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Yes. Weltschmerz surrounds me right now. It presses down. It threatens to overtake me. But then I remember these words of Jesus Christ:
“I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace.
In the world you will have tribulation.
But take courage:
I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD!”
John 16:33
God is still sovereign. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe that absolutely.
It’s been a long time since I did one of these. Summer is the time for reading. Actually, ANY time is the time for reading! The last few weeks when I was ill, I did a lot of reading. This report is on a few of them.
Moulin Rouge (1950) by Pierre La Mure
This was a novel based on the life of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. I’m sure there were some liberties taken with the veracity of the telling, but it was very well done and gave a real flavor of that time period. Lautrec seemed to be a contemporary of many artists of the time who later became very famous, himself included. Enjoyed the book a great deal.
The Name of the Wind (2007) and The Wise Man’s Fear (2011) by Patrick Rothfuss
I have a real bone to pick with this guy. This was supposed to be a TRILOGY of books telling the tale of the mighty warrior and magician Kvothe. It was supposed to be a 3 day telling of his life to a chronicler. The Name of the Wind was the first day. Wonderfully thrilling story. Ending on a cliff hanger. As expected. The Wise Man’s Fear was the second day. Continuing the tale and ending on a cliff hanger. THEN THE AUTHOR STOPPED!!! It’s been FOURTEEN years since the second book!! I read a blurb by his editor/agent/whatever stating that she hadn’t even seen a HINT or rough draft of the third book. So BOO ON YOU, MR. ROTHFUSS!!!
Life of Pi (2001) by Yann Martel
Very interesting book. I haven’t seen the movie. The book is clearly a novel, not a true story, but it’s written like it is a recounting of a true story. A young boy and a Bengal tiger are the only survivors of a disaster at sea. Very enjoyable. Very believable as a tale that could be true, except for one part that was plainly fiction. I enjoyed it very much but have no real desire to see the movie. I know it got great reviews, but I saw it all in my head as I was reading it and am content with that.
Just Off Fifth (1959) by Edith P. Begner
I loved this book. I had read it many years ago and wanted to read it one more time before donating it. The setting is one of my favorites: an upper-scale apartment house in New York City with many tenants from different walks of life, all interacting with one another. Great flavor of the 1950s. Would love to see this made into a movie.
The Writing Retreat (2023) by Julia Bartz
Excellent mystery/thriller. Another one of my favorite settings: snowbound people in the middle of nowhere and one of them is a murderer. Several women would-be authors get the chance for an intense writing retreat with a famous established authoress who will grant the best writer a bunch of money and a published book. This would be a good movie too, except for the explicit sex that I didn’t particularly enjoy.
Somehow I came into possession of a card game “Would You Rather” and thought it might be a fun thing for dinner/game night with our Bible study group. The box was sealed so I couldn’t really look through the cards.
I finally took the time to look through all of the cards. There were 23 cards with 4 questions on each side. That’s 184 questions. I figured there had to be some worth doing in a game. And I was right. There were a few…VERY few. Most were Junior High stupid humor, Junior High gross humor or some stuff that I DQ’d immediately. I decided this would NOT be a game for our group but just might provide me with some blog fodder. So at great personal cost, dear readers, I decided to take the acceptable questions and spread them out in blogs. You’re welcome. The 2 choices are all preceded by “would you rather”, which I will abbreviate to WYR.
WYR – have a mini golf course backyard, OR an air hockey dinner table?
Tough choice. Both are fun. But for practical purposes, I guess an air hockey dinner table would be better. At meal times all you have to do is put a plywood cover on top and a table cloth.
WYR – when sick, vomit silver dollars, OR gummy bears?
Obviously the choice is silver dollars! Yeah, you’d have to wash them off, but if you’re gonna hurl, why not make some money at it?
WYR – have a battle with 500 living origami creatures, OR the current contents of your refrigerator?
While there have been times when the contents of the fridge have become sentient, and maybe battle worthy, there is the slop factor to deal with. I’d rather fight the paper foes. You have to look out for paper cuts for sure, but a big pair of scissors in one hand and a Bic lighter in the other would probably work well.
WYR – change your first name to its backward spelling, OR your last name?
My first name would either be Yhtorod or Tod. Tod is doable, but I don’t love it. Last name would be Rednib. I like that.
WYR – have retractable ice skate blades on the bottoms of your feet, OR hair that can grow and turn into earmuffs when it’s cold?
Ice skates would be SO COOL! And you wouldn’t have to worry about trying to tie them on tight enough. If you’re cold, just wear a hat!
WYR – have feet with retractable rollerblades, OR have flip-out Swiss army knife items for fingernails?
Now this is another tough choice. Rollerblades would be super cool too. But the Swiss army items could come in real handy in an emergency. I guess I’d take the ice skates from the first one and the knife blades from the second.
What would YOUR choice be??
