So I started reading Janet Evanovich's One for the Money, from her Stephanie Plum series, and realized about half way through that I really didn't like it. Plus it was due back to the library, so I returned it. Unfinished. I'm awful. I know. Oh well.
What I did end up reading was Orson Scott Card's Homebody. I've read a couple of his Ender's series, and loved them. So when I saw Homebody at Half-Price Books, I had to get it and see what Mr. Card could do outside of spaceships and aliens. What he does when Ender isn't involved is not as good. Don't get me wrong, I liked it, but it's a little cheesy. I however enjoy a liberal spreading of cheese from time to time.
Here's the basic gist of the book: The main character, Don Lark, flips houses for a living. If you can call it living. Since his wife and daughter died in a drunken car accident, he hasn't really been living much. He's emotionally wrecked and put his energies into his job to get by. This book takes up when he comes across an old North Carolina mansion from the 1800's and decides to buy and flip it. Along the way, he falls for the realtor, meets the crazy old ladies who live next door, discovers a squatter living in the attic, and deals with a small issue of blackmail. Nothing is really going the way he likes his jobs to go. Mainly because the house is alive.
The story itself is pretty predictable, you're basically one step ahead at all times. Also, it's so heavily focused on Don's miserable feelings on the front end, that no action really happens until the back end. I kept wondering when anything was going to happen, and once it started I wondered how he could resolve it with so few pages left! But he did, and it was enjoyable, albeit very cheesy. I actually liked the characters, and I liked the whole Monster House kind of feel to it. So if you're looking for a book that has a little mystery, a little thrill, and a lot of emotional baggage, then try this one out.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
The Bookends of the Christian Life by Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington
Now onto the best book of February. The Bookends of the Christian Life is a phenomenal read for any Christian looking to find a practical way to learn and apply some basic biblical truths about walking a life that is fully reliant on the Holy Trinity. I'm fairly new to the reformed doctrine, and greatly needed and appreciated this book. (Thanks Jessica) I've spent my whole life in Americanized churches being spoon-fed a sugar coated Jesus. Because just like medicine, apparently, sugar makes everything go down easier. However, finding who God truly is has been very freeing, albeit confusing and foundation shaking. Which is good and an experience everyone needs.
Okay, now back to the point. I didn't make this blog to get into theological debates, so I'll stop now and move onto the book synopsis.
This book focuses on 2 "bookends", as they refer to it. 1.) The righteousness of Christ and 2.) The power of the Holy Spirit. It explains, with complete biblical grounding, how apart from Christ's righteousness we are completely depraved and worthless. But by the grace and mercy of God and the sacrifice of his son, we can have a relationship with the one living God. But we need to understand our sin is every present and only by leaning on Christ's righteousness daily do we have any right before God. We have to see and understand our total depravity and our total dependence on Jesus daily to be free of Gospel enemies. But with an understanding of our total dependence on Jesus, comes the need for the power of the Holy Spirit and the understanding of what it means to practice dependent responsibility and have the help of the Spirits encouragement.
Creating a summation of this book is difficult for me. It's so full of wonderful, biblical, practical gems. And I feel I most certainly did not correctly capture the description of this book. But I urge any and all to get a copy of this book and read it. If I could afford to, I'd buy it for everyone. It's that good... even for a theological simpleton like me!
Okay, now back to the point. I didn't make this blog to get into theological debates, so I'll stop now and move onto the book synopsis.
This book focuses on 2 "bookends", as they refer to it. 1.) The righteousness of Christ and 2.) The power of the Holy Spirit. It explains, with complete biblical grounding, how apart from Christ's righteousness we are completely depraved and worthless. But by the grace and mercy of God and the sacrifice of his son, we can have a relationship with the one living God. But we need to understand our sin is every present and only by leaning on Christ's righteousness daily do we have any right before God. We have to see and understand our total depravity and our total dependence on Jesus daily to be free of Gospel enemies. But with an understanding of our total dependence on Jesus, comes the need for the power of the Holy Spirit and the understanding of what it means to practice dependent responsibility and have the help of the Spirits encouragement.
Creating a summation of this book is difficult for me. It's so full of wonderful, biblical, practical gems. And I feel I most certainly did not correctly capture the description of this book. But I urge any and all to get a copy of this book and read it. If I could afford to, I'd buy it for everyone. It's that good... even for a theological simpleton like me!
Revelations by Melissa de la Cruz
This is the 3rd book in Melissa de la Cruz's Blue Bloods series. I read the first 2 last year, but never read the 3rd or 4th because they've not been available at my library. But I went back a week ago and saw it there, so I decided to pick the series up again and try to finish it. The first 2 books were okay. They had potential, but Melissa de la Cruz is not a very good writer in my opinion. She had an idea that could have been good, but she went out far into left field with some cockamamie plot, her characters are flat, and her upper crust life in the New York/Hollywood scene has influenced her topically, which I just can't relate to and don't want to try to either. I try not to judge, but if her characters are this fickle and full of themselves, then I shudder to think of their creator. Not only do I dislike the characters and their lifestyles, I dislike the fallen angels/reincarnation story line. I can deal with some Godless literature, but something about this nonsense got under my skin. This 3rd book was a waste of my time. I am usually one to complete a series, even if I don't like it, but I have no desire to get the 4th one. I don't care what happens to the characters. I don't care what romances work out and who messes up their reincarnated vampire souls. I don't care who get the next modeling gig or who gets the next hot dress straight of the French catwalks. I just don't care.
