It's been a while since I updated my blog. But I guess I really should start working on this again. I haven't exactly been keeping up with my LJ either, so I don't feel too terrible about being so lax.

Books I've Read Lately:

The Shack by William Young
This book was...well...incredible.
God is a black woman named "Papa".
Jesus is a young carpenter with a big nose.
The Holy Spirit is a lovely Asian woman named Sarayu.
With that sort of mix trying to save your soul, how could they possibly fail?
The middle part got kinda long, but it was only because I wanted to get to the end part and find out what really happened to Missy.
Honestly this book needs another go-through, 'cause I read it in a rush so I could get it back to Nina after the weekend. I would like to ponder some of the things that Mack is told.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
This book was...disturbing.
Told from the viewpoint of a 14-year-old murdered girl who is looking down on her family and friends from heaven, you get a birds' eye view of life after losing a loved one. She keeps an eye on her first love, her parents and their failing marriage, her little sister and brother, and (in a creepy twist) the psycho who killed her. (What happens to him at the end is nothing less than divine retribution!)
It's absolutely heartrending in some spots--like when she 'possesses' her friend's body and has time alone with the boy she loves--and hilariously normal in others. There's also some heart-stopping moments--like when her little sister breaks into the killer's house to try and find evidence to convict him of the murder.
You also get to watch as her view of life after death matures; and she's finally able to let go, just as her family is letting go, which frees her from having to be with them constantly.

The A.D. Chronicles by Bodie and Brock Thoene
I'm in love with these books. At first I was a little skeptical--I mean, another fictionalized account of the Life of Jesus?? YAWN! But then you get caught up in Peniel's story...and the people he comes into contact with gradually start weaving themselves together. It's an incredible spiderweb of humanity that spins into a collection of stories that merely cushion the life of a baby named Yeshua as he grows into a man.

My biggest "gripe", if you will, about Christianity and Jesus in particular, is that he never really seems all that...human? I know, I know! That WAS kinda the whole reason for the virgin birth and all that suffering and stuff....but honestly? God Himself strikes me as a real wiseass somedays. Jesus? He's a bit too straight-laced and fussy. Not in here! Matter of fact (and I plead only insanity and a lack of Stargate), he started to sound a lot like someone else I know. Maybe somewhere between Rodney and John. And I think I'm starting to fall in love with Yeshua.

What I dearly love about these books is that they are VERY JEWISH. There's more than a liberal smattering of Hebrew throughout the pages, and so far there have been at least five or six of the main Holidays celebrated by the characters. I've gotten a pretty good introduction and overview of the whole historical timeline during these years, and I'm loving it! It's inspired me to start my Biblical Archaeology Notebook, and I'm probably going to be half-crazy by the time I find five minutes to get into it!

I'll bold the book titles as I finish them. Here's a brief run-down:

