52 Books in 52 Weeks: Books 32-45: The Final Wrap-up

Well, once again I'm coming to the end of the year falling a bit short of the 52 book goal, but I'm less concerned about that than I was last year.  Lately I'm becoming more concerned about the quality of the books I'm reading than the quantity.  I started out the year with a goal of reading 12 classics and completing the Educated Mind Challenge, and can only count "A Midsummernight's Dream" and maybe "To Kill A Mockingbird" (is that one considered a classic?) toward the 12 classics.  Oh, well.  A new year, is a new chance to begin again.

Here are the books I've read over the last few months:

The Lost Books - By Ted Dekker

This is a series of 6 Young Adult novels that go with the Circle books.  They are quite good.

Heaven is For Real - By Todd Burpo

I picked this up out of curiosity, to see if it would clear up my ambivalent skepticism about this family's story.  It didn't.  Interesting read, though.

To Kill A Mockingbird - By Harper Lee

I really can't explain why I'd never read this classic novel before, except that I grew up in the Midwest.  Maybe it just isn't considered as significant there as is in the South.  But, if you haven't read this, you're doing yourself a disservice.

The Litigators - By John Grisham

It's been awhile since I read this, and I've honestly forgotten quite a bit of it.  I remember that it was entertaining, but not as good as "The Confession".

The Bride Price - Tracey Jane Jackson

This is an historical fiction/romance novel set in the civil war.  It's the first a series & it was a free on my Kindle.  It was OK - I like historical fiction, but I'm not a big romance reader.  I haven't gone back to fork out real money for the sequel. 

Entangled - by Barbara Ellen Brink

Like the Bride Price, this was another free Kindle Book that is first in a series, and I haven't gone out to buy the sequel.  Not yet, anyway.  I did like this one a little better because it was  a mystery/crime novel, and that's a little more up my alley.  But, it was pretty predictable and the protagonist was not a very likable character, so, I'm still undecided about paying for the next one.

Ryann Watters and the Kings Sword & 

Ryan Watters and the Sheild of Faith - by Eric Reinhold

These are two absolutely fantastic children's fantasy novels written by Eric Reinhold, whose goal is to engage children in biblically based, family friendly fiction.  He has done a phenomenal job in these two books about 12 year old Ryann Watters who, in the first book is given a task by the angel Gabriel to visit the mythical land of Aeliana to retrieve the missing King's sword.  The books are very well written and thoroughly engaging for children from around the age of 7-8 & possibly up through the teenage years.

These first two books are currently being made into a movie ( or movies? ) and there are 5 more books planned, I believe.  You can get more information about these books & the movie plans at this website.

Mary's Son - by Darryl Nyznyk

This was an entertaining little Christmas story that I would say is more of a children's story.  It was another free Kindle book & wasn't advertised as a children's book, but that's the general feeling of the story. A man named Nicholas shows up around Christmastime & intervenes in the lives of some very unhappy people.  He makes no secret of the fact that he is Santa Clause.  Some people think he's crazy.  Others truly believe...

Well, there it is.  It's right around 9:00 pm EST on December 31st, 2011 & I'm finally getting my last post of the year up. 

Happy New Year!

Sojourner

52 Books in 52 Weeks: Book 31: "House" by Frank Peretti & Ted Dekker

Two traveling couples are stranded on the same night and end up at The Wayside Inn - a deserted stop off a backwoods road in rural Alabama.  At first, the inn looks pleasant enough though their hosts seem a bit strange.  But their dinner conversation becomes tense, and then the acutal meal becomes even worse.  And that is just the beginning of a night when they are forced to play a horrible game & the house itself begins to turn on them. 

