I guess today we are seeing things change as well. The way news is given and spread has changed from just being what we read in the paper or hear on the news. The people who not very long ago controlled what news we heard, how we heard it, and when we heard it are now struggling to keep up with the exchange of information on Twitter and Facebook. I watch the news and hear reports on various people of interest's Facebook statuses, or recent Tweets. Really do I need the news at all? Couldn't I follow these people on Twitter or Facebook myself? Isn't the time I spend listening to people, on major network news, sit in pride as they "report" on statuses just wasted time? Still, even as I say that, I feel that there are certain reputable news agencies that actually give us really important information. Yet, again even as I say that, I know that my Dad just returned from Nepal. The first day he was there a church was bombed by Hindus. I am not really sure if anyone reported this information in the United States. I do know that I didn't hear about it, until he came home and told me, and he only knew because he was there! Shouldn't we as citizen's of the United States of America care about people who are being attacked for being Christians, no matter where they live in the world, Especially since we live in the country where freedom of religion was pioneered?
Anyway what would Mark Twain think about the exchange of news and information, which is nearly instantaneous on the internet? Especially considering that he worked for hours and hours, as a printer for a small town newspaper just to get each page slowly, and laboriously ready for the sharing of news. I think he would have appreciated that information was readily available, but it's just a guess.
I wonder what Mark Twain would have thought of Texting. I know that he absolutely HATED grammatical errors. He had a great love of languages. He liked to learn about their make-up, and grammatical rules. (I really find him interesting and love many things about his writing, but I don't really get this interest! I hate grammar....Ugh how boring! I would much rather read about Huck floating down the Mississippi, Tom attending his own funeral, or a Connecticut Yankee in King Author's Court than study present participles, correct ending marks for sentences, and when to capitalize.) Personally, I feel like his love for grammar had a lot to do with his desire to feel like he was good enough, smart enough, and the fact that he fought with a fear of failure all his life. Unfortunately for me, I have never personally met Mark Twain (although, when I visited Hannibal I did meet a dude dressed up like him) anyway, I not really and truly friends with him, so that's just guess. I wonder if Twain, with his love for grammar would have hated the abbreviations used in texting? Would he have studied the grammatical "rules" of texting? Would he have bought a textionary? Would he have written a book in texting dialogue? I think so, I don't think he could have resisted satirizing texting! Maybe he would have done something like my mother-in-law. Once I was iming her and said, "ttyl" and "lol". So she wrote, "hoamihtgttbr". I was like "WHAT?!" And she said, "Hang On A Minute I Have To Go To The BathRoom."
I know that Mark Twain kept many notebooks throughout his life. Today we blog. I know that he was a great man of letters. Throughout his life he corresponded with many people, friends, family members, women that he loved, and even with enemies and rivals. Many times the letters exchanged with enemies and rivals were shared via letters posted in newspapers for all to read! Today we write on each other walls, comment on notes, im, and complain about each other on our status.
I do know that Twitter has nothing on Mark Twain! He was "tweeting" with literary greats long before computers or cell phones even existed. Many of the letters he wrote talked about people he had been "twittering" with. Back then it just meant they were discussing, chatting, and passing time. Guess that's what it means today, and it's not really all that much different from what they were doing back then! They just had to work harder to do it.
Most of the characters in the book turn out completely differently then I had expected, and best of all, it has a great message for young girls. I hate those books that teach kids that they have to find the perfect prince and then their lives will be happily ever after. I think girls should learn to be happy with themselves before they worry about finding a prince. Well, this book doesn't pull that stuff. I would definitely recommend this book to parents of younger kids.
Just got done reading "Peculiar Treasures" and "On a Whim" by Robin Jones Gunn. I didn't realize when I first started this series that it is a series that goes with some other books this writer has written. It looks like she started with the Christy Miller series, then Christy and Todd; the College Years, Sierra Jenson, and then Katie Weldon Series. So, if you wanted to read them all, you would probably want to start with the Christy Miller. I don't know if I will bother to go back and read them all, since now that I started these I already know where Christy and Sierra have ended up so far. Still while this series goes along with the others, it stands alone just fine. She gives enough history to be updated and enjoy the books just fine.
My favorite part about the books was the main character, Katie Weldon. She is a fun, quirky, cute character. As well as being well-flawed. I like to read about a character that isn't perfect, does stupid things, loses a temper sometimes, has issues…because that is real. I feel like I can learn how to live better when I read about someone else who isn't perfect learning how to live better. I also liked some of the little qualities that the author gave to Katie, they were ones I could relate to. For instance, Katie is a big bargain hunter, I loved a part of the second book involving garlic-butter popcorn that she bought at garage sale! It cracked me up that she was going to feed her friend food that she bought a garage sale, without telling her! I have to say buying food a garage sale, maybe where I draw the line! It was a fun part of the book though. I got the feeling that the author really enjoyed and liked this character as she wrote her.
