What happens when the masters of supernatural Christian literature get together? House does

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. ” John 1:5 ESV

I read this book in one day. I was leaving Mexico at four in the afternoon. I started the book in the morning. I read it by the poolside, then on the bus to the airport, then in the airport and I finished it on the plane. House is co-authored by master story-tellers Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker.

The book follows the horror story of half a dozen people trying to survive the murderous intentions of Barsidious White and the bizarre house in which they are trapped. The entire book takes place in mere hours, as the people inside are only given until dawn to follow the rules White has given them. There are three rules:

1. God came to my house and I killed him
2. I will kill anyone who comes to my house as I killed God
3. Give me one dead body and I might let rule two slide. You have until dawn.

Let the game begin.

The portrayal of Jack and Stephanie’s tumultuous relationship is very real and convincing. After the death of their daughter they are seeking counseling but nonetheless are on the verge of divorce. They both blame the other person for their daughter’s death and they have come to hate the other person for their faults while ignoring their own. They meet Randy and Leslie who are also staying in a Victorian-era bed and breakfast that they found. Inside is a family of bizarre misfits who tend to be violent. Soon it becomes apparent that White, the family and even the house are all trying to kill them. They have until dawn to kill one of their group if they are all going to survive.

Dekker and Peretti have mad suspense-writing skills. I could not put the book down. As I read it, I could not help but think this book should be a movie. It moves at the pace of a horror flick and the special effects of a film would be awesome. I found out recently that it was made into a movie two years after the book was published. I need to see that movie. In any case House triumphs as a book. The book is incredibly complex and with the plot moving at a break-neck speed. Couple that with my ravenous appetite for literature and in the end I missed some of the details. There is a labyrinth of rooms beneath the house and it is impossible to keep them all straight. There are also seven characters to try to follow which also makes it hard to keep events and places organized in your brain.

But in the end the book is a masterpiece, illustrating powerfully the depravity of man’s soul and the one thing we must do to triumph over ourselves. The darkness of sin is not a foreign enemy. It lives within us. We must conquer ourselves because we are our greatest enemy. Thank you Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti for showing that so poignantly to me.

The Bean Trees

The Bean Trees is Barbara Kingsolver’s first novel, chronicling the life of Taylor Greer as she moves away from home.

Taylor is a complex character, whose fears and strengths Barbara Kingsolver lays out well. She is quite likeable and even though she is eccentric in some areas, she is very down-to-earth in others. In fact, all of the characters in the story are described very well, each with their own, individual personality, views and lives. They are unforgettable people. They are real and vivid.

I found the plot to be a bit slow moving and some of the character’s actions are not entirely believable, but it made for an interesting book.

After I finished it, I felt myself thinking, like I do after every Barbara Kingsolver book I’ve read, save the first one: “It was good, but it wasn’t ‘The Poisonwood Bible’ good.” My big mistake was reading The Poisonwood Bible before Barbara Kingsolver’s other books. The Poisonwood Bible is absolutely astounding. It literally took my breath away and I can’t say any other book on earth has been able to do that since. But this is a review on The Bean Trees, not The Poisonwood Bible.

The book was satisfying and cute and it had a flavour that was unique to it. But I could tell it was a first novel. There were just quirks and mistakes that can only be fixed with time. But all in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I need to get my hands on the sequel, Pigs in Heaven. But my library doesn’t have it.

Grr.

But I know that my boss does. Perhaps some book sharing is in order.

Please don’t make my mistake. Read The Poisonwood Bible only after you’ve read Barbara Kingsolver’s other twelve books. Because it’s only disappointing when you follow fireworks with sparklers.

The Lying Game Series: better as a book than a TV show

I’ll admit it: the only reason I started reading The Lying Game series is because of the ABC drama The Lying Game. My cousins got me hooked on the show over Christmas when I was in Florida. However, no Canadian stations carry the show (boo). My sister has resorted to watching all the episodes online, which is often two hours of searching for 45 minutes of watching time. I gave up right away. But I loved the show so much, I thought I would get out the books from the library

That was a mistake as the books take me two days to read and the author isn’t done the fourth book yet. My bad. I should have waited until she was done writing because now I will have to wait six months for the next book in the series to come out.

Anyways, I love these books. The writing is candid and honest, although it’s probably only at a grade eight reading level. Just a warning, the books are fundamentally different from the show. The show follows the lives of twins Emma and Sutton. In the books however, Sutton has been murdered and she is watching Emma as Emma (pretending to be Sutton. Oh the perks of being identical twins) tries to figure out who killed Sutton.

The characters in the books are all very unique, and Shephard does a good job of developing their character strengths and flaws. I’m not sure how realistic they are however. I have never met, read or heard about a group of teenage girls as ruthless as this bunch. But I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.  So far there are three books so far: The Lying Game, Never Have I Ever, and Two Truths and a Lie. The fourth book, Hide and Seek, isn’t out yet.

The books are definitely geared towards teens, and unfortunately teenage girls. But I fit the bill, so maybe that’s why I love them so much. They are a good, mostly brainless read, which I need every once and a while. I’m tempted to start Sara Shephard’s other series-turned-TV show, Pretty Little Liars.

*Guilty Pleasure*

The fourth book in The Lying Game series is set to be released this summer. I can hardly wait.

Irreparable harm… to my opinion of Randy Singer

I had high hopes for this book. I hadn’t read a Randy Singer book in quite a while so I was excited that the library had some of his books.

The story focuses on Mitchell Taylor, a man who has appeared in other of Randy Singer’s books like Directed Verdict and Self Incrimination. Singer’s humour is witty and I appreciate it. He does a good job of getting inside Taylor’s head. However, I found the character to be quite static and somewhat uninteresting. He’s driven, he’s focused, he’s good-looking. His Christianity is enviable and he’s a lawyer. Yawn. There is no crippling fault in this character, no damaging pride or weakness for MTV. He is, for all intents and purposes, perfect. I can’t relate to a character like that and I don’t think anyone else can either.

