Sticks & Stones may break my bones, but Words Hurt Even More
938045
'Here is a small fact. You are going to die'.  Zusak immediately plunges us into Death, both literally and figuratively.  Meet Liesel, a young girl who has seen it all before she even hits puberty: the death of her younger brother, the disappearance of her mother, and placement with a foster mother that rivals Joan Crawford. Her saving graces are her foster father, Papa, and her neighbor, Rudy Steiner.  Even though these men buoy her, Liesel must learn her own way in Nazi Germany, and she does by stealing books. As she learns to read, she immerses herself into the power of language and how it is used for both good and evil.  After all, who would the 'Great Fuhrer' be if he lacked words?

Packed with twists that you never see coming, I couldn't put this book down.  And it's become an epidemic: one of my students recommended it to me, and I began to read it.  Then, both my voracious and reluctant readers sniffed around with interest. Now, almost half my students have purchased this remarkable book and are swimming in the richness of Zusak's prose.  What better gift could a teacher ask for? :)
3567443
A little rough and tumble, I hope this is not the future
4595730
The last lines of this book sum up my feelings towards it perfectly: "There was a song I heard when I was in Los Angeles by a local group.  The song was called "Los Angeles" and the words and images were so harsh and bitter that the song would reverberate in my mind for days.  The images, I later found out, were personal and no one I knew shared them.  The images I had were of people being driven mad by living in the city.  Images of parents who were so hungry and unfulfilled that they ate their own children.  Images of people, teenagers my own age, looking up from the asphalt and being blinded by the sun.  These images stayed with me even after I left the city.  Images so violent and malicious that they seemed to be my only point of reference for a long time afterwards.  After I left."
4386951
I liked this book because I share his irritation with the damage done by an over-exalted view of the Bible and because I learned some new things.

Not only does an inerrant Bible fail the test of intellectual honesty (as the author demonstrates), it hurts people.  It hurts women, gay people, and people of non-Christian religions.  It prevents us from hearing what the Holy Spirit is saying today  - there is little room for new revelation.  Finally, by forcing theological harmony between various Biblical authors, we have lost Jesus' original teachings.  Jesus' message was:  BE A LOVING PERSON (repent), God is starting a new Kingdom here on earth.  Somehow we have twisted that around to:  BELIEVE in Jesus' atonement on the cross, or you'll go to hell.

These dangers bother me so much, I started a list of contradictions in the Bible.  Now I can stop - his list is way better than mine!  I just wish he put it in a chart format.  The contradictions are peppered all over this book.  Some are exaggerated, in my opinion, but others are legitimate.

Most of this was a review of what I learned in seminary, but I learned about some new research as well:

-  Pseudepigraphy was almost universally condemned in ancient sources. Biblical authors did it anyway to lend authority to "my side" of a controversy or supplement the tradition for new circumstances.  The Holy Spirit may have spoken through these non-Apostles, but let's be honest about it.

-  There was more "spinning" going on than I realized between the resurrection and the first written records (Paul).  Let's say you heard an evangelist tell some stories about Jesus in your hometown.  He probably changed them a little to make sense in your language and culture.  You convert.  You wish your husband would also convert.  So you tell him the stories you heard, maybe with a little extra spin to make the story more persuasive to him.  Imagine this going on over 40 years and a myriad of cultures.

-  The reasons for Jesus' death vary in the gospels.  For example, Mark says it was an atonement: Jesus paid your debt.  Luke says it was simple forgiveness - just repent and forget about it.

I didn't like this book because there was something about the tone that reminded me of Bill Maher: a smarter-than-all-of-you person who just can't stand being in the presence of irrational constructions without taking a hammer to your building.  He says it's for your own good, but I'm not so sure that's his real motive.  Once your faith system is lying in ruins, he does a lousy job of reconstruction.  The weakest chapter was "Is Faith Possible?"

At the risk of also sounding "smarter-than-you," I thought Ehrman was spiritually tone deaf.  Where he hears contradictions, I hear harmonies of unity and awesome spirituality.  Ehrman would say "it can't be both the note of C and E and G!"  Ah ha!  A logical contradiction! I would say, "sure it can - together the `contradictions' strike a deeper chord of truth than the single note."  You know that scene in Charlie Brown's Christmas where Lucy asks Schroeder to play Jingle Bells? Ehrman reminds me of Lucy - he can't hear the tune unless it's one single melody line.  For those of us whose life mission is to connect people to God, he wasn't much help!

