In the Beginning

I have  tried to read Genesis a handful of times over the years and always manage to get distracted with all the so-in-so begat so-in-sos. I finally finished the entire book recently and once you can get past the genealogy, it's full of great stories!

Today I want to talk Adam and Eve. First God makes the Heaven and Earth and fills it with creatures and plants and all the  good things. Then he creates Adam and puts him smack dab in the middle of the most beautiful place and gives him authority over everything. He tells Adam, don't eat from that one tree over in the middle, it's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and if you eat it, you will die.  He tells Adam he can eat from ANY of the other trees, including the tree of life that's planted right next to the tree of knowledge.  Then He presents all the animals to  Adam.  Adam checked them all out, gave them all names, but didn't really find one he wanted to hang out with all the time. God put Adam to sleep, took a rib and created woman. He gave her to Adam and this made him happy.  

Life. Was. Good.

It's summertime and the livin's easy. ...oh, sorry, I'll spare you my singing!

Adam and Eve are naked, frolicking in the most beautiful garden that God had made for them. They get to walk and talk with God when He comes down to hang out and check on things in the cool of the day. How stinkin' cool would this life be?

Then it happens.  The Fall.

Eve is just chillin' in the garden and the slithery serpent comes along.  He says "Hey girl!  Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees?"

Eve:  "No silly.  We can eat from any of the trees except this one.  If we touch it, we'll die."

Now, did that little lie come up like a game of telephone?  Say it enough times and eventually the story gets bigger?  I guess we don't really know, but the serpent gets in there and plants his doubt.

Serpent:  "Noooo. You won't die.  God just doesn't want you to know all the things He knows so He doesn't want you to eat that fruit."

What'd she do?  She ate the dang fruit and then fed it to her husband.  Ol' Adam didn't fight her on it either.  The tree of life and the tree of well, death essentially, were right next to each other and Eve went for the serpents tricks and chose death.

You know the rest.  They get kicked out of Eden, it hurts for us ladies to have babies and we have to work for our food.  We can blame Eve all we want, but really, would you have been any stronger?  She probably didn't actually believe that anything bad would happen, after all nothing bad had ever happened at that point.  God gave us all free will and from the beginning He made sure we had the ability to express it.  This is what makes us human.  Besides, if Adam and Eve hadn't have got kicked out of Eden, the bible would be a much shorter and maybe less interesting book and we know how much I like books!

It's not too late, I just got started!  Read along with me and chime in.  I'd love to hear from you.

Before I go:

Ha! Sorry guys, couldn't help myself!  

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

If a book is suggested by a friend or other reliable source, do you read the cover before you decide whether or not to read it or do you take your friend's word on it?  Do you judge a book by the cover or do you read a few pages before you commit?  I ask these things, because I don't always read the information on the book before I dive in.  I end up with interesting things I NEVER would have read.  If I had read the reviews for the Sasquatch book, I probably wouldn't have read it.  If I hadn't have taken my librarian's word on Leaving Time, I probably wouldn't have listened to it.  There are many other books I've read over time that I wouldn't have chose for myself.  I'm glad that I've read those books, though, even if I didn't love all of them.

This is one of those books I probably wouldn't have picked for myself.  This book is full of heartbreak, family issues, and mystery.  There were times I almost wanted to cry for goodness sake!  I don't read fiction that makes people want to cry!  I read fiction about zombies and vampires, but this book was on the Summer Reading Challenge, I had to cross it off the list.  I gotta say, I'm glad I read this one, too!  I downloaded the audio for this book from my library's site for FREE!  We all love free books, after all.

This story is about a biracial family in the 1970's who is faced with the tragic loss of a teenage daughter.  Her mother, father, sister and brother are all trying to figure out what happened to her and why it happened.  They are all trying to cope with this disaster and learn to live without Lydia.  This will either destroy this family or bring them closer together as they reflect on the events that lead up to the day she disappeared.  There were a couple times I wondered if we would ever figure out exactly what happened, but thankfully, this book ended with adequate closure.  That's all the spoiler you will get out of me.

