L.T. Frog

L.T. Frog encapsulates the experience of a Jesus-follower through the subjective but universally relatable experiences of the author. Each devotion has a theme, often based on a keen observation or real-life experience, that convicts but does not condemn believers, motivating them into action -- action based on gratitude and servitude to the God who is deserving of it all. This book is excellent for those who want a daily devotional that will inspire on good days and encourage on low days, without weighing the reader down under the Christian-ese jargon common in "religious" books. This book is anything but religious -- it is heartfelt, honest, and full of life.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

The Memory Keeper's Daughter is the type of book that reminds you: Some books are good reads, and some books are literature. This is both.

The prose can be described in one word: lovely. Plot, thankfully, does not take a backseat to character development and vice versa. The story moves through time, but the themes are timeless -- love, passion, family, heartbreak, secrecy, pain, redemption. Somehow, the author finds a way to make each character as relatable, and as guilty, as the next. This is a story sure to jerk the tears and make you wish there were more books like it.

Now, if only Lifetime would stop buying the rights to the good books and destroying them with Saturday night TV movies . . . .

Sundays at Tiffany's

Wow, it's been a while, hasn't it? I've read about six books since last posting, but I haven't had time to write them up, so I'll just skip to the book I finished this morning: "Sundays at Tiffany's" by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet. This is one of those books I didn't hear much about but read the back-cover copy when browsing Target's severely understocked book section. The paperback cover caught my eye: it was that unmistakable shade of Tiffany blue. Purty. (Amazon's link makes it look green, though.)

As I mentioned some time ago, I don't often read (much less, buy, but I did) girlie books, but this one (based on its description) didn't seem to try to hide the fact it was girlie by having some quasi-independent heroine who is witty and charming and loves to shop and works for a major ad/PR agency. Instead, it has an intriguing premise--little girl has imaginary friend, he leaves her on her ninth birthday because that's the "rule," she runs in to him 23 years later and they fall in love. Simple and cute, right? Well, it was. And like most of James Patterson's girlie books, it was a short, simple, fun read.

However. (You knew it was coming, right?) Patterson and Charbonnet leave about three major loose ends to the story, which are three loose ends too many. I'll just delve into one for now. Michael's existence and mortality are touched on often, but they are never fully explained. It just felt messy. I wish the authors had realized what a great idea they had and then fully developed it. They don't even explain how and when some people can see imaginary friends--instead, we only know that, well, sometimes people can see imaginary friends and sometimes they can't. This is just one example of the flawed fantasy within the book.

There is also too much pop culture infused in this book for my taste. A dude who loves Corrine Bailey Rae, seriously? A little bit of name dropping goes a long way for me, and there was quite a lot in this book.

All in all, I'd give the book three out of five girlie-book stars. The idea was and is fabulous. I almost hope someone else would come along, rip off the idea, and make a longer book (perhaps a series?) with the same premise. It'll be like Twilight in reverse--Stephenie Meyer had the fresh, new vamp idea, made it great, then other authors tried to jetski along in her wake and failed miserably (not necessarily in sales but in execution). Maybe someone can save Patterson and Charbonnet. Any takers?

The Shack

The beauty of "The Shack" is that it gives humans a glimpse of the love God, or "Papa," truly has for us, his creation. As a Christian, I often struggle with viewing God as not only the ultimate judge, but also as the ultimate father. Instead of viewing him as such, I tend to approach him as a punisher or a being who deserves the utmost respect (when, of course, he does) -- that is, I just tend to forget he loves me so deeply I cannot completely comprehend it. I, in turn, rarely return that love to the depths that I should. "The Shack" gives me a better understanding of what God's love for everyone -- those who follow him and those who don't -- must be like. 

That said, I do believe "The Shack" purports to answer questions it never actually does and probably cannot be answered, one of which being: Why does God let bad things happen to his people? The conversations between God and the main character, Mitch, tip-toe around this conundrum and the plot (what little of it there is) progresses as if the question gets answered, but it doesn't. As a reader, I find this to be incomplete and frustrating -- if it cannot be answered, why base an entire novel on the question?

