Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Books and Colors

28 This light shining around Him looked like the rainbow in the clouds on a day of rain.
This was what the shining-greatness of the Lord looked like. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.
Chapter 2

 1. He said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” And when He spoke to me, the Spirit came into me and set me on my feet. I heard Him speaking to me. He said, “Son of dust, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to sinful people who have turned against Me. They and their fathers have sinned against Me to this very day. I am sending you to these strong-willed children who show no respect. And you must say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says.’ If they listen or not (for they are sinful people) they will know that a man of God has been among them. And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or of what they say, even if thistles and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or lose strength of heart by their looks, for they will not obey Me. You must speak My words to them if they listen or not, for they do not obey Me.  Ezekiel 1:28- 2:7


Ezekiel is an amazing book, very mind blowing, like Revelations.
Finished reading Daddy Long legs.  It's a classic about an orphan and a bunch of letters.  The middle can be a bit slow but the ending is rewarding so pay attention when you read it.
Finished reading Hard Times by Charles Dickens.  Great classic about Fact and Fancy, mentioning a little bit of Fairy tales, which makes it my favorite book by Charles Dickens(but it's the first book I've actually read by him so I guess that Would be my favorite book by him so far).  I didn't know a thing about the story when I began it, which gave it even more of a feel that I didn't know what was going to happen!  I haven't felt that in a long time.  I've been spoiled too much with the end of stories.
Rereading Raven's Ladder, the third book in the Auralia Thread.  That series is my favorite for a few reasons:

1.  The plot was written really well.  The plot is so well written that when you reread the stories you can see that the author knew what was going to happen and left little hints here and there, and even answered a few questions in the first books(but the questions don't arise till the end of the series so you have to read them again).  And the story feels original.  I mean, if we read older fantasy books, we would probably find a few of the roots of the plot of these newer stories, but at this age, nearly every secular book feels the same!
2.  The descriptions are beautiful and vivid yet not paragraphs long!  The way Jeffrey Overstreet writes makes me feel like I am reading a book that was written long long ago.
3.  The books make YOU as the reader, have to pay attention to what you're reading!  I love that, because it just re-words a hidden message in the first book.  Pay attention to everything around you, like Auralia did.  She found beauty in the woods where everyone else never went to for fear of beasts.
4.  There are little morals hidden in so many places in the books!  You just have to hunt for them.
5.  The books make you Think about certain things in a way you've never thought about before.  Good questions and curious questions and lost questions and invisible questions that come up from us the readers.
6.  The characters are vivid, each unique and the rare scenes where children are present make me smile.  Auralia is so unique, I don't know where she came from!  I still don't know exactly where she came from; perhaps I'll have to study the books harder to find the answer to that.
7.  There is allegory in the story, you just have to search for it.  The "moonspirits" belief remind me of people in America who always say "Follow your heart and stand up in confidence!" and the consequences that may follow.  But I'll let you find that out for yourself later in the series.  The Keeper is like an angel.  Mr. Overstreet said there wasn't supposed to be allegory in the stories, but there is non the less, like there was in J R R Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.  I don't know how I'll write my stories.  I don't want allegory to be obvious, but I want people to think after reading them.  I'll probably write a post on that later.

You have to slow down to read them.  Once I began the fourth book though, I couldn't stop reading it because of the suspense!  I was gobbling up the treasure a little too quickly, but when I reread it I will try to slow down a little more.  There is one sentence in the last book that was cut off, but I think that's the only typo.
I like Jeffrey Overstreet's style of writing and I will be sure to read his next fantasy novel when it comes out. 
  Have you read any good classics?