days of nuwanda

Reviews

 
If you haven't read The Help by Kathryn Stockett, put it on your list.  Not only was it educational for this girl who knows virtually nothing about segregation issues of the 60's (mostly b/c I wasn't born, but I admit, it never affected me, so I didn't care to learn much), but it's also a very well-told story. It's powerful. It will leave you thinking long after you leave the last page. The movie is coming out next week, and I look forward to seeing it come to life. (Hat tip to Mel & Lisa!)

 

 
Well, Cowboys & Aliens finally came out last weekend, and we were there! I was so psyched for this
movie b/c I'm a big Daniel Craig fan since the rebirth of Bond, and who isn't a Harrison Ford fan? Hello--Indiana Jones is classic! Put these two together, and you have a sci-fi action movie. Add Sam Rockwell and some aliens, and you adventure and comic relief. (Sam played Doc and was great!) It did start out a bit slow, but once it got going, it was well worth the price of tickets. Craig was good as the hero, but I thought Harrison Ford was the real star here. He's done some bad movies, but this was reminiscent of the first 3 Indiana Jones movies. It was his best performance in a long, long time.

 

 
We rented The Adjustment Bureau and really liked it, and not just b/c it was Matt Damon. He was obviously good, as was Emily Blunt, but it was the story. Really liked the concept.

 

And thanks, Lisa, for sharing book 3 of the Wolves of Mercy Falls series. Finally I can get to the end!

Seeking solitude

YA fiction isn't the only genre I read anymore. Souvenirs of Solitude: Finding Rest in Abba's Embrace by Brennan Manning is making me pause and consider.... He writes, "These souvenirs of solitude are the love story of my walk with God." Immediately I'm drawn in. This book is gonna be good, deep, the kind where you feel the need to take notes and revisit later. (I like the Kindle app's ability to 'dog-ear' important pages.) So much I could share, especially on the idea of solitude (and how God keeps forcing me to confront this topic), but these passages caught me tonight and I wanted to share...

How difficult it is to persuade others of the value of being alone with the Lord!...Failure to recognize the value of mere being with God, as the Beloved, without doing anything, is to gouge the heart out of Christianity.

Evangelical faith is the antithesis of cozy, comfortable piety. Faith means you want growing intimacy with Jesus Christ. Cost what it may, you want to want nothing else. The moment I conclude that I can now cope with the awesome love of God, I am dead.

Not again

 
 
In May it was the wolf series by Maggie Stiefvater (actually called the Wolves of Mercy Falls series, starting with Shiver).  I was intrigued (the wolf thing again) and started reading, only to get to the end of book 2 and learn that book 3 wasn't even out yet. TORTURE. I remember saying something like..."I will never do this again! I will wait until the whole series is published before jumping into the boat next time."

Right.

 
Jump forward to July. I heard about the Solitary Series by Travis Thrasher, thought it sounded interesting, so I began....again w/o doing my homework. I got to the end of book 1 and learned it's a 4-book series, but he's only published 2 of the books so far. MORE TORTURE. This time much more b/c I really like this series, even better than the wolf series.

It's Christian young adult fiction, (not the kind that's sicky sweet--this is the dark, searching for hope kind) and it's very well-written. Since it's YA, I flew thru the 2 books in no time, but it wasn't cheap reading just b/c it's fast. It's a great story, a scary story. Some call it "Christian horror" which sounds like a hilarious genre at first, like 2 words that should not be put together in the same sentence, but it's true. He's been compared to Stephen King w/ some of his books, and I admit that it's scary. I'm a wimp. I don't watch scary movies, and I don't like to be scared in genenral, so for me, this was scary. Dark, evil-lurking-in-the-woods scary. I-don't-want-to-be-alone-while-I-read-this scary. I'm-glad-my-dog-is-here-with-me scary. See, I really am a wimp. :) (My friends will probably read these books, and laugh at me and my idea of what is scary.)

The funny part is that I was sitting in the waiting room at my doctor's office this morning, for a check-up, and he was running behind, so I read the remaining pages of book 2. And the closer and closer that I got to the end, the more I realized they weren't going to answer any of my questions, explain anything to me, only give me more to worry about, only scare me more, and make me mad! And no kidding, as I finished the last page, the nurse called my name, and we headed back to the exam room. "My blood pressure is going to be up," I told the nurse. And sure enough, it was. I told her how the book had ticked me off w/ this awful leave-you-hanging-ending, and she and the doctor had a good laugh. "Next time read something calm before you come in, ok?" That was his joke when I left. :) It's a compliment to the author to have so pulled in this reader, that I was ticked to find out the next book was not ready for me to download.

