Tag Archives: book

Jul 22 2010

My Review of “The Host”

I have gone without reading any fiction for almost a year. It was high-time I picked up another novel, and with my new iPad, I wanted to test reading an e-book. I shopped around for The Host, and found the edition and price I was interested in from the Barnes & Noble e-reader bookstore.

Reading on the iPad is great. Granted, it was a learning experience, to read a 560 page book on an e-reader has it’s pros and cons. But I foun I had the hang of it before page 100. I’m glad I invested in the e-book format. I know now from experience that I can recommend e-reading. It really isn’t all that different from a hard copy, if your eyes are good.

The Host is the novel by Stephanie Meyer—the author of Twilight—she has written since she finished the  Twilight novels. The Host has nothing to do with vampires. This book is about an alien species that takes over the human race on earth. Really, it’s about one alien of this alien race, and her experiences with the human race, as she comes to favor mankind over her own kind.

In a clever way, the story is an update on the premise of Jekyll and Hyde. The idea with the classic Jekyll and Hyde is that there are two personas in each person; one good, and the other evil. Only one controls the heart of man at any given moment, but these two demeanors are in constant war with each other. This is just the tip of the iceberg with the Hyde story. I recommend you look into it for yourself. It’s a great novel.

In The Host, while there is not this sort of literal split personality like that of Jekyll and Hyde, there is a metaphor for it. The alien’s soul is like that of, maybe, somewhat like the holy spirit, actually. The heart of man is still present, and so the human heart, and the alien soul, are at odds continuously in the main character. Now, this is how the moral values are represented. This is not necessarily how the social and cultural differences of the characters are metaphorically represented. There’s a lot of science fiction to the story of The Host. That said, it’s much more than just a sci-fi flick. There’s drama, romance (not half as much as in Twilight), and suspense.

I like a good story that explores the conflict of the human heart. Man’s soul is basically evil. The Bible says so. It couldn’t be any clearer. However, we are either ‘ruled’ by our fleshed—the evil side of human nature—or we are living in the Holy Spirit, and our Lord lives through us; thus making it possible for us to do good. In so doing, as the Lord lives in us, we are ‘dead’ to the flesh. The metaphor found in The Host is great for expanding one’s understanding of such a spiritual dynamic.

While I do think that the Twilight series is a great work about great characters with a weak story (at times) I think something different about The Host. The Host is a great work about mostly great characters with a great story. So the strength of The Host is the overall story, and some of the characters are weaker than those found in the Twilight stories.

Do I recommend you read The Host? It is slightly more ‘mature’ than the subject matters of Twilight, while still being easier to grasp and easier to discern. A world of vampires with their complex moral ethical controversies are harder to deal with than the pure and simple outrageous possibilities of the aliens in The Host.

So, The Host is good for high school graduates, young adults, lovers of science fiction, and those that simply enjoy Stephanie Meyer stories. I’d give The Host ★★★½ out of five.

Dec 11 2009

Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths New Cover Art

The final cover

I create cover art every now and then. I like the creative. I could do without producing creative for others. : ) I like every mockup I create just about. For each book cover I work on I mockup at least 5 unique covers. Inevitably, the authors choose my second or third favorite of the lot. For once, I wish my preferred mockups would be chosen. Maybe one of these days….

The cover that was chosen was inspired by some new book covers I’ve seen at Barnes & Noble in the past year. Maybe the next time you’re browsing a book store, you’ll recognize a cover or two that also have a torn cover effect. Continue reading →

Sep 28 2009

Review: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

The Harry Potter series of books is completed. When the series was hot discussion in years past, little did people know where the series was headed. I’ve heard fans and those disenchanted of the stories amongst Christians. Obviously, a story relating a system of magic is not one to be taken likely for Believers. Magic in the real world is supernatural. Real world magic is either spiritually good or evil. Real world magic is usually engrossed in some form of religious worship — and not worship to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Literal vs. Fictional Magic
In fiction, magic usually takes on fictional characteristics that are inconsistent with real-world magic. While there are stories that relate ideals of magicians, wizards, and witches to be true and good, a many “hocus pocus” stories don’t want to be all that literal. Is Harry Potter attempting to be literal magic or fanciful? Is Harry Potter propose that magic is truly an acceptable, universal, truthful, and positive force of the “real” world?
It doesn’t seem so, based on the telling of the first installment, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” A lot of imagination and creative ingenuity tell a fantasy of a young boy called to a specialized school of magic in a dimension set apart from the world of non-magical people. Most of the magicians in the story are fictitious, and their magical methodology is non-descript. The teachers of magic at this fictional school say that there is a good magic and an evil magic. The evil use of magic is usually called “the dark side of magic.”
Sound similar to another popular fantasy? In relation to how the magic all works in the Potter book, it frequently reminded me of the force in Star Wars. Do Christians everywhere have a moral problem with the force?
Yes. Christians should understand that the supernatural in the real-world is what the Bible describes. There is not an abstract force governing the destinies of man and alien throughout the galaxy. Darth Vader is a fantasy character. So is the evil wizard Voldemort of the Harry Potter fables. If Christians are struggling with what is real and what is fictional when they hear/see these stories, they have major struggles with discernment and probably shouldn’t enjoy such stories. If you have sense and know where to draw a mental line between just good imagination and reality, I don’t think that the fictitious laws of morality and magic should hinder one’s understanding of the real world.
What’s to Like About the Story?
Harry Potter is an intricate story well-told. It’s good youth fiction that adults may enjoy to read as well. The distinctions between right and wrong are mostly consistent with those of the real world (magical or no magical forces). Several mysteries are introduced in this first book and just enough of them are answered (and some unanswered) to keep people entertained and interested in continuing the rest of the series. The characters have good dynamics (relationships). Side characters that appear to have little relevance in the beginning have significant developments of their own throughout and to the very end of the book (before the end of the story, you realize just how important seemingly insignificant characters are).
Harry is tested many times over with making simple, yet difficult, ethical decisions. Faced with bullies, family, peers, trolls, and magic itself, Harry must practice discernment to make the wisest choices in his unusual circumstances. Harry doesn’t always make the right ethical choices, but given his developments we see Harry learns from some of his mistakes; making progress towards maturity in his early youth (I think Harry is supposed to be eleven in this book).
Adults in the school that are meant to be role-models have high expectations of their youthful students. While not all children are positive examples to other students, all children are expected to practice self-control and face their academic and social challenges responsibly. It would seem (because it is implied) that the children are not only taught magic but given a moral standard of the right and wrong use of it — quite a feet for this alternative school to pull off.
What’s Not to Like About the Story?
Given this is a magical, fanciful world of magic, some times I would like to know what’s at the foundation of the magical universe and what governs it. It’s not clear that the world Potter lives in does or does not have God, or a force, or something that defines absolutes. Absolutes are all throughout the story, but you’re left to assume their meaning to life without knowing why there is meaning — there just is.
At times, legendary icons of magic history are mentioned from history. Most of these people named are real-world men and women of history (some aren’t) and in all their cases they really weren’t good examples of moral upstanding. One magician mentioned as a “great from the past” is Agrippa — Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (c. 63 BC-12 BC) [ADD LINK]. If the Agrippa mentioned is the Agrippa of Rome, you can see why conservative and Christian families would object to uplifting such a foe as a positive role-model of times past. Agrippa may not be one of the more notorious historical figures, but there’s little saintly about him either. I’ll also note that it is clever in the story to mention real-world historical people because it returns interest to the real-world and history, but it is misguided at the same time in this book (in my opinion).
In “The Wizard of Oz,” it’s stated very clearly that “there are good witches and there are bad witches….” This statement does not make up for the fact that it isn’t true in the real-world, but it does make it clear that Oz is very different from the real-world. In this story, witches and wizards are just professions, as it were, and it is the individual witch and wizard that is judged on their own merits as good or evil. This is basically the same scenario as in Oz, but it isn’t as clear an explanation. Very young children might not pick up on this position in the story, and thusly respond more open-mindedly to witchcraft in the real-world.
What About the Movie?
After I finished the book I saw the film. Here’s what I think: it’s consistent with the book, but not as well-told or thorough. The book is rushed at moments in the film. Relationships of characters, places, events are not explained, so you are left assuming a great deal more from the film. In favor of the movie, there are excellent elements of cinematography, special effects, and soundtrack. I could tell a lot of effort was put into the film to drive the audience’s interest back to the books.
Conclusion
It’s not a story to be taken lightly. There are good reasons readers should gird their minds when reading the book, but no reason why the story cannot be enjoyable, insightful, and scrutinized by readers. More story-telling like that in the story of “The Sorcerer’s Stone” could lead to some very positive reinforcement of good, clean values and beliefs.

sorcerers_stoneThe Harry Potter series of books is completed. When the series was hot discussion in years past, little did people know where the series was headed. I’ve heard very opposite opinions about the stories amongst Christians; whether it be for good or evil for readers. Obviously, a story relating a system of magic is not one to be taken lightly for Believers. Magic in the real world is supernatural. Real world magic is either spiritually good or evil. Real world magic is usually engrossed in some form of religious worship — and not worship to the Lord Jesus Christ. Continue reading →

Jul 7 2009

Edward Cullen Picks Up Where Dr. Jekyll Left Off

It was the curse of mankind that these incongruous [personalities—the good and the bad] were thus bound together—that in the agonized womb of consciousness, these polar twins should be continuously struggling.
- Dr. Jekyll

In my last post, I began a review of the book Twilight. Let’s continue. Continue reading →

Jun 25 2009

Jeckyll and Hyde Revisited in Teenage Vampire Tale

By popular demand, there is a new monster story on the rise to classic literature claim of fame. The Twilight saga, by Stephenie Meyer, is one of the more recent captivating tales about a world with vampires and werewolves. Already a completed series of books, with the potential of further expansion, Twilight is recognized as a hit with young adult audiences everywhere. Of the four books in the series, one has already had a movie adaptation with sequel installments well under way.

