On Things Literary

My plans for an ambitious and productive weekend crumbled Friday evening; unmotivated to partake of activities such as spring cleaning, grading papers, and the like, I found myself extremely motivated to sit on our couch and simply read. It turns out, my weekend was relatively successful, as I finished three books and still managed to grade the mountain of papers teetering on my desk.

Since my last post, I had actually begun another book in addition to the two I was currently reading. Some may cringe at the thought of reading three books at once, but I assure you there are many out there (myself included) who wouldn't give it a second thought. This new book is one which my husband purchased for me: Hearts of Fire by The Voice of the Martyrs. Because the other two books I was currently reading were fiction novels, I felt it more than appropriate to begin reading this book, a compilation of eight women's stories of faith and persecution. I highly recommend this book. The editors did an excellent job of selecting the women, as well as relating their stories to the reader. Though the brutality and torture (for there is no other word) experienced by these women pierced my heart, their faith is extraordinary. I put down this book refreshed, though still saddened by the evil world in which we live. It is good for me to remember our calling to the mission field, as I especially can so easily forget while living in the land of plenty and comfort.

Saturday morning, I decided to revive my inner child and read a classic piece of young adult literature. I hadn't read Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time in probably fifteen years, but as a timeless work, the story still captured me. I think in the past few years, I've gained more of an appreciation for young adult literature, most likely due to my mother's work in the area. One of my favorite things to do while visiting her is to riffle through her stack of young adult literature. She finds it necessary to read all things young adult in order to teach and write about the subject, and in her collection, there is usually several new selections from which to choose.

The symbolism in L'Engle's series is evident, but honestly my favorite part of the book is the continual ramblings of Mrs. Who, who usually speaks in quotations from famous writers and thinkers. I finished the book later in the evening and I am now contemplating continuing the story of Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace with the next book A Wind in the Door. I've also decided that I will reread the Anne of Avonlea series in 2008 as well. L.M. Montgomery's series about the red-headed freckled orphan is definitely my favorite childhood read. Any thoughts on your favorite childhood books?

I also finished Jane Austen's Emma, but I will write more about this novel and the author later. This weekend, Isaac and I rented two movies, thanks to our Christmas gift card from our dear friends the Griffiths. Becoming Jane and Atonement were our choices, and two very unusual ones at that. Any of you who know me understand that I do not have a propensity to watch "girlie" movies, yet there I was at Movie Gallery, renting two titles distinguished with such a term. I decided to (appropriately) include my discussion of Becoming Jane in my post concerning Emma and Austen.

While Atonement was advertised, the movie always seemed a bit of a mystery to me. The trailers showed several different clips and touted it as "one of the best films" of the year, but never really gave any sort of a teaser as to the storyline. The movie is adapted from the 2001 novel by Ian McEwan. Though I have not read McEwan's work and cannot say how closely the movie followed the storyline he wrote, I feel the movie was well done. It wasn't, however, the story that I enjoyed so much as the excellent musical score and cinema photography. The actors were all excellent as well, but I feel perhaps the screenplay might have been lacking somewhat in truly conveying McEwan's ideas. What I was most impressed with by far was the score; one of the characters is constantly clicking away on her typewriter throughout the movie. Click, click, click. Often, the "click, click, click" is integrated into the score in a way I found positively genius. In addition to the excellent actors, cinema photography, and score, the ending was surprising, and in fact offered more of a life lesson than I anticipated. Though not a movie for children, Atonement warns us of our preconceived ideas and misconceptions and how our actions can haunt us and others for the rest of our lives.

Welcome Back, Kotter!

After a long absence, I have decided to make a return to the blogging world. I have very much been inspired by several friends (though most likely unknown to them) to do so. As many of you know, I am not by any means a technological genius or a design-savvy individual, so please bear with me on this (un)new adventure.

Isaac and I were fortunate enough to make the trip down to Sikeston to spend the Easter weekend with his side of the family. Family gatherings with the Johnsons are a lot like family gatherings with the Olberdings- there's a lot of us, we talk and laugh a lot, and we can get pretty loud on the decibel scale. The only difference is that with the Olberding family, there aren't any children to really add to the noise level; the adults are just that loud..."naturally."

On the return trip, it was snowing in St. Louis. Imagine, snow on Easter! This is a completely foreign concept to a Southerner such as myself, even after living north of the often-disputed Mason-Dixon line for a few years. I know that while I lived in both Colorado and Germany, and perhaps even in Kansas, snow on Easter was a usual occurrence, but living in the South for so long thinned out my blood, and the idea of "cold" became "below 65 degrees."

My husband and I are going on a date tonight to Chipotle. Isaac gave up the blessed food from this fine establishment for Lent this year, and since Isaac gave it up, by default I did the same. I have been looking forward to this event for over 40 days now.

I am yet again simultaneously reading more than one book at a time. The culprits this time: Jane Austen's Emma and J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring. I have found that it is, in fact, rather unusual for me to not be reading more than one book at a time. Even last night, I found myself sorely tempted to begin yet another book (a result, no doubt, of our recent visit to the book warehouse, where the glory of cheap books abounds). Some may see this as a problem, evidence to the fact that my dedication to one storyline may be waning, that I am an adulterous reader of many stories. I think not. I prefer to look on this issue as my insatiable eclectic taste for the written word. I enjoy reading many books of a variety of genres, so why should I be tied down to one book until I have finished it? It's a philosophy of life, really...well, I wouldn't extend my philosophy out to every aspect of life. Call it a philosophy of books, if you will.

"Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it." -Hebrews 2:1