Wish You Were Here

So I’ve often railed against Christian fiction because it’s corny. Amongst other reasons that I’ve chronicled. However, when family friend Beth Vogt wrote a couple of books I thought that I’d revisit it. So I pushed aside my prejudice and opened my arms to read Wish You Were Here. 

Allison is about to marry high school sweetheart Seth. She hates the dress and is mildly panicked about the whole affair, but is convincing herself that it’ll turn out fine. A week before the wedding she kisses Seth’s brother, Daniel. And then she runs out on the wedding. I pretty much saw it coming, not only because the summary told me what would happen but because Seth was a complete control freak. Allison gave in to his every whim and it irritated me. The rest of the book is Allison picking up the pieces of her life and rediscovering who God is.

Okay, I actually liked Allison a lot, but only after she broke up with Seth. He kept trying to win her back and she held him off. I was so proud. What typically drives me crazy about fiction of this type is that the characters are so trite, but Allison had some serious history and baggage. I liked that she had a job that she loved and that she was real. She dealt with all the crap of life like I do, by avoidance. I liked Daniel. He was kind of ridiculous and sweet, but frustrating. Beth developed his character pretty well. He travelled a lot and sent Allison postcards as he roved the world. Thus the title. I liked the fact that every chapter started with a postcard written by him, until the last chapter. I loved the llamas and the fact that their names were from The Emperor’s New Groove. But the thing I loved most about this book was that it took place in an area I knew well. I knew exactly where the characters were and it was cool to place them there in my mind’s eye. I also knew some of the stories that events in the book were based on and I giggled thinking of them. When you know the author, the book takes on a different meaning. It was pretty cool.

Okay, the next paragraph includes SPOILERS, so continue at your own risk.

Two things kind of irritated me. The first was that Allison simply told Daniel her secret. She hadn’t told Seth, but Daniel made a brief, albeit strong, inquiry and it all just came out with little hesitation. I think that might just be me being nitpicky though. The big thing was the ending. I always have issues with endings. Allison had just gotten out of a serious long-term relationship and at the end of the book she’s with Daniel. Granted, it took a while to get there, but she never had a time of simple peace between relationships. She was pretty much in constant turmoil, or at least that’s how I saw it. I was really pulling for her to tell Daniel that she needed time alone for a bit, but instead she was united with him with little hesitation. In fact, she sent him a postcard, indicating that she wanted him back in her life. It was only a couple of weeks after the main drama! But I digress. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m single and have never had romance that causes me to critique the “happy ever after” endings.

Honestly, other than those things, I really enjoyed it. So Miss Beth, if you ever read this, I couldn’t put your book down. I took it to work and read during breaks and finished in about 24 hours. I also desperately wished for an audio version so I could listen on commute.

My review of her second book, Catch a Falling Star, will be coming soon!

I Hate Running

So I thought I’d clarify a few things about my recent activities, just so no one gets confused. Including me. I started running. And then I posted statuses on Facebook and making comments to my co-workers about how I’d just gone running and realized what I sounded like. I sounded like a person who likes to go running. Which is just plain ridiculous. I hate running. I’ll give you an example.

Yesterday I went running at around 11:45 am. The sun was overhead and I felt like I was in a desert. There are no trees that offer shade and there were no friendly clouds in sight to block the sun’s harsh rays. It figuratively felt like I was running on the sun. I was a mess, sweating all over, physically exerting myself, and doing it all while running. Ugh. I’m almost disgusted with myself. But not quite. And the other day it was raining. What was I thinking? Running in the rain. Pshaw. I hate running. I hate the occasional breeze that cools me as I round the corner to go another mile around my neighborhood. I hate the chirpy voice of the program I’ve chosen to get my endurance up to a 5K, telling me that I’m halfway. I hate the fact that it sometimes is raining. Nevermind that rain is one of my favorite things ever. I hate running.

I hated running in junior high. I only joined cross country to be a part of a community, something that I desperately needed. But I complained too much and was seriously desperate to be the center of everyone’s universe. Instead of allowing myself to be about the team, I was about me. Typical for a junior higher I think, but that’s not really an excuse. I wish I had been more about my team, more about finishing something. However, at the time I didn’t really care that my whining brought the team down. I didn’t care that I was so negative. I only cared that someone cared about me. Isn’t that sad?