I thought this was really well read and really well written.  I'm not usually in tune enough to realize when a writer is using imagery and figurative language to build a story and get a point across, but I noticed with this book.  I'm not organized enough to take notes to give you specific examples, I'll work on that, but I really liked the prose used by this writer.  I would read more by Celeste Ng and have started following her on GoodReads.

I recommend you pick this one up.  I listened to the audio, but I think the written would have been just as good.  As always, let me know what you think in the comments below.

Divine By Mistake by PC Cast

Have you heard of P.C. Cast?  Well, you should!  P.C. Cast writes about Oklahoma girls!  While I have only read this one book so far, I know she has a couple other series where the protagonist is a woman from Oklahoma caught up in mystical circumstances.  There is a series about vampires in Oklahoma, (you know I wanna read those!) and a series about Oklahoma girls that end up as goddesses.

In this book, Broken Arrow high school English teacher, Shannon Parker, gets swept away to an alternate world where she finds out that she is the Goddess Incarnate and Beloved of the warrior goddess Epona.  She lives in a temple and is surrounded by hot guards and pretty hand maidens and is betrothed to a handsome centaur.  

This story is a non-stop adventure for Shannon, known as Rhea to the Partholonians.  It turns out Rhea is a much more gracious and kind leader than the real Rhiannon who forced her into this world. Is she strong enough to lead a whole country?  Will she ever make it home?  Does she actually want to go home?  Read it and find out!  

I borrowed this title from the library's digital downloads. Before I finished the last chapter I had already downloaded the second book!  If you are a fan of fantasy fiction, this is a must read.

Finished two books in two days?!?  My house must be a mess!  

What do you think?  Have you read any P.C. Cast?  Comment!

Esther (A Dangerous Beauty Novel Book #1): Royal Beauty by Angela Hunt

I am a fan of biblical fiction.  Especially the stories about the women of the bible.  I loved Red Tent.  I loved Sarah.  Now I love Esther. 

This book was written from two perspectives, the  obvious perspective of Esther, a middle class girl who ends up the queen of Persia when Persia pretty much ran the world, and the perspective of the king's chief attendant.  I thought this was genius!  The king's attendant gives us insight into what the king is thinking and is doing but without being arrogant like I would expect the king to be.  There may have been too great a contrast if the story was told from the haughty point of view of the king compared to the simple Jewish girl's point of view.

Coincidentally, there has been a series of sermons on the radio recently about the book of Esther.  I've listened to bits and pieces and this book followed pretty stinkin' close.  I REALLY love biblical fiction when it follows the Bible pretty closely.  I listened to the audio version of this book and I really enjoyed it, but I think I would have enjoyed reading it as well.  Give this one a try!

I wanna hear what you think!  Comment!  Email me!  Let's chat!  

When God speaks

I set out recently to read the bible like a great novel. Really read the stories for what they are and enjoy the Good Book. When I finished Genesis and planned to move on to Exodus, because that is how a book works.  The reading plan in the app I was using guided me to Mark instead. That threw a wrench in my plan, so I ditched the app and set out on my own.

If you have experienced God working in your own life, you will know that doing things on our own without His guidance is usually a bad idea. I did pray over this dilemma, then cracked open the second book. I couldn't get more than a few verses in and I just couldn't read it! I'd get distracted by nothing and everything and I just couldn't get into it like I did with Genesis. I loved reading Genesis! There are so many good stories in those 50 chapters! I was so excited to see what happened to the children of Isreal next, but I just couldn't move on!

I prayed, "Okay, God, was I supposed to follow where the plan in the app lead? Was I supposed to skip to Mark? I'll try it that way if that is what You want me to do."  So I did. I opened the app, skipped all the rest of the stories in the Old Testament (much to my own sadness) and started to read Mark.

Know what happened? The same thing! I couldn't concentrate, I couldn't get into that book either!  What is going on here?!?  I put my Bible away for a while and focused on prayer. I asked God to guide me and show me clearly where I should start reading next. I got a very clear answer and it went something like this:

"April, you aren't finished with Genesis. You can't move on yet."

"But God, I finished all 50 chapters of Genesis, when I turn the page, I should be in Exodus."

"Yes, you read all the chapters, but did you really understand? Did you get any of My lessons while you were reading or were you just reading it to say that you had read it?"

