The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

Scribner Paperback Fiction

Published by Simon & Schuster

Rating: 5

Readability: 7

Impact: Hopefully I got something good out of his writing. We'll see...

Read It Again: I don't think so.

Recommend It: If you want an experience with Hemingway, maybe...

What to Expect

A highly acclaimed book by Hemingway with all the characteristics of such.

My Squib

I didn't know anything about this novel. I wanted to taste Hemingway and this book was the only used one on the shelf. I liked the title too. I love Ecclesiastes. I thought it was high time I knew what all this Hemingway stuff was about and the price was right, so I brought it home.

I later learned that The Sun Also Rises is one of his highest acclaimed novels next to For Whom the Bell Tolls and A Farewell to Arms. So I think I got a pretty good sample of Hemingway.

I did enjoy the style. I realize that Hemingway revolutionized a majority of English prose, and it's easy to see the influence.

His writing is certainly unique. You would learn in direct detail about things like the roads, the scenery, how many times someone went swimming on vacation, and the crowds that lined streets. But you were left confused and guessing to what anybody was thinking. It had the feeling of a journal. Like the writer assumes you already know what's going on, or he just doesn't know himself. Many sections were very similar to a travel log.

I thought it was very interesting. It didn't get the book less emotion, but more.

The way he strings sentences together kept me going.

He has a lot of dialogue and sometimes it's disorienting, but it helps things feel real. The characters spoke too much the same to keep strait and the tags were used so sparingly I was a little cunfuseld. Someone is always "feeling like hell" or "all right" and "nice" is so smeared across dialogue and narration that it would send Mr. Tilney to the hospital in a seizure.

So, on the whole, I did like his style.

As far as the story...It was so not my favorite.

Basically every man in the novel is in love with Lady Brett Ashley who is an unfeminine, unabashed hooker. She's already married as well as being engaged. Not sure how that works. By the end she runs off with a totally new guy who, at nineteen, is fifteen years her junior. Icky... She ends up leaving him because she doesn't want to ruin his career as a bullfighter. A little late and a little lame.

The main character (it is written in first person) is in love with Brett, but seems in other ways to be an upstanding dude. Unfortunately by the end he is helping her run off with the bullfighter and trying to get drunk. He is Brett's standby. She knows he will always help her into a jam or pull her out of one. He drives her home at the end and they lament how it would never work out for them to be together.

There's of course more to the story (mostly a great quantity of alcohol), but if your really all that interested, it's a cheap paperback.

I'm not sure what Hemingway meant with this novel.

He seems to have got the message of Ecclesiastes that life is a vapor, but not the purpose and hope of the book. The characters indulge in complete laziness, a lot of wine and self-pity, but no labor and true rejoicing...and absolutely no hope. I hope he wrote this book as an illustration of our stupidity away from Christ, not a representation of how he saw the world. That would be truly tragic.

From the Book

You gave up something and got something else. Or you worked for something. You paid some way for everything that was any good. I paid my way into enough things that I liked, so that I had a good time. Either you paid by learning about them, or by experience, or by taking chances, or by money. Enjoying living was learning to get you money's worth. The world was a good place to buy in. It seemed like a fine philosophy. In five years, I thought, it will seem just as silly as all the other fine philosophies I've had.

Perhaps that wasn't true, though. Perhaps as you went along you did learn something. I did not care what it was all about. All I wanted to know was how to live in it. Maybe if you found out how to live in it you learned from that what it was all about.

This book certainly gave me some food for thought. I'm glad I read it. I'm not going to read it again.

Thanks for reading. I hope the review (of sorts) made sense.

Miss Pickwickian

Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl - N.D. Wilson

Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl: Wide Eyed Wonder in God's Spoken Word by N.D. Wilson
Thomas Nelson




Rating: 9+
Readability: 9
Impact: 10+




Read it Again: Yes, actually I went back through to write some quotes and ended up just reading it all again... And I want to do it again soon. :-)
Recommend It: Yes! I think as soon as I can afford it, this will be my next giveaway! You can buy it here. :-)

If you read nothing else of this post, read the last, longer quote on this review!

What to Expect

A book that does not go strait, but one that revels in God's creation and sees the story the Master Author is weaving.
Funny, artistic, wise, heart tugging, and thought provoking. I cried and laughed and took hundreds of notes.

Note: Some of the material may not be considered suitable for younger ages.

