Books 55 - 57

Books 55-57

The Yada Yada Prayer Group by Neta Jackson (audio)
Read (excellently!) by Barbara Rosenblat
Genre: Christian Fiction
Book #1 of the Yada Yada Prayer Group series

One of the funny things about audio books is that sometimes when I put them in my computer to listen to them, the audio player doesn’t quite recognize what CD it’s playing.

For instance, when I put the first of these CDs in, it told me names for the different tracks. Here are some of the track names it came up with:

Like a 24
So Sexy
Badunkadunk
Drinks
Slow Jamz
Pimp On
Kill us all

Initially, I thought, “What progressive names for chapter titles in a Christian Fiction book! It’s a shame they don’t seem to have anything to do with the content.”

Then I realized that for some reason, Windows Media Player was associating the CD with an album called Kamikaze by an artist called Twista.

Anyway, the premise of this book is that several strangers get put into a prayer group at a women’s conference and though they are from different walks of life, they bond and decide to continue their prayer group after the conference is over.

I enjoyed the different personalities of the characters, but the main character (the story is told in her voice) was extremely obnoxious, self-righteous, and catty. I realize that she was written that way on purpose (so the reader will see a little of herself in that character), but it was almost more than I could handle. I think I would have enjoyed the book much more if it had been written from another character’s point of view.

The storyline wasn’t bad. It touched on several heavy issues that a “seasoned” Christian might be able to relate to, but I don’t think a non-Christian would enjoy it – it was overtly preachy at times and covered so many heavy issues that it seemed contrived at times. Also, the author seemed to run out of steam toward the end. I thought it ended a little too cleanly and abruptly to be believable.

Even with its shortcomings, I liked the characters enough to put the next book in the series on my wish list.

Stuart Little by E.B. White (audio)
Read (well) by Julie Harris
Genre: Children’s Literature

Who doesn’t know the story of Stuart Little? Is it possible that I’m the only person in the world who didn’t read this as a child?

Here’s my (opinionated) summary of the book:

A human mother and father give birth to a mouse and don’t seem to be concerned about this fact in the least. The aforementioned mouse is uppity and sometimes condescending, and one day he decides he’s fallen in love with a bird and leaves his family indefinitely to go find her – without telling anyone that he’s leaving. An alternate title for this book might be Stuart Little Needs a Spanking.

Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Book #1 of the The Tillerman Series

The four Tillerman children are abandoned by their mentally disturbed mother in a parking lot and the oldest of the children, thirteen year old Dicey, decides to lead her brothers and sister on a journey by foot to look for a relative they’ve never met.

They encounter many trials on their way, but they are resourceful enough to make what little money they have stretch until they can get some help. When they arrive at their relative’s house, they find that they have a grandmother they’ve never been told about and they set off on foot again to try to find her.

This book focuses mostly on their journey, but by the end of the book we see them settling into life with their eccentric grandmother.

The characters in this book are loveable. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.