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Since I’m Reading It, I Might As Well Talk About It!

Angela2 Comments

ImageBen-Hur. It looks a little intimidating. Even sounds a little intimidating. I have to say I am really enjoying this story. The descriptions Mr. Wallace uses make you feel like you are right there.

Some things from the start of the book:

Reading about the 3 Wise men from a different point of view is interesting. The Egyptian is Balthasar, The Greek is Gaspar, and the Hindoo (their spelling) is Melchior. Each individually saw the star and heard a voice tell them to seek the Christ-child that was to be born. They met at the place where the star and prophecy directed them, and each told their own story of how they came to be there.

As they began to get closer to Bethlehem, they asked those that they passed where they could find the Christ-child. The following was the general response:

pg 39 –

“Nobody knows. They are said to be Persians–wise men who talk with the stars–prophets, it may be, like

Elijah and Jeremiah.”

“What do they mean by King of the Jews?”

“The Christ, and that he is just born.”

One of the women laughed, and resumed her work, saying, ‘Well, when I see him I will believe.”

Another followed her example: “And I–well, when I see him raise the dead, I will believe.”

A third said, quietly, “He has been a long time promised. It will be enough for me to see him heal one leper.”

And the party sat talking until the night came, and, with the help of the frosty air, drove them home.

They do find him, in a manger, with many followers who joined them on their quest, bowing down to worship their new King.

Book two moves ahead 21 years, and focuses on young Judah, and his friend Messala, gone for 5 years and returning a Roman. Judah can no longer tolerate Messala, who now speaks of the Jewish beliefs as if they are a joke.

Strictly by accident, Judah knocks a Roman Governor off from his horse, and this is taken as an attempt on his life. With his whole household, including his mother and sister, Tirzah, in mortal danger, he begs for their mercy as he is taken prisoner. It is at this point that we notice the change in Judah, as he becomes a man.

The Ever-Increasing Body Count

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As I continue into Real Murders, by Charlaine Harris, Aurora Teagarden seems to be the unluckiest person in the world. The dead bodies are piling up, and the members of the Real Murders Club are getting more and more worried about their own safety; but more-so for the safety of their friends and relatives.

Body #2 – Morrison Pettigrue; running for Mayor, his campaign manager is in the club. The death imitates the Murat case from long ago.

Bodies # 3 & 4 – Mr. and Mrs. Buckley, Parents of Lizzane Buckley, friend of Roe’s and member of the club. Actually, it was her step-mother and her father, and her real name is Elizabeth. Any guesses what famous murder of old this is staged after? Oh. Yeah. They were hacked to death. That should help you figure it out.

I am getting close to the end of this book, and to likely stumbling upon body #5.  It isn’t going to end this quietly, and I know something much, much worse is in store for Aurora, and the town of Lawrenceton, Georgia.

Do you have an answer about the staged murder?

Friday Fun Facts!

Angela2 Comments

Roald Dahl

 Roald Dahl

Born: September 13, 1916

Died: November 23, 1990

Wrote: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and other stories.

One of many famous stories
One of many famous stories

Interesting Facts: Mr. Dahl was a regular writer for Playboy. He flew fighter planes during WWII. He wrote all of his stories in a garden shed behind his home. His first job was with Shell Oil Company. Due to an accident his son had at 4 months old, that caused water on the brain, he helped invent a shunt that has saved thousands of children’s lives. He died of Leukemia. On Mr. Dahl’s request, when he died he was buried with his snooker cues, a power saw, a bottle of Burgundy, HB pencils, and chocolate. Children still visit his home where his second wife lives, asking if he lives there. She says they are devastated when she has to tell them he passed away.

You Did WHAT To That Book?

Angela3 Comments

Oh, nothing much…just turned it into a movie.

So, when I can’t read the books I would like to be reading, I tend to think about those books. (If you are starting to think I have a problem; you are too late).

I have been thinking about the number of books that have been made into movies. And that is a huge number. It seems to be the theme lately for movies. Take the list of best-selling books, and turn them all into movies so we can keep making money. Do I think it is a bad thing? No, I don’t. To a point. Now I have seen some really bad movies that were excellent books. They should have just left it alone. I have never seen a movie that was better than the book. Ever.

HP Cast

Now I absolutely love Harry Potter, and was beyond thrilled when they started making those movies. Yes, I own them all. And Yes, I still re-read the books. I also have all of the Lord of the Ring movies.  As well as the 2 Hunger Games movies that are out. And the two Percy Jackson movies that are out. Yes, I will admit I have all 4 of the Twilight movies (I love those too). I have the 3 Narnia movies, anxiously awaiting if they are actually going to make “The Silver Chair” or not. Inkheart? I watch that movie all the time. I wish they would have made Inkspell and Inkdeath into movies as well. I could go on all day like this (I have a slight DVD problem as well).

