The Importance of Being Earnest

 

   Although this movie didn’t have anything morally wrong to it besides a good deal of lying, it was a complete waste of time. There was really no plot.

Good points, if there are any, would be that it’s a “safe” movie. No language. No sex. No violence. [The movie does start with a man in a tub, which I don't care for, but they didn't elaborate or show anything that shouldn't be shown, as far as I remember.]

To sum this movie up in three words I would say “lies and love” because the whole thing is about two men lying continually in order to make the girls they love fall in love with them. Partially confusing, plotless, and just plain foolishness. ‘Nuff said.

Twilight Series

         Title: Twilight
         Author: Stephenie Meyer
         ISBN: 0316015849
       Rating: Not Recommended 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

           Title: New Moon
         Author: Stephenie Meyer
         ISBN: 0316024961
         Rating: Not Recommended
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         Title: Eclipse
         Author: Stephenie Meyer
         ISBN: 0316160202
         Rating: Not Recommended 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         Title: Breaking Dawn
         Author: Stephenie Meyer
         ISBN: 031606792X
         Rating: Not Recommended

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        These books are on my ‘Banned Books’ list, so I haven’t read them and will not read them. Rather than write my own review on some books that I haven’t read, I’ll refer any interested people here. This is pretty much a summary of why I’m not interested in the Twilight series.

Slow going, but we’re almost ready to take off!

Sorry that I haven’t posted any reviews for the last week or so. I’ve got several in the works and will be posting them soon I hope!

Miss Fortune

         Title: Miss Fortune
         Author: Sarah Mills
         ISBN:  0802469264
         Rating: 2.7 (VERY close to perfect!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         I love a mystery. This is a mystery. Therefore I enjoyed almost every aspect of this book. Something that I found to be absolutely wonderful was that this is clean, Christian fiction that didn’t have the feel of the author saying, “Oh, I’m writing Christian fiction, so I need to insert God all over the place.” I know that when I’m writing, I often read through my first draft of a book and think, “Yikes! I need to put some more references to God in here if this is going to be considered Christian Fiction!” Sarah Mills didn’t overdo it, and she didn’t under-do it. I appreciate that! 
        

         Allie Mills is a P.I. Actually, the only female P.I. in New York city. When a client shows up in the wee hours of the morning, Allie is inclined to mistrust her, but takes the case anyhow. The woman’s home has been ransacked and she’s being followed. What Allie doesn’t know is that her client is involved in something much bigger than either of them: the disappearance of a treasure that is being sought by several nations. Lies. Theft. Guns. FBI. Everything but the answers that are so vital to Allie’s reputation – and to her survival.

 

Strengths: Awesome plot! Great characters! Page-turner!

Weaknesses: A small amount of romance – but nothing really bad. And the real-life problem of not-so-great relationship between child and parents. I’m not bothered by that, actually, but I know some people are, so I thought I’d mention it.

The Red House Mystery

         NOTE: This book review is based on the version of this book that has been published by Bob Jones University. Any other version of this book will have serious language issues. Please keep this in mind!

         Title: The Red House Mystery
         Author: A. A. Milne (Alexander Alan Milne)
         ISBN: 978-1-57924-702-7
         Rating:  3

 

 

 

 

 

        Much in the style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, this mystery takes place in the English countryside. Any fan of Sherlock will love Antony Gillingham. I really don’t know what to say about this book, so I’ll just put a summary on courtesy (though they don’t know it) of Amazon.

Droll, finely crafted whodunit from one of England’s most popular writers sparkles with witty dialogue, deft plotting, and an amusing cast of characters. Amateur detectives Antony Gillingham and his chum Bill Beverley investigate the disappearance of their genial host after a mysterious shooting. 

Strengths: Incredible plot! I was left guessing through most of the book. I figured out the ‘who’ part much more quickly than the ‘what’ aspect! The characters are easy to follow and are described beautifully so that I came to feel as if I was really getting to know them. Aside from the fact that this is a murder mystery, there is no violence. I don’t recall any language excepting a “Good Lord” occasionally. There are hardly any women in the book except by mention, so though two of the characters are in love, this is no romance. =D This has been a favorite of mine since I got it for my birthday a couple of years ago.

Weaknesses: Reading the book in its original form isn’t a good idea. I was surprised at the language factor. So the one weakness of this book is that – unless you don’t care about language – you must get the version published by BJU Press. They have redone the cover, but I assume that they left the language out.

Emma Brown

         Title: Emma Brown
         Author: Clare Boylan (Finishing a work of Charlotte Bronte’s)
         ISBN: 0670032972
         Rating: Overall-1; Language-2; Sex-2; Plot-0       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charlotte Bronte is famous for her wonderful novel Jane Eyre. Although she wrote several other books, this is the one which gained the most popularity. Before her death in 1855, Charlotte started a book which she titled Emma; a curious fact considering the fact that Jane Austen had published a book of the same title in 1815. Bronte only completed two chapters, and they serve as the foundation for Emma Brown. I must say that Clare Boylan shows some creativity in where she takes the plot, but I found the book confusing. There were too many characters and the lives of the characters were connected beyond believability. The story itself was interesting, so in spite of confusion and some uncomfortable passages, I continued reading. But by the end of the book, I knew that I had just wasted a lot of time. The number of coincidences is terrible. Even though fiction is always fiction, authors should try to make their fiction believable. Clare Boylan also brought a couple of things into the story that I didn’t think were at all necessary. Things about virginity that I skipped over because I was uncomfortable reading them as well as things about street life in London that could have been handled with much more tact and delicacy. When everything is considered, I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone.

Strengths: None. I find that incredible…  I can usually come up with something.

Weaknesses: Too many characters, too many coincidences, weak plot.

Seven Silly Eaters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title: The Seven Silly Eaters
Author: Mary Ann Hoberman (Illustrated by Marla Frazee) 
ISBN: 0152024409 
Rating: 3 all the way around

Kids love to be read to. I’ve never met a kid who didn’t love a good storybook, and this has been a favorite of my family for years. Moms will be able to relate to Mrs. Peters, the distressed mother in the book who must keep her seven persnickety children fed. At one point, I had read this book to my little brother so many times that I could quote it. I would highly recommend this book as a children’s story that will not bore the adult reader. The illustrations add more the the book than I can begin to describe. They are full of around-the house realism. Must read!