I also draw issue with the personification of God's wisdom as a smokin' hot woman named Sophia (which, surely not so incidentally, means "wisdom"). When Mitch asks Papa if she is a fourth person of what he believed to be a trinity, God assures him that she's not. I took this to be some of the theology a lot of Evangelicals called into question when the book was first released. Though I completely understand "The Shack" is a work of fiction, I feel that great care must be taken when fictionalizing the ultimate reality, and too many liberties should probably not be taken outside of what God reveals to us directly through the Bible. 

I know a lot of people who hold this book very dear and others who completely hate it. I am neither. I understood the subject matter, but honestly found it to be boring at times. I generally finish a book of this size (248 pages) in a day or two, but it took me almost two weeks to finish because I didn't want to read more than a few pages a day.

I think this book might be best for a Christian who needs reassurance that God is loving or for Christians who are hurting. I wouldn't dissuade non-Christians to read it because much of the message is positive and biblical. I would, however, remind those readers that not everything in the book can be backed up by the Word. Be ready to answer questions with Scripture that those readers might have about the book's content or otherwise. 

Check out my guest blog at ORACLENERD

Chet Justice and I met up on Linkedin recently, and he invited me to guest blog for him. It was so fun! Check out ORACLENERD, Chet's site, my guest blog, and all his prior and upcoming posts!

Top Ten Grammatical Errors That Make People Look Stup—Silly....

Motivating Kids to Read

Some children naturally love to read and don't need much coaxing to do so. Others might need an incentive, and nothing motivates quite like the good old-fashioned green stuff: money.

Motivate your students and children to read during the summer through TD Bank's annual Summer Reading Program! Kids who read 10 books over the break will get $10 deposited into their young savers account. It's a great opportunity to promote literacy and the enjoyment of reading, while slipping in a few life lessons about being good stewards of money. There's no time like the present to educate our young ones about the economy, and what better way to do it than through reading?

Check out the TD Bank website for more information about this exciting program. Try to get the word out to your students' parents before the school year ends!

I Told an Untruth

I did. I told an untruth. I said my next post would be about "Life of Pi" but it's not. I had to give it up for awhile, which is something I rarely, rarely do. I hate to not finish what I start. Hence "for awhile." I promise to pick it up again when I have time for something a little heavier. It's not that it's not well written. It's just not all that interesting. Yet.

Anywho, I am currently reading "Kiss" by Ted Dekker and Erin Healy -- not the first book he's co-authored and probably not the last. This is much better than "House," which he co-wrote with Frank Peretti a few years back. It maintains Dekker's love for psychological thrills while abandoning cheap ones, which are abundant in "House." Dekker has been around for awhile, yet much of his writing has the greenery of a newbie. Not so in "Kiss."

He (and Healy) devise a heroine who comes from a family that is all but ordinary. Though she deals with complex issues with her father, dating back to the premature death of her mother, she doesn't carry as much baggage as one might think, which is refreshing. Her problems affect everything in her life, but they don't consume her life. At the same time, the authors avoid making her lifeless and two-dimensional. 

Dekker is traditionally a Christian fiction author. Many of his books are slap-you-upside-the-face straight biblical analogies, but "Kiss" isn't. Christian themes run throughout but aren't the main focus. This book is all around a good read with plenty of twists and turns for readers who don't have my curse of foresight, and I highly recommend it for someone who wants to break into reading this genre without being preached to.

Kudos to Dekker for stretching himself while staying true to who he is. I hope he writes for a long time to come. His audience will get to watch him evolve.

The Christmas Box

"The Christmas Box" is a self-publisher's dream come true. It was originally self-published in '93 but was subsequently sought after by several major publishing houses once its popularity skyrocketed via word-of-mouth and was published again in '95. The book, according to its back-cover copy, was written as a gift to the author's family. It seems to be a somewhat fictionalized version of a true story.

At less than 150 pocket-book-sized pages, it took me about an hour and 15 minutes to read. Though the story takes place mostly near Christmastime, it is appropriate reading for any season, because the real message is in the joy of children and family. The reader's heartstrings are grasped, gripped and twisted until the last tear falls and the final address of the new angel monument is given. I hope to visit it myself someday. 

