What I've been reading #13

This picture is of The Book of Life sculpture by artist David Krakov.  It is a metal sculpture.  At first I thought it was a burning book but instead it is 2,547 butterflies coming out of the book.  The pages are words from children survivors of the Chernobyl Disaster on 25 April 1986.  the sculpture is made in honor of Rabbi Yossi Raichik who is credited with saving 2, 547 children in that disaster.

Without knowing that story it could also represent the vibrant ideas and thoughts that come from reading good books.  Books can not only take us places and help us feel things that we never have imagined in life, but can also stimulate our thoughts in such a way to create new things in our minds and lives never imagined by the authors.  Books can have a power almost magical to entertain but also to fuel new and wonderful creations in the minds of the readers.

Now with such a great lead in I'm not sure that the books I have read this time rise too far above the entertainment level but we'll see.

The Retrival Artist by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

I read from a favorite author of mine, Orson Scott Card, that these books were really good so I thought I would try one.  I thought this one was the first one written and it is a short novel so I thought it would be an ideal one to start with.  It is NOT the first one but has served me quite well in introducing an interesting character and setting.  The first thing is what is a retrieval artist?  Why naturally it is someone who can find people who don't want to be found.  People who have disappeared.  The unique thing in the story line however is why did they disappear?  In this futuristic setting it is about a time when our world is one of several with life on them.  Humans of that time live on and interact with aliens on several different planets.  Different cultures intermingle despite some different beliefs and often very different ideas of what crime is and appropriate punishments for those crimes.  Often when humans break alien laws it is inadvertent and carries a death penalty.  Consequently quite a business in disappearing has risen with companies helping people to disappear so the aliens can't find them and provide their justice.  Needless to say there are times when those people must be found by other humans and that is what a retrieval artist does.  In essence a detective who finds those who never wish to be found.  This is a very interesting idea that deals head on with the ethical and moral concerns that would exist in this type of setting.  You may enjoy it.  I did!
The Disappeared by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

I enjoyed the first one so much that I read this one which is in reality the beginning of the series.  This is a full size novel that reveals the impetus for Miles Flint to become The Retrieval Artist.  Miles is a detective on the moon working for the local police force.  He begins to see things that ethically he cannot support but yet in his duty as a police officer he must enforce.  I am enjoying this series a lot and like how the author is willing to deal with the ethics in a thoughtful way.  Miles wants to help people who find themselves in unfair situations, but he finds that is easier said then done.   

Transfer of Power by Vince Flynn

I decided to follow up those two science fiction novels with a novel of political intrigue.  This novel is Vince Flynn's first novel written several years ago.  And to be honest I hope his books have gotten better.  The book was meant to be an action story that got bogged down in politics.  It started well adn ended well but got lost before finding its way at the end.  Some of the politicians find themselves acting like the worst of their lot.  While the military seems to have most of the honorable people in the story.  Some terrorists are able to take over the White House and just miss nabbing the President who escapes to a vault in basement with his Secret Service staff, that is meant to keep him safe.  How the White House is eventually taken and the terrorists are twarted is the main part of the story.It was just an okay story, lagged in the middle, had stupid profanity in excess but hey, the good guys ended up winning.

Ranger's Apprentice Book 4: The Battle for Skandia by John Flanagan

Of course I had to continue the series my youngest daughter recommended to me.  Every time I go back to it after reading some adult books I think it will not be able to keep my interest and carry on the good and honorable lives of Will, Halt, Horace and Evanlyn.  But it always grabs me pretty quickly and I am happy to return to their adventures.  Will and Evanlyn continue their escape from the Skandians while Halt and Horace are traveling a long distance to find them and save them.  They meet up to find themselves in the middle of an invading force coming to conquer the Skandians.  I really like how the author takes the idealistic training of the boys in their apprenticeships and shows how they learn that reality often doesn't conform to what they were taught and so they must learn to implement honor and other values into the real world in ways that they didn't expect.  This series continues to be great, not just for boys who are looking for some action and intrigue but girls who may get a glimpse into a boys heart and mind.  Still good for young and old alike.  Highly recommended.

