Someday my Prince will come....

Book 20: "Marry Him: The Case for Settling For Mr. Good Enough" by Lori Gottlieb

My rating: *****

I started with a different book this week, but then I got a call from the library that some books I had on hold were in at the library (this being one of them). So I started it Thursday night thinking I'd read it on the side with my other one, but I got so into this that I finished it in a day and a half. This is what I learned:

Hi, I’m Amanda. I’m 24, single, like long walks on the beach and am a proponent of world peace. I’m looking for a man who is tall, dark, handsome, never has bad days, always dotes on me, sees past my flaws and accepts me for who I am, spends all of his free time with me, connects with me on a deep emotional level, and likes all the same things I do.

Honestly, it made me want to vomit writing that, but Lori Gottlieb’s point is that this is often the exact mindset of single women when it comes to what they’re looking for in a husband (even though they may not vocalize it). Pretty ridiculous, eh? I agree.

I had heard of this book from a married friend of mine who read it and loved it. Being a single woman I, of course, had to read it. And really I was nothing short of amazed. While I didn’t see myself in all of the descriptions she gave of single women, I could see myself bordering dangerously on being irrational when it comes to what I should be looking for in a husband vs. what I want in a husband. I think as a society (even in Christian circles) our view of romantic relationships is more influenced by Hollywood than what we’d like to realize.

I’m going to approach this from the Christian viewpoint because, well…that’s what I am so it would make sense. As a single woman in the post-collegiate world I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the age-old adage, “Love will find you when you stop looking.” Or something along those lines. That’s a piece of advice that I take with a grain of salt because, although I know those people mean well, it’s pretty ludicrous advice (especially when the advice typically comes from a married person anyways). Because really, what single person who wants to be married is ever going to stop looking? You’d be hard-pressed to find one. And this whole idea that love will find you when you stop looking or least except it might sound nice and spiritual, but it’s exactly the idea of pretty much every single romantic comedy Hollywood spits out. So while it may sound nice, it’s rather impractical and unrealistic.

What I learned from this book is to be realistic in my approach to finding a mate rather than being idealistic. Most women have a “type” of man they imagine they’ll end up with – the outrageously good looking, well built, blonde hair, blue eyes type. But are those the things that really make a good husband? Not in a million years. I have to discern between the things I need in a husband vs. the things I want. The things I need are consequently not the superficial attributes that women so often judge a man by (isn’t athletic enough, doesn’t look like Brad Pitt, has a receding hairline, too hairy, is too much of a morning person, etc.). They are, rather, the very same internal qualities that I desire him to value me by. So if I want a man who values me for my internal qualities why should I discount him for superficial qualities I might not initially find “attractive?”

More than anything I want to get married and have a family (not read as a desperate plea – just the reality of my life). But I can’t hold so tightly to a rigid checklist of what “The One” is supposed to be like otherwise I’ll pass up the man who is good enough while in pursuit of the elusive Prince Charming who doesn’t exist.

Book 19: The Doctor's Wife by Elizabeth Brundage

My rating: *

This book began much better than it ended. From the first few pages I was hooked because it sounded like it was going to be a really good thriller with some kind of amazing plot.

How wrong I was. How very wrong.

The 4 main characters - Michael and Annie Knowles and Simon and Lydia Haas - are all, for the most part, cardboard and unlikable. I never felt as if I should be rooting for any of these characters. Michael is an OB/GYN who moonlights at a local abortion clinic. (Thi...more This book began much better than it ended. From the first few pages I was hooked because it sounded like it was going to be a really good thriller with some kind of amazing plot.

How wrong I was. How very wrong.

The 4 main characters - Michael and Annie Knowles and Simon and Lydia Haas - are all, for the most part, cardboard and unlikable. I never felt as if I should be rooting for any of these characters. Michael is an OB/GYN who moonlights at a local abortion clinic. (This never made sense to me. Why in the world would an OB doctor also perform abortions? That just seemed very conflicting to me.) His wife, Annie, is an alleged "feminist" and a journalism professor at a women's college. Simon is a sleazy, emo painter who also teachers at the women's college. And Lydia is the much younger wife of Simon the painter who's mentally a few fries short of a Happy Meal and a right-wing, conservative nut.

