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Sunday, January 27, 2008

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cover of Diary of a Wimpy Kid

G was very excited to read about this book in his University of Maryland alumni magazine because Kinney was a cartoonist for the campus newspaper when G was there, so we picked up a copy right away. It's a fairly entertaining book-- the story of a kid in middle school, trying to be cool and fit in. The book is printed as if hand printed by the narrator, Greg Heffley, and interspersed with little cartoony drawings to illustrate his point. Some of these are particularly amusing, for instance the one that illustrates his discover that it's preferable to anger his dad when he's holding a newspaper instead of a brick, since he tends to throw whatever he is holding. The book is supposed to be a novel in cartoons, but it didn't seem like there was much of a big story arc to me; it's just the story of a school year with the various events and the messes that Greg gets himself into-- trying to create a haunted house to make money, coming up with ideas for a comic strip for the school paper, breaking up with his best friend and eventually re-establishing the friendship, the travails of the disgusting "cheese touch" on the playground that will give you cooties if you touch it, and other silly middle-school stuff like that.

The artwork is fun and enjoyable (not great art, but something you could believe a middle school kid might be able to draw), and the tone of the writing is often humorous. I wasn't as engaged, I guess because there was no real story but just a lot of separate events, but it did make me laugh at several points.

Title:Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Author:Jeff Kinney
Date published:2007
Genre:Young Adult
Number of pages:224

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Saturday, January 26, 2008

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cover of The Obsession of Victoria Gracen

Not your usual Grace Livingston Hill book, this is a love story of a sort, but it's not a romantic one. The title character takes in her nephew, Dick, after his mother dies. Dick was the son of Victoria's beloved brother who married a poor woman and didn't have much contact with his family afterwards. (A little funny to read this after reading Crimson Roses, which ends with a marriage a bit like that.) Victoria Gracen is a beautiful, wealthy older woman, respected by her neighbors and loved by her servants. But after she takes Dick in, she finds herself spending more and more time with Dick and the other young men of the town-- boys that her fellow church-goers think are disreputable and "bad," and they come to believe Victoria is "obsessed" with boys. Of course, she is loving and nurturing them, educating them about culture and faith; and the more she comes to know them, the harder she finds it to believe that these boys are as bad as everyone thinks. I'm sure the title characters name was quite intentionally chosen by the author, and I don't know how I missed it when I read this book the first time-- this is a wonderful picture of victorious grace, taking a rough outcast into a beautiful home, making him feel loved and that he belongs, and transforming him.

This is an enjoyable book, and it's fun to watch the characters change. Victoria grows to love "her boy" Dick (that's how she thinks of him) and his friends, and opens up her house more and more to the boys and girls. The boys don't know what to do with themselves on Sundays, so she invites them over and finds a good entertaining (but moral and educational) story to read to them. She serves them food on her china dishes and lets them lounge on her good furniture. She plays piano and sings with them-- they like the ragtime, but she gets them to sing hymns, too, and gets them going to church (as part of the deal for the Sunday entertainment). One young man is poor and his family disgraced because his father is in prison for embezzling, but he is thoughtful and kind, and has a beautiful singing voice. As she associates with the boys, Victoria gets younger and more childlike in some good ways, too-- she goes out boating with the boys, and sledding on the hill behind her house (to the shock and chagrin of an old friend and neighbor).

It is moving when others finally see the change in these boys. The old neighbor, who's a bit of a gossip and meddler, gets injured and Victoria asks the boys to look after her. Even though Lydia Bypath abuses them and insults them (assuming they are hired hands Victoria has paid for), they keep on doing the work because they are doing it out of their love for Victoria. Eventually Lydia overhears them and discovers their dislike for her, and yet their generosity inspired by love for Victoria. There's a similar arc for the pastor who had about given up on his "wild" oldest son, but sees him transformed by his association with Victoria and the other boys.

A nice change from the regular, romantic Hill novels, and not overly preachy but entertaining and a bit inspiring to think of how love and grace can transform people's lives.