Something to consider:  “The poor and the affluent are not communicating because they do not have the same words. When we talk of the millions who are culturally deprived, we refer not to those who do not have access to good libraries and bookstores, or to museums and centers for the performing arts, but those deprived of the words with which everything else is built, the words that open doors. Children without words are licked before they start. The legion of the young wordless in urban and rural slums, eight to ten years old, do not know the meaning of hundreds of words which most middle-class people assume to be familiar to much younger children. Most of them have never seen their parents read a book or a magazine, or heard words used in other than rudimentary ways related to physical needs and functions. Thus is cultural fallout caused, the vicious circle of ignorance and poverty reinforced and perpetuated. Children deprived of words become school dropouts; dropouts deprived of hope behave delinquently. Amateur censors blame delinquency on reading immoral books and magazines, when in fact, the inability to read anything is the basic trouble.” Peter S. Jennison

It occurs to me that a person who is able to read and chooses to read material that is harmful or desensitizing risks being not only equally uninformed and without hope as those who can't read.  Thus making many of the same mistakes in living their lives as those who can't read.   

What I've been reading #11

The Christmas Shoes by Donna VanLiere

I enjoy reading a Christmas book or two when Christmas comes around.  Lisa's book club listed a book of one of this author's books to read for their meeting.  I noticed that she has written a number of Christmas books.  This particular one was the first one and was inspired by a song by the same title by a Christian group Newsong.  I was familiar with the song and enjoyed the book.  It is about a young boy whose mother is dieing and has only one more Christmas to live.  His teacher from school says something that leads him on a quest to get a present for his Mom that has lots of meaning.  It was a short read and not real intriguing but did touch the heart strings a couple times, which is just what I hope for in a Christmas book. 

Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan

My daughter Haleigh had been telling me for quite some time that this is a series that I would enjoy.  I had a number of other things to read but finally decided to ask her for the first book in what is now an 11 book series.  I must admit that I was surprised at how good it was.  It really does a good job of providing action and building the characters of the main people in the book.  Basically it is about a young orphan in about the twelfth century who has the opportunity to be a ranger but really wants to be a night.  He really works hard at his training and at key moments his creativity and training really come forward to show his talent.  This is a good moral book and though it does have violent action in it at times, it is not gory or overly detailed.  I recommend this book to those, including young people, who are looking for a good story to get into. 

The Mansion by Henry Van Dyke

I was watching the First Presidency Christmas Fireside the other day and President Monson mentioned a book I hadn't heard of that he likes to read before each Christmas season.  So I thought I would read it and found it very enjoyable.  It is similar to other classic Christmas books in that it reminds us of what is most important is that we need to give and serve and not just want and get.  But this one goes a little bit further and the point is that our heart must be in it for the right reasons and not just giving and serving so that we can look good or be admired by others.  I found it very enjoyable and a good reminder of something that often gets left out in modern Christmas celebrating.  It is a quick read and I would encourage everyone to read it as the season is upon us or even after Christmas.

Ranger's Apprentice: The Burning Bridge by John Flanagan

John Flanagan has done it again to continue Will's story along in his apprenticing to be a Ranger.  Once again he has made the characters likable as they prepare for a war with Morgareth and Will ends up saving the day in a realistic and honorable way and then ends up getting kidnapped and off to the North countries.  I am impressed with the excellent way that the good guy characters are portrayed where they will honorably do what they say even when tricked and then learn their lesson.  This is a good series if you like action from the middle ages and good characters who are really good and not using the techniques of the bad guys in an effort to do good, but instead stay firmly in the good guys camp. 

The Year Money Grew on Trees by Aaron R. Hawkins

This is a book that our family has been reading for a while.  This book would optimally be read by about 8-12 year olds but I purchased it for our family because it taught a lesson I wanted my daughter to be exposed to so she could learn more.  The idea is that earning money takes hard work.  In the story a boy is given the opportunity to take care of 100 apple trees and earn the money that he could use to purchase the land.  He learns a lot of lessons about apples, himself, salesmanship and other people.  It was good for our purposes but would have been better if our daughter was younger. 
"A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.”
― William Styron

Some of the books I've read this month have had that result.  A bit tired but glad for the trip.  That's better than the book that only succeeds in being a sleep aid each time you pick it up.  Enjoy reading!