Ehrman accurately points out that Traditional Christianity does not make the Bible the object of faith.  Just look at the creeds.  So how do we know what's true?  We don't.  I doubt any of us has a perfect theology.  But I bet some of you are more loving and giving people than others.  For me, that's the bottom line, as it was for Jesus: LOVE.  I also think God blesses the pursuit of Truth.  You options for spiritual authority are:

Sacred Text (Islam, Orthodox Judaism, Evangelical Christianity)
Guru (Hindus and Oprah followers
Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit
Probably something I didn't think of
I'm going with option #3.  Jesus is not the same thing as the Bible, but the Bible is an invaluable tool to transform my mind and to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and to, God willing, become a more loving person.
4871276
Being careful not to send your feelings towards your children can a hard one, especially if youve been hurt in the process.
710708
I just finished Mark Buchanan's latest earlier today. My thoughts are still turning and my heart is still stinging a bit from some of the more (to me) convicting pieces of this book. I don't think I read anything I didn't already agree with, but that may be the problem. Here I sit with awareness to some of the truth shared in Your Church is Too Safe, convicted of changes I need to enact in my life, and I'm reminded that I have not moved on most of them...yet. What is it that is written in James' Epistle? "If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them." Uhmmm. Yeah. I'm still stinging.

I've read all but one of Mark Buchanan's books; I've loved each one and I've been challenged in varying degrees by every one of them too. This one has probably left me with the heaviest feeling, probably in part for the season of life I am now facing. I was hooked with the opening sentence from the introduction where Buchanan confesses bluntly; "I'M BORED." And he goes on to say the following:

"As are many people in the church. Bored, and also apathetic, passive, testy, lonely, disheartened. We're wary and weary and cranky and sad. It's a long list.

There' an enormous gap between the life Jesus offered and the life we're living. We feel it. We see it. We sense that whatever else Jesus came preaching this can't be what he had in mind: a roomful of people nodding to old platitudes, nodding off to old lullabies, perking up to Jonah-like rants, jumping up to split hairs or break company at the smallest provocation. He can't have dreamed a church gorging itself on feeling good and allergic to self-denial. He can't have hoped for a church that was more concerned with itself than with the world it inhabits. When Jesus announced that the kingdom was at hand, this can't be what he meant." (p. 9)

All this and we're still in the introduction. Mark then finishes the introduction with this statement and "set the hook" deep in me at the same time saying, "It's a book for those who wish the church looked more like the kingdom." That's me; and we're off and running.

I enjoy Buchanan's writing style; I've already said I've liked every book of his that I've read (6 of 7). There's something about the rawness and transparency in his writing that connects me to what he's attempting to communicate. I'm in the room, sitting across the table from him, and I'm listening... listening. Every chapter contains quotables; I'll probably be using many of them for weeks to come as I continue processing the challenges Your Church has presented to me. Still, there were several chapters that really sunk their claws into my heart; A Tale of Two Communities was one, Jesus and the Three Spirits and Even the Sparrows are a couple more.

This is one of the more challenging books I've read in awhile. It may very well be the context of my life that makes it so, but I think this might be the case for more than a few people. I don't think I'm the only one who is and has been "BORED." If you're comfortable and don't want to be stirred, avoid the book. If you need just a little bit more of a push to set you on the way of following Jesus in hot-pursuit of his kingdom, get the book as quickly as you can. I'm looking for teammates in a church that pursues Jesus wholeheartedly; maybe we should join up.
4079053
Carol Lynn Pearson is a magnificent writer, and I love her poetic and metaphorical style as a storyteller.  However, as she admits in the last chapter, "I know, I am shamelessly optimistic."  More on this in a minute.

This book, which she describes as one of her most important works, tells the incredibly painful, honest history of polygamy in the Mormon (LDS) Church and the disturbing way it lingers on in theology and practice.  The personal accounts, gathered by way of a well-responded-to survey of current and former Mormons and included between and within chapters, are particularly raw, and in my opinion, are one of the best parts of the book.  I believe that this book will be generally well received by both current Mormons and those who have at one time or another had a connection to the church.  It may also be of interest to a wider audience in understanding how the practice came to be and how it affects modern church culture.

All that being said, I think that Pearson is overly optimistic about the LDS Church's willingness or ability to change this hurtful doctrine and the effects such would have on the church as a whole.  Much of the honest history she digs up, as well as the clear pain now-acknowledged false teachings such as blood atonement, the priesthood and temple ban on black members, and polygamy (which she builds a case against as a false teaching) have caused and still cause for people associated with this movement have persuaded me that the church's leadership is not especially "prophetic" nor worthy of my trust regarding their current teachings.  It is difficult to hear them claim "one man, one woman" as God's true pattern for marriage and that same-sex marriages are "counterfeits", when their predecessors taught that monogamous marriages were inferior and plural a.k.a. "celestial" marriages were God's true pattern.

