Thursday, August 20, 2009

Book Update...

Three more books this week. First, I listened to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader from the Narnia series. It was just ok, nothing fantastic. I have several books that go along with the Narnia series, explaining the parallels between them and Christianity. It'd be interesting to be allowed to teach this in school. Maybe private school or with a group of youth. The last two chapters are FULL of the parallels. Here's one connection made in the book Roar!

"Oh, the wonders atthe World's End! A sea of flowers, a wall like a glass wave, a world behind the sun! The Dawn Treader turns back for Narnia, Reepicheep paddles on for glory, and after a last meal with Aslan, it's back to Aunt Alberta's bedroom for the children! This chapter is filled with biblical parallels. But the most profound passage is where Lewis states his reasons for bringing Lucy (and his readers) to Narnia from Earth: 'That by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.' Lucy finally says it best for everyone: 'It isn't Narnia, you know,' she sobs to Aslan, 'It's you.' For us, the wonders and everlasting delights of heaven will surely be indescribable. But nothing will surpass the joy of being at home forever with Him - Jesus, our Savior, Lord, and King."

The second book that I read is called Flipped. It's a book about two 8th graders - a boy and a girl - who are neighbors. Their relationship is an odd one and there are many battles between the two. I think if you've read Stargirl and liked it that you would like Flipped. It's a GREAT young adult book. No foul language, no inappropriate sexual tension. I hate it when a book for young teens is full of that nonsense. Overall, I loved this book. I read it VERY quickly!

The last book I read was HORRIBLE. It's called The Curious Case of the Dog in the Nighttime. I thought at first that I would really enjoy it. It's written by a man that has done a lot of work with autistic children. It's written in the perspective of an autistic child. All of that I was ok with. It does get a little tough when he talks about things that bother him (not liking people to touch him, etc.) and when he talks about students he goes to school with. However, those aren't the bad parts. It's set in England (I'm assuming the author is British) and I rarely enjoy books that are set there. The language was just awful. I know it's a completely different culture, but it was just crude. I hated that part of it. In addition, the storyline was about the murder of a dog, the boy trying to find the murderer, and how he stumbles upon the fact that his father lies to him about his mother's death. The farther I got into it, the more twisted it became! Ugh. Don't read it.

I'm working on a book now called Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie. I'll also start the sixth Narnia book this week. In addition, if you read Angie Smith's blog you know that she's started a book club. She's picked a book called Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God to read and I downloaded it yesterday. I listened to the preface today. It'll be a quick read, but I'm looking forward to it because it sounds like it deals with the new testament and how we don't live the way God intends us to live. I've been making my way through the new testament in my quiet times recently (I'm through Galatians as of today). I've never read the new testament all the way through, just bits and pieces here and there. It is TOUGH to read! I really need a study Bible that will re-state everything that I read! NIV isn't cutting it for me. I guess I need to use The Message instead!

Anyway, all that to say that I'm still trucking along through my book list. I'm getting down to the end of what I have here at home. I'm going to have to start using the library if I want to continue. I don't have any of the Pendragon series. I only own one of the Eragon series and one of the Inkheart series. I don't have any of the Maximum Ride series. We'll see how the list goes. I keep seeing new books out that I want to read. I've been holding out on buying many because A) I need another bookshelf because I'm all out of space and B) I have TONS of books at home that I've never read. We'll see if I'm able to keep this reading up after The Boy is born. (He does have a name now and we know what we're calling him. I just like that he has an alias!) I hope I'm able to!

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