Title:The Obsession of Victoria Gracen
Author:Grace Livingston Hill
Date published:1927
Genre:Fiction
Number of pages:261
Notes:second reading

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Thursday, January 24, 2008

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Quite a book. L'Engle is an articulate woman who believes in Jesus, who is an artist, who is an intellectual, who is widely read, and who is still humble. A wonderful and challenging book. L'Engle, who is both an artist and a Christian, was asked to lecture about what it means to be a Christian artist. Thoughts from that lecture went into this book, as well as many others. If I was a person who highlights in books, probably 1/3 of this book would be bright yellow .. but I'm not. So I'll just plan to read it again in the near future. L'Engle connects a variety of images and ideas -- theology, advanced mathematics, stories of herself and her family, classic literature, various branches of science -- to ponder and reflect on what the differences and distinctions are between Christian artists and secular artists, between artists and Christians, between sinners and saints and those in-between.

I'd like to think that my perspective is similar to L'Engle's, although she is much more articulate than I am. From her writing, I suspect that I want to grow up to be like her. As someone who is unafraid to face challenges and the unknown. As someone who takes time each day to BE without needing to do and to be busy all the time. As someone who can see what is usual and old in such a way that others can see the newness and beauty of it. As someone who doesn't have to write (or dance or draw) about things which are Christian because her character simply reflects it. All that said, how refreshing it is to read a solid book by a solid person .. as opposed to a good book by a person whose life I wouldn't want to imitate. Haven't yet read anything by L'Engle that I didn't enjoy and wouldn't mind reading again.

Title:Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art
Author: Madeleine L'Engle
Date published:1980
Genre: Nonfiction, Creativity
Number of pages: 227
Notes: Borrowed from Lisa E.

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Wednesday, January 16, 2008

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cover of Crimson Roses

Sweet Marion Warren has unselfishly put her life on hold to care for her ailing parents-- first her mother and now her father. When her father dies, she is sad and lonely, but looks forward to pursuing her dreams of getting an education and perhaps becoming a teacher. They are not a wealthy family, but her father had intended to provide for her (knowing her ambitions and intelligence), but his will gets "lost" (with the help of a selfish sister-in-law). Marion lives for a while with her brother and his family, and even though she loves them and their children, they treat her almost like an indentured servant. They decide to sell Marion's beloved childhood home to attain their own dream of living in the country, but Marion knows that any chance she has of education and culture is to stay in the city. So she uses her contacts at church to get a job as a sales girl at a store, rents a cheap apartment, and stays in the city on her own. Her one self-indulgence on her meager income is to get season tickets to the symphony, and when she goes she discovers a single, long-stemmed dark crimson rose on her seat. At first she can't believe it's really for her, but then she finds a new rose every time, and like the music, she treasures the roses as one of the small bits of beauty in her bleak life. Marion doesn't learn for quite a while what the reader has inklings of much earlier-- that her innocence and real interest in culture and music has intrigued a young man who enjoys watching her at the symphony, and who slowly begins to get to know her through other avenues and mutual friends.

This is a sweet, romantic story-- but from a modern perspective, it's hard not to think of Marion's admirer as a stalker. He watches her at the theater, he sends flowers to her address and cleverly gets the delivery boy to find out her name; one night when it's pouring down rain after the symphony, he rides the same trolley home and carries an umbrella over her from her stop to her door (unseen in the dark). It's all very gallant and sweet, but seems so foreign in this day and age where a story like this would probably be much darker and scarier.

