Christian Reader - Book lists, discussion, writing

Bernadette is a genius architect who hasn't created any buildings in a long time.  Her 15-year-old daughter, Bee, goes to a private school in Seattle.  The other moms of kids at the school think Bernadette is eccentric, but she didn't seem that weird to me.  Just kind of a recluse.  Which is okay for the most part, because her husband makes lots of money working at Microsoft, and Bernadette can hire out most of her tasks to a virtual assistant in India.  Bee starts planning a family cruise to Antarctica.  Bernadette has some altercations with the other moms.  And her husband thinks that maybe Bernadette needs to spend some time in a mental hospital.

I liked that this book made me care about Antarctica.  Honestly, I didn't even know that regular people could take a cruise to Antarctica.  I thought only scientists went there.  I wasn't a big fan of how most of this book is told through letters, emails, faxes, and other correspondence.  I don't mind that in some books, but not so much this one.  (For example, there was a part where two spouses were faxing each other, and I thought that was weird.  Why weren't they talking in person, or at least emailing?  This book isn't set in the past when faxing was common.)  Also, Bernadette was the best character, and, as you can tell from the title, she goes missing, so she wasn't even around for a big chunk of the book.  I mean, Bee is the main character, not Bernadette, but Bernadette was my favorite.  Anyway, it's a good story, clever, well-written.  The things that bothered me meant that I just liked it, not loved it.

For my library internship, my supervisor wanted me to attend a book discussion.  I searched for one that was at a fairly close library branch, was being held at a time that I could attend, and would be discussing a book I was willing to read.  Also, bonus if I could find the book on the shelf at the library where I'm interning, instead of having to request it and wait.  This was the book, and I liked it.  The main character is Wes Carver.  He used to be a corrections officer at a prison.  About 20 years ago, there was a riot at the prison and Wes was held hostage and tortured by one of the inmates.  Now, Wes's wife has just passed away, so he's on his way back to their hometown of Black River, Montana, to spread her ashes.  Coincidentally, this is at the same time that the inmate from the riot is up for parole, and Wes has the opportunity to speak at the parole hearing.  It's not the kind of book I would have chosen on my own, and in many ways, it was very sad.  But overall, very well-written and thought-provoking.  I can see why it was chosen for a book discussion.  Also, going to the book discussion made me like the book even more, as we examined the character relationships and certain plot points.  It just got me thinking about it more than I normally would have.

This is a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice, set in Cincinnati, and there was a lot that annoyed me.  The parts that I liked were the ones that were most true to the original book.  The modernized parts didn't improve anything, and usually didn't make any sense.  I didn't find much to like about Liz.  She's very pushy with her family, taking charge of things that really aren't her business.  For example, her parents are deep in debt, so it's clear to Liz that they need to sell their big house and downsize to something smaller.  But instead of letting her parents handle it, she gets a real estate agent and starts decluttering the basement herself WITHOUT TELLING THEM.  Liz doesn't even live there anymore!  Why is she getting involved?  And later, her actions are praised as an example of how she selflessly takes care of her family.  And her family was just the worst.  Only Jane was likable.  I liked Liz and Darcy together, but it was hardly enough to redeem the book.  Overall, I didn't think it was well-written, and the chapters were ridiculously short, often ending abruptly.  I guess the 2 stars are because at least it kept my interest.

The third book in the Porter family series.  It's an okay Christian romance story, but for me, this one went over the edge of cliché and preachy.  This one is about Jake Porter (brother of Bo and Ty).  His childhood friend Lyndie moved away with her family when she was ten and he was twelve.  Now it's 20 years later and she's back in town.  Jake is the trainer on the thoroughbred horse farm that Bo manages.  Lyndie gets hired on as an exercise rider.  She and Jake start having feelings for each other, but Jake doesn't want to admit it because he is so closed off from anything that might make him happy.  He's so tall, dark, and brooding that in her mind, Lyndie refers to him as Tall, Dark, and Brooding, like it's a nickname.  I'm also realizing that these book titles have nothing to do with the story itself.  They're so generic, you could switch the titles around on the different books, and it wouldn't make any difference.  (The first two are Undeniably Yours and Meant to be Mine.)

The fourth, and final (I think), book about the Porter family.  This one was back on par with books one and two.  Mostly predictable, but still enjoyable.  Plus, this one had elements of a mystery to solve and some action scenes.  Dru is the fourth Porter child, and the only girl.  She is ten years younger than Jake, the youngest boy.  She's a very tough, no-nonsense kind of girl.  Like her brothers, she had been a Marine.  Now in her mid-twenties, she works for a security agency as a bodyguard.  She gets assigned to Gray Fowler, a professional football player who has been receiving threatening letters from a stalker.  The book is about solving the mystery of the stalker, trying to stay out of danger, and Gray and Dru trying to not fall for each other.  Overall, I liked it.  I'm interested in reading more by this author.

