Sweet: Julie & Julia

A friend who knows my love of cooking sent this movie from across the Pacific, all the way from Cambodia. 

Like, a year ago or something! Then I put it away and immediately forgot where I put it. And I've been looking for it for, like, a year. 

Then, while going through a desk drawer a week or two ago, what do you think I found? Sure enough; there it was!

So I watched it, and wow! I didn't even realize until later that I was watching a true story about something that had actually happened! The movie chronicles Julie Powell's journey of spending a year cooking through her hero Julia Child's book Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It also follows Julia Child during her time in France that inspired her to write the cookbook. 

But the movie's not just about cooking; it's also about writing and international travel, and it gives a poignant glimpse into the two women's marriages. I'd call it an emotional masterpiece!

Disclaimer: In addition to a little bit of cussing, the movie contains a couple of dirty scenes; so I don't recommend it for kids. Although I liked the movie in general, there were 2 or 3 things - they weren't TOO bad - that I feel should have been left out.

Books don't have scenes, though; so now I've really gotta read the book! :)

Great Books I've Read This Year

I meant to review one of my favorite books for YLCF's March of Books (http://ylcf.org). But I just never got around to it. Instead, I'll share a little bit about several different books. :)

January

The Journey of Desire by John Eldredge - a very interesting look at desire stifled, desire "satisfied" in this life, and desire for Heaven allowed to guide us in our journey through this life. Some fascinating ideas about Heaven. I'm not sure I agree with everything he said; but if not, it is certainly sound enough to be quite helpful.

Culture Shock by Margaret Jank - an autobiography about some missionaries to the Yanoamo tribe in Venezuela. A book about faith, revival, and the power of God.

First Person Singular - interviews with famous singles like Joni Eareckson Tada, Ann Kiemel, and Elisabeth Elliot Gren. Well, they were single at the time! :-)

Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper - outstanding encouragement to live passionately for Christ and His glory, to take risks, to give one's self, et cetera

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - a sad tale of a plain young orphan girl who grows up amid many misfortunes. It has a sweet ending.

Parenting in the Pew by Robbie Castleman - a fun exhortation to keep your kids with you and train them to worship along with you

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - a fun read. I'm not entirely sure what the point is. Perhaps the unselfish, loyal examples of Joe and Biddy?

February

For Such a Time as This by Lisa Ryan - a look at the book of Esther and some practical applications for girls today

The House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne - a "haunted house" tale about generational sins and people who break from those chains. Perhaps wordy, but still interesting even in the more verbose sections. Excellent characterization.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - a charming story about some spoiled, sickly children who grow sweet and healthy while restoring an old garden

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas - which tells of a man who chose merciless revenge and lived to regret that decision

The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare - about a man who married a shrew and treated her like she treated everyone else until the suffering sweetened her into a gentle woman

Boy Meets Girl by Josh Harris - a story-filled explanation of courtship

March

Generation Esther by Lisa Ryan - the sequel to For Such a Time as This; stories of modern "Esthers"

The Pilgrim's Regress by C. S. Lewis - a story about a young man who leaves legalism and travels through a world of intellectual errors in search of desire and finally believes the Man who saves his life

Persuasion by Jane Austen - a man comes back into the life of the woman who broke off her engagement to him at her father's persuasion eight years before; not her best work, at least in my opinion, but still worth reading

Stormie by Stormie Omartian - an autobiography illustrating the healing power of God

The Four Loves by C. S. Lewis - showing the good and bad sides of affection, friendship, and eros and the excellencies of charity. Also some interesting thoughts about "need-love," "gift-love," and "appreciation."

Parrot's Perch by Barry Holohan - My dad has met Mr. Holohan, and I've met George Theis. This is Mr. Holohan's autobiography, telling about his years running casinos, dealing drugs, sitting in prisons, enduring intense torture, and then coming to Christ and becoming a missionary.

April

I'm currently reading When God Writes Your Life Story by Eric and Leslie Ludy and Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon.

Martin Chuzzlewit

The longest Dickens novel I have read, and the best! The theme is selfishness, and Mr. Dickens describes it thoroughly with many very different obnoxious characters as well as its antonym through some very charming ones. Some characters change, which is all the better. Most don't, which is very realistic. If you don't have time to read a several hundred page book, at least watch the 1994 BBC version on youtube.com. I believe it's 6 hours long. Many scenes had to be cut out, but nothing was altered. They brought the story to life very well.

Mr. Pecksniff and "decrepit" Mr. Chuzzlewit

Merry Pecksniff and her mercenary fiance

Martin and Mary

The Cheapest Way to Read a Book

Has there ever been a time when you wanted very much to read a book, but the price tag was just a little too high to go out and buy it? That happens to me, well, practically all the time. So what's the solution? Go to the library. :D

I absolutely love public libraries. They usually have a shelf of books for sale at cheap prices, a wide variety of classics, a decent selection of Christian books, and sometimes even free stuff.

But what if they don't have the book you want? That also happens to me a lot. A conservative Christian homeschooler writes a book - a really good book - but somehow it doesn't rate so high on the general public's list of great books, so our library doesn't get it. No problem. Interlibrary loan it! Your local public library will more than likely be happy to interlibrary loan books for you from any other library in the country, even if that means college and seminary libraries. Very rarely have they actually been unable to find a book.

