Book Review: Speaker for the Dead

This is the sequel to Ender's Game. It was a little hard to get into at first. The first chapter had so many new people and concepts that I didn't think I would like it. I was under the impression it was about something totally different than it actually WAS about, so I was confused for the first few chapters. In Speaker for the Dead the readers finds himself on a new alien planet, Lusitania, with a new species. Card does a good job describing these aliens in terms our minds can understand. The Speaker for the Dead is called when one (or two or three) people from Lusitania die. The Speaker's job is to find out everything he can about the dead person and tell his or her life story. To make society understand that person. The Speaker comes to Lusitania and changes the perceptions of everyone and everything on the planet...and maybe beyond. If you're reading this after reading Ender's Game, don't expect the same plot, feel, or even characters really. Some of the characters do come back in this book, but reading it felt completely different than reading Ender's Game. Personally, I liked Ender's Game better. This book had some pretty "out there" concepts. I'm going to start reading the next book in the series, Xenocide, that I think will pick up where this one leaves off. Of course, I'll let you know.

My Top Three This Week

1. I'm really into "Downton Abbey" (who isn't!) so I keep seeing the previews for "Sherlock." Eric and I decided to start watching it since it's on Netflix. (Plus, those crazy Brits have seasons that only consist of 3-7 episodes but each episode lasts 1-2 hours. Not sure what's going on there.) We've finished season 1 and are halfway through season 2. Season 3 just premiered so we'll probably be able to catch up before next Sunday's new episode. All that to say that I've REALLY gotten into it. It's pretty darn good. I still don't see what all the fuss is about Benedict Cumberbatch, but he makes an excellent Sherlock.

2. Some of the new music that's out. Namely, Katy Perry's "Dark Horse," Bastille's "Pompeii," Flo Rida's "How I Feel," and "Lorde's "Team." What can I say? I love a good bass line. I'm so tired of all the typical dance music that can all be interchanged with each other. Ugh! Move on! These songs are original and interesting, and have some awesome music.

3. It's no secret that I'm a big Saints fan. And if it is then I haven't been showing it off as much as I should. Since the Seahawks beat the Saints in the playoff game, and because of the postgame interview given by the Seahawks player, my third favorite thing this week is the Denver Broncos. I'm sure everyone saw the video of the football player acting a fool. I've also read the articles that say he's a great guy who pulled himself up from nothing and made himself famous. Yeah, I get that people have bad moments. His just happened to be on tv. He made me a Broncos fan for the Super Bowl. That and because Peyton Manning is a good ole boy from Mississippi.

Book Review: Ender's Game

This is a book I have always meant to read but never got around to it. I've seen it sitting on my dad's bookshelf since I was little. I've heard about it, so it's good enough to be famous. But it took seeing the movie to find the motivation to read the book. I honestly didn't even want to go see the movie. I went with Eric because he wanted to see it, and he saw a girly movie with me the last time. Marital compromise at it's finest. You know how the book is always better than the movie? (I think I'm just going to start watching the movie first. That way I won't be disappointed.) In this case, the movie was very close to the book. There was one part that I thought was just too sci-fi-y for my taste, but otherwise it was a movie I just kept thinking about. Now, on to the book review...the title of this post...the reason for it.

Side note: I always try to choose the picture that matches the version of the book I actually read.
Another side note: I won't choose the book with the movie picture as the cover. It's a little quirk I inherited from Eric.

Ender's Game is a book about a futuristic post-war Earth terrified of the "buggers" who they fear will come back to fight the humans until they are extinct. The adults in charge have been searching for someone, namely a child, to command their armies in the event of another attack. Children are born for this reason. They are tested, pushed, and, most of the time, sent away for not having the right qualities. This book follows Ender Wiggins. He is an exceptional young boy who just may have what it takes to end the buggers once and for all. It chronicles his time at Battle School and Command School. If you haven't seen the movie, then I won't ruin it for you, but WHOA! Shocker there near the end. Am I right? It may be a bit too science fiction for some people's taste, but it's a classic for a reason. There's so much more to it than aliens and outer space. The battle tactics and the glimpse into Ender's mind make it all the better. You should definitely read it. It's a quick read, though the chapters are a bit long, with lots of action to roll you along.

The Little Things I Learn

One of the prayers I've been praying lately is, "Lord, teach me to parent Kaleb the way he needs to be parented; not necessarily the way I want to parent him." It's no surprise that we've had some trying moments and days with our 4 year old. Since I've started changing the way I pray for him, I've had some pretty big realizations.

