Review: Gathering Blue

 

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

OK - Just WOW!  Cannot recommend this series enough! This book started out one way and ended up another and I was just left with all this excitement in my heart and couldn't wait to start the next two books - which I proceeded to read both in 1 day!!! Yes - they are THAT good!

READ THEM!

One of my favorite take-away quotes:

"Take pride in your pain," her mother had always told her, "You are stronger that those who have none."

There is a lot of truth in this. That doesn't mean that that's the case 100% of the time. I do believe in some cases those who DON'T do "xyz" are stronger than those who succumb and do "xyz".  But when we're talking about life's challenges and trials, I have come to learn through experience that those trials are our greatest teachers - no matter how painful or awful the trial is - IF we choose to use it as a stepping stone and rise about the trial.

This is an author I had no idea existed and which I had no idea was such a GOOD author!  Plot twists galore!

If you also want to know where all this "socialism/fasicms/communism" crap in the world would lead to if we ever just threw up our hands and accepted it, then go no further than reading these books.

One thing I love about this series is that it really highlights the human experience from various angles and in various situations - and while they are all different, there is also a very common thread running through each of them - so that in the end, it's really not different at all. Human nature is what it is and human rights/liberties are always at the center of the human soul.

Just read it!

FIVE STARS!


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Review: The Giver

 

 

The Giver by Lois Lowry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this a few years ago, and have just re-read it this year (2021) and appreciated it so much more!

Our family watched the movie a few years ago and I thought it was so good I wanted to read the book, which I did. But I still have children at home and I think that life's interruptions kept me from fully immersing myself in it and gleaning it's power.

This time, I'm an empty nester and have been able to more fully enjoy it - after watching the movie again with our now-adult daughter and my husband. By the way, the movie is great and I'd say sticks very closely to the book.

This entire SERIES is amazing! Highly recommended for anyone who loves good books that you can't put down and that have plot twists of a sort that you don't expect.

The story line is about a community post-modern era Earth, where society has become so socialistic and fascist that there are now "leaders" and everything in life is controlled by them. No one sees anything in color - because color creates too much inequality and the leaders think it's best if everyone is EQUAL (equity) in outcome, not just in rights. So they have all given up their rights "for the greater good".  That means every single thing is planned out.

There are no real parents. There are "birthing people," then the baby is placed in a "family unit" created by 2 emotionally stabilized (read: indoctrinated into society's way of being and controlled by daily pills) adults who raise the children according to protocl.

There is 0% lying allowed, and this is taught/punished into the children from birth (with the exception of 1 adult who is the "Receiver" - of all previous human life's history to include wars, disease, abuse, etc. - and he is ordered to lie.

Everyone must use the proper language, "Exactness of language" they call it, You can't say "I'm starving!" because no, you are not starving, you are simply very hungry, so say "I'm very hungry." And the list goes on.

Children are called by their age, "I'm a 9" (means I'm a 9-year-old) and by the time they are "11ers" they know they will "Graduate" that coming December and become an adult when they turn 12.  Examples:
     - 7's receive front-button jacket
     - 9's are given their first bicycles
     - 10's are given their first haircuts and little girls who previously all wore braids with ribbons, no longer are allowed to wear braids nor ribbons
     - 12's graduate and are assigned their life-long careers according to talents. No questioning or changing it.

The children are tracked and studied from birth, so that by the time they are 12'ers the "council" (leaders) choose which career they will have.

There is a cast system among careers.

There is no over emotions - negative nor postitive - all things must be kept within controlled balance.

The daily "pill" controls the "stirrings" (sexual and human desires), so they stop people from feeling these emotions, as well as it is prohibited to touch each other, hold hands, hug, kiss, etc. NONE of that is allowed. Those things only "confuse the mind" and keeps you from focusin on the career and making society a better place.

When a baby is born, if it doesn't keep up with the accorded age-range of behavior and speech they are "released" (euthanasia) - Old people once they no longer can work are also "released", though they get a happy bright "celebratory ceremony" right before they are murdered and "released."

