In Dubious Battle by John Steinbeck

8/10

I finished reading this one last night. I liked it as expected since it's a Steinbeck book. This one felt very Steinbeck from the get-go. Even the cover of this book screams Steinbeck. This one covered the familiar Steinbeck theme of the labor struggle and how those in power exploit the laborers (and even how those in power within the laborers exploit their own). This one was pretty interesting as it involves a labor activist from "the Party" who bounces around California pouncing on opportunities to get the laborers to start strikes. That whole delicate process of manipulating and using the men was pretty fascinating. He quite clearly doesn't care for the men as individuals but only for what they can do as a group to move forward the cause of the Party.

It's a pretty serious novel overall but very well done. The first half of the book was fantastic while the second half sizzles out a bit, sort of like the strike fizzles as those in power squash those poor helpless laborers. I think I enjoyed the first half most because it was super interesting how he got the strike started. The second half is mostly maintaining morale of the strikers while nothing really progresses for them in any meaningful way.

Also, I like the book title a lot. It is taken from Milton's Paradise Lost from a line about the war in heaven and the angels "in dubious battle on the plains of Heaven" with the forces of Satan. There's got to be some symbolism there. Probably about the battle between the Communists and Capitalists. I wonder which one Steinbeck thinks are the angels and which are the forces of Satan?

Time to rank my favorite Steinbeck books I've read:

1. The Grapes of Wrath
2. Of Mice and Men
3. East of Eden
4. In Dubious Battle
5. Tortilla Flat
6. The Winter of Our Discontent
7. The Pearl
8. The Long Valley

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

8/10

Finished reading this with the daughter a couple days ago. We liked it. While Harry is slightly annoying in this book with his temper tantrums, a lack of any major plot twists and the pace of the book is a tad bit too slow, there is still enough here to like. I'm looking at you Dolores Umbridge, a character that very effectively plays her role as an infuriating, incompetent government official enforcing absurd ordinances at the school. But I enjoyed her character and the part she played in the story. I also enjoyed the introduction of the quirky Luna Lovegood. The gang's excursion to the Department of Mysteries near the end of the book and the action that took place in those chapters was also exciting. I liked getting to know more about Neville and we learned a bit more about the backstory and the prophecy about Harry which was the motivation for Voldemort to try and kill Harry as a baby. The book seemed to take more of a serious tone than any of the previous books; maybe it's Rowling's way of showing that her characters are growing up. Voldemort's return also has a lot to do with it as well.

Here are my rankings of the books I've read so far in this series:

1. HP-4
2. HP-3
3. HP-5
4. HP-2
5. HP-1

Night by Elie Wiesel

8/10

I finished reading this a few weeks ago. It is legit heartbreaking. I'm really at a loss of words on how to discuss it. It's the personal history of a young boy who experienced and survived the Holocaust. Just completely terrifying and horrific. And I almost got the feel that he was underselling the horror of the whole thing; nothing felt exaggerated of propped up for sympathy. Just a straight retelling of the most shocking experiences and sufferings imaginable. There are times where the descriptions seem a bit fragmentary or in not as much detail as I would prefer. But then other times the details are truly horrific - like the telling of the hanging of the young boy whose weight was not enough to kill him quickly and he just hung and suffered there for an extended period of time. Elie was a religious young boy who completely loses his faith in God through this ordeal and you can hardly blame him to be honest. Just another part of the tragedy.

The Pelican Brief by John Grisham

8/10

I just finished this book last night. I enjoyed it. I'd seen the Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington movie many years ago but only remembered bits and pieces from it. Looking back, I guess I really only remember Julia Roberts running away from bad guys a lot and the car bomb part.

The plot in this one was really good and the pace of it was really well done. It was pretty suspenseful throughout. It was what one would call a "page-turner." Except it took me forever to read because for some reason I fall asleep almost instantly now when I read at night. Probably because I'm way old.

Seems like the main flaw of the book is the huge overreaction by the bad guy Mattiece to try and knock off the Julia Roberts character after she wrote the brief that no one took seriously for one second. Obviously they should have just let it go and done nothing since no one was taking the brief seriously. But then they go on a killing rampage to draw tons of attention to it. Dumb criminals.

Here is my rankings of John Grisham books that I have read:

1. The Pelican Brief
2. The Client

It's Not About the Bunny It's About the Lamb by Ron Millburn

10/10

This book was so lame. Bo-ring. Just kidding. My Dad wrote it and he is the only person who reads this blog so I have to say that it was good. He gave it to me for my birthday a few weeks back and I quickly read it on the toilet in homage to him, the greatest toilet reader of our generation.

It really is good though and is a very solid doctrinal review of the atonement with some very good insights. It was fun for me to read because I've been reading this kind of stuff from him for years on his blog and it was nice to see his scriptural knowledge and storytelling on display in a published booklet. I have lots of favorite parts, such as the classic family home evening story I've heard told a number of times, the great story about David Stone which is a simple classroom lesson which brings to life how personal the Savior's atonement really is, or the informative story about the back of the statue at Winter Quarters and the Hebrew meaning of the atonement being "to cover."

