Ignorant Historian

“…you won her over. Gave up everything for her. Maybe that’s the only way to convince her you love her.” – Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, p. 329

“Many churches speak about homosexuality in terms of sin and judgment but about divorce in terms of forgiveness and grace. When a same sex couple goes down to the courthouse to petition for a marriage certificate, the Christians show up with sandwich boards. Do they also show up when their congregants go to the same courthouse to petition for an “unbiblical divorce?” Likely not. And the hypocrisy on this issue has not escaped the next generation.” -“Why Our Generation Doesn’t Care About Prop 8″ by Jonathan Merritt

“I asked the children [from the suburbs] where the slums were. But they said there were no slums near where they lived, only far away, in the city.” – The Love Wife by Gish Jen, p. 44

“We’re fickle, stupid beings with poor memories and a great gift for self-destruction.” – Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, p. 379

“Annie, being a virgin in this day and age is something to be proud of…you’re like a unicorn.” – Shirley, Community, “The Politics of Human Sexuality”

“He is the God that understands that I just miss being loved by a lover….I am blessed in the truest sense of the word.  I am also a little lonely.” – Amy Beth Bullard, “The God Who Understands”

“Finally, he can see me for who I really am. Violent. Distrustful. Manipulative. Deadly. And I hate him for it.” – Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, p. 232

“A proud person tries to reinvent reality. He tries to redraw the borders of human behavior to suit himself, displacing God as the Lord and boundary keeper of life.” – Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be by Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., p. 125

“I noticed, too, it was the cruelest thing you could say about a person–that they were small.” – Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl

(advice given against early engagements) “…if a man is going through a woods, and sees a good young sapling, he may mark it and come back afterward and get it, if he can.” – Most Famous Man in America

” ‘Oh, no. It costs a lot more than your life. To murder innocent people?’ says Peeta. ‘It costs everything you are.’ ” – Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, p. 23

What kind of Hunger Games fan would I be if I didn’t talk about the release of Mockingjay today?  Perhaps you’re like me and waiting to get a copy from the library (it’ll still be brand new, but I don’t have to pay for it).  Or perhaps you’ve stayed up all night reading it (don’t spoil it for me!) and you’re looking for something else to read.

So, what should you read if you like The Hunger Games?  In other words, what are my favorite dystopian/adventure books?

In no particular order (too hard!):

1. The Giver, Gathering Blue and Messenger

I read The Giver when it came out and really enjoyed it.  As an adult, I realized that there was a companion novel, Gathering Blue, and later realized that there was a 3rd.  I wish I had read all 3 back to back as I had a hard time following the strings that connect the first two to the third.  If you haven’t read these (or have only read The Giver) I recommend them thoroughly!

2.  Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

This is the first book of a series (with no knowing when book 2 will be out as Fforde has several series going on right now).  To be honest, I wasn’t sure that this was dystopian until the end, and I loved that (sorry to ruin that).  In classic Ffordian-style, this is full of plays-on-words and ridiculous mimicry of aspects of our society (think Dr. Seuss’s The Butter Battle Book for adults).  Who would have thought of classifying people by which color they can see (and how much of it)?

3. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

I really didn’t like this book at first.  It’s written in a kind of futuristic slang that really bugged me.  But after a hundred pages, I forgot that and was entranced.  A great idea executed well: a group of settlers on an alien planet are troubled by the fact that everything a male thinks is heard aloud by everyone.  This is actually Book 1 of the Chaos Walking trilogy, but since Book 3 isn’t out until September, I thought I’d delay reading book 2 until then.

4. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Okay, so this is definitely science fiction, but don’t let that scare you off at all.  Like Hunger Games, it tells of a society that exploits children, this time not for entertainment, but to train them to save Earth from invading aliens (stay with me!).  Just try it, okay?

5.  Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden

My all-time favorite book as a teen.  What happens when a group of teenagers returns from a holiday in the bush (gotta love the Australian setting!) to find that their town–indeed, their whole country–has been overtaken by another country?  It’s the first in a series, but easily stands alone.

6. Genesis by Bernard Beckett

This is a short little book that’s more like a long short story.  But though it can be read in one sitting, it’ll keep you thinking for a while.  Telling you anything more would just be doing you a disservice, so just read it, k?

So those are my recommendations to you, fellow Hunger Games-lovers.  Any more recommendations?

In light of tomorrow’s release of Mockingjay, I will be posting on related topics today and tomorrow.

