Whatcha Readin': April

Well, it's that time again...

Of course, we all know by now that a * means I had read it before, right?

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
This one has been heavily recommended to me over the last couple years so I finally gave it a look.  I am sorry to say that I did not like it at all, so I am confused about all the hype.  I thought the writing was forced and the story line, blah.  I didn't believe any of it.  Not the characters, not the plot. She tried to build up suspense about what you are going to learn about Lily's mother and when she finally dares to ask about her mother, you learn exactly what you already knew.  None of it did anything for me.

* Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Since I had re-read the other two in March, I had to round out the series.  While I liked the other two better with a second look, I hate to say that I liked this one less the second time around.  The first time I just plowed through to get to a resolution.  This time I realized that Katniss was on my nerves sometimes and there was not even close to enough Peeta and then you finally get the conclusion you hope for but it is only one paragraph and it wasn't enough for me this time.  Still some awesome parts in this book, and I still love the series but this one is definitely the weakest link.


Touch the Top of the World by Erik Weihenmayer
I think this was a pick for my friend Cheryl's book club once but somehow I missed it so I have been meaning to get to it for awhile.  It is about a blind man who sets the goal to climb the highest mountain on each continent.   He has since accomplished it, but this book goes through his first 3 big climbs, one of which he had to do twice, when the weather would not allow them to summit the first time.  I loved what it taught about persistence and determination but it was a little dry to read at times.  I did not care for the lengthy descriptions about the climbs but I love an underdog story.  There was one line that I loved.  He is talking about how people wouldn't hire him and someone told him he needed to realize his limitations and his answer to that is...I think too many people sit around realizing their limitations when, maybe, they should spend more time realizing their potential." I love that attitude!  I could certainly accomplish more.  This month I climbed Mount Laundry once all the way to the top of Sock Summit and I thought that was an accomplishment so this book definitely helped me to see that I could make less excuses and try harder to realize my potential.


Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom
This is very reminiscent of Tuesdays with Morrie, where Mitch Albom learns life lessons from his dying professor.  This time he is asked to eulogize his rabbi so he starts to spend time with him and to learn from him so that he will be equal to the task when the time comes.  He also meets with an inner city Christian minister who used to be a criminal and turned his life to God.  It is a very relatable story about running away from God and then coming home.  I liked it but it wasn't my favorite of his books.  I think that I once said that if I wrote a book it would be like his books.  Then I felt stupid because I do not write like he does at all.   Totally different in style and ability. But what I meant was that I like that he writes about real people in his life and how relationships have impacted him.  I have had people tell me to write a "book" before and have tried to explain that I AM NOT a fiction writer and I love that there is someone out there who is writing down their personal experiences and that there is a market for it.  I know there are biographies and memoirs galore out there but his books are not that.  They are like novels, but personal novels, if I could give the genre a name.

Futility (The Wreck of the Titan) by Morgan Robertson
Okay so I am a Titanic dork, of titanic proportions.  I learned about the sinking of Titanic in 4th grade and just a few months later they finally found her resting place.  It was one of those stories that just stuck to my bones.  I actually heard recently that the 3 things people read about most are Jesus, WWII and Titanic.  I read lots about all 3, so I guess I am pretty run of the mill.  So anyway, with the 100 year anniversary I recorded and watched lots of Titanic specials this month. I rarely learn anything new about the actual sinking but it still draws me in every time and I love to hear even little snippets about the people who were on board.  A few years ago I even read the entire list of passengers and learned that there were Renoufs on board.  That is my mom's maiden name and these Renoufs (Peter and Lillian) lived in Guernsey, which is where my ancestors are from.  I guess if we were related I would have heard by now but I have still tried to learn what I could about them since I have never known any Renoufs other than the ones I am related to.  She was saved in lifeboat 12 (the last one pulled aboard the Carpathia) and her husband and brothers went down with the ship.  So anyway, now that you have a better idea of the depths of my dorkiness, you will understand why I read this novella.  If you have ever watched anything Titanic related they have probably mentioned this book.  It was written 14 years prior to Titanic about a massive "unsinkable" ship, the Titan, that hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic in April and sank.  Now that I have read it I can tell you that the similarities to Titanic end there but that is still eerie, right?  The sinking takes up only about a page and the story it is mostly about a man on board and his unfortunate luck that makes it keep look like he is kidnapping a little girl.  He ends up living on the iceberg that they hit, with the girl, and fighting a polar bear who also lives on the berg until they are rescued and even still people think he kidnapped her and he never even tries to set them straight.  Kind of a goofy story, but it was free on Kindle and since I had heard about it so many times I figured I should read it.  So I'll check it off my list, but it was nothing special.


Lifeboat Number 8 by Elizabeth Kaye
This was actually a Kindle Single that kept showing up on my recommended books page.  It is more of a short story about the people who were rescued in lifeboat number 8.  I liked it because I told you that any glimpse into the lives and minds of the people who were actually there is interesting to me.

While we are talking Titanic I also want to read more about the Carpathia (who rescued them) and the Californian (who did not come) so I have two books about the subject but I am also looking for one that is out of print called The Ship that Stood Still by Leslie Reade.  It is not at the library or on Kindle and I can only find used ones for $35.  Has anyone read it?  Just wondering if it is even good before I try to track it down?

The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis
Another one that has been on my list for years.  It is about Satan's army and one devil, Screwtape, training his young nephew in the ways of leading people away from the enemy, which to them, is God.  He teaches him all the tricks of the trade and it is dead on.  I would be reading and thinking, oh I have totally fallen in that trap before, or yep, seen that one at work, too.  It is almost comical since the devils call us vermin and will go to any means to destroy their "patients".  It is also extremely accurate and a good reminder of how subtle the devil is and how he is constantly reinventing his methods to suit his purposes. I loved it.  I read it again the minute I finished it.  It reminded me of this quote from (SHOCKER) East of Eden...We have only one story.  All novels, all poetry, are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil. And it occurs to me that evil must continually respawn, while good, while virtue, is immortal.  Vice has always a fresh new face, while virtue is venerable as nothing else in the world is. - John Steinbeck, of course. The copy of Screwtape that I read also included Screwtape Proposes a Toast which was written later and is a speech that Screwtape gives to a group of devils graduating from The Tempters Training College.  He is giving them advice on how to succeed in their field of study and this time he talks a lot about using politics and government to ensnare the people.  Again...dead on.

* The Road by Cormac McCarthy
I first read this when I was pregnant with Chloe and I was blown away.  It is definitely in my top 10 books ever, maybe top 5, or even 2?  Maybe.  It is pretty heavy though so I had not read it since.  I mean, not thick heavy, it is actually a quick read, but it is emotionally heavy.  It is a man and his son, who are trying to stay alive in a post apocalyptic world.  It is a story about the will to survive and hope in the absence of hope and mostly, the fierce protective love of a parent for his child.  It is poetic and it is dark and it is beautiful in a way that will haunt your soul.  I was just as blown away this time.  I know a lot of people who hate McCarthy's writing because he doesn't use commas or quotation marks but it works for me.  I hate punctuation and especially quotation marks because they are messy and I hate words like he said or she exclaimed.  They are distracting and annoying and the way he writes feels like overhearing a conversation to me.  His work is all dark though, so be forewarned that there are no rainbows and butterflies here.

And that's it!  Although I did a much better job reading scriptures FIRST this month.  I am loving the scriptures this year.  Some times I go through months/years where I am just reading them to get it done, or worse yet, not reading at all, but then there are those times when they burst to life and I see and understand things that I have not before.  I love when that happens and I always hope it will stay that way forever.

So now it's your turn readers.  What have you got for me this month?