Saturday Smiles

On Saturdays I post about a couple of things that have made me smile over the last week.
*****

1) Sharon Shinn's new book The Shape of Desire

 

From Shinn's website: Maria Devane has loved Dante Romano since she met him. But he’s a man with a secret: He’s a shape-shifter who spends an increasing amount of time in animal form. Or so he tells her—in the fifteen years they’ve been together, she’s never actually seen him take another shape. She tries not to wonder if that’s the truth. She tries not to think about the other reasons he might disappear for weeks at a time. But she has to start asking herself extremely hard questions when there’s a series of brutal murders in town and the most likely culprit is someone who is half animal, half human.

I love Sharon Shinn's books- she creates believable sympathetic characters and I fall in love with them consistently.  Her intricate plots and fully-realized worlds are fun to jump into and I never want her stories to end. My favorites are the Twelve Houses novels, but I enjoy everything she has written.  Her Samaria books combine faith with science in a way that always makes me think deeply about who I am & what I believe, but they are still enjoyable simply as high-quality stories.

I admit that I wasn't too sure about The Shape of Desire at first.  It took me a couple of chapters to become engrossed, but then I had to finish the book in one big gulp.  I stayed up last night to finish it and I'm glad I did. 

Yes, this book could be subtitled, "My Shape-Changing Boyfriend".  However, Shinn takes the cliches & old-record-grooves, and creates something new and interesting.  Shinn's counter-point story, a co-worker caught in a seriously abusive marriage, causes Maria to question her relationship with Dante in a manner no serious 'Twilight' fan would find acceptable.  I thoroughly enjoyed this thoughtful paranormal romance/mystery.

 

2) Quiet Time

No Farmer's Market craziness!  I love Farmer's Market, but I'm glad to be released for a season to do other things- like read, watch some TV, enjoy my girls, and bead for pleasure.

 

3)  I am out of my boot!!!!

 

I saw the foot doctor this week, and my fractured foot is well enough for me to leave the boot behind!  No exercising, or dancing for a while yet, but I'm free to wear just plain old shoes!

Super 8 and Wolf's Cross

This week I have watched a movie and read a book which have caused me to take a look again at the nature of good and evil in people, and the reality of the grey.

SPOILER ALERT: If you don't want to know anything about Super 8 or Wolf's Cross, you might not want to read this post. However, I don't give answers away and I don't tell you what happens in the end.
*****

Wolf's Cross by S.A. Swann
From the back: Maria lives a simple life in a small Polish village, working for the lord of the nearby fortress. Motherless since birth, Maria has been raised by her father and stepmother. Around her neck she wears - as she has always worn - a silver crucifix, to protect her from the devil. Or so her father tells her.
But when a contingent of badly mauled Teutonic knights, including a handsome and gravely wounded young man named Josef, as for succor at the fortress, Maria's quiet and comfortable world shatters. For the knights are Wolfjagers, an order dedicated to the extermination of werewolves, and Maria, unknowingly, is one of the creatures they hunt. Only the crucifix about her neck prevents her body from changing into a lethal killing machine.
When Maria meets Darien, a wolfbreed bent on exacting a terrible revenge on humans, she will learn the truth about herself, and find her loyalties - and her heart - torn in two.

I enjoyed this vivid, paranormal adventure/romance very much. It's not the best werewolf story I've ever read, but it's certainly not the worst. My favorite part of this story was the multi-faceted character portrayal. Nobody was pure and innocent. Nobody was evil personified. The church was portrayed as having both people who struggle with the truth and strive to do right, and also close-minded ignorant bigots. I read about commoners who were nasty and others who were good-hearted. The nobles (often portrayed as arrogant and cruel) were responsible, thoughtful and aware of the needs of their servants. The three werewolves in the story all struggle with a vengeful desire for chaos and a passionate need for the safety of family and home.

I loved the fact that there were people I could relate to in this story- I struggle with wicked thoughts, yet seek to serve the true and pure.
There were no wicked sinners with hearts black as sin in this story, and no pure innocent shining saints. Instead, the characters fell in the grey middle.

Super 8
From Wikipedia: The film tells the story of a group of young teenagers who are filming their own Super 8 movie in a small town in 1979 when a train derails, releasing a dangerous presence into their town.

This movie is a little bit like a "What if!? What if E.T. arrived and the government captured the alien instead of letting him go? And what if they locked him up and experimented on him? And what if he was WAY bigger, stronger and scarier??"

Again, what I liked the most about this movie was that most of the characters were neither pure as snow nor grimy with evil-
The alien got angry and mean because of the experiments done to him and the years of prison-life.
The scientists & military agents wanted to know the truth and did not set out to turn the alien insane. Besides, one of the scientists knowingly commits suicide to set the alien free.
The kids do stupid selfish things, and wonderful sweet things.
The military personnel who come in to clean up the mess are probably the most unabashedly evil presence in the movie; however, one of the more important characters in the movie is a police officer who does both stupid, mean, selfish things and heroic crazy stunts.
Even the loser dad and the pot-head end up doing pretty cool amazing things.