First Light (Peniel's story--the blind boy given sight by Yeshua. He becomes the narrator/recorder of the series. Sometimes he's a participant. Sometimes he's merely there to listen and absorb. Zadok the Chief Shepherd of the Temple Flocks appears here too, and he's a tough old guy with a tender heart.)
Second Touch (Lily and Cantor are lepers, hoping for a miracle. Their love story in the midst of such a tragic fate is bittersweet and lovely. Peniel is a participant in this one--and he witnesses just how awesome God's power really is. The ending made me cry.)
Third Watch (Yahav and Alexander are the primary pair in this part of the story. I think Bodie wanted to be a romance writer at some point, 'cause love is in the air for a lot of these books. Yahav is Jewish; Alexander is a "Romanized Jew"--they overcome the odds to be together. You find out that Zadok is Yahav's uncle--her mother's brother. You also get some of the background of how she and her family left Bethlehem, but the real meat of that comes later. I think I started to fall in love with Yeshua in this book....when he and Peniel are sitting in an apple grove, chatting....)
Fourth Dawn (Switch gears to go back to before the birth of Yeshua. This book--told by Zadok and Eliyahu, Yahav's father--covers the birth of Yochanen to Zachariah and Elisheba, the appearance of Gabriel to Mary and Yosef, and what nearly happens rather than a wedding.)
Fifth Seal (Mary and Yosef set out for Bethlehem. Zadok and his family are praying for the birth of the Messiah. You also meet the Magi--Balthaser and Melchior--who are recording the details of the impending birth in the heavens. It ends with Mary giving birth in Zadok's lambing cave with his wife, Rachel, assisting while in the fields, Zadok, Eliyahu, and some of the other shepherds are visited by angels.)
Sixth Covenant (Mary, Yosef, and Yeshua are living in Bethlehem for a bit with Zadok and Rachel, Eliyahu and Havila, before they take the baby to Yerushalayim for the Redemption of the Firstborn. Herod has finally flipped his lid and declares the lives of the male children of Bethlehem forfeit. I nearly threw up reading the end of this book.)
Seventh Day
Eighth Shepherd
Ninth Witness
Tenth Stone
Eleventh Quest

I wish I'd known there were Bible studies in the backs of the 3rd through 11th books before I started reading them. Now I am almost tempted to go back and read them over again when I'm done, just so I can do the studies too.

Homeschooling will take a whole 'nother post. But I need to get to bed. I've got an evil cold, and I can't stop sneezing.

In a fit of sheer insanity (and maybe in an effort to up the ante on my survival prep), I started re-reading the entire Left Behind series.

I did most of the first nine books in one day per book spurts.
Insanity, I tell you.

I suppose what I should post here is that I have been inspired to delve more deeply into Biblical prophesy and daily reading.
*wrinkles nose*
I have...but that was in the works before I started reading.

I should say that I have been renewed in my reasons for getting our household prepped for whatever disasters might come our way.
*shrugs*
Yes....I have. But it wasn't just that...

Okay it's confession time.
I loved Mac McCullum from the moment he stared at the red moon...and began pesting Rafe for an evening meeting. In my mind, he's 42 and barely out of his prime....and he looks far too much like a certain Colonel than I like to admit. I couldn't help myself. He just morphed himself right into John. I can't tell you how much I love that he survives to the Glorious Appearing...and then goes on to celebrate his 1000th birthday in the end book. Very cool.

I just finished Glorious Appearing and need to get the last two books to read.
All I will say about the series is this: if it doesn't prod you into believing, then you're past the point of caring.

When I was at the library the other day with the boys, I checked the new release shelf as is my wont (although I've been pretty disappointed with most of what's come out in the past months).

This is what I found: The Laughter of Dead Kings by Elizabeth Peters

First a little background:
A very dear friend introduced me to Ms. Peters's works when I was 16 or 17, and I've been an avid fan ever since. I love the Egyptian history that permeates her books, and her characters are almost a part of my own family. There were a few of her Amelia Peabody books that got a bit dry, mostly because I didn't really care about Ramses's war exploits, et al. But I've read them all and loved most of them. I had read one or two of her Vicky Bliss books, although not since high school, and I remember adoring her characters in those books as well. So imagine my delight when I picked up this new book to find a new Vicky Bliss with Egyptian undertones! YAY!

The boys have all been sick with a nasty virus, so they had no energy for anything but TV and Wii last night. I curled up in a corner of the sofa, opened my book, and dove headfirst into what turned out to be the most amazing 4 hours of my life this year.

There are four main reasons I loved this book:

1. Ms. Peters wrote herself into the book as a crazy writer who breaks into houses and bribes "venal men" for the Amelia P. Emerson journals.
2. She wrote the Emerson family history into the story as a wonderful underscore for the Mastermind's backstory.
3. There were subtle but definite barbs of animosity and sarcasm directed at a certain Egyptologist/Indiana Jones figure/tomb robber of the worst sort whose name I shall not bother to repeat. Either you like him or you don't. I don't.
4. Only Ms. Peters would have the audacity to make the prime subject of the book and unsuspecting target of 'kidnappers' the mummy of King Tut. Yes, the main plot is the kidnapping of his mummy from his tomb in the Valley of the Kings--and I agonized through the whole book right up until his restoration to safety.

