On My Nightstand...

...you will find:

  

Rilla of Ingleside (FREE Kindle Version) by L.M. Montgomery
The Importance of Being Earnest (FREE Kindle Version) by Oscar Wilde

I just recently joined the world of smart phones, and am currently in love with having multiple books with me all the time (love, love, love the FREE Kindle program for my phone, and all the free books that are available).

{In Review}



Rainbow Valley (FREE Kindle Version) by L.M. Montgomery
I remember when my mother first read the Anne of Green Gables series to me (prior to me reading it in the first grade), I decided that there wasn't enough Anne and Gilbert in Rainbow Valley to hold my attention. In fact, as a very "unique" 6-year-old book snob, I decided that the Anne series would end (for me) with Anne of Ingleside, and I held to that for y-e-a-r-s. When I decided to re-read the Anne books this year, I almost stopped at book #6, more out of habit than anything else; however, something made me want to give Rainbow Valley (and Rilla) a second chance, and I'm glad that I did. While these stories will never be as special to me as the earlier parts of Anne's life, I did find myself enjoying the addition of the Meredith family, the late-blooming romances for Ellen and Rosemary, and even Walter's grave foretelling of what the future would hold for him and the other Glen boys. Although I would still like to have seen more of the Anne/Gilbert interaction, I enjoyed watching the characters and personalities of the Blythe children unfold throughout the book, and at a cost of FREE, you can't go wrong.



Me, Myself, and Bob: A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables by Phil Vischer
This was absolutely the surprise of the year (so far) for me. I really didn't know what to expect from this book by VeggieTales creator, Phil Vischer, and after reading so many flops lately, I was skeptical about giving another unknown story a chance, but I would have really missed out if I had skipped this one. While Peter was sick last week, I read Me, Myself & Bob out loud to him - almost finishing the thing in one day. Vischer walks the reader through his childhood, his parent's divorce (and how that affected him), his lifelong love of film and storytelling, the steps and hard work that built up Big Idea Productions (parent company of VeggieTales), and the eventual fall and bankruptcy of everything he had worked for ten years to create. After much introspection, Phil finally concluded that it wasn't about the plans that he had for his life and how he was supposed to serve the Lord, it was about letting go and letting God direct his path. Having been in a situation where we had to let go and trust that God knew what He was doing, far better than we did, this totally hit home for us, and it was encouraging to read of Vischer's travels down a similar path. Donald Miller (who I half-heartedly recommended earlier this year) wrote about creating your own "story" in A Million Miles, but Vischer's view is one of a man who tried writing his own story - the story that he thought God wanted him to write - but when he failed, he finally understood that it wasn't about him pushing God into his story, it was about God bringing him into His Story. Delightful conclusion.


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SIDE NOTE: Since the bankruptcy and sale of Big Idea/VeggieTales, Vischer went on to create a new company (Jellyfish Labs) and a new video series (What's in the Bible? With Buck Denver). After reading Me, Myself & Bob, we were excited to watch the first What's in the Bible? DVD that I had picked up for cheap at a pre-Easter sale. I'm sorry to say that I cannot recommend this series based on the two episodes that we watched (who wrote the Bible and the book of Genesis). Not only was it rather lame (especially compared to our previous, Vischer-run VeggieTales experiences), but there were four times when the theology that was being spouted was questionable, at best. We turned off the DVD, disappointed and disturbed.
(Despite my disappointment with Jellyfish Labs, I still whole-heartedly recommend Vischer's book)

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Linking up to the April 12th Booking It post that Jessica hosts at Life as MOM