Fury

That is the title of Bill Bright and Jack Cavanaugh's historical novel about the Great Awakenings of 1825-26. As interesting as a look at that time period is, however, I have to say I was a bit disappointed, as I increasingly am with Christian novels. Fury was a well-written novel with a plot almost exactly like every other period Christian novel I've read.

I would say "spoiler alert" but this plot has become so familiar to me that I doubt listing it now could spoil anything:

Christian family spawns skeptical Child (in this case, male). They fight. Child goes on journey and meets LOL (love of their life) but it can't work out because LOL is Christian and Child is not. Then Child has GCE (great conversion experience) and can finally get married to LOL. Everyone cries tears of joy.

Then the author(s) write(s) book two, which offers the same plot with Child and LOL's child(ren).

Christians' lives are interesting; really they are. Why doesn't that come through in these novels?

Harriet the Spy

I finally finished "Harriet the Spy" tonight. I love her. We are so much alike in some ways that it kind of scares me. How did Louise Fitzhugh write a character that is semi-me back in 1964? Maybe she could see twenty-plus years into the future or something.

Here are things that are similar about Harriet and me:
-love to write
-love notebooks and are always buying new ones
-have few friends but the ones we have are very close
-like to know things about other people
-have been known to eavesdrop (although I try not to anymore)
-notice and remember details about people
-like routine but can be known to stray from it if needed
-invent or imagine out different situations or events
-not partial to math
-aim to be writers
-became low-level editors of a publication
-read in bed late into the night, even after being told not to
-think much better when writing
-write much better with a specific purpose

Here are things about Harriet that are different than me:
-runs everywhere, often bumping into other people, sometimes knocking them over
-speaks very loudly or yells all the time
-has parents who seem aloof but a nurse who acts like a parent
-is daring and always ready for adventure
-aims to be a spy
-records pretty much all thoughts
-always writes the truth, no matter how blunt or brutal

Hopefully I've given you enough information here to want to read the book, but not enough to spoil it for you. I definitely recommend reading it if you haven't already.

In the Beginning...

First lines are always the hardest. They're what most people remember. There are, of course, memorable non-first lines, but I can't think of any right now, so they must not be important. Anyway, since I seem to have gotten past that particular problem, let me tell you what this blog is all about.

A few days ago, while chatting with some friends from another set of blogs that started in a creative writing class, I started thinking about all the excellent books I've read and how much I have to say about them. Then some of the people to whom I was speaking (that's how you avoid ending sentences with prepositions) suggested that someone start a blog. So I did. I'm sure other people will have more to say about that later.

For now, let me leave you with the way in which a few awesome stories arrived. I hope you recognize them...

"Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun."

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth."

"You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter."

"Somewhere in la Mancha, in a place whose name I do not care to remember, a gentleman lived not long ago, one of those who has a lance and ancient shield on a shelf and keeps a skinny nag and a greyhound for racing."

"There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way..."