BTW, I read the Solitary Series on the Kindle app for my iPhone, and I love it. Hubby reads everything via the Kindle app on his iPad2, and we think it's the best eReader/app out there. Very user friendly and syncs between devices, and remembers where you left off, no matter which device you read on. Very nice. Makes me consider getting a Kindle. The iPhone screen is a bit small. :)

Book review (for Kate :)

 

After blogging about my start of The Hunger Games series, I somehow never returned to the subject, so here goes (for you, Kate!)....

I definitely recommend these books! I mentioned not being crazy about the dark premise of the books, and it's true that all 3 books retained that dark, sinister kind of world. But it was not completely depressing in nature, or else I would not have continued reading.  After book 1 I kept looking for redemption, for hope...well, hope came in book 2 and just got better and better. It did not end all rosy and picturesque, nor did all of the great characters survive, but people grew and matured and made the tough decisions and fought for what was right. It was a good read and worth the dark journey to get there. These books are thought-provoking and revealing of human nature, which is what any good book should do--make us take a good, long look at ourselves. 

Re-educating the next generation

I haven't been blogging about my vampire obsession lately, if only to spare you, my readers, from the sheer boredom of it all, but I assure you that at home, my obsession continues. Movies, books, online articles about the next movie, soundtracks, scores, and more. Hubby's response has been to force me to read another series besides Twilight--ie, The Hunger Games trilogy--and to turn my kids against me. Read on and sympathize.

When I asked Grace which she would rather be, a vampire or a zombie, she thought for a moment and replied, "A zombie. Because they aren't afraid of garlic. And I like garlic."

And like garlic she certainly does. But how can my own daughter be so MISinformed about vampires? They aren't afraid of garlic, as previously believed. It was all a lie!!! And they don't shrivel up and die in sunlight either--they glimmer like diamonds! What's next? She thinks they sleep in coffins???

I have so much work ahead of me...

 P.S. The Hunger Games is good! I have only read the first book so far, stopping only b/c my week has been busy, but it's a good read. My only complaint is the dark premise of the books, which is based on an event that changed both the landscape and the government of North America forever. This genre of alternate reality where massive change happens and the world is altered so drastically is popular with movies like  I Am Legend and The Book of Eli, both good movies, but very intense and I can only take so much. I don't know why. I just don't like a lot of it. It gets inside my head in a weird, unsettling sort of way. So that being said, I like the story, but do find it a bit gloomy. I will continue reading books 2 & 3 b/c maybe there is hope for change?

Another must read

Hat tip to my SIL Tara, who saw this fabulous book and immediately thought of us. A *must read* for my zombie-lovin' kids! Lewis Carroll's original book was already pretty messed up, so the addition of zombies doesn't seem so out of place. Perhaps it's even an improvement! :)

 

P.S. I'm pretty sure y'all know us enough (in a cyber sort of way) to realize that my kids don't actually watch zombie movies like Zombieland or read actual zombie stories w/ blood-n-guts and other gory stuff. Occasionally people look at me strangely when I talk about my kids liking zombies, and I know they are thinking, OH MY WORD--She is one of THOSE moms that let their kids watch scary stuff! Well, I'm not. The scariest thing my kids watch is Scooby-Doo, but they have vivid imaginations. They wouldn't know a zombie if they ran into one--HA!--but they swear they are awesome. Who am I to shatter their dreams? :)

Feeling Something

I'm always behind on trendy things and fads. I usually discover new great albums after they've been out for a year, or happen upon a good movie that's been out for a decade and wondered why no one told me. Ha! Behind the times. :) Sometimes though it's intentional. I am turned off by things that are overly popular--like the awful Titanic movie that just wouldn't sink, especially that awful Celine Dion song--and automatically have bias toward movies or books that spread like wildfire. That and as a 30 something year old, I try to avoid joining in the hysteria of screaming masses of hormonal teenage girls, if I can. :) So the Twilight saga never appealed to me in the least from the first moment I heard about it. I made fun of the story, only knowing it was sappy and about something as retarded as vampires, and giggled at women my age who raved about these books. I mean, really? Falling in love with a vampire?

 
But all that changed, and I was bitten, if you'll forgive the overt and obviously ridiculous pun. :) Actually my friend and I were bitten at the same time. We had girls' weekend and happened to catch a few minutes of Twilight on tv, the first movie in the series, and we were both intrigued. We watched the whole movie later, and we were smitten. We both spent every waking minute of the next week reading the books, watching the 3 movies that have been released so far, and listening to the soundtracks (which I might add, are impressive.) Now before you think I've lost my mind and truly fallen in love w/ a teenage vampire, let me clarify--I fell in love w/ the story, the story that is so much more than I'd given it credit for, a story that has wound up on library shelves everywhere in the "young adult/teenage" literature section, but deserves more respect that that.

