Reading Challenge: May 2019

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (a book set on a college or university campus) - What a lovely peek into the lives of people (like me) who enjoy creating content for our favorite books and movies!

Love You Hate You Miss You by Elizabeth Scott (a book with "love" in the title) - It was . . . good? I honestly didn't feel much when I read it and it didn't make much of an impression on me.

The Secret War by Matt Myklusch (a book about someone with a superpower) - My review can be read here.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (a debut novel) - This book took a while to read, but it left me satisfied. An intensely crafted world, real characters and a good ending.

Also read, but not for the challenge:

T. Rex and the Crater of Doom by Walter Alvarez

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

Reading Challenge: January, February, March, April 2019

My senior undergraduate year's been pretty crazy, but now it's over! so hopefully I'll have more time to read (crossing fingers). Here's what I've read the past few months:

Montmorency by Eleanor Updale (a book that makes you nostalgic) - A story I read when I was a child about a thief who uses London's sewers to steal from the rich. Better than I remember!

The Merlin Conspiracy by Diana Wynne Jones (a book you think should be turned into a movie) - Though they should probably make the first book, Deep Magic, into a movie before this one.

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson (a book featuring an extinct or imaginary creature) - Not quite as good as his other ones, I thought, but still really interesting!

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang (a book with an item of clothing or accessory on the cover) - Kinda silly, but cute!

Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep by Gail Carson Levine (a book inspired by mythology, legend or folklore) - Love this story. Love. It.

Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson (a book told through multiple character POVs) - Again, not as good as the first two books in the Stormlight Archives, but still amazing.

The Anatomy of Peace by the Arbinger Institute (a book you meant to read in 2018) - What a fascinating story.

Re Jane by Patricia Park (a retelling of a classic) - Loosely based off of Jane Eyre, but nowhere as good. Has some good things to think about, especially if you enjoy reading different perspectives.

Romeo and/or Juliet by Ryan North (a choose-your-own-adventure book) - Pretty silly.

Also read, but not for the challenge:
The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson

The Fairy's Mistake by Gail Carson Levine

The Princess Test by Gail Carson Levine

Here Lies the Librarian by Richard Peck 

The Iron Giant by Ted Hughes

You Decide What It Means To Win

The 1 and 0 game is pretty simple in concept.

Everyone is split into groups of four. Each person is given a piece of paper with ten rounds marked on it. The rounds have strict rules about how you are allowed to communicate with your groupmates: sometimes you can talk normally, sometimes you’re not allowed to communicate at all. When the moderator says “Go,” each person marks either a 1 or a 0 on their paper. You cannot change your answer once it is written down.

If everyone in the group puts a 1, then everyone get 10 points. If everyone in the group puts down a 0, then everyone loses 10 points.

Sounds simple, right? Just put down a 1.

No.

If one person puts down a 1 and everyone else puts down a 0, then that person loses 20 points and everyone else gains 20. If one person puts down a 0 and everyone else puts down a 1, then that person gets 40 points and everyone else loses 40. Each.

I think you can see how this game might get pretty cutthroat.

There is one more rule, at the very end of the list: “You decide what it means to win.”

When I played this game in class, it started out pretty simple. We mostly put down 1s. But then, one person betrayed us and put down a 0. We also weren’t allowed to talk to each other, so no one could explain their reasoning or argue for a change in strategy.

It was over. No one trusted anyone else. There were 0s everywhere!

During the whole game, I just kept thinking about that last rule. What did it mean to win in this game? Did it meaning winning as a group, or as an individual?

This thought popped into my head: It had to be winning as a group, because our teacher would never have us play a game where the point was to hurt each other.

***

Life gets thrown at us. We are born without really knowing what’s going on. Often, we are taught conflicting things. You gotta make it in life! It’s a dog-eat-dog world! Survival of the fittest!

But also: Be kind. Say “Thank you” and “Please.” Give your seat to the old person or pregnant lady. You’re not a rock. You’re not an island. Each man’s death diminishes you.

It’s that old dilemma: “You decide what it means to win.” What does it mean to “win” in life? Is this an individual score? Or are we all in this together?

To complicate matters, there’s no easy answer about what constitutes a 1 and a 0. What might be considered a 1 to one person would be a 0 in someone else. What if we think we’re giving someone a 1, when they see it as a 0? And if someone gives us 0s all the time, does that mean they deserve 0s from us?

The questions are endless.

Is the point of life to hurt each other? Is that how we “win”?

***

In the end, our class scores were counted up as a group total, not individually. The highest score in our class was something like 900, if I remember correctly. My group’s score was in the negative hundreds. We had the lowest score in the class.

The feeling was terrible. It’s not like the class shamed us or anything, but we definitely felt ashamed. We had betrayed each other, and we had betrayed everything we learned in that class. Even if we did get to decide what it meant to win, it became obvious very quickly that we had chosen wrong.

I don’t know all the answers, but I believe we are in this together. It’s hard work, and giving a 1 can be really hard---especially if everyone else is giving you a 0. In the end, this is not an individual endeavor. This life is not a game where we have to hurt each other to survive.

Just remember: You decide what it means to win. But it never said what we decided would be the correct answer.

