I saw a post in a group for a 5x5 reading challenge. Pick five book categories and read five books from that category.
No need to plan...
I read more than that and I got in a fiction rut last year and didn't do well on the challenge, so I'm expanding the 5x5 to 10 categories, five books each.
So, I got way off track on the Challies Reading Challenge - it ended up being too rigid.
Next post, next challenge...
Animals of Antarctica: A Book of Riddles and Facts by Dane Kute
Fly! by Mark Teague
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is an adorable book.
I tutor people with dyslexia and I use wordless books a lot and this is one of my favorites. I also use them to start students learning the writing process. As they tell the story in a wordless book, the students write and learn to edit.
To describe the book without spoilers is difficult, but here goes.
Mama bird thinks it's time for Baby to fly. Baby's not so sure and his imagination is wild!
One of my "youngers" went through "Fly" and said, "this book is about me being stubborn, right?
Covered Glory: A Condensed Study of 1 Corinthians 11 & the Christian Use of Headcoverings
by David Phillips
From the Amazon page:
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church about two symbolic practices. Just a few generations ago, one of them faded away from Western Christianity.
The most well-known of these "traditions" is the Lord's Supper. Pastors commonly recite Jesus' famous statements about Communion, as found in 1st Corinthians 11: "This is my body, broken for you. Do this in remembrance of Me."
Paul explains the other symbolic practice in the very same chapter. He speaks of men and women praying -- with the men taking off their hats, and women covering their heads.
This is the condensed version of a longer book, and this one is meant to give an overview of the author's beliefs - and it does a good job.
The condensed study touches on Scripture and history, as well as defending the practice of head covering against various interpretations.
I've read a number of books on the topic and this one - while it doesn't stand out - does a very nice job in a short amount of time.
An example I use:
Every man who etwas auf dem kopf while praying or prophesying disgraces his head. But every woman who ihren kopf unbedeckt while praying or prophesying disgraces her head, for she is one and the same as the woman [c]whose kopf ist rasiert.
Wouldn't you want to know what those words mean and what you ought to do? This book answers those questions.
My first impression is that the book could have been longer...but duh...it's the condensed version, of course it's short.
That's what makes this book stand out - the basic information is all included, without any weird stuff and not a long time commitment to get the basics.
Verdict: Read it if you want an overview of the head covering topic. If this catches your attention, know that this is the condensed version of a longer book.
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
I've seriously avoided this book review, because the book is so massive. I tried reading it a few years ago but DNF (did not finish).
My honest suggestion would be to watch the three movies before reading the book. That way you have the basic structure and plot in your head, but when the book fills in the gaps, you enjoy the book that much more.
Peopled by larger-than-life heroes and villains, charged with towering questions of good and evil, Atlas Shrugged is Ayn Rand’s magnum opus: a philosophical revolution told in the form of an action thriller.
Who
is John Galt? When he says that he will stop the motor of the world, is
he a destroyer or a liberator? Why does he have to fight his battles
not against his enemies but against those who need him most? Why does he
fight his hardest battle against the woman he loves?
You will
know the answer to these questions when you discover the reason behind
the baffling events that play havoc with the lives of the amazing men
and women in this book. You will discover why a productive genius
becomes a worthless playboy...why a great steel industrialist is working
for his own destruction...why a composer gives up his career on the
night of his triumph...why a beautiful woman who runs a transcontinental
railroad falls in love with the man she has sworn to kill.
I'm not sure whether to call it a political thriller (it is that); Rand called it a mystery novel (and it is also that)
Atlas Shrugged was always held up as a "you have to read this!" and it was a good book, but too long and a bunch of baggage.
-TThe story (after watching the movies) was like watching an accident happen - you knew, but couldn't look away.
I h(not a spoiler) - there's one point in the book where a factory worker describes what happened when a factory "family" chose to run the business in a communist style "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need"
Ironically, a day or two after I read that, my husband and I had a conversation with an old friend who had (in some areas) moved closer to the position of those factory owners. I leaned over to Phil and said "you know he's talking about Atlas Shrugged."
TThere were places where the story dragged a bit, but mostly because there were a lot of moving parts. Keep going, they'll fit together.
I was relieved that I could put it away and I wanted to know where society would go after the last page.
~~~
About the (fiction) stars:
· 1 star = did not finish;
· 2 stars = I managed to finish but would probably tell somebody to not bother reading if asked;
· 3 stars = I happily finished, but wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it;
· 4 stars = I would absolutely recommend a 4-star book;
· 5 stars = I would go out of my way to tell others to read this book, and I want to read everything the author has written!