Annie is the typical not-happily-married-but-appears-happily-married-until-sleazy-man-hits-on-her-and-makes-her-feel-alive-again wife. Michael is a workaholic, and she rarely sees him and neither do their kids. So it only makes sense that she would have a secret love affair with Simon because he's an honorable man, and he brings out the best in her. After all, he KNOWS her. But only in the sense that he's explored every inch of her body in the confines of a drab motel room. I also had a hard time buying into this relationship because if Annie was such a hardcore feminist, it seemed to me that she wouldn't give herself to some man to be used for his animalistic fantasies. I thought feminists had more dignity than that.

Another glaring absurdity in this book was the stereotypical ways the author portrayed those who are of the pro-life persuasion. Because we all know that everyone who is opposed to abortion is a radical freak who leaves bloody dolls in mailboxes, leaves bombs in abortion clinics, and claims they're doing it all in the name of Jesus. Sure there are some people out there like that, but let's not use the same brush to paint everyone.

This was one of those books that I honestly didn't really want to finish. Maybe I shouldn't have, but once I start a book I finish it. That's just what I do. This book was just very 2-dimensional and too full of the author's agenda. Oh, and the ending was lame.

"But that's the price we have to pay for stability"

Book 18: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

My rating: **** 1/2

AWESOME book!! Different than 1984 yet similar in some ways.

How can it be that the Eternal One is contained in a form that we can see with our eyes and hold in our arms?

Book 17: Sixth Covenant (A.D. Chronicles #6) by Brock and Bodie Thoene

My rating: ****1/2

After just finishing this book, I feel...sad. My heart aches for these fictional people. Call me crazy. Maybe it's mostly because, while this is a fictionalized retelling, these things ACTUALLY happened. Maybe not exactly this way, but they happened nonetheless.

Kings Herod in his old age became more and more troubled by dreams and visions that some coming king was going to usurp his throne. He had a reason to be afraid - he wasn't the rightful one to sit in his throne. He wasn't a Jew, but he proclaimed himself the king of the Jews. Rumors were spreading to Jerusalem that a baby had been born who was the true King. A visit from a group of astrologers who sought to worship this same baby only confirmed Herod's nightmares. The joy of the people of Bethlehem over the birth of the Messiah was trampled by Herod's murderous paranoia.

The Gospel of Matthew records Herod's order that all baby boys under the age of 2 were to be slaughtered. That's something I've read a number of times but never really thought about. Until now. Reading this scene was horrible. I can't imagine how it's possible for someone to be that heartless - heartless enough to kill innocent children. All because he was afraid one of those boys was going to grow up and take his throne. If I could go back in time and punch Herod in the face I would. I can't imagine what it would've been like as a mother. To be minding your own business when Roman soldiers come barging into your house and slaughter your kids before your eyes. To have your children ripped from your arms and watch the life leave their eyes. It's hard to not wonder why in the world God would let something like that happen. But then again maybe it's foreshadowing of what was to come. Of what God Himself would have to suffer as His Son suffered and died for the sins of the world.

Maybe He will change everything. Put the world back right. Restore our innocence.

Book 16: Fifth Seal (A.D. Chronicles #5) by Brock and Bodie Thoene

My rating: ****

"Here he comes! Such shoulders. He'll carry his father's beams, I warrant. A strong one he'll be. Push! No wonder you had such a hard time. There you go, Mary! Look at those big hands. Must be a boy with such hands. They're wide-open. See? He's reaching out to the world. Once more - yes, that's it! Now push. Harder. One more time! And...there! Yes! A son, Mary! A baby boy!"

You know what blows my mind? Jesus' birth. I hadn't really ever thought about the details surrounding the entire ordeal until reading these books. He was born like any other baby. Jesus. Immanuel. God with us was BORN. The even crazier thing would've been being a Jew living during this time. Crazy in the sense that all of this was not even close to what they were expecting and hoping for. I mean, they lived daily at the whims of a crazy man, King Herod, who was the self-proclaimed "King of the Jews." He was so crazy that he didn't think twice about having anyone killed who threatened his throne - even his own 2 sons who he had strangled to death. It was against the law to speak against Herod - punishable by death and most like crucifixion at that. The Jews were anxiously awaiting the Messiah - the One who would come and overthrow Roman rule and drive Herod from his tyrannical reign (much like Judah Maccabee when he drove Antiachus Epiphanes out, cleansed the temple, and reestablished traditional Jewish worship). They were waiting for a triumphant king to ride in and save them, but what they got was a baby born in a stable to a nobody couple. God always has other (better) plans. But even though He came as a baby, Jesus did indeed come to change everything and put the world back right.

