Book Review: Furiously Happy

So...I bought this book the other day. Furiously Happy, by Jenny Lawson.  Jenny Lawson, the Bloggess,  lives in Texas.  Which is kind of cool.  She's been blogging for a long time, and she has quite a following.  Deservedly so. She is one funny woman. She's also mentally ill, and is okay with admitting that.  I like her idea that one should be "furiously happy" when you can manage it, in defiance of all your crazy.   That takes a kind of bravery that is not often heralded.  Sometimes just getting out of bed takes all the courage a person can muster up from inside.  I respect that.  

I intended to put the book in my "hospital bag"; the bag of things I can do while I am recovering from surgery.  Somehow, the smile on the face of that racoon called to me, and I just had to start reading. I brought the book with me when we went to Zane's soccer practice.  Once I was settled into my seat next to the other parents on the sidelines, I opened the book and began to read.  Several minutes later, I snorted.  Then I giggled.  The mom next to me, who had been reading on her iPad, glanced at me.  I snorted again, unable to control myself.  If you've ever tried to stop yourself from laughing, then you know that it is an impossible task.  Before I knew what was happening, I was belly laughing so hard that tears were spilling down my face. I may have even guffawed.  All the soccer parents stopped watching their children and swiveled their heads in my directions.  I wasn't embarrassed by my display of frivolity, but since I wasn't about to read aloud to the entire sideline, I reluctantly put the book aside.  

Of course, once we got home, I had to read the more hysterical passages to my husband, including the story of Rory the Raccoon.  The Bloggess is known for her love of taxidermied animals, and it makes for some interesting life events.  Larry agreed that the story of Rory was 'snort-worthy'.  I then read to him the section about when Jenny was panicking while she was in New York to promote her first book, and she texted Neil Gaiman.

"Wait," my husband said. "Are you telling me that she has Neil Gaiman's phone number and she can TEXT him? Whenever she wants to? "

"I think he reads her blog," I told him.

"Why doesn't Neil Gaiman read YOUR blog?" Larry said.

"I've been a little busy," I replied.  I was feeling a little defensive.  The Bloggess doesn't have a job where she has to leave her house, and I do.  Most of us are in the same boat.  Also, I've had that whole cancer treatment thing for the past year, which I would certainly call a mitigating circumstance.   Anyway, it could just be that Mr. Gaiman hasn't had time to read my blog yet.  Yeah.  I'm going to just go with that. 

Anyway, Furiously Happy is an entertaining read.  You'll laugh, you'll cry.  You may even snort.  I recommend this book, because laughter is in short supply these days.  We all need more of it.  If you find yourself feeling a little bit more accepting of those with mental illness, that's a good thing.  If you have a mental illness, and this book helps you accept yourself and what makes you YOU, then that's a good thing, too.

Book Review. Really.

I read voraciously**.  Most of what I read during the summer are fluffy, good old fashioned escape-type books.  Cotton candy books, that can be enjoyed at the beach and then forgotten on a bench outside of the Purple Moose Saloon in Ocean City.  It's how I decompress. 

I read the latest Laurell K. Hamilton book, Affliction, when it came out. For those unfamiliar with Hamilton's work, she writes about a character named Anita Blake.  Anita is a vampire executioner, but she is also a necromancer.  In the first book, she is hating on the vamps something fierce, but then she has a mystery to solve and starts talking to the vampires in order to solve her case.  Hilarity ensues, for twenty books.  Some of the early books were quite enjoyable, with very creepy characters, and Hamilton gave me a few nervous chills before bedtime.  I could not say the same about this latest offering.

I like the character of Anita Blake. I really do. She's got a special blend of overcompensation, certainly. She is the same height as me, for instance, yet everyone acts like she's practically two feet tall. Pages and pages about how small she is, how this doesn't fit, and that she requires specialized items due to her size. I can play along, even if that is not especially attractive in a soldier-type of person.   Anita also tries to act like she is Clint Eastwood playing Dirty Harry, with the glare and the rude attitude. She is looking for a fight, a real scrapper.  I get it.  But surely she has grown up enough not to feel threatened into behaving so poorly.  If Hamilton wants us to think of her character as tough and adequate to whatever obstacle she is confronted with, why does she keep emphasizing her shortcomings? 

