Something Extraordinary

I just read one of the best books I've read in a long time!"Summer of Light" by W. Dale Cramer. In fact it's on my list to buy. I'm not sure what drew me to this book at the library, except that it was on the shelf of LDS and Christian writers. I always know I can count on them to be clean fiction and I wanted a light, quick read, a page turner that hooked me from the first page. So I read a few pages, and was quite certain this book wasn't going to be my cup of tea, though I was struck by the honest writing style. But after starting the other four books I'd checked out, in frustration I started reading this one again. Then I got busy and thought I'd take them all back to the library.

Well, Ron works a lot of evenings and I get lonely, so I picked it up again. After a few chapters I realized I'd found a real gem! I'm impressed how this author wove his honest faith and down to earth wisdom into and around the humor that still has me smiling. It's a well written charming book, perfect for discussion at a book club! I'm not going to give any more away except to share a few quotes from the book:

"I believe every one of us was designed---in his mother's womb, before birth---to do something extraordinary. The trick if I may call it that, is in avoiding all the distractions, learning to hear and recognize the voice that guides you into your gift. God designed you and he had something in mind when he did."

"Yeah, well I wish he'd let me in on it."

"Oh, I expect he has. You just don't see it yet."

And, Barbara (just a little hint) you will love finding out what this mans gift is! It was described this way: ". . . my pictures were gut-wrenchingly real, starkly beautiful."

A Good Book!

I don't have time to post much, but I cannot leave without telling you about the best book! I don't think I've ever felt the spirit so strong in a book I've read in a very long time, and this is a work of fiction! The book is "The Great Gathering" by Chad Daybell. It is a series of what will be five books, with the third just being released this month. I checked out the first two from the library and bought the newest for my trip. I can hardly make myself leave it alone so I have something to read on the plane.

Anyway, I've had such strong feelings about this subject for the last forty years! All I can say is read it! I really want to discuss it with someone, so be sure to comment and call me. See you next week!

"The Last Waltz" vs. "I Wanna Hold Your Hand"

I read a book review on Meridian Magazine a couple of months ago on the book “The Last Waltz” by G.G. Vandagriff. I was intrigued because I learned that she is of Russian German descent and wondered if there might be a genealogical connection perhaps to my father’s people.

I never start a book without first turning to the last page about the author. I know it’s considered weird, but I have always been wary of whom I let sing or read to me. I grew up in a home of constant contention and probably as soon as I could read I found solace in books. They were so often my only, and always my best friends! The “Little Princess,” “Secret Garden,” “Pollyanna,” “Wizard of Oz,” and later “Anne of Green Gables,” “Girl of the Limberlost” and other such sentimental books (in today’s vernacular “cheesy” or “sappy”) were such sweet escape. But, as soon as I was old enough to be assigned reading and found that so much of it could depress or frighten me (I’d had enough of that in real life) I learned to be wary. I found and will always believe that “we are what we eat” both physically and spiritually! I guess that is why I just couldn’t and still don’t like the Beatles. Most people, my children especially, think I am pretty weird for this---a child of the 60’s who does NOT like the Beatles? Everyone I know still likes the Beatles! And hey, I remember watching their début on T.V. and I’ll admit that I thought their “bowl” haircuts were kind of cute and everyone I knew was swooning over them. But, I made the fatal mistake of reading about them. How could I ever trust immoral drug addicts to sing to me? I learned to keep my opinions to myself because in the 60’s you could be stoned for not liking the BEATLES! But I’m over 50 now so . . . It’s kind of like going to the grocery store without my makeup on---doesn’t matter because no one is looking anyway. But I digress. This blog post is not about the Beatles.

After reading about the author and checking out her website (http://www.ggvandagriff.com/) I read the book---all 591 pages of it! It is a sweeping saga of romance and war that frustrated me at times. The protagonist was a good, kind young woman who showed incredibly poor judgment in the beginning, with life-long consequences! I know my dear young people I’m being wary or weird again, but that’s why I can’t get into the Twilight Series. Bella’s dangerous naivety drives me CRAZY! I’m not very patient with that, considering I don’t even trust the Beatles. But, back to “The Last Waltz”---throughout this saga from World War I to the beginning of World War II, Amalia Faulhaber found herself torn between three men. You have no idea who she will end up with! Just when her life seems to be reaching a point of blissful happiness . . . well, with 591 pages you can imagine.

Though, at times, I felt the book was too long, it does move along. Being painfully ignorant of the history surrounding Europe during World War I, I found that I had to look up some of the geography, i.e. mainly Prussia and its relationship to Germany. But, if a book inspires me to further research well that’s a good thing! And, I learned some great lessons about politics. Lessons that, quite frankly, leave me with a chill as I watch the very foundations and principles of our own blessed nation being changed before our very eyes. It has been said that if we cannot learn from history we are destined to repeat it. For my grandchildren’s sake, I HOPE not.

Probably most readers will not be as frustrated with the protagonist in the beginning as I was, but in the end I found myself cheering her on, and the final third of the story really kept me turning the pages! This is definitely a must read!