Was he strong enough to rear the promised Son of David? to be the sort of father who could teach a prince to be the king of Israel?

Book 15: Fourth Dawn (A.D. Chronicles #4) by Brock and Bodie Thoene

My rating: ****

In a LOST-esque turn of events, the 4th book in this series takes a step backward in time. The previous book left off with Jesus restoring sight to blind Manaen and Alexander and Zahav uniting in marriage. Now we're taken 33ish years back in time to before Jesus was born. To before John the Baptist was born. To before Mary and Joseph were even Nazareth's hottest item.

This story centered primarily around Mary and Joseph. They are betrothed and head-over-heels in love with one another when Mary receives an angelic visitor one lonely night in the cow barn. He tells her she is favored by the Most High, and she will carry the Son of David, the Son of God - the Messiah. Strangely (at least to me) she doesn't question this but instead wonders why God would deem her as worthy to carry the promised Messiah. Meanwhile, her father and husband-to-be don't seem very enthusiastic about this news. They think she has concocted a story instead of coming clean about being with another man. Joseph plans to break things off quietly while Mary is away with her mother visiting her aunt (JB's mom). Through the event of her aunt being pregnant, Joseph and Mary's father realize she wasn't making up a story and that she really is carrying the Promised One of Israel. The book ends with them having just gotten married in the midst of rising turmoil in Jerusalem. Herod feels his throne is more threatened with each passing day and has people arrested and killed (mainly crucified) left and right to appease his fear.

I loved reading about the relationship between Mary and Joseph. Once again, these are characters that have always been somewhat cardboard-y in my mind just because there isn't much about them in the Bible. But they were chosen to carry and raise Jesus - our Savior. I don't have first-hand experience in raising a child, but knowing what my friends are going through I know it's not always a picnic. But to then think about raising the Messiah?! I can't think of anything more humbling. But Jesus is God incarnate - Immanuel. A man of constant sorrow who is not unfamiliar with what it's like to be human. The humility of God to clothe Himself in human flesh and be born to sinful human parents is quite possibly the epitome of humility.

The Lord of All, incarnate, came down to fight the battle for the kingdom of men's hearts

Book 14: Third Watch (A.D. Chronicles #3) by Brock and Bodie Thoene

My rating: ****1/2

"This is the story of the battle between The Truth and the Father of Lies. Each fought mightily for the souls of mankind. Those who witnessed the conflict firsthand could not comprehend how ancient this war was, nor what the outcome meant for generations yet to be born."

That essentially sums up this book. Jesus's "fame" is spreading, and the Enemy is trying harder and harder to prevent the Truth from triumphing over his lies. There are some new characters introduced in this book as well as some old revisited. Zahav was destined from birth to remain single and never bear children - a fate that tears her heart in pieces. Alexander has recently lost his wife and daily battles with a demon-possessed son. I knew from the beginning of the book these 2 would end up together...and I was right. :-)

I love how the Thoene's describe Jesus. There's a gentleness and compassion that leaps off of the pages. An approachableness. He welcomes and loves people and doesn't miss opportunities to share Truth - to show and tell that He is the Truth that people are searching for. He is the piece that will fill the holes in their hearts. And that isn't merely fiction.

Them as seek to silence Yeshua may as well throw stones at the sun to keep it from rising.

Book 13: Second Touch (A.D. Chronicles #2) by Brock and Bodie Thoene

My rating: ****

Leprosy sounds like a terrible disease. To be stricken with a disease that slowly (well...or quickly sometimes) eats away at your body with nothing to stop it would be debilitating. If it were me - I'd have to motivation to live.

During the first century lepers were outcasts. They were shunned from society. No one had anything to do with them - no one talked to them or treated them like normal people, let alone touched them seeing as the disease was communicable. Lily and Cantor were 2 such lepers. Living in the Valley of Mak'ob, they were surrounded by others like them. The community of lepers lived outside of the city - left to themselves to suffer and die together. They had all heard about Yeshua and wondered if He would come to them. But of course not. There was no way He would come to them. If He touched them He would be unclean. But that's the beauty of Jesus and the redemption He came to offer. He didn't hang out with the religious people. He spent His time among the sinners, offering life and hope. And He went to the lepers and touched them, giving healing in His touch.

