book review. . .

i finished the good earth last week.

it was terrific!


it's the story of a man living in china.
the story basically centers around two things: his family & his land.
the book starts off on the day of his marriage, and ends when
he is an old man.
the book is great in how it describes man's connection to the land.
throughout the entire book, this man's poverty or wealth is
directly related to how well his land produces rice, wheat, vegetables, etc.
growing up as a poor farmer, he makes it his goal to own
lots of land and to have a great house for his family.
in the end, his land and his riches get the best of him and
his family sort of falls apart.
i would give this book a 5 on a 1-5 scale.
it provides an interesting insight into Chinese culture and it's just
and entertaining story!

logan & i are off to Seattle for the week :)
my cousin is getting married & i am so excited!
promise to take some good pics and throw them up here asap.
i needed to decide on a good book for the road trip up there
but i got busy packing & stuff at the last minute so i didn't have
time to hit up the library.
i scoured our shelf of books and decided to read. . .

(drum roll please)




i know i know- i have heard all the accusations about how greg mortenson
is a fake & he embellished his stories, etc.
but i have heard it's a good book and i have read basically
everything else on our little book shelf.
hopefully it will be a good read for the 14 hour road trip.
we are driving with my grandparents which should be fun.
logan is just excited to drive their car:


he is also secretly hoping that they will fall asleep early on so he
can drive as fast and as reckless as his little heart desires.
he has "joked" about giving them some sleeping pills in their sodas
at the first rest stop we pass.
speaking of logan- today is our 11 monthiversary!
one more month till our first anniversary!
i couldn't be more excited:)

have a good week!
we are off to seattle!

book review. . .

last night i finished reading the hiding place.
on the 1-5 scale i would honestly have to say that this book deserves a 5.


it was great!
it's the true story of a woman living in holland during world war II.
she and her family risk their lives to take jews into their
home and protect them during the war.
she and her family are eventually thrown into
prison for saving the lives of many jews.
i don't want to give away anything just in case you
ever plan on reading it, but the faith and courage this woman shows
is truly amazing to read about.
the authors who wrote the book did a fantastic job of re-telling
this woman's story, and i gained a better understanding of what life
was like during the war.
if i had to describe the book using one word it would be: suspenseful.
the majority of the book leaves you wondering if
the jews will be discovered in the house, if this woman's family
will be captured by the gestapo, and once captured what will
become of them as they have to endure the horrors of prison
and german concentration camps.
i love historical fiction, so this book was a fascinating read.
details about how jews were treated and the devastation of concentration
camps was saddening, but overall the message of
courage, faith & hope that this woman had leaves you with a
triumphant feeling that faith in God will overcome any hardship.
if you are on the market for a new book-read this one!
you won't be able to put it down, and it is an incredible story.

book review. . .

the only "book reviews" i have done were completed in

my high school years.
therefore, i might be a little rusty at this, but i'm going to give it a whirl.
i just finished reading east of eden by john steinbeck.
literally.
i just put it down and came to the computer.
i had heard from multiple people that it was a great book
and it was really interesting, etc.
i made a recent goal to read a book a month, so i decided to start with this one.

if i had to give it a rating of 1-5 with 1 being awful and 5 being fantastic
i would give this book a 3.5.
it was entertaining and it made me think.
the overriding theme throughout the book was the idea of timshel, or man's
choice to live a life of good or evil.
this theme was laced throughout the book, but didn't truly
hit home till literally the last sentence of the book.
the book was interesting in the way that it paralleled the bible.
it's a story about 3 generations of family and how their lives unfold
based on choices they make.
the main reference to the bible was made through the story of
cain and abel, which reflects the story of a few of the main characters.
overall the book details the individual struggles of good vs. evil.
each character is fully developed and the reader gains a deep understanding
of who they are through their actions.
i enjoyed the fact that steinbeck developed each character, and took time to
paint a vivid picture of each individual.
this helped in the end of the book, when the idea of timshel is really hit home.
i liked the fact that steinbeck developed each character so fully by
giving great detail about their thoughts and actions, however
sometimes that was the very thing that was hard to read.
many of the characters do things that are evil in the book:
prostitution, drinking, blackmail, fornication, etc.
steinbeck goes into great detail about these evil-doings, so the vivid imagery
mixed with some foul and harsh language sometimes
made the book a little hard to read.
if i had known how much sex, lies and drugs would have been in the book,
i honestly probably wouldn't have read it.
it wasn't very uplifting reading about those things.
i understand these evil things were necessary in unfolding the theme
of good vs. evil and man's ability to choose his moral destiny,
but it just wasn't very uplifting.
at the end of the book you come away with the realization that man really
does have the choice between good & evil, and they are not destined for one or the other.
i thought this quote from the book was interesting, and it does
a nice job of encapsulating the theme of the story.

"And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected."

if you want to read a book that makes you think, read it.
however, you will be reading about prostitution, drugs and blackmail
in great detail.
overall i would say it was a good read, but honestly it was a little smutty.
i'm sure those of you who have read it have other thoughts.
so what did you think about the book?
any suggestions for what i should read next?