I’m Going To Read in 2013!

I love having reading goals. It makes my time spent reading seem productive. And let’s face it, I’m going to spend time reading. It is inevitable. Might as well make myself feel a little better about it. This year, my reading goal is the same as last year. 52 books in the year. I think it was a good goal. Honestly, it may be a bit much for this year because I have big plans this year. But I’m going to try!

I also made a reading list last year. And while I did not complete the list, it was a great list to have. So, when I wanted to do some leisure reading and needed a new book, I can look at the list and choose something quickly. Saved me tons of time not pouring over Amazon and Goodreads recommendations every time I needed a new book. So, I decided to make a list again this year! I brought over some of the books on last year’s list that I didn’t get around to. I added some more that I want to read. And now I have a list again!

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Now go make your list! Happy reading everyone!

 

The Christian Zombie Killers Handbook- A Review

 

I received this book for review through the Amazon Vine program. I am not obligated to Amazon or the author to give a favorable review.

1 out of 5 stars. Only because 0 stars is not an option. Why isn’t that an option? To completely and utterly fail a book? Is this a “no book left behind” kind of system?

You know how I love zombies. You know how I love Jesus. So, while slightly embarrassing to admit, I was very, very , very hopeful that this book would be mind blowing for me. I know, I know. When will I learn to not have such high expectations of books? Probably never. I was extremely wrong about this book. I think one of the biggest lessons I have learned is that you cannot judge a book by its cover. I have had so many pretty books that I hated this year. So, bravo publishers on the marketing, but perhaps you should screen the content a bit better. You don’t have to publish everything, you know.

This book is really two books in one. One is the actual story, following a guy named Ben in a world full of zombies. The second is the devotional book that uses the fictional story as a lesson about the state of our souls.

First, from a theological standpoint, Kinley is coming from a different place than I am. He assumes a lot in his theology that I just wouldn’t say is so. You may find yourself starting from the same assumptions he does, in which case you’ll probably follow along better with the devotional aspect of the book. I just found the theological difference to be too much for me to get anything from the book devotionally. (I am free church Wesleyan, if that makes a difference to you.) The author, Kinley, is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary. This starting point, for him, is where I had many issues. (Eternal security, immediate and full salvation, no second act of grace- We just weren’t ever going to be on the same page for devotional purposes.)ch

Second, the allegory is such a stretch. And Kinley tries to make it all so literal and really stretch it. It just doesn’t work well and feels very stretched and very manipulated.

Third, the story is lacking. If you are reading it for the fictional zombie story, don’t bother. Kinley isn’t the best story teller. Character development is what you’d expect reading an amateur’s novel. The plot doesn’t even make sense at times, because it is being stretched to fit the allegory.

Overall, the book was not enjoyable at all on any level. I didn’t enjoy the story telling aspect. I didn’t enjoy the devotional aspect.

Small Steps For Catholic Moms- A Review

This was part of my 2012 reading list. I used this book as my daily devotional throughout the year. (I also used it to swipe some quotes for our family calendar.) I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars, though now that I’ve used it for a year, I’d like to bump that up to 5 out of 5 stars.

Daily readings for busy moms. That is what the title could have been. I’m not Catholic, but I did enjoy this book. There are a few days and prayers that are more Catholic specific, but I did not find them off putting, they were simply different for me. If Roman Catholicism makes you uncomfortable, you should probably avoid this book (and rethink your position).

Each day, you read a short Bible verse or quote from a Saint. There is a short prayer to read and then a small task to do that day to fix your mind on the reading and prayer. Each month is a particular theme, so you aren’t jumping from one thing to the next each day. For a month, you cultivate and practice the same thing. It isn’t enough to really be considered a devotional for all the time, but it is a great way for a busy mom to start the day in the right frame of mind. I originally gave it 4 stars because I wish that each day had both a quote and a scripture reading for that day. I would say that you will likely want something else devotional, but for those days when life gets crazy and you can’t even get a shower, this small devotional book is exactly right to get you on the right track.

I very strongly recommend this book. And I’ll be using it for another year. I enjoyed it that much.

Life’s Too Short To Fold Fitted Sheets- A Review

 

This book was on my 2012 reading list. And I read it! Now what?!

I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars.

I almost loved this book. Really. It is funny and clever. It has lots of great housekeeping, decorating, and entertaining tips. Then she added some recipes. Her week night recipes were all pretty awful. I can’t imagine serving some of those things to my family. No, thank you. Her entertaining recipes and short cut tips are far from short cuts! Her “easy” pantry list is miles long and so complicated. Caviar as a pantry staple? Really? You’re gonna stand by that one? Her cheats for entertaining were way more than I ever do or would even consider. Her ideas for catering events are much more complicated than my from scratch home cooked meal. I’d hate to see her before she embraced the “good enough” life.