Photo by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash

Reading Challenge: September & October 2018

Night by Elie Wiesel (a book with a time of day in the title)
Reminded me of Man's Search for Meaning, except instead of finding meaning a concentration camp, Wiesel lost it. Reading about those camp experiences in horrifying and illuminating.

What Do You Care What Other People Think? by Richard Feynman (a book recommended by someone else taking the POPSUGAR Reading Challenge)
Feynman was certainly an interesting character. He did a lot of things other people would have never done without worrying.


Whatever Happened to Janie? by Caroline Cooney (a book set in the decade you were born)
I didn't like this as much as the first one. Instead of being a thrilling mystery, it was a bit of slog of human emotions.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (a book from a celebrity book club)
This was also a bit of a slog of human emotions, but it raises a lot of interesting questions about what is the right thing to do in certain situations. I didn't always agree with what the main characters did, but I don't think you're supposed to. They made human decisions. Ultimately interesting and thought-provoking.


The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (a book about death or grief)
I love science books like this, that take our human history and experience and use that as the basis for scientific discovery. Discovery does not come from a vacuum: there is always a story.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (a book about a problem facing society today)
There are still places in the world similar to this. Even though I can't imagine more forward countries de-evolving to this, it raises questions about the world we still live in and sexist problems we still have.

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (a cyberpunk book)
Also not as good as the second one, but I still love the parallels between this and original fairy tale.

Irish Hallowe'en by Sarah Kirwan Blazek (a book about or set on Halloween)
I'm not gonna pretend I know much about Irish mythology, but I loved the cute little mistaken identities that happened in this story.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan (a book that involves a bookstore or library)
Interesting book with some genuinely funny moments. Weird though. Very weird.

Also read, but not for the challenge:


Other Minds by Peter Godfrey-Smith

Saints: The Standard of Truth by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Everything All At Once by Katrina Leno 

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
 

More Important Than Anything

What would you consider the most important thing that has ever happened? Perhaps you’re thinking of the invention of the wheel or of writing. Perhaps you’re thinking of women’s suffrage or the civil rights movement. All of these were important events, it’s true, and the world would not be the same without them. But a certain prophet over two thousand years ago made it clear what was the most important event in human history---indeed, in the universe’s existence.

“Behold, I say unto you there be many things to come,” said Alma the younger, a prophet living in the ancient Americas. “Behold, there is one thing which is of more importance than they all—for behold, the time is not far distant that the Redeemer liveth and cometh among his people ...

“And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.       

“And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

“Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.” (Alma 7:7, 11-13; The Book of Mormon).

The most important event ever, according to Alma, was the coming of Jesus Christ to redeem His people. Why?

The Book of Mormon teaches us that too.

Have you ever done something wrong and wish you could make it right? Of course you have. We all have. We’re all human, and we make mistakes. It’s like we’re swimming in the ocean, with our weaknesses and our sins floating around us, closer and closer, like Portuguese man o’ war.

Luckily for us, Christ can save us from our sins, according to Amulek (Alma 11; Book of Mormon). He can’t and won’t save us in our sins (because what’s the point of picking up the man o’ war with the victim?), but He will rescue us from them.

You ever desperately searched for peace and healing? Of course you have. All of us have.

The prophet Abinadi tells us that Christ brings us peace. Without Christ’s sacrifice, we would all be without peace in this world:

“O how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that is the founder of peace, yea, even the Lord, who has redeemed his people; yea, him who has granted salvation unto his people;

“For were it not for the redemption which he hath made for his people, which was prepared from the foundation of the world, I say unto you, were it not for this, all mankind must have perished” (Mosiah 15:18-19; Book of Mormon).

And Christ himself taught us how we can gain that peace: through repentance and baptism.

“My Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross,” Christ said. “And after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of their works …   

“Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day” (3 Nephi 27: 14, 20; Book of Mormon).

All the important things in the world have brought freedom of some kind. Without the invention of the wheel and writing, we wouldn’t have the communication we have today. Without women’s suffrage and the civil rights movements, many people in this country and throughout the world wouldn’t have the freedoms they now enjoy. These important movements are still happening today.

Christ’s redemption also continues. It’s been two thousand years, but we can still receive peace and joy from Christ today.

Like Alma, I have a testimony in me. I have seen so clearly how the Book of Mormon has blessed me. I understand so much more about Jesus Christ and the Atonement. I feel His love so deeply.

If you haven’t read this book, read it. If you’ve read it, read it again. As Isaiah said, “Who shall declare his generation?” (Mosiah 14:8; Book of Mormon). Who will stand with Christ?

Will you?

Reading Challenge: August 2018

Faith Among Shadows by Malcolm Leal (a book by a local author)
A fascinating true story about a Cuban soldier searching for God. I knew the man who wrote this book.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (a book with your favorite color in the title)
I'm more of a "hidden allegory" kind of person, whereas Hawthorne is an "explicit allegory" kind of writer. His books sometimes make for difficult reading, but I thought this was a good book.

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (a book involving a heist)
Interesting story, interesting world. Felt real, tangible.

Also read, but not for the challenge:

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

Reading Challenge: July 2018

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach (A microhistory)
As someone who has always been interested in astronomy and space travel, reading about the details of actually living in space fascinated me.

Also read, but not for the challenge:

The Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare