Book Review ~ To Kill A Mockingbird

Sorry the review is rather late.  I mostly just want to get a review out a week, and Tuesdays a good day most of the time.  We gave our copy of this book back to the library after I read it, so I’ve been waiting to get it back.

“I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you’ll go after birds.  Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” (103)

Spencer got his hands on an audio version of this book recently and told me I needed to read it.  Like all the books he has insisted I read, it was amazing! 😉

I’ll be honest though: it was a hard read.  There are some hard topics, and some mature content.  I definitely would not recommend it as a kids’ book.  I would probably recommend it for teens or older.

Still, it was very good!  Harper Lee’s writing style is gorgeous, and the story has beautiful morals.  The flow of the plot-line is unbelievable, and the ending was seriously some of the most well-written chapters I have ever read.

The main character is an eight-year-old girl, living in the 1930’s, whose father is a lawyer.  Scout Finch and her brother Jem’s biggest concern is a mysterious (and rather creepy) neighbor, until their father is asked to defend a black man in court–against the word of a white man.  It opens their eyes to who their father really is, and what the world around them is like.

The street lights were fuzzy from the fine rain that was falling.  As I made my way home, I felt very old, but when I looked at the tip of my nose I could see fine misty beads, but looking crossed-eyed made me dizzy so I quit.  As I made my way home, I thought what a thing to tell Jem tomorrow.  He’d be so mad he missed it, he wouldn’t speak to me for days.  As I made my way home, I thought Jem and I would get grown but there wasn’t much else left for us to learn, except possibly algebra. (322)

Book Review: The Bronze Bow

Um, yeah.

Hi.

No, I didn’t fall off the face of the earth, or go to the ER, or forget to tell you I was going on vacation.  We’ve just been busy, and I’m just lazy–that’s all.

I decided skipping the book review two weeks in a row for no good reason was unacceptable, so here we are.

I’m waiting on the library to get me a copy of To Kill A Mockingbird again so I can have quotes in my review, so I thought now was as good a week as any to write that review of The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare, I said I needed to.

This is the first of Miss Speare’s books I read, and I really like it!  I remember thinking it the most dismal book on the planet when my Mom read it to us the first time, but we’ve since become friends.  I read it again, and liked it much better, being a bit older.

That said, I would recommend it for older kids, but more because I think they’ll get more out of it, than because there’s mature content.  There is some violence, but none of it is very graphic.

This book is about a boy living in New Testament times.  Jesus is a character in the book, and I think Miss Speare did an excellent job depicting him.

Daniel’s goal in life is to drive the oppressing Romans from his homeland, and following the rough outlaw Rosh seems to be the only way.  But that means leaving his grandmother and sister to fend for themselves.  And how will it affect his new friend Joel–and Joel’s twin sister, Malthace?

He would get rid of this flaw in himself!  Yet, like a treacherous bubble that fled under the hammer and formed again, a doubt returned.  Was there a flaw too in Rosh’s argument?  He could not put a finger on it, but he felt it just the same.  He wished he could talk to Joel about it.  Could Joel find the answer in those scriptures of his? . . . Suddenly, words were echoing in his mind.  “For each one of you is precious in His sight.”  Not scripture, but the words of the carpenter.  That was what had confused him.  Rosh looked at a man and saw a thing to be used, like a tool or a weapon.  Jesus looked and saw a child of God. (111)

Undomiel

In case you hadn’t yet noticed, I love this necklace!

Thank you, Spencer, it’s awesome.  And yes, it still is, even when I do cartwheels and it hits me in the forehead.  😉

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I can’t believe how well this turned out!  And in case you were wondering, that’s my new favorite shirt.

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These two are very special to me.  I always connect this necklace and its story with the idea of hope.  I thought the bright sparkles looked so hopeful against the ashes.

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I don’t know why we had this pile of cinders in our backyard, but it made for beautiful pictures. 😉

~*~

And yes, I totally take photo-shoots of inanimate objects.  Doesn’t everyone?

Happy Saturday! 😉

Pages

Hey, readers!

We’re going to forego the book review this time, because I’m a bit busy today and I have something else to post about:

I have different pages now, top right!  From now on, I’m going to have links to all my stories on the “My Stories” page, and no longer tag them with their title.  The tags in my tag cloud (to the left) will be posts about the story, not the story itself.  Also, I made a little announcement, at the bottom of the stories page, go check it out!  I’m planning on releasing more information around the beginning of August.

That’s all for now, folks.  I’ll try and get a review up next week.

Happy Tuesday!

Book Review ~ The Witch of Blackbird Pond

I’m sorry I wasn’t able to get this put up yesterday.  I’m blaming the holiday (but just between you and me, it had much more to do with me just not wanting to write *sheepish grin*).

Our library put on a reading program recently and Lucy, Michael, and I all got to choose a free book as a prize.  I recognized The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare.  I had heard of it before, though I didn’t know much about it, and I had read Miss Speare’s other books, The Bronze Bow*, Calico Captive, and The Sign of the Beaver.  None of the other books the library had to choose from looked promising, so I picked it up.

I probably wouldn’t have read this book otherwise, but it I’m so glad I did; I very much enjoyed it!  There were several things that I worried about during the middle–nothing that I thought was bad, just things that tend to make me dislike books–but Miss Speare resolved them quite well.  I felt perfectly at peace at the end of the book.  I did find it rather predictable; I don’t know if that’s because I had read all of Miss Speare’s other books, or if it was just predictable.  I know that might bother some people, but I didn’t mind it–though I don’t usually mind when I know how something ends!

Continue reading Book Review ~ The Witch of Blackbird Pond

God Shed His Grace On Thee. . .

I have been brushing up “America the Beautiful” on the piano lately, and of course it has been on my mind today.

Not on my mind enough to convince me to practice piano today 😉 , but I’ve still thought about it.  I first decided i wanted to play it when I read through all the verses; they are so beautiful.

I love all of them, but the last two lines of verse 3 have become a prayer to me.  For my country.

America!  America!  May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness and every gain divine.

Because you don’t have to look too far to see America is losing her roots in God.  Not all that we call “success” today is noble, and not all our gains are Christ-like.  I have been praying for our country for a long time.

But after I read Counted Worthy by Leah E. Good I started praying for more.

I started praying that no matter what happened in America, the church would rise to meet it.  That they would respond in a way that honored the Lord.  No matter what.

Our pastor was speaking recently about common core, and he said that the church often responds in fear or anger, and we must respond in love.

We are the bride of Christ.

We have victory.

We have the last word.

So let us stop responding in fear.  Let us stop venting our anger on those deceived by Satan.  Let us respond in love.

We are more than conquerors in Christ, my friends–if God is for us, who can be against us?

O beautiful for patriot dream that sees, beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears!
America!  America!  God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.

***             ★    ***

Have a happy Fourth of July, and go get yourself a copy of Counted Worthy, sweet readers.

 

** Excerpts from “America the Beautiful” by Katharine Lee Bates