Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Love's Abiding Joy


Love's Abiding Joy is book 4 in Janette Oke's Love Comes Softly series. Marty and Clark return as the center of this story. Clark gives Marty a birthday gift of train tickets to visit Missie and Willie on the ranch. The story chronicles their journey by train and the happenings once at the ranch. In this particular story Clark suffers a near fatal accident that changes his life forever. Does he give into depression because of his handicap or will he emerge stronger? You can probably guess.

This story has the strongest religious overtones of all of the books thus far. It becomes even more evident that the author is writing from a modern Evangelical point of view, which is fine. Historically, I am not sure this particular point of view was around and the author tries to be subtle about it. If you take up these books to read, just know that her religious persuasion is very evident.

Having said that, the story does pick up some excitement when Clark is injured in the mine cave-in. I was about to give up on the story until I reached this point. Stick with it, because the story isn't all sappy. Though, it is admittedly a very gentle story.

There is very little of book 4 in the movies. I think they incorporated Clark's injury from book 4 with his injury in book 1 into the second movie. Yeah, it doesn't make sense, but that is about all of the material they use. Well, there is Clark's visit to the LaHaye ranch in the third movie that could be attributed to book 4 too, but the story is completely different. Just like his father, Michael Landon Jr. feels free to adapt or change his source material for the camera. Unlike the Little House books, the Love Comes Softly series would have been too boring for the camera otherwise.

Book Rating: 2 1/2 stars

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Startup Nation


I like reading a good book on how to start up a business. I had hopes that this book would provide lots of inspiration and motivation. Startup Nation is written by Jeff and Rich Sloan who have successfully started up several businesses.

The book works primarily from the perspective of creating a product and then licensing it. This includes patents, trademarks, and copyrights. The Sloan brothers did this with their successful battery buddy (for cars) jump starting system. I suppose for those who are intent on following this type of product development, then this book may be for you. There are probably lots of products in which you don't want to be involved in the daily manufacturing and delivery issues. And while this process made sense for the Sloans and their product, I don't believe it is for everyone. There is a lot of investment before you see any ROI.

This form of product development is not for every product, especially apparel or soft goods. So I guess the first thing to learn is not every book is going to address every form of product out there. The book does cover some basic business planning concepts. But for that, there are much better books out there.

The book does provide some case stories of successful entrepreneurs, so some may enjoy reading that. As an overall business self-help book it is only so-so.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Mr. Monk goes to Germany


I read Mr. Monk Goes to Germany clear back in March and I am only now getting to the review....

In this book Mr. Monk travels to Germany to follow his psychiatrist. His psychiatrist hopes to escape Monk for a while and attend a psychiatric convention at the same time - a vacation if you will. Monk has a long standing 2-3 times a week appointments and he becomes desperate and inconsolable. Problem is Monk is afraid of airplanes and flying, so he drugs himself. Once in Germany, Monk ends up working on solving a murder that is loosely connected to the psychiatric convention.

I did not like this story as well as the others I have read by the same author. I really thought it was a stretch to have Monk flying from San Francisco to Germany, even drugged. Natalie seemed out of character too. Stottlemeyer and Disher don't really make an appearance in this story. In the Monk novelizations, this is one that could probably be skipped.

Book Rating: 2 stars

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Love's Long Journey


Love's Long Journey is book 3 in the Love Comes Softly series by Janette Oke. This series has recently been turned into a movie series on Hallmark and produced by Michael Landon Jr. I have been reading the books to see what has been changed and left out of the movies. The movies maintain the same mood and intent of the books but they are definitely not the same. I enjoyed both, but the books are better.

I enjoyed this book better than the previous two. In this story Missie and Willie LaHaye set out on their own journey to become cattle ranchers. The story chronicles the journey across the plains in a covered wagon and the early days of living in a sod house on the open range. The story has similarities to the Little House books with its description of what life would have been like. I am fairly certain I would not want to collect buffalo chips for winter warmth or living in a sod house. The people who really did live like this would have to be very strong, enduring folk.

Like the previous books their is a religious overtone of faith and trust in God. It is a gentle read with nothing objectionable in the content. The movie by the same name I think combines books 3 and 4, so I can't comment much on it. In fact the movie doesn't even show the journey by wagon which makes up most of story 3. This series is not a must read, but it is ok for light, escapist reading without fear of yucky content.

Well, anyway, until I read book 4....

Monday, May 11, 2009

Fahrenheit 451


I just re-read Fahrenheit 451 in light of the passage of the CPSIA. But it's more than that. Congress and Obama are churning out so many oppressive, big brother rules and laws that it makes Ray Bradbury look like a prophet.

I don't want to write a complete overview or review of this novel because it is used by many high school English Lit classes. I have seen one too many teenagers write their papers with the good old "copy and paste" method. Suffice to say Bradbury accurately describes Big Brother censoring and controlling the media and in turn daily life. The conflict Guy Montag faced between the desire for freedom and knowledge versus obeying the law is something we are all facing now.

As an example, the CPSIA takes too much control (crushing regulations) over businesses that want to obey the law. It's either obey the law or go out of business. There are so many federal regulations and laws now that it is nearly impossible to obey the law and still live a free life. You are probably breaking a law right now and not even know it.

Anyway, it may take someone like Guy Montag to break the chains and fight (or run) for freedom. This book should be on your bookshelf.

Book Rating: 5 Stars