All that overcompensation was okay, for a few pages in the first book. After that, it just feels like filler, but Hamilton keeps repeating it all anyway. She goes on and on about Anita's hair care regimen, her outfits, everyone else's outfits, the guns she uses, the holsters, what sort of bullets, etc.  In every book.  Affliction is no exception. I wondered, at one point, whether Hamilton has all that information saved on her hard drive so she can just paste it into any new manuscript.  Also, Blake isn't new on the job, she has been doing this for years. The tough chick act was passe' when the first book came out. Yet Blake still has to spend hours explaining herself to police officers and playing "who is more well-endowed" with them?  She's been in several states, and cops are not stupid, yet Hamilton demeans them continually by repeatedly making the police have to challenge Anita, and emphasizing that they can't work well with others.

DO we need to review every aspect of vampire and were-critter lore every single book? It seems like Hamilton thinks so. Pages and pages, devoted to vampire politics, wereanimal politics, that were not relevant to the story. Even the sex was rather boring, even the scene with the auto-erotic asphyxiation, though I am sure that was not intended.  And Blake continually has to be chastised about the ardeur, which is some sort of metaphysical sex machine, and how she completely drains the people she is supposed to love if she doesn't eat or take care of herself, because she forgets. After all this time, even a diabetic would be automatically taking their insulin on a schedule.  You don't forget.  If she truly loves these men that she is metaphysically attached to, Blake would be doing her very best to make sure they were taken care of.

The basic story, about flesh-eating zombies, was good. The action scene in the hospital basement was great--but then Hamilton went back to the talking about irrelevant stuff like guns, a group marriage proposal, and clothes, and the story completely lost momentum.  I felt as though I were in the middle of a Seinfeld episode without the funny.  Readers who have liked previous Anita Blake novels will probably be disappointed in Affliction.  I don't blame them; I feel the same way. I don't even know if I will buy the next book in the series!


**John Sandford's Silken Prey, Lance Burson's The Ballad of Helene Troy, Sharon Kay Penman's Lionheart, Elmore Leonard's Raylan, Riding the Rap, and Pronto,  Douglas Starr's The Killer of Little Shepherds, Cassandra Clare's City of Bones series, JR Ward's latest offering and several others.  I recommend all of these authors, as well as Hilary Mantel(start with Wolf Hall).


1.) Book review! What are you reading this summer?

Book Review: Gone, Girl

Amazon must have "people" in tiny rooms in the basement, who do nothing but observe what I read and make suggestions about it.  I finally had this book delivered to my kindle because it kept appearing on my "recommended for you" list. I had to buy it, because how lovely for someone to be thinking of me!  I also wanted to break my routine a little by reading someone new.  Gillian Flynn, an author of several books, seemed interesting, and this isn't her first novel.  I like consistency.  

Source: amazon.com via Tina on Pinterest

The story is about a married couple who are about to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary.  The couple is set to engage in their usual tradition of a scavenger hunt.  Except that Amy disappears, and there appears to be signs of a stuggle.  Nick does almost all the things that he is supposed to do in these situations.  He calls the police.  He contacts Amy's parents.  He answers the phones at the search center.  He sits with the police for interviews. And yet, there's something he's not talking about.

The he-said/she said chapters, each chapter is from either Amy or Nick, provides a narrative that reminded me of a Can This Marriage Be Saved? situation.  I kept expecting a therapist's point of view to appear.  That never happens, but over the course of the story, we learn that Amy is the only child of parents who have used her to make a fortune in children's books. We learn that she likes to send her husband on scavenger hunts for their anniversary.  We learn that Nick actually hates those scavenger hunts.  We learn that Nick's mother was a saint, and that his father was abusive and now a victim of Alzheimer's.  More important, we learn that Nick and Amy's marriage is not what it seems, on so many levels.  The word "mendacity" kept creeping into my mind while I read.

Most people will enjoy this book.  They will enjoy the intricacy of the story, and they will love some of the witty comments made by the characters.  It is a good story.    Even if it is a good story, however, I was disappointed with Gone, Girl.  There was a slow build up, where it became excruciatingly obvious that Nick would be accused of a crime.  The author did everything but put up a neon arrow over Nick's head.  The characters are also just not very likeable people.  I never found myself rooting for them.  Instead, I found myself wishing for all of them to be found out. When I started to get to the real story, it was sort of a let down for me.  The ending, however realistic, left me thinking, "That's IT?"  

Spoiler Alert!!!!! Don't read the next two paragraphs if you haven't read the book and you plan to do so.  Skip to the last paragraph.

