Read for: Leisure
Rating: 3.8
I have a love/hate relationship with Redeeming Love. I read it for the first time in October of last year and was deeply moved by it. The story is a fictional retelling of the book of Hosea from the Bible. In Hosea, the prohpet Hosea is told by God to marry a prostitute named Gomer. This real-life example is supposed to be a metaphor for God's unconditional love for Israel, who has been unfaithful to him. Redeeming Love takes place in California in the 1850s, during the Gold Rush. Farmer Michael Hosea is told by God to marry the prostitute Angel. Rivers does a good job of showing the inside of the relationship that Hosea and Gomer might have had. Angel's conversion throughout the book strikes a cord with many Christian women that I know, who identify with her wandering heart and doubt about unconditional love.
With all that good stuff, I have a hard time enjoying this book as much as I should, because Rivers' writing style is so terrible. The dialogue is cheesy and forced, as are the dramatic moments. What bothers me the most, however, is that Rivers only uses one description for smiles. Whenever a character smiles, Rivers makes sure to note it by saying the corners of his or her mouth "curved upward in a smile." Sometimes this even happens in consecutive sentences! On page 385, the last sentence of chapter 29 is "Duke stood before her, his mouth curved in a deadly smile." Turn the page, and the first sentence of chapter 30 is "Duke's mocking gaze swept Angel's soiled gingham dress, his mouth curving into a sardonic smile." There is a difference between repetition and redundancy, and I'm afraid this falls into the category of the latter.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Ecclesiastes by Solomon
Read for: Quiet Time
Rating: 4.5
Ecclesiastes is such a powerful book, that speaks directly to the heart of man. The overall theme of Ecclesiastes can be summed up in chapter 3 verses 9-14:
9What does the worker gain from his toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.
My interpretation is this: The reason that a man toils and works is because God has put a burden on the hearts of men: the knowledge of eternity (v. 11). A man works because he has the desire on his heart to leave a legacy, to make something that is eternal. BUT, man is unable to truly understand the nature of eternity. I love v. 14; only God can make something eternal and beautiful, and he does this so that "men will revere him." Basically, man toils to make something that will be eternal, but since everything that man does (without God) is folly, man must turn to Him who can make everything eternal: God. It is only through partnership with God that something meaningful can happen in our lives. It is a gift of God for us to enjoy our work that is partnered with Him, instead of despairing because our work without Him is meaningless.
This is basically the theme of Ecclesiastes: Everything man does is meaningless, unless God helps you do it.
Rating: 4.5
Ecclesiastes is such a powerful book, that speaks directly to the heart of man. The overall theme of Ecclesiastes can be summed up in chapter 3 verses 9-14:
9What does the worker gain from his toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.
My interpretation is this: The reason that a man toils and works is because God has put a burden on the hearts of men: the knowledge of eternity (v. 11). A man works because he has the desire on his heart to leave a legacy, to make something that is eternal. BUT, man is unable to truly understand the nature of eternity. I love v. 14; only God can make something eternal and beautiful, and he does this so that "men will revere him." Basically, man toils to make something that will be eternal, but since everything that man does (without God) is folly, man must turn to Him who can make everything eternal: God. It is only through partnership with God that something meaningful can happen in our lives. It is a gift of God for us to enjoy our work that is partnered with Him, instead of despairing because our work without Him is meaningless.
This is basically the theme of Ecclesiastes: Everything man does is meaningless, unless God helps you do it.
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Read for: Leisure
Rating: 5+
I finished re-reading this a few weeks ago, but have been out of the country for awhile and unable to post, so I am catching up now. Ender's Game is ... pure genius. I love the character of Ender, and reading about his childhood in Battle School again makes me love him all the more.
Card's writing is poignant and precise. One thing I noticed in this re-reading is that Ender's Game is a lot simpler than the other books in the series. The moral and ethical dilemmas that are typical of Card are still present, but he doesn't spend pages and pages going into agonizing detail over them, as he does in some of the other books; Children of the Mind particularly. Rather, the dilemma is presented and left to Ender, and the reader, to solve. I used to think that this book would be suited for an upperclassmen-level English class, but after this realization I think that it would be perfect for the 10th grade level, maybe even the 9th.
Ender's Game remains one of those books that I simply can't put down, so I recommend it to everyone.
Rating: 5+
I finished re-reading this a few weeks ago, but have been out of the country for awhile and unable to post, so I am catching up now. Ender's Game is ... pure genius. I love the character of Ender, and reading about his childhood in Battle School again makes me love him all the more.
Card's writing is poignant and precise. One thing I noticed in this re-reading is that Ender's Game is a lot simpler than the other books in the series. The moral and ethical dilemmas that are typical of Card are still present, but he doesn't spend pages and pages going into agonizing detail over them, as he does in some of the other books; Children of the Mind particularly. Rather, the dilemma is presented and left to Ender, and the reader, to solve. I used to think that this book would be suited for an upperclassmen-level English class, but after this realization I think that it would be perfect for the 10th grade level, maybe even the 9th.
Ender's Game remains one of those books that I simply can't put down, so I recommend it to everyone.
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