I’ve always been a fan of dystopian novels long before I knew the term “dystopian.”  I remember reading The Giver in middle school and being blown away.  1984 was easily my favorite assigned read in high school.  Recently I can’t get enough of the genre (though there are more coming out than I could reasonably read).

I think what I appreciate about these books is their depiction of the way that we sinners make a mess out of things.  Without God, that’s where we’re left.

Lately, though, I’ve notice that a few of the recent releases stray from the dystopian theme, perhaps.

Can a dystopian novel end optimistically and still be dystopian?

I mean, even Hunger Games ends in a seemingly impossible way (trying to be spoiler free!)…though we still don’t know how the trilogy will end.

Under the Dome (which I don’t mind spoiling because I think Stephen King should have been edited down from 1000 pages to no more than 600) ends simply and optimistically.

Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Last Survivors trilogy is what got me thinking about this subject originally.

But on the other hand, a few years ago I disliked The Road because there WAS no hope in the end.  So either I’m a hypocrite, or my tastes have changed.  Or maybe I allowed my dislike of Cormac McCarthy’s style to color my view of his ending.

I wonder if we want dystopian books to end happily, just like our movies.  Can we not handle the dark truth of a tale like The Picture of Dorian Gray today?

Thoughts?

Photo by mattsabo17

1.  If you were on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, whose names would you submit as your three lifelines, and what subjects would each person be your go-to person for?

Let’s see…I’d definitely put my dad on the list for all things mathematical/scientific.  I’d also choose my college roommate, Dana, as she’s familiar with a ton of movies (and a ton of other things…she’s well-read as well) that I’m not.  I’d also want to pick someone who’s good with pop culture, but I can’t think of anyone off the top of my head that would be a good fit.

2.  What food grosses you out just by its texture?

Grits.  Definitely don’t get them.

3.  How long would it take you, via the quickest means available, to get to the place of your birth from where you are right now?

If someone chartered me a flight and had it waiting for me at the airport right now, I think I could be there in 3 hours.  I think it’d take just over 2 hours to fly direct to Wichita (not that I’ll ever know that!).  Driving it takes 20 hours.

4.  From what store is it impossible for you to emerge empty-handed?

Target, for sure.  There is always something that I “need.”

5. What do you usually use to mark your place in a book?

A piece of paper from a notepad.  It doubles as a place for me to record quotes.

I’m less than 30 comments away from 10,000 comments. I can’t thank you all enough.

I’m less than 10 posts away from my 1,000th post. There WILL be something big and never-been-done-before here on the Ignorant Historian on that day. Stop by Tuesday or Wednesday next week (which day depends on whether I post quotes this coming Sunday or not)…I promise that you do NOT want to miss it.

This fall, I’ll be helping to lead a book discussion over on Offering Hospitality. The book? Women’s Ministry in the Local Church by J. Ligon Duncan and Susan Hunt. I’m looking forward to this opportunity. Want to join the discussion of the book? That’s easy enough…enter to win it!  The contest will be open until Sunday, August 15th.

Now that school is starting (I’m not a teacher or student, but I still think in school years), I hope to bring some more thought-provoking posts here to the Ignorant Historian.  They’re rolling around in my head, I just have to let them out!

On that note, what’s your favorite school supply to shop for?

Photo by Caro Wallis

Due to how little I’ve been reading lately (thank you, summer), it’s taken me a while to finish this book, but I’m so glad I have.  Why?  Because since I opened it, I wanted to share it with you all.  I don’t know if it’s the history major or the teacher within me, but I love to share what I learn, especially when it’s something as fascinating as the rise of Nazi Germany.

I’ve read books set during World War II ad nauseam, and while I didn’t want to pick up another for a while, it got me thinking about the roots of Nazi Germany.  How in the world did someone like Hitler come to power, to murder over 11 million of his own people?  How did people much like me actually vote him into power?

I won’t lie, my fascination with this in part comes from my fascination with the Star Wars series.  Actually, the more I study it, the more I see how George Lucas created the Empire in the type of Nazi Germany.  The scene where the senate votes Palpatine emergency powers and Padme’s comment, “So this is how liberty dies, to the sound of thunderous applause” is easily in my top 5 favorite moments of the series.

Enough Star Wars.  I promise I’m not that geeky.

Milton Mayer, an American journalist and a Jew had the same question about Hitler’s rise to power.  So in the early 50s, he goes to West Germany to interview 10 everyday, former Nazis.  The answers they give him are insightful into human nature and in many cases, frightening.