Gone, Girl goes to great lengths to describe Amy as this extremely meticulous planner, obsessive with details.  To a fault, she thinks of every last detail; this is repeated often.  That is a great strategy when one is going into battle.  Amy is such an avid planner.  She spent an entire year planning to be dead.   She was from New York, the city where people are known to be savvy about crime.   Amy is always right, and she will tell the reader that herself.  Except when she is not.  Planning is important.  So is knowing your opponents.  Amy read all those true crime books.  She planned.  Except she never read a word about not keeping your cash in one place when you travel?  She trusted two random strangers not to rob her?  She really had no idea about the depths of Desi's crazy?

I also had a problem with Nick allowing Amy to get away with everything.  I understood his desire to do whatever it took to protect his child, but if he were truly playing the game at Amy's level, like he said, he never would have deleted his side of the story.   He would have printed the book out or put it on a flash drive and put it somewhere like a safe deposit box, then given the police officer the only access key, to be opened in the event of his death or imprisonment.   Instead, all it took for his wife to regain the upper hand was for her to get pregnant.  In my mind, that just reinforced the cliche' that men are easily manipulated by women. There had to have been a better way to end the story.  I can think of at least two. 


I am probably being too harsh here, or maybe I am jaded.  Probably a little of both.  I will say that once I got past the slow start, I sat up later than I should have reading the rest.  Gone, Girl is a good beach read, and it would probably be great reading on an airplane or train ride.  It's that kind of book, the kind one picks up before an extended trip.  Readers will not find the descriptions of Missouri flattering, but they are certainly realistic. And the author's main characters are certainly mult-layered and complex, even if the minor characters are one-dimensional.

Have you read the book?  Do you agree or disagree with me?  Is there a mystery that you're itching to read?  Let me know!

Book Review: Breath of Angel

This book, Breath of Angel by Karyn Henley, sounded interesting to me. A story that involves angels? Murder? Mayhem? Sign me up! This is not a first time author, but this novel does appear to be the first serial novel she has written. Previously it appears that Ms. Henley confined her writing to children's books and nonfiction religious books.

The main character, Melaia, is a temple chantress who witnesses a horrible murder. When Melaia tries to offer aid to the dying man, she finds out that he is an angel. This completely discombobulates the protagonist. Before she can even wrap her brain around the concept that angels exist, she is sent on a mission with a special harp to sing for the king, who is very ill. The kingdom is in danger! Evil is afoot!

The story started off pretty strong, but the chapters following the murder seemed kind of muddled, and I started to lose interest in the character. It felt like the author was trying to stuff too much into a small space. Things became more interesting while Melaia's journey with Trevin was unfolding, especially when I realized that Trevin was supposed to be Melaia's love interest. Initially, there appeared to be some chemistry between them, but it kind of petered out before they got to the castle. I ended up not being sure what Trevin was actually supposed to be--a love interest or just some random guy. The conversations between them seemed stilted, and when the other characters would mention something about Melaia and Trevin being attracted to each other, it rang false as a result. A reader might get the feeling that Ms. Henley has had minimal experience with writing about love of a nonreligious nature, particularly the intensity of feeling that accompanies the first time a young woman falls in love.

There are probably some attempts at allegory in the novel, but I wasn't sure about what was being symbolized, because that part was again a bit muddled around angels and sylvans and dwarves and immortals. I also think having some sort of glossary or cast of characters at the back of the book for reference would have been a good idea, to help people keep track of the characters. However, I enjoyed the book and would like to read the next book in the series. And isn't that the mark of a good story?

EDIT: I forgot to say that I got this book for free from a publisher for the purpose of writing a review. They sent me the book, and I am giving my honest opinion about it.

Book Review: Big Daddy's Tales

Before I start, a disclaimer: I actually bought this book. Yep. Paid for it with my own money. Big Daddy did NOT give me any incentives, cash or otherwise, to review his book, although if he chose to send me chocolates, I would scarf them down immediately.

I eagerly anticipated the publication of Big Daddy's Tales: From the Lighter Side of Raising a Kid with Autism, by F. Lewis Stark, who also goes by the name of Big Daddy Autism. Mr. Stark has a blog, Big Daddy Autism, which I have been reading for some time. Big Daddy and his wife Mrs. Big Daddy, have a son with autism, and the blog describes many of the ups and downs and all-arounds of raising a special kind of special needs child.