So far, I would rank this book at the bottom of the ones I have read by Dekker.  It's been a long time since I've read anything by Peretti.  I read "This Present Darkness" when it came out years ago, but I don't think I've read anything of his since.  This book was a bit disappointing because the whole plot seemed so formulaic for a horror story.  Strangers come together into what turns into a high stress environment.  A killer pits them against one another.  Events in their past that they have tried to bury are revealed & used against them.  You check into a hotel, but you cannot check out.  Welcome to the Hotel California....or is that the Roach Motel?   

I understand there is a movie based on this book.  I wondered if that was even part of the plan as the book was written, because the end of the book certainly seems to set you up for a sequel. 

One element I did like was the one foreshadowed in the quote on the first page before the prologue - "The light came into the darkness, but the darkness did not understand it."  I thought the way that was developed in the story was interesting.

Ok for a run-of-the-mill horror/suspense novel.  But not one of my favorites.

Sojourner

52 Books in 52 Weeks: Book 30: "Thr3e" By Ted Dekker

Seminary student Kevin Parsons receives a chilling call on his cell phone as he is heading down the highway.  A man calling himself Slater claims to be from Kevin's past, and demands that Kevin call the local newspaper and confess his deepest secret sin in 3 minutes...or Slater will blow his car to bits.  The problem is, Kevin has no idea what sin Slater is talking about.  And he barely manages to get his car into a ditch and get safely out before the car indeed explodes three minutes later.  This is only the beginning of a sinister game that Slater plays with Kevin - teasing him with riddles & driving him crazy trying to get him to confess this sin that Kevin can't remember.  Who is Slater, and what is he after?

I ruined some of the suspense of this book for myself by going on Amazon and reading reviews from a few dissatisfied readers who didn't like the ending & decided to reveal it in their reviews.  However, there was still plenty to enjoy in this masterful work of psychological suspense and mystery crafted by Dekker.  In this case, he has managed to take an interesting view of the basic human condition and turn it into a thriller.  Personally, I thought the ending was brilliant.  But if you're going to read this and you want to save the surprises for the end - don't read the negative reviews on Amazon.

Sojourner

52 Books in 52 Weeks: Book 29: "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult

The morning of March 6, 2007 was peaceful and calm in the quiet little town of Sterling, New Hampshire.  That is, until Peter Houghton walked into the high school and opened fire on fellow students and teachers, killing 10 and wounding 19 others. A shattered and grieving town slowly begins to pick up the pieces. Alex Cormier is one parent who counts herself lucky that her daughter Josie survived the incident with merely a scratch.  Alex is also the sitting superior court judge for the district, and plans to preside over Peter Houghton's trial. Since Josie was not injured, her objectivity will not be an issue.  But, as the investigation and trial discovery continues, surprising things come to light about Josie's involvement with Peter Houghton in the past.

What I really love about Picoult's novels is the way she takes an issue with simplified cultural stereotypes (i.e. school shooters are always kids with severe emotional problems and neglectful parents) and broadens them, helping the reader to think more deeply about these issues.  Can the responsibility for incidents like these be placed solely on the shooter and his parents? Or on school officials?  What about the parents of the victims, who looked the other way when their kids were viciously bullying this boy from kindergarten on?  School bullying was a big theme in this novel, and Picoult shows how, particularly in a small town, kids can get stuck with an identity others put on them from a very early age, and feel trapped.  I know if I hear of another school shooting in the media (and, unfortunately, I'm sure that's a "when" not an "if"), this novel will remind me that the issues and causes go so much deeper than any soundbite we're going to hear on TV.  

Sojourner

52 Books in 52 Weeks: Book 28: "Directed Virdict" by Randy Singer

Charles Reed, a Christian missionary in Saudi Arabia, is brutally tortured and murdered by the Muttawah - the Saudi religious police.  They also abuse his wife and frame the couple; accusing them of being at the head of a ring of cocaine dealers who are using their network of underground churches to distribute the drug.  Sara escapes and is extradited to the United States.  There she obtains the young Brad Carlson as her the legal council.  Before long, Carlson finds himself embroiled in a legal battle that will threaten the very fabric of US foreign relations in the middle east.  And, it causes divisions in his own practice.  Leading him to wonder who he can really trust...

