What happens when you live longer than you wanted to?
Parvin Blackwater wanted to die, but now she’s being called to be a leader. The only problem is, no one wants to follow.
The Council is using Jude’s Clock-matching invention to force “new-and-improved” Clocks on the public. Those who can’t afford one are packed into boxcars like cattle and used for the Council’s purposes. Parvin and Solomon team up to rescue the people. Instead, they find themselves on a cargo ship of Radicals headed out to sea. What will the Council do to them? And why are people suddenly dying before their Clocks have zeroed-out?
My Opinion: Oh the emotional trauma this book put me though. This whole series, really. Anyhow, my opinion. I love. Do I really need to say anything else? Okay, maybe I should.
This book started out fairly slow, and honestly, depressing. I am not complaining about that, just stating the fact. Towards the middle and the end though, it picked up, and was a lot higher action. I loved this book start to finish, even if it hurt me at times. It was so good.
Well, Nadine Brandes, you have impressed me yet again. I was not disappointing. I had very high expectations… and they were exceeded!
Three hundred sixty-four days, seven hours, and sixteen—no, fifteen—seconds left to live. Like everyone else on the east side of the Wall, Parvin Blackwater has a clock counting down the days until her death. At only seventeen, she has only one year left.
When the authorities find out she has been illegally sharing a clock with her twin brother, she is cast through the Wall—her people’s death sentence. What she finds on the other side about the world, about God, and about herself changes Parvin forever and might just save her people. If she can get the word to them before her time runs out.
My Opinion:
Mild Spoilers Ahead.
I loved this book so much. I connected with Parvin right away, and was sucked into the story. I loved watching Parvin grow and mature throughout the story. I laughed reading this….I also cried…like a lot. It was cool to see Parvin’s relationships with Jude and Willow grow as well. I loved the friendship. They stuck with Parvin even when she was making dumb choices. They were so loyal. I loved watching it happen. I also really liked the Dystopian world. The idea of having clocks that count down to the day of your death really intrigued me. At first it sounded like a good idea, but slowly, the story starts to show why it is good that God hasn’t granted us that knowledge. I really liked the culture differences between High Cities and Low Cities, and between the East and the West. Also, the albino’s own dystopian community was intriguing and interesting.
If your a fan of Dystopian or Fantasy novels, I highly recommend! If you’ve read it, what did you think?
Synopsis: Deaf teen Maya moves across the country and must attend a hearing school for the first time. As if that wasn’t hard enough, she also has to adjust to the hearing culture, which she finds frustrating—and also surprising when some classmates, including Beau Watson, take time to learn ASL. As Maya looks past graduation and focuses on her future dreams, nothing, not even an unexpected romance, will derail her pursuits. But when people in her life—deaf and hearing alike—ask her to question parts of her deaf identity, Maya stands proudly, never giving in to the idea that her deafness is a disadvantage.
My Opinion:
Amazing. That is my opinion. I read this book in one evening, and even though it was a fairly slow moving story, I still couldn’t put it down. Maya was well written and an understandable character. Her emotions made sense, and even if I didn’t always like her, I always understood her. Because I am not deaf and don’t know anyone deaf, I can’t judge the authenticity of the story, but (to me) it seemed well researched.
The only thing that bothered me was the speed at which Beau and Nina learned ASL. ASL isn’t exactly a simple language, but Beau and Nina picked it up really fast. If they were really dedicated then it is not unbelievable. Just a little bit unrealistic.
If you like sweet, clean, contemporary romance, I strongly recommend this one. If you have read it, what did you think?
That probably isn’t very surprising, but nevertheless, it’s true. And during 2020, I branched out in some of the books I read and in some of the movies that I watched. So this post is devoted to some of my favorite book & movie discoveries of 2020.
So without further ado….my top 3 books:
1. Skyward, by Brandon Sanderson
I had heard a lot of good things about Brandon Sanderson and this year, I finally decided to try out one of his books. Skyward blew me away. The personalities of the different characters, the conflict in their relationships, and the way the emotions were portrayed was very gripping and well done. And the plot as a whole was really fun.
Plus, Doomslug. I mean how can you not like a book with a character named Doomslug?
2. Prophet, by Frank Peretti
This is an old book, but still excellent. The plot was complex but not quite as hard to follow as Piercing the Darkness, and the characters felt deeper and more realistic than in other books I’ve read by Frank Peretti. This is easily my favorite Christian read of the year.
3. The False Prince, by Jennifer A. Nielsen
I wasn’t expecting to love this book. I thought it would be cliche + boring + predictable and I don’t know where I got that idea, because it was none of those things. The main character had a really intriguing and funny voice, the plot was gripping and exciting, and the character relationships were so well done. This was my top Middle Grade read of the year.
