The Shack

Have you heard about this book? It was written by William P. Young and published May 1, 2007. My mother recommended it to me yesterday, so I went and bought it after work, and had it finished this morning.

In my defense it's just under 300 pages long, and a quick, easy read. Without giving too much away ...

A man suffers an incredible and brutal loss and resents God. Three years after the incident, he receives a note in the mail inviting him to The Shack, signed by God. Intrigued, he travels back to the scene of the horrible crime and spends what feels like 3 days with God.

It's easily written, some of it is overly simplistic and then a lot of it turns around on itself like a bad riddle. Most of the book centers around the main character coming to terms with his grief and having conversations with God. If you're like me ... you hesitate when it comes to an author writing as if he's God ... the only word of God is the Bible, so this is just a fiction book written by a man who is obviously trying to find words and understanding that can solidify his relationship in some real (human) and possibly modern way.

I'm of a mind that anything that brings up the question, that raises the issue, that encourages you to pray or allow Jesus further into your life, is a good thing. Do I believe I should take extreme lesson from this book? No. It's not the Bible. Some of what I read struck me as an agnostic trying to ... not justify, or find, resolve maybe? ... trying to resolve what he knew of God removing the element of religion, Christianity, in particular. And the book ignored the great commission, almost entirely.

I encourage you to read it. I'd be interested in your thoughts. If you need more information ... here is the Books Website, the Authors Blog, an article in the New York Times, and this website I found that thinks its awful stuff.

The book, in my estimation, is one person's way of dealing with whatever tragedy overtook him. It does not jive with everything I know Christianity or even God to be.

The book says some not so great things on sin, which we all know The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord Romans 6:23. The book ignores sin, or more correctly minimizes it to the point that it's something God knew was going to happen and doesn't blame you for.

Eh, not so much. If sin is not something inherently evil and wrong, than Jesus would not have needed to die for us. His sacrifice is what makes everything possible, and what makes our entrance into heaven possible. Without that sacrifice, our sins would go unforgiven, and we would be forever separated from God. Because of our sin. So it's not so minimal at all.

I also believe that there is a right and wrong. The book proposes there is not. I believe the 10 Commandments were given from God to Moses, and intended for us to try and follow. I believe Jesus was sent here so that we could live in his image. Not living in his image and expecting to get into Heaven seems ... wrong.

I'm not especially smart at these sorts of things. I have not been to seminary and I haven't read my Bible cover to cover in ... 5 years now? So nothing I'm saying here in any way resembles religious fact or even intention. It's just what my brain has taken, absorbed, and is trying to send back out into the world.

I do think if you have time, you should read the book and let me know your thoughts. If the book is blasphemy, the questions and dialogue that arrive from it might very well bring more people who want answers. And those that have them, or can point them in the right direction, should try and supply those answers.

Updates and Reviews

First, we went and saw The Dark Night this morning. While there is a lot I could probably say about the movie, the finer points are these: it is deeply disturbing, and very intense. From opening scene to closing credits my poor nerves were a jumble. I'm glad I saw it, but it's not something I will watch repeatedly.

Ironman still rules my summer movie season. Followed closely by Kung Fu Panda and Wall-E.

Dark Knight was a great movie. But like many great movies ... it's a bit too intense for repeat enjoyment. And enjoyment isn't a word I would use to describe my experience. It was so ... dark. And sad. And about anti-heroes and sacrifice. Batman was never intended to be a figure of light and fuzzy animals. So this fits with what he was designed to be ... but still. Hard, difficult, almost painful at times. No it was painful at times. Very.

Made even more so by the fact that Heath Ledger is gone. I think the reviews are inflated because of his death, and no one wants to give a bad review post-humously. But, he was a fantastic Joker. A scary joker. Scarier, grittier, more insane ... hurtful. Jack Nicholson was a comical character. Funny, insane, but mostly funny. Ledger's Joker is only maniacal. And the movie revolves and centers on his insanity.

