Book Reviews

I love reading. I have always been a bookworm. Nothing sophisticated, usually romantic comedies. Life is too serious as it is, I don't like reading books with real-life problems.

I've always been a fast reader. Anytime anyone was reading over my shoulder, I would glance at them, see that they weren't finished, and wait to turn the page. J is the only one I've ever met who can read faster than me. I remember the first time we went on an airplane ride and I was reading over his shoulder. He was turning the pages faster than I could read them. I remember feeling shocked.

So I found a few books that I love. The first two aren't my normal fiction, but I've been telling people about them, so I thought a book review would be fun.

This book is written by a marriage counselor. He describes the five love languages - touch, acts of service, words of affirmation, gifts, and quality time. Couples have problems when they don't communicate in the appropriate love language. So if a husband always tells a wife how beautiful she is and how much he loves her, but spends a lot of time at work, and the wife's love language is quality time, she is going to be unhappy. It's a great book because at the beginning the author talks about being in love and the feelings that are experienced. How you just can't wait to make your partner the happiest person in the world, how you will do anything for that person. How the initial feelings of being in love fade, and people are ultimately selfish. But you can work at loving your partner, and making sure that person feels loved. He described how marriages on the brink of divorce were able to find new life. It was an informative read.

Heaven is for Real. I really don't feel like I need to say anything more.

This is a fantasy book. Not fantasy with mythical creatures or anything. It's basically the same world as would be experienced in old times - kings, castles, horses, warriors. Except for one difference. People born with two different eye colors - they can be any color, the point is that the colors don't match - are graced. This means that they have a special gift. It can be anything from riding horses, fighting, mind reading, cooking, or even something kind of dumb such as being the best whistler. The main character is a young woman who is graced. I can't reveal much of the story without ruining it, but I love this book. If they make it into a movie I might cry. And hope that it is a total flop.

Here's my thing with books and movies. I'm OK watching the movie and then reading the book. I did that with Where the Heart Is. Natalie Portman and Ashley Judd gave great performances, and the book added extra insight (and extra characters). Reading the book was a great experience after seeing the movie, and I felt like it added a nice layer that was missing. Watching a movie after reading a book is a horrible experience. If I read the book, I already have the characters and their voices in my head. My Harry Potter characters are gone forever, and have been replaced with really bad actors. I'm still furious about it. I've only seen one movie, but the stupid actors were EVERYWHERE. You couldn't escape them. And the movies take things away from the book. They don't add an extra little layer. It just ruins something precious.

I made sure to watch the movie The Help before reading the book. Much better experience for me. I don't mind that the characters have already been created for me. The extra scenes that the book has to offer make up for it.

So there's my book review...and rant against movies....

I may have a few pending home improvement projects. We'll see.