Because each child is an individual, there are as many 'kinds' of autism as there are stars in the sky(actually, that applies to any and all disorders or conditions, but we are speaking strictly of autism today). In his book, Big Daddy references the old story about a person preparing for a trip to Italy(aka the birth of a NT child), and ending up in Holland(aka the birth of a child with autism). He, and his wife, have determined that spending time in Holland, admiring the windmills and tulips, is a better perspective than spending a lifetime wishing to be in Italy. They have chosen to find the humor in as many spaces of their son Griffin's autism as they can.

There was a point in my son's development that a developmental psychologist used the 'A' word, and that was a very scary time for my husband and I. So I have a very general, incomplete idea of what the parent of a child with autism might go through in the early stages prior to diagnosis. When you have a child with autism, sometimes it must be incredibly difficult to find something in the disorder to laugh about, something that can make you feel uplifted. I think that Big Daddy does an excellent job in accepting his son as he is and finding the joy in that. His is a realistic viewpoint, with no sugarcoating to wash it down, but it is an often hilarious pill to swallow.

This probably should be required reading for anyone in education, but it's also an ideal book for anyone who knows a child with autism. I work with kids who have autism, and my husband occasionally has a student with autism in his class. I have found that kids with autism are a fun bunch. Even when they are having a 'bad' day, there's just something about them that I adore. I just like 'hanging out' with them. Reading about Griffin, with his elevators and his Weather Channel, made me laugh out loud. It also caused me to say to my husband, "You've gotta listen to this!" and read parts of Big Daddy's Tales to him. I just don't ever do that, because my husband and I don't have the same taste in reading material, but Larry laughed along with me, and that is a testament to Big Daddy's writing.

Book Review: Here Burns My Candle

I admit freely that I am a fan of historical novels, not only because they often have a happy ending, but also because I can learn something while I am reading. This is why I chose Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs.

The story takes place during the Jacobite Uprising of 1745 in Scotland. Elizabeth, the main character, is a commoner who is married to a nobleman, Donald. She lives with him and his family, which includes his mother, brother, and sister-in-law, in what amounts to an apartment in Edinburgh. Her mother-in-law, Marjory, doesn't seem to think much of Elizabeth--she's a commoner, and a Highlander to boot. Elizabeth tries extremely hard to please everyone, especially her husband, while Donald is philandering about town. Then Bonny Prince Charlie shows up and charms everyone into becoming a Jacobite and joining his cause. Donald and his brother up and enlist and they run off to war, while the three women are isolated and abused as traitors as soon as the rebel army leaves town. Their lives go downhill from there. This was a good story(it is supposed to be a variation of the Book of Ruth), and I do want to read the sequel, but there were a couple of problems which marred my enjoyment.

First, Elizabeth practices the "auld" ways, and much is made of this. It is never really clear, however, what those "auld" ways are--druid, perhaps? Elizabeth doesn't actually 'worship' these 'auld' ways, based on the descriptions in the novel. She only seems to go through the motions, saying a few words on certain days because that is what she was taught to do by her mother. That hardly qualifies as a practice, or the big secret that she seems to think it is. The entire Kerr family seems to attend church primarily as a social necessity rather than from any sort of religious fervor, at least at the beginning of the novel, so I was rather underwhelmed by Elizabeth's angst over this.

It was also suspect to me that the main heir to a noble family would have been allowed by either his parent or his church to marry a commoner. It might have been fairly common for second or third sons to marry commoners, but not the head of a family, which is what Donald would have been considered, once his father passed on. It would have been Lord Donald's 'job' to produce an heir to carry on the family name, and it would have been his responsibility to be the family leader, not the Dowager Duchess. Noblewomen weren't supposed to do much of anything except look pretty and have babies back then. But that would probably have formed a different focus for the novel, and would not have been consistent with the Book of Ruth, so I suppose that it was necessary.

Finally, the men in this novel really came out looking rather shabby. Lord Donald, the guy who was supposed to be the head of the family, couldn't keep his hands off other women, and cared so little for his family that he deserted them and then ruined them(because he was a traitor, the three women were reduced to starving themselves). For Donald it was all fun and games, and for his brother it wasn't much improved. As for Rob, he was under the mistaken impression that if he gave everything to Elizabeth, she would love him, and he didn't seem to want to take 'no' for an answer. Throughout Here Burns My Candle, the menfolk seemed to make the messes and the women were left to clean it up. Actually, that is pretty much the same as it is today, so maybe the author is onto something.

