Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

I kept thinking nothing about this book is inspiring. Half way through the book and all I wanted to do was slit my wrist, but I thought maybe it will get better towards the end, instead all I wanted to do was slit both wrists. 

I hate all the characters and wanted to stab them all, especially the protagonist Patty Berglund. I hate her husband Walter, their kids Jessica and Joey and Joey’s girlfriend Connie and Walter’s best friend Richard Katz. 

Towards the end, I was afraid to read the book because I knew it would put a damper on my day. I wanted to read something inspiring for my last blog of 2010: You know “Hang in there”; “Life is worth it”; “There is a light at the end of the tunnel”, nope not this book. I do not understand why this is one of the best novels Oprah has ever read. 

Frazen is a master of the English Language. The book is wonderfully written, witty, and funny. The story has a wealth of information but is so damn heavy and depressing. The book club members enjoyed the book. They saw it as a journey of life and people through the Berglund Family. It is very interesting how he presents “Freedom” and how he takes an in-depth look at people’s lives throughout the story.

Patty, Walter, Jessica and Joey Berglund are a Midwestern family from St. Paul. Patty is a basketball player turned housewife and Walter is a lawyer. Through their journey we see them slowly lose track of each other, themselves and their dreams. The story spans over 35 years and coincide with many important political issues. Frazen takes you through a detail look at how people live and become who they are.

Don't Blink by James Patterson and Howard Roughan

I read this book in 2 days, well actually 12 hours. It’s a fun fast paced easy to read detective story. Typical who done it action and suspense thriller.

Nick Daniels is conducting a once in a life time interview at a famous busy Steak House in NYC. Before he can begin an assassin walks in during the busy lunch hour and commits a gruesome murder at the table next to him. This is only the beginning of things to come for Nick Daniels.

Captivating by John & Stasi Eldredge

Captivating tries to touch women at their core. It illustrates all the difficulties women have and tries to show them how God is always there to listen and get them through their problems. The author Stasi and her husband John advise women not to be afraid of their desire to be loved and appreciated the way God wanted them to be. This is a self help book for Christian woman struggling with issues that are common to most women. The book teaches that you can always find solace and love if you turn to God. The Stasi and John give plenty of advice, encouragements and prayers to help you find the woman that God meant for you to be.

The book refers so much to the fall of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and I am not sure I see “The Fall” in the same way. I did not like women portrayed as victims, broken, empty, and looking for someone to fill in the holes in their lives and always need to be rescued. Women were not represented as capable of taking care of themselves; but I think that is the point of the book, “you cannot take care of yourself, you need God with you all the time in order to make it”.

The Antichrist by Friedrich Nietzsche

My head is still swimming after reading this book. 

Antichrist can also be translated as Anti-Christian.

Nietzsche asks if Pity is a Virtue. He denounces Christianity completely. As far as he was concerned Christianity was the greatest evil out to destroy man of his true form and identity. He was furious that Jesus’ practice and words were taken out of context.

Here are 2 sections I wanted to share.

Section 9

Upon this theological instinct I make war: I find the tracks of it everywhere. Whoever has theological blood in his veins is shifty and dishonourable in all things. The pathetic thing that grows out of this condition is called faith: in other words, closing one's eyes upon one's self once for all, to avoid suffering the sight of incurable falsehood. People erect a concept of morality, of virtue, of holiness upon this false view of all things; they ground good conscience upon faulty vision; they argue that no other sort of vision has value any more, once they have made theirs sacrosanct with the names of "God," "salvation" and "eternity."

Section 62

With this I come to a conclusion and pronounce my judgment. I condemn Christianity; I bring against the Christian church the most terrible of all the accusations that an accuser has ever had in his mouth. It is, to me, the greatest of all imaginable corruptions; it seeks to work the ultimate corruption, the worst possible corruption. The Christian church has left nothing untouched by its depravity; it has turned every value into worthlessness, and every truth into a lie, and every integrity into baseness of soul. Let any one dare to speak to me of its "humanitarian" blessings! Its deepest necessities range it against any effort to abolish distress; it lives by distress; it creates distress to make itself immortal. . . . For example, the worm of sin: it was the church that first enriched mankind with this misery!--The "equality of souls before God"--this fraud, this pretext for the rancunes of all the base-minded--this explosive concept, ending in revolution, the modern idea, and the notion of overthrowing the whole social order--this is Christian dynamite. . . . The "humanitarian" blessings of Christianity forsooth! To breed out of humanitas a self-contradiction, an art of self-pollution, a will to lie at any price, an aversion and contempt for all good and honest instincts! All this, to me, is the "humanitarianism" of Christianity!--Parasitism as the only practice of the church; with its anaemic and "holy" ideals, sucking all the blood, all the love, all the hope out of life; the beyond as the will to deny all reality; the cross as the distinguishing mark of the most subterranean conspiracy ever heard of,--against health, beauty, well-being, intellect, kindness of soul--against life itself. . . .

Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire

Son of a Witch, Maguire’s sequel to Wicked, focuses on Liir, the boy who saw Dorothy kill the witch with a pail of water at then end of Wicked. Liir thinks that The Wicked Witch of the West Elphaba and Fiyero are his parents, but no one seems to know for sure. He struggles with this and tries to find an answer throughout the story.

The story begins with Liir found on the road after being attacked by dragons. He is taken to a convent (the Cloister of Saint Glinda Mauntery) where he is cared for by Candle, a girl that was dropped off at the Mauntery by her uncle a few weeks before.

Liir’s tasks: to find Nor, help the Princess Nostoya, help the birds regain their freedom and to figure out who the hell he is.

The book, written for adults, received mostly positive reviews but I did not like it. There were a few parts that caught my attention but for the most part I found it wordy, it did not make sense and the story was all over the place.