What I've been reading #8

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.  ~Anna Quindlen, "Enough Bookshelves," New York Times, 7 August 1991

How Do You Tuck In a Superhero? by Rachel Balducci

This is a picture of the author's family

This was an awesome book! I have never raised a son and have often wondered, as a father of daughters, how those little boys running around church and other places would ever amount to anything. This book is written in such an excellent and engaging manner that it sucked me in and really gave me hope for this generation of boys. I've been telling my friends about this book and suggesting that they should read it (women friends) just to understand their husbands better. I even ordered another copy to give to a friend that has several sons, I thought it would be a comfort. She does a good job of sharing some of her families stories to help show her points. She manages to share her wonder of the boys as well and lets us see things fresh as she has learned them herself. This book had me chuckling out loud and reading parts to my wife not to mention the occasional teary eyes. I recommend it if you have any interest in how males grow from those clueless hoodlums to grown and decent men. The author is Catholic and brings in a little religion but doesn't knock it over your head but instead it does make it friendlier to a religious crowd. Read it you'll enjoy it!

Escape from Rwanda by John Bizimana

This book is about a boy from Rwanda.  His father died when he was a child and due to the loss of income they went from fairly well to do to poor.  With all the troubles that arose in Rwanda they soon were trying to get away either to live with family or to refugee camps: to Zaire, Tanzania, and Zambia.  His mother died in a refugee camp and he ended up taken by extended family where he was left in a boarding school when his aunt and uncle went to Belgium because he couldn't obtain the documents needed due to the chaos in that part of the world.  Finally he made it to Belgium.  Every step of the way he proved to be better than expected, doing well in school and everything that he took up.  His dream was to get to the United States.  In Belgium because it seemed he would never get his dream and he started to despair.  Naturally that is when he ran into the missionaries at a basketball tournament.  After joining the church with fervor and then losing focus there and finally becoming reactivated a past prophets grandson provided the money while the Lord provided the miracles for him to make his dream come true as he was accepted and is attending BYU. 

John Yves Bisimana, click to read a little about what he is up to now.

Matched by Ally Condie

This is a YA novel of a dystopian future.  It compares very favorably with Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins which I read earlier.  Matched has the same feel except it takes out the violence and improves the characterization and may be better written as a result.  Cassia lives in a society where everything is controlled as much as possible by the government.  To the point that when teenagers are 17 they are matched with another youth who would be their best mate.  So they start a period of getting to know the other person and go on supervised dates with them eventually leading to marriage.  Cassia is not a radical and complies very closely with her societies requirements, until she starts to see some errors and other things that are not working out like they should.  Her family goes through some struggles and a friend is put in danger because of a choice she makes.  Plus she has feelings for someone other than her match.  It has some very clean romance and forebodings of a government gone amuck.  Naturally there is another book coming out in a couple months that will continue the story.  And the romance is just what you would expect from an LDS writer.

Ally Condie

 

Patch-Word Quilt by Paula J. Smith
So there we were up on that mountain on our anniversary and in the cottage we were staying in one of the books in the collection there was written by the owner of the property.  I read a little bit of it and it seemed to be a self-help book.  How to strengthen ourselves in some areas and weaken ourselves in others.  Basically how to become a better person.  So we ended up purchasing a copy thinking it would be nice to have a book written by a person we had met.  It is a small book that takes a number of words like Hope, Fear, and Self-confidence and describes if they are good for people or not and how to strengthen/weaken them in our lives as needed.  I didn't agree with every idea that she had but I did like the quick and easy way of going through a lot of complicated things and making it simple and straightforward.  I enjoyed reading it.  It seemed like a good book for a young person who hadn't heard too much about these things or a person who needed some encouragement to know they could change and be different if they found them self in a place they were unhappy with.  Paula said that she had studied psychology and had found times in her life when she needed to hear the things that she had written in the book.  A fun, quick but thought provoking read. 

Wilde

What I've been reading #7

Reading is such a great opportunity to understand things that would be incomprehensible as well as to live lives different than our own.  Sometimes the lives we read about had great pain and hurt but often that leads to great victory and growth.  Reading allows us to learn from others that we would never meet, maybe don't even want to meet, but yet they have things to teach us.  It also helps us imagine things that never crossed our mind, and to consider possibilities well being our experience.  I am a lover of reading, can you tell? 