Here Burns My Candle is an enjoyable novel. I did become engaged with the characters and shed a few tears while reading. I am fond enough of the characters to want to know what happens to them. I was happy to hear that there is a sequel, and look forward to visiting with Elizabeth again.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. This company did not tell me what to write with regard to this book, they only provided me with a free copy.

Book Review: Sir Quinlan and The Swords of Valor

I requested this book, Sir Quinlan and the Swords of Valor, from the Blogging for Books website because it looked interesting. I have always been a sucker when it comes to knights in shiny armor, let's say. When I received the book, the main description on the back cover said, "Two friends face the Dark Knight's deadliest scheme, but only one knight has the courage to overcome." Misappropriation of Batman's title aside, sounds promising, doesn't it?

I noticed that this was the fifth book in a series, and perhaps if I were to read the first four books the characters in the story would have felt more than the two dimensional. As it was, the story fell flat under the weight of the author's expectations. The character of Quinlan presents as a dull-witted, obedient sort who yearns for excitement without any understanding or insight into his own motivations or the motivations of others. For the most part, he does exactly as he is told. When he does not, bad things happen.

The story of Sir Quinlan and the Swords of Valor is supposed to be about the difference between sloth and purpose. This is far from what the story actually tells the reader: Quinlan's best friend Tav, someone he's trusted and loved and admired his entire life, adopts a pet, Tav's behavior changes completely, and when it counts, his best friend in the entire world(Quinlan) abandons him.

By making apathy a physical entity in the form of a pet, the author makes it appear as if this particular malady is more similar to an addiction to drugs or even demon possession than ennui. Several times characters with paythas are described as if they literally have a "monkey on their backs", and it is very obvious that the animals are controlling the behaviors of their 'owners'. Clearly, apathy is not at work here.

Quinlan's lack of compassion is explained away with the line that "Every person must choose for themselves." An addict doesn't necessarily have a choice after a certain point in their addiction; in order to break free of their cravings, they require the interventions of others. Quinlan himself has a pet at one point, and has to 'break free', so he should surely have had the empathy as well as the compassion to understand what Tav is dealing with. As a servant of the Prince, Quinlan had a responsibility to help his friend break free of his addiction, and he did nothing except stare "sadly". Quinlan is actually the one who displays apathy when it comes to helping others, not Tav.

In addition, by making apathy into a character separate from the people it inhabited, the author essentially removed all responsibility for that apathy from the people experiencing it. They did not 'choose' to be apathetic, they were enslaved. Without their possession by apathy, they would not have otherwise engaged in that behavior. Therefore they cannot be held accountable. Mr. Black essentially undermined his own storyline in this book.

There are many people out there who enjoy the Knights of Arrethrae, and it may be that the other books in the series are better evidence of the author's "unique approach to telling biblical truths". Based on this particular book, Sir Quinlan and the Swords of Valor, I'll won't be reading the rest of the series. Mr. Black comments that his purpose in writing this book was to contrast "between two knights who choose different paths--one of apathy and one of purpose." Apathy is noted by the author as resulting from spiritual blindness and worldly distraction, but he never actually explains what he means in reference to the novel. The word that Mr. Black is actually attempting to illustrate is sloth, which refers to spiritual apathy or a disinclination to action. While the character of Tav, who is supposed to be the apathetic one, does display a sudden disinclination to action, there is little evidence presented in the story to indicate the character's spiritual apathy. We never read any words that are from Tav's point of view, so we don't have any idea if he is aware of what is happening to him or if he tried to fight the possession. There's no true insight into any of the motivations of the characters, but Tav in particular seems to have the short end of the stick.

Book Review: Nelson's Biblical Cyclopedic Index

I chose to review this book, Nelson's Biblical Cyclopedic Index, because it looked like a good reference book for bible study. The back cover states that this book "offers more word listings than any other Bible resource available." It is described as a Bible dictionary, concordance, and topical Bible all rolled into one book.

The title, Biblical Cyclopedic Index, could be a little confusing to the average person. They might decide not to look further. That would be a shame, because this book packs a powerful punch. If there is a topic that you are considering for a lecture or bible study group, it's in this book. If you are looking for a good subject for a sermon, it is in this book. If there is a biblical word that you can't figure out, it's in this book.