There was something the author seemed to overdue that annoyed me a little, too many metaphors! Some of them bordered on silly. I am all for using literary elements such as this, but to a point, it can be overdone. In the first book, she used the metaphor of "Peculiar Treasures" and how we are a peculiar treasure to God, and how he puts peculiar treasures into our lives. This was a cool metaphor which she backed up with Scripture, it was the title of the book, and well-done. There was another that started off a little cool about an old Hawaiian proverb, and the "ripening" of a relationship. But it ended up with women in the book calling their husband "Gummy Bears" and their relationships with their boyfriends "Gummy" or "Not Gummy". That just went too far and made it really silly! There was like 3-4 pages at the beginning where Katie talks to her boyfriend about driving in the slow lane, switching to a fast lane, and turning on turn signals. This was all meant to represent the level of commitment in their relationship and how quickly their relationship was progressing. As I was reading it I was thinking that it was too silly. Then to make it worse the metaphor was carried on throughout the whole book! UGH! I am sorry but who really talks to their boyfriends like that? And what boyfriend actually sits there and participates in a conversation like that? If I started talking to my husband like that, he would soon by rubbing his temples, turning up the volume on the basketball game, and just nodding and saying "Mmm-uhm". It wouldn't be a long time at all before he would have totally turned off the volume on what I am going on and on about and would not be listening at all! Guys don’t think like that. I would like to see a writer, who decided to write about real men, who act like real men, and that's ok that they act like real men, why not? I think it would be refreshing. Not that it is not okay to read sometimes just for fun, about unrealistic men and relationships. But when the guys are constantly unrealistic I feel like it just puts ideas of how men and relationships should be in women's mind that aren't real.
Still, with all that said, I would recommend these books. The writer pointed out some really great Scripture references, made me think about a lot of different topics as far as Christian living is concerned, I learned a lot. On top of all this, it was a good piece of fiction, that was interesting and held my attention. They are definitely worth the read.
by Jeanne DuPrau
Recently we watched the movie "The City of Embers" and it was so GOOD! I hadn't read the book yet, but the movie was so good that I had to go and get the book to read. Not to mention I also ended up having to buy the movie as well. If I would let him, Calvin would probably watch it like 5 or 6 times a day!!
The books was pretty good, but I have to say that I noticed right away that the author wasn't only writing about a dying city, the writer was saying a lot more. So, I am going to break it all down, but I want to warn you first that this blog is going to contain major spoilers. If you haven't read the book, and want to be surprised then I would quit reading my blog, read the book, then come back read the blog, and tell me if you agree.
So
Now
I
Am
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To
Type
One
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0n
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That way people who don't want to see spoilers won't have, guess I'm just nice that way :-)
The City of Embers is a post-apocalyptic city that was built underground, to protect people from disaster. The writer doesn't really say what kind of disaster destroyed the earth. I pretty much got the idea that it was many things; environmental disaster, wars, etc, etc. The Builders (of the city) left the people with only enough knowledge to survive. Deliberately leaving out knowledge of how to leave. The City of Embers is an underground city. Just image living, deep, deep, deep under the earth. The only source of light at all is electric light bulbs which are powered by a dying generator. A generator that no one in the city understands how to fix, they only know how to use it, not fix it. They don't even know what fire is, knowing how to make and control fire would provide a way to escape.
The writer is really just talking about so much more then an adventure of two twelve-year-olds out to save a city. The writer is clearly trying to say some things about our own lives, society, governments, educational system, and most of all, our belief systems.
CITY OF EMBERS OUR SOCIETY
Builders God
Darkness Why are we here? What is our purpose?
Believers Christians
Escape Survival/Purpose
I felt like the writer was saying that the builders of Ember put them in this city and then just left them there. I feel like the writer is saying that God created the earth, and then left us here to fend for ourselves.