So now I get to read all the good books I want, without spending a dime. And of course, if I REALLY like a book I can go ahead and buy it. At that point Amazon comes in handy.

Marriage, Petticoats, and Waltzes

I just finished reading C. S. Lewis's space trilogy and found it very good, just full of insights into the Christian life! Of course, I also found myself wishing the book was mine instead of the library's so that I could mark through all the curse words for future readers. Why would a Christian author put such words in his book? At any rate, it was a tremendous series overall! Here is one of my favorite quotes from That Hideous Strength:

“Did you understand his views on marriage?”

“My dear, the Director is a very wise man. But he is a man, after all, and an unmarried man at that. Some of what he says, or what the Masters say, about marriage does seem to me to be a lot of fuss about something so simple and natural that it oughtn’t to need saying at all. But I suppose there are young women now-a-days who need to be told it.”

“You haven’t got much use for young women who do, I see.”

“Well, perhaps I’m unfair. Things were easier for us. We were brought up on stories with happy endings and on the Prayer Book. We always intended to love, honour, and obey, and we had figures and we wore petticoats and we liked waltzes. . . .”

“Waltzes are ever so nice,” said Mrs. Maggs who had just returned and given MacPhee his slab of cake, “so old-fashioned.”

~ From pp. 509-510, Quality Paperback Book Club, 1997.

What's so Amazing About Grace?

I am currently reading this excellent book:

The Bible says that Jesus was full of grace and truth, and that the virtuous woman's words are both wise and kind. For me, the truth and wisdom comes much more easily. In fact, if being "full of truth" were everthing required, I would be able to feel pretty confident about myself. But that's not enough. Truth is ineffective and nonvaluable without that other important ingredient called GRACE. That's the whole point of I Corinthians 13, and one that I desperately need to learn. And that's why I need this book.

The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table

A couple of months ago I pushed myself to stick this book out to the end. It was very interesting and amusing; however, the language was rather difficult, requiring frequent trips to the dictionary (not necessarily a bad thing :D). The real issue with the book is the many times when the author's opinions disagree with Scripture. Therefore I cannot bring myself to recommend the book. Here are a few quotations which I found to be of some value for those interested in a taste of it. Oh, one last thing: please don't think I'm endorsing every word in these quotes; I just like them for what good can be found in them.

"Beware of making your moral staple consist of the negative virtues. It is good to abstain, and teach others to abstain, from all that is sinful or hurtful. But making a business of it leads to emaciation of character, unless one feeds largely also on the more nutritious diet of active sympathetic benevolence" (page 17).

"How curious it is that we always consider solemnity and the absence of all gay surprises and encounter of wits as essential to the idea of the future life of theose whom we thus deprive of half their faculties and then call blessed! There are not a few who, even in this live, seem to be preparing themselves for that smileless eternity to which they look forward, by banishing all gayety from their hearts and all joyousness from their countenances. I meet one such in the street not unfrequently, a person of intelligence and education, but who gives me (and all that he passes) such a rayless and chilling look of recognition, - somthing as if he were one of Heaven's assessors, come down to "doom" every acquaintance he met, - that I have sometimes begun to sneeze on the spot, and gone home with a violent cold, dating from that instant. I don't doubt he would cut his kitten's tail off, if he caught her playing with it. Please tell me, who taught her to play with it?" (page 85, emphasis original).

"Every person's feelings have a front-door and a side-door by which they may be entered. The front-door is on the street. Some keep it always open; some keep it latched; some, locked; some bolted, - with a chain that will let you peep in, but not get in; and some nail it up, so that nothing can pass its threshold. This front-door leads into a passage which opens into an ante-room, and this into the interior apartments. THe side-door opens at once into the sacred chambers.

"There is almost always at least one key to this side-door. This is carried for years hidden in a mother's bosom. Fathers, brothers, sisters, and friends, often, but by no means so universally, have duplicates of it. The wedding-ring conveys a right to one; alas, if none is given with it!

"If nature or accident has put one of these keys into the hands of a person who has the torturing instinct, I can only solemnly pronounce the words that Justice utters over its doomed victim, - The Lord have mercy on your soul! You will probably go mad within a reasonable time, - or, if you are a man, run off and die with your head on a curb-stone, in Melbourne or San Francisco, - or, if you are a woman, quarrel and break your heart, or, turn into a pale, jointed petrifaction that moves about as if it were alive, or play some real life-tragedy or other.

"Be very careful to whome you trust one of these keys of the side-door. The fact of possessinjg one renders those even who are dear to you very terrible at times. You can keep the world out from you front-door, or receive visitors only when you are ready for them; but those of your own flesh and blood, or of certain grades of intimacy, can come in at the side-door, if they will, at any hour and in any mood. Som of them have a scale of your whole nervous system, and can play all the gamut of your sensibilities in semi-tones, - touching the naked nerve-pulps as a pianist strikes the keys of his instrument. I am satisfied that there are as great masters of this nerve-playing as Vieuxtemps or Thalberg in their lines of performance. Married life is the school in which the most accomplished artists in this department are found. . . . No stranger can get a great many notes of torture out of a human soul; it takes one that knows it well, - parent, child, brother, sister, intimate. Be very careful to whom you give a side-door key; too many have them already" (pages 114-115, emphasis original).