My Squib

Loved this book to death. :-)

So much food for thought, deep (but understandable) discussion, random humor, all bundled up in an awesome writing style.
I can see some people not liking this book because of it's meandering and style, but everyone can benefit from what it has to say and what it makes you think about.

I, of course, loved what N.D. Wilson said about art, especially using evil in art. Besides it all being directly applicable to Christian life, it was particularly amazing to one interested in writing.

His whole section of evil existing in the world with an all powerful, all knowing, all good God was especially influential.

I appreciated the refreshed view I came away with about all of creation.
Sometimes I worry about myself and how uninterested I am in sight seeing and scenery. If it has to do with history it's all very well and good, but if it's just a pretty tree or a piece of rock my attention span is limited. (Okay, those things have history too, but you know what I mean.)
I guess I'm not a natural romantic. And sometimes that actually bothers me...

I know some awesome people who can tell me all about something beautiful and it truly sounds amazing. They could write a poem about a tree or a mountain they would sound honest. I think mine would sound like it was laughing at itself.

Somehow this book helped me get a clearer view. I'm trying to appreciate those things more. And if I can't stand and look at a tree for an hour, that's okay.

I think I have a tendency towards cynicism and this book is one of many amazing things God has used to keep me from becoming even more messed up. ;-)

So, I don't know if any of that made any sense. Basically, I am just really thankful for this book and grateful for God bringing it into my life at just the right time.

I really can't think of anything to add. It's awesome. Go read it.

From the Book

There is seriously way too much amazingness, so you are going to have to go check it out for yourself. :-)

"And I move on, with the sun on my face. Clouds are growing in the west, glorious clouds piled up with rowdy care and sparked electric life.
I feel my lungs with the world, with this life, with this gift beyond containing. There is only one thing I can say.
Thank you. And I must say it with my life. Through my life. To the end of my life. And after."

"Why do Christians think of purity, holiness, and even divinity as something with big eyes and soft fur? Why do we so often ignore the beautiful in exchange for the cute?"

"The trite is more comfortable. I like angels I can hug. Forget the pillar of fire; a teddy bear is a more fitting icon of holiness."

Read this-
"Do not resent your place in the story. Do not imagine yourself elsewhere. Do not close your eyes and picture a world without thorns, without shadows, without hawks. Change this world. Use your body like a tool meant to be used up, discarded, and replaced. Better every life you touch. We will reach the final chapter. When we have eyes that can stare into the sun, eyes that only squint for the Shekinah, then we will see laughing children pulling cobras by the tails, and hawks and rabbits playing tag.
But we cannot hope to reach the final chapter by dreaming, by holding our collective breath and staring a unshaded acrylic escape paintings. The only road to that final chapter began a the garden and led into the wilderness. It runs through these chapters. Live now. Relish the tensions, the challenges, and laugh at the petty pains."


If you've read it or when you read it, tell me what you think. :-)
Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

A Thousand Miles in a Million Years - Donald Miller

A Thousand Miles in a Million Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life by Donald Miller
Thomas Nelson, Inc


Rating: 9
Readability: 9
Impact: 10+


Read it Again: Yes, again and again
Recommend it: Yes! Go buy it here. Right now.



What to Expect

Donald Miller uses the concept story to show us the changes in life and in ourselves, while inspiring us to create an epic.

Even if you didn't like Blue Like Jazz you should give this one a try. Especially if what bothered you about his first book was its rambling, style, or "peace-loving" issues. Of course in my opinion Blue Like Jazz was totally awesome. ;-)

My Squib

This book resonated with me on every level.
What could be more awesome for a wanna-be-author then an amazing word smith directly applying the idea of Story to everyday life?

This is an amazing quick read that really helps you dig down and think.

His style is heart warming and honest. I seriously was teary eyed through the last 100 pages.

My only complaint is his need for a better proof reader...

(His writing is sometimes a little too 'honest' and/or borderline. Because of this I think its more directed towards 14+, but it certainly has principles that apply to everyone.)

Basically, a must read. :-)

Read Polka Dot's thoughts on A Million Miles in a Thousand Years here.

Thank you again, Ellen, for "introducing" me to Donald Miller! You are an awesome friend.

From the Book

I seriously copied so much of this book into my journal! Here is just enough to whet your appetite...