I could relate to these people: the parents driven to find their missing kids, the teenage awkwardness and self-consciousness, the military terror towards the alien, the alien's need to go home.. I got what drove these characters and it wasn't clear-cut- it was all very grey.

I often want things to be more clear-cut, but a lot of the time they are not. A lot of time it's more grey. When the path is clear (stealing is a bad idea, it hurts me and the person who owns whatever I want. Murder is a bad idea, life is precious and needs to be protected), I can stick to the straight and narrow. But when it gets confusing, I have to pick my way through the grey as well.

December Book Reviews

Emerging Worship by Dan Kimball A+
I’m still dealing with the stuff in this book. I think I’m going to end up rereading it next month… This book looks at the post-modern generation (anybody younger than about 35, and that’s a MAJOR generalization) and how they desire to live out their faith. While he focuses on the worship event, Kimball makes it clear that the Sunday morning (or Saturday night) worship event is not the primary event to this generation- small cell groups are where they want to focus their energies and growth. These groups encourage a practical place to work out your faith in the context of relationships- honesty, openness and intimacy are key words for these groups. Kimball spends the first half of the book describing this generation and their needs and desires, and the reasons for their continued absence from conventional church. Then he spends the second half evaluating a number of churches who are successfully reaching this group through cell group and worship event ministry. He spends a major amount of time explaining what these churches are doing in the worship event and then evaluating them in terms of what they are doing well and what they might do better. I found myself connecting with a lot of what he describes… I would probably describe myself as in the middle- not really a ‘modern’ Christian, but not primarily resting in the land of ‘post-modern’ Christianity… I’ve functioned for years and years in the modern church, but have longed for something more, something that reaches to the heart of my faith and allows me to express my passion and faith more clearly… Kimball describes a place that I would love to be- My parents’ generation, in general, seems to be happy with a very ‘fake’ church- a happy smiley faith. While I have longed for a place to ask my questions, to be real and share what’s going on in my life and heart. That’s what I get from this book- It’s not just me. There are other Christians out there who are longing for the same reality. So, as a worship leader I’m going to have to read it again… I took it too personally this first read for me to be able to really practically evaluate ways I can use this information…

Dragon’s Fire by Anne McCaffrey & Todd McCaffrey A-
Good book. I’ve been a Pern fan since 8th grade, but had gotten a little annoyed with repetition of themes. So many of McCaffrey’s Pern books lately had been about these old curmudgeony people who weren’t willing to change with the times and wanted to do things the way they’d always been done- She did 5 or 6 that seemed like the exact same story just with different names. Then she let her son loose on the series! Yay! New blood, so that the same old thing isn’t done the exact same way it had been done before…. Anyway, this one covers some of the history of Pern and I loved it!

The Wild Hunt by Jane Yolen B+
Very quick read and a very interesting book… A fantasy of ‘Sort of’ and ‘Almost’. A book that comments on the conventions of fantasy mythology and on the possibilities in ‘choice’. Two heroes, in houses that are in the same place and are almost the same, but are still very different. I enjoyed the book, but I enjoy many odd things. :)

Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce A
I love this YA series… I’m rereading them because I needed something comforting and familiar. Everything else in my life has been crazy- we’re ALL sick, rehearsals, bazaars, decorating for Christmas, planning Christmas for little ones… So I wanted a book I KNEW was good and that I would definitely enjoy and that would be a good escape. The main character of these books, Daine, can talk to animals (one of my dream wishes… maybe when I get to heaven!) and has a fascinating history which slowly unfolds in the first book. I love re-reading how she finally comes to trust those around her and how she is brought to a place where her gifts are useful and valued. (I’ve been to the library and couldn’t find any more in this series, so I had to read other Pierce books. Oh, dear. How tragic. ;) )

The Circle Quartet by Tamora Pierce A
Sandry’s Book, Tris’ Book, Daja’s Book, Briar’s Book
I love Tamora Pierce. She consistently has interesting ideas and characters. These were a reread for me, and I read them mostly because I knew there were good. Reading these again lets me see things I didn’t see the first time… Like how much Sandry doesn’t fit the mold for a ‘noble’ even when she was a girl, or how much Briar changes from the street urchin he was when his teacher found him in the first book, to a master magician in his own book.

The Circle Opens Quartet by Tamora Pierce A
Magic Steps, Street Magic, Cold Fire, Shatterglass
These are the same characters from The Circle Quartet, just four years later- Each of the characters has mastered their magic and is continuing to grow and develop as magic masters… In these books the children are faced with moral choices and making decisions for the good of all. They must face up to how much their magic affects those around them and the responsibility their powers entail.