Book Reading

I decided in the last two weeks or so that I should add some reading to fill my time. Mostly it was inspiration from Jeff. He is busy about every second of every day, and yet he posts all the time about how he's read three thousand different titles. I am busy like 6 hours out of the day, and I thought that reading could be something productive I can do to fill my spare time. Ironically enough we had to do book reviews for my stress management class (I read The Prophet specifically for that assignment) but two of the students in my group had read both The Message and The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and I was able to discuss with them the books and their meanings and purposes.

Also like Jeff, I will take any recommendations!

Since Monday, March 17th I have read the following titles:

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (BYU GRADUATE!!!! :) ):
This of course is a fictional story of romance between a human and a vampire. I knew that it was an extremely popular book and I got it for Christmas from my mom, but something about it for a while sat uneasy with me (BEFORE I read it of course). However, after completing it I really can say it is probably going to remain one of my favorites for quite some time. I'm looking forward to the movie that is coming out in December and I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of the books in the series.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom:
I really loved the message in this book. I was however at times frustrated with the format of it. It's kind of hard to explain my feeling towards it, but I definitely wasn't expecting what I read. However, I would recommend reading this book. It makes you stop and think about life and things happening around you and I think that in itself is worth taking the time to read it. Too often we are just racing around through life and not taking the time to consider things going on around us.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie:
This also was a book I got for Christmas. It a fictional story of a 14 year old boy who lives on an indian reservation and realizes that if he stays there, he will never leave. He asks his parents to transfer to a high school off the reservation and from there his entire world starts to change. I likewise enjoyed the message is in this book but I dont know if I would recommend it specifically because of some of the language in it. It wasn't full of foul language but, it was a little inappropriate at times.

The Message by Lance Robinson:
This is the true story of a man from Idaho Falls who suffers from multiple diseases and was in a coma for a number of weeks. While he was in that coma he shares the story of being given the oppertunity to visit the Spirit World and learn what life will be like after this earthly state. This was an incredible book. Probably the most important of these that I read. I can honestly say that I believed that he wrote and "the message" that he had to share was really of value to me. My favorite quote from the book was a quote that someone said to Lancewhile in the Spirit World, it was simply, "Now what are you doing for this cause?" I just thought it was something to think about.

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran:
This book I would read a thousand times and NEVER get sick of. It is a fictional story of a highly-regarded individual who is returning to his place of birth where he will inevitably die. His followers ask him to leave advice with them before he goes and in the subsequent chapters he shares life lessons on dozens of topics. It reads almost biblically and is difficult at time to understand but (just as with scripture) after a few times going over paragraphs, you understand the real meaning and the lesson that is to be learned. To sum it up, I loved this book.