While I was reading the book, I debated with myself whether Marion wasn't too good, almost angelic. She loves caring for her dying father even though it means she has no social life and has to postpone her education. She puts up with her brother's selfishness (selling the house that was half hers, and should have been all hers if the will hadn't been lost), and even forgives her sister-in-law when she figures out what happened with the will. When Marion is working at the department store she gets to know the girls, but she's clearly different than them-- she doesn't bob her hair or wear bright lipstick or go out with the boys. The men at the store treat Marion with respect because they think she's too good for them, and the narrator pretty much says that they are right. Marion seems to always do the right thing, which does seem unrealistic, but on reflection I remembered that there are moments when she struggles-- to forgive the sister-in-law, or when dealing with the villain of the story, a spoiled, wealthy, society girl who has set her sights on the wealthy young man who begins showing an interest in Marion. I liked the fact that she does have to deal with natural, human emotions, and it makes her a little bit more accessible as a heroine.

Of course, this is really kind of a fairy tale story anyway, so I probably shouldn't expect it to be all that realistic.

There's also an interesting undercurrent about class and society. Marion's father is working-class and poor. The president of the Sunday School at their church is perfectly glad to give her a referral for a job as a shop-clerk, but he thinks that the wealthy Jefferson Lyman should be interested in his niece (a wealthy girl of his own station) and not a plain, poor girl like Marion. Likewise, some of these society girls know Marion from school (and the narrator suggests Marion's intelligence here by letting us know that she helped them with their homework), but now they hardly deign to speak to her because her clothes are out of date. However, Jeff sees that Marion is his "match" in spite of these differences, because of their shared interest in music and culture and their shared faith.

I recently got back a bunch of books that were in storage elsewhere, and decided on a whim to re-read my Grace Livingston Hill books. Hill generally wrote romance novels with a Christian flavor (the editions I have are labeled as "novels of enduring romance"), written in the 1920s and '30s, so they have a bit of a historical feel. This is a sweet and enjoyable one, although perhaps not the best, which is why I chose to read it first.

Title:Crimson Roses
Author:Grace Livingston Hill
Date published:1928
Genre:Romance
Number of pages:238
Notes:repeat reading

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Thursday, January 10, 2008

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cover of Blue Adept

Since I started re-reading Piers Anthony's original Phaze/Proton trilogy with Split Infinity, I thought I might as well continue. Stile has now discovered which Adept he is in Phaze (Blue), and has figured out that whoever attacked him in Proton and killed his alternate self in Phaze must be an Adept as well. He visits the various Adepts, narrowing in on his enemy (learning about the various modes of magic and making a friend or two along the way). One of the high points of this book is the final battle between the Red Adept and Stile. They are both curtain-crossers, clever Games players in one world and powerful magicians in the other. When Red discovers her magic (amulets) is no match for Stile's magic, she begins hopping across the curtain and using technological weapons, tricks, and stratagems against him. She's quite devious, and were it not for Stile's help from his friends, she might have succeeded in destroying him.

In between his search for and eventual battle against his enemy, Stile is also participating in the Tournament, playing very interesting and generally quite competitive Games matches. These are quite varied and interesting-- such as a football match where each man has a team of androids and must use their skill and tactics to make the difference, or a maze where each player leaves a colored trail and must try to make it to the other players entrance door first, or even a musical performance where Stile's ability to draw in the audience improves another man's technical skill with the result of the finest recorded harmonica duet, which gets archived in the Game computer's memory.

If you can get past the ridiculousness of the premise, this is a pretty good read with lots of action and interest. This book also includes a reference to the "split infinity" in the title of the first book; it comes up in a mathematical riddle game Stile plays with an alien. It seems a little strange that it comes up here instead of in the first game, almost as if there were a mistake in editing or planning.

Title:Blue Adept
Author:Piers Anthony
Date published:
Genre:Science Fiction / Fantasy
Series:Apprentice Adept
Number of pages:
Notes:repeat reading

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Thursday, January 03, 2008

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cover of Miracle

It's been a couple of years since I read Connie Willis' collection of Christmas stories, and I thought maybe it would help get me into the Christmas spirit. One of her stories ("Inn") was similar but more moving than a sermon, about finding space and time for Christ in the midst of our busy lives and welcoming him in. I finished the last story, about three new wise men and a strange second coming, right around the end of the 12 days of Christmas, at Epiphany, and that seemed completely appropriate as well. Not all of the stories are this serious; I enjoyed most of them, but the deeper ones seem to resonate especially this year. I've read and written about this before, so I think this time I'll just quote some key lines from my favorite parts.

