this morning, i walked my boys, my little boys down the street, to the corner and i watched them climb up into a big yellow bus and off they went to school… kindergarten and second grade and still i see them curled up into a tiny ball kicking against my arms fighting to stay awake when they were supposed to be taking a late afternoon nap… ah… time… you dirty little tramp…
anyway, this is the entry where i really talk about all the books that i’ve read over the last few weeks… it could be a lot, but we’ll see how far i get…
DOUBLE SHOT OF FEARLESS…
now playing: Fearless – Falling Up
Fearless – Robin Parrish
finally managed to get back to the Dominion Trilogy and this is book two of the series… that’s the backdrop… the big deal is how much the story has progressed and how well put together this storyline is… it’s always exciting to witness an author come into their own and Robin has clearly done so here… Fearless is more cohesive and well-focused than when Grant Burrows first debuted as a serial novel on his website…
I was very impressed by the character development, and, given the similarities between this and the premise of Heroes, thought a number of times that the show could really take a few cues from the trilogy… That’s not to say that the book feels at all like a copycat or anything like that – it’s definitely got its own legs – it’s just that there’s no point ignoring the similarities… on a side note, the adventure is thrilling, but this one ends on a cliff, so make sure that Merciless isn’t too far away when you get to the end… i’ll be hitting that one soon…
now playing: Fearless – dcTalk
Fearless – Max Lucado
i don’t think i’ve ever had milk toast in my lifetime, but as i was reading this book, i couldn’t shake that image from my head… which is a little odd, because i didn’t even know exactly what it consisted of… really, i think that my subconscience was trying to make a reference to the verse in the Bible about some people needing milk and some needing meat… if it’s a sliding scale, this book – as well as many of Lucado’s numerous works – lands squarely in the liquid state of nourishment…
that said, i can overlook the painstaking way that Lucado applies puns to each point and see that the points that he’s making are actually pretty good… and the book itself is something definitely worth reading… we’re certainly living in a time when we all need a little help finding a little peace of mind… Lucado focuses on a dozen or so specific fears, but treats them all with the same general prescription… a long-term, Kingdom mindset… overall, Fearless is a quick, light, easy read… if you like Lucado’s previous books (and/or if you don’t mind things being spelled out to the enth degree), you probably won’t have any qualms with this one…
THE GREAT ONES…
now playing: Great – Ten Shekel Shirt
Everyday Greatness – Stephen R Covey
so, i suppose i didn’t exactly understand what i was getting into when this 400-plus-page collection of short stories… in fact, i didn’t realize it was short stories, much less stories in the key of “Chicken Soup for the Soul”… generally not my cup of tea… i’m not sure what i was expecting, actually…
Odd first impressions aside, though, Covey provides an interesting framework from which the book unfolds… seven “pillars” so to speak of areas of life in which we can display greatness, each with three more specific qualities to exercise… each chapter follows the same basic premise: Covey’s introduction, a story or stories, Covey’s comments, points to ponder, and then relevant quotes from throughout history…
To be honest, the quotes are what interested me most… i think that Covey’s commentary could’ve been a little meatier, but understandably, they’re short here (i mean, how long could this book have been?)… the bottom line, however, is that this book is a nice volume to have as something of a reference manual… it may be nice to have a book exclusively with Covey’s thoughts (perhaps that already exists?), but this is a fine collection for what it is… just not what i was wanting…
TAPPING OUT…
okay, that’s three of them… i’ve still got… about five more to tackle in the next day or so… including that “triple DeKker” (insert suspenseful “oooooh” here)… right now, though i must get some sleep…
peace… love… bdg…