Scribbles on Marcia Ford's A Conversation With God for Women

If I could ask God any question, What would it be?

This question got me. I'm in a point in my life right now where I tend to ask so many questions about life, the little things, almost anything, even about God. This is why I choose this book. I was hoping to have some things answered, cleared up, or even to just to pacify my ever questioning brain.

Conversations with God for Women highlights 50 questions that are mostly asked or wondered about by women, and maybe men too. Some questions are vague, or philosophical in nature, some are just too simple, you think to yourself that..'yeah, I wonder what's the answer to this.'

The book features questions like, If You love us, why do we suffer?, Do You really forgive and forget?, Do You hear everybody's prayers? Do we need to go to church? and so many more. The book is written indeed in conversation-style. Really like a Q&A portion. And we get two point of views, from God and Jesus. Biblical references are made everywhere in the book but they did not overwhelm me.

Being a teenager, I thought I could not ask these questions because asking meant and somehow implied that I do not trust God and that a believer should never question.

I know that sounds primitive, absurd, and like blindly following someone. I had that feeling, coupled with the things that is going in my mind, it was all a mess. I never read the bible as diligently as I should. There were things that I have missed, realizations and teachings that I should have known to make me stronger and maybe saner.

I first scanned through the book, taking that first smell [something only bookworms do :-)], and slowly as if every answer to my questions make sense. I found it calming and I sort of felt worry-free. As if someone is listening. As if now I know it was all for the better. That it's all gonna be better.

In line with the things that has recently occurred in my life, I really wanted to ask: "God, we all know Christians who suffer with terminal illness  or from overwhelming loss and tragic events in their lives. That seems so unfair; they often lived lives of total dedication to You; and they ended up in horrible situations. Why do Your followers have to suffer?"

Thank you, Marcia Ford, for making it simpler for me to understand it all.






I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

my alternate universe by the mulberry tree

You may call me Jown. And I live in an alternate universe, by a mulberry tree. It's fun here that's why I love to share my scribbles (thoughts) on books I've read, or even devoured.

 My alternate universe was created because I have always felt that I am "sort-of" taken into different worlds when I read. Aren't we all? Or, if this is not the case, it's as if I have awaken to a new way of looking at things in the universe I am already in.

Sometimes, no, most of the time, I write wholeheartedly on how a book made me feel. This is my alternate universe and my own experience in reading so expect everything to be personal. Isn't this how reading is supposed to be, eh?

Something special to note about my alt universe is that most of the books I read are bought second hand. Books really cost a lot in the alternate universe I am geographically in. So I am very grateful for the secondhand bookshops on this side of the planet.

Sadly, reading is not much given importance here.  Bookworms who totally read anything YA or in the children's section, even shampoo sachet labels are indeed rare!!

Scribbles on Mary Ryan's Glenallen

If there was a book that I disliked at first but greatly loved upon re-readings, it was Glenallen.

How I got the book

I got it when I was in high school, April 2004 to be exact. I do not know why, but I always had a dislike for thick books written by unfamiliar writers. I know it is so judgmental of me. I have mended my ways since. Perhaps it was the back cover story that got me. Because it talked about friends. :-)

The Story

The book was written by Mary Ryan. The plot of the story is similar to the drama series that are shown here in our country. Shows that narrates the birth until the death (if possible) or the happily ever after ending of the main character. That is why when I first read the story, I felt bland. I even think I skipped most of the middle pages when reading it first.

But it was in the second and subsequent re-readings that I grasped what the story was about and how it affected me ever since.

The story was set in rural Ireland during the second world war. There are three main leads in the story. They are three girls who met in boarding school, namely Peg, Cissie, and Mary.

Glenallen also shows that the lengths people will do in order to have something they want. Evil, evil things a person would do. The story also incorporates the superstitious beliefs and somewhat folklore in the land where Glenallen was built or derived from. I do not want to think of this part of the story because it is creepy and is somewhat parallel/similar with our country's own superstitions.

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Even writing this review makes me cringe on the things that happened in the story. From my point of view, the events are too typical in my teledrama-soaked brain. The people in the story just did have the most exciting childhood (I loved this part of the story), or they will have the most ridiculous twists in their later life loves. Gaaah!

And I have not even begun writing about the protagonists in the story. I cannot even. Grrrr!!

This is how affected I am.