In spite of what I believed before, these people weren’t hypnotized by Hitler.  It wasn’t chiefly his charisma or his ability to rally the people that drew them to him.  They chose him and his party because they saw him as the only practical answer to communism–the great enemy.

They joined the Nazi party to gain jobs and because they thought that Germany would be better off under Nazism (remember, that the Great Depression of the 30s was as big a motivator for them as it was for them).  And in some cases, they still thought that at the time of their interviews.

It is that motivation that is incredibly scary to me.  Americans seem to evaluate politicians based on what they promise to do for them.  What a poor evaluation criteria, but one you’d expect from a selfish people.

Only one of the 10 Nazis really regrets his party involvement, and he knew it was wrong from the beginning.  He joined primarily in order to be able to help out his friends (both Jews and Jewish supporters), but he rightly argued afterwards that by saving say 300 people is nothing like saving the millions that died because he went along with it.  Sure, by himself he couldn’t have stopped the momentum of the Nazi movement, but if more people had stood up against it, it would have made a difference.

I’m afraid I would have been like him…know that it was wrong, but go along with it because I perceived some greater good. But we know now, 11 million lives is a high cost for any earthly good. Don’t go along with anyone or anything–politician, social activist, or party–just because it’s against a perceived evil.

There is so much more to this book (and certainly to the discussion) than I can talk about here.  I wish I could quote huge chunks, but that’s just not practical.  I’ll just say that if this interests you at all, pick it up.  I had to order it through Interlibrary Loan, but I’m so glad that I did.  Though it’s printed by an academic press, it’s accessible to any who are at all familiar with World War II in Europe.

I look forward to one day using this book to teach my children about the rise of Nazi Germany (and you bet we’ll watch the Star Wars movies alongside).

Let’s continue the adoption theme of book reviews, shall we?  It’s what I’ve been thinking about.  Actually, the fiction book I’m reading right now (Run by Ann Patchett) talks about adoption, too.  But I didn’t know that when I picked it up.

Ever since I first heard about Adopted for Life, I wanted to read it.  Not only is it on the subject of adoption which interests me, it’s by an author I’ve respected ever since I heard him speak at my church a few years ago.  When I saw it on the Half-Price Books shelf on Monday, I immediately picked it up and bought it.

And finished it within 24 hours.

I was not disappointed.  This is the book on adoption–both  the adoption of children and the theological concept; they’re inseparable–that the Church needs.

While Moore said a couple smaller things that I disagree with, he definitely gets it.  As someone who is not currently in a place to adopt, he didn’t make me feel bad, but simply encouraged every Christian to consider what they can do to adopt or to support adoption.  He’s under no illusion that we all should adopt en masse, but he also knows we aren’t adopting as much as we should.

In some ways, adoption is one application of living the radical Christian life.  Except adoption has the further benefit of being what God has done for each and every one of us.

One thing that Moore said that I had never thought about before is that adoption is a way that we can show others that we aren’t procreating and caring for our children because of some evolutionary, biological imperative.   Adoption requires something more.

If you’re curious about the “why” behind the recent adoption push in Christian circles, have strong opinions for or against, or are simply open to a challenge, I hope you’ll pick up this book.

Yep, another non-fiction review.  It’s about all I’m reading these days.

When my intentionally-illiterate roommate was excited about finding a memoir to read, I immediately took her to our small branch library (if I didn’t think that she would have slapped me, I might have forced her shoes on her feet just to get her there before she changed her mind).  While it didn’t have any of the titles that were recommended to her (by me or any one else) on hand, she browsed the shelf, picking up several.

Another Place at the Table was the one that stuck.

It’s the story of Kathy Harrison and her family as they grow their family through adoption and foster care.  Though I still haven’t written the post on it, I’m a huge fan of adoption, so when my roommate enjoyed it, I knew I wanted to read it next.

It reads about how you expect (many heart-breaking stories of abuse balanced out with many touching moments), but it was very good.  Reminds me that being a foster parent is HARD but worth it.

There are hundreds (thousands?) of children in my area who don’t have someone to love them.  I want to do that.  While I’m not in a position right now, I’m working on getting myself there.  Sure, this means denying myself (which I’ll admit I don’t usually enjoy).  But I have a great example in my Savior for this, don’t I?

As she said, ”We could have had more time and more stuff [if we hadn't been foster parents], but I don’t believe we would have been any happier.” (p. 126)

I definitely recommend this book.

Instead of waiting until the end of the year to talk about my favorite books I’ve read this year, I thought I’d go a head start and talk about them now.