It is difficult to read this book knowing that the changes Pearson advocates for (the church disavowing polygamy in history and present temple sealing practices) will likely never take place or even register on the radar of high church leadership as even a possibility and that in the meantime, faithful members will continue to suffer.  Furthermore, even if church authorities did begin to recognize the immorality of the practice and make any of the changes Pearson petitions for, it would further weaken their claims of being built on a foundation of truth, revelation, and genuine godly authority because it would appear as yet another admission that previous church leaders were desperately uninspired when it came to policies that oppressed large portions of their membership for generations and under the leadership of multiple "prophets" (again, for example, the priesthood/temple ban for black members).  I must admit, however, that this book would lose most of its appeal to current members if it simply laid out the history and problems without proposing a pathway that might at least, in part, preserve the remaining integrity of the church and make life better for those who choose to continue their participation in the organization despite its flaws.  For those who choose not to, I think this book will similarly give them hope and justification in that choice.

All in all, this was a surprisingly quick, surprisingly powerful read, and I would highly recommend it, especially to current and former members of the Mormon church, and would encourage anyone with financial means to ensure that everyone pictured in the Ensign's semi-annual General Conference centerfold has a copy at their disposal.  If the church is ever going to make the unlikely corrections, it will only be because they have chosen to take the time away from their missionary and business endeavors to gain further light and knowledge, and this is a great place to start.  Thank you, Carol Lynn, for you efforts.
4243516
Mercy and I disagreed a few times. While I absolutely love poetic language when it comes to describing horrible things, I also have the attention span of a gnat. So, in some of the more descriptive parts of this book, I found myself admiring the pretty language, and then having to go back and re-read it because the words were nice, but Id lost track of the point to what I was reading. Actually, that happened more than Id actually care to admit. However, thats no slight on Dunhams writing. Its just not a style of writing that I have an easy time reading for extended periods of time. Mercy is, quite actually, extremely beautifully written. I felt/saw a lot of the things that happened to William during his stay. I winced instinctively when he was attacked by the linear accelerator, felt repulsed when he encountered the deceased, and generally just wanted to smack the stubborn out of him.

Isnt it odd how two different authors can write about the same basic idea and yet youll really like one whereas the other has you rolling your eyes at the ridiculousness contained therein? Both Mercy and Delirium (by Lauren Oliver) address love as a sickness/disease, but where in Delirium I found myself going Oh geeze. Give me a freaking break, I found myself nodding in agreement when it was talked about in Mercy.

Some of my favorite lines in Mercy had to do with both love and life.

He needed her more than he loved her.

The heart wasn't made to love. It was given to you to hurt. Its the source of all agony of the spirit.

Life was an addiction, and he felt desperate for every second. But would it mean anything?  T. Fox Dunham, Mercy

I felt each of these statements so strongly that I ended up pausing for a few minutes after reading them, and just reflecting on the truth in them.

In Dunhams notes, he talks about how he is a survivor of cancer himself, and I think that I figured that even before I finished the book. Dealing with a chronic pain disease means that its easier to recognize the truth in statements written by someone who also has experienced the sort of pain that feels like its rotting your bones.

Mercy is wonderful/horrible and beautiful/sick. Its fevered exaggerations alongside shouted sanity that will make you lose yourself in the slipstream of vivid descriptions and noxious horror, then force you to plummet to earth when the moments of truth rip the beauty away to see the ugly underneath. It feels like a much longer read than it actually is (not that thats a bad thing in this case), and I have very little to critique about it, except for the fact that the epilogue felt like it cheapened the story a little bit. I won't say what it was for obvious reasons, but I found myself frowning and wishing that I had stopped reading before I hit those last few pages. I guess thats the way it is with stories and with diseases, though. They hardly ever just come to a complete stop.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC from the publisher for review consideration.
4712368
This book and love story simply broke my heart. I feel like Michael poured out his heart with his love and affection for Carolyn. It bordered on obsession, but when you're in love, what else is there? Carolyn seemed a mystery and she was so completely inconsistent with him. Sadly, it sounded like she suffered from Bipolar disorder. IT must be hard to constantly be in the press and have to put your best foot forward just to walk your dog! Michael, you seem like a wonderful, thoughtful, senstive man who I wish I got to know years ago, as a friend. Anyone who reads this book will be touched by Michael's candor. I'm glad you've moved on with Joy and your kids. Hopefully you can put Carolyn and her memory and what you've shared in a safe place in your heart. Even when the pain of her death creeps up, would you have changed the love that you two shared so as not to feel the pain of loss? Probably not. juliestark00@hotmail.com
1260574
A collection of powerful and angering stories about slavery all connected through Awiti. I found myself trying to find this connection at the beginning of each chapter. Each presents stories of destruction and love and the healing process that Awiti goes through. Her heart is capable of so much love but she still can't get past the hate. She spends centuries trying to seek retribution while also trying to find peace that will never come for her.