No one knows what happens to those who are "released", they just assume they leave the community and go live somewhere else. No one is allowed to see what really happens.  

EVERYTHING is spied on and watched through videos posted EVERYWHERE throughout the community. Even your conversations are recorded and public announcements made over the loud-speaker city-wide system.  There is no room for screwing up. Everyone is forced to behave perfectly.  As a result, they are not truly happy, for they have not known sorrow.

I like to think of this series as the baby between Hunger Games and The Truman Show.

And yet..... the plot thickens and twists.... and you'll have to just read it! :)

EXCELLENT BOOKS!  And a GREAT and TALENTED author!

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Review: Whole In Christ

A good book. However, and not in a bragging way, it is information I already had, so I felt that other than feeling re-inspired to think on Christ and my relationship with him, I didn't really feel like I gleaned a lot of new information from this book. Perhaps that's because I read The Divine Center before - another excellent book about being whole and centered in Christ - that this book didn't stand out as much to me. It IS a really good book and I wouldn't hesitate in recommending it. It is a strictly personal thing for me that I feel it didn't help 'propel' me further along... which is what I'm usually looking for in these types of "Good" books. 

Still, here are a few good quotes I highlighted that stood out to me:

"President Ezra Taft Benson taught powerfully: 'Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would change human behavior, but only Christ can change human nature. Yes, Christ changes men, and changed men can the world. Men changed by Christ will be captained by Christ. Finally, men captained in Christ will be consumed in Christ.' "

"President Russell M. Nelson beckoned the Saints to strengthen their relationship with the Savior, 'When you reach up for the Lord's power in your life with the same intensity that a drowning person has, when grasping and gasping for air, power from Jesus Christ will be yours.  WHen the Savior truly knows that you want to reach up to Him, when He can feel that the greatest desire of your heart is to draw His power into your life, you will be led by the Holy Ghost to know exactly what you should do. When you spiritual stretch beyond anything you have ever done before, then His power will flow into you.' "

"Jesus Christ is at the center of our hopes and reams, our longings and aspirations, our search for happiness and well being, and our source of stability. First, He is our ONLY hope for an abundant life here on Earth and Eternal Life in the Celestial Kingdom hereafter."

"Many years ago, President Boyd K Packer delivered a monumental address entitled The Mediator. 'Know this,' President Packer testified, 'truth, glorious truth proclaims there is a Mediator. Through Him, mercy can be extended to each of us without offending the eternal law of Justice. This truth is at the very root or Christian doctrine.' Notice what he said next: 'You may know much about the Gospel as it branches out from there, but if you only know the branches and those branches do not touch that root; if they have been cut free from that truth, there will be no life nor redemption in them.' "

Review: The Slow March of Light

 

The Slow March of Light by Heather B. Moore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Such a great book! Short read and true story, although some parts of the story had to be filled in by the author - so technically I'd call it historical fiction.

The story of Bob Inama, a soldier in the US Army who is stationed in W. Germany 1961. He meets a German girl, they form a close connection but fate separates them. He received classified orders to leave for undercover work immediately and doesn't get the chance to say goodbye. However, her father, whom she lives with, also gets a new job and they end up leaving too. This is mainly his story, and what happens to him while working undercover, using a fake identity on his special assignment, identifying possible targets for the US military. But Soviet and East Germans spies, the secret police, and Stasi informants are everywhere, of course, and the danger of being caught and sent to awful East German prisons lurks around every corner.

I couldn't put the book down, nor "forget" to get back to it and keep reading. It was very real and very interesting. Especially is you are interested WWII stories and history.

I looked up Bob Inama afterward - something I do usually when the end of a good book or good movie has me so enraptured with the people/story that I want to know more. I found out about "the rest of the story" on him. There's even a YouTube I found where he was interviewed not too long ago and he kind of gives a run-down of his life, which essentially is a run-down on the book too. I found through that interview the few minor changes the book made to his real story (ie: he met a person AFTER a certain event, rather than before... etc.)

I'd recommend this to anyone ages 14+.

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Review: House on the Hill

 

House on the Hill by Annette Lyon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Fun and short read. Although it is written by and likely for an audience that is Latter-day Saint, this book is equally applicable to any Christian or non-Christian.

