Books of 2014 Part 1: Fiction

In going through the books I read in 2014, I realized that I didn't read a lot of fiction (at least not compared to non-fiction). I think there were more books, but they were re-reads, and I only count those if it's been many years between readings. And a lot of the re-reading was kid's stuff that I read to relax.

Still, based on my records, here are my favourites for the year:

1. Brandon Sanderson: Elantris, The Rithmatist, and the last 2 books of the Mistborn Trilogy: The Well of Ascension and The Hero of the Ages. I really, really enjoy Brandon Sanderson's writing. He's one of my favourite fantasy writers. I enjoyed the different story lines in Elantris, and how they all overlapped in the book and eventually merged. The Rithmatist is a young adult book (I meant to bring it to my nephew at Christmas but forgot) with a good premise (and the promise of sequels, yay). I was pleased with the ending of the Mistborn Trilogy. The last book brought everything together nicely without dragging things out forever. If you like fantasy, go read Brandon Sanderson.

2. Chris Colfer: The Land of Stories books 1 and 2: The Wishing Spell and The Enchantress Returns. My nephew introduced me to these, and I admit I was a bit hesitant because the author is best known for his role on Glee, and actors don't always write as well as they think they do. I'm glad I gave them a chance, though, because I liked them. They're a nice read when you want a good story and they give a new perspective on some of the fairy tales and the villains and their motivations (and some of what happened after: for example, Little Red Riding Hood has been elected queen of one of the fairy tale kingdoms, but is rather full of herself and not a great ruler). The overarching story is about 2 children who discover that their grandmother is the Fairy Godmother and who learn how to travel to the Land of Stories.

3. Dee Henderson: Undetected.  This is my sole foray into romance, and I read Dee Henderson because her books are more adventure and intrigue than romance and they tend to deal with a world that I don't know (usually military life, but also various forms of law enforcement). In Undetected, Mark is the commander of a ballistic missile submarine, so I learned about submarines, how the men train, and how the commander deals with the real possibility that he might have to launch a nuclear missile. The more I read, the greater my appreciation for the people who defend us.

4. Lois Lowry: Son. I picked this up in the library because I like Lois Lowry. I missed the part about it being the sequel to The Giver, which I have always loved (actually there are 4 books; Gathering Blue and The Messenger come in between, but Son is the most directly connected to The Giver). I figured it out, though, in the first chapter. It was a good book and a good ending to the story. Also, years ago a friend and I had an argument about what the end of The Giver meant, and I was proven right! I definitely recommend it, but it's best if you read all 4 books in order (Son won't make as much sense without the others).

As a side note: The Giver has been made into a movie and I watched it on the plane on the way home from Thunder Bay. It's not bad so far as movies go, and it keeps most of the ideas of the book intact. There are some unnecessary changes (at least that's my opinion). The main one is that they add some romance between Jonas and Fiona (which is not quite as bad as it would be if they had left them as 12 year olds, but they also make them 16).

That's really the best of what I read. I know it doesn't look like much, but there are actually 8 books (although only 4 authors). It really wasn't a great year for fiction; I read more, but a lot of it was just okay.

As a bonus, I'll give you one more list of books that were okay (sort of the "honorable mention" list). These are the other children's books that I read and am willing to recommend:
Diango Wexler: The Forbidden Library
Polly Shuman: The Grimm Legacy
Gordon Korman: Ungifted
Jean Little: His Banner Over Me

Tomorrow I'll give you my favourite non-fiction books. There were a lot more of them.

When God Became Flesh

After the time of Malachi, the last of the Old Testament Prophets, God was silent for around 400 year. And then He spoke again, not only with words, but by sending the Word to us.

Matthew 1:18-25
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. 19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. 20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.21 She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” 22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.” 24 And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, 25 but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.

John 1:1-18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

6 There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.8 He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.

9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’”16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

What Made Me Happy Today

This is a very, very stressful week. Work is crazy (as always) and I'm trying to get people to figure out the holiday schedule. I don't understand these people. I emailed the schedule twice and I still have them asking about our holiday hours. Just read the emails!

Speaking of emails: corporate sent out emails last week about Canada's anti-spamming laws. They emailed everyone who has every even inquired into our services. In a moment of pure irony, they even emailed people who had opted out of our services, thereby spamming them with anti-spamming information. The emails had a big, orange button to click if people wanted to keep receiving emails from us. All that was necessary to never receive an email from us was to not click the big, orange button. And I still received 3 emails from people telling me to take them off the list (and one of them was rather rude). Just don't click the big, orange button!

Back to the stress: this is also Christmas concert week. There's a rehearsal on Saturday and a rehearsal on Sunday morning and the concert Sunday evening. It seems that's too many rehearsals for some people. It also seems that there are people unable to read their email or the bulletin, which listed the rehearsal times and the concert time.

Now I'm reading comics. I would like to direct your attention here and here.

They made me smile. They may do the same for you.

Have a happy Thursday.

Christmas Greetings from my Geek Side