Books

Perfect Love Casts Out Fear

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Yesterday I wrote about fear’s power in destroying love.  Thankfully, we can choose which of these worldviews we feed.  And just as focusing on fear can make love shrink, so to can focusing on love banish fear.

Again, this is easiest to see in the world of human interactions.  Growing up in the Midwest, surrounded by white middle class girls and boys, I had a fear of the other that zeroed in on Muslim people after 9/11.  I didn’t hate them, necessarily, but I figured that if I ever met one, I wouldn’t want to be friends with him or her.  I was afraid of the actions of a few, and it kept me from loving a massive population of diverse people.

Luckily, in college I went to Turkey and met Muslim men and women.  I was overwhelmed to realize that they were normal human beings with fears and passions and hobbies. Continue reading →

Perfect Fear Casts Out Love

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Yes, you read that correctly.  The actual Bible verse is “perfect love casts out fear,” but I’m reading Jonathan Martin’s book Prototype, and I fully agree with him that the reverse is also true.

Perfect fear casts out love.   Continue reading →

What I Read | July 2016

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I couldn’t give up book reviews entirely!  I still don’t want to write individual reviews for everything I read, but I need to have a list somewhere of the things I’ve read so that when someone asks for a recommendation, I’ll know where to go.  I think a monthly compilation review will be a good compromise!

22544764Uprooted by Naomi Novik

I LOVED this book.  It has enough familiar tropes to feel comfortable (ordinary girl is actually a powerful magician, unlikely romance develops between two opposites) but adds some really creative twists to the world-building and plot.  I was so impressed by Novik’s work that I immediately went to the Kindle store to buy her dragon series.  This is not a part of that, but I have a feeling Novik is going to be an author I can trust.

mediumThe Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig

This book is almost the opposite of Uprooted.  It is incredibly unique (girl lives on a pirate ship that can travel throughout time and space with the help of special maps) but unfortunately devolved into common tropes.  I am TIRED of unnecessary love triangles.  This seems like the beginning of a series, and I would be super into it if it weren’t for that pesky trope.  It just.  The book didn’t need it!  She’s already dealing with a relationship with her dad and the fear of being snuffed out of existence because of time travel!  One love interest is enough.

6607270-MLove’s Executioner by Irvin D. Yalom

My counseling professor recommended this book years ago, but I only just got around to reading it.  Dr. Yalom describes ten of his clients’ stories, which is interesting enough.  But he also goes into a lot of detail about how he felt about each person – the attractions, the frustrations, the disgust – and how he worked through those feelings in order to work with them.  I think this book would be interesting to most people, but it’s undoubtedly for counselors who might benefit from a behind-the-scenes look at a successful counselor’s methods.

Not many for July, but I’m 300 pages into Dostoevsky’s The Idiot, so…hopefully that counts as enough of an explanation

This Blog Will No Longer Have Book Reviews

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If you like my (often overly emotional) reviews of books, head over to It’s Always Been Books.  My most recent review of The Raven King, fourth book in Maggie Stiefvater’s series and breaker of my heart in the best and worst ways, is there!

It’s Always Been Books was my review platform for years before I experimented and merged the book reviews with a personal blog here at ItIsTrish.  And it was fine, but I feel more and more that the reviews are a separate entity from my musings on Christianity, traveling, feminism, and life in Greece.

I transplanted all the reviews from the past ItIsTrish year to It’s Always Been Books, where they sit alongside hundreds of old reviews.  Honestly, when I look at my “Title Archive” page over there, it feels comically long.  BUT.  I will bear that burden with pride and hope people can navigate to their interest well enough.

If you are only here for my book reviews, I’m sorry for the switch-up, but I hope to see you over at It’s Always Been Books!

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

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18798983I thought this book was a retelling of A Thousand and One Nights, but I just saw that the book jacket actually says it’s “inspired” by the classic Middle Eastern story.  That makes much more sense, because the plot of “woman saves her life by telling the wife-killing king a story every night” only lasts for, like, three nights.  Then they fall in love!!!

Which is my main problem with the story:  too much insta-love.  Khalid, the ruler of Khorasan, apparently falls in love with Shahrzad at first sight because she is honest.  And, okay, whatever, maybe I can believe that.  But then Shahrzad, whose only purpose in becoming his wife is to murder him and therefore avenge her murdered best friend, falls in love with him!!  After only a couple weeks!  Because she realizes he is secretive rather than a total monster.  It just didn’t fly for me.