In the first half of the year, I read 107 books (I know…I have no idea why I’m not quite sure why I’ve read so many more this year).  These are my favorites (in order).  To fit the unwritten theme of this year, 4 of these are non-fiction.  For fairness, it only includes books that were new to me.

Click the links to read more of my review.

10. The City and the City by China Miéville

This is an “existential thriller”…but really it’s the tale of two cities (quite unlike A Tale of Two Cities, in case you were wondering).  It’s about a murder investigation that leads the investigator from one city to another…that shares the same physical location but is utterly distinct.  It comes off a little weird at first, but it’s very interesting.

9. Get Married by Candice Watters

This book changed how I viewed my own singleness…something that always needs redefining (my view of it…though I’d also settle for a change from singleness, too).

8. Green Like God by Jonathan Merritt

This is the perspective that Christians need on creation care…it’s not just for leftists and liberals.

7. In the Presence of My Enemies by Gracia Burnham

A memoir sharing that when things are bad (and they’re really bad: a year-long kidnapping by terrorists), it is still possible to trust in God.  He remains faithful, even if things don’t work out as we would have orchestrated.

6. How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford

I loved this young adult novel.  It made me laugh, and it made me cry, really cry (but not in the Lurlene McDaniels kind of way).  You’d have to read it to understand it.

5. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

I don’t know why I haven’t talked about this one before, but it’s SO good.  Technically a children’s novel (probably because it’s short and has a child protagonist) but an adult would enjoy it more.  Nostalgic and touching.

4. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

No surprise for many of you who have already read it.  But I didn’t until this year.  Definitely deserves its classic standing.

3. Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

I was wanting to read this one for months before it (finally!) came out. And now I’m waiting in as much anticipation for the sequel.  Jasper Fforde has an “interesting” take on writing that is unmatched, and his style is a welcomed and unique twist on the crazy-popular dystopian genre.  If you like things a little off kilter and/or dystopian books, check this one out, for sure.

2.  The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I think most of you know why this book is on my list.  If you don’t, you need to read it.  I haven’t heard of anyone who has read it and not loved it.  If its length puts you off, try the audio book.  It’s well done (I’m actually listening to it right now…I broke my “wait a year before a re-read” for this book).

1. Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream by David Platt

Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream is about just that: rescuing American Christians from the deadly kudzu of the “American Dream.”

He’s not saying that America=evil or that everything within our culture is bad, but that there are harmful ideas that we have bought and followed without discernment, becoming normal in the American church.

I don’t really know where to start on this review.  In some ways, I only need to say: go out and buy it (it would be worth buying at twice its $10-12 price tag, and when you’re done with it, lend/give it to someone else).

When I first got my hands on this, I did what I do to every book: look to see how many actual pages it had (secret: I do the math to figure out how many pages I need to read in each book per day to finish it by the date that I want).  At the very end, I noticed it has 5 things he wants the reader to commit to, and leaves room for you to write out how you’re going to carry them out.  I read them before I read the rest of the book, and I thought, “Ehh, those are good, but I’ve heard all that before.”  But when I read the book and then got to that section?

You bet I was praying, asking God’s forgiveness for neglecting these simple things and praying through how I was going to re-implement them in my life.

This book was the perspective change that I needed.  This book is the perspective change that the American church needs.

If you want to know more about what Radical is about, check out the video on the bottom of the homepage of the book’s website.  You can even sign up to read the first chapter for free.  But really, you need to read chapters 6 (“How Much is Enough?: American Wealth in a World of Poverty”) and 7 (“There is No Plan B: Why Going is Urgent, Not Optional”).

Chapter 6 hits on the very topic God has been working on in me: that I’m abundantly wealthy (yes, in a worldly sense) and I squander that wealth on myself (more on this in an upcoming blog post).

In chapter 7, David Platt walks simply through 7 Biblical truths that makes participation in missions mandatory for all Christians (going, praying, sending, and/or supporting).  Nothing new for me, but this was the simplest and most logical presentation I’ve seen.  Kind of a “duh” thing.

While I’ve been blessed to have heard a lot of this before from the ministries I have participated in and my church that I love, I needed to hear it again.  The American Dream is so easy to get caught up in.  It’s easier to join in the pursuit of a better living, fun gadgets, and being well-dressed than it is to live sacrificially and simply so that I can bless others with the blessings He’s blessed me.  After all, I don’t want to be weird, do I?

But indeed, the Christian faith as laid out in the Bible is radical.  When we try to soften it’s commands and examples, we’re wrong.

I don’t know what else to say to convince you to read this book.