Puzzles. I love puzzles, so do my girls; it’s a great opportunity for us to talk as well 🙂 What’s even better? Puzzles of books and libraries! Yep, there is such a thing!
I completed a 1000 piece one last year, framed it, and before I could hang it on my wall one of my girls had already swiped it and put it in their room!
So I bought that same puzzle, again. As well as another one that seems to be a matching set. Also a 500 piece one called “Bizarre Bookstore”, and it really is.
This bookstore really is bizarre, lots of weird things lying on the shelves, and all the titles are puns on classic stories!
These puzzles are made by Ravensburger, and they are the best puzzles I have ever seen (and I have finished a lot of puzzles). The pieces are heavy, fit together good, and don’t fall apart.
Do you love puzzles, or hate them? I always hear people respond in one extreme or the other.
For only just starting this book, it seems really interesting. The goal today is to stay awake long enough to actually remember what I read so I don’t have to go back and re-read anything 🙂 The joys of being a shift-worker and trying to stay on schedule! I got so much sleep last night my sleep schedule will be messed up the rest of the weekend. Ginormous Monster to the rescue, once again 🙂
Anyhow……
From the opening pages of “Unwind”:
The Bill Of Life:
The Second Civil War, also known as “The Heartland War”, was a long and bloody conflict fought over a single issue.
To end the war, a set of constitutional amendments known as “The Bill of Life” was passed.
It satisfied both the Pro-life and Pro-choice armies.
The Bill of Life states that human life may not be touched from the moment of conception until the child reaches the age of thirteen.
However, between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, a parent may choose to retroactively “abort” a child…
…on the condition that the child’s life doesn’t “technically” end.
The process by which a child is both terminated and yet kept alive is called “unwinding.”
Unwinding is now a common and accepted practice in society. (Unwind, Shusterman, N. 2009).
I have so far read about the 3 teens who are set to go through the “unwinding” process. Conner found out his parents signed the contract to have him unwound when he found 3 airline tickets to Jamaica; one each for his parents and younger brother, departing the day before his unwinding. Conner makes a run for it.
Risa has spent her entire life in what we would call foster care. She is now 15, and after two years of training to become a concert pianist, she is told she is not good enough and will be unwound. No, she cannot train to be anything else. That was her decision. They have to make room for all the other unwanted babies, right? And funds are tight. If you can’t become a success at something, you are unwound.
Lev is from an affluent family, and we meet him at his 13th birthday party. Extravagant beyond belief, celebrating the fact that he is about to be unwound. Why? It is his parent’s tithe to their God and all of his blessings. They have 10 children.
I hope to be a lot further in this book by tomorrow, but so far it has been great reading. As a note, I am strictly reading this book to make sure it is suitable for my daughter to read, and to review it. I am not discussing pro-life or pro-choice here. I have my own opinions on that and they are strictly that; “my own opinions.”
It is not my intention here to write anything that is going to offend anyone, but I will be giving an honest review of this book, and the two others that follow!
Have you read this book, and what did you think of it?
It is snowing and freezing cold out, again! Another weekend off for me means another weekend of no sleep. Hopefully I can turn that into a lot of reading and homework completed! I bought a series of books for one of my girls for Christmas, but am planning to at least get the first one read before I wrap them 🙂 I mean, I have to make sure there is nothing inappropriate, right?
These books are the “Unwind” series by author Neal Shusterman. There is the 1st book, “Unwind”, then Unwholly”, and finally “Unsouled”. (Yes, Unwholly is spelled like that; my computer doesn’t like it either!)
Book 1
The premise of this series is that there has been a second Civil War, over reproductive rights. Children are safe until the age of thirteen, and then, from 13 to 18, the parents have the option to have their child “unwound”, meaning putting all of their organs into different donors, thereby not technically ending their life.
If a child is misbehaving, he can be unwound. Rebellious? Unwound. Doesn’t fit in with social standards? Unwound. You get the idea. Yes, this seems a bit “Hunger Games” meets “Gone” meets Stephen King.
I got a deal on the books, what can I say? Barnes and Nobles really, really needs to stop sending me coupons!
Have you read these books yet? What did you think? Do you think there is an age restriction and what do you feel is too young for these books?
I will post my feedback as I work through this first book.
A book that sits on my desk at work is “Abraham Lincoln~ His Essential Wisdom”, edited by Carol Kelly-Gangi. No, I don’t flip through this book looking for little gems of insight to hand out to my team members should they have questions, issues, complaints, etc. But…. I have read it. It is a wonderful little book that has many known, and unless if you read EVERYTHING about Abe like I do, many unknown quotes.
Mr. Lincoln truly was a funny man, with a sense of humor that some may have found as dry, or even rude, but those close to him knew it as nothing more than his wit and clever thinking.
Sometimes it may have come out at an inappropriate time, or shocked some of his guests or listeners, but I really think no harm was meant by it on Abe’s part. I really think he could do nothing more than just be honest, no matter how much one didn’t want to hear the truth.
So why do I have this book sitting on my desk? I like to look at it. It has a nice portrait of President Lincoln on the cover, and I have a slightly over-zealous obsession of all-things-Lincoln. No, I do not know why. He is not a long-ago branch on my family tree, and I cannot remember the first time I became aware of who our 16th President was. Maybe I did a report on him when I was in Kindergarten? Â Maybe we had a school celebration for Presidents day that I was conscious of but too young to remember today?