A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard

My Mom called me one day and wanted to purchase this book.  That story may be good for another day.  She wanted this book on the Kindle so she could read it and she wanted it right away and thought I would enjoy reading it as well.  I was in the middle of something else but eventually decided to give it a try.  I was a little reluctant initially to read it because it dealt with things that are similar to my work and I wasn't sure that I wanted to delve into that during my "down" time.  The book does give some detail of the abuses that she endured at the hands of her kidnappers.  The detail is close to minimal, and although a bit disturbing it is much outweighed by the joy of her being found and the remarkable progress she has made in her personal life in understanding, accepting and moving well beyond her abuse.  In that regard it is reminiscent of Elizabeth Smart who has had such a remarkable recovery from her ordeal which is similar to Jaycee Dugard's ordeal.  Overall I would recommend the book to see a great healing and recovery.  In order to see the magnitude of that it is necessary to know some of the details (which are greatly minimized here in the book) of the abuse.  It is a life empowering and encouraging book.  If she could respond so positively to such amazingly harmful circumstances then certainly I can move forward from my hurts and disappointments as well.  Maybe you will be encouraged as well. 

Edge of Apocalypse by Tim LaHaye & Craig Parshall

This is a very enjoyable action pack and Christian based book on an idea of what might be the build up to the end of the world.  The bad guys in the book are a corrupted US government and the good guys are a group of Patriot Christians who currently do or have worked in the government.  It actually reminded me a fair amount two books written by OSC called Empire and Hidden Empire which I enjoyed.  The action is pretty good, the ideas that have connections into what is going on politically in our country right now is okay.  The story is enjoyable the only thing it lacks is the character development is not as good as it could be.  Unfortunately when it is compared to OSC that is where just about any other author will be weak.  I recommend it if you like an action filled, faith based, idea of what will be happening at the 'end times'. 

The Year My Son and I Were Born: A story of Down Syndrome, Motherhood and Self-discovery by Kathryn Lynard Soper

 

This book by a young mother is EXCELLENT.  I would recommend it for any parent that has or thought they might have a special needs child.  She tells the story of giving birth to a Down Syndrome son and her metamorphosis from one who has always stayed away from and been uncomfortable with people who needed help to learning how to love her son and realize what a unique spirit he has brought into their home.  I was one who thought that we might have a child like this. I don't know why but had thought that way for years, even before I was married.  That did not happen for us.  This book is such a beautiful job of explaining how difficult it was to accept, then to enjoy and finally to love what this child brought into her and her families life.  The author is LDS but that isn't what the book is built on nor how it was advertised.  It was just a coincidence that I happen to buy this book.  She refers briefly to a couple things that any LDS person will recognize but if you were not LDS the main punch of the story would be as meaningful to you as to anyone who wants to understand families with a special needs child.  Highly recommended!

I am Number Four: The Lost Files: Six's Legacy by Pittacus Lore

This is a short book that came out recently to give some background on one of the main characters of his first book I am Number Four.  You might recall I reviewed it here a while back.  The writing of that book was okay but the story was one that young folks would like nowadays where everyone wants to have a super power.  In my day we simply called them 'talents'.  It does a fair job of giving some background on number six and does a good job of getting folks ready for the new full length book of his that just came out.  Haleigh, my youngest, has been waiting for both of these to come out and she recommended them so I read this one and may get around to the other at some time in the future.  I can't really recommend it, certainly it doesn't stand on its own, but if you like the story then you will want to read this.  I enjoyed the movie that came out of the first book a bit more than the book, and I expect that the next movie will roll out sometime soon.  If you are not enamored with the story, just wait for the movie. 

Without the Internet and electricity for periods of time in the last couple weeks, I think I have read a bit more than usual in a short period of time.  I'm already well into the next two books as well.  When yous trip away all our modern time consumers then there is plenty of time for the basics.  Reading!  You gotta love it! 

17th

Somewhere between the "Sweet Sixteen" birthday and the initial adulthood birthday of eighteen lies the seventeenth Birthday.  For many it is not that exciting.  Today in our own mild way Haleigh celebrated her 17th birthday and had a great time.  It started with our families traditional going out to eat and ended with of course Bruster's ice cream, but in the middle you can see for yourself.

What could be causing the bag to tremble from the inside?
Very inside joke--surely not a writhing reveler.