I actually would recommend reading it. It is amusing. Now, if you’re the type that will feel compelled to actually listen to here, then maybe you shouldn’t read it. If you want to read it for funsies, go right ahead. Just don’t take her too seriously. Real people don’t live like her, really.

Make Space- A Review

 

I received this book for free to review through the Amazon Vine program. I am not obligated to Amazon or the author to write a favorable review.

At first, I was a bit confused with the layout of this book. The book definitely lacks flow and just jumps from one idea to the next. Picking up the book to read from cover to cover, you end up scratching your head saying, “What am I doing here. What am I even reading here.”

Then, you decide to pick up the book for ideas, inspiration, starting points. And suddenly, it makes sense. You suddenly see the ideas flowing from the pages and you see what is being done and immediately start thinking, “Now, where can I use this? Could this solve my problem here?”

This book has ideas. Ideas. Ideas. Ideas. It also contains much of the practical nuts and bolts of said ideas. Use foam cubes as short term seating that can be stacked interestingly and also used to build temporary divides in the room should those be needed. Great idea. And here’s how you make that happen. Brilliant!

Now, not all of the projects or ideas are simple DIY projects. Yes, the basic gist is in the book, but there are some skills and some items I just don’t have on hand to make some of these ideas a reality in my home. (AV carts, plexiglass, translucent polycarbonate, etc.) However, the book does include resources for where I can find such things. So, I’m not just left looking saying, “Oh that’s nice.” But saying, “It may be a bit out of my comfort zone, but I could acquire these parts and make that. Maybe.”

It is definitely more geared toward business type spaces, but you could incorporate many of these ideas anywhere. Church. Home. School. Wherever. If you’ve got space issues or even are just trying to think outside of the box, this book is a good place to start to get your brain churning and moving to more unconventional solutions. (Plus, the pictures are pretty inspiring.)

Year Zero- A Review

I received a copy of this book for free for the purpose of reviewing from the Amazon Vine program. I am not obligated to Amazon or the author to give this book a favorable review.

I loved it! 5 out of 5 stars. Loved it.

Sci-Fi with a side of humor. Exceptionally funny and well written.

Earth is in peril of being destroyed by aliens because they owe us so much money from illegally downloading our music. Music seems to be something humans can do like no on else. What are the aliens to do when owed more money than is available in the universe? Well, destroy earth, of course.

Funny. Unexpected. Love it.

Read it. You’ll love it, too. Unless you don’t like sci-fi or humor. In which case, what do you read and is life boring where you are?

Zombies vs. Unicorns- A Review

I gave this book 2 out of 5 stars. It is considered a young adult book, but parents, beware. Read my parental blurb to get a picture of what you are getting into here.

The premise of this anthology is genius. Some top young adult fiction writers all writing shorts stories about zombies or unicorns (a few had both). The way the book was laid out was clever. Justine and Holly introduce each story with a bit of back and forth about the story. Unfortunately, that was the best part of the book. (Other than the cover, which is awesome. If you’re buying this book, buy the hardback copy!)

Unicorns= love. Zombies= love. What could be wrong, right?! (Keep reading.)

The stories just fell way, way short of my expectations. Not everyone can write a good short story. Short story writing takes a different kind of talent than some of these trilogy writers possess, sorry to say. Very few of the stories were even decent. They were, for the most part, lackluster stories. Which is so sad when the topic is Zombies or Unicorns! How do you write an uninteresting story about a unicorn?! Or a boring zombie story?! Maybe that, in and of itself, is a talent.

Carrie Ryan’s story was one of the better of the set. However, her story was simply an extension of her “Forest of Hands and Teeth” series. She wrote a short story into that framework. So, if you haven’t read “Forest of Hands and Teeth”, you won’t understand the short story completely. Her zombies act and behave in a specific way, which you need to understand to enjoy the short story.

Scott Westfeld’s story was another one of the better stories. (Though it left much to be desired.) If it was a complete book, it would have been much, much better. So many questions left unanswered. So much of the story left unsaid.

Diana Peterfreund’s story (The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn) was probably the best story of the whole book. Even in short story form, it told a complete story. (A story you found yourself wishing there was a whole book of to enjoy!)

I’ll admit, even if someone had told me how bad the book was, I couldn’t have resisted buying it anyway. You’re probably like that, too. So go ahead and lower your expectations way, way down before you buy the book. Lower them to the ground, maybe a little below ground. Now that your expectations are so low, you’ll likely enjoy the book. My expectations were way too high to enjoy it. With a name like “Zombies vs. Unicorns” you kind of expect something amazingly stellar. This book isn’t that, just letting you know. I actually don’t recommend it at all, if you’re looking for a recommendation. Just skip this one. (Sorry Audrey, since I bought you this book as a birthday gift before I read it! Sorry to waste your time like that and let you down.)