Inkheart, Inkspell, Inkdeath
Inkheart, Inkspell, Inkdeath

As for the classics…. To Kill A Mockingbird was an outstanding movie, and one of my favorite books. I read it about once a year. Of Mice and Men actually has 2 movies out; one from 1939, and one from 1992. Disney has turned more books into movies and amusement park rides than anyone else could possibly even get away with.

Should these books be made into movies though? I think that the current books that have the author writing or editing the screenplay, and being on the movie set is perfectly fine. But what about those books where the author is no longer alive? Maybe their family sold the rights to have a movie made, but do they really, truly know how the author would want the book to be interpreted? Are these relatives instead taking liberties with the author’s words and thoughts, and possibly using them in a way they never intended? Would C.S. Lewis care that his series of Narnia books were made into movies? Maybe only as much as he might care that more often than not they are sold and read out of the order that he intended for them to be read.

cs-lewis-read pdf

Yes, this works in the reverse as well. As soon as a major motion picture is a box office hit, there are books all over the place about it.

As much as I love my movies based on books, sometimes I just really wish Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked like I thought they were supposed to. In “my” version of the stories. I can never again read these stories and see them as anything other than the actors who portrayed them. I honestly can no longer remember what I imagined them to look like. It’s like one of the joys I get from reading has been taken away from me.

Can you tell what book I am reading in my photo?

What Should I Crack Open Next?

Angela5 Comments

I am looking at a couple books on my shelf that I haven’t read in so long, I do not remember what they were about. I have to say though that they couldn’t have been all that horrible or they would be in a box in my basement that I have no intention of ever opening again.

Have you ever moved and kept moving unopened boxes from house to house? I boxed up stuff and moved it into my house, in the basement. Lived there 11 years. Hauled those same boxes, never opened, back upstairs and into my new basement. Guess what? 4 years later, and they still aren’t opened. It’s almost like having my own personal time capsules that I never intended to make. Honestly, at this point, there can be any number of things in these boxes that I would rather not be reminded of!

Moving Boxes

So, I am thinking of getting back into Charlaine Harris’s Murder Mysteries series with Aurora Teagarden as the heroine/detective/always in the wrong place at the right time. I have read a few of these, but not all of them. I wish she would stop writing the True Blood series and focus on this one instead!

The 1st book in the Aurora Teagarden Mystery series
The 1st book in the Aurora Teagarden Mystery series

Have you read these wonderful little books? They are a quick read, fun and full of mystery. Or do you have a book in mind that I must absolutely read? If you do I would love to find it and read it!

Finally Finished!

Angela9 Comments

What-the-Dickens continued on being his troublesome, question asking self. By sheer luck, he manages to encounter another Skibberee, Pepper by name; fireball tooth-fairy on a mission with no time to deal with What-the-Dickens. But deal she does. She has to retrieve a tooth, leave the money, and get back to command center before sun-up. If she fails, she will not become an Agent of Change (AKA a Tooth Fairy).

She gets back at sun-up, with What-the-Dickens in tow. No one is happy to see this rogue Skibberee, so Pepper has one more chance to complete her mission, on time, with instructions to leave What-the-Dickens somewhere out there. He has been instructed to never come back.

With task at hand, Pepper and What-the-Dickens go to their location, the home of none other than Gage, then a 12 year old boy, lonely and bored with parents who had no time for him. Oh. Yeah. Gage is also the owner of McCavity. McCavity gets ahold of Pepper’s wing, and damages her enough that she is captured by Gage. She tells What-the-Dickens to finish her task, so at least her name will be remembered after her death.

Yep. You’re thinking what I was thinking, huh? “How does “What-the-Dickens” mess this up? But that’s just it. He doesn’t. Not this time. It seems he really is useful, and has his own talent; he can communicate with animals, and no other Skibberee can do that.

He completes the mission for Pepper, and returns to the command stump where all the skibberee in that district live. He turns over the teeth, and tells them about Pepper’s fate.

No one seems to care. It is what it is. But What-the-Dickens cares. And when Gage returns her to the stump, What-the-Dickens does everything he can to revive her. He succeeds, and announces that he and Pepper are leaving forever; they can live out in the world on their own.

The adult Gage will not tell his cousins if the story is true or if it isn’t, but he gives the challenge to Dinah to determine how she thinks their story would continue. And ideas abound in her mind of how What-the-Dickens and Pepper would have adventures out in the world.

What do you think they are up to?

this was a great story, not exceptionally long to read, and definitely holds your interest. I certainly wish Mr. Maguire would twist up some other fables and fairy tales, to see what he comes up with next!