The other main character is Maryna Sareth. She is an illegal immigrant who is a soon-to-be surrogate mother. She’s pretty, sweet as pie and boring. Her character is completely skin deep. Throw in an alcoholic boss, a bad-ass gang and an imaginary ban on cloning and you have Singer’s novel in a nutshell.

The plot is slow-moving and entirely too dull for me. The imaginary bio-ethics act does absolutely nothing for me as I prefer real laws to conveniently loop-holed fake ones. But whatever. The ethical struggles Taylor goes through may very well be real and I was geared up for Singer’s gritty portrayal of a difficult issue but it never came. The ethical dilemma just limped along and in the end, no real decision had to be made. Then there’s the ‘we’re so compatible but we can never be involved with each other’ romance happening between Taylor and Sareth. She’s not a Christian but she’s so sweet and pretty and Taylor is falling in love with her and she might get deported. What ever shall we do? Singer has the answer: she gets converted and then marries Taylor so she can’t get deported and she gets to keep the unborn child that rightfully belongs to another woman. And she names the baby Dara. Story book happy ending. The only thing Singer did successfully in this book was make me have to read the odd names twice. Bravo.

The characters were cookie-cutter people, the plot was not dramatically told enough and although he tried to make the ethics muddy, all he did was spell out the issue and then sit on the fence.

Not my cup of tea.

Sorry Singer, this book just didn’t cut it for me.

Ontario Harness Racing: Over?

Dalton McGuinty wants to remove slot machines from racetracks all across Ontario. The government maintains that the slots should be removed and placed at more strategic locations. The move, they predict, will create some 2,300 jobs. This has created outrage among the people of the horse racing industry. The fact of the matter is that the horse racing industry cannot survive without the draw and revenue from the slot machines. Period. If the slots go, racing goes. Since slots were placed at racetracks in 1998, OLG has provided the track with $3.7 billion, with this year’s cut ringing in at about $345 million. The racetrack employs around 60,000 people. Creating 2,300 jobs at the expense of 60,000 jobs just doesn’t make sense. Even Dalton McGuinty can see that those numbers don’t add up. Many communities around tracks such as Woodbine and Flamboro Downs, rely completely on the racing industry to make money. Entire towns will be without work overnight. So the popular opinion is, shut down this ledger. 60,000 unemployed people is not good for the economy. If the track shuts down, what will happen to all of the horses? It’s tough to re-home ex-racing horses as it is. I would know. I’m training one right now. The vast majority of the hoses will in fact go for meat. They will all be slaughtered. Let’s add up all the reasons why this is a terrible idea: 60,000 people without work, billions of dollars not being made in revenue for the economy, entire towns without work, and thousands of horses slaughtered.

If only the debate was one-sided.

As a Christian I believe that gambling is wrong. It is a poor use of the money God has graciously given to us. So, on principle, I am against the racing industry. It is a business built on gambling, betting, winning and losing. The business turns profit by taking money from the working class: people who have no business betting their scarce money in the first place. Yes, racing generates money for the economy. But how much money does it steal from the working class? If they didn’t spend their money on betting, the money would find its way into the economy anyways. If the industry is shut down, the money won’t be gone; it will just be redirected.

The loss of 60,00 jobs would be awful. But the truth is, 60,000 jobs won’t be lost. It is estimated that the horse racing industry employs 60,000 people. That includes vets, farriers, trainers, janitors, et cetera. Many of these people will not be without jobs if racing dies, they will have just lost some of their business. Which is sad, but certainly not crippling. Especially since they now have one year to figure out how to make up for lost business.

Another issue is the horses themselves in the industry. It is a ruthless business where horses are just means to and end. They are not treated well. They are (pardon the bad expression) just cash cows. They are trained too hard, too young and when they aren’t making enough money, they are either bought for cheap by the Amish, or they go for meat. There is no shortage of Standardbred horses looking for new homes already. These horses are, in fact, very suitable to new disciplines after they are done racing. But many of these horses have health issues very young. Many 10 or 11 year-old ex-racers need some sort of supplement to help with arthritis and stiff joints. And believe you me, 11 is not old. Many horses live to 25 or 30, many not needing any supplements until they are well into their twenties. So a life on the track is not a good life for horses. And yes, it is tragic that so many horses will be sent to auction and bought by the meat man, come March 31, 2013. But think of how many horses’ lives racing has already claimed, and how many more it would claim if it continues. The meat market will be flooded with Standardbreds, but then it will be finished. Instead of the steady trickle that they receive now, they will have tons of horses and then presto-none. In fact, less horses may go for meat if they industry closes down; there will just be many horses at once.

Don’t get me wrong, I hate the meat market. I wish it were illegal. But the fact is that it exists, and without the constant stream of ex-racers going for meat I will suffer too. Which would not be the worst thing in the world.

I don’t agree with Dalton McGuinty’s reasons for moving the slot machine. They should just get rid of them. But the elimination of the racing industry may be a blessing in disguise, both for the horses and for the people who previously spent money at the slot machines.

It is a tough decision, with many issues surrounding the debate. I don’t really want to take sides. I’ve said my part. But I urge everyone to look at this from both sides. Read articles from opposing views of the debate and do some research. Most stories out there just give the reasons why this is bad idea. Try to find other opinions. There are too many factors weighing in for us to just look at the numbers and start hating on the government. Time will tell how this all plays out, but for now, the OLG slots at Racetracks agreement is set to be ended March 31, 2013. And what will happen after that, only God knows.