1. He is sensitive. He doesn't like to be laughed at or for anyone to even think he's different. Just this morning he was upset on the way to church because he was scared his friends would laugh at his new brown shoes. At FOUR he's worried about being accepted. A little part of me hurts to realize he's at that point.
What that means: He needs me (and other adults) to affirm him. I believe one of his love languages is Words of Affirmation, like his Daddy. He needs time to be alone and he needs me to be sensitive to how he's feeling.

2. Partly because of #1, he doesn't respond to yelling. He's just like me. If a teacher or other adult ever yelled at me I shut down and got incredibly angry. Kaleb has some of these tendencies. He doesn't necessarily shut down, but he does get incredibly angry. And since he's a four year old little boy, he channels that anger the only way that makes sense to him. He yells, throws things, and cries. We call it "flipping the switch." Once he calms down he's back to sweet, but, holy moly, until that happens, it's almost unbearable. 
What that means: I have to control my anger. That doesn't mean that he gets away with not doing what we've said, but it means I don't yell at him. I can speak firmly, but screaming does no good for either of us.

3. He wants a lot of attention. I know that all kids need attention, but he craves it. He wants to do things on his own, but we need to be watching him or at least in the same room with him while he's doing them. He'll drive cars by himself, but he wants us to look at how fast they'r'e going or the cool tricks they're doing. He's always telling us to pretend he's a baby. I think it's because we speak in the nicer, babyish voice and pay him ore attention.
What that means: I'm going to have to go crazy for a little while. When I get home from teaching I just want to sit for a few minutes and relax. Yeah, that's not likely to happen. And, honestly, it frustrates me. I know that when I had kids I had to die to some of my ways. Peace, quiet, a clean house, etc. But he'll only be little for a while longer. I need to play with him now.

Book Review: Gone Girl

As previously stated, my New Year's resolution was to be more intentional. I've realized that my personality also requires me to have goals. I wanted to be more intentional about reading, so I set a goal of 20 books this year. Here's the first one of the new year.

Gone Girl is another one of those books that will soon be turned into a movie. I'd heard a lot of hype about it, so I definitely wanted to read it. I had never read a mystery/thriller novel before, so I went into it with some trepidation.
Aside: I've always been a very...visual/emotional/empathetic person. I couldn't watch a movie in which someone died without crying. I couldn't watch anything remotely scary because my imagination would run wild and I'd be awake for multiple nights. So I knew that this might be a little trying/difficult/challenging for me.
Overall, I felt like it was a very well-written, well-thought out book. It's written in three parts. The first part tells the story from the husband's point of view after discovering his wife is missing. The second and third parts are written from a couple of different perspectives. Honestly, I felt like I'd been tricked a little bit. The first part was very interesting, and almost had you rooting for the husband AND the wife. There were some expletives, but not too many. The second part was a total turn around.The story was still interesting, but the language was almost unbearable. I almost stopped reading it because of all of the bad words. I mean, really, every bad or offensive word you can think of was in there...with a stronghold. If I didn't REALLY want to see whodunnit I would have stopped. Based on the storyline, I would recommend reading it. Based on the language, I would recommend staying far away. If you aren't easily offended by raunchy, foul words, proceed. If you are, I don't know that you would make it through part 2. I'd suggest reading a mystery/thriller book by a different author. I'm glad I finished it, and I'm still thinking over the ending, but I wasn't even tempted to read the "sneak peek" of the next book for fear I would have to immediately wash my ears out with soap.

One's Enough

This is from our New Year's card

I do New Year's Resolutions differently every year. One year I had one resolution per month, one year I had a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly resolution, and one year I had a resolution I knew I could keep (get married). This year, I have one resolution that encompasses every aspect of my life. Be more intentional. What does this mean? What does this look like?

In my relationship with Father:

• Intentionally take the time to spend in the Word and in prayer. Make it a priority instead of an after thought.
• Go to church with a purpose. Not just to say I went and check it off my weekly To Do List.

In my relationship with Eric:

• Use the time we get to spend together wisely. Not always sitting beside each other on our respective laptops, sometimes (embarrassingly) chatting with each other online when we're sitting one foot apart.
• Think about what he needs and wants. 

In my relationship with my kids:

• Spend time WITH them, not near them.
• Enact some rules that should have been in place all along.
• Teach them about Jesus at any possible moment.

In my actions:

• Speak kindly, wisely, and encouragingly.
• Spend free time in a constructive manner (mostly reading).

I'm not entirely sure how this is going to work out, but at the end of 2014 (assuming Jesus hasn't returned) I want to have been a productive, constructive Christian wife and mother.