This series is fascinating. Even though the characters aren't always the same in every book I'm finding myself getting caught up in their story. I've always wondered what it would've been like to be alive when Jesus was on the earth. To see Him do the things written about in the Bible. Through the words of these books I can catch a small (albeit fictionalized) glimpse.

Surely He took up our infirmities
And carried our sorrows.

Nothing is impossible with God

Book 12: First Light (A.D. Chronicles #1) by Brock and Bodie Thoene

My rating: ****

So. Another series. This one's 12 books long. Ai yi yi. But I have to say, I'm pretty excited about this one. It's my first Thoene experience, and I've heard they're good authors - which I can now confirm.

(I apologize in advance for the scatterbrained-ness of my thoughts - I'm really tired, but I wanted to blog about this one still. It's been a long 3 weeks...)

At any rate, this particular series is a fictional retelling of the life and ministry of Jesus. First Light begins at the start of Yeshua's ministry. Jerusalem is in turmoil. People are rioting. Herod Antipas is trying to keep the peace and quiet the Jews. Caiaphas wants to silence this Jesus who people are claiming is the Messiah. The really cool thing about this book so far is that it gives flesh and blood to familiar Bible characters/stories. I know for myself that I often forget that the people in the Bible were real people with real lives. The unfortunate thing is that the Bible doesn't really give us much detail about people's lives (which is fine because that's not the point of it), and the Thoene's are great historians who can also tell a story.

My favorite character in the book was Peni-El. If you remember the man Jesus healed who was blind from birth in John 9, this is him. Although he's actually a boy in the books. At any rate, Peniel's parents have basically disowned him, blaming him for his older brother's death. They hate that he's blind and often call him a "cracked pot" and consider him not worth anything. Every day he sits outside of the temple and begs, which also provides him with opportunities to hear the "gossip" from people talking who pay no attention to the blind beggar boy. Peniel has been waiting for the Messiah for his entire life, and he hears wind that a man named Yeshua is going around teaching and healing. Could He be the Messiah? Peniel wonders. At the end of the book, Peniel finally meets Yeshua, and He heals him. Just the thought of what it would be like to have your physical eyes be opened for the first time like that...and how Jesus repeated over and over that it was so God could receive glory. Pretty awesome.

So now - ready for book 2. Hopefully I can make it. It was a rush to get this one done this week. :-)

That was not the real Narnia. That had a beginning and an end. It was only a shadow of the real Narnia...

Book 11: The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

My rating: *****

OK, now that I'm done reading the entire series I'll make some comments about it as a whole.

I have to say, I was a little skeptical going into this because they weren't really catching me as much as some other fiction series's I've read before. Plus, I didn't grow up reading them, and I really think there's something to be said for having grown up reading this series. However, I'd give the series 4 stars overall, with The Last Battle being my favoritest book of them all. I decided to read these books just for the enjoyment of reading them without trying to see all the alleged allegory and whatnot. I read somewhere a few months ago that Lewis didn't really intend for these books to be allegorical, although I think the church has really staked a claim in this series - which I can understand. Obviously, since C.S. Lewis was a Christian that's going to come out in his writings, which is abundantly clear in the entirety of The Chronicles of Narnia. But there's some dark stuff, too. Which brings me to a small comparison with another series of books (which also happens to be my favorite)...

Harry Potter.

Let's all do a collective "gasp." OK. Now that that's out of the way... :-) Yes, I'm an avid Harry Potter fan, and as I was reading I couldn't help but compare Lewis's style of writing to Rowling's. I realize they're 2 different people, but in most of the Potter-bashing books written by Christians, they do a lot of comparisons with Narnia as well as LOTR. So I'm just throwing my 2 cents in. While I appreciated Lewis's imagery in the books, I had a hard time relating to the characters - and that's something that's important to me in a book. I think that's why they didn't grab me as much as the Harry Potter series - because there isn't a whole lot of character development. And Narnia doesn't necessarily follow one set of characters the whole time. I mean, you have the first book about Digory and Polly and the creation of Narnia, and then they don't show up again until The Last Battle. Then the Pevensies are introduced in book 2, and they kind of disappear (except for Edmund and Lucy) for nearly all the rest of the books. So...that just bothered me a little bit. And also - Lewis's writing was more along the lines of just telling what the characters were doing (i.e. "Lucy did this. Edmund did that." etc) rather than allowing the story to unfold. Does that make sense? Again, I feel as if Rowling does a better job with her storytelling and allowing the characters to act without making the story...choppy by always just saying what the characters are doing.

