Bogormen

Title: Plan B: What Do You Do When God Doesn't Show Up the Way You Thought He Would?
Author: Pete Wilson
Genre: Christian non-fiction
Rating: 2.5/5
# pages: 222
Date read: August, 2013

Pete Wilson reaches beyond the typical Christian response to offer frank understanding, honest encouragement, and real hope for your Plan B reality. Drawing on real-life stories from the Bible (David, Joseph, Mary, and Martha) and the present day, he writes to help you:
* Move past the feelings of crisis: panic, fear, paralysis, and overcontrol
* See God in your circumstances--even when he doesn't seem to be there at all
* Make peace with doubt, which can actually be an expression of faith
* Find hope through the redemptive power of community
* Ask the right questions in order to find real, satisfying answers
* Explore the relationship between shattered dreams and true spiritual transformation

Lots of questions, but no real answers. Basically this book gave a lot of examples of situations where people were forced into a Plan B, and then related their responses to it. But the only answer offered to the subject question is "Trust" ... and perhaps "Hope". Both true answers to be sure, but nothing I wasn't aware of already.

But to be fair, I don't exactly now what other kind of answer I was looking for... possibly just some more concrete examples of how to trust in God. Rather than just offering the platitude of "Let God be the editor of your life" (which doesn't even make much sense to me), I'd like specific instructions of how one goes about doing that. Probably impossible to give, as they're bound to differ from person to person, but in that case, just some examples of how real-life people set out to do it.

Unfortunately that's my problem with many Christian self-help books.

Title: Un Lun Dun
Author: China Miéville
Genre: Childrens fantasy
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: Audiobook ~13hrs
Date read: August, 2013

Zanna and Deeba are two girls leading ordinary lives, until they stumble into the world of UnLondon, an urban Wonderland where all the lost and broken things of London end up... and some of its lost and broken people too. Here discarded umbrellas stalk with spidery menace, carnivorous giraffes roam the streets, and a jungle sprawls beyond the door of an ordinary house.

UnLondon is under siege by the sinister Smog and its stink-junkie slaves; it is a city awaiting its hero. Guided by a magic book that can't quite get its facts straight, and pursued by Hemi the half-ghost boy, the girls set out to stop the poisonous cloud before it burns everything in its path. They are joined in their quest by a motley band of UnLondon locals, including Brokkenbroll, boss of the broken umbrellas, Obaday Fing, a couturier whose head is an enormous pincushion, and an empty milk carton called Curdle.

My expectations were totally off with this one. I'd heard it compared to Neverwhere so I expected a novel for grown-ups - or YA at the very least. But it's a children's novel. Not that I have a problem reading books aimed at children, and it was really well written, so definitely appropriate for grown-ups as well. It just meant that I had to do some serious mental readjustment along the way to figure out that the book was not at all what I thought it was.

That said, I really liked the book. I thought the characters fun and quirky and liked the traditional fairytale structure to the story. The plot wasn't anything special, which is probably where my mistaken expectations come into play, as there was less depth to it than I would have thought, but once I realized that and took the story for what it was, I found it a very enjoyable tale.

Title: A Deadly Yarn (A Knitting Mystery #3)
Author: Maggie Sefton
Genre: Crafts, Mystery
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 272 pages
Date read: August, 2013

Kelly and Megan are happy for their friend, Allison Dubois, a talented, young artist who's joining a designer's New York studio. But when they arrive to take Allison to the airport, they find her dead on the apartment floor, apparently from an overdose of sleeping pills. Police suspect suicide, but Kelly and Megan aren't convinced. Soon, Kelly learns that while Allison's career was on the fast-track, her social life was a mess. A bad news boyfriend, a jealous design student, and a mysterious man named Brian arouse Kelly's suspicions as she and her friends try to unravel this tightly stitched puzzle.

I was in the mood for a cozy read, and I knew that despite being a murder mystery, this series has actually fit the bill quite nicely so far, so I saw no reason why the next book should be any different.

Fortunately it delivered as expected, and I greatly enjoyed being back with Kelly, Mimi and the others. There was less actual knitting-related in this book than in the two previous ones, but that bothered me less than I would have anticipated. Even though the setup to the murders is getting increasingly ridiculous, the actual sleuthing in this one was a lot more well thought out and realistic and in the two first books. I hope Maggie Sefton can keep this up! I appreciate that Kelly isn't trying to work against the cops, but actually relates her findings to them as appropriate.

Title: The Blue Castle
Author: Lucy Maud Montgomery
Genre: Classics, Romance
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 224
Date read: February 2007, March 2009, August 2013

At twenty-nine Valancy had never been in love, and it seemed romance had passed her by. Living with her overbearing mother and meddlesome aunt, she found her only consolations in the "forbidden" books of John Foster and her daydreams of the Blue Castle. Then a letter arrived from Dr. Trent telling her she only has one year left to live -- and Valancy decided to throw caution to the winds. For the first time in her life Valancy did and said exactly what she wanted. Soon she discovered a surprising new world, full of love and adventures far beyond her most secret dreams.

With the exception of certain Anne-books I think this is probably my favourite book by LMM. The way the marriage between Valancy and Barney is depicted is probably the main reason for this. Sure, the beginning is cliché and the ending utterly unrealistic and contrived, but the middle is just delightful. Unlike most of LMM's other books, we're actually allowed a glimpse into the life of a married couple, seeing how they live together, how they interact, how they learn that silence together with somebody you're comfortable with never gets awkward. With Anne and Gilbert running a close second, I think this is the most realistic portrayal of a marriage in LMM's books.

And of course there is the eternal "did they/didn't they" debate ;-) For the record, I'm firmly on the "they did!" side here.