Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts – This came from my mom, who I think was still reading and trying to comes to terms with my niece’s death. Read/skimmed this on my iPhone with the Kindle app. Just … well, there’s nothing I disagreed with in here, it’s just that so much of it was trying to convince you that he was right. Lots of scripture, lots of examples. It has never occurred to me that you would ever think to choose between God being good and God being sovereign. For him to not be either is just anathema to me. So I didn’t need convincing and did just start flipping through. If you’re struggling with the question though, might be worth a look for you.
Showdown – I think I can officially say I’m not a huge fan of Ted Dekker now. This is the third book of his I’ve read (second by just him) and I’m distracted by the non-retelling of Bible stories as his plot. This one, it’s the crucifixion he’s ripping off. I get it, I really do. And I kept reminding myself that if it was Stephen King on the cover, the plot devices would have been acceptable, so I needed to just take them in stride. And maybe if you didn’t grow up attending Christian school and know every Bible story – including the obscure ones like the fat guy who gets knived in the gut – the ending wouldn’t be so predictable.
Last Chance Cafe – Another from my mom’s collection and I actually stayed up pretty late finishing this one. Just got caught up in it and didn’t want to go to bed. Not that it was stellar, but it was pretty engaging. There were a few threads that never got tied up and the thriller/action part of came in at the end like an after thought. (So it was a romance with a tiny bit of thriller thrown in to keep the plot twists from just being emotional/relationship stuff.)
Chill Factor and Hello, Darkness – Not quite as junk foody as the ones below, but I am actually starting to enjoy Sandra Brown’s books. Yes, the basic structure is always the same but she does a good job (generally) of making the frosting different every time. They’re just entertainment, but they do a good job of being that. More than cotton candy, but definitely not a full meal.
Financial Management 101 – This was research for a book project my sister and I are working on. She’s our technical expert, I’m the “dummy” and writer. It’s been interesting trying to figure out how to work together and keep pushing this forward when the writer isn’t the person who knows stuff. And it doesn’t help that conversations in our family tend to chase every rabbit on the prairie. You need a map to keep up.
Anyway, this one was OK, which is good since it’s just confirmation that we can do better. Still made my eyes glaze over when I hit the formula for debt service ratio and the like. Ugh.
Montana Creeds: Logan, Dylan, Tyler, Wallflower Christmas, The Bridegroom – More romantic fluff from my mom’s collection. These things are like potato chips – can’t eat just one and before you know it, you’ve eaten the whole bag. They just fly past. Lots of hot sex, unrealistic men, weak plot conflicts, yeah. I can feel my brain cells rotting. My mom is a bad influence in this area.
Abandoned:
* The Illiad – The Kindle version might be a great translation (a bonus), but they didn’t take the time to fuss with the formatting and poetry wasn’t meant to be read as prose (downside to getting a free copy).
Besides, I’ve read this story before, a novelized version of the poem, that was really good, so I fail to see what I stand to gain by continuing to slog through this.
* Complete Works of Robert Frost – Had to get the book from the library but no one’s complete works is really worth reading. At least not straight through. For pulling down of the shelf and savoring a poem once in a while, maybe. But better is to got with a selected works that takes the best and has room to discuss them rather than just shoving in more poems. (Can you tell I got disgusted with this as a selection? Boo.)
Yes, both of these are on the challenge list. But after suffering through Frankenstein for the sake of the list, I have decided it just ain’t worth it. Anything not horrible I will give a chance, but I’m not wasting my time anymore.
Tarot Card Deck Mockup 
Pizza Truck 
Bus Bench Ad