Scribbles on Karen Hesse' Out of the Dust

The first book I've read after "the incident" is Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. I grabbed this book from a shelf at the children's section  in Booksale. After speed-reading the back cover ... Billie Jo... not a boy ... family ... dust ... piano... losing mom... and the P45 price tag, I thought it's worth a try since I haven't read a book for a long time now. I think I've seen this book in those shelves before but I have just been engrossed in other things that I did not buy Out of the Dust.

So, fast-forward to the afternoon after. I have finished reading the book. I was trying very hard not to shout out loud. I was in our office sleeping lounge. Obviously not sleeping,

Scribbles on Ann M. Martin's Here Today

I look for myself every time I read a book. So far, treating reading that way has been enriching. A huge part tells me that I perhaps lived in the moors of Ireland and played in a Secret Garden, or  I was a witch when I read the Harry Potter series. There are also books which allows us to examine our lives and downright points out the disagreeable, sad, harsh parts. Here Today by Ann M. Martin did just that. 

At first, I laughed off the title because it sound dramatic and I think the title has been used in numerous other novels. I cannot say that I am glad to have read the book. It is a family story. And I hate Doris Day Dingman!!! Why does she have to leave!! Argh!!!

turn off the lights and give yourself.... goosebumps

This is the GIF that I have made for my ode to RL Stine/Goosebumps night in tumblr.

I deliberately tried to scare myself, and failed miserably. Why? Because I have turned off the speakers just not to hear the audio clips. Omo.

I know, I am such a scaredy-cat.

tumblr post ~ more books

Books To Read

The Group by Mary McCarthy

Missing Mom by Joyce Carol Oates

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

Freak by Marcella Pixley

Little Audrey by Ruth White

How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found by Sara Nickerson

Chasing Redbird by Sharon Creech

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

BSC Friends Forever: Everything Changes by Ann M. Martin

Silent to the Bone by E.L. Konigsburg

The Famous Stanley Kidnapping Case by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Eleven Kids, One Summer by Ann M. Martin

The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

The Last Summer (of You and Me) by Ann Brashares

Lyddie by Katherine Paterson

Jip His Story by Katherine Paterson

Whoa! These are a lot of books.  Most of which are in the children’s genre so they should be fast to read. If especially find comfort in reading these kinds of books, they seem to satisfy the child in me. I just feel that these kinds of books, so closely or sometimes even exactly describes things that I have realized, felt, experienced or noticed. These books aptly describes things I could not put my finger on, things that are at the tip of my tongue, things I wouldn’t ordinarily find words correct and concise enough to describe on my own.

Scribbles on Katherine Patterson's Lyddie

Summary:  Impoverished Vermont farm girl Lyddie Worthen is determined to gain her independence by becoming a factory worker in Lowell, Massachusetts, in the 1840s.

                Oh, my heart ached for Lyddie and the circumstances that made her life. But I know, Lyddie will achieve all that she had planned/intend to do in the last part of the book. :-;

                The story gripped me from the start. Despite the obvious physical tension (i.e. bear), the author managed to incorporate humour in this, and at the same time release another conflict/tension (i.e. mother’s illness).

A Simple Act of Kindness by Winston Estes

All I can say is that this book really failed me. Or maybe, I expected too much from since its title is about kindness.

Aside from being such a long book, the story concerns mainly on a guy named Peter Hamilton, who was such a do-gooder. A meddler, as put up by Mr. Burnsides, his lawyer.

Generally, the story is more of a mystery-detective type. And until now, I still don’t believe Carrie Holbrook. (But) maybe I should read the book again.

The character whom I liked was Mr. Arthur Burnsides, the lawyer. I liked the way he says things. Maybe that is just the way lawyers are. And also, I’ve learned that lawyers really cost a lot.

And inheritance money costs a lot too!

From my own reasoning, I can say that the title of the book is “A Simple Act of Kindness” since the lead character has done an act of kindness (as he calls it). But it turned out to do more harm and complications than he ever thought of or imagined.

Lesson: Mind your own business.

**Note: I borrowed this book in our college library. I was researching on a paper on kindness at that time and I thought this book will be of good reference. How wrong I was.

Book Read Last July 27-28, 2006

Books To Read

The year has only began and now I have a growing pile of unread books. I just have to make the time. It's festival fever here which is making me wanting to stay out of the house most of the time. Grrrr..excuses again.

It's really just seven books for now. If I am not careful enough, I'd still have them lying around until summer. This post will serve as my "reminder" that I need to read. An irritating, nagging feeling of unread books always gets to me. 

OK. OK. I'm reading now, in an alternate universe by the mulberry tree.