Jesus Christ Son of God, Savior

7/10

I read this book as I flew home from my mission. It's true. It's a collection of 16 different essays written by general authorities and religious scholars/educators. The essays were presented at some five-day symposium back in 2000. I think I read maybe one or two essays in Houston and then read the rest during my flight home and into the first few weeks back.

The book is pretty good but didn't quite reach my hopeful level of expectations I had for it if I remember correctly. I like scholarly church-related books for the most part as long as it doesn't fall into the dreaded scholarly pitfall of being too dry or boring. I felt like a number of the essays sent me to snoozeville. But, I also remember really liking some of the essays. Merrill J. Bateman's in particular was very well done. I still remember to this day much of his essay. I also remember liking Gerald N. Lund's and Robert L. Millet's. But yes, I liked it overall. There are lots of interesting insights for sure.

A quote from Merrill J. Bateman's essay which is titled "And He Did Invite Them One by One" which is a good essay about how Christ views us individually and personally:

He talks about when Christ appeared to the Nephites and allowed them to feel his wounds "one by one until they had all gone forth" (3 Nephi 11:15) and then points out: "The multitude totaled 2,500 souls (see 3 Nephi 17:25). If each person were given fifteen to twenty seconds to approach the Lord, touch the open wound in His side, feel the marks in His hands and feet, and express a brief thanks, at least eleven to twelve hours would have been consumed."

Our Heritage

7/10

I read this shortly after the mission if memory serves correct. It's a pretty quick read and covers a lot of familiar aspects of Mormon history. It feels a lot like Gordon B. Hinckley's "Truth Restored". The main difference to this book is that it carries Church History beyond Brigham Young. Seems like most of these type of books stop at that point. This one goes through many of the prophets following Brigham Young all the way up until Gordon B. Hinckley who was prophet at the time of this book's publication. It's a good book, especially for recent converts.

This book also has one of my favorite stories about the handcart pioneers. It is the story involving the guy who stands up and says cool things like "[We] came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities" and about how when he felt he could go no further "the cart began pushing me. I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the angels of God were there." He concludes by saying, "The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company."

Grimm's Fairy Tales

6/10

I just finished reading this book tonight. Mallory picked out my book again and chose this one "because it has a witch in it." I should have finished this book at least a week ago but dragged it out due to a combination of a waning interest and Championship Week viewing consuming all my free time.

This book contains 120 of the tales collected by the Grimm brothers. I was looking forward to reading the well-known classics, such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, etc. I actually enjoyed most of these classic stories, Hansel and Grethel probably being my favorite of the well-known classics group. I definitely think this group of stories is worth reading.

I was also looking forward to reading some of the other stories to find some hidden gems among the lesser-known tales. Unfortunately, for the most part, they are pretty ho-hum and lesser-known for a reason. There were a few that I liked pretty well though. Some of my favorites, in no particular order, were: 1. King Thrush-Beard; 2. The Juniper Tree; 3. The Robber and His Sons; 4. The Twelve Brothers; 5. How Six Traveled Through the World; 6. The Giant with the Three Golden Hairs; and 7. Master Cobblersawl.

So, while I would not recommend reading the entire book, I would recommend reading the ten or so well-known classics as well as the seven lesser-known tales referenced above. The End.

1984 by George Orwell

7/10

On the heels of my "Fahrenheit 451" post last week in which I declared that it had a 1984 feel, I will now do my 1984 post. Turns out 1984 was written only four years before Fahrenheit 451.

This is one of the few books that I have read more than once. I read it for the first time as a Senior in high school. Seemed like I remember liking it more than my fellow classmates. I revisited it a handful of years after that and liked it again.

There's just so much good stuff in this book. The plot is fantastic and creative. The themes are interesting and eerily prophetic at times. And the language and terminology is terrific and lasting. The book is just classic and referred to often for its ability to describe a future society that appears to become more of a reality with each passing year.