Trinity’s World

Talk about a lot of pressure. When J.K. Rowling finished writing book three of the Harry Potter series, did she know how big the last of the 7 book series would be? Did she know that there would literally millions of fans that would be waiting to see how it all ended, who would die, who would live, and why things go the way they were? That is a lot of weight to bear when you sit down to write the seventh, and final, installment of a story that you have pored your heart and soul into for so long. In my opinion she pulled it off well.

I promise not to spoil anything, so let me just stick to the basics. When you pick this book up you had better have a lot of time to dedicate to it. From about page 5 till about three quarters of the way through the book you are hit with non-stop movement. If it’s not action, your hit with an important revelation about something that has gone unanswered for the last few books. If not a new bit of information, you are hit by an emotional mile stone for some character that you never realized was so important to the story until now. Rowling grabs you by the ears and holds you hostage, because you never know what is going to happen around the corner.

Talk about the crap hitting the fan! And when it does that fan is on high, because if you think Harry Potter has suffered enough in the first six books then you are going to go through a lot tissues by the time this one ends. But with each new stab of loss or difficulty, there is usually an accompanying triumph that is equal to if not better than that sorrow. But no one is safe, and anyone can die at a moments notice, especially characters you never knew you loved until they were gone (at least in my case).

Did I like the ending? Well…as a fan I received satisfaction. As a fan I’m always going to want to know more, to have a few more question answered about obscure things. But by and large I am happy with the way the story ends up, and with how Rowling leaves it wrapped up. All important questions about Harry, and the night his parents died, are answered, and so are a few others that have been driving people nuts for a few years now.

As a writer I understand why she ended things the way she did, but I may have done it differently. But who am I to stand in judgment on that issue? I was hoping for something to happen that did not, but in the end the way Rowling works it out is better than I would have (hence why she is a multi million copy best seller, and I am not).

Get your copy and read it. Then go back and read the others again to see just how well she set up everything. And then read the book again. I guarantee you will enjoy it even if you know the ending. And, just one little personal thing: NEVILE LONGBOTTOM ROCKS!!!!!!!!

Posted Wednesday, April 26, 2006, 08:59 AM

This is the first time I’ve ever read a book just because a movie is coming out that has been based on it. As such, I was a bit pessimistic about it going into the book, but my wife and I were going to read it together so at least I would have some one to suffer with if it sucked. Keep in mind I have a degree in biblical studies and Christian ministries, so reading a fictional novel about church cover ups and conspiracies is not easy for me to do without having at least a few issues. That being said, I defiantly was hooked from the beginning.

I like that the story keeps you guessing while you are held in suspense for each big reveal, and there are a lot of big reveals and plot twists. I liked how the author keeps the pace going so that you constantly feel a sense of urgency to get to the bottom of the story, like a runaway train that you really just have to see explode when it runs off a bridge and crash into a valley below. The author also puts you right into the modern day Europe, while giving you a clear sense of appreciation for the are and architecture of all the buildings. I really want to see the art work in this book for my self, and go to the place that appear in the book, because they are all real. I want to see just how much is conjecture and speculation, versus how much is really there.

What I did not like was most likely due to my bias as a student of biblical studies. Comments that the author makes about the biblical text and it’s canonization are radical but, in his defense, are indeed held to be true a some contemporary scholars. These same scholars are the once that brought us such great advancements to Christian theology as “The Jesus Seminar” (Yes, I’m an being sarcastic). I can actually hear Brugamon rolling over in his grave as some of his theories about historical relevance are being blatantly misused. Anyone who has seen Andrew Loyd Webbers “Jesus Christ: Super Star,” is familiar with the idea the Jesus and Mary Magdoline were more than just a teacher and a disciple. But I’m pretty sure that the church has not been so malicious as the author implies in covering up a lot of the places that this line of thought can go. Yes, the Roman Catholic Church under the first Vatican structure was responsible for a lot of horrible things in it’s time, however I don’t think that the church was ever as all powerful as this book implies.