On My Desk
It’s a book I will take home eventually to put back in my bookcase, maybe replacing it with another book of one type or another. I think I like it on my desk because it is a part of who I am, and a part of what defines me, my feelings, my beliefs, and my love of all comments sarcastic, right-in-your-face, no words minced.
With that being said, I should also say I have a Pop Television Dr. Sheldon Cooper vinyl doll standing in front of this book (but not blocking the portrait!), pictures of my girls all over my cork board, usually a Portals of Prayer book sitting somewhere near-by if I take it out of my purse, and a candy dish that I change with the holidays full of whatever candy happens to be in season. Gingerbread Twix, Hot Cocoa 3 Musketeers, and Cordial Cherry Hershey’s Kisses right now. Yummy!
You Cannot Help But Love This Guy! Unintentional sarcasm at its best!
I spend 50-60 hours a week at work, sometimes more. I spend a lot of that working on a computer. So having my desk feel a little bit like home makes it not-so-bad to be at work so much. Oh. And loving my job helps too!
A difficult read emotionally, but one you can’t put down. I questioned myself as to whether or not I really wanted to read it, once I was told what the story was about. As a parent, it is like reading your most terrible fear come to life.
This has turned into one of those books that book clubs are raving about; there are even versions with the questions in the back that you can use for book clubs. Is that a bad thing? Not at all. I just tend to feel that books that do this are promoting themselves for the wrong reason (this is just my personal opinion).
“The Shack” by William Paul Young
As sad and heartbreaking as this story is, I have read it 4 times now. It is one of those stories that reminds me of what my faith is supposed to do in my life, and how no matter what I am doing every day of the week as far as my religion is concerned, I can still be closer to God.
If you haven’t read or heard about this story, the premise is as follows: a loving family strong in faith suffers the unthinkable when their child is kidnapped, and murdered. A young 6 year old girl, innocent to all the evils in the world, and the fact that bad things really do happen to good people. (As a mother to 4 girls, the youngest who was 6 when I first read this, that was why I hesitated to read it).
The rest of the story deals with a father’s anger, guilt, and faith, and a weekend spent with God, in various forms. As a religious person whom still sometimes struggles with understanding the Triune God, this story presents this in a way that brings it home to me, making it make sense. Does that make sense?
Mack, the father, suffers in a deep depression, while functioning on the outside, for four years. Receiving a note in the mail that is suspicious at best, Mack spends a weekend in the shack where his daughter’s life ended, and comes to terms with not only her murder, but so much more. Nan, his wife, had a strong faith that did not seem to waver as Mack struggled to get through each day. This weekend would also help him understand how Nan kept a strong faith through the most difficult part of their lives.
How would you like having breakfast with Jesus, or growing a garden with His help? Would you even know how to approach him? From the story:
What should you do when you come to the door of a house, or cabin in this case, where God might be? Should you knock? Presumably God already knew that Mack was there. Maybe he ought to simply walk in and introduce himself, but that seemed equally absurd. And how should he address him? Should he call him “Father,” or “Almighty One,” or perhaps “Mr. God,” and would it be best if he fell down and worshipped? Not that he was really in the mood (Young, Wm. Paul, 2007, pg. 84).
How does Mack first see God? As a large, African-American woman, embracing him as someone whom finally sees a long-lost friend after many, many years. Smelling of his mother’s perfume, Mack fights to stop the tears that start to flow in front of this “stranger.” Next a small Asian woman approached him, a collector of tears is what she told Mack she was, and shimmered in a way that made it difficult for him to look at her. The third person to join them in the shack is a man of Middle Eastern descent, an obvious laborer with his tool belt full of tools. Confused, Mack asks all of them, “Are there more of you?”
“No Mackenzie.” The black woman chuckled. “We is all that you get, and believe me, we’re more than enough” (pg. 87).
So Mack has his three companions for the weekend, each with a specific purpose to help him deal with his grief, his faith, and his anger. They break down his walls, the barriers in his heart, and show him that in order to be free from his guilt and grief, he absolutely must forgive his enemy; the man who murdered his child.
This story is full of emotion, sadness, and even hope as Mack goes on this journey to reveal what is truly in his heart, and learns how to be healed of the emotional pain that has consumed his life, and in turn his family’s life, for the past four years.
Whatever your beliefs may be, or not be, this is a story to be read by everyone, whether you have Faith or not. It makes points that seem generic to humankind in general, without trying to force someone else’s beliefs on you. You understand the story, and the lessons it seems to present without ever really trying.
This is definitely a book I will pick up for the 5th time, and likely even more than that.
The Shack. 2007. William Paul Young. Windblown Media: Newbury Park, California.
For being a political story written around a presidential election, I really enjoyed this book. I do not tend to lead toward politically-centered books, but this book seemed to have the right mix of everything. Corey Grace, the main character, went through numerous challenges to stick to his morals, while two other contenders fighting for the Republican nomination played less than fair, and nowhere near honest enough. There were certain aspects of this story, where “buying” votes was basically main stage and every day occurrences, that I truly wonder how often this goes on, because I know it does, at least to some extent. The back dealing of if we get this states votes, we will have this person, but lose this other state’s votes.
The story remained exciting without getting weighed down by too many details that weren’t necessary. There was a romantic twist, without being vulgar; just enough information to hold your attention, and have you rooting for Corey Grace to have a romance that works for him.
Although I am not likely to read this book again, as it isn’t my normal type of book, I would definitely recommend it to anyone to read. You do not have to be a political expert to follow the plots that are going on, and it is certainly a page-turner.
Next I think I am recycling a book because I am pretty sure that was the last book on my shelf that I haven’t read.
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