Honorable Mention: Echo Island, by Jared C. Wilson
Again, I wasn’t expecting too much out of this book, but I was pleasantly surprised. The plot twist was mind-blowing, and even though the characters were a little cardboard cutout, I still enjoyed reading about them. The ending was also really well done.
I didn’t totally agree with the theology, but I did think the author’s beliefs were really well integrated into the story and explained….so I can’t really complain about that 🙂
Runners-up included Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson, Runaway King and Captive Kingdom by Jennifer A. Nielsen, The Winter King by Christine Cohen, and King’s City by Jessica Marinos.
I also watched a few new movies in 2020 (I don’t watch a lot of movies, so this list won’t be quite as extensive, but the ones I did watch were really enjoyable).
1. The Giver
I watched this movie like 5 times this year.
I still love it. It really captures the flavor of the book and left me with something to think about. Some of the scenes were heartbreaking, just like in the book, but they were vitally important to the plot. And the climax was an improvement on the book, in my opinion–the ending isn’t quite so unresolved.
Plus, the acting was really good.
2. Little Women (2019)
I loved this movie. The acting, the personalities of the characters, the additions made to the book, it was all really fun. I definitely enjoyed it more than the original (please don’t kill me). Even though I didn’t reallyyy care for Laurie this version. It was still really cool.
3. Inside Out
This was such a fun kids’ movie, and it almost made me cry. I teared up (BING BONG *sobs*). It was also a really cool idea of how emotions work together, and I liked the subtle messages and ideas communicated (like which emotions was charge in various people’s minds. Super insightful).
Honorable Mention: Christopher Robin
This movie was so. so. cute.
Highly recommend. I loved Winnie-the-Pooh as a kid, and this movie was very nostalgic and had a lot of funny lines.
No runners-up because these were easily my favorites (and tbh I barely watched any other movies this year, and didn’t really love the ones I did watch, so yeah.)
So there you have it….my top 3 (well actually 4….shhh) book & movie discoveries of 2020.
What were some of your favorite things about 2020?
If you know me, you probably know that I really enjoy Bible quizzing. I was introduced to it in sixth grade when I came to one of my best friend’s quiz-a-thons. Her team lost every round (it wasn’t a great day), but I was totally enthralled. My main thought after that quiz-a-thon was, I have to do this.
And so I started quizzing with the Manheim team in the fall of 2014. I was 12, and I quickly became obsessed with the game. The strategy. The competition.
I remember how excited I was when we first got in the playoffs that year, and how we won first place in our division at the end-of-year retreat. A star-shaped gold medal still sits in my treasure chest from that year–the only time I ever won a first place trophy.
Manheim Adversaries, 2015
But even that first year, it wasn’t so much the game as it was the people. As soon as I joined that group, I found myself loving their company. I connected with these people, in a way I’d rarely connected with others. Maybe it was because they were all homeschoolers. Maybe it was the diversity of opinions and denominations. But I felt accepted almost immediately.
The next years, I threw all of my effort into quizzing, sometimes at the expense of my other subjects in school. I moved into senior high and ended up on a team with two guys who were, in my mind, wayyy better than me. As an insecure 14-year-old, I was naturally terrified. Yet we ended with a third-place trophy in the top division.
Manheim Renewed, 2017
But again, it wasn’t the trophy that mattered so much as the friends I made that year (turns out guys aren’t as scary as I thought :P). The team was small that year, and I built lots of friendships. Quizzing quickly became my preferred friend group.
I quizzed all of my high school years as well. We had our ups and downs (major ups and downs, and I cried way too much), but those friendships continued to develop as I found out more things I had in common with my teammates. The years my former teammates graduated were tough for me, because I didn’t want to lose those friendships.
And then, suddenly, it happened.
I was the senior.
*mindblown*
Wait, that wasn’t supposed to happen! I was supposed to keep quizzing forever, right?
So I devoted myself to quizzing more than ever that year. It’s fair to say that my life pretty much revolved around quizzing in the 2019-2020 season, and I had my best year ever.
Manheim Waves, 2020
And then it ended.
I told myself it was ready to be over. I’d put in all my effort, and I was ready to call it quits. I said goodbye, went home to insane pandemic world, and forgot about quizzing.
Till July 13, when my mom planned a surprise party for me and invited the senior high quizzers.
And I realized how much I was going to miss these people.
Tonight, we finally had our end-of-year celebratory pizza party (it should’ve been in April….thanks, COVID). I got to have a conversation about modern art and mind control, watch a slideshow of some of the year’s best moments, and play Ultimate Frisbee and Spikeball.
But even that had to end. The last people packed up their Spikeball net, said goodbye….and it ended.