The stories are well written but at times the historical truths are difficult to digest. Keep reading because each chapter has a different story to learn and to think about.

A few thoughts I had:
- Would it have been different if Awiti was older? She experienced so much pain at such a young age.
- Characters in the book could find peace, why not Awiti?
- Will the pain always be there?
- Spirits wanted to tell their stories. Will telling these stories through this book ease some of the pain?
1486706
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This was a dark and painful book to read. I could picture what was happening. I did start reading this at night, but had to stop to be able to sleep well. Rachel was a woman in pain from a traumatic experience.  Several things were hinted at before she does face her painful day. One of the keys to her being able to face her pain, was having hope in life again. I really wanted to talk to her and help her choose forgiveness. There were a lot of cliches and references to Dante's Inferno. There was some violence, but most happened off screen. She does sleep with her husband, but it wasn't explicit. There are wolves and ravens who are menacing and one who dies dramatically. I don't know if I will read another book as this author is a little too dark for me, but others who like Koontz and King will have a new author to read.
1096785
People use the word love with so much frequency but little people "know" what it means. In fact they know but they deform the concept because if you define it objectively inevitably you will find out that many people that claim to love you really don't, in the same way you don't really love many people. Despite the pain this book can provoke, you will end up looking for real love relationships.
3407218
I had an old buckwhaeat pillow that was falling apart so I orderd this to take its place.  It is so hard that it hurts.  My husband's softened but mine is hard as a rock.
451847
Believe Like a Child is a story that will break your heart. It will make you sad, make you angry and yet, through it all, there is a sense of hope - a feeling of 'maybe things will get better'.

First, let me start by saying, this is not my normal type of novel to read. I tend to stick with YA. Stories that have no basis in reality. I read for an escape from the day to day stresses of life. I read to emerse myself in another world, another time. But when I read the synopsis of Belive Like a Child and how parts of Alyssa's (the MC) life was based on real-life experience of the author, Paige Dearth, I wanted to know more.

Well, more is what I got.

There where times when reading this that I literally had to put it down, and step away. As a mother of a young daughter, the horrors that young Alyssa experienced made me want to cry, to scream. I could not imagine ignoring the pain of my child, or being oblivious to it, as Alyssa's mother did.

Alyssa leaves, tries to make her life better. But it seems there is a never ending source of misery for our MC. Abuser after abuser make their way into her life, controling her and destroying parts of her, until finally, FINALLY, she finds a little bit of happiness. But through all the pain and abuse, she never lets herself give up.

So yes, this is a story of heartache and pain, tears and anger. It is also a story of preserverance and never letting go of the belief of a child - belief that everything will be ok.
4094388
If you suffer from kidney stones, I suggest you try this tea, which supposedly "breaks" stones up.

I recently had a very painful stone, and someone recommended this to me. I tried it and the usual sequence of weeks in which the stone painfully lurches from obstacle to obstacle unpredictably, seems to have been interrupted. This is an herbal remedy and has NOT been approved by the FDA, but I will order it again when I get another kidney stone.
1065320
"Spirited" is a euphemism. I've had the displeasure of watching closely as parent-friends applied lessons learned from this book to the raising of a wild child, and it was heartbreaking. It hurt her socially, academically, and eventually trouble with substance abuse and the law. I'm sure there's good stuff in here as well, but somehow the book seems to give parents the feeling that discipline is bad for wild, sensitive, difficult kids. It may be true for some kids. For others, firm limits are very helpful. I plan to try reading it further, and hope to keep an open mind.
3255008
Warning, this book contains people abuse and a little animal abuse. You might think that it goes with the period of time but it's more than that. It shows that there are truly mean people out there. A couple of issues were not followed up and that was very disappointing. And could have used grammar check. But overall it had me feeling strong anger and sorrow.