Abstinence

The subtitle to my blog says it is about my faith, family and books.  As it turns out, I have mostly written about the books I am reading, but my faith is far and away the most important thing in my life.  As a Christian, I really liked this article about abstinence by Steven Crowder called Why NOT Having Sex Might Be Good For You and it really moved me.  Mr. Crowder, who apparently is in a long-term relationship and is abstinent, does not concentrate on the health reasons for abstinence (although he does mention them in passing), but rather focuses on the bond of trust that is fostered between two people who choose to remain chaste while in a relationship.  When you show your partner that you are able to control yourself and postpone gratification now, that partner knows that you are trustworthy and will make a good spouse because you will be able to control yourself and remain faithful later.  It was beautifully written and gave a logical and loving reason for choosing abstinence before marriage.  I encourage you to read it if you are interested.

Book Review: Shiver and Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

"Most people had an acquired kind of beauty--they became better looking the longer you knew them and the better you loved them."  This is the sentence that most struck me as I read Linger and is the most likely to stick with me.  I have long held this sentiment, but had never managed to put it into such beautiful language as Maggie Stiefvater uses in this sequel to Shiver.  And this lovely prose is the strength of both books.  A reader could open either book to any random page and find an exquisite passage to roll around on the brain and the tongue.  I remember that Oprah once described a certain book club pick as "liquid poetry."  That is what kept coming to my mind as I read Linger, and I do recommend reading both Shiver and Linger for the sheer pleasure of exulting in Stiefvater's bewitching prose.

Despite my delight in this aspect of Linger, I did not care for the story.  To me, Shiver was a near-perfect book that stood on its own and needed no sequel.  I will admit that it has been quite some time since I read Shiver, but I remember it as complete...everything resolved, no threads left hanging.  When I read Linger, it seemed to me that perhaps Stiefvater's publisher had put pressure on her to come up with a sequel because the first book had been such a success.  I know nothing of the sort; that is only conjecture on my part because the plot in Linger seemed contrived.  The author had to (in some sense) "change the rules" of the werewolf phenomenon that affects the main characters.  So,  we went from book #1, in which the plot and conflicts are laid out and then resolved in a clear and rational way, within the confines of a fantasy story, to Linger, where what we thought we knew, especially regarding the "cure," is turned on its head and a new set of much more nebulous rules regarding the "disease" and "cure" are laid out.  Shiver felt like a complete book with a satisfying conclusion, while Linger felt inadequate and left me restless, but not in the same way a good cliffhanger, such as Suzanne Collins's Catching Fire, leaves us breathlessly awaiting the next installment in a series.  Stiefvater may be setting us up for the next in a series, and I am sure I will read it, but in my mind, I would prefer to leave Sam and Grace in Shiver and be satisfied with their fates, rather than move on with them to Linger where they are in that nebulous ever-after.

Another thing that I don't like about the books is the author's treatment of parents.  All the parents in the books are one-dimensional and range from outright cruel (Sam's) to merely neglectful and disinterested (Grace's in Shiver).  I won't say much else except to say that the only good parents are the parental figures (i.e., Beck) and none of the natural parents show any kind of love for their own children nor even any common sense.

So, my conclusion is that I recommend Shiver, especially to "Team Jacob" readers of the Twilight series. It is richer and more skillfully written than Meyer's books (although some may think Stiefvater borrowed certain elements, such as otherworldly boy sneaking up to girl's room every night), but parents should read it first and be prepared to discuss any negative elements and decide on age-appropriateness.  As for Linger, as I said above, if you are a lover of language for its own sake, I think you should read it because Ms. Stiefvater writes so beautifully that it might make your eyes sting with tears at times, but if you are more interested in a satisfying werewolf story, read Shiver and don't go on.

Check back with me if a third book in this series ever comes out.  I may have changed my mind completely.

Book Review: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Not since the final Harry Potter have I so anticipated a book release.  I loved, loved, loved The Hunger Games and Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) and could not wait to read Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games).  When it finally arrived, the first thing I did was open it to the middle and inhale, and it smelled wonderful.  I think the smell of a new, highly anticipated book gives me more pleasure than a bouquet of a dozen roses.

I am honestly still not sure what I think of Mockingjay.  Did it blow my socks off, as foreseen?  Yes!  Did I like it?  Not sure.  Do I recommend reading it?  Yes, I think so, with one caveat:  the audience for this book, at least as far as content, should be a little older than the first two.  While both THG and CF include heavy themes that require the reader to really engage and contemplate such issues as freedom, totalitarianism, and self- sacrifice, and certainly contain violence, Mockingjay ups the ante.  There is scene after scene of bizarre and grisly violence and [spoiler alert] several beloved characters die difficult (to say the least) deaths.  The author has said that she wishes to give a clear view of the realities and consequences of war and violence.  So, while some parts are difficult to read, I am encouraging my 9th-grade son to read it, but will probably have my Middle School son (who has a vivid imagination) to hold off for a year or two.

Mockingjay opens with our Katniss a broken girl.  She is given to avoidance and isolation and has taken to hiding out in various nooks around the District 13 underground.  Again, I believe the author is trying to illustrate war's effects by giving Katniss some form of PTSD.  But, the resistance needs its Mockingjay, so Katniss must rise to the occasion, and rise she does.  She will never again be the same (nearly) innocent girl we met in THG, so she must learn to change and grow under the horrific conditions of the totalitarian government of Panem and now the war between the government and the rebels.

I am not sure that I would call Mockingjay a satisfying conclusion to the series, but it is definitely a conclusion, and while I do not feel it measures up to the first two in the series, it is very much worth reading to find out what happens to Panem and the characters we have come to love such as Katniss, Gale and Peeta.  And speaking of Gale and Peeta, I will not say how this love triangle is resolved, but I will say that I was disappointed by how the author dealt with the man that was not chosen by Katniss.  Both Gale and Peeta were deep and rich characters and the one not chosen was written off with what I thought was a perfunctory sentence dismissing what he had meant to Katniss and the connection they shared throughout the books.

My conclusion is that Suzanne Collins is an amazingly gifted author.  Though I was disappointed with aspects of Mockingjay, this series overall is fantastic and I love how the books stretch the mind and make  the reader think about our relationship to our government, our responsibility for our own destiny, self-sacrifice, and the difficult choices we may have to make for the ones we love.


If you want to read another perspective, see Jen Robinson's review here.  Jen Robinson is a book blogger whose opinion I highly respect and if you are a teacher or have children still living at home, you should follow her blog.  I was glad to see that her views about the age-appropriateness of Mockingjay were pretty much the same as mine.