It's amazing but her first cell phone at age 17!



And the first call is from her sister Hilary!

A reminder of younger years "Happy Birthday music box" from Grandma.

Not watermelon but even better, art supplies!

Hugs for Grandma!

The "unknown hug".  Anyone can imagine themselves getting that bear hug.

The art portfolio bag with the accurate letter tag.

Modeled by Haleigh herself.

And of course there must be books!

 All this was wrapped up by downloaded music from one sister and an Aunt, a promise of a card in the mail from another and a check from Grandma and Grandpa.  And a day at Dad's work--what could be better?  A great happy birthday to our youngest who is not so young anymore.

What I've been reading #4

One of the things that I love about reading is that you can "do" things that you would never have the opportunity to do, or the courage.  Well maybe if you are like me you wouldn't like to do them but you like to have the experience without the doing.  Here's what I have been reading: 

Winners Never Cheat by Jon Huntsman


This book by Jon Huntsman was really an enjoyable and quick read.  It's basic tennants are to be honest and do what you commit to do, whether in personal life or business.  He has lived his life this way and done some amazing things in the process.  Amazing in his buisiness by making lots of money from an existance that started off with less than most of us, but also amazing in his philanthropy.  He has made philanthropic commitments and kept them whether it be with paying his tithing at church or helping those that needed help.  One thing that especially amazed me was that when he made commitments to help charities when times were good he kept them even when the economy did poorly and he literally borrowed the money to keep his commitments.  Most of us would be unable to do that.  A bank would say we were crazy.  But his bankers, despite advising him otherwise, did loan him the money because of his excellent past of keeping his word and they were confident he would repay them.  A good read with some excellent points in the book. 

I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

This is a good YA story about two competing groups of aliens that are living among us earth folk.  The good guys (Lorien) look just like us, and the bad guys (Mogadorians) look like scary humans.  The Mogadorians previously destroyed the Lorien world forcing them to send their last few young protectors here to this world.  They were children and each one had an adult to raise them and teach them their heritage.  So when they are teenagers their super powers, called legacies, start to emerg.  A spell has aided the good guys such that they can only be killed in order.  The first three are already dead and now it is number four that the Mogadorians are hunting.  Number four goes from a regular teen to budding super guy within months and then has to fight the Mogadorians who have their own powers not to mention their killing beasties.  So you get a good exciting story with a sequel coming in a few months and I understand a movie on the way as well.  The story is enjoyable but the writing is not real smooth.  Hopefully the author will improve as he goes.  Oh, and one more thing, notice the authors name: he is a leader of the Loriens and is hidden on earth biding his time for the Lorien children to learn to use their powers. 

Heaven is for Real: a little boys astounding story of his trip to Heaven by Todd Burpo

This was a very enjoyable and quick read about a family whose father is a minister.  His son, when he was aged 4 came close to death and had a "near death experience" in which he visited heaven.  The details of this NDE didn't come out immediately and took a long period for the boy to tell about it to his parents.  This book is about that experience which is very interesting.  For the most part I found it in line with revealed information about the spirit world.  For me personally, the part that stuck out was that he met a little girl in heaven who claimed to be his sister and was there to meet him when he arrived.  He only knew his one sister that was alive and well.  When he asked his parents about her he found they had a miscarriage and that was apparently the sister.  Worth reading. 

Hooligan: A Mormon Boyhood  by Douglas Thayer

This is a very enjoyable book about a time about 20 years before I was born.  Douglas Thayer has written about his boyhood in a time and status that we would call poor with simple pleasures.  He talks about his growing up and learning all the little things that we learn, and all the questions that he had along the way.  His is a normal life, one with nothing extraordinary except that he tells it so well that it is fun to see how a boy in Provo Utah would grow up in that day.  It is told very straighforward and if you catch it, with a bit of humor.  I enjoyed this book thoroughly and expect just about anyone else would too. 

So there you are, another group of books that I've enjoyed and feel like that have added to me and not only entertained but taught me a few things as well. 

What I've been reading 3

Once again I'm enjoying some of my free time by reading some good books. 