I highly recommend this book to someone who has an hour or so to kill out by a pool or cuddled up on a chaise with a cup of hot chocolate. Don't forget the extra marshmallows and the Kleenex.

If you haven't yet used BookMooch, I highly recommend it, especially if you aren't much on collecting and keeping books. Visit the site here. You might even be able to mooch your own copy of "The Christmas Box."

Next book: "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel

The Wedding

"The Wedding," published in 2003, was Nicholas Sparks’s much-anticipated follow-up to “The Notebook.” I hesitate to call it a sequel, though I suppose by definition it is. The story follows the story from Noah Calhoun’s (the hero of “The Notebook”) son-in-law's point of view. Because of the book’s title, I originally believed the book would recount Noah and Allie’s wedding, but it doesn’t. Instead, it takes the reader to a wedding that was meant to happen but never really did.

I found this book to be light years better than “The Notebook.” There was a lot more dialogue, which was lacking in the first book, without too much exposition. The flashbacks are welcome, but aren’t cheesy, and the believability and connection to the main character is deeper. It is obvious that Sparks grew tremendously as a writer in the seven years between the releases of these two novels.

This book made me cry, even though I knew what twist was coming (it’s my curse – I generally see “twists” coming). The problem with books like this one is that women read them, when their husbands should. Not that all relationship problems are men’s fault, but there are some sage ideas in this book. I wonder what joy it must be to be married to Mr. Sparks….

This book is a good, romantic, lazy read. I recommend it.

Next book: "The Christmas Box"

Girl With a Pearl Earring

My family is quickly growing, so for Christmas each year, we now draw names and make an effort to have each family member have a few really good gifts instead of several cheap ones from everyone. This year, my mom had me and all I asked for were hardcover classic books. I didn’t care how old they were, or if they had notes and highlighting throughout – all I cared is that they were hardcover (because I destroy soft covers) and they were classics. Among the “wish list” I made was “Girl With a Pearl Earring.” I assumed, based on the movie (which I have yet to see) and the content, that it was a classic. Well, I got it for Christmas, and it turns out the book was published in 1999, but it’s set in seventeenth century Delft. I was very pleased when I finished this book. Nothing particularly shocking, twisted or romantic happens; it’s really a tale of classes and of duty.


The book is based on the painting of the same name by Johannes Vermeer, who is a primary character in the book. The circumstances regarding the actual painting are convoluted, but author Tracy Chevalier uses her imagination and deep understanding of the history surrounding the time to concoct a story that is easy to believe.


As an editor, the single most bothersome thing I found about this book is the inclusion of the letter “s” at the end of such words as “towards” and “backwards.” Because I don’t know much about the time period or writings during it, I cannot make an educated opinion about its necessity. However, because my eye is trained to remove such extraneous letters, I found myself getting tripped up over this minor preference often. Other less invasive issues obstructed my steady reading of the book as well. The names in the book are not common to Americans, nor I suppose, should they be. However, I do believe the author could have chosen names that Americans could at least make an attempt to pronounce correctly. Several had names of the 10 known names of his children, but “Maertge” was among a few that the author apparently made up. I don’t have the first clue about how to pronounce that. I often resorted to calling her “Mary” in my head.


Aside from my editorial rants, I very much enjoyed this book. It is different from the majority of books I read and it taught me several things I didn’t know about life before it was as it is now. Chevalier creates a main character who is so different from myself, and likely much different from most readers, but nonetheless I am compelled to project myself onto her as I read. I feel as though her thoughts are my own and her trials affect me. When she had a long day, I had a long day. When she was triumphant, I was, and when she was grief-stricken, so was I. I highly recommend this book to lovers and haters of classics. It’s modern enough to do without the confusing and flowery language as such authors as Emily Bronte without losing its historical value.

A Little Off Topic Today

I'm debt freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Thank you, Dave Ramsey, for your consistent inspiration. I know my blog is generally about books -- have no fear, it really is. Now that my husband and I are debt free, I can invest more money and effort into all things book-related -- reading them, buying them, and working to publish them when we move to Los Angeles next year!

If you want to be on your way to financial peace, visit Dave's site or listen to him on your local radio station.

Dave Ramsey's official Web site

Finally Completed! HP & TOTP

Well, I just finished reading "Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix" this week. To begin:

Wow.