There is one ray of light. One piece of hope. When faced with a difficult choice, the people, the citizens, choose the right path. And it was this that brought the Joker to his end. But that was really about it.

On to other things ... I have been crazy busy at work. There early, staying late, working through lunch ... I'm exhausted and totally in need of a mental health day. But, alas, the work would pile up in my absence and it just really doesn't pay to be away. So that's why I've been absent of late.

I also joined the revolution and got my iPhone Friday. It is awesome. And - I haven't gotten one, legitimate phone call. (The ones from Lewis don't count as he was sitting next to me.) Go figure.

The other thing that I've been doing ... have you ever heard of the Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer? It apparently has a cult following similar to the Potter series (though decidedly smaller and largely - exclusively? - female) and I've seen the books everywhere. I have a habit of having to know what's going on (I made it a point to watch Hannah Montana several months ago - I had to know what all those small tshirts in Wall-Mart were about). And something that has this many loyal fans? And being on a bit of a kick lately, I picked them up. Read the first one, finished the second one yesterday, and the third one is half finished. The 4th one comes out in August. I don't necessarily, recommend them, but they are light, easy to read, and somewhat mind numbing.

And I think maybe it's the work thing ... but it's a good balm at the moment. And it's interesting to know what the teenage set is hip to these days.

After this I'm on to The Time Travelers Wife and I do have to pick up Atlas Shrugged at some point. I'm not really sure how long the reading thing will hold. I go in spurts. Lots of scrapbooking, lots of cooking, lots of reading, lots of music ... maybe it's the summer. Maybe it's something that's an old habit from school days, when you had the summer off to read whatever you wanted. But I've been voracious lately. Not all the books have been good ... but what are you going to do.

Hope all is well.

My Book Report: Life Of Pi

Life of Pi, by Yann Martel.

I'm trying to relate what I know of God to what was presented to me in this novel. I know that I'm supposed to have a deep reaction to the ending, some sort of "a-ha!" because they claim this book will make you believe in God.

As a believer long before I picked it up, I'm really left kind of blank on that. The moral seems to me, that even if a story is fanciful and unbelievable, it can still be true. And that details of a story don't necessarily matter, it's the feeling and human suffering (in this case) that's important to remember.

To begin, Pi is a young boy in India who's father runs a zoo. He is born Hindu, though his family is not particularly religious, and then he discovers Christanity, and then later Islam. At one point, he asks for a prayer rug and to be Baptised. His mother agrees. I think he was 12 at the time?

His father then needs to sell the zoo, and they are moving to Canada. They find buyers for their animals, board a Japanese cargo ship and set sail. Somewhere along the way, the ship sinks, and Pi is thrown into a life boat. A zebra (the animals are apparently let loose from their cages) leaps from the ship and lands in the boat with him. The animal breaks his leg. Swimming in the water, is an adult male Bengal tiger, which Pi helps board the boat. He also helps an oranguatan, who's floating on a ton of bananas, and brings her onto the boat.

He later discovers, a hyena is on board with them, and surmises that that is why he was thrown onto the lifeboat in the first place. The crew wanted the hyena to eat the boy.

From what I can surmise and what I've read HERE and in the reviews of Amazon.com, the 5 creatures on the boat represent different things. The zebra represents uniqueness, the oranguatan the mother figure or Virgin Mary, the hyena cowardice, and the tiger, humanity. Pi himself represents divinity. Now, quickly the hyena dispatches the zebra and the oranguatan (not for weak stomachs - this book is excessively violent). Three days in the voyage, the hyena is destroyed by the tiger. Leaving Pi and the Tiger alone.

They survive together.

So, this can be read in two ways ... the tiger represents humanity. And when coupled with the alternative story that is told at the end, he is Pi, specifically. Pi, as I've said, is divinity, and God. And throughout Part 2, Pi provides for the tiger, struggling and suffering to keep him alive.

As God provides for us all. And, I would say, as Jesus suffered for us all.

