The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay

 

10/10

I read this one 7 months ago. It's my favorite book I've read this year. Totally captivating from the beginning. Wonderful storytelling. I love when books are able to make you root so hard for the main character. It's a book that I can confidently recommend to anyone because it seems impossible that anyone wouldn't love this book. This is two years in a row where my favorite book of the year has been a South African novel, with Too Late the Phalarope from Alan Paton being my favorite last year. My Dad served his mission in South Africa and gave me both books. I'm not sure how long ago he read this one, but I liked that I found a little note card in his recognizable cursive handwriting where he had written a beautiful line from the novel: "The loneliness bird has entered to build a nest of stones in the hollow place inside of me." Just a beautiful, powerful book. Such a satisfying ending as well. If you happened to stumble on this blog post and haven't read this book, then go read it now. You will not be disappointed.

Some quotes:

"[T]he power of one...in each of us there burns a flame of independence that must never be allowed to go out. That as long as it exists within us we cannot be destroyed."

"The smallest sign that someone is worried for him is like a fire on the dark mountain. When a man knows somebody cares, he keeps some small place, a corner maybe of his soul, clean and lit."

"[A]s far as I knew, God was a man, and therefore He'd obviously like boxing a lot better than dancing."

"[I]n this world are very few things made from logic alone. It is illogical for a man to be too logical. Some things we must just let stand. The mystery is more important than any possible explanation.... The searcher after truth must search with humanity. Ruthless logic is the sign of a limited mind. The truth can only add to the sum of what you know, while a harmless mystery left unexplored often adds to the meaning of life. When a truth is not so important, it is better left as a mystery."

"The power of one is above all things the power to believe in yourself, often well beyond any latent ability you may have previously demonstrated."

The Holy Invitation by Anthony Sweat

 

10/10

I read this one about 7 months ago. One of the better books out there about the temple and understanding it better, if not the best. It's just a short little book around 70 pages. I can guarantee that I will have each of my kids read this book as they prepare for the temple themselves. I wish I had this book as a resource as I was preparing myself. The metaphor story in Part 2 about the commoner and the king was so on point.  I also liked the part where he connected ask, seek, knock to know, feel, do and how we can take that approach into the temple. Just lots of good stuff packed into this short little book. Highly recommend.

Quotes:

"You can't be a lazy learner with symbol, imagery, and ritual."

"Mystery is the revelatory vehicle to help transport your mind and heart to other realms - in this case, the realm of heaven. If at first you find yourself bewildered about some things, and that causes you to study, think, and pray, then the endowment ceremonies are effectively doing their job."

"You simply cannot be mentally passive in the temple and expect to learn the mysteries of God."

Feasting on the Word by Richard Dilworth Rust

 

7/10

I read this one a little less than 7 months ago. I purchased it from a church bookstore during my mission and finally got around to reading it two decades later. It's a book about the literature of the Book of Mormon and had some very interesting insights. The topics covered were (1) Narrators and Narratives; (2) Epic Elements; (3) Poetry; (4) Sermons; (5) Letters and Autobiography; (6) Imagery; (7) Typology; and (8) Larger Perspectives. The Typology section was probably my favorite. I enjoyed this book for the most part, but you are bound to endure at least a little bit of less than entertaining moments in a book like this. Overall though, there were some very interesting insights that I had never seen before which were fun to discover.

I'll share one fun example from the Narrators and Narratives chapter. Rust talks about how there is an "ancient principle that repetition can help alert and convince people," especially threefold repetition. He uses the Ask, Seek, Knock as a common example where a person is to speak, then move, then use "vigorous action - each operation more intense than the last." He then points out several examples of this concept that is found in the Book of Mormon. One example of "a given event happening three times with a crucial change introduced the third time" is with the three visits to Laban to get the brass plates. "Each effort is put into motion by a pledge, and the pledges become more and more intense." "Nephi is three times 'constrained by the Spirit' to kill [Laban]." "Nephi thinks of three reasons why he could be justified in taking Laban's life" After Laban is killed, "Nephi then makes three levels of appeal to Zoram." Before they return to their parents, "A three-part pattern is found as well in Sariah's lament to Lehi" which is "counterbalanced by Sariah's three-part praise uttered at the return of her sons." "For his part, Nephi affirms that he and his father [(1)] obtained the records, [(2)] searched these scriptures, and [(3)] carried the records with them so the Lord's commandments could be preserved."

Fenway and Hattie by Victoria J. Coe

 

3/10

I read this one over six months ago. Each year, the Elementary school gives out a book for all the kids to read. This was the book for last school year. So far, the books have been ok with one that I thought was quite good (Where the Mountain Meets the Moon). This was my least favorite so far which is disappointing because the previous year's book was also below average (Brambleheart). This one was easily the least challenging book they've chosen. I try not to be too critical of these young books and just hope the kids are enjoying it, but it was so repetitive. It was a fun, cute concept at first with the silly names the dog came up with but you can only take so many encounters with the slippery wicked floor seemingly every other page. I think my favorite part, as someone who is not a dog person, is just how much it reinforced how dumb dogs can be.

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

 

4/10

I read this one nearly six months ago. I was really intrigued in the early goings of this book. I really liked how the book started with an army officer returning to a place that he has a history with and was excited to learn what that history was. Then we're introduced to Sebastian who seems to be a fun, quirky character and everything was going well. After this great set-up, the remainder of the book was a disappointment as we're introduced to Brideshead and Sebastian's family. Just a bunch of unlikable characters sitting around not doing much, including the narrator. And then the Sebastian character himself became unlikable at that same time as his family brings out the worst in him. This is the kind of book that is written for book critics and literature professors who worship diving in to all of the flawed characters and what it says about society, etc. But that's never been my kind of book. Overall, just disappointed as there seemed to be some real potential for a very enjoyable book but it was squandered. Probably won't read any more from Waugh any time soon, but maybe I'll give him another try some day.

Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie

 

6/10

I read this one about 6.5 months ago. I believe this was one of Agatha Christie's last books which helps explain why this one felt a tad phoned in. Lazy isn't the right word, but maybe just tired. Like she was ready to hang it up. The story was ok but just wasn't all that engaging. I still liked it more than I disliked it. But barely. This book introduced me to Ariadne Oliver. I've only read a few Agatha Christie books up to this point, but the one I read after this (hopefully I get around to posting it here sooner rather than later) also had Ms. Oliver, so I'm not sure if she's a regular recurring character or not. She reminds me a lot of Ms. Marple from her other detective novels for some reason. The Ms. Oliver character is a crime fiction author, so I also sometimes picture her as Agatha Christie herself.

Agatha Christie rankings:

1. The ABC Murders
2. 4:50 from Paddington
3. Elephants Can Remember
4. At Bertram's Hotel

The Reivers by William Faulkner

 

5/10

I read this one over six months ago. This is my first experience with Faulkner and I should have probably gone with a stronger one from him. I enjoyed his writing style fine, but the story and characters didn't do a whole lot for me. It had a few entertaining moments, but not enough to make it a book I'd recommend to others. I think the thing I enjoyed most from this book is the idea of roads being so bad at the beginning of the automobile era that there could be huge mud holes to drive and get stuck into. Beyond that, there weren't any other memorable moments for me. Pretty cool book cover involving Steve McQueen though. One last thing to mention is on the introductory page, the title of the book has an asterisk next to it and at the bottom of the page it says "*reive (reave): take away by stealth or force; plunder." This is in reference to the stolen car. Although it's a bit of a stretch to say it was taken by stealth, and it was definitely not taken by force, but oh well. Hoping to get back on the Faulkner train soon as I feel that I will enjoy many of his other books more than this one.