Time to catch up again!
These are the books I finished in July. This time, all 3 books were new to me. I don't begrudge this self imposed literacy challenge, but sometimes, much like homework, it is difficult to get around to writing the report. Here we go!
Madness by Jossy Chako
This book is written by a missionary to India. He also is Indian. I came by his book because I had an amazing opportunity to hear him speak at a missions conference. It was an amazing presentation. In the book he tells about how he moved away to Australia as a young man, and ended up marrying an Australian. She persuaded him totake her to India for their honeymoon. Jossy grew up in an area that was mainly Christian, and he was well provided for. The India he saw on his honeymoon was completely different, and though he never saw himself being the "missionary type" he realized his heart was aching for the people in his country. Jossy also realized that there were many Indian pastors already reaching out to India on their own, with no training or support, and he saw his opportunity. This story tells about his childhood, as well about what it took for him to start an organization. What impacted me the most in this book is the amount of faith of the different people in his life. Their faith and fervor for the Lord can easily put me to shame. Also, I was struck by the oppressing darkness so many people live in. They live in a world where demons possession is an obvious problem. That is a scary thought to me, to see the devil so blatantly at work, but then maybe I see the devil blatantly at work often, and explain it away so I can comfortably ignore him. The thing about having such an oppressing darkness, having the devil running so rampant is that these missionaries see amazing works of God. It takes a lot of faith to stand up in the midst of such intimidating darkness, and God meets them where and how they need Him. It was an interesting book. I would not say that it is a must read. It is informative for anyone who wants to know about missionaries, and about India, as well as about starting a non-profit organization. I definitely would not stop anyone from reading it. It is not the best book I have ever read, but I also really appreciated it, and I don't think it was meant to be a best seller. An added perk, is that it is a thin book, so it does not require a lot of commitment to finish it.
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier.
This is a typical English literature novel. Depending on my mood, I like those. It was sometimes hard for me to get through, but in the end I did. I go back an forth on whether I liked it. It is about a young woman who marries an older widower. When she moves onto his estate, she struggles in living under her husband's late wife's (Rebecca) shadow, and there is something strange going on with the staff and the mansion. Many times the main character feels as though she is being haunted, and there just seems to be a sinister, unwelcome spirit about the place, and especially the house manger. Much of the book is about watching this young woman transition from a silly school girl with a silly inferiority complex very gradually become assertive, desperate woman. I found it frustrating to sit inside the main character's head, when I just wanted to give her a good shake, tell her to be a big girl and start handling her problems, as they obviously weren't going away. Part of this frustration, however is what kept me reading. It's a little on the mystery side, as it slowly reveals hints about the darkness of the estate. When it ended, and even still, I range between "That was a stupid book" and "I really liked thinking through that book." You should know that, when it comes to English literature, I dislike it more often than I like it. The fact that it intrigued me at all is a compliment. My roommate enjoys this book thoroughly. So, if you are the sort who thoroughly enjoys Victorian era English literature, with all of its rambling details, then by all means, you will enjoy it. If not, then I probably would not recommend this book to you.
Loser by Jerry Spinelli.
This book was written at about a 5th-7th grade level. It is about the child who was doomed from the start to never fit in: uncoordinated, weird name, off-kilter interests, a strange tic, with passion for weird sounding words and a desire to shout them. He is earnest and goodhearted, but somehow always manages to be misunderstood by even the adults in his life. He never seems to figure it out. As I read the book, I truly enjoyed each scene and chapter as a well written narrative. It starts with "the loser" at the beginning of kindergarten, before he or any of the other children realize he is a loser, but really, it was only a matter of time. As he and the children grow up, they slowly start to realize what he is: an outcast. Most of the time, our main character is so oblivious, he doesn't even notice that it should bother him to be an outcast. The book is almost like peeking into the daily lives of children from kindergarten through seventh grade. The anecdotes are quite enjoyable. The plot, on the other hand, I have turmoil over. The upfront plot is abnormal. It is linear, with little climax and no story arch. It it's like climbing a mountain half way, and stopping. At the end of all the anecdotes, you feel like you have learned nothing. This book is tricky, though. It feels as though it has two plots, the story telling one, with all the anecdotes that don't add up to much, and the underlying plot that sneakily interweaves a slow paradigm shift in both "The Loser" and the kids who make up his community, caused by the sheer unyielding, unphased weirdness of the main character, and the fact that he, though weird, friendless, and an outcast, never understands that he should dislike who he is and his social position within the class. Because of the sneaky, second plot line, I will have to conclude that, yes, I liked The Loser.
And those, my friends, are the three books that filled July. Coming soon, the books of August!
