Teachings of Presidents of the Church: John Taylor

8/10

Church manual circa 2001. I read it about 2007ish probably. John Taylor said a lot of cool things and was, shall I say, an underrated prophet? Yes I shall. Super smart and faithful guy.

To the quotes...

"[I]f we say a thing it ought to be as worthy of belief as if we had sworn to it, and as if we were bound by ten thousand ties to accomplish it."

"It is for each of us to be pure, and then say to others, 'follow me, as I follow Jesus.'"

"[W]ithout revelation religion is a mockery and a farce."

"If you do not magnify your callings, God will hold you responsible for those whom you might have saved had you done your duty."

"Some people suppose that persecutions and trials are afflictions; but sometimes, and generally, if we are doing the will of the Lord and keeping His commandments, they may be truly said to be blessings in disguise."

"We have learned many things through suffering. We call it suffering. I call it a school of experience."

The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

6/10

Once again, some seriously amazing cover art with this Narnia book series. It's the best. I read these books a while ago and remember looking forward quite a bit to this one because it is about the creation of Narnia. It's pretty interesting overall but still didn't meet my level of expectations for whatever reason.

And since this book is about Aslan's creation of Narnia, as well as some stuff during the interval between creation and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, it is slotted as Book 1 in the chronological book publications. I'm more of a fan of the order of original publication style. Mainly because I think reading this story first robs some of the excitement away from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as Lucy discovers an unknown land.

All in all, this book was alright and ranks probably just above The Horse and His Boy.

A quote:

"No great wisdom can be reached without sacrifice."

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

10/10

I read this back in 2008 I believe. I had seen the movie first. The book and the movie tell the same story but told in drastically different ways. I don't want to go full spoiler, so I will just say that the movie has a twist ending whereas the book tells the story through a narrator that prevents the possibility of the twist ending reveal. This is one of those situations where if I had read the book first I probably would have been bothered by the differences in the movie. But the movie is sweet with Jack going full Jack. If I had to pick though I think I would say that I like the book's presentation version better. Either way, it's a funny story with cool and interesting characters.

Two quotes:

"Man, when you lose your laugh you lose your footing."

"[Y]ou have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the world from running you plumb crazy."

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

10/10

I just finished reading this book today. I was surprised that Mallory selected this one for me when I offered it to her as one of the four selections to choose from. I thought the plainness of the book cover would be the deal breaker. But when I read the title of the book she got pretty pumped because she thought it would be about "a girl wearing a beautiful dress to a wedding." Unbeknownst to her, the title is not referring to what she thinks it is. But I am glad she chose it for me anyway.

This book was seriously awesome. I loved it so much. It is one of my favorite books I have ever read. Seriously, it is. I just loved every single thing about it. First of all, the story is fantastic and interesting with great drama and mystery throughout. Second, the writing is superb and classic. Third, the pacing of the story is flawless with the story constantly moving forward but never too fast. And lastly, the creativity of the presentation sealed the deal. The story is told from many characters at different points in the story providing differing insights.

I will not hesitate to recommend this book to anyone. Just so enjoyable. I always looked forward to picking it up each night. And I look forward to reading another Wilkie Collins book in the future as this was my first.