I hated running in high school as I went through track and somehow landed in soccer. I loved that game, but I hated the running part. The conditioning part. I also didn’t like my team. They were a clique; the cool kids and I wasn’t one of them. I was an overweight bookworm, even then. I didn’t know how to be part of the sporty, cute group. I wasn’t sporty and I wasn’t cute. I was a quitter; I’d taught myself that it was easier in junior high, why would I strive to persevere now? And being alone wasn’t exactly new to me. By the time I graduated from high school I’d been rejected by many different friends at many different times.

But in college, running found its way back to me. It came in the form of Ultimate Frisbee. Now here was a sport I could handle. Short sprints, along with dives and catches. I had sticky fingers and I loved the fact that I was actually good at something. And when my heart was shattered along with my pride, and God changed me into a new person, I played Ultimate Frisbee. And I danced. And I did yoga. Slowly, I healed and reformed from the quitter I had once been. From the bad friend who had needed too much love. From the lies I had told myself all along: that I was better than everyone else.

I replaced those lies with new ones and a few truths. Those are what I’m confronting now. Lies that tell me that I’m not good enough. That I’ve quit all along; it’s too late to change. So now, I run. I go out several times a week and I run to prove that I can do it. I can run a 5k without walking, just like everyone pushed me to do in junior high. I only ever did it once and even then I coughed and stopped for a second, needing to stop. I don’t know why. But I did. I needed the attention I suppose. I stopped right in front of the boys team, making it obvious that I was struggling. I think about that moment far more frequently than I probably should. If I had just kept going, what would have happened? Would my life be any different?

These bouts of nostalgia were brought on by Nehemiah and Marissa’s play. In Nehemiah 9, the Israelites pray and look back on where God brought them as a nation. I look back on my life and see so much that I did wrong and so little that I did right. I think that’s part of my current problem. I’m so afraid that I’ll make more mistakes, that I can’t move forward. But isn’t that a mistake too? By not going anywhere, I’m making a more detrimental error than I would if I moved in the wrong direction. And isn’t that what Mom told me like two days ago?

More of my favorite things

A couple of years ago I titled a blog post “These are a few of my favorite things” and wrote about book cakes. It is my number one post on my blog, with 986 views since I posted it two years ago. The only other page that’s been viewed as much is my home page. And the next closest post was at 246 views. In light of this, I realized that A LOT of people must love cake and books as much as I do. And that A LOT of people were obviously looking for a compiled list of book cake ideas and so came to see my post. So I’m going to do it again. Thanks to all who have viewed my book cake post and inspired me to come back two years later. I hope that you are inspired by these cakes and if you ever need a taste-tester, or someone to say, “OOOOOooooo…that’s pretty,” I’m always willing to oblige.

Alice in Wonderland is a fabulous book and I love that this cake is in the shape of a teapot. It embodies the book beautifully. I love it.

So, I’m pretty sure that the teacup is made of cake/icing too. This is an AWESOME cake. I am literally awe-inspired. I want it.

Oh my goodness. I love this. The trees and the red. Ugh. Perfect pop-up book cake.

 

This is gorgeous.

This is similar to the other superhero cake I added last time, but I like this one better. Aquaman is a part of it! WHAT! (That was a Lydia Bennet reprised by Mary Kate Wiles “WHAT!”)

This is excellent. Not a book cake persay, but a perfect Harry Potter cake. If I ever have children this would be their eleventh birthday cake.

I find this one a little gross, but you have to admire the idea. Perfect for a med school student…

I like that they changed the names to be his name. Good old Wilfred.

Last post I made a plea to Harry Potter fans, not to allow Twihards to overwhelm the book cake world. I’m proud to say that they haven’t and that Potterheads have dominated! This is a pretty awesome cake.

The only thing that could ever make classic comics better is cake. Obviously.

Um. yes. If I could recreate this cake for my friends on their birthdays I totally would.

I know that this is yet another Harry Potter cake, but don’t you think it’s the best thus far?! I think I would actually be mildly frightened to eat it.

Quick fairies! Escape while you can!

A cake ode to Roald Dahl.

And now Percy Jackson fans step up to make cakes. I’m so proud.

 

I was just waiting for this one to pop up.

I thought it only fair to scare the crap out of you with this LOTR cake.

Then to soothe you with this image of Bilbo and Gandalf chilling at BagEnd. I don’t know that I could eat that cake.