I throughly enjoyed this novel.  It was full of twists and turns, and kept me guessing until the end. It was the first one I've read by Singer & I'm glad I found him.  He's written a number of other legal dramas.  That's one of my favorite genres, so I'll be sure to add some more of his works to my list.

Sojourner

52 Books in 52 Weeks: Book 27: "The Winter of our Disconnect" by Susan Maushart

Imagine swearing off TV, computers, internet, gaming machines, and cell phones - all forms of modern media consumption.  For six months.  Could you and your family handle it?

Susan Maushart, a journalist and single mother, living with her three teenagers in Perth, Australia did just that.  In January of 2009, she pulled the plug on her family's completely "plugged in" lifestyle, and they went offline (at home) for 6 months.  They were allowed to leave the house and use internet cafes for her work, and for her kids' homework.  And her kids were allowed to use the internet at their friends' houses.   But at home, they went back to using landline phones and reading and playing board games for entertainment.

The results of what they came to call "The Experiment" should not really be surprising to any of us.  They started eating more meals together, taking longer at those meals, and talking to each other more.  The kids had no more TVs or computers in their rooms, so they weren't gulping down their food to get back to their own individualized entertainment.   They got more sleep.  The kids started to do better in school.  Her 16 year old son who had been completely addicted to gaming and not much else rediscovered his love of playing the saxophone.  

Throughout the book, Maushart adds entries from her personal journal, which she kept throughout the experience.  She also covers a lot of the current research on media and its impact on us. The one thing I disliked about this book was the chatty, casual style in which it was written.  Maushart punctuates much of her writing in this book with LOLs, WTFs, OMGs  and :-) s, which I've seen plenty of online & don't need to see in a print publication.  

All in all, this is an interesting read and very relevant given the pervasive nature of media in our world.  Though nothing that she writes is really original - regarding her thoughts as far as how to control media in our homes - the lengths she went to in order to control it in her home are impressive.

Sojourner

52 Books in 52 Weeks: Books 23-26: The Circle Series by Ted Dekker

I have to admit I've been putting off reviewing this series for more than a week, because it I hardly know what to say about this - except that I couldn't put it down.  Ted Dekker has created a fantasy thriller series that could be considered a combination of the TV series "24" & The Lord Of the Rings.  I can't put Dekker on par with Tolkien - this doesn't match the depth and beauty of Tolkien's writing, by any stretch.  But the fantasy flavor is there.

As "Black" begins, Thomas Hunter is running from the mob on the streets of Denver.  A bullet knocks him out.  When he wakes up, he is in a dark forest filled with huge, black bats that are chasing him.  A white bat leads him out of the dark forest, across a river, and into to a beautiful colored forest.  In this dream land, Thomas enters a world where the people are living safely in Elyon's (God's) land, and good and evil are clearly visible.  All that is good is bright and colorful, and all that is evil is black.  When he goes back to sleep, he wakes up in Denver again.  At first, he believes Elyon's land was just a dream.  But, each time he goes to sleep in Denver, he wakes in Elyon's land, and he begins to wonder which is reality and which is a dream.   And then he finally begins to suspect that both are real...

So beings the saga of Thomas Hunter, who eventually discovers the powerful books of history referenced in the Paradise Trilogy.  I read Black/Red/White - the first three novels in one book, and it's hard for me to imagine stopping at the end of "Black" or "Red" without running out immediately to pick up the next one.  The events in the book "Green" take place 10 years after the end of "White", and technically, it is both the beginning and the end of the series.  So, you could read Green first, but personally, I found it very satisfying to read Green last. It was putting together all the pieces of the puzzle and answering many of the questions that had come up in the first three books.   

I'm going to have to take a little breather from Dekker for a while, but I'm now a fan and I still have a couple more of his books on my list.

Sojourner