Look up a word or a person or a place and in the Biblical Cyclopedic Index you will find all the bible verses, in order of appearance, which use or refer to that word, person, or place. I think that is pretty awesome. Someone spent a lot of time on this book. I am used to just opening the Bible and reading random passages or reading an entire book from start to finish, but using the Biblical Cyclopedic Index is a bit more systematic. The end result is a richer, more consistent approach to any topic which gives the reader more to discuss in a group or to just ponder on their own.

In addition, the Biblical Cyclopedic Index includes word studies, where they take a word such as 'trouble' and give you the word as it was in the Bible, how it was pronounced, and how that word might have been originally used at the time that the Bible was being written. I love to look up words in the dictionary and see where they originated, so I was very fascinated by the word studies in this book. The Biblical Cyclopedic Index is very definitely "a house with many rooms" that will give even a beginner much to explore and enjoy.


**I received this book from the publisher through booksneeze.com for the purpose of review. I was not told what to say or how to say it, so any dangling participles are strictly my fault.

Book Review: The Charlatan's Boy

I recently joined a website called Blogging For Books that sends you free books to review. This is a very awesome thing for me, since I love to read anything and everything I can, and I am pretty opinionated about most things. They sent me a free book, and all I have to do is review that book. It's a win-win!

The book I chose, The Charlatan's Boy, by Jonathan Rogers, caught my eye almost immediately. The author holds a PhD in seventeeth-century English literature, which immediately raised him in my esteem as both an intelligent man and a glutton for punishment.

The very word, charlatan, is so out of use as to be almost considered archaic, yet you won't find a better word to describe the profession described in detail in this book. (The word huckster comes close, but I feel that it lacks the elegance of charlatan.) Yet the use of such a word gave me pause; I really didn't want to read dry and dull words, however elevated they might be. I wanted to be entertained!

The charlatan in question here is named Floyd, and the narrator is Grady, who is also the title character. Grady and Floyd are together, but not family. In fact, Floyd makes a living off of exploiting Grady as a He-Feechie, a hideous creature of legend who lives in the swamps. As the story begins, the Feechie trade, as they call it, is dying out. Nobody believes in Feechies anymore, it seems. This presents a problem for Grady, because his whole life up to this point has been spent pretending to be a He-Feechie like Floyd taught him. The rest of the book follows with Grady trying to find his own identity apart from Floyd. If he can't find out where he came from, Grady aims to try and find a place to be, after one last big Feechie roundup.

The language used in the book is wonderfully evocative. It was easy to picture the events taking place on the page in my mind, especially the cattle drovers. The book seemed to start very slowly and appeared to be meandering about, trying to find a direction. The story did not completely grab my attention until the first set of cattle drovers arrived on the scene. While I wouldn't quite go so far as to agree with the claim that The Charlatan's Boy is "C.S. Lewis and Mark Twain rolled into one," I certainly did find similarities to Twain in the storytelling.

This would be a great book for a teenager who loves to read, but I also think that this would be an excellent book to read aloud. There's a lyrical flow to the language that seems to lend itself to being spoken; you can almost hear a voice in your head while you are reading. So this might be a book that could be read aloud to someone who perhaps has trouble reading or who cannot read because of vision issues.

Review: The Monster At The End of This Book

This is one of my very favoritest children's books, although I didn't discover it until I was an adult. I bought this book in my twenties, anticipating the fun I would have reading it to my children someday.

This book was meant to be read aloud, and you don't have to have a funny sounding voice, but you will need to overact in some parts to 'sell' the story. My husband made an extra special effort to imitate Grover's voice from the Sesame Street television show, but I used my own voice and Zane was still entertained.

The main character of the book is "lovable, furry, old Grover", a very familiar sight to kids and adults who watch(ed) Sesame Street. Grover has a problem: he is very anxious and fearful about something, and he needs the reader's help to avoid having to face what is scaring him. I like how the book "invites" the reader into the story. Grover is very serious in asking the person reading the book not to turn any pages. I appreciated Grover's many attempts to prevent the reader from turning pages as well as his comments regarding the resulting mess.

The book is funny and endearing and wonderful, and as you get to the last page there is a chance to talk to your child about things that might make them anxious or afraid. Talking about what scares them with a parent can help a child 'face' their fears in a safe manner, and I like that.

