The Lost Symbol is … October 19, 2009
Posted by Alien Drums in Books.add a comment
(I promise not to spoil the story.)
Today, I finished Dan Brown’s newest book, The Lost Symbol. This story is not as engaging as The Da Vinci Code, but it’s a fun read that causes the reader to think.
Brown slapped easily offended Christians in the face with his fiction about Jesus and Mary and such in The Da Vinci Code; now he will be loved by many of them. On second thought, he will not. While some characters express some warm fuzzies about Christianity, some readers are not going to like. …
Oh, I almost forgot I promised not to spoil the story.
I can say this: While the story has some flaws as a story (that “national security” line doesn’t work), it may provoke many to think about some things they have not thought about before. And I’m in favor of thinking.
Books, books, books March 17, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Books.6 comments
I am taking Jenna’s challenge at the Cranberry Corner because it involves my primary addiction — books. Like Jenna, I am a bit embarrassed by the number of books I have not read, but if Jenna (whom I just now “met” through my a-muse-ing friend) is willing to be transparent, then I shall do so, as well. I was a little put off that The Lord of the Rings trilogy was not in the right order, but I’ll get over this slight of my favorite story. And my favorite author of all time, C.S. Lewis, is missing.
Take a look and see which ones you’ve read. Then, if you’re a blogger, post it on your blog. If you play, leave me a comment so that I can come visit!
Here’s what you do:
* Bold the ones you’ve read.
* Italicize the ones you want to read.
* Leave in normal text the ones that don’t interest you.
* Put in ALL CAPS those you haven’t heard of.
* Put a couple of asterisks by the ones you recommend.
1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)**
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien) **
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien) **
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien) **
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)**
9. OUTLANDER (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A FINE BALANCE (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone(Rowling)
17. FALL ON YOUR KNEES (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. THE STAND (Stephen King)**
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)**
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)**
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)**
24. THE LOVELY BONES (Alice Sebold)**
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)**
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)**
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie(Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)**
35. THE MISTS OF AVALON (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE (Wally Lamb)
39. THE RED TENT (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)**
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible **
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)**
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)**
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)**
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible(Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)**
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)**
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment(Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. FIFTH BUSINESS (Robertson Davies)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Victor Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY (Helen Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
73. SHOGUN (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden(Frances Hodgson)**
76. THE SUMMER TREE (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (Betty Smith)
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving)
79. THE DIVINERS (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. NOT WANTED ON THE VOYAGE (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. REBECCA (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. WIZARD’S FIRST RULE (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)**
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)**
88. THE STONE DIARIES (Carol Shields)
89. BLINDNESS (Jose Saramago)
90. KANE AND ABEL (Jeffrey Archer)
91. IN THE SKIN OF A LION (Michael Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. WHITE OLEANDER (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy(James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)
Back from Terabithia February 20, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Bible, Books, Christianity, Movies, Religion, Salvation, Scripture, Spirituality, Truth.add a comment
The fam and I just arrived home from seeing the movie, “The Bridge to Terabithia”. Very good. My 12-year-old daughter said she liked it but that it was different from the book.
I am not as literate as my daughter at this level of reading, so the movie was my first exposure to the story. I loved one conversation between the primary boy and girl (Jess and Leslie) and and his younger sister (May Belle). The youngest girl said something like you have to believe the Bible or you’ll be damned to hell. The older girl didn’t believe it, and I agree with her. You don’t have to believe in the Bible, you have to believe in Jesus.
Now I know that last sentence is a rather elementery description, but sometimes I just like to keep it really, really simple. Some of you want to expand that last clause into a full-length book, while others of you are a little uncomfortable with such things being said about the Bible, and still others of you are really hung up on that last “have to”.
I leave you in that discomfort and end with a quote from book during that same conversation. (My wife found it for me.)
Leslie, the one who had never been to church, says: “It’s crazy, isn’t it? … You [Jess and May Belle] have to believe it, but you hate it. I don’t have to believe it, and I think it’s beautiful.”
Where to start with C.S. Lewis? February 20, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Books, Christianity, Religion, Truth.Tags: CS Lewis
7 comments
Diane (see Diane’s Musings) asked a good question in a comment yesterday. Where does a first time reader of C.S. Lewis start? That’s a tough question, but those are the most fun. I’ll give my two cents, and others can give their’s.
I started with Perelandra, the middle volume of Lewis’ Space Trilogy. I started there because I saw it on a dime store shelf 31 years ago and I needed something to read. It was pure romance from there. I loved Lewis’ language and how he helped me think about and understand reality. You don’t have to be a fan of science fiction to like it.
That said, I can recommend Perelandra as a good starting point for those who like stories and language well used. It’s better than the first in the Trilogy and needs to be read before the third.
The Screwtape Letters is an amazing literary work — very accessible but profound. This would be another good place to start. This is about a senior demon writing notes to a junior one. Lewis really is in the head of this demon and helps you see how this demon can get in your head.
Mere Christianity is excellent, one of my favorite books. It’s a bit more work than the other two, but not difficult. It’s about what all believers basically hold in common across denominational lines.
Surprised by Joy is Lewis’ autobiography, and it’s wonderful. And The Great Divorce is a great picture of the afterlife.
Those are my favorite nominees for a starting point. Maybe the little discriptions will help first timers make a choice. Of course, I’m leaving off the Narnia Chronicles. I love them, but I’m glad I came to them after the others.
One final note: I seldom read a book more than once because I am so eager to get to another. But I have read several Lewis books multiple times. They keep paying off.