But the world was incredibly interesting, and even though it was unbelievable, the dynamic between Khalid and Shahrzad was super compelling.  So after a few chapters I just decided to accept the fact that they were entangled in a forbidden love and enjoy it….and I did!  It’s a very enjoyable book about murderous plots, curses forcing good people to do bad things, and Love Conquering All.  Sometimes you just wanna turn your brain off and enjoy a good emotional story.

It’s a series, though, which I didn’t know going in.  I honestly don’t know if I’ll read the second book.  It feels like even more Forced Obstacles will be thrown in their path, and I already got what I wanted out of the story: confessed love and cute kisses.  Who knows!  By the time it comes out, maybe I’ll be ready to suspend my disbelief again.

I do know I want more Middle Eastern settings in books, though.  More desert royalty and extravagant costumes, please!   Continue reading →

The Making of an Ordinary Saint by Nathan Foster

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61a-Xthj+SL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_I already wrote a more personal blog post about how this book made a huge impact on me, but I’ll try to be a bit more objective in this official book review.

IT WAS SO AMAZING AND HEALING!

Okay, no, I can be more objective than that.

Nathan Foster is the prodigal son of Richard Foster.  While his father was gaining Christian fame for his book Celebration of Discipline, Nathan was suffering from depression and suicidal ideation, alcoholism, and drug abuse.  After getting sober, going to counseling, and deciding to love Jesus, adult Nathan eventually got curious about his father’s life work in bringing spiritual disciplines to life.  But while the elder Foster’s books are more proscriptive (how to practice the disciplines), the younger Foster’s book is a narrative. Continue reading →

The Rose Society by Marie Lu

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23846013I LOVED The Young Elites, and while its sequel delivered more of what I loved (young female protagonist with an abusive past joins a group of heroes and becomes…the villain), it didn’t quite captivate me in the same way.  I think this was, for me, because Adelina’s villainy got REAL.  Her attraction to darkness and power are beginning to overwhelm her, and while in the first book I could understand and approve of her actions….this time around I wanted to pull her out of the book and sit her down for a counseling session.  Which was totally the point, so job well done, Marie Lu!

Now that I’m thinking about it, I guess I really DID like how Adelina slides to the dark side.  She kills her enemies in defense…and then as punishment…and then pre-emptively so that they cannot hurt her later.  This is very smart!  But it’s also pretty evil, and I liked how Lu explored the moral complexity of power.  I also loved Adelina’s sister Violetta.  She’s the “good girl” who doesn’t participate in evil…but she also doesn’t stop Adelina and tacitly gives approval with her silence.

And then there’s Magiano, who is a DARLING.  He can mimic any other Elite’s powers, making him crazy powerful.  He’s joyful and funny and sweet…but he’s totally willing to kill people to help Adelina take the throne.  So often in YA books, the group of heroes somehow manages to overthrow corrupt authorities by knocking people out or maybe killing just one Very Bad Person.  It was really interesting to see Adelina’s group of “heroes” unflinchingly doing whatever was necessary to accomplish their goals without making them all simplistically evil.

It’s only later, as they look back on what their actions have done (to others, to themselves) that they realize perhaps they went too far…

Okay, I definitely talked myself into giving The Rose Society a higher score!  This is such a unique series, and I can’t wait to see what happens next (even though I assume it will be awful and will make me cry).   Continue reading →

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

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18460392Wow.  Rarely has a book so enthralled and gutted me.  This is a HARD book to read, but so necessary, and (if you don’t care about that) so beautiful that it makes the hard things worthwhile.  This is a book about teen suicide, about mental illnesses, and the ways in which people react to “acceptable” mental illnesses versus those that make us uncomfortable.

Violet and Finch meet on top of the school clock tower, both of them considering jumping.   Violet’s sister died in a car accident for which Violet feels responsible, and Finch is climbing towards mania with undiagnosed bipolar disorder.  They find understanding, joy, and love with each other, and their romance is really unique and cute and all the things a fictional romance should be.  But that is not the point of this book.

The point is how the rest of the world treat Violet and Finch.  Violet gets passes from teachers, fellow students bend over backwards to regain her friendship, and her parents are willing to slowly love her back to health.  Her depression is understood and therefore “deserved.”  Finch, on the other hand, is tolerated by teachers, bullied by students, and beaten and/or neglected by his parents.  No one knows how to understand his mood swings (and neither does he), so they replace understanding with intolerance.

And even though this is the “theme” of the book and it’s so important, there are so many other beautiful things happening!  I’m from Illinois, and I had the same feelings of “this place is the most boring place on the planet” as Finch and Violet do about Indiana.  So it was so fun to read about them exploring their state and finding magical, silly, and beautiful places to visit and enjoy.

