I need these reminders every day…Lord, make me more like You, and enable me to hold fast to these bits of wisdom so that I can better love, serve, and bless my husband.

April Book Haul

The Great Gatsby
By: F. Scott Fitzgerald
I know that I was assigned to read this book in high school, but I don’t think I actually did the reading. Either that or I did read it and it didn’t leave a lasting impression upon me, similar to now. I know it’s a classic, but I can’t say I see why. Please, please, please, don’t tell me it’s because it is a love story. It’s not! Gatsby is obsessed with Daisy, and that’s not called being in love people; it’s called being a stalker. At the end of the book there was an obvious lack of closure that made me feel like this story is a waste of time. The main characters were infuriating. They are fickle and spoiled, and I also think some of them could have been diagnosed as mentally unstable. They walked through life with entitled attitudes, allowing them to think they could do whatever they want. Even if people got hurt in the process. They were rude to most, including each other. The friendship (if you can call it that) that the five main characters shared was incredibly shallow and entirely self-centered. They all only wanted relationships that they themselves could get something out of. Ugh. Why do we encourage youth, or anyone for that matter to read about that? This story, in its entirety, lacks morals of any kind. All the married couples described in the story are all involved in affairs with other men/women. So, yes, please hand this over to our impressionable high schoolers, and ask them to study the depth of a book about adultery. It’s madness! Ok, stepping down from the soap box now…

Black
By: Ted Dekker
I was begged to read this book. I was told that it was epic and intense. Sadly, I cannot agree. It was, for lack of a better word, odd. I felt as though Dekker was trying too hard to make it a great piece of fiction and he fell short in doing that. There was a serious lack of character development. And there were very few likable characters in the story. I think my least favorite thing about this story was the alternate world that is called “the colored forest”. It was far too Alice and Wonderland-ish for my taste. The idea of the great romance that is supposed to happen in order for people to fall in love is awkward beyond belief. It’s handled so immaturely, as if the characters are junior high kids trying to pursue a lifelong relationship. Seriously poorly executed! I wish I had better things to say about this story. I really tried to like it. But in the end, it just was not my kind of book.

An earthquake, a civil war, and an act of terrorism. All in the last three days. It’s no coincidence! It’s a call for our world and our nation to wake up and turn to JESUS! Philippians 2:10-11 #Heistheway

Attacking The Excess Of Evil

Filth & Evil: they each pretend to fill a hole or void in our lives that was intended by God to give the Word room to grow. The devil uses sin to keep us from knowing Christ more. But with the strength of God we are able to cast away our sinful desires and embrace righteousness. Sinning will never make us more like Christ!

So put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls.
-James 1:21

We tend to take God’s message to us and hang it around someone else’s neck, but its first target was our own souls. We need humility to really hear and accept a word from the Lord. Receive the Word, listen to His words, and welcome them!

March Book Haul

The Line (The Line, Book #1)
By: Teri Hall
I was surprised by this book, but also slightly let down. On the upside, it is much more realistic than I expected it to be. As far as dystopian novels go,  I can never quite imagine what we know now becoming what they describe. In The Line, however, I was able to see how likely it would be that life as we know it could become life as they know it. The premise is simple; the government was at war and in hopes to “protect” the people they were essentially stripped of all their rights. Men are called to serve and protect. Outside of work, money is rationed, and the government is capable of watching your every move. Totally possible. Or at least, I think so. The only part not so realistic is the line. The line that separates the U.S. from a place that has been renamed, Away. And Away is shrouded in quite a bit of mystery. Quite an intriguing story. Not overly dramatic or childish. On the downside, it was far shorter than what I anticipated. It read only about 152 pages. It makes it an easy read, but also caused me to wonder if a bit more effort or detail could have been added to help lengthen and deepen the story. And the lack of information could quite possibly be a strategic move to get readers to pick up the second book.  I am hopeful that in the next two installments they rectify things in terms of more information.

Away (The Line, Book #2)
By: Teri Hall
The concept of The Line trilogy is a good one. Unfortunately, I find that it is poorly executed. There needs to be more depth. More backstory. And more development. Everything from the first book to this one is so bing-bang-boom, then it’s done. The story itself is enjoyable to read but I was never able to lose myself in it because I don’t feel like Hall did a good enough job at constructing a world in which I could fall into. Like I said, I enjoyed reading this book, but I think that maybe it’s for a younger audience. I would suggest 6th-8th grade. It is appropriate for that age group as well. It’s a good stepping-stone book for younger youth to read and comprehend, and then move on to deeper young adult stories. In comparison to the previous book, the narration is quite different. I found myself being confused about which character was describing the scene. It switches too much between the cast, causing the story to lack fluidity. Although, I am intrigued with how book two ends. It leaves things open for an interesting conclusion in book three. New conflicts, I think, are definitely about to arise. Now, if only they would set a release date for The Island, because the elusive ‘2013’ is not satisfying my curiosity.