These are the books I finished in July. This time, all 3 books were new to me. I don't begrudge this self imposed literacy challenge, but sometimes, much like homework, it is difficult to get around to writing the report. Here we go!
Madness by Jossy Chako
This book is written by a missionary to India. He also is Indian. I came by his book because I had an amazing opportunity to hear him speak at a missions conference. It was an amazing presentation. In the book he tells about how he moved away to Australia as a young man, and ended up marrying an Australian. She persuaded him totake her to India for their honeymoon. Jossy grew up in an area that was mainly Christian, and he was well provided for. The India he saw on his honeymoon was completely different, and though he never saw himself being the "missionary type" he realized his heart was aching for the people in his country. Jossy also realized that there were many Indian pastors already reaching out to India on their own, with no training or support, and he saw his opportunity. This story tells about his childhood, as well about what it took for him to start an organization. What impacted me the most in this book is the amount of faith of the different people in his life. Their faith and fervor for the Lord can easily put me to shame. Also, I was struck by the oppressing darkness so many people live in. They live in a world where demons possession is an obvious problem. That is a scary thought to me, to see the devil so blatantly at work, but then maybe I see the devil blatantly at work often, and explain it away so I can comfortably ignore him. The thing about having such an oppressing darkness, having the devil running so rampant is that these missionaries see amazing works of God. It takes a lot of faith to stand up in the midst of such intimidating darkness, and God meets them where and how they need Him. It was an interesting book. I would not say that it is a must read. It is informative for anyone who wants to know about missionaries, and about India, as well as about starting a non-profit organization. I definitely would not stop anyone from reading it. It is not the best book I have ever read, but I also really appreciated it, and I don't think it was meant to be a best seller. An added perk, is that it is a thin book, so it does not require a lot of commitment to finish it.
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier.
This is a typical English literature novel. Depending on my mood, I like those. It was sometimes hard for me to get through, but in the end I did. I go back an forth on whether I liked it. It is about a young woman who marries an older widower. When she moves onto his estate, she struggles in living under her husband's late wife's (Rebecca) shadow, and there is something strange going on with the staff and the mansion. Many times the main character feels as though she is being haunted, and there just seems to be a sinister, unwelcome spirit about the place, and especially the house manger. Much of the book is about watching this young woman transition from a silly school girl with a silly inferiority complex very gradually become assertive, desperate woman. I found it frustrating to sit inside the main character's head, when I just wanted to give her a good shake, tell her to be a big girl and start handling her problems, as they obviously weren't going away. Part of this frustration, however is what kept me reading. It's a little on the mystery side, as it slowly reveals hints about the darkness of the estate. When it ended, and even still, I range between "That was a stupid book" and "I really liked thinking through that book." You should know that, when it comes to English literature, I dislike it more often than I like it. The fact that it intrigued me at all is a compliment. My roommate enjoys this book thoroughly. So, if you are the sort who thoroughly enjoys Victorian era English literature, with all of its rambling details, then by all means, you will enjoy it. If not, then I probably would not recommend this book to you.
Loser by Jerry Spinelli.
This book was written at about a 5th-7th grade level. It is about the child who was doomed from the start to never fit in: uncoordinated, weird name, off-kilter interests, a strange tic, with passion for weird sounding words and a desire to shout them. He is earnest and goodhearted, but somehow always manages to be misunderstood by even the adults in his life. He never seems to figure it out. As I read the book, I truly enjoyed each scene and chapter as a well written narrative. It starts with "the loser" at the beginning of kindergarten, before he or any of the other children realize he is a loser, but really, it was only a matter of time. As he and the children grow up, they slowly start to realize what he is: an outcast. Most of the time, our main character is so oblivious, he doesn't even notice that it should bother him to be an outcast. The book is almost like peeking into the daily lives of children from kindergarten through seventh grade. The anecdotes are quite enjoyable. The plot, on the other hand, I have turmoil over. The upfront plot is abnormal. It is linear, with little climax and no story arch. It it's like climbing a mountain half way, and stopping. At the end of all the anecdotes, you feel like you have learned nothing. This book is tricky, though. It feels as though it has two plots, the story telling one, with all the anecdotes that don't add up to much, and the underlying plot that sneakily interweaves a slow paradigm shift in both "The Loser" and the kids who make up his community, caused by the sheer unyielding, unphased weirdness of the main character, and the fact that he, though weird, friendless, and an outcast, never understands that he should dislike who he is and his social position within the class. Because of the sneaky, second plot line, I will have to conclude that, yes, I liked The Loser.
And those, my friends, are the three books that filled July. Coming soon, the books of August!
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