This book is the longest of the books, but the shortest of the movies, which I have yet to see. (I'm scared to see how much and what all was cut out!) As in all the "Harry Potter" books, J.K. Rowling delivers tremendously when it comes to imagery, subplots and character development. However, I felt that this novel was seriously lacking in its overall plot. The book hosts a huge secret and the extinction of a primary character, but nothing particularly twisted or surprising happens.

Near the end of the story it almost seems as if Rowling gets tired of showing the reader things, and Dumbledore and Harry have a long expository conversation in which Harry learns secrets of his past through an oh-so-uncreative way: a conversation. I wish that I could have seen him learn these things instead of just hearing Dumbledore rattle facts off.

It was during this book that I became confused about some of the fundamental principles of Harry's world. For one, I was led to believe through reading the first four books that only purebloods can be sorted into Slytherin. I also believed Harry to be a pureblood because both of his parents were magical. This led me to be confused by Voldemort's relating to Harry because they were both half-breeds. However, there is apparently a clause I missed somewhere that explains that wizards are still "mudbloods" if a grandparent was non-magical, which is true in Harry's case. Other long-time "Harry Potter" fans can explain it better than I can.

Harry Potter lineage

To be completely honest, it feels like Rowling got genealogy/sorting hat facts mixed up somewhere down the line and tried to fix it through a few comments Sirius makes in the fifth book.

Another mild point of contention I have with this book is Harry's violent mood change. Though he is a pubescent 15-year-old now, the shift seems too dramatic. Harry has always had it rough and he hasn't always been necessarily peachy, but I've never thought him to be mean until this book. He has some downright evil thoughts at times.

With the end of the series looming in my near future, I do find myself getting sad. Reading the "Harry Potter" series has been sheer fun, and I'm not looking forward to that fun ending.

**Up next on the book posts: "Girl With a Pearl Earring" by Tracy Chevalier

Korianne Speaks is offering a Twilight package contest!

To view the contest rules and get your name entered, go here:

Korianne Speaks's Blog

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

As previously said, I am reading the fifth installment in the "Harry Potter" series right now. I haven't seen the movie yet or listened to the audio books, so no one PLEASE post anything that will give anything away. My hairdresser actually let slip that an important character leaves us in this book, and, well, I was devastated. There's just something about not discovering it for myself....

Anyway, this book is far darker than the last four. Harry is now 15 years old, and his moods are shifting as quickly as his hormones. (Many props to J.K. Rowling for taking that bit of realism in to account, btw.) The language begins to shift with the aging characters, as well. Ron, his brothers, and Harry have taken to calling one another "mate," possibly the British (or Australian?) equivalent of "bro" or "dog." Harry finally encounters his first bit of romance and his thinking patterns emulate that of a boy coming of age.

Perhaps my favorite part of this book thus far is the deep-set struggle between good and evil, even within the ranks of those on the "good" side and those on the "bad" side. Professor Umbridge (bad) of the Ministry of Magic (good) lands the coveted Defense Against the Dark Arts position, but immediately abuses her position by acting as spy (bad) for the Ministry. She particularly gives Harry and his peers in Gryffindor a hard time, while favoring Slytherin students. (And everyone knows Slytherins are eeeviiil.)

What most impresses me about these books is Rowling's ability to produce vivid images for the reader absent of flowery language, which so many writers overuse. Her attention to detail is uncanny and she subtly satirizes those things which we "Muggles" so easily accept. Take for instance, the use of "Muggle medicine" in book five. "Healers" (the magical community's equivalent to doctors) attempt to use stitches instead of magic to heal a patient. Molly Weasley thinks this is absolutely preposterous, and though Rowling doesn't dwell for long on the absurdity of trying to sew someone up like a garment, the reader is led to note that, well, it is odd, isn't it?

I'm on page 553 of 870, and though I have a bookshelf full of other books I want to get to, I'm savoring the magic that is "Harry Potter" while I can. I only hope another series as gripping comes along soon.

Girly Books

Girly books, schmirly books. I never much liked them.

