Editing Fact and Fiction

is a wonderful book for those contemplating the publishing field! It takes you through the process a manuscript undergoes to become published, it explores all the different kinds of editing, it teaches how to edit (as much as is possible in a chapter), and it explains how to find jobs or further your education in the field. The only slight negative about it is that the book was published in 1994, and therefore, the second-to-last chapter on computers in the publishing field is highly outdated. Nonetheless, I would highly recommend the book! :)

"The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho

So this book is a little pantheistic, but it makes some interesting points. It is the story of a shepherd boy who  decides to go visit the Pyramids and figure out what his "Personal Legend" is. It is kind of like a warm cup of tea. I like tea, for the most part. ^_^

Anyway, let me share a passage I thought was interesting.

"There's no need for iron to be the same as copper, or copper the same as gold. Each performs its own exact function as a unique being, and everything would be a symphony of peace if the hand that wrote all this had stopped on the fifth day of creation. But there was a sixth day," the sun went on.


"You are wise, because you observe everything from a distance," the boy said. "But you don't know about love. If there hadn't been a sixth day, man would not exist; copper would always be just copper, and lead just lead. It's true that everything has its Personal Legend, but one day that Personal Legend will be realized. So each thing has to transform itself into something better, and to acquire a new Personal Legend. . . . This is why alchemy exists . . . So that everyone will search for his treasure, find it, and then want to be better than he was in his former life . . . That's what alchemists do. They show that, when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too."


"Well, why did you say that I don't know about love?" the sun asked the boy.


"Because it's not love to be static like the desert, nor is it love to roam the world like the wind. And it's not love to see everything from a distance, like you do. Love is the force that transforms and improves . . . The world we live in will be either better or worse, depending on whether we become better or worse. And that's were the power of love comes in. Because when we love, we always strive to become better than we are."

The Big over Easy

I just finished this book, and it was beautiful.

For those of you to whom I have not gushed incessantly about this book, it is by Jasper Fforde, who also wrote an excellent series on the spunky and fun Thursday Next.

It's the first book in his Nursery Crimes series, a reinvention of old, beloved nursery rhymes in the world of detective Jack Spratt (yes, yes, the one who would eat no fat) and his assistant Mary Mary.

Fforde's books seem to take forever to read, but then they're over too soon. Just when I thought I'd figured out the plot, he threw me a curveball. I loved every minute of it; I rarely read a book in which I cannot guess most of the major twists.

For anyone who is interested, this book finally answered the age-old question, "How did Humpty Dumpty REALLY die?"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Over_Easy

The Story of the Trapp Family Singers

Very few people can say that they have not seen Roger's and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music, which starred Julie Andrews as Maria Von Trapp. On the other hand, many people can say that they have not read The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, written by Maria Augusta Trapp. I once was one of those, until I completed the book last week.

I must say, the movie does a decent job at keeping in line with the book, but the book is written with such humor, joy, sadness, and all kinds of emotion that I feel it is a greater representation of reality--without even including the fact that the book possesses the true, honest-to-goodness story.

Furthermore, the movie only covers about a third of the book. What happens to the Trapps after they leave Austria? That question is thoroughly answered in the book. So rather than continuing to tell you all the reasons why I immensely enjoyed the book, I'll just include an excerpt from it for your pleasure.

Peter had been a Major in the Imperial Prussian Army. He was a lovely person with a heart as big as himself, which made it easy to get along with him. When it came to duty, however, Peter was made of iron and steel, and as everything in his daily life was classified either as a duty towards God, or his fellow men, or himself, there was a lot of duty to go around.

Peter also loved handbooks.

When Peter was newly married and they were expecting their first baby, he immediately got the proper handbook, which would guide him safely through the next nine months. In the seventh month the handbook said: "Carpets and curtains should be removed from the bedroom, and the walls and floor washed with antiseptic." Peter who, as a Major, had two orderlies at his command, was standing in the middle of the bedroom, book in hand, supervising these activities. At the same time Laura, his wife, slipped on the kitchen floor and, feeling a strange pain, went upstairs, heading for bed, saying to Peter:

"Please, dear, call Mrs. X"--her Frau Vogl [midwife]--"at once."

Peter merely glanced at her, amazed. Then, looking over the rim of his spectacles, he uttered in a helpless tone of voice:

"Laura--impossible! I am only in the seventh month!" (84)

Maria then goes on to tell of a camping adventure she and her family had with Uncle Peter and his family--an experience full of laughs.

P.S. If the reader is Protestant, he must be aware that the author is a devout Catholic and many Catholic practices come out in her writing. On the other hand, the family's devotion to God and Jesus Christ is also genuine and admirable.

Mountains of Spices

I've been staying super busy reading lately--for business and for pleasure. ;) This is one of the books I recently completed for pleasure.

This is the sequel to Hind's Feet on High Places--an allegory of a Christian's journey. It's a simple, yet beautiful story (with a slightly theologically incorrect ending), taking place after Much-Afraid returns from the High Places and becomes a living witness to her friends and enemies in her hometown. What I especially like about it is how the author integrates all of the fruits of the Spirit into her story and transforms her characters which display the opposite traits.