A sweet and raw, honest story of a young woman in the late 1800's trying to adjust to the family's new life and decide exactly what she believes or doesn't in regard to God, miracles, prayers, and faith. A love story where she must decide exactly what it is she truly wants in her heart. A life full of challenges, which leave many, including the protagonist of this story, wondering where God is in all of the "mess" and how to make sense of "bad" things happening to good people.

Short read. I recommend it if you like sweet, feel-good stories that are still real and raw with confronting life's challenges. No one has it easy and we must each determine where we stand and what we believe.

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Review: The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club

 

The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club by Phillip Hoose
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. I really like movies and stories from WWII - and this was like watching a movie inside my head as I listened to the audiobook. Fascinating, as always, to learn of teenagers who stand up and defend their nation when the adults around them don't. That's exactly what Knud Pedersen and his friends did - and in three different cities. Brave, valiant, and patriotic. Something I see lacking in almost all youth today where our public schools have washed them free of such "non-politically correct characteristics." I wish every teen would read this book and feel inspired by it so that they, too, would soon stand and defend their nation that is under attack today.

This book would make a good movie.

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Review: Galileo Galilei Biography & Autobiography (Illustrated): History Of Astronomy, Science & Technology

  

Galileo Galilei Biography & Autobiography (Illustrated): History Of Astronomy, Science & Technology by Robert Stawell Ball
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another fun autobiography/biography to read. Short. But very interesting to learn more about this great man. It is amazing to think of how God sent these specific people to Earth to bless humanity with their inventions and brainiac ideas. Just wow!

One of the things I especially enjoyed learning was his daughter's (Sister Maria Celeste) recipe of a concoction she sent him to avoid getting The Plague. It is unknown whether he took it or not, but it is known that he did NOT get The Plague. I say he took it. What's the recipe? Dried Figs, Walnuts, Rue and Salt mixed with honey. Then take a "walnut sized piece" of it each morning, fasting. OK. Good to avoid Covid too! :D

Read it. It is short and well worth your time!


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Review: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

 

 

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Great book. I love autobiographies, so if you like them too, you will enjoy this book. I like to learn about people, especially famous and good people. Ben Franklin's personality and character comes through clearly in this book. He's not the womanizer and uncouth person he's made out to be, as I've learned over the years from my readings on him and from those who knew him. To the contrary he was refined and self-educated, and had insight and intuition like few have. He was a bit stubborn and very candid.  But he also knew when to hold his tongue and how to dialogue with people, especially those who might disagree with him - something today's society seems to be lacking!

But I digress. This book is a little long, but interesting as he describes his thoughts, his inventions, the situations in life he was caught up in, a bit of his background and family story, but mostly what stuck out to me was his incredible spirit of entrepreneurship. He was always busy, always thinking, always wondering and questioning, and always trying to make life better for society and the world. Incredible mind! Highly recommend for everyone to read this if you want to have a good 'library in your head' from which to draw upon for life lessons and inspirations to lift you and make your own life better.  Plus, you get to know real history. From a first person account.  (meaning: stop trusting what schools teach, because the majority of the time, they teach 'revised' history - meaning it has been twisted to make history and its people 'bad' rather than the heroes they were. But that's a topic for another day. New World Order and Agenda 2030 is all you need to start your research on that topic.)

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Review: Life Beyond Death

 

 

Life Beyond Death by Robert L Millet
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Short and easy read. Interesting to ponder on the perspective of our eternal existence. We have always existed, and will continue to exist for eternity. Death is nothing more than the "travel" between the spiritual sphere and the earthly sphere. When we came to Earth as babies we "died" in the spiritual sphere. When we "die" on Earth and return to our heavenly home, it is also called "death." It is not to be feared. It is not a permanent "go away in to the universe and become a big nothing never to be seen again." This book explains our reason for our existence on Earth, where we came from and where we go after this life. It is one big plan, one big story - MY story. YOUR story. And it is beautiful.

