Words & Stuff

I wasn't lying when I said I really wanted to try and dive into a non-fiction book. Just days after that public declaration I began reading John Eldredge's A Sacred Romance. I ready a few chapters but just couldn't get immersed. Thankfully RJ brought home a new Eldredge book Waking the Dead and I was hooked from the first chapter. He's a great writer and you can tell how passionate he is about his message. RJ wanted to read it to, so we were sharing the book...until he left it on an airplane. And i was only half-way through.


SO, I've had to pick up fiction again until I can find another copy of Waking.

The Girls - A suprisingly great read. I found this one on my favorite book trading website http://www.bookins.com/, and thought is sounded interesting. The story is an interweaving of two first-person narratives: Rose and Ruby, twins, who are conjoined at the head but have completely seperate bodies. Rose and Ruby are fictional characters, but Lori Lansens, the author, obviously did a lot of research before writing this book. I was obsessed with conjoined twins for days after finishing and spent countless hours doing research on the internet.

When I was about 10 years old my mom bought a copy of Life magazines with Abigail & Brittany Hensel on the cover, conjoined twins who share one body from the waist down (kinda of - each operates one of their two legs - but miraculously then can walk, run, jump, drive, etc. ). Anway, that magazines stayed in our downstairs bathroom for years and I must have read that article a billion times. I was fascinated! I love my sister but I couldn't image been side-by-side with her every moment or every day! After reading The Girls I looked up a bunch of current information on the Hensel twins and found that they are leading healthy, normal lives. They girls and their family seem to be Christians and their lives are an amazing testimony of living for Christ.



Night - (non-fiction!) - Beautiful, heart-wrenching, philosphical. A must-read for everyone. This book is staying in my library collection forever.


The story of a young Jewish man and his survival in a concentration camp.




Cocktails for Three - I think I've confessed in the past that I love the Shopoholic books. They're ridiculous and silly, but laugh-out-loud funny. The author of Shopoholic uses a pen-name- Sophie Kinsella - and I've read all her books. I was waiting for Sophie to come out with somethign new when I learned that she's actually written a few novels under her real name Madeleine Wickham. Excitedly I snatched up Cocktails only to find it lacking compared to her pen name books. (Maybe she is using two different publishing companies and she has a better editor at the Kinsella publisher??). Anyhoo, not really worth the time.


Wall-E - Not Pixar's funniest movie (although the short at the beginning is GREAT!), but a fantastic social commentary. Whie the story is cute and keeps you entertained what I really loved was the underlying messages. The movie was a warning against gross materialism, global warming, and a lazy, technology-dependent existence. In many ways Wall-E was more for adults than kids.


Sweeny Todd - Interesting. I have to say that I love Johnny Depp. The guy might be the best male actor of his generation. He always picks unique, interesting movies and you never see "Johnny" in any of his roles - he becomes the character so completely you loose all traces of the actor himself.

I love musicals, but for the most part I have a difficult time with theater musicals made into movies. Phantom of the Opera belongs on stage - not on film (It does work for The Sound of Music - but that's about it.). The same with Sweeny Todd. I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more on sage. That said, Johnny Depp sure can sing, which was suprising. AND so can Sasha Baron Cohen (aka Borat). Who knew?!

P.S. I Love You - Really cute, it actually caused me to tear up. However, the entire time I was completely distracted by how dang, yucky skinny Hilary Swank looked. Plus, someone must have thought that sickining skinny was attractive b/c she has half dressed the entire time.

December Boys - Horrible. The story line had huge potential, but it got completely ruined by a big black horse, some strang Virgin Mary appearances, and wierd narrative.

The Nanny Diaries - Another classic case of the movie not living up to the book. Scarlett Johansson was the wrong casting decision for this movie. She's two sexy looking to be a young, confused Manhattan nanny. While they did try to stay true to the book the funny materials didn't transfer well to film.

Across the Universe - Loved it! The soundtrack is awesome!! (But I do love the Beatles). The acting is great and the story line pretty solid. A few times the movie gets a bit long and there are a few too many songs, but I love the artistic direction of the film and the underlying themes.