Now to be fair, these books are not masterpieces of literature. They are simply written and easy-to-read (and you can fly thru 500 pages w/o even realizing it), but that shouldn't take away from the fact that they are complex and brilliantly crafted. Not to mention that they make you want to read them, like you don't have a choice. like they are calling to you. The story is beautiful in a way that you can only understand by reading the books. Beautiful and wonderful. Times magazine wrote that, "People do not want to just read Meyer's books; they want to climb inside them and live there." And I concur. As much as a grown woman can admit it, I want to be Bella, torn between her vampire love and her werewolf love, striving to protect everyone she loves, while reconciling what she feels.

Feeling may well be the operative word. These books are nothing if not sensual--not in a raw, sexual way that is usually what sells in Hollywood, but in a passionate, soul-stirring way. You cannot read these books and not FEEL something deep down in your soul.  The love story at the heart of this tale deserves more credit than a throng of screaming teenage girls holding "Team Edward" signs--this love is the stuff of legends. True, wholesome, virtuous love, the sacrificial kind that seeks what's best for the one loved, the take-me-instead kind of love, the passion and chemistry that comes around once in a lifetime if you're lucky, the looks across the room that take your breath away, the love that every girl in the world dreams of. This is a-Romeo-and-Juliet-on-steroids kind of love, minus the poison and daggers. :)

Often times love stories are too sappy and dripping with sentiment for me. I have a real hatred for "romantic" movies that are sappy just for the sake of sappy. Or worse--romantic comedies that consist of a string of sexual partners--how special is that? They make love seem cheap. But the Twilight saga is different. Sure, it's laden with emotion and tugs on your heart strings, but it's not cheap. And the love story matures thru the series. This is as  Jane Eyre was to another generation, the Casablanca of our day, and I for one am delighted to see how popular these books/movies are. It's rare to find stories aimed at teens that don't frame self-satisfaction and sexual conquest as the end-all of life. A friend told me that these books gave her hope for teen girls today, for them to feel something real, beyond the cheap stuff they are often fed. And I agree. The over-sexed MTV generation needs more stories like Twilight. And someday I will share these books w/ Grace, reread them along side my daughter, and we will both be swept away w/ the timeless story.

Maybe this seems a little overly dramatic (even for me), and perhaps this is my swept-away-voice speaking. (After all, who wouldn't love a vampire who plays the piano and composes his own pieces? Wow. :) But it's so rare that a story touches you deep inside, leaves such an impression on you, that you can never be the same afterwards. Great stories inspire you, make you cry, make you fall in love, make you feel something in the depths of who you are, and change the way you view the world. I'm not obsessed with Edward or getting a Twilight tattoo yet (or planning a trip to Forks, WA either :) but I am also not ashamed to say that these stories touched me, moved me, and it was wonderful.

Are you 'radically dependent on and desperate for' God?

I'm doing a small group study with some friends in Beth Moore's book Believing God, and I really like what Beth has written and her heart in her work. But I also love how God overlaps things, how her study intertwines with other things I'm reading right now, and points me to the same truth. Here's more good reading from Radical by David Platt...

"...two thousand years ago when believers proclaimed the name of Jesus, it caused the blind to see, the lame to walk, and the dead to rise. The name of Jesus had the power to cause evil spirits to flee and to bring the most hardened hearts to God. And the reality is, two thousand years later the power of Jesus' name is still great. The question for us, then, is whether we trust in his power. And the problem for us is that in our culture we are tempted at every turn to trust in our own power instead. So the challenge for us is to live in such a way that we are radically dependent on and desperate for the power that only God can provide."

"Radical" thoughts

Good stuff from Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream by David Platt....

"The gospel does not prompt you to mere reflection; the gospel requires a response. In the process of hearing Jesus, you are compelled to take an honest look at your life, your family, and your church and not just ask, 'What is He saying?' but also ask, 'What shall I do?' "

More good reading

Thought-provoking stuff from Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream by David Platt:  

"...we are starting to redefine Christianity. We are giving in to the dangerous temptation to take the Jesus of the Bible and twist him into a version of Jesus we are more comfortable with.

A nice, middle-class, American Jesus. A Jesus who doesn't mind materialism and who would never call us to give away everything we have. A Jesus who would not expect us to forsake our closest relationships so that he receives all our affection. A Jesus who is fine with nominal devotion that does not infringe on our comforts, because, afer all, he loves us just the way we are. A Jesus who wants us to be balanced, who wants us to avoid dangerous extremes, and who , for that matter, wants us to avoid danger altogether. A Jesus who brings us comfort and prosperity as we live out our Christian spin on the American dream.

But do you and I realize what we are doing at this point? We are molding Jesus into our image. He is beginning to look a lot like us because, after all, that is whom we are most comfortable with. And the danger now is that when we gather in our chuch buildings to sing and lift up our hands in worship, we may not actually be worshipping the Jesus of the Bible. Instead we may be worshipping ourselves."