Yup. This is a cake which re-enacts the battle of the Bridge of Kazadum (spelling? Rachel, correct me).

Are you sensing a theme? But seriously, this is an awesome Minas Tirith cake.

This encompasses my childhood. In one cake. Happiness.

And just for kicks and giggles I thought I’d end with this life-size Darth Vader cake. I chose a picture of it after pieces had been taken out, because initially I didn’t believe that it was a cake. But this is awesome, right?

I hope you enjoyed this tour of cakes! If you think I should do another post, doing a specific genre of book cake or even a specific book/series let me know. I really enjoy finding these.

 

 

A New Plucky Heroine

Lady Victoria Georgiana. Her Royal Spyness starts with Georgie explaining her life as an aristocrat, 34th in line to the throne in fact, and how being penniless impeded her situation just a bit. She’s expected to marry well and get money that way. In the gloom-and-doom castle of her youth, however, she finds little to amuse her and little society with whom to converse.

The Queen (known throughout the book as HM, aka Her Majesty) wants to foist her off on a Romanian prince doomed to die at the hands of his countrymen. Her step-brother has cut off her allowance and she must fend for herself. Georgie runs off to London and tries her hand at a variety of professions before she finally starts a business that opens houses for the rich and noble so they don’t have to send servants down to do it ahead of time. She goes and cleans the houses herself *gasp* and earns a tidy profit. When she is reunited with her old school chum Belinda and meets dashing Darcy O’Mara, a penniless Irish nobleman, life doesn’t seem so bad.

Things take a turn for the worse when she finds a dead frenchman in her bathtub, indicating her and her brother, Binky.

I found this story adorable and full of fun. The mystery wasn’t too mysterious. I had it pegged from the start, but Georgie’s antics made it hilarious. I think my favorite bit of the story was how down to earth the heroine was. Georgie is practical, and although she’s faced with many unpleasant avenues for her life, she’s determined to forge her own path. She doesn’t want to marry the doomed prince, or be shipped off to her great-aunt’s for life. She wouldn’t say no if her cousin David, the Prince of Wales (HRH, His Royal Highness) proposed, but she has standards. She wants love. I’ll admit, when Darcy comes on to her after chapters of flirtation, I thought she’d succumb to his wiles. But she shows remarkable Jane Eyre-ish pluck and puts her foot down stating that she’s not just looking for fun. He respects that although doesn’t really stop trying to remain in her good graces.

The narrator, Katharine Kellgren, did a great job with the voices and accents. She did all right with the American (she needs to learn to flatten the vowels a bit more), but she excelled at Darcy’s irish brogue. Susan Ericksen is my favorite narrator of all time and does the voice of Irish billionaire Roarke in the much beloved In Death series by J. D. Robb. I consider Ericksen’s accent to be flawless and when Darcy spoke in this series, I was like, “It sounds just like Roarke!” So there you go. Also, having conversed with real Irish people, I think they are pretty close. I thought the narration was perfect.

I can’t wait to move on to book 2 and read/listen about one of my new favorite heroines.

The Fault In Our Stars

So I finally read it. I’ve been avoiding it for a myriad of reasons. I didn’t want to cry and I knew it would make me cry. I didn’t want to be that person, who jumps on the bandwagon simply because everyone else is. I didn’t want to be that person who then reads it and goes on and on about how good it is. And I didn’t want to hate it and I was so afraid I would. I don’t mean to sound hipster, but fact is I read An Abundance of Katherines by John Green long before he was cool. Right after it came out actually. And I didn’t like it, and promptly forgot about him as an author. So when people started raving about him and how awesome he was, I was kind of “eh.” It was hard to imagine that he was actually that good because I hadn’t liked his first book. But he’s a good author. And I am jumping on the bandwagon, although I will be mildly less enthusiastic than most on board. I really enjoyed TFIOS.

The only thing that I had known about the book before I read it was that it was about a girl named Hazel who had cancer. So that’s how I knew I was going to cry. But I didn’t know anything else, so I’ll give you a brief summary. It is about a girl named Hazel who has cancer and about a guy she meets named Augustus who has a different type of cancer. It’s about young love, and what friendship really is. It’s about leaving a mark on the world that may not last forever, but lasts as long as the people who love you live. Augustus takes Hazel on a kind of wild ride and it’s cute and funny. And I did cry for the last 100 pages (I went back and checked, and it was 100 pages).

