The Great Apostasy by James E. Talmage

9/10

I read this book on my mission back in 2003 or 2004. It is very excellent and detailed. It actually helped me teach more effectively than probably any other book that was not the scriptures.

It basically lays out that Christ's original church fell away and, thus, needed to be brought back again (as explained in the scriptures). Therefore, it is quite harsh on the Catholic church (which is necessary in order to truly show that there was a falling away). The book cites a lot of writings that were made during these early periods that show that the doctrines adopted and the direction of the church was dictated by men and not by the guiding influence of the Savior. It details the history of the Nicene creed which showed how some of the doctrines came to be (e.g. the Trinity, etc.). It also cites the introduction of the man-made doctrines of infant baptism (and thus the parting from baptism by immersion), transubstantiation, indulgences, celibacy, etc.

One of the more interesting parts was a showing of the history of many of the Popes, especially Popes during the dark ages. As Talmage puts it: "The history of the papacy is the condemnation of the Church of Rome." Follows is a crazy history of how some of the Popes came into power and the type of things they did. It is crazy stuff. You would almost think you were reading a Shakespeare play or something.

The book, of course, focuses on the Catholic church because it is the only church (beside the LDS church) that has any claim to actual authority. Talmage points out that all the protestant churches were blatantly founded as man-made churches and do not even attempt to claim any type of authority. So the Catholic church receives the brunt of the apostasy assault. The book ends on a high note by showing that scriptural prophecies have been fulfilled and the gospel has been restored to the earth and Christ's church is again on the earth.

Quotes:

"The strong men who stood for Christ were the first to fall." (i.e. be killed off).

"Ignorance is a fertile soil for evil growths."

The Pearl by John Steinbeck

6/10

I read this short little book probably about six years ago or so. It is classic Steinbeck. If you like Steinbeck, you'll like this book.

It's about this pearl diver who finds this huge pearl. He wants to sell it but everyone quickly gathers that he has this huge valuable pearl. Much of the book deals with greed and covetousness. He struggles to sell it and has quite the journey in attempting to do so. Not to mention his many efforts to protect his pearl and keep it safe. This valuable, coveted pearl ends up bringing quite a bit of suffering and despair to his family. And, lets just say, if you love happy endings, well...lets not give it away.... But it is safe to say that he likely would have wished to have never found that pearl to begin with. It is a fascinating little tale about how we often covet and seek after the things that will not bring us happiness. And actually bring about the opposite.

No quotes this time.

Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage

10/10

My off and on blog posting continues, on into the year 2013.

I began reading the book in the MTC, read it the whole plane ride to Houston, and finished it up at some point in The Woodlands, Texas. It was one of my favorite things I've ever read. It was the second church book I ever read and had a powerful impact on me. It helped me to start off my mission with the proper focus and attention on the Savior. Talmage is extremely thorough and very intelligent. It is probably a book that I should re-read at some point in my life. It was also the book that introduced me to the word 'superfluous.' He used that word tons of times.

Unfortunately, I read this at a time when I did not underline in my books. So I will be unable to post the many, many great lines from this book. Maybe I will underline during my future re-read. But...I did find one random line that was underlined. Not sure why this line was chosen above all others, but here it is: "Every human soul is stamped with the image and superscription of God." Jesus the Christ by Talmage is stamped with my stamp of approval.

The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin

1/10

I read this book a while ago and the only thing I really remember about it is that I didn't like it. At all. So this one will be short and I am posting this one just to get it out of the way. But apparently most everyone else likes it somehow so I am in the minority, just so you know.

A lady finds out her brother has AIDS and she has to break the news to their Mom but she has a strained relationship with her. So the rest of the book is a bunch of pointless arguing and getting mad at each other for small things because of all these lame underlying issues they have that I couldn't relate to at all. And her brother comes and stays with the Grandma for a while and he reveals that he has been gay for a long time. Needless to say, there are so many heart to heart conversations and coming to terms with each other. I was like, "Yay! Looks like another chapter of deep, meaningful conversations that are carried forth with such honesty and passion, it is so fun to read about this dysfunctional family." I don't know, it was just a lame book for me.

Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

6/10

I read this 6 or 7 years ago. It's a good book and pretty interesting. It is a book for the serious reader, that's for sure. It has a very Biblical feel to it with the way that it is written. I enjoyed it to an extent but lacked a certain knowledge and feel for the South African political climate in 1948 that would have helped me grasp much of the underlying themes that I probably missed.

It is an interesting story and one that is pretty heart-wrenching. A priest from a small town in South Africa goes to Johannesburg to help his sister who had fallen into wayward paths. Once he gets her taken care of he begins to look for his son who had come to the big city and did not return. He starts to get a scent and follow his trail and finds out some pretty crazy things including... (should I say it, is it a huge spoiler? Yes it is. Do not read the rest of this paragraph if you don't want to read the spoiler). Here it is, his son has been arrested for the murder of a man while committing a burglary of his house. It is important who this murdered person is and what all comes from it. All in all, it ends up as a pretty touching tale.

The book also has this unique way of doing dialogue. Rather than using quotation marks Paton uses hyphens. So, in honor of that method I will do the same for my selected quote:

- [O]ur Lord suffered. And I come to believe that he suffered, not to save us from suffering, but to teach us how to bear suffering.

Katherine Mansfield's Selected Stories

2/10

I read this 7 or 8 years ago. It is a collection of 35 short stories, 20 letters written by Mansfield, and 18 works of criticism from the smarty-farty's. Lets just say that I didn't enjoy reading this book.

First of all, for some reason I am not a big fan of short stories. Which is weird because it seems like they would be awesome. After all, you can start and finish a whole tale in one sitting. But it seems like most short story writers just ramble about non-eventful activities and I'm supposed to come away with some deep meaning from it all. No thank you. It has been a while since I read Mansfield's stories but I recall that there was a lot of boredom on my end and I was like, "Oops, looks like I didn't catch the deep meaning of a story about a guy giving a dill pickle to a bunch of people." It's true, Mansfield's 'A Dill Pickle' is not the type of tale I enjoy. Looking over the stories there are only two that I recognize that I remember enjoying. The first one is 'The Woman at the Store' which is actually really, really good and the type of short story that I wish was more common. The second one is 'Millie.' Both stories actually have some excitement involved with pretty cool endings (is that so much to ask?). The other 33 were meh.

Second of all, I have stated before that I don't usually like reading scholarly criticism. And this was no exception. And yet I read them all anyway (why do I do it?).

But, the saving grace, believe it or not, was the letters. She is a good writer (I just didn't enjoy her stories) and her honest letters to her acquaintances were kind of fun to read.

A quote from one of her letters to Garnet Trowell (the son of her cello teacher and her "lover". Garnet's parents forced them to separate and he was the father of the child Mansfield miscarried. Juicy stuff): "[I]t is the same with Love. The more you give me, the more I feel that you enrich my nature so I can give you more."

Look to the Mount by Leland H. Monson

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I will end with a quote from one of the aforementioned outside sources:

From William George Jordan under the chapter 'Judge Not That Ye Be Not Judged': "One judges a painting by the full view of the whole canvas; separate, isolated square inches of color are meaningless. Yet we dare to judge our fellow man by single acts, and words, misleading glimpes, and deceptive moments of special strain. For these we magnify a mood into a character and an episode into a life."