Deathwatch - or - I really shouldn't read books for 7th graders

So, I just finished reading the book you see in the picture above. I heard the first half of it being read in a class at school recently while I was at work. Since then, I wanted to hear the rest of the story. I am glad I got to the end but...

*** Spoiler alert ***
I will tell you the end.
I didn't like it too much.

HERE is a link to the wikipedia page about the book with a brief synopsis.

Basically, there is a bad guy who plots and lies and tries to kill the good guy in the desert. They finally get back to the sherrif at the end. No one believed the good guy for a while until finally someone comes and proves what he was saying was true.

Also, in the desert the bad guy "accidentaly" killed an old guy in the desert.

So, the sherrif says to Ben, the good one, "He tried to kill kill you. You need to press charges - murder, assault?"

Ben says - the last sentence in the book - "No, I just came here to report an accident."

What a horrible ending. Really. I don't care who you are - if someone tries to kill you and they get caught, you press charges.

Maybe he figures the state will do it or something like that but I was very unsatisfied. Anyway, anyone ever read that book?

PS - a made for TV movie was made in 1974 based on this book. Here is a link to purchase a copy of it for a lot of money. Andy Griffith was THE BAD GUY. If you can find a place on the internets for me to watch it I will give you a million dollars. And I will love you forever. Please find it.

tonight's pasttime of choice

While we were on our trip to Northern Idaho last month, we went into Barnes and Noble and splurged on some new reading material. Among others, Dave chose Malcolm Gladwell's new book Outliers and I chose the classic book The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. (Dave and I both enjoy reading, but we choose to read very different books.) We both finished reading them tonight. I will say that Dave thoroughly enjoyed his book, which is a book about what makes successful people different from the rest of us normal people, both in their environment/opportunities and their habits and behaviors. I'll let him go into it more, if he so chooses.

I read (or was supposed to have read, or read half of) The Scarlet Letter in high school. I didn't remember a single thing from it, other than the actual scarlet letter itself. It was mostly narrative, it challenged my reading comprehension, and I really enjoyed it. It made me think about sin and how we view others. In the concluding chapter the author states, "in the view of Infinite Purity, we are all sinners alike." While reading this statement, I remember a conversation I had in college with a friend about sin. We were discussing the scripture, "for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). It was the first time I really understood that verse. The Scarlet Letter shows how we view others when we know the mistakes they have made and how we scorn people for their "sins" and love others who have hidden these same sins from view. But even the most righteous among us will come up wanting in the end. We cannot hide our mistakes and those that try live in greater anguish than those who admit their mistakes, learn from them, and move on.

Wrinkle cont.

I think my main problem is that I was shopping for a coat and I ended up getting a sweater. No matter how good a sweater is - you won't like it if you were trying to buy a coat. Right?

A wrinkle in my face

In case you couldn't tell, the title to this post is supposed to be read like an indignant 15 year old who didn't like the book A Wrinkle in Time. Or maybe it could be read like Napoleon and Kip when they are arguing about time travel. Yeah, that's good - especially considering the subject matter of the book.



So, I just read it. I think I had my expectations a little high. You know, like when that Godzilla movie came out in the late 90's and it was all hyped up then no one liked it. I had a friend when I worked at Melaleuca who said this book was his FAVORITE book he had ever read. He was something like 23 years old at the time. So, when I was looking for a book to read the other day I chose it. It wasn't a waste of time but for some reason I didn't feel good about it after reading the end. It seemed like there was a lot left unsaid and I don't think the sequels are going to fix that.

I know there are a lot of people who like it. I am really not one of them. Wierd, I don't think I have ever said that about a book before. I think it will be a while before I read another book for younger readers.

Am I wrong? Do you love that book? Do you hate it? Have you ever heard of it or read it? If so, please tell me how wrong or right I am. Mostly tell me how right I am. I like that.