I never realised how short some of these ‘classics’ are! I am more than willing to work through a load of them at that length! Actually finished this a couple of days ago, but life’s been a bit too hectic to sit down and write it up…
This book actually made me really angry. It just represents a totally unjust society, where the leaders tell the people things are brilliant and that they’re all equal, when really, it couldn’t be more uneven. As the cover of the book says: “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.”
Sadly it really reminded me of the state of some countries in our world in this present day, I think that’s where my anger really came from. This isn’t just fiction, it’s a reality for so many.
The story is well told though, and the animal parts make it light enough that you don’t completely want to cry, but it just makes some excellent points while it does that.
Colin is 18 years old, and has just been dumped by Katherine IXX (yes that’s right, his 19th girlfriend called Katherine). There’s definitely a couple of parallels between this and The Rosie Project which I read recently – the lead character is a remarkably intelligent man, who struggles a little socially, and tries to find a way to formulate relationships. In the Rosie Project, this was by matching a vast amount of criteria. In this book, Colin is trying to find a formula to predict whether a relationship between two people would work, how long it would last, and who would be the dumper and who the dumpee.
Colin struggles with the fact that while he was a child prodigy, he hasn’t turned into a genius. He wants to be someone who matters. This leads to a lovely quote somewhere in the book: “And so we all matter – maybe less than a lot, but always more than none.”
The book actually follows Colin and his friend Hassan (who has his own issues to deal with) on a summer road trip to try and cheer Colin up, ending up in some random little town and that’s where the story unfolds.
Fairly light hearted mostly, a little confusing until I got used to the flashback stories of previous Katherines through the book, but some great stuff, including a highly mathematical appendix (starting from uber basic and building up) by an actual professor – lovely!
It’s a while since I’ve done one of these, but last week a friend of mine was raving about The Jungle Book, and I realised just how long it is since I’ve seen it!
The thing with the Jungle Book is, in general, I love it, however, there are an awful lot of characters I dislike in it, and a lot that creep me out, so I’ve put them below, and then balanced that out with a list of the characters I love!
Weirdly, Mowgli isn’t in either list… I’m a bit indifferent to him! King Louie is another that I part love, part don’t, so he doesn’t make either list.
Dislike:
Kaa – obviously! He can hypnotise, he can strangle… way too dangerous!
Shere Khan – another obvious one, he’s out to kill, ’nuff said.
The girl – maybe a bit less obvious, but she’s being all flirty with Mowgli, and luring him away from the life that he loves!
Bagheera – again, not so obvious. He’s way too strict and grumpy, doesn’t enjoy the fun things, doesn’t smile, and wants to send Mowgli away!
Colonel Hathi – another grumpus. General rule of thumb, I generally struggle with characters that don’t smile. Also big and scary.
Love:
The Wolves – the cubs are just so cute, and they looked after Mowgli instead of eating him…
Hathi Junior – adorable, you wouldn’t think he was the Colonel’s child. Fun loving, and welcomes Mowgli instantly.
The Vultures – it’s only now that I re-watch as a grown up that I realise they were based on the beatles! Four Liverpudlian singers with weird hair…! Hilarious though – these are the characters that we repeatedly quoted at Primary School!
Baloo – I just want to cuddle him and hang out – so much fun
Winifred the Elephant (Colonel Hathi’s Wife) – this woman has sass. Colonal Hathi might be terrifying, but she can still tell him what’s what, tell him what to do and he listens!
And just as an added bonus – last week that friend pointed out that in the clip below (at 1 minute in), Bagheera quotes 1 John 3v16… that slightly redeemed him in my eyes!
It also goes on to some of the good Vulture stuff 🙂
“One way to bring the difference into focus is to picture a Christmas tree and an apple tree. A Christmas tree bears gifts; an apple tree bears fruit. A gift is both attached to a Christmas tree and removed from it by a single, brief act. There is no direct connection between the tree and the gift: one may be a garment, the other a fir tree. The gift tells us nothing about the nature of the tree from which it is taken.
On the other hand, there is a direct connection between an apple and the tree that bears it. The nature of the tree determines the nature of the fruit—both its kind and its quality. An apple tree can never bear an orange. A healthy tree will never bear unhealthy fruit (see Matthew 7:17–20). The fruit on the apple tree is not produced by a single act, but is the result of a steady, continuing process of growth and development. To produce the best fruit, the tree must be carefully cultivated. This requires time, skill and labour.”