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins:



I enjoyed this one the best of the three books in the series in my opinion.  In this book all the characters get to show their true colors and are forced to take a stand for what they think is right.  It is not always easy to tell what the truth is and decisions have to be made quickly and based on incomplete information.  As in real life these characters have feelings and some try to ignore them, some are overwhelmed by them and need help and support from others to live their lives while dealing with them and still others try to anesthetize themselves to keep from feeling them.  It seems realistic in a very foreign world and the book concludes on a good note.  I would recommend this series despite the distasteful idea of the competition of the killing games that is forced on the population.  It deals with important concerns like how to decide what is true and what to support and how much freedom a government should give it's people and how influential and important and individual can be.  A good read.  If young kids are reading this book I would recommend a parent read along so the hard topics (killing, government oppression and the associated feelings be discussed so the kids can understand). 

Snow Rising by Matt Baldwin



This is one of those books that are in a niche that I'll call "Self help fiction".  The style is similar to the Peace Giver.  And this book is equally as well done and covers important information.  This style of book seems to really do some good teaching and when you are done you feel like you need to read it again to let is settle some more in you.  I found lots of great things in this book.  The lists at the back unrelated to the story are well worthwhile as well.  I highly recommend this book if you want to figure out what you personally can do to help the problems in your life, particular problems with relationships in or out of the family. 

Hero by Mike Lupica














This is a fun book about a young boy finding and discovering he had super powers and determining what his role is in the world.  A couple adults try to tell him what to do with his powers and he has to determine which is trying to help and which is trying to hinder.  It is a quick and fun read.  It is a YA book that really is best for young people and not adults.  The feelings and situations of the main character are not gone into in a depth that would be preferred by this adult at least, or maybe I'm just accustomed to how Orson Scot Card writes.  A good kids book that doesn't trash families or government or anything and is not gruesome.  A generally wholesome book. 

This is an electronic format science fiction/fantasy magazine edited by Orson Scott Card. I'll list the short stories included in it separately with a brief synopsis. 

Respite--Rachel Ann Dryden--an interesting story about a married couple trying to reach safety.  Both the husband and wife think the wife is the strongest of the pair until a moment of truth comes.

A Rarefied View at Dawn--Dave Wolverton--This is an interesting little story about a young man nearing the beginning of adolescence.  He lives in a city with only women and girls and very few boys.  The qualities of men are detested in this city and men must live outside the city in primitive conditions while the ladies live productive and modern lives inside the city protected from the men by robots.

Loose in the Wires--John Brown--In this fantasy a brother-in-law back from the Peace Corps brings home god in the form of a beetle.  What then happens tests those who are sane. 

Trill and the Beanstalk--Edmund R. Schubert--A chess loving American finds himself out maneuvered by a Chinese person in the race to get the wealth of Mars. 

Night Walks--Robert Stoddard--a husband is treated for cancer and survives only to fall prey to depression that almost takes him and his wife's life. 

Taint of Treason--James Stone--A son's treason is needed to protect the family from the false accusation of treason by the king. 

Eviction Notice--Scott M. Roberts--This is a story about a Vietnam vet who can't shake the horrors of the war or the later abuse of his son until he finds a way for emancipation. 

Mazer in Prison--Orson Scott Card--This is the best story of the bunch.  If you are an Ender fan and wondered how Graff got to be head of the battle school this will answer your questions. 

Hopefully you are doing some reading as well. 

A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.
Henry David Thoreau

What I've been reading.

I have been doing a good bit of reading lately.  Over the last few years I have had some responsibilities that kept me from doing much pleasure reading and consequently it is very enjoyable now to have the time to read for enjoyment.  I will comment on the following books so you can get an idea what I have been reading and maybe you will see something that would be interest top you. 

If you click on the books below it will take you to the Amazon.com page that gives more details about them.



Hilary contacted me this last year and ask if I had heard of these books: The Hunger Games and the two sequels which are written to the YA (Young Adult) audience (I must point out here that what the YA books seem to do is have young characters in their teens who are dealing with or at least thinking and reacting beyond their years in some aspects--similar to the Harry Potter books).  She said that they were a big deal at BYU and she had heard what great reads they were.  I was getting the first one for her younger sister and was glad to hear that they were enjoyable.  I had heard from Mallory in our ward that these books were great and her mother had read them as well and agreed they were very enjoyable.  I had seen them around and read some reviews on them.