Side note: Dru had been mentioned in the previous books, and when I finally got to her story, I was expecting to learn what Dru was short for.  Like Drucilla or something.  But no.  I guess it's not short for anything.

This is a cute book - another light-hearted Christian romance story.  Kat is a 26-year-old, living in a small town in Louisiana.  She works in her aunt's bakery where they sell chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry cupcakes.  On her own time, Kat experiments with lots of different cupcake flavors.  She longs to sell them in the bakery, but her aunt only wants to stick with the standard flavors.  (Why?  That makes no sense.)  Kat's best friend is Lucas.  He is the high school football coach.  They have romantic feelings for each other, but they're both too scared to do anything about it, for fear of ruining the friendship.  Kat is very insecure about everything because no one except Lucas believes in her abilities as a cupcake baker.  So Lucas surprises her by signing her up for a cupcake baking competition TV show.  The grand prize is a one-year internship at a prestigious bakery in New York City.  Kat agrees to do the competition because she wants to get out of small-town life.  Lucas didn't realize what the prize was when he signed her up, and now he's stuck because if she wins, she'll be out of his life for a year or more.  Oh, what to do...

I thought it was kind of adorable, even though there were a lot of elements that I don't think would happen in real life.  I get that they don't want to lose their friendship, but they're not teenagers.  She's 26 and he's 28, and they've been friends for ten years.  I find it hard to believe that neither of them ever even hinted at something more than friendship.  Also, I don't get why Kat's family makes her feel so worthless, especially since her father is a pastor.  I'd think they'd be more loving and supportive.

This story wasn't quite what I was expecting, so maybe the only okay rating isn't the fault of the book itself, but of my expectations.  I found this one at the same time that I started the Porter Family series, only this one wasn't available digitally and I had to wait for the CD version.  This is the first in the Christiansen Family series, and I was laughing when I saw all the titles because they're all songs that I know.  (This title is an ABBA song.)  I thought this would be a light Christian romance story just like the Porter family.  I think it was kind of trying to be a light Christian romance, but it had this dark undercurrent of past events that made it a bit of a downer.

The story is about Darek Christiansen, the oldest of six Christiansen siblings.  He is a widower with a 5-year-old son.  He lives in the small town of Deep Haven, Minnesota.  Ivy Madison comes to town as a new county attorney.  They kind of start dating, but they only have like three dates, and suddenly he feels like she's had such a huge impact on his life and he's in love with her.  The back of the book makes it sound like the entire story is about Darek and Ivy.  But no, there are actually two other main characters, Jensen and Claire, who I think have a more interesting storyline.  They're old friends who haven't talked in a while.  Jensen helps Claire with a project, and they start a little romance.

I'll probably try the second book in the series to see if it gets any better.  Maybe the next one won't be bogged down with super sad events.  (Not that books with super sad events are all bad, but it helps to have the right expectations.)

I really enjoyed this book.  The author is basically saying that processed food is bad for us.  Instead, we should eat real food: vegetables, beans, eggs, fruit, meat, and cheese.  Vegetables are the best.  Sugar is the worst.  But she also says that you don't have to eat perfectly all the time to be healthy.  You can enjoy unhealthy things sometimes, but she recommends making sure it's quality enough to be worth the calories/fat/sugar/salt.  Good advice overall.  I also liked the sections on changing bad habits and adopting good habits.  She recommends making changes slowly, focusing on one or two changes at a time, until they become habits.  Then keep those habits and focus on changing something else.

Even though I liked the book, some things annoyed me.  I felt like she was judgmental at times, like looking down on people who don't practice mindful eating.  Also, she seems to assume certain things about people, especially people who want to lose weight.  For example, she talks about cooking a LOT.  She talks about how important it is to cook at home, and how anyone can learn to do it, and how it's not as daunting as it sounds.  She seems to think that overweight people don't/can't cook, and they eat at restaurants all the time, which isn't the case at all.  But I think she talks about it so much because for her, it was a game-changer.  She didn't really know how to cook before, and then she learned how to cook healthy things at home.  Well, it's possible to cook lots of unhealthy things at home too.  I'm not sure if she's thought of that.

This book takes a look at relationships and communication, and comparing today's methods of romance to those of past generations.  It was really interesting, and funny because it's Aziz Ansari.  My only gripe is how he kept saying that I was lazy for listening to the audiobook instead of reading it myself.  I'm pretty sure he was just joking, but I didn't think it was funny.  Jokes like that usually contain at least a half-truth of a person's real feelings.  I found it insulting.  There are a lot of reasons people listen to audiobooks.  I don't think laziness even makes the list.  But other than that, I enjoyed the rest of the book.