But beyond the theological issues, what really rubbed me was how the timeline for the book does not work out in my mind. Anyone who has watched an episode of the T.V. show 24 has seen a person get in a helicopter and go from Simi Valley to somewhere on the East cost, in a matter of ten minuets. The first day that takes place in this book is kind of like that. We start the story well into the night, but before sun up so much has taken place that their had to be serious issues with the space time continuum to make it actually happen. Also there is a plot twist that really was too much to believe. I think at some point the author lost touch with who the character was that is revealed, but I think the person who ends up as the bad guy is totally the wrong person. I lost a lot of trust in the author at that point to keep the story realistic.

All that said, I enjoyed this book. I had to know how it ended! When I got to the end I was satisfied with the resolution and actually cared about the characters. This was not the best book I’ve ever read, but the story was good. I can’t wait to see what the screen version is like. From what I’ve seen in the previews, it looks like it was taken almost work for word from the book.

The Davinci Code
Dan Brown
ISBN 0-385-50420-9

Posted Monday, February 7, 2005, 11:53 PM

Laurie Notaro is an Italian girl who grew up in Phoenix Arizona. This book is her second book, and came highly recommended to me by a friend of my Fiance. We are currently re-reading this book aloud to each other, and not a single chapter has gone by where we did not find ourselves laughing. This book is fast and easy read, and is exceptionally funny.

Laurie basically covers the years of her life as she met the man she would mary, moves into their first house, and how life around them is never what it was supposed to be. Add her very neurotic tendency to be very hard on herself, and finds it really hard to understand why the man she married ever fell in love with her (she assumes pity), and you get one hilarious scenario after another that unfolds like it were the perfect comedy movie. From planning a wedding, to having to call a plumber to take of a backed up toilet, this woman really has a great story to tell about her family and her life.

I would recommend this book to:
People Dating
People Married
Anyone who has ever dated

Autobiography of a Fat Bride (True Tales of a Pretend Adulthood)
Laurie Nortaro

Posted Tuesday, April 5, 2005, 01:04 AM

If you are an engaged couple, or a married couple, you have probably had someone recommended to you that you learn about how to manage your finances at some point. This book seems to have been a standard text, used by Pastors, to council couples for about the last six years. The author is a respected Christian financial advisor, who has some insight into how to manage your money in a way that is wise.

When I say some insight, that is because this book is really lacking in good logic when it comes to Mr. Burkett’s approach to what an engaged couple should expect of their financial situation, as they go into marriage. In a lot of places his recommendations, having no debit, never using credit cards, and not getting married until the couple can be supported by one of the spouses incomes, are so out of touch with the life and times of today’s economy. Maybe I’m just too pour to see past my circumstances at this point in my life, but all three of these criteria are almost unattainable for any couple that lives in the LA area here in California.

Aside from Mr. Burkett’s flawed perception of what life is like a down turned economy, in the second most expensive place to live in the US (NY City is the first), and from his blatantly pour interpretation of bible scripture to make his points, he also seems to ignore that fact that people get married that are poor and do not have the financial wherewithal to save any of their income, because they are paying off credit card bills and other expenses that are required not for pleasures in life, but for the every day essentials such as food, gas, and clothing.

Now, there is a very cool part about this book, that actually out weighs the crappy finical advice, and pour representation of the bible’s stance on finances. This is the part of the book written by Micheal E. Taylor., the personality test. This book includes worksheets and personality tests for each spouse. My fiancé and I actually communicate very well with each other, and have talked a lot about how to manage and budget finances. But the test helped us understand why we frustrate each other when we discuss these things. The Test not only helped us to see what we are like in terms of how we think about money, it helped us put words to the way we feel or think. That allowed us to actually talk about and come up with ways we can help not frustrate the other person in our daily tasks.