I loved Hazel and Augustus, but I really loved Isaac. I don’t think he gets nearly enough credit. Isaac has cancer in his eyes and in order to be cancer free he has to get them removed. So he goes blind. His girlfriend dumps him and it’s sad, but he pushes on. I really liked his character a lot.

I found this super cute fan art…it came from here.

I also really liked Hazel’s parents. They had to deal with the reality of a permanently sick child, but they continued their lives and never stopped completely loving her. Not that any parent would, but I think Green wrote the situation well and showed the ups and downs that a family goes through when a member of the family has cancer. It’s tough and very stressful, but it’s not without hope. And you’re still a family at the end of the day.

So I liked it because the story wasn’t perfect. I didn’t like the author that they went to visit. I really didn’t like the fact that he randomly showed up; I don’t think that was very realistic. However, the imperfections of the story and the writing added to what I like about it. It’s not a happy ever after story and it’s not one that is full of realism and hardship either. It’s a perfect blend of the believable and the unbelievable.

I think I’m going to revisit An Abundance of Katherines and see if I like it better than I did the first time. And Paper Towns intrigues me as well. We’ll see. The journey of an author’s work is never truly complete and I look forward to continuing on with John Green.

Anger

So, I’m angry. I’m SO ANGRY. And instead of simply confronting the people with whom I’m upset, I’m gonna be passive aggressive and write about it. Not about why I’m angry, but about anger in general.

I’m gonna be upfront, it doesn’t take much to make me light up like a firework. I have a short fuse and it goes off frequently, but since certain experiences my freshman year of college, I’ve learned to take a step back and evaluate the situation. Unless you are in my immediate family, the chances that I’ll blow up in your face are minimal, whether you’re a super good friend or not. I try to figure out if it’s worth getting worked up over. Is it worth all the time and energy that anger requires? Because anger requires a lot of time and A LOT of energy.

To remain angry means allowing yourself to replay the transgression (such as it were) over and over again in your head. It means fueling that fire constantly. It means thinking up new and inventive things about which to be angry. And it’s exhausting. Forgiving isn’t easy; I’m not saying it is, but it’s much calmer than anger.

Forgiving means reminding yourself every day, every moment it pops in your head really, that you’ve forgiven them. That anger isn’t worth it. That they’re only human after all. And every human, me especially, errs from the truth.

All that being said, sometimes you have a right to be angry. Or maybe not ANGRY, but hurt. And I think that’s the kind of anger I’m with which I’m dealing. I’m not raging or out of control angry. I’m hurt. And I’m angry in a quiet way. I believe that biblically it’s called righteous anger. Although, I don’t feel righteous. Maybe because I’m too cowardly to confront them. I keep excusing their behavior. It is partially excusable. So maybe it’s not so righteous after all. When Jesus got angry, it wasn’t about him. It was about God. And I guess he is God, but it wasn’t centered on his person. He threw out those freakin vendors because they were defiling the sacred. That’s not why I’m angry. So, definitely not a righteous anger. I’m glad I cleared that up.

My anger is selfish. My anger is all about me and what I need. But I haven’t asserted myself and said what I need, so I guess it’s misplaced anger. I should either correct my behavior, or redirect my anger toward myself for refusing to say what I need. However, if saying what I need makes it all about me, is that right? So it shouldn’t be about me. I should be drawing everything I need from my all-powerful, omniscient Creator. He knows EXACTLY what I need and His supply of it is everlasting, so why should I hesitate to ask for it? Why do I demand it of mere mortals instead of my Savior, who battled death so I could have it?

I am so foolish. Silly me.

What I am Reading

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I’m six chapters in and it’s amazing. I love it. Unfortunately, I also started watching Heroes and I’ve been going back in forth between the two. This book has made me laugh out loud on multiple occasions. I know that the tears will come later, but right now, I’m enjoying the laughs.

I finished Harold Fry and posted a video book review.

Sunburn

The warmth is like a blanket
It wraps around me and shows it loves me
It caresses me and convinces me to never leave
So I stay and soak it all in until it leaves me
Then I feel the pain
So much pain
It burns and makes me wish that I had never known that love

Dark Chocolate and Harold Fry

In which I introduce myself and dark chocolate books and also tell you about Harold Fry.