"The thing about trying to remember your life is it makes you wonder what any of it means. You get the feeling life means something, but you're not sure what. Life has a peculiar feel when you look back on it that it doesn't have when you're actually living it."

"Somehow we realize that great stories are told in conflict, but we are unwilling to embrace the potential greatness of the story we are actually in. We think God is unjust, rather than a master storyteller."

"I believe there is a Writer outside ourselves, plotting a better story for us, interacting with us, even, and whispering a better story into our consciousness."

"It wasn't necessary to win for the story to be great, it was necessary to sacrifice everything."

"It's interesting that in the Bible, in the book of Ecclesiastes, the only practical advice given about living a meaninful life is to find a job you like, enjoy your marriage, and obey God. It's as though God is saying, Write a good story, take somebody with you, and let me help."

"We live in a world where bad stories are told, stories that teach us life doesn't mean anything and that humanity has no great purpose. It's a good calling, then to speak a better story. How brightly a better story shines. How easily the world looks to it in wonder. How grateful we are to hear these stories, and how happy it makes us to repeat them."

Oregon Christian Writer's Conference (Part 2)

So...I learned so much! I hope I can keep it all crammed in my head and apply it. I did take a lot of great notes. Hopefully I can do some summaries in the weeks to come. It would be good review for me. Writing out things always helps cement them.

Anyways...

I really have no idea how to hit any of the amazing things that happened this week.

I met James Scott Bell.
I brought Plot and Structure and Revision and Self-Editing and got them autographed. Yeah! (If you want to write and don't know those books you should check him out. I've never got hooked on his fiction, but his writing books are extremely good. Plus, he's a cool person and speaker.)

I met Hillary Manton Lodge.
I bought Plain Jayne and got it signed. I'm normally not in to Amish fiction, but this one looked pretty spicy.
And guess what guys? Check out my side bar, Hillary Manton Lodge is following my blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I met Jill Williamson.
I only could afford the first book in her series, Blood of Kings. So now I have an awesome, autographed copy of her Christy Award winning, By Darkness Hid. Hopefully I can acquire the second book soon.

I met Christina Berry.
Who amazingly lives in the same microscopic town as me! I bought her book Familiar Stranger.

I met Leslie Gould.
In fact, I was in her coaching class! She taught an absolutely amazing class and I got some extremely helpful critics on my story. I am so excited and encouraged. She is awesome. :-)

I met Jeff Gerke. (Fiction pen name Jefferson Scott.)
And he made me the happiest person alive by reading some story and saying "It wasn't terrible." Seriously, I can never remember being so elated in my life! (I'm dead serious here.)
I was also able to purchase his book The Art and Craft of Writing Christian Fiction. It's actually the only new book I've started reading, and it is totally amazing. (I'm still in the middle of three or four I don't want to drop just because I got some new ones.)
Marcher Lord Press
Where the Map Ends

I met so many other totally awesome people I'm not mentioning. Seriously. It was so great. So many people worked so hard to help us all grow and have a wonderful time.

One young lady I met was Rachel. She is just getting ready to launch her blog, The Jesus Adventure. Stop by and follow or encourage her!

Life has been intense.

The night I got home from the conference we went to an outdoor play of Twelfth Night. My sister posted about it. Check it out. It was really good and it's still playing for the next few weeks in Hillsboro. I've always loved Twelfth Night and is was wonderful to see it live.

I'm so inspired to sit down and write, but my computer is sick with a virus. :-P I guess life has been to crazy anyways, but I am determined to amend my schedule so I can and will write everyday!

I've probably bored you by now....
So farewell for the present,
Miss Pickwickian

Veiled Freedom - J.M. Windle

Veiled Freedom by Jeanette Windle
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.





Rating: 8
Readability: 8
Impact: 8

Read it again: Probably
Recommend it: Certainly!



I picked this book up on a recommendation. I read 50 pages or so at the book store, but once it came home it sat on the shelf. I was sick this last week and took it back up.
I am always interested in well researched, good fiction. After reading Sigmund Brouwer's amazing Fuse of Armageddon (on modren day Israel) this book (centering on Afghanistan) really caught my interest.

I would have enjoyed a little different take on the climax and ending, but I thought the book was pretty awesome. :-) It certainly made me come away with a very different view of Afghanistan. I think the author does an excellent job of giving a balanced view. She doesn't even agree with herself but presents several point of views with different characters. It really gets you thinking.

