March Summary

I read only four books this month. I have started more books, but I keep getting sidetracked, putting a book down, picking another one up and growing my to be read book pile. I know that this book will probably not appeal to the masses, but the book that spoke most to me was Including People with Disabilities in Faith Communities: A Guideline for Service Providers, Families & Congregations by Erik W. Carter. I wrote a review of this book on my personal blog.

My reading took a detour this month when I read Here, There Be Dragons by James A. Owen. My virtual friend DebD had reviewed it on her blog. When I mentioned it to my oldest daughter, she could hardly wait to read the first book. She loved it! She bought and devoured the second book and is waiting to get the third book in the series through an inter-library loan.

I don't know if I liked it or not. I think I liked the idea for the book a whole lot better than the final product. In the book the main characters are commissioned to protect an atlas of previous authors' imaginations. The main characters are famous authors whose own works are known to have filled generations of readers with wonder. As I read the book, I recognized almost every single idea as having come from another work of fantasy. There seemed to be no original thought. Although his story was stretched almost beyond recognition, the biblical Noah was included as a fantasy character. And, the discussion on heaven seemed to conclude that our world is heaven. I suspect this was only meant to apply to fantasy people, characters who live on eternally in our imagination. I sure don't feel that I am in any kind of heaven.

As I did in last month's summary, I am going to tell you about the best thing I saw on DVD. We don't have cable and can't even pick up local channels. But, we do use our membership at Netflix to rent movies to watch at home. This month, my favorite was A Man Named Pearl, the story of a self-taught topiary artist, Pearl Fryar, living in Bishopville, S.C. The documentary of his life is rich with southern gospel music, offers a message of hope, and is inspirational.

On God:

"I don't think you can substitute the physical side of life for the spiritual side of life. And, we can call it whatever we want to call it for a different faith, but it's that belief in someone bigger than I am that makes life interesting to live."

On racism:

"There always going to be obstacles. The thing is, you don't let those obstacles determine where you go."

Now, go forth and fill your minds with new things!