When Sinners Say “I Do”
By: Dave Harvey
I love, love, LOVE books on marriage! I am married, and I am quiet passionate about how to walk through marriage in a Godly, Christ-centered way. I has discovered this book while listening to a friend teaching one Wednesday night, talking about sin, and he mentioned a quote from this book that says, “Til sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.” That simple truth really resonated with me and I wrote down the title of the book and when out to get it. I just knew that it was one that I needed to read. Throughout reading the first half of the book I was underlining and making notes like mad. harvey was really centered with his focus on marriage and that he is writing a book on marriage. Discussing what the bible says about it, what the bible says about husbands, about wives, and sharing stories about what the Lord has showed him and his wife throughout their many years of marriage. Then, he came to the topic of grace in your marriage, which is a great thing to walk in, grow in, learn about, and understand. And that chapter was an insightful one. But then every single chapter after that was about grace. Not about grace and marriage. Just grace. It made me feel as though the author had run out of material/inspiration at that point. The majority of the book no longer was about marriage. He lost his focus and that was a little disappointing. The book was still great though! I would absolutely suggest it to other married or engaged couples.

Feed (Newsflesh, #1)
By: Mira Grant
Lame. What a sad excuse for a zombie novel. I mean, if you’re going to categorize your book as one about the living dead, you should probably deliver on that front! It started off well enough with a zombie chase scene, however scattered and unorganized it was. But then, we dont get another exciting zombie moment for over a hundred pages, and then not another until the end of the book. These zombies show up, then the conflict is over, and SNAP, back to what the story is actually about; being a news blogger on a presidential campaign. Very smooth Grant, get our attention with something entertaining like zombies and then throughout the rest of the story push your agenda. There were so many things that I disliked about this novel. The characters were the most immature, intelligent people I’ve come across. They’re personalities were extremely unlikeable. Even thought the three main characters were supposedly best friends and were all each other had, they treated one another with such disrespect, bordering on contempt. It was a weird and unsettling story to read.

The Host
By: Stephenie Meyer
Preface: I am not a Twilight fan. Not the books, not the movies, not the actors in the movies, none of it. I just can’t put up with the fandom. Sorry.
I had never before read a Stephenie Meyer book, for reasons stated above. I knew she had released this book a while ago about something other than vampires. I didn’t look into the premise for it, although I gathered from the title and the cover that it was about aliens in some way, shape, or form. Flash forward to this last week and I see a preview for the movie version. It was intriguing. Well, more than that, I saw it and knew that I had to see it. But, I don’t see movies that are books without reading them first. I borrowed The Host from a friend, and finished it in about three days. Boy, was it a long book or what?! Not in a bad way, just so much information and detail. Meyer had her work cut out for her. She really tries hard to create a new idea for the world we already live in. As far as I’m concerned, she succeeded. I was easily transported into another place that I became familiar with through her storytelling. While she isn’t the best writer I’ve come across, her need for improvement didn’t deter me from the pleasure of reading. Her ability to narrate is very strong. I loved the vantage point that The Host is told from. The inner conversations between host and soul were some of my favorite moments. Clever and witty at times, then emotional and raging at other moments. I didn’t find this book to be overly dramatic or annoying in that sense. I enjoyed the appropriate amount of passion that was displayed. It’s more mature than I presume Meyer’s previous works to be. Our main character was not some self-deprecating teenager that thought of nothing other than love. She was strong, self-sacrificing, modest, and kind. It was refreshing to read that.  Many people want to compare books and movies and stories to ones that have been told in the past. I try not to do that. We all draw inspiration from stories that we come across. It’s what we do with the ideas, the way we tweak or change or make them our own that means something. So while some think this is just another story about an alien invasion, you’re missing the author’s point. You’re not understanding the depth of the story, because surprisingly, it was not surface level. I applaud the amount of character development that took place. The heart attitudes that were called into question and became humbled, and then redeemed. Solid stuff.