I want to say one last thing in regards to this comparison. A lot of Christians bash Harry Potter - well, ones that are more conservative anyway - because of the magic. But do you know what The Chronicles of Narnia have in them? Magic. And not just good magic - as in the good characters using magic. There's also dark magic, and that particular phrase is used to describe the magic a la the White Witch at some point in one of the books. So anyway, that's my vent about that. Don't knock something until you've read it. :-)

So now I'm starting another series - The A.D. Chronicles by Brock and Bodie Thoene. My bestie loves these authors, and after all the books I've recommended for her that she hasn't necessarily...enjoyed, I figured I'll read something of hers. Just to be fair. :-) I'm also reading The Stand by Stephen King because I've wanted to read it for a long time, and there's no way I'll finish it in a week. So it's kind of an on-the-side book. At any rate, I feel proud to have finished Narnia. Maybe now I won't get funny looks from people like I did when I would say I'd never read them....

It's a mental hospital...for the criminally insane

Book 10: Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

My rating: ****1/2

I don't even know where to begin with this one. I just saw the movie with a friend from work, and I decided a long time ago that I wanted to read the book before I saw the movie. So I chose it for this week's read. Ironically enough it's also the March read for a group I'm a part of on goodreads.com - The Next Best Book Club. Anyway. :-) This book was just a page turner - a good psychological thriller. It was nice to read something like that for a change. Not that I'm not enjoying The Chronicles of Narnia, but I wouldn't call them page turners...

Teddy Daniels is a U.S. Marshall. And a widower. His wife Dolores died 2 years prior due to a fire in their apartment that was caused by a man named Andrew Laeddis. The book opens with Teddy on a ferry to Shutter Island to check out some strange happenings at Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane. A patient by the name of Rachel Solando has escaped from her cell, and Teddy and his partner Chuck have been commissioned to find her. While searching for Rachel, Teddy becomes suspicious that there are secret government operations going on at the hospital where doctors are using patients (violent offenders that nobody cares about anyway) as lab rats for their hallucinogens, lobotomies, etc. He also discovers that Andrew Laeddis is a patient at Ashecliffe, but there don't seem to be any records of his existence. So Teddy's job quickly becomes more complicated as he needs to find Rachel, expose Ashecliffe, and rid the world of Laeddis. But.....

...everything isn't always as it seems. Is it?

I was beginning to question my own sanity as Teddy's began to erode. Well, not really. But the mind is powerful, and the brain is a complex and mysterious thing. How far is it possible to go to deny reality? Can you erase tragic events by simply creating a new persona and living a fictitious life? Those are questions Teddy has to deal with, and the conclusion is nothing short of shocking.

Remember the signs and believe the signs. Nothing else matters.

Book 9: The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis

My rating: *****

LOVED this one!!

I'm going to take a one week break from Narnia so I can read Shutter Island. I'm going to see the movie next Saturday with a friend of mine, and I wanted to read the book before I saw the movie. :-)

We did not set sail to look for things useful but to seek honor and adventure

Book 8: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

My rating: ****1/2

My new favorite of the series.

The worst of sleeping out of doors is that you wake up so dreadfully early

Book 7: Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis

My rating: ****

My favorite of the CoN books so far.

Talking horses always sound more horsey in accent when they are angry

Book 6: The Horse and His boy by C.S. Lewis
My rating: ***

My least favorite so far... :-/

Whatever happened, happened

Book 5: The Gospel According to LOST by Chris Seay (2 books in one week...I'm on a roll!!)