A lot here to ponder. And I'm thankful for having a Dad who is such a good gospel teacher and proud of him for getting this published.

Believing Christ by Stephen E. Robinson

8/10

I finished reading this last night. I've owned this book forever and have wanted to read it for quite a while, probably dating back to my mission when I first became familiar with the great quote on the atonement that is in this book: "Atonement means taking two things that have become separated, estranged, or incompatible, like a perfect God and an imperfect me or you, and bringing them together again, thus making the two be 'at one.'"

It's a nice, uplifting book. I liked reading a book primarily dealing with grace, a topic that can be overlooked at times. I think my favorite part was a section in the book dealing with perfection and how the only way this can be accomplished is through the covenant relationship with Christ: "Taken together as a single entity, the two of us, Christ and I, are perfect." Another: "[I]n the covenant relationship, I am not judged separately and alone but as one with Christ." And: "Any two people who are joined together and have become one in a covenant unity are perfect as long as one of them is Jesus Christ." I learned some things and that's all I can ask for when reading a Church book.

Here are some other quotes:

"Normally, we think of only one winner in a race, but in the gospel race, all who finish win. In addition, the differences in their finishing times are irrelevant. Some people will have good times and some will not, but the only losers are those who give up and quit before they reach the goal."

"God may be predisposed in our favor, he may put within our reach what was once beyond us, and he may remove every obstacle in the way of our salvation, but he will not force us down the path he has cleared, nor will he save us without our consent. The gospel covenant is provided by sheer grace, but it must be entered into by choice."

"To insist that salvation comes by works alone, that we can earn it ourselves without needing the grace of God, insults the mercy of God and mocks the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in our behalf. On the other hand, to insist that salvation comes by belief alone and that God places no other obligations upon the believer insults the justice of God and makes Christ the minister of sin."

"Faith is always willing to try - and to try again and again. While success is not a requirement of the covenant of faith, my best attempts are."

"No one has ever been as alone as Christ in the Garden."

"In that infinite Gethsemane experience, the meridian of time, the center of eternity, he lived a billion billion lifetimes of sin, pain, disease, and sorrow."

"If you or I had gone into the press of Gethsemane and shouldered that load of sin and pain, it would have squashed us like bugs, snuffed us out instantly. But because he was the Son of God and had power over death, his life could not be taken until he laid it down of his own will.... Did his infinite agony tempt him to lay down his life and end his suffering before the price was fully paid? Was his greatest temptation to abandon his weaker brothers and sisters and seek relief from an infinity of pain by dying prematurely? Perhaps. All he had to do was let go, and the pain would stop, but you and I would be lost. And so second by second, hour by hour, he embraced his agony; he could not rest, but he would not die, not until it was finished, not until we were saved with him."

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

7/10

I finished reading this book a few days ago. I am still having Mallory pick my book for me (after giving her a choice of 4 books I have selected). This is the first book that Mallory has chosen based on the author. We read A Christmas Carol together last year and she remembered Charles Dickens being the author and enthusiastically selected this book for me based on that reason. Also, what an absurdly amazing book cover. How could she not have chosen this book?

After reading this book I can still say that I have not read a Dickens book that I didn't like. That being said, it was my least favorite Dickens book. Not because it was bad, but because I have really only read really great Dickens books so far. I still liked this book and its vast array of mostly enjoyable characters - I'm looking at you John Browdie, you sneaky scene stealer. Newman Noggs is probably my next favorite. Nicholas had a surprising mean streak in him which was unexpected (in a good way) for the hero of the book. I know I was supposed to like Mrs. Nickleby more, and I see why people do find her amusing, but her longwinded off-topic digressions were a little too frustrating for me to endure and I ended up finding her more annoying than comical. As for the villains, Dickens made some good ones. Both Ralph Nickleby and Wackford Squeers were great bad guys, each in their own way. There is quite a dark turn near the end that caught me slightly off guard but Dickens handles it masterfully as usual.

Overall, this book felt like a poor man's David Copperfield. So many characters and settings, but this one lacked the multiple storylines woven together like Copperfield did so well. Nickleby really has one main storyline and thus lacks the overall flexibility that could have made this be one of Dickens' greats. But it's still amazing to me that a 25-year old could write a book like this (having already written The Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist no less).

My updated rankings of Dickens books I've read:

1. David Copperfield
2. A Tale of Two Cities
3. Great Expectations
4. Oliver Twist
5. Bleak House
6. A Christmas Carol
7. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

A few quotes:

"If anything could soothe the first sharp pain of a heavy loss, it would be - with me - the reflection, that those I mourned, by being innocently happy here, and loving all about them, had prepared themselves for a purer and happier world. The sun does not shine upon this fair earth to meet frowning eyes, depend upon it."

"[T]here is one quality which all men have in common with the angels, blessed opportunities of exercising if they will - mercy."