But since I just handed you a hot steaming cup of my opinion, and that's not the only point of my blog, I guess I should summarize what this book was about. See, the stories been set up from the other books, so this might not make sense. But who cares, it sucked anyways. Schuyler(pronounced Skylar... stupid spelling, right!) Van Alan is an "outcast" weirdo socialite who is also a half vampire, half human, and even a little bit angelic outcast. (Her mom is Gabrielle, the arch-angel... yeah I know. And her dad is a, say it ain't so, dead human guy!) Her mom's in a coma in some upper crust NYC hospital because she was dumb and boffed a human guy, getting pregnant and breaking her silly reincarnated, angelic, vampiric, predetermined bond to the other arch-angel Micheal. Yeah, I know. Well the evil that has been about for all of eternity, the Silver Bloods, aka Lucifer and the angels who didn't want to try to gain back God's favor (I know, more and more blasphemous. Sheesh.) are going around trying to suck the life outta the Blue Bloods. You know, the "good" fallen angel/vampires who think they can gain back God's favor by being shallow socialites who take on human familiars (aka blood whores) for snacking on and doing other things with, and most of the time w/out their knowledge. Good way to get on God's good side, eh? Oh and don't forget the whole boffing each other thing too. And in this book, the battle between the Blues and Silvers comes to a boiling, shiny, fashionable, traveling to exotic locations, head. Which leads to secrets revealed, people dying, and a really weird make-out scene between the 2 shiniest, richest, characters; who also happen to be brother and sister in this life cycle. Yeah, I know. So it's stupid. Avoid it and save yourself, okay. I wish I had. :/
But since I just handed you a hot steaming cup of my opinion, and that's not the only point of my blog, I guess I should summarize what this book was about. See, the stories been set up from the other books, so this might not make sense. But who cares, it sucked anyways. Schuyler(pronounced Skylar... stupid spelling, right!) Van Alan is an "outcast" weirdo socialite who is also a half vampire, half human, and even a little bit angelic outcast. (Her mom is Gabrielle, the arch-angel... yeah I know. And her dad is a, say it ain't so, dead human guy!) Her mom's in a coma in some upper crust NYC hospital because she was dumb and boffed a human guy, getting pregnant and breaking her silly reincarnated, angelic, vampiric, predetermined bond to the other arch-angel Micheal. Yeah, I know. Well the evil that has been about for all of eternity, the Silver Bloods, aka Lucifer and the angels who didn't want to try to gain back God's favor (I know, more and more blasphemous. Sheesh.) are going around trying to suck the life outta the Blue Bloods. You know, the "good" fallen angel/vampires who think they can gain back God's favor by being shallow socialites who take on human familiars (aka blood whores) for snacking on and doing other things with, and most of the time w/out their knowledge. Good way to get on God's good side, eh? Oh and don't forget the whole boffing each other thing too. And in this book, the battle between the Blues and Silvers comes to a boiling, shiny, fashionable, traveling to exotic locations, head. Which leads to secrets revealed, people dying, and a really weird make-out scene between the 2 shiniest, richest, characters; who also happen to be brother and sister in this life cycle. Yeah, I know. So it's stupid. Avoid it and save yourself, okay. I wish I had. :/
Flirt by Laurell K Hamilton
I've been off the computer for 2 weeks, so I'm behind on my posting. This is my catch up day for my February reading.
I haven't been allowing myself to buy books so far this year. It's a weakness of mine and I spend hundreds of dollars a year on them. But I finally caved and bought Laurell K Hamilton's most recent addition to the large Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series (#18). This little novella, at under 200 pages, was very entertaining, albeit a touch cheese-tastic. Since it was so short, just a side story in Anita's life, it was chock full of action and very little "smut". Don't get me wrong, I don't mind (and sometimes even enjoy) reading a good naughty scene as much as the next lady. But Hamilton is an amazing writer and I enjoy her stories and mysteries and action scenes far more then her descriptive frolics in the sack. (Or car, or field, or cemetery caretakers shack in this case.) So in Flirt we get to see Anita doing her job as a necromancer, AKA zombie raiser. This book has a couple of "tough" customers that give Anita a hard time over why she must ignore her morals and raise their dearly departed. Thankfully she has her entourage to comfort her when life is less then comfy... and this book definitely makes Anita less then comfy. It's a little predictable and hands over yet another interesting addition to Anita's very full dance card. I'm really curious how this little novella is going to affect Anita's very near future. The next novel in the series, Bullet, comes out in June and I am more then ready for it.
I haven't been allowing myself to buy books so far this year. It's a weakness of mine and I spend hundreds of dollars a year on them. But I finally caved and bought Laurell K Hamilton's most recent addition to the large Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series (#18). This little novella, at under 200 pages, was very entertaining, albeit a touch cheese-tastic. Since it was so short, just a side story in Anita's life, it was chock full of action and very little "smut". Don't get me wrong, I don't mind (and sometimes even enjoy) reading a good naughty scene as much as the next lady. But Hamilton is an amazing writer and I enjoy her stories and mysteries and action scenes far more then her descriptive frolics in the sack. (Or car, or field, or cemetery caretakers shack in this case.) So in Flirt we get to see Anita doing her job as a necromancer, AKA zombie raiser. This book has a couple of "tough" customers that give Anita a hard time over why she must ignore her morals and raise their dearly departed. Thankfully she has her entourage to comfort her when life is less then comfy... and this book definitely makes Anita less then comfy. It's a little predictable and hands over yet another interesting addition to Anita's very full dance card. I'm really curious how this little novella is going to affect Anita's very near future. The next novel in the series, Bullet, comes out in June and I am more then ready for it.
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