My rating: ****

LOST fans. They’re so annoying. (Can I get an amen?) I mean seriously. Their motto should be “How to lose friends and alienate people.” They talk about their theories on the end of the show and their theories about who Jacob is and their theories about why the plane really crashed. And now, to add insult to injury, they’ll be talking about their theories on parallel timelines. And of course they talk about all of this stuff with non-fans who have no idea (and really don’t care) what’s going on. All LOST fans should probably live in a commune. The best thing is, they don’t even realize they’re being annoying. They don’t realize that every time they start talking about LOST their other friends (not the “other” others…just the others) just have this intense desire to staple their mouth shut. But, the reality is we all have to learn to live together. Or die alone. Or perhaps the reality is that we never crashed on the island in the first place…

OK, OK. I’m obsessed. I admit it. And not even a slight obsession. I’m thankful that 3 of my closest friends can share this obsession with me (although, we make life very fun for our non-LOST friend :-) ). And I’m also thankful for people who write books drawing parallels between the Bible and LOST. I don’t think you can get more obsessed than that. Haha! Really though, LOST is more than just a TV show. People have connected to this show in a serious (albeit scary) way. There are characters you love to hate, characters you hate to love, and characters that you see yourself in. That’s one of the big things that draws me in. I’ve honestly learned a lot about myself through reflecting on a few of the characters from LOST – most specifically Jack. I’ve seen about myself that I’m much more like Jack than Locke (not Flocke – he’s evil to the core!). Jack is a doctor who has difficulty believing in what he can’t see. And he’s a fixer. Those are 2 things that are very true about me. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I don’t believe in God or any of that. I’m saying that grasping the intangible is a daily struggle for me. I know that God exists and my hope lies in the fact that Jesus was crushed by my sin but rose again to give me new life and a restored relationship with God that my sin had broken. But it’s hard for me to grasp God’s love for example because it’s not something I can necessarily see or feel like I can with people.

All this to say that I’m drawn into this show because I feel like it’s more of a personal experience than something I’m just observing – almost like I’m growing along with the characters as they deal with the mysteries of the island and come to terms with their pasts. Whether this show, in the end, has spiritual parallels, I don’t know (yet). But what I do know is that few shows bring people together in this way and cause people to dialogue and think about life, morality, and spirituality like LOST.

He's wild you know. Not like a tame lion.

Book 4: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
My rating: ****

Stay tuned.

Still Truckin...

Book 3: The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
My rating: ****

I decided that for my next several reads I'm going to read the Chronicles of Narnia series. Believe it or not, I've never read the entire series before. I remember reading The Magician's Nephew several years ago, but I didn't remember hardly anything about it. And of course I've read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe many times - who hasn't? :-) At any rate, I think instead of blogging about each book I'm going to write about the entire series when I get done reading.

Has anyone read the Chronicles of Narnia? What were your thoughts?

Disclaimer: My plan is to read and enjoy the books as fiction, not to dissect the allegories they may or may not contain.

We bury our sins here. We wash them clean.

Book 2: Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
My rating: ****

This book was actually my plan B. When I was at the library I was looking for the book "Shutter Island" also by Dennis Lehane, but as luck would have it - the library didn't have that one. I wanted to read Mystic River anyway, so it worked out OK.

I actually saw the movie of this book a few years back. I picked it up at a discount store in Springfield, OH for $2 or something like that. I don't often pass up movies that are that cheap, and this one had a pretty good cast (Tim Robbins - whom I love, Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, Marcia Gay Harden, Laura Linney). I really enjoyed the movie and was floored by the sheer...grittiness of it - the picture of the realities of life. It wasn't a feel-good, happy ending type of movie. And neither is the book. In fact, the book was really depressing at times - probably because of the hopelessness so many of the characters experienced.

The story centers around 3 boys/men - Jimmy, Sean, and Dave. They spent a lot of their childhood together until Dave was abducted and held captive by child molesters. When Dave escaped 4 days later he was a completely different kid. 25 years later, after growing apart and going their separate ways, the 3 men are reunited in the midst of a tragedy. This tragedy brings many emotions, character flaws, and secrets to the surface of each of these men's lives, which they in turn suppress and hide so the true nature of who they are isn't exposed, which is the symbolism of the Mystic River that runs outside of their town.