The novel is very violent and fancifully, but it was enjoyable to read. His tone takes some getting used to, but you do and once you catch the thread of what it's all about, it's a pretty quick read. Martel seems to be out to question agnostics, ("to choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation") and to show them that belief is central to survival.

I've been voraciously reading these days, and finishing books at a pretty quick clip. The summer is a good time for this as there is not anything interesting on TV. Except the Discovery chanel NASA series, which we have dvr'd.

I'm adding to my list of books: Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged. Neal Boortz said today that most people are too stupid to read it.

I can't have Neal thinking I'm stupid. ;)

The Other Boleyn Girl

The Other Boleyn Girl is first a novel written by Philippa Gregory, one of my favorites. It has been made into a movie set for release in February. So this weekend, I re-read the book as a refresher. (trailer at link)

And I have a few concerns.

First, the books greatest triumph is how we travel with a 14 year old girl through her childhood to her thirties, and by the end you've grown with her. It's really remarkable. The beginning she is a believable niave teen, and in the end she's a 30ish mother of 4 and the transistions are smooth as cream. I don't see how that's going to be possible in the movie.

My great fear, is that they are going to take out the driving force behind most of the story (at least Gregory's story - which may not be factually accurate) are Mary's two children, Catherine and Henry. Most everything she does is driven by a desire to see them. Her Uncle and Anne bribe her with visits to them, it's part of the reason she betray's Queen Katherine.

If in the movie she does not have two illegitimate children by the King ... well that's a great big chunk of the story that's left out. Why do I think it's missing? Because in the trailer, they show Mary in the tower with Anne. It was always Catherine (Mary's daughter) in the tower, Mary was with her husband in London. And Mary did not testify or plead her sister's case. She fled the palace and hid from the council because she was afraid she would be tried for incest and witch craft like her sister and brother were.

So I'm thinking the kids didn't make the cut for the movie. Though the last line that Charlotte Johanson says in the trailer ... "she is my sister and one half of me," that's in the novel, verbatim. But it's a thought immediately after Henry has Anne killed.

I didn't remember the constant enmity between Anne and Mary, but in reading it again, they never got along. They were constantly jealous and baiting each other, so those parts of the movie seem more accurate.

At any rate ... I just really enjoyed the novel again, I could not put it down. In reading it, and thinking there is absolutely no way you can turn 700 really detailed pages into a 2 hour movie, I'm thinking the affair with Mary is going to be limited, with more focus on how he and Anne end up together and married. I'm interested to see how it all comes together.

Just wanted to share.

Mavvy the Bumble Bee!

As we can see ... the costume offers limited mobility. Or at least movement that she likes. But she's the swettest little bee ever! :)

Texas Tech beat A&M (decisively!) at home and we're looking really good as far as conference play goes. If OU loses to Missouri (we hope, we hope, we hope) well our road to Big 12 domination gets that much easier.

Our quarterback is awesome ... and world ... meet Michael Crabtree.

Yeah, he rocks. And yeah ... we rock.

Our Mizzou game next week will be prime time. :) Everyone watch!

Hmmm...

I want this. I know, I know ... I don't need it. I already have two copies of books 5 and 6 (paperback and hardback) and paperback copies of 1-4. You can see the price of this item at the link above. Then you tell me if you think it's a good idea.

Here's my thought ... I'll buy books 1-4 in hardback (over time) and that'll cost me (according to this) about $60. Then I can go to JoAnn's and buy myself a chest like the one here. And voila! Instant Harry Potter collection in nice little case.

But it won't say Harry Potter on it ...

Introduction to Epilogue

Harry Potter was introduced to my house when my brother was 11 years old. I was 16 and not interested.

I remember being intensely against it actually. We were in the car on a road trip and I was a sullen teenager, not wanting to listen to the fabulous book on tape. I had my headphones plugged into my CD player ... probably listening to the Cranberries lamenting my horrible, painful, dreadful existence as a spoiled, middle-class teenager.