Outside of the city everything is darkness. Just try and imagine the darkness, real darkness. I am so thankful that God has created this beautiful earth with light sources so that we are not stuck in darkness. I think about when we have visited caves, and it is complete blackness. If you literally had to live in a place like that, you would go crazy. In Ember every night the generator is turned off and the people are in complete blackness for the whole night. I can't even imagine, think if you had to get up and go to the bathroom, complete darkness. They don't have flashlights, they don’t have matches, they don’t even have fire. They have no traveling light. If they try to leave the city before long they are completely and utterly surrounded by the utter darkness! Now, think about the fact that the people know that the generator is dying, they know their clothes and fabrics that they have been using over and over by generations of people for ever 200 years (which by the way how many years old is United States) are wearing thin, they know that their food is running out. There are many different kinds of foods that they don't even have anymore, the little girl in the book had never even tasted pineapple it had run out before she was born. Their library is only filled with knowledge that will help them STAY in the city. What is a boat? They have heard the word, passed down by people that were in they city when it was built, but have no idea what it means. They have heard the phrase "All in the same boat" what could this mean, they can only guess, because they don't what a boat is. Clearly the darkness represents the question of why are we here? What is our purpose? What more is there after this life? I really feel the author asking why did God put us on this dying earth, with bad things happening all around us?
The City of Embers has people called believers. The writers doesn't really give a specific answer as to what the believers believe. I got the impression that the believers believe in the builders, who were meant to represent God. When bad things happen they believers just sing and hope. The generator dies out in the middle of the day, leaving a city of people walking around in complete blackness. Getting separated from their families, children and wondering if the generator is going to turn back on this time, or will this be the end. Are they going to just slowly lose their mind, as they slowly starve to death in complete blackness? (The writer has definitely done a good job of making a picture of a hopeless situation) Meanwhile when these things happen the believers just say that the builders will come and save them. Is this really how the writer sees Christians? She gives no evidences, she just acts as if the believers have a silly, pointless, even lazy, and stupid religion. This is not what Christianity is. Now, I could sit here and tell you why what I believe is more then that. But instead, I will let the writer do that.
In the book there is a part about a bean. She talks about how the bean looks dead on the surface. But inside there is life. And when the bean is put into some soil, the life pushes itself out. It grows in to a plant. How did the life get in there? Clearly something had to put life in there. So even deep down, in the scary, dying City that the people of Ember are trapped in, they can see that God is real, because only God could have put the life in that bean.
There is another part where the boy finds a worm which he watches for awhile as it builds a cocoon and then turns into a moth then flies away. This also shows that even down in Ember, God is at work, creating, how else did the worm know how to do this?
Finally, Escape. The kids have to find the way of escape. They find directions, and have to puzzle it together to find a way out of Ember. I felt like the writer was saying that we have to make our own way. We survive our own selves, despite God. Here's the thing though, even when the kids find a way of escape, it is with the help left behind by the builders. So even when the writer tries to make example of how we can survive despite God, she are still leaving you under God's power. Because deep down inside we cant escape God, because He is real, and He is in control of everything.
While this book is pretty well written, and interesting. It is hard to make much good out of it. But when I read it, I couldn't help but think how thankful I am to know the real God. I know that God is not some heartless, compassionless being that created earth and then left us here to die. God created us to have relationship with Him. We choose to sin causing a rift between us and God. But God isn't a builder who left us here alone! Instead He is a loving creator who sent His only Son, Jesus, to die for our sins! Giving us a way to Heaven. A way to be saved from the darkness!
One good thing about this book, is that it does make you appreciate that we should be good caretakers of this earth. God told us to take care of it!
While the writer brought up many questions on many different topics. I have actually not even scratched the surface in the blog, btw. She doesn't really give any good answers to those questions she poses. There are parts of the book that I think aren't completely thought through. For instance, it would pretty much definitely be impossible for people to live underground for that long of a time. She writes about green houses. It would be possible for plants to grow and grow without the sun, using only electrical lights, for over 200 years. Living in a city of utter darkness, with only electrical lights that are turned on and off, at night and morning, people would literally go insane without the sun. It would not be possible for them to survive that long.
I don't know if you will choose to let your kids read this book. I am going to let mine, and then I will discuss with them the book, much as I have in this blog. These ideas that are presented in this book are things that they will face in their own lives. I would rather have them learn to deal with them now with me, than to send them out blind and naïve into the world.
Sometimes I will find a book that sounds good, start reading it, get a little of the ways through it, and find I have already read it!! This way, I can go back and see what I read, and whether it is worth the time to read again ;-) I hope that I can find time to blog about all the books that I read because it will be fun to have this record as time goes on.
Mainly, I am excited about this new blog idea because I just LOVE tearing to pieces books that I read and talking about them. Unfortunately for me, not too many people want to sit and talk to me about all the little teeny-tiny details of books for hours. (And for those of you who do, "I LOVE YOU!") I am going to love having a blog to "talk" to about all my books! If you choose to read this blog, and have thoughts to share on books that I talk about, oh, please, please, please comment!! I would really love to talk to you about books!
