Busy Bee and the Book
Geez, it's been a busy week! Along with regular work and single mom stuff, I've had cheer parent meetings about the national competition the girls will be attending (and the VERY LARGE amount of cash it will take to send them there), and meetings about upcoming events at the club. I also coordinated and put on a dinner dance and shopped for Bingo prize packages (my least favorite part of my job. More on that in a future post...). To top it all off, I started this morning by shooting two commercials in Monroe. I'll start next week the same way, by shooting two commercials Monday - one in Shreveport and the other at my place of business.
I love being busy!
Believe it or not, I actually finished a book this week, too.
The book? Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult. You may recognize this author's name, because she also wrote My Sister's Keeper, a novel which was recently made into a movie starring Cameron Diaz and Abigail Breslin. I haven't read the latter, but Change of Heart is the second of Picoult's books I've read and enjoyed.
It has 4 main characters: a widow who lost her husband and young daughter, a prisoner who was convicted for killing them, a female ACLU attorney who represents the prisoner, and a priest. One cool thing about Picoult's writing is she devotes each chapter to one of the characters, telling the story from each of their points of view. So the story unfolds from all sides. For me, Picoult's style is sort of like the difference between a regular movie and a 3-D movie. It gives the storyline more depth.
And the storyline is good. It revolves around the prisoner, Shay Bourne, the death sentence he faces, and his connection to the family he was convicted of tearing apart, most especially to the widow, June, and her very ill youngest daughter.
The book jacket reads, "For Shay Bourne, life holds no more surprises. The world has given him nothing, and he has nothing to offer the world. In a heartbeat, though, he gets one last chance for salvation, and it lies with June's eleven year old daughter, Claire."
The one part of the book I wasn't real crazy about was that which involved the priest, Father Michael. Again, from the book jacket, "Father Michael is a man whose past decisions led him to devote the rest of his life to God. But when he comes face to face with Shay, he must question everything he's been taught to believe about religion, about good and evil, about forgiveness. About himself."
I appreciate a book, or any written material really, that can get me to dig deep within myself and examine my own beliefs. While Change of Heart did that, it was also similar to the Da Vinci Code in that it questioned whether or not the Bible was actually the word of God, and whether or not the existence of other Gospels exist that were "left out" of the Bible purposely by religious leaders. Change of Heart is a work of fiction, but the credits list research done on the Gnostic Gospels and other works which question the Bible's authenticity. And that got under my skin a bit, seeing as I'm a traditionalist when it comes to the Bible.
Other than that, I liked the book and would recommend it. It has an interesting twist at the end, but I have to say I saw it coming from the beginning. I won't say any more because I never like to spoil anything for anyone. But if you read it, I'd be interested to know if you correctly predicted the ending, too.
Well, now I'm off to start my weekend! I have some fun things lined up... I hope you do, too!
I love being busy!
Believe it or not, I actually finished a book this week, too.
The book? Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult. You may recognize this author's name, because she also wrote My Sister's Keeper, a novel which was recently made into a movie starring Cameron Diaz and Abigail Breslin. I haven't read the latter, but Change of Heart is the second of Picoult's books I've read and enjoyed.
It has 4 main characters: a widow who lost her husband and young daughter, a prisoner who was convicted for killing them, a female ACLU attorney who represents the prisoner, and a priest. One cool thing about Picoult's writing is she devotes each chapter to one of the characters, telling the story from each of their points of view. So the story unfolds from all sides. For me, Picoult's style is sort of like the difference between a regular movie and a 3-D movie. It gives the storyline more depth.
And the storyline is good. It revolves around the prisoner, Shay Bourne, the death sentence he faces, and his connection to the family he was convicted of tearing apart, most especially to the widow, June, and her very ill youngest daughter.
The book jacket reads, "For Shay Bourne, life holds no more surprises. The world has given him nothing, and he has nothing to offer the world. In a heartbeat, though, he gets one last chance for salvation, and it lies with June's eleven year old daughter, Claire."
The one part of the book I wasn't real crazy about was that which involved the priest, Father Michael. Again, from the book jacket, "Father Michael is a man whose past decisions led him to devote the rest of his life to God. But when he comes face to face with Shay, he must question everything he's been taught to believe about religion, about good and evil, about forgiveness. About himself."
I appreciate a book, or any written material really, that can get me to dig deep within myself and examine my own beliefs. While Change of Heart did that, it was also similar to the Da Vinci Code in that it questioned whether or not the Bible was actually the word of God, and whether or not the existence of other Gospels exist that were "left out" of the Bible purposely by religious leaders. Change of Heart is a work of fiction, but the credits list research done on the Gnostic Gospels and other works which question the Bible's authenticity. And that got under my skin a bit, seeing as I'm a traditionalist when it comes to the Bible.
Other than that, I liked the book and would recommend it. It has an interesting twist at the end, but I have to say I saw it coming from the beginning. I won't say any more because I never like to spoil anything for anyone. But if you read it, I'd be interested to know if you correctly predicted the ending, too.
Well, now I'm off to start my weekend! I have some fun things lined up... I hope you do, too!
Comments