On the way home, I wasn’t as happy as usual after hanging out with my friends. Because….it was over.
I thought I loved quizzing, and really, I did. I loved the game, the strategy, the competition, and the way the hard work paid off.
But it was never just the game. Sometimes I forgot, but the game wouldn’t have been the same without my team–not just my 2020 team, but every teammate and every coach I had since that first year when I was a quiet, insecure 12-year-old.
I’m going to miss quizzing with you.
So yeah. I know this got long and rambly, but I just want to say one more thing.
Thank you, members and coaches of the Manheim Bible quiz team. You’ve had a big influence on me, taught me so much, and given me a place where I feel safe and accepted.
It’s hard to believe we’ve been doing this whole quarantine deal for a month and a half already. At the beginning of April, a month of this sounded like an eternity. . . but slowly, we’ve settled into our new normal.
But it’s always fun to shake things up a little bit, right? So yesterday our family took advantage of the nice weather and hiked the 500 steps trail.
It was a beautiful day to get outside. Spring is definitely on the way, and I’ve been missing it lately because I’ve been stuck at home, so it was great to see tiny leaves on the trees and wildflowers growing by the side of the road. Plus, it was a relief to leave the house without needing to wear a mask 🙂
This was the first hike Aubrey, Zach and Gabe got to go on. They loved it 🙂
After our hike, our parents surprised us by stopping at the Ice Shack for dessert. Even though we had to eat in the van, it was a special treat after being stuck at home for so long.
Sara and Callie in the van, enjoying their ice cream
Then for supper, my mom decided to try making Cheesy Chowder, a dish from one of our family’s favorite book series. It was a hit . . . funny how food tastes better when it’s straight from an imaginary world 🙂
Cheesy Chowder from the Wingfeather Saga
Quarantine can get depressing, but it can’t stop us from being creative, having fun or hanging out with the family 🙂
Hello, and welcome to social distancing with the Martins!
Last week, our family got to go to one of the most anticipated events of the year–Bible quizzing retreat. We arrived home to realize that, while we were gone, the state governor had closed down all of the schools due to…wait a minute….coronavirus?
Yup. And not just the schools. Churches, colleges (including LBC, where I’ve been taking a class the past few months), and basically every special event for the next few weeks had also been cancelled.
Since then, everything has gotten cancelled….although I’m sure, as fellow citizens of this lovely planet, you’re all aware of that…
This is quite a switch for me. Suddenly, I have no college class to go to, no work to get up early for, and no special events to look forward to. I have about three school subjects, and hours upon hours of free time. Cue confusion. It’s been months since I’ve had this much spare time.
But it’s not just me. Everyone in our family is dealing with the same feeling, to some degree or other.
So how have we been dealing with it? Here are some of the things we’ve done the past few days to entertain ourselves.
I did more cooking in the past few days than I had for several months before that. It still wasn’t very much, but I was rather pleased with the results (I made pizza and brownies, both of which turned out rather well….unlike the waffle I attempted to make for breakfast this morning, but we won’t talk about that).
Several of us took a bike ride yesterday, thanks to the warm weather. (“Several”, in this case, means seven, which, for the record, is too many.)
Last night I got to play Memory with Gabriel and Callie. (Callie is undoubtedly the best.) Quote of the evening: Gabriel (speaking to me): “You’re bad at this game.” Callie: “Busted!” (They were right :P)
My dad has occupied his time setting up a YouTube live stream to stream our church service on Sunday morning, since we’ll be closed for the next couple of weeks (will be streaming on our youtube channel)
There have also been lots of Odyssey episodes to listen to and Facebook live videos to keep the little ones occupied (Cincinnati Zoo is currently their favorite).
Lots of cleaning got done today, which is definitely a plus 🙂
And of course, this has given me plenty of time to work on that novel I’d been ignoring lately 🙂
So….how has your family been handling social distancing? What have you been doing for fun?