They are about a dystopian (the opposite of Utopian) society where the central government has a yearly contest to the death where each province provides 2 youths each to be involved in a 'to the death' fight with only one victor surviving.  The reason for the yearly contest (mandatory viewing on T.V. for all the citizens by the way) is to remind them of their subservience to the government.  Needless to say one young woman, Katniss, ends up in the games who has a conscience and begins to see that things in the government aren't as they appeared to her when she was just a simple peasant. Combine that with a mild romance (a la the Twilight Saga in that it is chaste) it appeals to many people.   The writing though is what really makes this great. 

Before I read the book I was concerned about the idea of a game where people had to kill each other with only one victor.  That story line is handled as well as I can imagine and from Katniss' view (the main character) she has some unique views of what is going around her as well as unique (for her society) ways of responding.  Suzanne Collins is able to write about various things that come up in the story in a way that avoids the disturbing traps that other writers fall into that turn away those who want a great story and not a bunch of sex and/or perversion. She does an excellent job of developing the characters such that you can see parts of yourself in them as well as parts of what you wish you were in them.  I've enjoyed the first two books and look forward to the last one in the trilogy. 



Orson Scott Card must be my favorite author.  That being said this book, Space Boy, is not one of his better books in my opinion.  This is more of a novelette.  It seems it might be written to teach a particular thing--something like a fairy tale.  The lesson from it might be that we should do the thing in our life that we were born to do, and that children can save adults even though they are young.  I didn't enjoy it particularly and don't really recommend it.  Instead I suggest you read some of his other books.



Clear as the Moon is the final book in a the 6 book "Great and Terrible" series.  It is a Christian book in that the many of the main characters are believers in Christ and sometimes that becomes a main point.  It is not exactly an end of the world series but might be described as a Satanic attempt to control the world series that is averted by good people including Christians.

Chris Stewart writes books of military fighting and wars for a general audience and has had a lot of success in that realm.  This series is his first to be put out by Shadow Mountain a part of Deseret Book and is a very enjoyably inspiring and realistic view of a possible future. 

This series starts prior to the creation of the world in a place called "the pre-existance" and carries the battle's between Satan and his followers versus Christ and his followers of that time into our present day and a couple years into the future.  It has scenes of military operations but centers more on one particular family and how their efforts to do what is right help to save the United Stated from the evil that threatens to take it over.  It is an excellent end to that series and was worth the wait I had so I could spend the time and effort to read it.  If you read it be prepared to feel excitement, come to tears and a variety of emotions in between. 


The Second Ship is what I call an "Area 51" novel of alien ships found on the earth. That is to say it is a novel about an alien ship that has come to the earth and of course it is in New Mexico (for some reason that is the preferred landing place of aliens small and large).  It seems to be a YA book for the first half as we follow teenagers who accidentally find an alien ship and explore it only to find that the technology is enhancing their natural abilities.  The writing is not that great, nor is anything about it but it was adequate...until in the middle it brought in some adults who take it out of the realm of YA into the realm of creepy horror gross perverted stuff that I didn't want to read so I stopped reading it and deleted it from my Kindle. 


 
Harvest: Memoir of a Mormon Missionary is an interesting and odd book.  It does not fit the expected genre.  I picked it up to read about a missionaries experiences in Russia.  It fulfilled that well but included an unexpected confessional of the missionary who struggled with various personal weaknesses.  In polite company we would just simply call these 'struggles' but in reality this missionary laid bare some disturbing thoughts and behaviors.  The response of the mission president is sometimes curious while the parents respond as one would expect.  After going through his struggles in extreme detail it rushes to the end showing the victory of the young man over his weaknesses.

This is not an inspirational book, at least not in the traditional sense.  I was expecting it to be more traditional in that regard.  It is however a good book that deals with the nitty gritty of a mission and the temptations that a young man may deal with while serving if he isn't careful about obeying the rules.

I don't think this book would be a good one for young men planning on a mission to read.  However it might be good for parents and probably most definitely for Mission Presidents to read to see what some of their missionaries may be dealing with. 

Don't read this if you are looking for inspiration, but do read it if you want to read the nitty gritty of a mission that you might not read any where else.

So that is the good and the bad and the ugly of what I have been reading lately.  Enjoy.  If you have any books that you think I should consider reading let me know.