Jimmy made a comment at one point in the book that life is a series of threads, and when you pull one all the others are effected. In his own life he said that if he would've gotten into that car with Dave then he wouldn't have been so ballsy as a teenager, and he wouldn't have asked out a beautiful girl that was way out of his league, and they wouldn't have fallen in love, and they wouldn't have gotten married, and she wouldn't have given birth to their daughter Katie, and she (Katie) wouldn't have gotten murdered. He was reflecting on the fact that one life being different changes the entire outcome of everything. I couldn't help but think about this in regard to my own life. A lot of times people talk about how they would do things in their past differently if they could. At this point, I don't know that I would change anything about my past. Sure, I've made some bad decisions and had some serious struggles that were hard and I have still yet to entirely overcome, but if it weren't for those things I wouldn't have learned the things that I have - and that's something I wouldn't want to change. Like - I think sometimes, "What if I wouldn't have gone to Word of Life?" I think my life would be...so different than it is now. I wouldn't have met some of my best friends who have challenged me in some very deep ways. I wouldn't have ended up at Cedarville and gone through a series of things that God used to guide me into a deeper and more fresh understanding of what the Gospel's all about. Sure, my life would be different, but I'm not sure that I want it to be.

At any rate, I'm not sure I can say that I enjoyed this book in the same sense that I enjoy a book that has a bit more...happiness in it. But I liked it. And the movie did a great job of keeping with the integrity of the book. I would recommend it only if you can handle language and an ending that isn't wrapped up neatly.

1 down...51 to go!

Book 1: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
My rating: ****1/2 out of 5

Catching Fire is the 2nd book in a trilogy called The Hunger Games. I finished The Hunger Games (the first book) on Christmas day (Merry Christmas to me!) but unfortunately could not continue the series as I didn't own the 2nd book at the time. And if you know me very well...I hate having to wait to find out what's going to happen next when there are cliffhangers. I LOVE cliffhangers (when done well), but I hate waiting. Story of my life. So when I saw Catching Fire for $12 at Walmart this past Sunday I regained my composure after doing a slight victory/happy dance in the book aisle then began reading it that night.

Collins does not disappoint, that's for sure. One of my favorite things about reading a good book is when the author has the superb ability to create fantastic mental pictures by simply using her words. From page 1 of The Hunger Games I have become attached to the characters and felt as if I were a spectator of all the events taking place in these books. Catching Fire picks up at the victory tour that Katniss and Peeta are a part of as the champions of the annual Hunger Games in Panem. Throughout the tour, Katniss and Peeta witness unrest among the 12 districts and rumors of an uprising against the Capitol are becoming more truth than rumor. On the wings of the tour is an announcement by President Snow that this year's Hunger Games will be comprised of past victorious tributes - an All-Star Hunger Games if you will. Katniss and Peeta inevitably enter the arena once again, however the stakes are much higher this time. They are both aware that President Snow seeks Katniss's life as retribution for her actions that have spurred the districts' rebellion against the Capitol. There are plenty of cliffhangers and twists in Catching Fire, but I don't want to give too much away because really...you should read these books! Unfortunately, the 3rd book isn't out yet so I find myself having to wait once again. Perhaps I should wait to read a book series until it comes out in it's entirety (like I did with Harry Potter). :-)

Something I find interesting is how many book plots focus on an oppressive/dictatorship style government. These books beg the question, "Is blind allegiance to government an acceptable way to live?" When a government hoards power and uses it to wield unrelenting allegiance from its subjects it is only natural that there will be rebellion among the people as Catching Fire illustrates. But where is the line between autonomy and obedience to government? Is this an issue worth fighting for and giving your life for? These are some of the questions Katniss has to wrestle with and things that I was challenged to think about.

Now that I have your attention. (Shame on any of you who entertained other ideas about the subject material of this blog...) :-)

Normally I don't make New Years resolutions. The majority of resolutions I suppose I could make (be a better person, not worry so much, eat less chocolate...) seem to revolve around giving more power to my will - and THAT is not something I need at all. Not that this is necessarily a New Years resolution, but...maybe kinda sorta. I've decided that, in my attempts to become more well-read, I'm going to read a book every week this year. Daunting, I know. But doable. I hope.

Someone suggested I blog about the books I read throughout the course of the year, so blog I will. It seems to be the trendy thing to do anyway. And I happen to be a trendy person. At any rate, hopefully this is an entertaining read for those of you who are crazy enough to digest my musings about the books I choose to read in the next year. We'll see how this goes...