However, I think one of my favorite techniques that the author uses is in closing her chapters--she often writes poems that fully express the idea that she has been trying to get across. The depth is phenomenal!

Usually the poems are based on the fruits of the Spirit, but here's a separate one that particularly struck me and followed a poem about joy.

The cry of all distorted things:
"Why hast thou made us thus?
To bear the anguish which life brings;
Why didst thou not love us?"
So marred that God himself must weep--
Fit only for the rubbish heep.

The cry of every breaking heart:
"Why were we born for this?
Evil alone is made our part
And nothing of earth's bliss.
Why didst thou give us human birth
If we may know no love on earth?"

The cry of each despairing mind
Ascends before love's throne:
"Behold us, God! Or art thou blind?
Can we be blamed alone?
If thou be there, then answer us,
Why make us, or why make us thus?"

And love's voice answers from a cross:
"I bear it all with you;
I share with you in all your loss,
I will make all things new.
None suffer in their sin alone,
I made--I bear--and I atone."

~ by Hannah Hurnard, 69-70

One Miracle After Another

A special person gave me this book as a piece of encouragement, as I've been looking to the future and wondering what God wants me to do with my life. Well, I just finished it, and it was phenomenal. The writing is good--not superb, but good--but the stories are amazing! If you want to be reminded that God still works miracles today, read this book. If you want your faith in God and surrender to His will to escalate, read this book. Here's a snippet from pages 105-7 to whet your appetite:

"When we pray we need to trust God with the outcome. We need to allow Him to work as He sees best. We dare not put self at the center of our requests. We should always put God first and let Him decide what is best for us."

Like a flash he suddenly could see. He had been trying to convince God to answer his prayers his way instead of accepting God's will for his life. Realizing the selfishness of his past prayers, he began to pour out his heart again.

"Lord, I'm willing to give up school, my future, and my degree. I don't care anymore. You just work in the way that will bring honor to Your name. I'm choosing Your honor above my wants and desires."

The moment he surrendered his will to God, the peace he had been seeking returned. No longer feeling anxious about the outcome of his education, he fell fast asleep.

The next day as he arrived at the university he was greeted by the secretary. "Have you decided to attend classes this Saturday?" she inquired.

"No, I won't be here," Pavel replied calmly. . . .

In disbelief she said, "You have really lost your mind. I admire your courage and determination, but there is no God. What God can save you from a Communist regime? I'm sorry, but there is no one who can save you now" . . . .

The next morning Pavel began his walk to school knowing that it might be his last. Now he was more curious to see what God would do than fearful of the harsh reality of being expelled forever . . . . The moment the secretary spotted him coming up the sidewalk she hurried to meet him. He had never seen her composure so shaken. Her ashen face gave her the appearance of being more dead than alive. Something was definitely wrong.

"Pavel, do you know anyone in the government?" she blurted out.

"No, I don't. Why do you ask?"

Without answering, she continued, "Do you know anyone in the Central Committee?"

"No."
"Then do you know Ceausescu?"

"No, of course not. How would I know the president?"

"Are you positive you are being honest with me?" she asked earnestly.

"Yes, I am being totally honest. Why do you think I would know anyone in the government?"
Shaking her head in disbelief, she whispered more to herself than to Pavel, "Then there is a God! For 21 years I have worked at this university. Never have I seen the government take an action like this!" She explained: "This morning the university received a mandate from the government with the president's signature canceling all Saturday classes for the entire country, effective today. . . If this law would have come on Monday rather than today, you would have been expelled from school for the rest of your life."

Chenxi and the Foreigner

A lake sped past my window and I looked up quickly to see the tail end of it disappear from view. I was torn. Finish my book or stare out the window at the gorgeous Newfoundland wilderness racing past the shuttle? I kept my eyes up for a few more minutes reveling in the stubby, wind-shaped evergreens, rocky hillsides and glistening waters painting ever-changing pictures through the glass. But soon my head dropped again to the book I held open in my lap, "Chenxi and the Foreigner" by Sally Rippin. I wasn't thoroughly impressed with the book's premise or language, but wanted to finish it before starting a new one. Just a few pages later, when I came across a passage that fully captivated my attention, I was grateful that I hadn't discarded the book earlier.

In the following paragraphs the main character, Anna, a teenager visiting China for a month, is talking to a fellow artist, Chenxi, from her fine arts college in Shanghai. I've taken out the extra words as much as possible, so just the essence of her longing remains.

"I think an artist's responsibility is to show a different world to the viewer. No, not a different world, the same world, but a different way of looking at it. It's an artist's responsibility, and I'm talking about writers and musicians too, to take the smaller paths that come off the main road. To go down them and to bring back what they find for those people who never dare to go themselves. Or never have the chance."

Anna goes on to voice one of my own deepest desires, although hers is for painting whereas mine is for writing.

"You know, if I painted one painting that changed the life of one person, affecting them deeply enough to make them see something in a completely different way – even if only one person – I feel like I would have achieved something."

I read those words over and over again for the next fifteen minutes and then put my book away to gaze out the window and think them over for the rest of the trip from St. John's to Grand Bank, NL.