What I’m Reading

I’ve decided to at least attempt to update once a week, on Saturday, to let you all know what I’m reading and what I think. So here goes…

• The History of the World In Six Glasses by Tom Standish

I’m loving this book. The six glasses are Beer, Wine, Spirits, Coffee, Tea, and Cola. I’m only on wine, but what I’ve already learned! I’m listening to this via Audible and the narrator is fantastic. I’m obviously not done yet, but I’d encourage you to go get it. I love it.

• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
  

I’m not very far into this either, but I’m really enjoying it. I tried to read it in high school, but swiftly got bored. Now, though, I find that Tolstoy style and the language is just beautiful and the transitions from character to character is seamless.

• The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
  

Harold grabs at your heart and doesn’t let go easily. I started this book last fall, but I’m determined to finish it before I go to Chicago in May. When you find a book like this, you can’t help but give it to everyone you know so that they’ll enjoy it too. I can’t wait to finish so I can put in the hands of someone who will love it.

• The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer
  

I am learning so much through this book. It’s a good review of a lot of the theology I learned at Moody with a sprinkling of the new. It keeps my mind engaged and makes me think. So I’m liking it. I’ll be able to make a more rounded review when I’ve finished, I think. Unlike the other three books on this list, I can’t pass judgement based on the first few chapters.

• Divided Allegiance by Elizabeth Moon
  

This is the second book in The Deed of Paksennarian series that I’ve been listening too. Elizabeth Moon writes about the everyday dullness of a soldier’s life without making it dull. The slow pace is something that I actually enjoy and it allows me to take breaks in the listening, rather than listening to it non-stop until I finish. I enjoy books that I can actually enjoy rather than slam through. Paks is a multi-faceted, if a bit naive, and deals realistically with the troubles of being a woman in an army. It’s set in it’s own world, but there isn’t anything that is particularly unrealistic about it. My disbelief has been suspended just enough. I’m excited to finish. The first book of the series is called Sheepfarmer’s Daughter.

Yup, I’m reading five books at once. Hopefully that’ll go down a little. See you next Saturday!

Happy Ever After

I get made fun of for reading Nora Roberts books. I pride myself on loving the classics and having good taste in books. So when I was found out for my secret love of Nora Roberts, I got burned. I’ve gone through many phases in my book life, much like real life, and I am not particularly proud of my romance/paranormal romance phase. But Nora Roberts is an author to whom I keep coming back. Thankfully, I think I’m outgrowing it, but there is one series that I’ve read/listened to multiple times and is dear to my heart. I’m writing this to make a plea for it, despite the cliches and the ridiculous outlandish romance that happens.

The Wedding Quartet (Vision in White, Bed of Roses, Savor the Moment, and Happy Ever After) is about four friends who own a wedding planning business. Each has a history, baggage and quirks. Mackenzie is the photographer, Emma’s the florist, Laurel is the pastry chef, and Parker is the organizer and overall manager of Vows. If you want to know more about each individual book, you can read the synopses on Amazon.

The reason I love this series isn’t the romance. Each story is cute and fairly unrealistic (as are most romance novels). I love this series because of the relationship between the friends. My friends are an important, even vital part of my life. These four women know each other, they fight, they live life together and it touches me. I go back over and over because I feel like I’m part of them. It makes me miss my friends and as I’ve revisited the books and laughed over the antics of men and brides, I called my friends and cherished what I have with them. These women have each others backs. They scare off unwanted guests, encourage each other, push each other to go to the gym (seriously. it’s crazy). My friends are like that too. And I love them for it.

And yes, there are flaws. The guys are too perfect. There’s only ever one big conflict between the hero and heroine. Once that’s worked out they don’t fight ever again. Parker’s brother, Del, punches Jack for dating Emma without telling him, but doesn’t punch Mal about his own sister. The men think of everything; flowers, tokens, glittery things. The women struggle through their feelings and seamlessly juggle their lives and hectic schedules, still managing to make time with their honeys. They make the perfect amount of money and have all the pleasant things in life. Despite all of that, the friendship draws me back.

Nora Roberts knows how to write women really well. And that’s why I started reading her. Her characterization is brilliant, especially in this series. That’s why I keep coming back to this series. And that’s why I’d recommend the series.

She can’t, however, come up with a new plot line to save her life. She’s ridiculously repetitive. (See? I’m outgrowing her! *crosses fingers*)