The Hunger Games review – Coming Soon!!

Amazing so far!

Also – Tempest Rising review next

Courtesy of Gail Carriger’s website: http://gailcarriger.livejournal.com/?skip=20

I will be reviewing her latest book shortly. I just had to post this. You’re welcome : )

Quote of the Day:
“The Twilight movie number 2, New Moon the series continues its redefinition of vampires. Instead of horrible monsters of the undead they are unemployed Abercrombie & Fitch catalog models who sparkle. They sparkle in the sunlight. And instead of human blood I believe they drink redbull and vodka. In this new movie (the sequel) the vampires are opposed by some monsters from a rival modeling agency. It ends when all the creatures of the night realize what they’ve been repressing and they move in together in a loft in Chelsea.”
~ Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me

Bart Ehrman is a biblical scholar, who is a well known authority on the New Testament and has written over 20 books. This book is one of his bestsellers according to the New York Times.

I first used his textbook on the New Testament in a religious studies class I took and found his perspective so interesting I had to go grab another book of his. Misquoting Jesus is a book about changes made in the Bible and theories on why. He looks at changes that were simply mistakes, and changes to the text that were made for other purposes, usually theological reasons.

He first examines the scriptures before there was a canon, and discusses how that canon was formed. (The first canon was actually made by Marcion who was later declared a heretic) He then looks at the problems encountered when the old scriptures would be copied. Next, he goes through specific examples of changes and errors providing evidence for how scholars can determine this.

Here are a few topics to pull you in! -

• Ehrman examines the King James Bible and the many translation changes that King James made, speculating on how these changes transformed the way the Bible was read and interpreted.
• He looks at the famous story of Jesus forgiving the woman caught in adultery in John and shows evidence that the story was added by later scribes.
• There is an interesting chapter on women in the Bible and the changes made in that area.

No matter where you stand on the Bible’s inerrancy, the language and possibility for translational errors are fascinating to study. Ehrman looks at who wrote a piece of scripture, why they wrote it, and who copied it in later years. Studying the texts and its many translations is very beneficial historically and theologically.

This book was so fascinating! If you have any interest at all in history, especially biblical history, I recommend reading this.

Next book I’m reading:  Soulless.  Zombies, Vampires, and Werewolves in 19^th century London’s high society? Sounds like a plan!

I am hesitant to write my first blog on a book that I have been making fun of for the past two years, but I made my mind up to read it (and keep an open mind), so I shall no longer be embarrassed about it.

If you are anything like me, the title Twilight invokes images of obsessive fourteen year old girls. While I perhaps should have looked past this considering the wide age range of novels that I am obsessed with, I didn’t. After hearing about the Twilight movies and learning parts of the story, I decided I would buckle down to read it, putting all previous bias aside. In case you have been living in a cave for the past couple of years, here’s a quick summary:

“Bella Swan’s move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Bella’s life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Bella, the person Edward holds most dear” (Amazon)

When it comes to books, I am quite picky about the writing style. The first time I attempted to read Twilight, I did not get very far. Since I was determined to be open minded and get through it, I continued reading past the first few chapters this time. What I found was, the writing still bothered me! Stephanie Meyer sets up a nice setting and interesting characters; however, the lack of character development (especially for the main character, Bella) is annoying. I get a grasp/image of Bella by the middle of the book. One reason for this is because of the lack of description given when characters speak. There are no details of a character’s voice or inflection. This makes it difficult to determine their personalities. There’s a lot of”he said, she said” dialogue, which works for some people, but this leaves me wanting for some character development. Bella was a bit too much of a blank canvas for me. For some readers, this might be a positive aspect. This way the reader can project herself as Bella falling in love with the dashing Edward, which works well for many younger readers (keeping in mind this is a YA book).

Honestly, for me, seeing Bella in the movie provided me with a more concrete personality. Meyer gives Bella personality traits, but her character does not fully develop until the end.  What is interesting is that Meyer’s unfinished story Midnight Sun (told from Edward’s perspective) gives much more perspective into both Bella and Edward’s character. (http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/midnightsun.html)

All in all though, Stephanie Meyer is an exceptional storyteller. There is no doubt that once you get pulled into the first novel, you will want to continue the rest of the series. The story is laced with comedy and action, with an enchanting love story. As I read through the series, I found fewer things that bothered me. Maybe this is Meyer becoming a better writer, or maybe I just got used to it. Either way, this story can be appreciated by older audiences, as well as younger ones. It is a perfect example of a novel that helps you “escape reality”.

Just don’t try to make your boyfriend fiance read it. He will not like it.