Best Books
I read Maze Runner, and found it exciting, and gripping. But it was the beginning of a series, so it didn't really "end." I found that unsatisfying. Then my friend lent me the Hunger Games series, and I found it also exciting, gripping, I read it almost too fast, neglecting some things I was supposed to be doing. And by the end of the trilogy it ended, but I still felt unsatisfied.
It was all too SAD, to full of hopelessness and senseless death and killing. And it's for a Young Adult audience, too. That does bother me a bit. I think my biggest issue with it though, was that I personally needed something happier.
Then I read When Bad Things Happen to Good People. I heard Rabbi Kushner years ago on the Cambridge Forum, and was really interested in it. It is a compassionate, caring book. It also sets up some theology that I'm not real sure about: God is not all-powerful. Whoa. In other words, God doesn't cause the bad stuff for inscrutable reasons. He does not cause it. He does not allow it. He doesn't have control. He IS there to help us deal with it. It is a powerful idea. It adds more questions, like "then who IS in charge?" I wonder if he has a book addressing that? But that's more about theology than about how to live life.
And I finished A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. Loved it. Felt uplifted in it several times. The first chapter was a real trial though. It seemed a bit self-important. I only kept reading because I so admire my friend who lent it to me. She paid me the compliment of saying she saw much of my interaction with my children in its pages. I was interested in that. I'm glad I kept reading. It's not the kind of book you can pick up and start reading in the middle. It uses some of its own accumulated terms. If you pick it up in the middle you go "what the heck is a 'pain-body'? and it doesn't make any sense at all. But it does have many powerful ideas, and I see much truth in it.
I started a blog to sort of keep a list of the books my book club reads, since I'm in charge of the club. I need to refine my reactions to these books, because I want to mention them on the blog too.
This month's book is "Fairest" by Gail Carson Levine. It's a re-imagining of Snow White. I loved it. It's found in the juvenile section. It was just what I needed coming off of the Hunger Games and Maze Runner. It's happy, it's about growth and acceptance, and not even the evil queen is really evil. It's easy to read, but it's not stupid.
It was all too SAD, to full of hopelessness and senseless death and killing. And it's for a Young Adult audience, too. That does bother me a bit. I think my biggest issue with it though, was that I personally needed something happier.
Then I read When Bad Things Happen to Good People. I heard Rabbi Kushner years ago on the Cambridge Forum, and was really interested in it. It is a compassionate, caring book. It also sets up some theology that I'm not real sure about: God is not all-powerful. Whoa. In other words, God doesn't cause the bad stuff for inscrutable reasons. He does not cause it. He does not allow it. He doesn't have control. He IS there to help us deal with it. It is a powerful idea. It adds more questions, like "then who IS in charge?" I wonder if he has a book addressing that? But that's more about theology than about how to live life.
And I finished A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. Loved it. Felt uplifted in it several times. The first chapter was a real trial though. It seemed a bit self-important. I only kept reading because I so admire my friend who lent it to me. She paid me the compliment of saying she saw much of my interaction with my children in its pages. I was interested in that. I'm glad I kept reading. It's not the kind of book you can pick up and start reading in the middle. It uses some of its own accumulated terms. If you pick it up in the middle you go "what the heck is a 'pain-body'? and it doesn't make any sense at all. But it does have many powerful ideas, and I see much truth in it.
I started a blog to sort of keep a list of the books my book club reads, since I'm in charge of the club. I need to refine my reactions to these books, because I want to mention them on the blog too.
This month's book is "Fairest" by Gail Carson Levine. It's a re-imagining of Snow White. I loved it. It's found in the juvenile section. It was just what I needed coming off of the Hunger Games and Maze Runner. It's happy, it's about growth and acceptance, and not even the evil queen is really evil. It's easy to read, but it's not stupid.