I also really loved all the Deep, Important conversations Finch and Violet have about life, growing up, and struggling.  This is one of the things I love most about YA books – they capture the overwhelming sensation of first realizing life is not fair and trying to find some kind of control over everything.  I loved the scene where Finch and Violet sit in a closet, writing words and phrases on post-it notes, ripping up the ugly words and sticking the good ones to the wall.

Although this is far from a feel-good book, I did finish it feeling hopeful and encouraged.  All the Bright Places went to some REALLY dark places, and I love it for that.  Life is full of darkness, and it is so important to have books like this one that are willing to shine a light on that darkness so that we can understand it better.  Because of that, hopefully, we can make the darkness a little more tolerable for those who are struggling to find the light.   Continue reading →

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

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Aristotle-and-Dante-Discover-the-Secrets-of-the-Universe.jpgI’ve already reviewed this book on my old blog, but it is one of my very favorites, so a reread was inevitable.  Even more so when I found out that the audiobook was read by Lin-Manuel Miranda.  The second time around did not disappoint; in fact, I think my love for this story grew.

Saenz is phenomenal at conveying incredibly complex thoughts and emotions through very simplistic language.  Aristotle (Ari) is a teenager, full of contradictions and self-doubt and chafing under the roles imposed upon him by others.  He does his namesake proud (not his grandfather, but the ancient Greek guy) by philosophizing about absolutely everything.  It’s beautiful, and so true, even if you’re not currently a teenager.  Although his confusions are age-specific, like all great truths, they carry weight for anyone listening.

I love Aristotle’s relationship with his parents.  Their conversations are honest and loving and difficult.  His family is not perfect (most clearly seen in their erasure of his older brother after he winds up in prison), but they are beautiful.  Beautiful.  That’s my word for everything related to this book.

As for Aristotle and Dante?  *swoon*  Not in, like, a dramatic sexy swoony-way.  Just in a melting swoon because of…yeah, the beauty.  This reread enabled me to see all the ways they say “I love you” to each other before either of them has a clue what they feel.  The number of times Aristotle says, “My dog is so affectionate, like Dante.  I really love my dog” or “Dante is clingy like my mom, but I still love her.”  Their relationship is the exact opposite of insta-love, and I prefer it that way.  More stories about people realizing they’ve unknowingly been in love for a year, please!

This book is everything: deep, meaningful, easy to read, and BEAUTIFUL.

GREAT NEWS:  Benjamin Alire Saenz is writing a sequel!!  Continue reading →

The Bull from the Sea by Mary Renault

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51k61IaGEZL._SX321_BO1,204,203,200_Reading Greek mythology in Greece is such a cool experience.  The Bull from the Sea opens with Theseus returning to Attica from Crete without changing his sails from black to white, the result of which is his father, King Aigeus, leaping to his death from the cliff in Sounio.  I just went to Sounio!  It’s a real place!  With a real history!

That history bit is what makes Renault’s book so fascinating.  She does a remarkable job of interpreting myth as fact.  The supernatural elements of mythology are present in her stories, but with explanations that are easily interpreted as superstitions.  The people in this book believe in the gods and goddesses and fate, but is it real?  Or is that larger-than-normal boar simply exaggerated into mythic proportions?  And is that man the son of a god or simply extremely talented?  It’s such a fun balance, and perhaps ironically, it makes the myths seem more alive.  By setting them in a historical context and allowing for skepticism, Renault lets her readers see just how plausible the ancient stories are.

Theseus is a fascinating character.  He’s almost annoying perfect at everything…until his charmed life falls apart.  I should have expected the book to border on depressing, because all the Greek myths are fairly depressing.  They are lessons couched in stories, after all, and Theseus shows us that one can never escape one’s fate.  He knows, from the moment he sees Hippolyta (awesome Amazon warrior queen/king) that she will be his doom.  But knowing his fate, he embraces the good while it lasts, and does what he can to accept the fallout when it happens.  And wow, is the fallout depressing.  Murder and sacrifice and incest, oh my!  The Greek stories are never boring.

The one thing I found annoying was the way the narrative treated women.  To some extent, this is simply Renault being true to her source material.  And of course, Hippolyta is a force to be reckoned with.  But all the other women are stereotypes.  And Theseus himself is occasionally a hard man to idolize – he’s perfect, we’re supposed to believe, but he treats women as playthings or distractions.  They’re always around to serve HIS needs.  Basically, it’s super sexist, both because it was written in the 1960s and based on stories thousands of years old.  BUT.  Even though it’s problematic, this book is worth the read!

Mary Renault is a genius at breathing new life into old myths, and I’m definitely going to check out some of her other books!  I suggest you do the same.   Continue reading →