All in all, the book was worth it just for the personality test. However, my Fiancé and I are the kind of people that love to take these kind of tests. We also have a very open line of communication, and enjoy talking about issues that can help us not argue as much in the future. If you are this kind of person, buy this book for you and your spouse/future spouse. The gold mind of information that you will get from the test alone can help you get your marriage off to a wonderful start, or lead you in a new direction. The financial stuff is ok…but should be taken with a very large grain of salt.

Money Before Marriage: A financial Workbook for Engaged Couples
Larry Burkett with Michael E. Taylor
Moody Press
ISBN 0-8024-6389-4

Posted Friday, February 17, 2006, 09:42 AM

As I get older I’m finding myself drawn to more sentimental reading material. I’m sure it has something to do with the effect my wife has had on my personality. Regardless of what has caused this change in my reading tastes, I really did enjoy this book. It was written by a friend of mine a few years ago, and I’m only just now getting to it (Sorry Joe). The basic story line is that a man reveilles to his family that he has a son and daughter from a previous marriage, and that he and his current wife have hid this from their three daughters either whole lives. Well, Dad is dieing when one of these children contacts him, and he wants to re-establish contact.

What I liked about this book is that you get to see the story through the eyes of each character, and each person is unique. You get the view of the daughter that is jealous of her family and thinks that these long lost relatives are only after her father’s hard earned money. Then there is the daughter who just wants people to get along, and the daughter that plays the go between for all the members of the family. There are others that tell “their” version of how things happen. Most of this is from the first person perspective, either recalling how things happened that day, or as they were happening. All of these things add up to create a window into this family’s world, and makes you really hope that things are going to work.

The one thing that kind of a bummer for me was that it took me a while to get into the story. The first few chapters are good, but I did not find my self needing to find out what was going to happen till about chapter five. Once I got past that point I started to become emotionally invested in the story. I wanted to know who “Danny and Donna” were. I wanted to know if Hugh was going to make it out of the hospital. I wanted to know if Jackie was going to call a lawyer and take some kind of action. But to get to that point I had to trust what others had said about the book, and keep going. I like it when a book grabs me by the nose and forces me to pay attention, and this book is defiantly not that way.

One thing that made me appreciate this book was that the author does not use it as a platform to evangelize the reader. So many Christian Authors turn me off because their books sell Jesus as a cure all for the character’s problems. This book is not about that. This book is about how a family deals with pain, chaos, uncertainty, and change, by finally coming to terms with who they are as a family. All of this happens with imagery of forgiveness, making peace with people, and celebrating that fact that family is more than just the people you grew up with. The characters do have a faith in God, but that is not what the story is about; its about their family.

I recommend this book to anyone who like a good touchy feely book. The perfect thing to follow a story like “She’s Come Undone” with, because it makes you think that people actually do working this out without turning their lives to crap.

At Close of Day
Joseph Bentz
Joseph Bentz’s Website

Posted Wednesday, April 26, 2006, 08:34 AM

This book is a sequel to Ender’s Game. What I love about how Orson Scott Card writes Sci-Fi is that his focus is not on technology. Pick up a Star Trek or Star Wars book and a majority of the time you get so lost in the jargon and technology that the plot really is just an excuse to see more cool stuff and neat toys. This story is different. Yes, there is a technical aspect to it, and yes the science is defiantly there, but the story is about the people.

I think I appreciated this book far more than I would have, had I no read the introduction by the author. As an aspiring writer, it was awesome to see the process of brining this book about. It made me understand that the “speaker” is really out there to expose the truth. The truth can bring healing and closure to situations that would otherwise be left to fester and grow bitter, and can relieve people of obligation to keep a secret. A Speaker for the Dead will honestly tell the story of a person’s life, regardless of whether or not that person’s life was good, bad, or had a few places that could be of major embarrassment to their families. The idea is that the truth will set people free. I echo Card’s wish that someone will stand up and speak my life when I pass from this world into the next.