If you read Emily’s post you know that we were in Florida this past week doing some prison ministry. This was the third or fourth year we’ve gone to Florida to sing in the prisons. I’m going to be honest, before this week, sure I was a christian, I knew God was there, but I thought he was distant, that he didn’t really watch what I did, he didn’t care about my everyday life. I found sayings like, “Well Jesus fixed it,” or “It was a God thing,” cheesy. I didn’t understand how anyone could actually feel like that. Before this year, I had liked the prison crusade because of the singing, and the travel, I hadn’t really noticed what God was doing. On Wednesday afternoon, as we arrived at the hotel, I was looking forward to this crusade for those same reasons, I didn’t really think about what God could do. Wednesday night, we went to the church for a rally, to get us all hyped about the crusade. A man came forward to preach, but before he started, he played the song, Lord I Need You, over the speakers. I felt something in my heart, maybe it was God telling me to admit that I really did need him. The man spoke about three things that night, Recognizing we have an enemy, and who that enemy is, recognizing who we are, and recognizing who God is. Throughout the service, I found myself, not bored, like I normally was in church, but really listening. At the end of the service, he played the song again, and did an altar call. I was crying. I really did need God, I couldn’t do life on my own. I realized that. After that, we sang a few songs. I don’t really remember what songs we sang, only that I did something I had never done before, I raised my hands and really worshiped God. I had always been afraid to do that, I was afraid of what my friends would think. I felt like I was too young for that type of thing. While we went into prisons, I saw, among the inmates and volunteers, people who were on fire for Jesus, and I found some of that same fire in me. I want to do whatever God calls me to without fear. With God inside me, I have the power to do whatever he calls me too.
Our family is currently in Florida doing prison ministry, and tonight, we went to give a program for a re-entry center about an hour from our motel. I was kinda excited for our first program, and check-in and security went more smoothly than usual.
Unfortunately, the rest of the evening wasn’t as smooth. Pretty much our whole family is struggling with colds at the moment. Nothing terrible, but runny noses, scratchy voices, and bad breath support–none of which are great for singing. My ears were also closed for most of the night.
Thanks to these issues (and the amount of time we didn’t spend practicing before coming this year), basically everything went wrong during that program. At least that’s how it seemed to me, though in all honesty I’m a bit of a perfectionist in my opinion of how our programs should sound. But this one was worse than usual. We got off-key. We missed chords. We sang songs too slow. We sang songs too fast. We missed cues. The men clapped, but I cringed.
The worst happened during the second to last song, my only lead. I had pushed for us to sing that song, and I was excited for it. Maybe God needed to humble me or something, because as I got to the bridge, I realized that the rest of my music was missing. I had the first five pages, and after that … nothing.
Callie saw the problem and came over to help, but before we figured out where my music had disappeared to, I ran out of notes to play. I had no choice but to stop mid-line. My dad started talking, stalling for time as Callie flipped furiously through the pages, searching for my missing music.
The men laughed and clapped for us when we finally found the music, and I was able to finish the song, but it was discouraging. After all, the program before this point hadn’t gone particularly well, and now, on top of that, I had just wrecked my only lead.
Our last song was another piano song, Andrew Peterson’s Is He Worthy…
and the spirit of worship during that song blew me away.
As we finished the first chorus, the crowd erupted in cheers and applause at the declaration that Jesus is worthy. We kept singing, but my mood had changed with their applause. Something about hearing the whole room echoing with affirmation, especially in a place like that.
When we finished, the men gave us a standing ovation as we went to take our seats.
Isn’t it amazing, the ways God can use us? From my view, our program was a failure, especially my song. But it wasn’t me that mattered, it was God. And God decided to use our goof-ups, our mistakes, and our “failures” to deliver the most important message to a group of people who desperately needed it.
In some ways, that’s the most exciting things about serving God. God isn’t looking for perfect people to come and do his work. He just needs willing people to come and do what He asks. And when we do that, He works. Even when we’re off-key. Even when we’re sick. Even when we lose our music and it’s embarrassing.
Wow, has it really been almost a month since I last blogged? Yikes. But yes, I am still alive (though I can’t say the same for my laptop, which would be one of the reasons it’s been so long :P).
The past month has been busy. Very, very busy, and now that I look back on it, not many truly noteworthy things happened. I’ve been working a lot, and unfortunately haven’t even had time for basic things like reading and working on my novel.
Which brings me to the title of this post, and the only reason I actually have time to write a blog post today: the flu.
Yup. It’s the flu, complete with constant coughing, a headache, lightheadedness, and a fever.
Like anyone, I hate being sick, especially when it cancels my plans. I was supposed to be at the bookstore today, but I woke up with the same fever I’ve been running since yesterday morning. I wanted to go to quiz practice tonight, but research informed me that the flu is highly contagious.
In spite of that, though, I have to admit that being able to take a break is kinda nice. My life has gotten pretty crazy lately, and being forced to let go of some of the pressure the last couple days definitely hasn’t been a bad thing.
Who knows, I might actually have time to work on my novel this afternoon and finish that book I got from the library.
Being sick definitely isn’t a picnic, and I do wish I could be working today and hanging out with my friends at practice. But I think God knows that sometimes, we just need a break. And when I can’t afford to take a break, He makes the decision easy.
So anyway. Hopefully I’ll be up and about again soon and doing noteworthy things to blog about 😉 To everyone reading this, stay healthy! I’ll be back with another post soon 🙂
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