like that – tommy ford wrote this – with help from the excellent photo work of kent gidley – these books are in walmart now – just in time, i got the book monday, for bama to win 15 – the photos were amazing though – and the recap of the 2011 season was great – i read the book, of course, in a night (love me some sports books:)

“the runner’s body” – aha!!! i knew i would remember that third book – a scientific approach to running – like, what running actually does to the body (thus, the name) – it’s my second time to read it –  i think three more times and i might understand some of the sci terms – that said, it’s a narcissistic pleasure, but i do love reading about what i enjoy doing – so i enjoyed the reread

see you monday

mafeld

three new, one old books this week…

“My Road to Kenya” by O’Leary and Clare – a book on making a difference in another country – about fighting corruption – about spurring others on to do good deeds – about not taking pictures on top of your car while on safari:) very good picture of Kenya and its problems and beauty

“Because I said So” by Ken Jennings – are the things your parents say – that you shouldn’t cross your eyes b/c they’ll freeze that way – are those things right or just heresay??? the book was pretty interesting – moved fast – and might make me rethink how i do some things – like, i shouldn’t apparently be washing my hair ever day – so if you wonder about the smell:)

“i shouldn’t even be doing this” by newhart – mom gave me “Newhart” season one – 82-83 season – for Christmas – and oh, it was so funny – b/c i’m just that old i guess – anyway, i had to check out the comic’s book – from 2006 – really funny – cute – comedy is very different today – sadly, it’s often not as intellectually stimulating

“in due time” by wayne atcheson and jay barker – i reread this one – after about 20 years – very interesting – in ways, barker was an earlier tebow – and the question i got from reading it was just how the book would be written today – like, after what jay’s gone through in the last 20 years, how his story would change – or how he’d see things – b/c i think tebow will have those questions to ask as well – the interesting thing about a book written when you’re 20 is that what you think is your “peak” is really just the first little hill you’ve climbed – good, bad or otherwise – but for tebow and barker, it all likelihood, their top of the chart moment was really early in life – and how do you deal with that, knowing that you peaked really early? it’s a good question, i think

hope your first week back of journaling is good – or for anna, her 80th consecutive week of journaling b/c she never stopped:)

mafeld

merry early new year (i can only hope one direction kicks off the party tomorrow night on someone’s new year’s concert coverage:)

i guess this week answers the question of “what mr. mayfield does when he has a week off” – at least for this week, it seems he read…

“the prince” by machiavelli – like most literary references, this one really is a short cut that undercuts the references meaning – that is to say, i’ve heard the phrase “machiavellian” for years – it was supposed to mean a power-hungry ruler – the book, or essay, really wasn’t as large as that term has come to mean – for 125 pages, i definitely think AP gov’t students should all give it a whirl – what else do they have to do?

“institutes of christian religion” by john calvin – another great example of short cuts to meaning – calvin is always seen as a heartless early leader of the protestant reformation – reading his work gives him more flesh, more kindness – of course, i had an edited translation – i think the full work is 1,500 pages – that’s a lot of writing

“cost of discipleship” by bonhoeffer – bonhoeffer was a german pastor who resisted the nazi gov’t – and lost his life in WWII – great book about how discipleship means putting action to your faith – not just listening

“running for my life” by lopez lomong – a re-read – excellent, excellent book about running, faith, perseverance, schooling, poverty, government, refugee camps, adoption – just an encouraging read – makes me want to go out and run 30k

so congrats to the four of you that have earned the mega-huge bonus for between quarter points – i guess everyone else will fail – if you’re genuinely curious, we won’t have journals this week because there’s only a couple of days – but i guess if you’re working ahead, i will have you journal the monday of the BCS game so you might want to work ahead – oh, i did read notre dame’s game notes so i have fun irish trivia for anyone that wants:)

sincerely,

mafeld

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

i read two books last week…

“radical together” by my pastor, david platt – great book – even better when you can find it at lifeway for $1.99 – if you sat through the sermons, there’s not much of either of his books that are radically (pun intended) different – but both books are wonderful encouragement for a life that looks extremely different that current culture Christianity (much less the world)