This story challenges the reader’s preconceived notions of right and wrong from the very beginning. An alien race has been discovered, and mankind is determined not to repeat their previous mistakes that resulted in the Xenocide of the only other race they have ever encountered in the universe. Humans study the race and try to learn what they can with out impacting them in any way. When a researcher ends up dead in the course of their work, killed in brutally ritualistic way by the alien race, Humans begin to second-guess their desire to allow the species to develop into what ever they may become. What unfolds is a beautiful look at how humans interact with themselves, and how foreign ideas and differences in biology really can completely cloud our understanding of a situation.

Ender Wiggin, due to physics of relativity and light speed travel, has reached the age of 32. However the rest of the universe has aged over 500 years since he was the once that actually caused what every one refers to as “The Xenocide.” Ender has been atoning for what he sees as his greatest sin, by Becoming the First speaker of the dead. But no one is aware that “Speaker Andrew Wiggin,” is in fact “The Ender Wiggen.” Ender sees this situation as a way to atone for his previous actions, in more way than one. What follows is a tale of redemption, healing, understanding, and exploration of social norms and taboos. But this is no made for T.V., after school special. This is a well told mystery that speaks the truth about humans and how we relate to one another.

I highly recommend this book to anyone how has an interest in relationships, and who just like a good story in general.

Speaker for the Dead
Orson Scott Card
ISBN 0-812-55075-7

Posted Monday, March 13, 2006, 09:16 AM

Yet another stop on my journey towards expanding my reading base I found this book to be very different than I expected. Joan Didion is a well know contemporary writer, who has published many articles and essays in newspaper across America. I one a read a collection of her essays called “Slouching Towards Bethlehem,” and found it to be a really great read. When it was recommended that I try out “A Book of Common Prayer,” I figured that it would be something close to the same kind of work.

I was shocked to find myself wondering why I wanted to read this story so much. I just had to find out how it ended. The story is told by a woman, trying to give an account of the last days of another woman’s life. As this woman unfolds the events of the woman she so clearly sees as a different person than herself, she starts to realize more and more that she is not so different and she would like to believe. I was so pulled to this story at times that I did not want to put the book down. At other times I was reading out of sheer anticipation that I knew something good was to come of it. And in the end I was left with a sense of sad, thoughtful, reflection. Both of these women had chosen to see their life in a certain way, and chosen to believe what they wanted to about their words. How much like these two women am I?

This is not a book for everyone. But the writing is so well done. Joan Didion does write a sentence unless it has a meaning to the story. She is very clear, and sets up a lot of very ironic situations using only dialogue and the structure of her paragraphs. It sounds weird, I know, but if you pick up any of her works you will find a lot of once sentence paragraphs. This is because she likes to put ideas together, but let each one stand on it’s own in order to lead you to a specific point. You can’t get lost in her work if you put in the effort to pay attention. I liked it, but it is not a book that I would recommended to most of my friends.

A Book of Common Prayer
Joan Didion

Posted Friday, March 3, 2006, 12:52 PM

I read this book at the recommendation of my wife, and a few of her friends. There friends are always quoting other of David Sadaris’ works, and he is really funny. I sat down and expected to read something that was a fun retelling of child hood memories, and recalling of odd and funny times. I was not disappointed, and did have a number laughs while I was reading this one. Growing up and realizing you’re a homosexual at an early age can make for some very comical moments.
One the same note it can make for some very hard times as well. There are a lot of points in the book where I was really kind of shocked about where some to the stories ended up. There is also a bitter edge to the voice of the book, especially when talking about his mother. There is a very distinct tone of reverence, yet at the same time a resigned hatred of what she put up with while the author was a kid. Yet, in the middle of dark stories, there are these really funny moments of almost happiness that made me keep wanting to read more.
I don’t think I would recommend this book to very many people. David Sadaris is a good writer, but this book is a little dark. Not the funny kind of dark, but the “this feels a little uncomfortable” kind of dark. I actually walked away from the book a little depressed, but also feeling really grateful for the upbringing that I had. Not the best book I’ve ever read, but it was OK.

Naked
David Sadaris