The Art of Hearing Heartbeats

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker is a very lovely book.  Within the first few minutes the prose drew me into the book.  The book is beautifully written and asks some really deep questions about love, life, and seeing.  The plot follows a woman who is on a quest to find her father after he disappears.  She follows his trail to Burma where he grew up and finds a strange man waiting for her, longing to tell her his tale.  In the tale she discovers her father anew.  His tale is the tale of a beautiful love story that lasts through the years.  I can't go into it much without giving the story away.  But the prose paint a wonderful picture of love, loss, and life.  Sendker does lead the reader's expectations in a very clear path, but it doesn't really take away from the book.  Over all I liked this book.

Several Audiobooks

I actually finished listening to several audiobooks over the past few weeks. Between being sick, sick babies, and a sick husband...well time hasn't been on my side, but I have had time to listen to books.  Anyway, I finished  Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Eric Metaxis' Bonhoeffer's biography (the one Alex posted on), and the first three books of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series (The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monster's, and The Titan's Curse). 


I have never read this American Classic (unless the Illustrated Classics count) and I wanted to "read" a fun classic.  Mark Twain didn't disappoint.  The fun thing about this book is how clearly Mark Twain displays the attitudes of his time.  I really didn't agree with a lot of the ideas he was promoting (mainly ancient people were stupider than modern people, and some of the stuff he said about the Church). But it was fun to listen to and the performer did a great job reading it.  I don't if this is the first time travel novel, but it is one of the earlier ones, even so it didn't spend a lot of time on how "The Boss" was transported to Arthur's Court, so it's really not much of a "science" fiction story but more of a fiction.

So the plot is basically a Connecticut Blacksmith gets into a fight and gets knocked out.  He wakes in King Arthur's England without any idea of where he is and how he got there.  He is captured and taken to Court where he is sentenced to burn on the stake.  But because he knew that a solar eclipse was going to happen the day of his execution he uses it to turn around his fortunes.  He then tries to turn the "simple" people into modern (Twain's modern) people with "modern" sensibilities and values.  There is adventure, love, war, and time travel. A fun book all around.  It was also kinda fun to argue with some of his assertions, but they were merely the mindset of his time. I enjoyed it.

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Prophet, Martyr, Spy Alex has already commented on.  All I can say is Wow.  What a life! It was a great book, very well written.  I almost want to get it in print to be able to mark it up and use it for quotes and things to ponder.  I wonder if Alex would let me do that...he hasn't ever really liked me marking up books...anyway...It's a great book and a fascinating person.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians these are great to listen to while driving the kids around praying they will go to sleep.  As they have been sick their naps have been off, and Auggie  has been teething so naps unless taken in a moving car don't often last longer than 15 minutes. So anyway these are fun kids books that are about the children of the Greek gods in today's world.  They are just brain candy and easy to pick up on the plot after dealing with screaming kids. Lots of fun.

Catching Fire: Book 2 of The Hunger Games

I finished this the other day and it was a quick read.  I liked all the action and it kept me entertained.  Not much else besides that except that I am looking forward to reading the next and final book.

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

About two weeks ago, I finished the audiobook version of "Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy", by Eric Metaxas.  This was fantastic, and since I've done nothing but talk about it (apparently), I won't write much of a review.

Basically, if you thought the Nazis were bad, you should read/listen to this book.  The Nazis were horrible.  In particular, their deception and abuse of the Christian church in Germany teaches an important lesson the church needs to learn -- be serious and coherent about your theology!  Many pastors and congregations in Germany were led astray because they didn't listen carefully to what the Nazis were saying, and didn't know the Bible well enough to respond.  A lazy church is a weak church, and the Nazis exploited it as long as it served their purposes.

Anyway, this was a fascinating book, and I am even more interested to read some of Bonhoeffer's original works.  Highly recommended!

The Alloy of Law

This week, I finished "The Alloy of Law" by Brandon Sanderson.  It's a fantasy/sci-fi novel set in a world that's about the technological level of 1880s United States, where the magic is based on metals.  This book is in the same "universe" as the Mistborn series (which is really good), but standalone and 300 years after the last Mistborn book ends.

You know what?  It just keeps sounding lamer and lamer as I write about it, but it's really good.  Sanderson is an excellent storyteller, and his system of magic is well thought out and a unique twist on a lot of different tropes.  Placing the story at the transition from the pre-modern to modern era lends some excitement.  It's brain candy, but good brain candy.

Unbroken

I just finished a wonderful biography about the life of Louis Zamperini called Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. I know that Alex, Max and Cindy have read this book but I think they read it last year before we started this blog. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a good read and fascinating story. Hillenbrand is the author of Seabiscuit and has done a wonderful job telling the life story of Zamperini.

Without giving anything away I was captivated by the life of this man who was a terror to his town and parents when he was a kid, but soon became the town's hero when he almost broke the 4 minute mile and ran in the Berlin Olympics. He then became a lieutenant and bombardier in the air force during WWII. His plane was downed in the Pacific. He and two other men survived on a raft no bigger than a bath tube in shark infested waters while being shot at by a Japanese plane. He then washed up in Japanese territory and endured some of the most inhumane treatment that was routine in Japanese POW camps during WWII. As incredible a story that is the book still has many more chapters after the end of WWII.

I don't think I would have read this book (I don't read many biography's) except that Alex read parts of it to me and intrigued me. That and the fact that I just read Lit by Rienke and have been challenged to read a larger variety of books. I think now I am hooked on bio's and would welcome any suggestions. :) (Yes Alex, I DO intend to listen to the Bonhoeffer bio...how could I not after all you have told me ;) Anyway its a good read and we have it if anyone wants to borrow it.