It didn't make me laugh and cry (like Fuse of Armageddon), but I do highly recommend it. I wished she pulled a few things to more (the plot was mildly predictable...no big surprises) but I certainly thought it was an amazing book.

Once you read it we can talk about what I did and didn't like about it. ;-)

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

Robert Newton Peck...wise author

"Never miss a chance to keep your mouth shut."
Robert Newton Peck, 'A Day No Pigs Would Die'

Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing - David Morrell

Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing: A Novelist Looks at His Craft
By David Morrell (Ph. D)
Writers Digest Book




Rating: 10!!!!

Readability: 9 (But I love reading writing books :-)

Read it Again: Yes! Several more times!
Recommend it: Yes, to anyone who is serious about getting published or would like to understand literature and writing better.

David Morrell is best known for creating Rambo, but the Rambo most people know isn't exactly his creation. Silvester Stallone is the underdog, the Rambo of the book is a hard, killer machine. The movies are a series, if there was a second book for First Blood there wouldn't be many people alive to play the parts.
If you brushed off Rambo and it's author as mainstream bash 'em up characters, then I challenge you to take another look. ;-)

This book is amazing for anyone interested in writing. He covers basics that will affect your writing while helping you cultivate a unique style. He digs deep into what will change your work and what will change your readers. I think he's an excellent balance between literature and mainstream writing. (He used to be a literature professor.)

Morrell also covers the basics of getting published and shares humorous anecdotes of his own experiences. He shows the doubts, road blocks, and miseries of writing and makes you still want to be an author.

A very inspiring book that will make you want to sit down and get to work. I couldn't set it down I enjoyed it so much. (But then I love reading writing books. :-)

From the Book:

"After storytelling skill and technical ability, the next quality you need is determination. I've known many writers with far better imagination and verbal talent than I have. But they never had a career because they didn't want it badly enough. They didn't do what was necessary, which was to sit down on their chairs and do the work.

Writers write.

They don't talk about writing. They don't promise themselves that, one day when inspiration strikes, they'll start putting words on a page.

They do it."


Even if you don't like Rambo, go out and buy or borrow it. :-)
Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

Why do you want to be a writer?

I've been reading David Morrell's Lessons From a Lifetime of Writing: A novelist looks at his craft and recommend it, highly.

David Morrell has a very real life, practical, but inspiring approach. A lot of what he says, really resonates with the sort of writer I want to be.

His first chapter is an especially good one for anyone who is serious about getting published.
"Why do you want to be a writer?"

There are so many answers.
I thought of this cool idea, I need money, I have extra time, being a writer is cool, I want to be famous, etc...etc... These aren't going to push you through all the times of discouragement in a writer's life. Writing for money or fame is an especially bad idea. The average income of a writer in America today is $6,500! And how many hours did that take bent over your computer?

So, when I ask myself why I want to be a writer, I have a lot of answers, but only a couple that stand up in an investigation.
When I write, everything feels better. Its a creative side of me that needs to be used. Its a way to talk about deep, challenging, and confusing things. So much of our own lives and emotions come out in writing.
My most influential motivation is that I believe that the books people read greatly effect the way they think and live.
I know I have been shaped by a lot of the books I've read.
If I could influence one person the way I have been influenced by Sigmund Brouwer's Samuel Keaton series or in some way lik A Tale of Two Cities I would be inexplicably happy!

I believe that people can be influenced by characters in books and by there change. I believe writers of books, lyrics, and movie scripts, have some of the greatest power of all. When this is wielded correctly it can be one of the best life changing tools we have.

There is so much work and discouragement to writing though. What gets us through?

Is it because we have to write?
Because a story simply must be told? Do we have to put our creativity down on paper? Is this part of our image bearing? To create? To tell stories? Are writers really different then other people or is it just a cultivated difference? Is it simply a way we can let out feelings and emotions we don't want to talk about?

Do you want to be a writer?

Why?

The Writer and Reading

"Next to an utter lack of ability, the worst flaw I can think of for a would-be writer is ignorance about literary history.

It's absurd to imagine a brain surgeon who doesn't know the history and principles of brain surgery, yet many aspiring writers assume that because words fall out of their mouths every day, they need no other qualification to write fiction.

Obviously, not everyone has the time and money to get a collage degree in literature. But lists of important literary works are readily available."

Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing: A Novelist Looks at His Craft by David Morrell