Serials and Scenarios - Do Hard Things

Adults! Do you feel ambivalent or frightened about the generation of youth that will be managing and steering our country over the next several decades? Keep reading. You will be challenged and encouraged. Wisdom and courage aren't attached to an age. Callie, my fabulous "niece," has written a short review after the summary. (Click on the book cover to go to Amazon. Their website.)

Summary:

With over 10 million hits to their website TheRebelution.com, Alex and Brett Harris are leading the charge in a growing movement of Christian young people who are rebelling against the low expectations of their culture by choosing to “do hard things” for the glory of God.

Written when they were 18 years old, Do Hard Things is the Harris twins’ revolutionary message in its purest and most compelling form, giving readers a tangible glimpse of what is possible for teens who actively resist cultural lies that limit their potential. Combating the idea of adolescence as a vacation from responsibility, the authors weave together biblical insights, history, and modern examples to redefine the teen years as the launching pad of life and map a clear trajectory for long-term fulfillment and eternal impact.

Written by teens for teens, Do Hard Things is packed with humorous personal anecdotes, practical examples, and stories of real-life rebelutionaries in action. This rallying cry from the heart of revolution already in progress challenges the next generation to lay claim to a brighter future, starting today.

Callie's Thoughts:

Most books we read are for entertainment, to hear a nice story, or to pass some time.

That’s not the case with Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations by Alex and Brett Harris. It’s conviction, encouraging, and challenging. One thing that caught my attention was their emphasis on avoiding complacency. Throughout the book they stress the importance of not being satisfied with how things are, but to always, always reach higher. They blatantly state that when they say, “A commitment to growth kills complacency.”

They do a stellar job describing tough subjects for a younger audience. Use of stories and analogies help a young person get a grasp of what’s being said.

Overall, I loved Do Hard Things. It gives practical application, which, if carried out, would severely change our generation for the better.

Serials and Scenarios - My Soul to Keep

Click on the book cover to visit Amazon's My Soul to Keep page for more reviews. Click on Melanie's cute little face to visit her website.

Here's my review. Come back Friday for Melanie's answers to the dreg questions. Fans of sarcasm will find much to enjoy....

My Soul to Keep

Melanie Wells grabbed me with the unique voice and kept me riveted as she drove me through a story that couldn't possibly end well. A primarily first-person dive into broken hearts, love lost and never found, hope, healing and horror, a plunge that kept me turning pages until the satisfying end.

I've not read her previous works so this was my first visit into Dylan Foster's head and Peter Terry's bizarre antics.

The subject matter is tough. An abducted child and another child traumatized, more sensitive readers may not be able to handle some of the intensity though there is a surprising and clean resolution.

Wells covers some obscure teaching on guardian angels in an engaging manner. Once again, a warning, those who don't do speculative fiction with Biblical stretching might want to pass, as well as those readers who struggle with characters who are working toward holiness but haven't progressed to looking like they've attained it. So what I'm saying is, her characters are as real as those you might go to church or work with, you know, the ones will all the warts and issues. I'm not even going to mention that I may see something of Wells' characters in my own mirror.

When I wasn't struggling with the horror of child abduction and clues with dead ends, I found myself cheering Dylan on in her secondary battle, the one with faith.

Serials and Scenarios - Someday, Karen Kingsbury Drops In.

Karen Kingsbury dropped by the Dregs recently. Thanks, Karen, for the visit and your thought provoking words. Visit her website by clicking on her picture and the Amazon page by clicking on Someday, and here to read my review.

What makes you feel alive?

I feel alive when I'm with my family, when I'm outside playing Frisbee with my boys or in our boat on the lake, in awe of God's beauty all around us.

How does something worm its way into your heart?
Through tears, truth, humor or other?

Tears are often the way God conveys a story to me. I'll be reading an article or watching a film, and find myself moved to tears. That'll start me thinking . . . what was it about that story that so touched me? And how could that same emotion play a part in a story? And often at that point God will make a storyline very vividly clear to me.