Ooh, I guess He got me there.

Sometimes I feel like maybe God is leading me one way or another, but I don't feel 100% convinced it's God and not my brain doing it's own thing. This time I am hearing God's voice loud and clear. 

Since that conversation, another Bible study app I have, First 5, has started a study in Genesis and several of the radio shows I listen to have touched on different parts of Genesis. Coincidence? I think not.

I'm going to go back through Genesis and keep studying until God leads me to another book. I hope to tell you all lots of interesting things that I'm learning along the way. I doubt I'll find anything completely revolutionary and new, but maybe we will all gain some insight on God's plan for our lives. Stay tuned!

When is the last time you clearly heard from God?

The Sasquatch Hunter's Almanac by Sharma Shields

As always, this review may contain spoilers

Did you know GoodReads has GIVEAWAYS?!?  It's the best kind of giveaway, free books!  Publishers and Authors give away books as an incentive to read a new author or new series or for whatever other reasons people might give other people books.   It's pretty great!  The greatest part?  I have actually been the lucky winner of a few of these giveaways!  I really love free books!

Back in February I scored a copy of The Sasquatch Hunter's Almanac by Sharma Shields.  To be honest, I didn't read the description on this book at all, but was excited about the title.  I totally believe in Sasquatch and they live in the area.  My sister has even seen them in the woods behind her house!  But, to my surprise, this isn't actually a guide to finding Sasquatch in your neck of the woods, but, in fact, it's a novel.  Meh, I'll still read it.

This novel starts out bizarre and doesn't let up!  Nine-year-old Eli Roebuck's mother is very excited that a guest is coming over one afternoon.  She dresses herself and Eli in their good clothes and prepares biscuits for her guest.  When the guest arrives, Eli is pretty surprised to see that he is a giant, naked, hairy beast, not really a man at all.  After a short, not-so-well-mannered visit, Eli's mother abandons Eli and his father to join Mr. Krantz in his woodland life.  This rocks Eli's world and effects not only his father and himself, but generations of his own family.

Eli becomes a podiatrist and a cryptozoologist because of his obsession with finding Mr. Krantz.  Through his research foundation, he receives lots of information and leads about Sasquatch.  He even manages to find a metatarsal bone from what he believes is Mr. Krantz.  His obsession and his struggle impacts his wives and daughters in a major way.  Each member of Eli's family battles their own demons over the years and nearly everyone's sanity is questioned at one point or another.  A unicorn, sea monster, baby stealing bird, gypsy curses, enchanted hats and bird-legged shopkeepers are among the elaborate cast of characters featured in this novel.

I really didn't want to like this book.  It was seriously bizarre, but it kept me interested because I HAD to see what the heck was going on.  The book is written from different character's points of view and some chapters felt really mixed up.  There were a few times that I couldn't really tell who's perspective the story was being told from.  Most of the chapters ended without any closure and you had to hope the next chapter or two would fill in the blanks.  I was left with a lot more questions than answers in the end as there were huge chunks of time that were skipped over.  It's highly unlikely that I will read this book again, but I'm going to donate it to my local library for others to enjoy.

If you have read this, I want to hear from you!  Comment!  Maybe we can fill in some of the blanks together!

Challenge Your Shelf Reading Challenge

I really like when a reading list is handed to me and I don't really have to make a decision on what book to read next.  I joined a book club this month for this very reason!  In the book club, we are reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.  I probably would not have read this book if it hadn't been assigned to me because I wasn't impressed with the movie, but I'm reading it now and not hating it. I'll post a full review when I've finished.

I got an email from Penguin Random House offering up a Summer Reading Challenge.  Somehow I didn't actually see this challenge until the last half of August so summer is nearly over. It is a list that someone else put together for me to choose from and it's not full of YA or witches or vampires or zombies, so I'll try it.  I was especially encouraged when I found that I had already read two of the books on the list over the summer!  The website encourages you to post your challenge progress using #challengeyourshelf, so here is one of my rare attempts to use a hashtag!  Usually I'm not cool enough for hashtags, but this is one I could really get into!  Print the list from their website and get to crossing off the ones you've read.  In the comments, tell me about the ones you have read or are excited to start reading.