Just to let you know what kind of books I like to read, I read books from all kinds of genres, fiction, non-fiction, adults, young adults, teens, all the way down to children's book. I am not embarrassed at all to admit this, Yes, I do love to read kids books, too! (I especially like that one, "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs". I check that out of library all the time, under the guise of wanting to read it to my children, but really I'm the one who wants to read it.) I feel a lot better reading books that my kids are going to be interested in reading, because then I know more about what they are going to be learning, and whether or not it's something that I want them to read. You learn so much from what you read, and writers can be very sneaky putting their own agendas into the books. I like to know if there is something I want to warn my kids about when they pick up a book.
I like to read Contemporary books as well as the Classics, Romance to Mystery to Sci-Fi (sometimes) to fantasy, to ANYTHING! I just love all books. The books I have read throughout my life have definitely helped to shape me into the person I am today, and the writers feel like old friends. That is not weird for me to say that, by the way, a good writer puts a little bit of themselves into their story, so really when you read someone's work, you get to know them at least somewhat. And you know what; I think that is SO AWESOME!
Quick rundown of some my writing heroes, in no official order;
Laura Ingalls Wilder
She is so special to me because she taught American women how to be strong. She was a strong woman, without being manly, overly feminist, or disrespectful to her husband. She understood that women were to be a "helpmeet" to their husband. That means you help, not that you are brainless sap. She was a strong woman who was always a lady, which is really probably the best way to define strong women. She knew what she expected from life and her family. She knew what to expect from her love interest. I think one of my favorite parts of her books was when she told Almanzo that he was NEVER to drive Nellie Olson home again, that is if he wanted to drive anywhere with herself! Girls today could do with paying attention to how she demanded that he treat her as she deserved to be treated! She was confident that she was worth being treated like the gift she was, the gift all strong women are! She always wanted to learn new things. She never gave up during trials. She went through trials that would have destroyed most, and she never gave up through it all! She was hardworking and earned all that she had with her own sweat, blood, and tears, working alongside her husband. In other words, she didn't expect things in life to be given to her, she knew what she wanted, and expected to work for it. She had no sense of entitlement, how refreshing! I love the fact that when you read her books, you are getting one of the finest histories of our country's Pioneer backgrounds, her writings are so important to knowing what has shaped our country, and to remind us of values that we are tending to forget in today's society. I think that they are invaluable history lessons! I think all kids and adults should read her works!
Lucy Maud Montgomery
She describes her stories so beautifully that I feel like I have been there. Anne and Gilbert are one of the greatest love stories of all time.
Jane Austin
Another strong women…I love how well she observed the relationships of people around her and was then able to write about it. Also, she was so beautifully sarcastic!
Mark Twain
Oh, I just love him so much!!!!!! He just told things the way he saw it.
Jack London
I read "The Call of the Wild" innumerable times. His books were so exciting and thought-provoking.
Others; Colleen Coble, Beverly Lewis, Meg Cabot, JK Rowlings, Janette Oke, Christopher Paolini, Gene Stratton Porter, Cervantes, some of the non-fiction I love to read are books about Queen Victoria , and I especially love reading books she wrote herself, and her journals.
But my most favorite writer of ALL time is CS Lewis. He is definitely my hero of writing heroes! I remember the first time I started reading one of his books, the first one I read was, of course, "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe". I started reading the books, here the kids were playing hide and seek on a rainy day, in a big unfamiliar house, and before you know it Lucy accidently enters a whole other world while trying to hide in the back of a wardrobe. I was so excited! I remember thinking; this is just exactly what kind of book I want to read! This is just exactly what I wish could happen to me. How wonderful would it be to be able to explore a whole different world! I have read that Lewis wrote the Chronicles of Narnia because when he wanted to read stories to children, he couldn't find any that were the kind of stories he wanted to read, so he just wrote them himself. How cool is that?! Also, he said that his stories weren't really "allegories" as much as "suppositories" (I don't know how he spelled it) . In other words, "Suppose that there are other worlds"…"Suppose that in the other world God comes in the form a lion?"…Suppose…Suppose…Suppose…How I love to Suppose…
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I LOVE reading and I read from many genres; Christian Romance, Christian Suspense, Suspense, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, History, Classics, books for kids, young adults, mystery, adults, memoirs, Fiction/Non Fiction. Pretty much, I read anything set before me that contains words :)
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