I remember asking them to turn it down so I could listen to my music in peace. My mother tried to reach out to me, "They really are very good, Stacy." She was sitting in the front seat of the mini-van? No ... the full size brown van I think ... and I responded by turning my music up even loader to carry over the lyrical voice of Jim Dale.

This happened over and over again. My entire family - save one - listened with interest to the first and second novels on tape on road trips; and I drowned out the noise with the music of the moment.

Until Prisoner of Azkaban. I was ... I want to guess 18. The book was published in September of 1999 and I'd wager a guess that we listened to the book on tape on the way to Kansas for Christmas that December. I was 18, in my freshman year in college.

Something about this book got my attention. Maybe it was the fact that I was so very much happier. College life agreed with me and I had friends(!) and was not nearly so spiteful towards my mother. Whom pushed novels and books and really anything that required reading (including comic books) on us constantly. I think that my opposition to the novels in the beginning really was more spite than anything. I could not enjoy something that rest of them were enjoying. It was my rebellion.

But Azkaban ... I remember the moment in the car. I had my head phones on but something was happening ... Padfoot? I asked who Padfoot was. Mom said if I was really so interested I would have to read the book because I had missed so much already. The tape got stopped repeatedly because I kept asking questions. My Dad got irritated. More than once I'd guess.

But that was it. I listened to that book and when the 4th one came out I listened with interest to it on tape on yet another, road trip. We drive a lot. After the Goblet of Fire was released, a box set of the first 3 was released. And with a gift card to Amazon, I purchased them. And devoured them.

I've read Prisoner of Azkaban so many times I can't keep track. I've read the others at least 3 or 4 times. When the Goblet came out in paperback I purchased that as well, read it. And I waited with the rest of the "Potterheads" during the long hiatus JKR took before Order of the Pheonix arrived.

I was in Houston for my then boyfriend's brother's wedding. Which, coincidentally, his anniversary is today, July 21st. The night of the release, I believe we had watched a movie with his parents? We had done something local at the house, because I knew the book was coming out, and I was just going to wait and read the copy mom had waiting for me at home ... but the prospect of the long plane ride home without the book made me anxious. So I asked my boyfriend of 9 months to go with me at midnight to Barnes & Noble to wait in line with me.

And it's really been just the most amazing thing. I feel like Harry has been there through some of the most pivotal points of my life. Doesn't that seem silly? My entire family are "Potterheads." Today, as I read Deathly Hallows my parents called at about 11AM and asked what page I was on. Dad was hoping he could beat me (HA!). Megan has called several times to mourn the losses of characters and friends. It's been 10 years we've all been together ... collectively wondering what would happen to our fictional heroes. How would it end?

And today and tomorrow and in the coming week we will all know. And the story of Harry will be over and there will be nothing left to wonder about, except when I will begin reading the books to my children.

I feel such an odd sense of loss. A part of my life that was constant, and yet really not, is now complete and final. At the end of Half-Blood Prince I was enraged, confused and so downtrodden. It seemed as if nothing would ever be cheerful again and I had at least 2 long years to wait before the final book. It turned out to be 3; 3 years and 5 days.

And as I look back over the series of 7 - the amazing 7 - I'm really shocked at how things changed. Sorcerer's Stone was so full of magic and hope! Harry had found a place to belong, had escaped (for at least most of the year) the neglect he was facing with his Aunt and Uncle. It ended just as it started, with hope and more joy as He Who Must Not Be Named was thwarted and thought never to return. The Boy Who Lived had saved them again.

The Chamber of Secrets was still magical and light, but with a slightly darker tone as imminent danger is introduced and we met Tom Riddle for the very first time not as a mythical demon, but as a man, as the boy he had been. But in the end all is right with the world, and we still feel as if life for Harry will remain sweet and unsullied. His adventures were exciting but we knew he would always prevail. THey were still light-hearted childrens fare.