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Review: How to Save the Constitution: Restoring the Principles of Liberty

 

 

 

How to Save the Constitution: Restoring the Principles of Liberty by Paul B. Skousen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

FIVE STARS!

Fantastic!  Since 2007 I have a taught a Constitution Class named "The Making of America", referred to as my "MOA Class", named after the book of the same title by W. Cleon Skousen. I found it is a passion of mine to help teach the youth of the rising generation the truths about our beautiful nation, our God-favored Founders and Constitution and the foundation upon which this nation rests and was born from - all before they enter those universities that are so overpopulated with Marxist and Communist professors, students and lies in all classes, especially history and government classes.

Well, this book is a great "Reader's Digest Version" of that 3-year class.

The book begins with the background of the beginnings of America, moves into the Founders and how they were influenced and educated and came up with ideas, then moves into those ideas and what they actually mean and the original intent of the Founders in basing our nation upon those ideas. It goes through the 28 Principles of Freedom which form the foundation of American and throughout the book you get a look into world history and how other nations failed in many areas and how those failing also informed the Founders as to what they did *not* want for America. The book also touches on modern influences that are attacking these foundations and what history proves will be our destruction is we don't heed the Founders and stick by our Constitution. But more importantly - and I LOVE THIS PART! - is this book give you the SOLUTIONS for fixing each and every one of these issues which have brought us to where we are today!  No other book and no other person that I know of has so fully and articulately shared the answer to that old question we all, who love and want to save America, have: WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?

Some favorite quotes from the book:

Quote 1:
*** NATURAL PRINCIPLES AND LAWS DON'T CHANGE

“In the pages that follow are these fundamental principles that have been passed down to modern America. Studying them makes it clear that America’s greatest problems are not because the Constitution has failed to keep up with the times, as some people claim. We suffer because those principles have become largely ignored, neglected, or intentionally rejected. America’s biggest challenge for saving the Constitution really boils down to something quite simple — where do we begin?

“A wise ecclesiastical leader long ago once made a promise that has proven itself of inestimable value time and again. It’s just as applicable today as it was almost a hundred years ago. He wisely counseled, “Just start, and the way will be opened.”

“Just start. It’s direct. It’s simple. It’s key to all of America’s forward motion. It’s something that we can put to work right here, right now. From one grateful American to another, let’s put that promise to the test. Let’s just start! Let’s go save our Constitution!”

- How To Save The Constitution: Restoring The Principles of Liberty, Chapter 1

Quote 2:
PRINCIPLE 20 - THE GOVERNMENT MUST OPERATE ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF THE MAJORITY BUT CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS MUST BE MADE TO PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF THE MINORITY.

“The Framers found in John Locke’s writings an excellent discussion on majority rule and minority rights. He wrote that “When a person chooses to join others in a great confederation of groups and peoples, he is also bound to submit to the determination of the majority.”

“Locke pointed out that governing on any other basis, such as requiring 100% consensus on every issue brought forward, simply can’t work because there would always be, on every vote, a dissenter who would prevent the 100% vote.

“Locke said “That is next to impossible ever to be had. Accepting majority rule as a practical necessity puts the minority at risk unless their basic rights are protected in spite of the majority.”

“Protecting minority rights is what the Constitution and Bill of Rights were designed to do.

“While not yet perfect, considerable progress toward protecting minority rights has been made.”

- How to Save The Constitution: Restoring The Principles of Liberty by Paul B. Skousen & W. Cleon Skousen, Chapter 9

Quote 3:
CHAPTER 28: The Fourth Virtue

“Virtue is a willingness of the people to uphold and obey the written rules. America’s Framers used the words ‘public virtue’ to describe such willingness on a national scale.

“To them virtue meant the strength and resolve to stand up for what was right, a determination to live, obey, defend, and sustain their set of rules from corruption and attack. It meant a free and sincere willingness to sacrifice personal interests for the benefit of the nation. As Lord Acton said, “Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought.” That’s virtue. Virtue is synonymous with strength.”

- How to Save The Constitution: Restoring The Principles of Liberty by Paul B. Skousen & W. Cleon Skousen, Chapter 28


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