From the introduction:

The recounting of the first Christmas (you know, the baby in the manger) has all the elements of great storytelling: drama, danger, special effects, dreams and warnings, betrayals, narrow escapes, and-- combined with the Easter story-- the happiest ending of all.

"Miracle"

"You look like you could use a little Christmas spirit."
"No thanks, I've already got one," Lauren said.

"Inn"

She regarded all this-- the girl's awkward bulkiness and the boy's beard, the fact that they had not sat down, the fact that it was the light from the adult Sunday school room that was making her see now what she hadn't before-- with some part of her mind that was still functioning ... some part of her mind that was taking in the details that proved what she had alraedy known the monet she opened the door.
"What are you doing here?" she whispered...
Poor things, she thought, leaning her cheek against the door. Poor things. So young, and so far away from home. She wondered what they made of it all. Did they think they had wandered into a palace in some strange kingdom? There's stranger yet to come, she thought, shepherds and angels and old men from the east, bearing jewelry boxes and perfume bottles. And then Cana. And Jerusalem. And Golgotha.

"The Pony"

Barbara held the tag a little away from her as if she were afraid of it. It had a Santa Claus on it. It read "To Barbara." The present was big enough to be a pony. Or something worse. Something only your subconscious knew you wanted. Something too frightening for your conscious mind to even know it wanted.

"Adaptation"

... Sir Spencer Siddon, Sir Scrawl of the new hardbacks only and the Armentières water, Sir Scrooge and his damnable secretary who had not even recognized the Spirits of Christmas, let alone heeded them, who had no desire to keep Christmas ...

"Newsletter"

"Did anything unusual happen to you over Thanksgiving? ... I flew out to my parents' for Thanksgiving, and on the flight home-- you know how people always carry on luggage taht won't fit in the overhead compartments and then try to cram it in? ... Well, nobody did that on my flight. They didn't carry on hanging bags or enormous shopping bags full of Christmas present. Some people didn't even have a carry-on. And that isn't all. Our flight was half an hour late, and the flight attendent said, 'Those of you who do not have connecting flights, please remain seated until those with connections have deplaned.' And they did." He looked at me expectantly.
"Maybe everybody was just in the Christmas spirit."
He shook his head. "All four babies on the flight slept the whole way, and the toddler behind me didn't kick the seat."
That was unusual.

"Epiphany"

Mel kicked the heater over to high, and the kid leaned forward and held his hands in front of ghe vent. There was a peace sign tattooed on the back of one of them and a fierce-looking lion on the other. Both looked like they'd been done by hand.
The kid rubbed his hands together, wincing, and Mel took another look. His hands were red with cold and between the tattoo lines there were ugly white splotches. The kid started rubbing them again.
... His hand looked even worse now that it was warming up. The sickly white splotches stood out starkly against the rest of his skin.
"There's always a battle between good and evil," Mel said. "Look at the first time He came. He hadn't been on earth a week before Herod's men were out looking for Him. They murdred every baby and two-year-old in Bethlehem, trying to kill Him."
And thirty-three years later they succeeded, Mel thought. Only killing couldn't stop Him. Nothing could stop Him.
Who had said that? The kid from the carnival, talking about the [crack in the] windshield. "Nothing can stop it. There's stuff you could do to keep it from spreading for a while, but it's still going to spread. There ain't nothing that can stop it."

Maybe next year I will remember to look at Willis' book and movie recommendations at the beginning of the Christmas season when I might have time to find and enjoy them.

Title:Miracle and Other Christmas Stories
Author:Connie Willis
Date published:1999
Genre:Science Fiction, Short Stories
Number of pages:298
Notes:repeat reading

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