We can’t pick and choose our fruits, Galatians 5v22 says “fruit is” not “fruit are”.
Gifts express ability, fruit expresses character. Gifts can be for a time, character goes into eternity.
People sometimes accuse Christians of being miserable and joyless – they should visit a housegroup and see the laughter there!
Children run to those full of joy, not misery.
“Many of us have only dipped our toes in the ocean of joy He has for us” – Adrian Warnock. He came so that we could have life to the full – John 10v10
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” – John 15vv1-4,11
“Happiness comes from happenings, Joy comes from Jesus” – John Parker
We express joy well at a goal in football, why don’t we otherwise?
“You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” – Psalms 16v11
“Sing, Daughter Zion;
shout aloud, Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
Daughter Jerusalem!
The Lord has taken away your punishment,
he has turned back your enemy.
The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you;
never again will you fear any harm.
On that day
they will say to Jerusalem,
“Do not fear, Zion;
do not let your hands hang limp.
The Lord your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.”” – Zephaniah 3vv14-17
We don’t tend to think of God as singing
What we have in Christ is better than anything you’ll see on Match Of The Day.
Rules for modern living (from Innocent)
1. Whoever gets home first cooks the tea.
2. Whoever cooks the tea doesn’t have to do the washing up. Or the drying.
3. Never walk away from a printer paper jam (unless it’s to enlist the help of IT support).
5. Never trust anyone who says they enjoy ironing.
6. Never sit next to someone on the bus if there are spare seats together somewhere else.
7. Never give your bank details to a Nigerian prince.
A book store where books are wrapped in paper with short descriptions so no one will 'judge a book by it's cover' http://t.co/b9uTEawPMc— Fascinating Pictures (@Fascinatingpics) September 10, 2014
The final book in my “I need to finally read all the stuff I was meant to read at school but didn’t!” list.
I never realised just how short this book is! Only 120 pages – I could probably have done this in one sitting if I’d had a quieter week. And just as when I read To Kill A Mockingbird, it was much better than I remember at school. Again supporting my argument that books were meant to be read and enjoyed, not analysed to within an inch of their life.
The story is based around George and Lennie, two men who travel together and find ranches to work on. George is a smart guy, Lennie is something of a gentle giant, and really quite simple. He is adorable, doesn’t have a mean bone in his body, and has a love for cuddly small animals – which leads to trouble when he doesn’t realise his own strength.
It’s not the happiest of reads, but there’s a reason this book has stood the test of time and is still well read today. Like most books, it’s about getting to know the characters and wanting to know more about them.
The world often tells us that the only things out there are the things that we can see, touch or feel.
“The modern world often does seem at times to be so evil, and human actions so wicked, that only a supernatural explanation can suffice” – secular view from The Daily Telegraph
“…the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” – 1 John 5v19b. But God is King over all creation, including the evil powers. Things like Nazism come from the evil one, but demons flee at the name of Jesus. Mark 1-3 is about demonstrating the power and authority of Jesus Christ. Satan’s rule is only temporary!
There are two ages: the present evil age, and the age to come of the kingdom of God. We as believers live between these two. The present evil age will come to an end, and we’ll have a new heaven and a new earth.
How can we see the pain and despair in this world without being driven to our knees? Watching the news is sometimes just too hard. Christian life is not easy, we live in thee world between the two ages.
D-Day was the decisive turning point in the second world war, but there were many more battles to fight before VE/VJ Day. The cross was D-Day. Get to the end of the book, we’re on the winning side!
The struggle we’re in is much bigger than us, but it’s not bigger than God, it’s not an even match! The final outcome is secure.
Satan will target the church, his tactics are subtle. There are so many sermons and teachings around on the internet we can feed ourselves so much. We need to be discerning with the teachings out there. There is a lot on self help, health and wealth, and blessings on individuals without mentioning Jesus out there, we have to be careful.
Things go wrong for all of us from time to time, and that’s when Satan whispers in our ear “Is Jesus really in control? Is He really Lord and King?”. But we know that we have a Redeemer. God’s Kingdom lasts forever.
Will we fight the good fight? The war has turned in the favour of Christ, but we’re to march on until He comes again. The one thing that will get us through is the power of God, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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