Continue reading →

Feb 16 2009

Book Review: The New Media Frontier

Even if you’re the most disinterested individual in the Internet frontier you’re still going to hear about it everywhere you turn. So many people have the trivial pursuit to know the latest craze or boom of popularity via the cyber world that so many live in. The Internet may be the most powerful tool man has designed in all history. One wonders what could possibly surpass the usefulness of the world-wide web. Continue reading →

Dec 12 2008

Book Review: 48 Liberal Lies About American History

There are quite a few trying to twist history for their own benefit. When it is convenient to make a conservative look like a bad guy, liberals will doctor up history to push their own agenda. Of course, I think that liberals will also do this sort of thing to their own—liberals will back-bite other liberals if it will help them in their cause today.

Front Cover

Front Cover

Of course revisionist history is not limited to liberal efforts. Twisting history is rather common among professional historians these days of all political backgrounds. Whatever their motive, they are not interested in the integrity of history. You could say these people are better storytellers than historians professionally. I admire their creativity. I have great disdain for their attempt to remold facts. I don’t mind learning that a group or individual has done something wrong if it is historically relevant and true. Just don’t dish out to me and the ignorant masses your lies to perpetuate your schemes—it is a scheme if you cannot find an honest method to make your mission possible without lying to the masses.

An excellent book that was recently released on this subject is 48 Liberal Lies about American History. This book topically hits 48 specific lies liberals perpetuate from the founding of America all the way up through recent events like 9/11. It keeps to the subjects and knocks them out concisely in a short number of pages for each lie. It would be good to have a general knowledge of American history going into reading the book, but nevertheless I think people rusty on history would still enjoy the book.

It’s also a great looking book. I love the cover. I didn’t have anything to do with it. :-) I’m not sure if there is a paperback, but definitely get the hardback with the dust jacket. It’s very attractive from all sides, and the pages open up nicely so you don’t have to fight the book to keep it open as you read.

Some of the Lies addressed:
• The founders wanted to create a “wall of separation” between church and state
• Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation only because he needed black soldiers
• Truman ordered the bombing of Hiroshima to intimidate the Soviets with “atomic diplomacy”
• Mikhail Gorbachev, not Ronald Reagan, was responsible for ending the Cold War

You get the idea. It has a great deal to do with wars, presidents, property, and international relationships.

All of author Larry Schweikart’s refutations of the lies are well documented and legit. I may differ on him with an item or two—like whether some of the lies may be labeled liberal ones—but the facts are all clean (no revisionist history in the process of refuting revisionist history).

You can find the book for sale by most booksellers. It is also available through the ministry American Vision where I work and found out about the book. I trust you check into it soon. It would be good as a gift if it doesn’t suit you topically as a read for yourself.

Dec 11 2008

A Christmas Carol Audio Dramatization

The classic work by Dickens, A Christmas Carol, is one of the most recognized pieces of english literature in America. There are more than a dozen screen adaptations, plays, and books that play up unique perspectives and approaches to the classic itself. But, have you ever read the original book?

I designed the cover.

I designed the cover.

Do you know that there are several Christian themes all throughout it? Granted, Dickens’ economic socialism is there too, but in large part he was telling a story in a time of history that was mainly Christian in nature. English civilization was reaping the benefits of a Christian worldview, and this was profiting all areas of life. Christian culture was in the air and one of the reasons the book was so successful. The general nature of “good will towards men” is a Christian concept.

I’ve had the privilege of co-working on a production of the book for audio dramatization. Steve Cook of Five Talents Audio produced an unabridged dramatization with sound effects, music, character voices, and narration of the works entirety. The finish time-length of the program is approximately 4 hours. What I did for the product was design the casing and CDs labeling.

I got to take a listen to it and it’s superb. Steve has a great voice for his authentic treatment of the story. There are elements to the story you miss when watching a movie with or without movie narration. With the dramatization you know that you’re getting the original work without alteration. Dickens is usually more witty than I’d given him credit for before listening to the adaptation.

You can get the audiobook via American Vision’s online store.