Book, music, person, food you would take with you on a very long trip.

On a long trip, I'd take the Bible, and a CD mix with Chris Tomlin and Casting Crowns. I'd take my husband and kids, flax-seed bars, salmon, and green iced tea.

Where would you most like to travel ----- moon, north pole, deep seas, deserted island, the holy land or back to a place from your childhood, somewhere else? – and why.

The beach. A long stretch of white sand, clear blue-green water, a notepad so I can capture what God is placing on my heart, my family around me, and a glass of green iced tea.

Which compliment related to your writing has meant the most and why?

I hear on a regular basis that my books have changed peoples lives. That's why I trademarked my fiction Life-Changing Fiction (TM). No matter how many times I hear that, I never get tired of it. It's unbelievable to think that God is so creative, giving me a story and then using it to change someone's heart, to help them have a stronger marriage or a closer walk with the Lord. That is always my favorite reader comment.

What criticism has cut the deepest and why?

I once had a reader write to me and say that she was no longer a fan, because I've taken to writing too many books, and sacrificed my love for God and my family. That letter left me in tears, literally, because it isn't true. My family and faith will always come first. The letter was still on the screen when my daughter walked by and saw me crying. She read the letter, and later - without my permission - she wrote back to the woman and told her basically, "How dare you criticize my mom. You don't know her or us, and she's the most amazing mom ever." I told her she shouldn't have written back to the woman. But at the same time, her love for me and her response that day was something I'll never, ever forget.

What is your favorite word?

Redemption. I love the sound of it, the meaning of it, and the fact that all of life hinges on it.

Scribble and Scrambles - Flying Toasters

You know how it is...you wake up early in the morning planning on going about your business and getting your ducks in a row. Only one more step before you slip out the door and head to work.

You slide two Pop-tarts into the slots.

The LAST Pop-tarts.

Now this particular toaster has maybe been in the family for a few years. Occasionally there is a little flare-up within the workings of the toaster.

One could consider it temperamental, others might just call it acting up.

A new toaster rests in a cupboard awaiting the iffy toaster's imminent demise.

But certain family members can't quite bring it upon themselves to get rid of a perfectly good toaster. The issues are rare, really, and what's a burnt piece of toast in the scheme of things? Especially when there are two hounds who would consider overly browned bread a treat.

Enter the Pop-tarts. Did I mention they were strawberry?

So, have you ever seen a toaster fly?

The new one is working great.

Hope you have a perfect Pop-tart day.

Super Cinema Saturday ~ The Jane Austen Book Club

The Jane Austen Book Club - 4 of 5 stars or a B.

Jane Austen's books overwhelm me with the number of characters. I have to be exposed to her stories more than once to fully feel like I get her world. "Book Club" is a movie not unlike Jane's books in that way. It's a movie that needs to be watched more than once to begin to see the inner workings within the characters.

I read several reviews before renting Book Club and decided I needed to see it for myself. I understand what the issues are with the folks who didn't care for the movie. For starters, this isn't a G-rated historical romance like Austen's beloved novels. It's set in modern day and the movie actually opens with scenes of chaos in the busyness of daily living. Ringing cellphones, automated transactions and traffic. Then it moves into a funeral scene. The characters begin to plan something to help the bereaved and suddenly there is another crisis -- a death of a marriage. The characters, a group of old and new friends, need something good to focus on.

So they choose to meet for six months and cover a different Jane Austen title each month, hoping to bring romance and genteelity back into some hurting lives.

These are the complaints I picked up in other reviews.

The sexuality aspects of the movie are moderately strong. If you are a concerned parent, by all means watch it first. The major sexual themes -- a teacher with an emotionally, borderline physically inappropriate relationship with a student, a marriage suffering from an affair, another marriage on the verge, a young lesbian with more than one partner throughout the film, a woman married six times and still looking for lucky number seven.