As a child, I was mostly entranced by such mystery sagas as “Nancy Drew,” “The Hardy Boys,” and “The Boxcar Children.” To put it mildly, I was a book snob. I wouldn’t read just anything, no, no, not this sleuth in training. The snobbery followed me through middle school and high school. I started reading Mary Jane Clark, Mary Higgins Clark, Harlan Coben, P.J. Parrish, John Grisham and Agatha Christie novels while my friends were reading “Gossip Girl.”

Though my love for reading was deep, it was not very wide. Through shunning what I deemed “mindless gar-bage,” I also shut out such novelists as Nicholas Sparks and Jodi Picoult — you know: girly-book authors. With all the love and romance I so easily turned my back to, I also missed out on comedy, fantasy (as in sci-fi) and inspiration. It was last summer when a close friend told me about “a vampire story that totally sounds stupid, but is totally amazing” when I finally decided to step out on a limb and read something new. I was in for it.

I won’t bore you with the details, but I did read “Twilight” - all 528 pages in about 16 hours. I was hooked. Over the next couple of weeks I finished the series, with the exception of the fourth book, which I had to wait until August ‘08 for.

After the “Twilight” saga, when I thought my world was ending, I came to a reading drought. Would any book series ever stir me the same way? The resounding question from my classmates was: “I take it you haven’t read ‘Harry Potter?’” I hadn’t. But I have currently read up through chapter six of the “Order of the Phoenix” and can’t wait to finish the next two books before the new movie comes out this summer. I guess “Harry Potter” doesn’t really fit in with the whole girly-book theme, but it was still something I hadn’t read and hadn’t considered reading.

Peppered throughout the last few months have been several different books of varying levels of girlyness, which I have enjoyed immensely. There have been some British comedies, some Junior League-worthy-name-dropping style books and coming-of-age stories. Most recently, however, I read “The Notebook” by Nicholas Sparks. Shocking really, that I just read the book, considering it was first published in 1996 and the movie (starring Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling) was released in 2004. For anyone who has read and loves the book, you may want to stop reading now:

This was the first time I’ve seen a movie and read the book (as is required, I’m told) and actually liked the movie better. And not by a little bit — byalotabit. The book is short — only 207 pages in paperback. And it is good. Just not as good as the movie. There is very little dialogue and the story is more about Allie’s disease (Alzheimer’s) than about the heavy, heated romance Noah and Allie share in the film. The book is lacking the inspiration the movie elicits. I guess it inspired enough, though, to make it a New York Times Bestseller. The book doesn’t have the same heart as the movie. The reader doesn’t get to know that Noah is a jokester, a charmer. We don’t know the sweet tendencies the couple shared and we certainly don’t hear the same spark of emotion in their voices. We get brief glimpses into a fun summer, but very few specific stories. The book is simple. The movie is complex. The book has a much more depressing, sad tone than the movie. The movie left me feeling uplifted, while the book left me empty.

The best thing about reading “The Notebook” and being disappointed, I think, is that now I crave more girly books. This one doesn’t fit the mold I for so long believed existed. It wasn’t a story of coming of age — it was a story of coming of old age. And I guess I can’t be too disappointed — this was, after all, Sparks’ first published novel. You can read more about that here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Sparks_(author)

I suppose I need to give a big thank you to a few people at this point: to Carissa, thanks for “Twilight.” Thank you for being persistent in coaxing me to read it. That one small gesture will make a world of difference for me, since I want to go into book publishing. I need to be willing to read anything, not just my favorite things (because, along the way, I might just find new favorite things.) To Stephenie Meyer, thanks for “Twilight” and to J.K. Rowling, thanks for “Harry Potter.” ‘Nough said. To Monica, thanks for checking girly books out of the library for me. To Samantha, thanks for chatting with me about them all. To Danielle, thanks for the signed copy of “The Notebook.” To Nicholas Sparks, thanks for signing it. (And I don’t think you’re a bad writer — I just think the screenwriter outdid you on this one — “The Lucky One” is coming up on my list soon.) To my mom, thanks for teaching me to read and love books at 3. To Elliott, thanks for writing. And to readers (of girly books or otherwsie), keep it up. There aren’t too many of us left, but some people aren’t accepting that fate:

http://www.adn.com/24hour/entertainment/books/news/story/653293.html