I thoroughly enjoyed all of the twists and turns the plot took, the elaborate ruses used by the characters to bring their quarry back into the light, and the sheer hilarity that pervades these books. While Vicky is not Amelia, she has a charm and wit all her own; although I must say I love little old Herr Doktor Schmidt the most.

I will confess to a slight problem on the subject of Vicky's love interest and sometime Master Criminal, John Tregarth. Although we find out late in the book that he was in fact a direct descendant of the Emersons, I realized by the end of the first chapter that I would not make it through the book without substituting another certain John into the mental image implanted in my head. I will admit that it was rather distracting to picture the Colonel in Egypt...and it was altogether tempting to place myself in Vicky's place in order to let that scenario play crazy games of its own. In short--sometimes you just have to let the voices in your head read along too. Keeps a happy balance.

This book will be a purchase in the not too distant future, and I hope to go back and get the others to complete the collection.

Ah, Elizabeth. Some of my most fond bookish memories are courtesy of your novels. I thank you.

One of the main things on my to-do list for the year was to start a Book List w/Notes.
Obviously keeping this on paper is just going to be a headache for a vast number of reasons (the main one being that I cannot possibly take the time to actually WRITE on paper during the course of a week). So I hope to at least type up my reviews here and then (at some future date) print them off to put in a binder.

Book List 2009 (with notes)

January/February
('cause I didn't start this sooner....)

The Apothecary's Daughter by Julie Klassen
I really enjoyed this book. It was a romance without the smut...or...a Christian book! Okay, to point the finger and laugh at myself, I've found that I much enjoy these books for one very odd reason: if a smut book is well-written, the smut ADDS to the story. Most of them just don't. So I've found that Christian romance novels usually have at least passable storylines. They have to; they can't fall back on the smut for support.

What I loved about this book the most was the references to the herbs and sundries that were sold in the apothecaries shop, as well as the underlying current of tension between medical doctors and the apothecaries guild. The characters were fun and well-written, and my heart ached at the end for the people lost and the love that is found. If I had a few spare dollars (or found this at the used-book sale in July), I would definitely add it to the book collection.

The Virgin Queen's Daughter by Ella March Chase
I picked it up 'cause I love conspiracy theories.
I put it down 'cause I was bored out of my mind.
I guess you just have to be really into the whole English Royalty Drama to like this book.
Not my thing.

March

The Laughter of Dead Kings by Elizabeth Peters (This book review gets a post of its own. A+++)

Troll Fell by Katherine Langerish
We read this together as a family, and the boys all loved it--especially Max. It was about trolls and orphans and treasure. Fun for them...kinda long for me. But a good read nonetheless.

Brisinger by Christopher Paolini
Please God...don't let him finish the final book for at least another three years. I need the time to recover my will to live. I don't care that Eragon has a really cool new sword. I don't care that Brom was his dad. Nor do I really give a hoot what happens to the dragon hearts and all. BLEH. The one redeeming feature of this third book in the series was that every time I read something about Roran, I pictured Hector (aka Eric Bana) all buff and sweaty, and miraculously the chapters went MUCH faster. *headdesk*

April

Rosanna of the Amish by Joseph Yoder
This is a wonderful, quaint little volume I picked up at the library that is falling apart at the seams. It looks well-loved, and one chapter in it's easy to see why. It's an easy read and just completely enjoyable. Rosanna is abandoned by her father when her mother dies in childbirth and is raised by an Amish woman and her subsequent husbands. I cannot wait to see how the book wraps up 'cause there was a sequel on the shelf too!