Prisoner of Azkaban ... Harry was 13 now, and feeling the loss of his parents more and more. Holidays were hard and he wasn't allowed to go on special trips because he had no parent to give him permission. Then another ray of hope - a God Father! Someone to protect him and love him. A battle was fought, and won ... but Voldemort was really not present and who cared? Harry and found a father and mentor. And got a really cool broom, and a threat to hold over his relatives in a murderous God Parent.

Goblet of Fire introduced us to the adult world of magic that loomed over Harry. He was 14, and facing tests both physical and emotional as he deals with Ron's insecurities and his own failings. We see loss in a real and finite way and I think this changes Harry and the stories going forward. Nothing was ever going to be the same. Doesn't Hermoine say that? Everything's going to change ... Voldemort returns and our 14 year olds are thrust into adulthood without really knowing it.

Order of the Pheonix put us in real teenage angst. Harry rebels against his calling somewhat, and tries his hand at normalcy only to realize that he really can't. Again ... more loss as Harry loses the third parental figure after knowing him so short a time. And we get the looming sense that things are going to get worse before they get better.

Half Blood Prince brought a little more structure (I feel) than what OotP had. We follow Dumbledore and Harry through their search for information and an achilles heel for the dark lord ... and Harry learns that his father wasn't exactly what he thought he was. And we face the most startling loss of all, Dumbledore. The elder, stronger wizard who leads Harry through to assumed adulthood. Who teaches him personally so he is prepared. Even at this point we have come so far from the Sorcerer's Stone's innocence and charm. I guess if we looked at our own lives and how things grew increasingly complex from our 11th birthday to our 16th ... I guess the same would be true for us.

And it brings us to Deathly Hallows. Harry is 17 and facing the thing Dumbledore had been preparing him for since he came to school. All of the tests and trials and fights and battles had helped to make him the person he was to face what he had to face. And I have to say ... after 10 years I went into battle with Harry this time. Every scene had my heart clenching around itself wondering how they would scrape out and if something dire was going to happen to someone I had come to know and love.

Fred ... oh Fred ... the Weasley twins had been a favorite of mine from book one. They were comic relief but they were also brave, fearless heroes that would have done anything to protect their family. Except maybe Percy. :) Teasing.

I shake my head when I think of Fred and I'm sad to see him go. Previous bloggers said that one of the Weasley's was sure to go simply because there were so many of them. I just never thought that Fred or George would go. Not really. It was still a shocking blow and to have Percy cling to him so tightly and not wanting to let him go. They had just reconnected. Though I find it ironic and fitting that JKR had him go out with a laugh still showing on his face.

For so many years I have carried a candle in my heart for the ending of Harry Potter. I have wished and hoped to know the end and now that I know I'm not sure what happens.

But then I really do know. These novels go to the place in my memory where beloved treasures are stored. And as books I can revisit them whenever I feel the need and be drawn into their worlds without having to know a password or without having to pay any money. They are mine forever and if they so wish ... they are future generations forever.

When books speak to us and move us they never leave us. The favorite literature of my life is always with me and I can pull it up and remember reading happy passages at almost any moment. It is the magic of reading. The Trumpet of the Swan, Stuart Little, Sarah Plain and Tall, The True Confessions of Charlotte O'Doyle, The Last Silk Dress, The Sea Kings Daughter, White Oleander, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Poisonwood Bible, She's Come Undone, The Other Bolyen Girl, The Lonely Bones ... these books and their characters are with me because they became a part of my personality; some of them at an early age.

Just because they weren't a member of 7, nor as popular, does not mean they were any less meaningful to me.

And this is why the true, true magic of Harry Potter lies in what's in store for all of us. Because children who find Harry will read and be excited by it, will find magic in his story. And after they've read it they will be voracious for more. As an author wrote in an article that Meryl posted ... they will spend the rest of their lives looking for novels that speak to them in similar ways. And that is the magic. Regardless of what happened to Harry in this last and final story, he was destined to live forever in the imaginations and hearts of the children he has inspired not to slay dragons or fly on brooms .... but to READ.