The second complaint about the movie seems to be the lack of Jane Austen's works in the film. Yes and no. The "book" discussions are short and there is very little actual Jane Austen prose shared with the audience. Instead you are given glimpses of each character devouring a different book each month. Interestingly the book club members' and their relationships end up looking like little slivers of Austen's characters. For example, Emma surfaces in 3-D when Jocelyn tries to fix her broken friend's life by finding the perfect man. Jocelyn doesn't need a man, of course, until he seems to be looking elsewhere. Young Allegra who gives her heart away and receives it back crushed and yet enters rapidly into another relationship not unlike Marianne and Willoughby. Or maybe Allegra and Corrine are the modern version of Mr. Wickham and Lydia Bennet.

The third issue with the negative reviews was the lack of character development and/or the miracle changes of heart. Two marriages, one with an affair, another with an emotional affair that could ruin a career as well, a woman in her forties who has never been in love, a young man in love with a woman a decade or so older, a lesbian who loves with all her heart one day and hates her lover the next.

True, these are huge issues, but this movie takes place over months as they meet to discuss the books and we are given only glimpses of time throughout that month. So what seems fast, unbelievable and overnight is not fully the case. And having been married for twenty-six years, I can completely believe that one person who begins to think differently can change the whole flavor of the marriage overnight, if the thinking truly changes. That's what crisis does, changes people. And there are plenty of crises.

Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. The characters were rich and interesting and I ended up caring about them. It encouraged me that both marriages seemed to flourish once they got beyond the pain and made better choices. I think "Book Club" could be a great girls night movie, or a date movie if you have realistic expectations.

Next week I'm hoping to be able to review Lars and the Real Girl. Of all the movies I want to see this year...Lars is at the top of the pile.

Serials and Scenarios - Nicole Seitz's Trouble the Waters

Click on the beautiful book cover to visit the Amazon page. Nicole's website is here, and her Dregs interview, here.



My Review:


Nicole Seitz is an artist. Literary fiction lovers might want to check into her further.

Through a group of Gullah women, Seitz reveals the fascinating spirit, superstitions and cultural richness as she revisits the Low Country once again. Though Trouble the Water is not a sequel to Spirit of Sweetgrass Seitz revisits settings that are obviously as fascinating to her as to her readers.

This is the type of novel I love to curl up with and savor. Seitz brought three first-person point of view characters to life as they relived sorrow and shame, choices and consequences. Honor, Alice, Duchess and The Nannies live and breath through Seitz's words. And what stories they tell.

This is not an easy read. Christian fiction, yes, traditional, no. Seitz writes with realism including sin and consequences, hypocrisy and the damage done through it. There is no salvation prayer at the end and very subtle gospel sharing, so those who expect a strong gospel message within their Christian fiction may be disappointed. In addition, the superstitions and beliefs of the characters may stomp on some toes. However, those who are hungry for honest, transparent stories about tragedy and sorrow, and hope and restoration need to look further into Seitz's novels.

Serials and Scenarios - Brandilyn Collins' Amber Morn

Click on the book cover to visit Amazon. Click here to read Brandilyn's previous Dregs interview and here to visit her place.

My Review:

Amber Morn is a big departure from the previous books in the series. Far more of a character compilation and focused heavily at the Java Joint. When I cracked the cover and read the first few pages I was uncertain how I'd end up feeling when it was all said and done. A group of gunmen and a public place full of innocents is ripped from way too many newspapers in way too many cities. I was far more horrified than if a minor character had shown up dead and I got to watch the mystery and horror unfold. This time I was forced to walk through the unfolding horror with no clue who might come out alive and who might not. Chickens beware, Amber Morn is intense.

Nearing the end I began to think there was no way this could turn out pretty or even be resolved. Collins is a masterful writer. She pulled it off and it was believable. Interestingly, I'm glad she has closed the Kanner Lake series. I care enough about the characters that I want Collins to leave them alone and let them get on with the activities of living, in all meanings of the word. I'm glad a sneak peek at her next series shows up at the end of the book. I'm ready to follow her where she's headed next. If you are a Collins fan, you will be, too.