Book Review: The Treasure of God's Word

The full title is The Treasure of God's Word: Celebrating 400 Years of the King James Bible. The word Treasure is accurate. I selected this book from Booksneeze.com, and I am glad that I did. Visually, it is a gorgeous book, with a burgundy cover and gold lettering. It just feels cool to the touch and good in your hands. To someone like me who just loves to hold books, it was wonderful.

There is no denying that the King James Bible was an extremely influential piece of history. It had a huge impact on the English language, as well, granting some uniformity among the chaos that was the language of England at the time. This book is divided into sections discussing King James' desire for a uniform translation of the bible as well as what the translators were attempting, and spends some time on the revisions that came after. In between are 'chapters' from the King James Bible, titled "God's Love", "God's Comfort", etc., where verses are gathered together. The language is simple, lyrical, and very obviously meant to be read aloud to the English people.

Even a nonbeliever can still appreciate the musical nature of the passages in the King James Bible, and this book captures some of that essence. Reading some of the passages, I could almost picture myself as a member of a congregation in 1611, which sounds kind of silly when I say it out loud. But it's a measure of the impact that the King James Bible had on society that I am able to visualize that experience and it's a small measure of the beauty of this book.

I Heard That Somewhere...

So, awhile back I read this book. I loved it, so much so that I told my husband that he should read it, which I never do.

"It's hilarious, I said. You should read it."

"Mm-hmm." He didn't even look up from his computer. I rolled my eyes and went on with my life.

Cut to the present. While he was looking for reading material for the bathtub, Larry found this book again. He stayed in the bath that night for over an hour because he wss enjoying the book so much. He came downstairs, all damp and wrinkly, laughing, telling me what a great book he was reading.

Really.

Book Review: Wild At Heart

The full title of this book is Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul by John Eldredge. The author's premise is that men in the Christian church are being told that in order to be good Christians they have to be nice guys, when this isn't truly how God wants men to be. Eldredge believes that every man needs a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue. However, this is not how society expects men to behave, and as a consequence of denying their true desires, Christian men have generally lost their way. They've also apparently decided that church is 'boring', because everybody knows that you only go to church on Sundays for the entertainment. And the wine, for those affiliated with religions that use it in their ceremonies.


I chose this book from Booksneeze.com because I have a son and I wanted to see if there might be something in this book that would help me raise him. At first, what Eldredge says makes sense. Boys do need to do battle, at least in their imaginations, and they do need the stimulation found in most adventures. This idea is consistent with my own observations; I am starting to see my two-year old son engaging in imaginary play which has involved much jumping and lots of running. The author's discussion about adult men revisiting those adventures they had as boys to recapture their masculinity appears to be a sound idea. Too many adults believe that play is no longer supposed to be part of their lives, particularly after children arrive, and this just isn't so.

Eldredge's ideas regarding a 'beauty' to rescue, however, are a bit harder to swallow; the implication that a women needs to be rescued and can't rescue herself is just plain ridiculous in this day and age. The author reveals some ambivalence toward women. On the one hand, he spends some time stating that God created women to save men. On the other, he asserts that the secret desire of every woman's soul is to be "captivating". In other words, "just sit there and look pretty, honey!" This made me a bit angry, because I have never in my entire life felt that my purpose in life was to be decoration.

The second aspect of the book that gave me pause was the author's statement that all of our problems were because of the Enemy, aka, the devil. Any time you feel angry, that's the devil making you feel that way. Any time you're depressed, that's the devil. The direct implication is that you, as an individual, bear no actual responsibility for any choice you might make, including whether to be happy or not. It's all the responsibility of the devil. I don't want to get into a lengthy theological discussion about it, but Man does bear responsibility for his own behavior, his own feelings, and the choices he makes. There's a reason that our legal system, which is based on Judeo-Christian ethics, does not have a "not guilty because the devil made me do it" statute on the books. If it did, the prisons would be empty.

This was a difficult book for me to finish. The author starts out strong with his hypothesis, but he veered off the path several times and got into some areas, such as the 'Father-Wound', that I didn't really feel that he was qualified to discuss. In fact, several times I found myself checking the back of the book to see whether Eldredge had a degree in psychotherapy or counseling or even theology. I finally found a reference to a counseling degree, but I also found a reference to Eldredge's employment by Focus on the Family. I thought that perhaps I had some sort of bias, so I asked my husband to read the book. He wasn't able to finish the book at all. But there are apparently many, many men who have been helped spiritually by Eldredge and his book, field manual,and other products, and I can't discount that fact.