“how music works” by david byrne – for a sort-of singer and definitely a band illiterate, this book was a wonderful gift this week – quite a bit i didn’t know – so i now know how record deals work – why albums are 11 songs – sort of – why music software creates the same songs over and over (basically) – why classical music is overrated – why music fits the venue, not vice versa – very good book by a very good singer/song writer/producer/co-writer – i guess if you’re in music for 40 plus years, you do it all

hope your week is wonderful – yes sixth grade, you must blog this week – particularly on Christmas morning – or else you’ll have zeroes to make up on the between quarters report card (oh yeah, there’s totally one of those)

maf

hope your final-ing goes great this week – and that you have time enjoy the week – which for me, will always involve reading:)

“the other kingdom” by price – very similar to “once a runner” by parker – except “kingdom” is older and british – the book addresses the whole question of meaning in life – like when you realize the activities that you do are absurd (in this case, running), how do find meaning? for the main character, it took staring that meaninglessness in the face before he figured out how his efforts, even in works that no one will ever remember, matter because it’s part of who he is and part of the gifts he has – the romantic stuff was garbage, of course:)

“dr. horrible: the book” – ah, what a read – basically, five pages of original work followed by 100 pages of reproduced material – still, if you wanted the sheet music so that you could play all the hit songs from a wonderful three-act play/musical/blog/podcast/theater work, it was great – best part, of course, was the bit from NPH (neil patrick harris, aka, dr. horrible)

“risk is right” by john piper – what if the safest, sanest thing in the world to do is to risk it all? excellent analysis – at 64 pages, more of an essay than a book – very middle school friendly – and good detailed support of the author’s premise

“the runner” by samuels – the one thing in a guy’s life that was constant was his running – the rest? he made up – like lying to princeton to get into school at 30-plus years old – like lying in colorado to people so he could live off the area – gripping story, i read it in two days, about what happens when genius goes evil – however, the guy wasn’t totally evil because he was a runner:)

i also read several magazines – as i always do each week – this week, i came across the same statistic – in both sports illustrated and harper’s, it was mentioned that 1/3 women and 1/6 men experience sexual abuse as children – the stories i read were sad – the statistic is sad – particularly when those that suffer from it feel alone

i hope you all have a great week

maf

yes, “take me home: the yearbook edition” continues to speak to my soul…

“glorious ruin” by tchividjian – wonderful weekend – or near end of the week read – on the question of suffering in the world – relates well with “multiply” by chan in that both authors have so much more knowledge of the subject than the reader – and yet rather than go on and on for endless pages (which is typical in a book – particularly when the book addresses an “important” theme) both writers are humble enough to keep things brief – to make edits – and that makes the work all the better

“multiply” by chan – he came and spoke at my church recently – it’s less a book than a workbook – and less a workbook than a journal – but it’s also so much more than that – having read two of his previous works, i was surprised that “multiply” was a bit different – i read the book at the right time too because i saw an article with the author in my Christianity Today that i read this week – both books above are definitely accessible for middle school audiences

“angels and idols” by hamm and “survivor” by de-vinner – the hamm book was fascinating – he was a songwriter who had his life turned upside down – for the better – because of adoption – hamm is a writer, a creator, so there were a ton of tie-ins to the class – i think we’ll get to at least one this coming week in blogs

i have a running book waiting on me at the library – so i’m happy

maf

so there i am, two minutes to go in the SEC championship game, on the bama sideline, tension great, and an (unnamed) espn anchor asks me and others around me “hey, have you got some gum?”

yes, i safely think he was the only one more worried about his breath than the game at that moment:)

“tragedy paper” – wonderful, wonderful, wonderful book – highly recommended for high school BOB next year – for high school-ers this year – for midde school (at least mine) that can deal with the fact that characters are older than they are – really enjoyed the way the book played out – some of the tropes (motifs) – comes out in january – get in line early:)

“erasing hell” by chan – book about what the Bible says as to the existence of something that lots of people choose not to believe in any more – good point in the introduction that if you do believe in hell, that should definitely affect how you relate to every one – every day

“how good do you want to be?” by nick saban – i’m sure my reading this book made the difference in the game – i probably should’ve used that as a conversation starter with him – or with his wife – or with his daughter – but i just sort of kept the awkward silence when i was around all three rather than spoil the moment by being completely stupid (for those following at home, awkward silence is stupid too:) i hadn’t read the book since ’07 so i was surprised, a bit, on the reread – he’s just more personable when you read the book – and the work does inspire if you are a fan of his program – inspiration to work hard and motivate others by putting them in situations where they can be successful – mr scott and i talked a bit late in the week about how to do this at CMS

i think we have two weeks before finals – so last chances to get in some good posts – and congrats and welcome back to my nanowrimo folk – you’ve been missed

mafeld