Parental blurb (since this is a young adult book, supposedly for 14 and up, which I disagree very strongly with): Gore! Lots of it in different and varying forms. Cursing! Lots of it, often not the most intelligibly used. Sex! More than I’d care to read about in a book about zombies and unicorns. (And how on earth can one fit sex into a zombie story?! Or a unicorn story?! You certainly don’t expect that!) No graphic descriptions or anything. Rape! *shudder* Beastiality! *double shudder* Suicide! (And in favor of it.) It is not, at all, what I’d call a 14 and up. If it was a movie, it’d be rated R, and even then I’d send warning to my adult friends about the horrible nature of the R rating. We’re not talking a zombie action movie R, we’re talking a disturbing, twisted, nightmarish, cursing rated R.

I am warning you now, don’t read this book. I know, you may not believe me. You may think, “No way is it that bad.” But it is! There isn’t enough redeeming storytelling to justify the time or effort. Pass it by. If you choose to read it anyway, don’t blame me. I told you it was awful.

This Is How- A Review

I received this book for free for the purposes of review through the Amazon Vine program. I am not obligated by Amazon or the author to give a favorable review. (And as you will see, this is not favorable.)

2 out of 5 stars. (1 out of 5 for content, but the cover is so cool, so it got an extra star from me.)

There was once a MAD TV skit about a lady going to a psychiatrist for help with her phobias. She was deathly afraid of being trapped in a small box. Her psychiatrist’s response was, “Stop it!” It was a funny sketch. This book reminded me of a long version of that sketch, and not as funny. Perhaps I just didn’t get it. I couldn’t ever tell if the author was trying to be humorous or if it was an actual self help book where the advice was simply, “Stop it!” Maybe it was supposed to be both? I’m not a fan of overly used “curse” words. It is obnoxious to me. Perhaps that was my turn off. Or maybe I just didn’t like the author’s voice in the book. This book just fell very short for me, though I know there will be plenty of people who love and adore it.

On the plus side, the cover is awesome.

Succession- A Review

 

 

 

Can you believe there was a Scott Westerfeld series I had not yet read? I couldn’t either. Scott Westerfeld usually writes young adult books, but these are science fiction and don’t fall into the young adult category. So, you get no parental blurb on these.

I’ll admit it, I had to start the first book book twice. The beginning really threw me off. I’m a sci-fi fan, but I’m not particularly interested in battles and such. So, the beginning was difficult for me to get through. I thought, “There is absolutely no way I’m going to like this book.” But the second time I tried to read it, I pressed through the beginning battle. I’m glad I did. Because I actually ended up really liking the book. Though I will tell you, my eyeballs glazed over when it got into battle or tactile detail. I’m such a girl about some things.

This book reminded me so much of the Ender’s Game series by Orson Scott Card.Ender’s Game (Ender, Book 1)

And a note about the cover. Who on earth chose that cover for the MMP? It looks like one of those books an old man reads, not something from Scott Westerfeld. I felt like I needed a book cover for reading in public. I felt like I needed to tell everyone that glanced at me and the book, “No! No! This isn’t a book I lifted from my Grandpa. It’s really cool. It isn’t a book for old men, I swear!” I felt judged because of carrying this book’s cover around. (All that was said jokingly, if you cannot tell. So don’t hate mail me about the virtues of not caring what other people thing. Please and thank you.)

The second book wasn’t as hard to get into as the first. Mostly because I knew where the story was going and had wrapped my head around the micro-machine aspect of the fighting stuff. The second book had much more of the love story of the main characters in it, though it wasn’t too very sappy or girly.

All in all, a good series. I gave the books 4 out of 5 stars.

Breaking Through: Catholic Women Speak for Themselves- A Review

 

I reviewed this book as part of the Amazon Vine program. This book was sent to me for free for the purpose of reviewing it. I am not obligated to Amazon or the author to give a favorable review.

I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. (And if you’re wondering, no, I am not Catholic.)

This book is a collection of essays covering some of today’s hot topic issues. Women speaking about how they feel as women in the Church. People outside the faith want to talk about the oppression of Catholic women in today’s culture, but in this book, those women speak out. And they aren’t oppressed. They are strong women with firm beliefs in line with the Church.

This is a quick book to read. The essay format makes it easy to read a little at a time and to skip around to what interests you. If you feel women in the Church are oppressed, stop and read what the women themselves have to say.