Still Alice - Lisa Genova

This was an amazing book. My mom gave it to me for Christmas, and at first I wasn't sure if I would enjoy it. The main character is a 50 year old psychology professor, married with children. I'm a 23 year old BEd student. How would I relate? But my mom gave it to me, so of course I had to read it. I really enjoyed it.

Still Alice is about a 50 year old professor who discovers that she has Early Onset Alzheimer's. Throughout the book we watch as Alice progresses through this disease, from first noticing the symptoms to not remembering her own children. I felt her frustrations and fear when she went for a run and found herself lost in her own neighbourhood, not knowing how to get home. I felt her anger when she could not remember how to make the pudding she had made since she was a kid. But most of all I related to her daughter.

Lydia is 24 years old and an actress. Her and her mother have disagreed a lot on her life choices, not to go to college for one, becoming an actress for another, however of all three of Alice's children Lydia is the one who is around the most. Lydia relationship with her mother grows and Alice learns more about who her youngest daughter is and is able to connect with her in new ways. Lydia is also the child that Alice forgets first.

As I read this book I could see myself in Lydia and it made me think of my own mother and the relationship I have with her. I would never want my mother to suffer through this, but I hope to always be there for her, just like Lydia was for her mom.

I would give this book a 4/5. I really enjoyed it. I am very glad my mom chose it for me and would definitely recommend others to read it.

Who Needs Theology? - Grenz and Olson

This was a school book. I need two religious studies courses to graduate and this is for one them (Intro to Christian Thought). The prof chose this as one of two books we will be reading and discussing this semester. For whatever reason this book had to be finished by the third week of school, and the other one is being read over the course of the semester.

I sat down and read pretty much this whole book in 1 day. I wouldn't recommend trying that. It hurt my head. Not because it was complicated theology, but because it was a book that required some thought. I couldn't get lost in someone else's life, because this was about life in general. But that is not to say I didn't like it.

This isn't the first theology book I have read, and it probably won't be the last. That being said it is far from my favourite. Basically it is claiming that everyone is a theologian because everyone thinks about life and the afterlife, who God is or isn't, and how all this knowledge affects their life. This book stressed the importance of being a good theologian. It spoke about how oftentimes theologians have a bad rep because there are bad theologians out there, but the key to that is not to get rid of theology, but rather to have good theology.

I agree with the premise of the book. People need theology, especially Christians. You need to know what you believe and why. It is very dangerous to believe something because you were taught it or simply because "the Bible says so". If you already believe theology is important than this book isn't for you. Skip it, you already know it. However if you are wondering if theology is important and what it looks like to do on an amateur level, give it a read. Just don't try to do it in one day.

Overall I would give this book 3/5. It is what it claims to be and could be useful for certain people.

Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen

My first book of the year was a classic. For a disclaimer I started this book last year and finished the second half in the New Year, but it's more the finish date than anything.

I really enjoyed this book. I read my first Austen novel in my third year of University and found that I enjoyed it. I really had next to no exposure to Austen except for pieces of the movies and what I heard from other people. When I started this book I new almost nothing about it except that it was a book that talked about books and the purpose of reading and that it was written first and published last. I also knew that it spoke about a book called the Mysteries of Udolpho (thanks to having watched The Jane Austen Book Club).

I found that I really enjoyed this book. I absolutely loved Catherine's character, mostly because I felt like I related to her a lot. She was lonely when she first went to Bath because she did not have any friends, but slowly she made a few friends, some of who turned out not to be the greatest of friends. That sounds a bit like my life. Except for I have never been to Bath.

The only part of the book that I did not like was the ending. Not that I did not like how it ended, I just found that it was abrupt. The last chapter was spent tying the loose ends and it almost felt like Austen got bored of writing the book and decided to stop writing but then thought she had to close things off.

Overall I would give it a 4/5 because I would definitely read it again and recommend it to others.

New Year's Resolution

One year, at the beginning of summer, I looked at all the books I had read and realized I was about a dozen books shy of reading 52 books in one year, but I still had a little over a month to reach that goal. I ended up reading 50 books. This year, for my New Year's resolution I have decided to read 52 plus 1 books in 2013, which is just over a book a week.

I have been known to do crazy goals. I read the Bible in 90 days (that is actually quite difficult...), I completed NaNoWriMo in November and have done similar crazy things. I seem to work best under crazy deadlines. So to be sure I actually complete my goal I am going to write a blog post about each book! Now I have never written a proper book review before, nor do I promise that they will be amazing, although I hope to improve over the year. This blog is to keep me on track.

Feel free to offer books suggestions. I have a list of books I have been intending to read, as well as some schools books I need to read that will be counted (they are, after all, books). I will pretty near read anything!

So join with me as I read 52 plus 1 books.