Lately, all the books I’ve read have been murder-mystery novels. I decided to take a break and read a regular fiction, so I picked up Williwaw by Tom Bodett.

I love this book. I’ve been reading plot driven books for so long I forgot what it was like to connect with a character (it’s refreshing and makes me wonder why I’m so obsessed with murder-mystery novels). So far this is a simple story about a couple of kids who get into some trouble by just being kids, and are trying hard not to get caught. I’m only a third of the way into the book, but there’s some heavy foreshadowing that the kids are going to end up in some real danger.

Bodett is a brilliant writer. The words these characters say and decisions they make remind me of what I was like when I was 12 and 13. I usually barf (yep that’s right, barf) when I start reading another story about a teenager whose parents are gone (it’s an overused way to write about a troubled teenage life . . . aren’t the teenage years troublesome enough without havening to kill off the kid’s parents?), but the situation these two are living in is unique to me, so I’m curious about their way of life (they live in a bay in Alaska and are almost completely cut off from other teenagers).

I’ll let you know what I think when I’m done with the book, but I’ve read enough that I can recommend it.

Williwaw
by Tom Bodett

Within the last week Lillian has started “talking.” She’s been cooing and squealing for months, but all of a sudden she’s showing off her verbal dexterity. She’s using “B’s” “D’s” and “G’s.”

Her and Isaac are getting along fabulously. Her cooing makes Isaac laugh which makes Lillian laugh, and the whole scene makes me laugh. . .being a dad is great.

We made it back safe. The travel-by-night plan was tough, but with the kids asleep the trip only took us 8 hours instead of 11.

For the trip I borrowed the audio book The Prophet of Yonwood by Jeanne Duprau from the library. This is the prequel to The City of Ember and The People of Sparks. Both Ember and Sparks were fun books. Gina and I read them out loud to each other a couple years ago. I liked the situations, the characters, and the mysteries in both. But Duprau gets a bit preach in Yonwood. This is actually the third time we tried to read/listen to this book; I think that’s because the book starts off slow (which means she used too much description in the beginning without . It felt like Duprau has some serious questions about God (which is great) and she uses this book to sort them out (which is lame). There wasn’t a strong connection between this prequel and her other two books.

Apparently, the fourth book in the series is coming out in August called The Diamond of Darkhold. The blurb looks good, so I’m not giving up on Duprau. The next book picks up where Sparks left off, so hopefully Duprau will stick to story and tone down the preaching.

Since part of our job is to teach people about our faith, it is imperative that we constantly study the Church’s teachings. You can’t be a good teacher unless you’re a good student.

Father Oscar Lukefahr runs a free Catholic Home Study Service (he does of course accept donations). He’s written several excellent books about our faith, and he offers them to anyone at no cost. These are high-quality books, so I’m impressed that he can afford to keep this amazing ministry available. Each book also comes with a test booklet, and you can submit your answers online where it will tell you how you did on the test and keep track of your scores. When you finish a book, they send you a nice certificate. We used one of his books, “We Believe: A Survey of the Catholic Faith” for an adult study group a couple of years ago.

I’m working my way through Acts and I like following maps because it helps me visualize what’s going on.

A Map of Paul’s First Journey

An Outline of Paul’s First Journey

Here is a spread sheet of trivia questions that I use with my board game. These questions are designed for 7th and 8th graders.

Catholic Bible Trivia Questions

This book is funny, not because it’s supposed to be but because I just finished Leonard’s Riding the Rap. Leonard writes some seriously scary characters. Liss’s tough guy is an English gentleman, so when he threatens to beat up someone, it just sounds funny after being authentically scared by Bobby in Riding the Rap.

I’m about half done with Conspiracy and it’s an okay read. I read a lot of British literature in college so I got a little sick of it. Liss is an America writing like he’s English. The back cover says he was trying to get a Ph. D. in English at the time the book was published, so I’m guessing he had to read a lot of English Literature too.

I hope I’m not sounding too critical; The story is interesting and David obviously knows a lot about British culture.

We’re going to Notre Dame tonight to see my sister-in-law’s graduation. At 8pm we’ll get the kids in their car seats and let them sleep there. We’re hoping they trip will go more quickly if they’re asleep in the car. That does mean Gina and I will only get 4 hours of sleep each, but that’s about all we get to sleep anyway.

Lillian rolled over last night!

Okay, now this one is probably going to have some blood and guts. Not the kind of book I usually read, but I’ve had 3 different people recommend I read something by Leonard so I’m giving him a chance.

Leonard is supposed to be the universes’s greatest dialogue writer. After only 9 chapters I have to say it’s not just his dialogue; his narrative sounds a lot like spoken English as well. These would be good books to read out loud . . . if my kids were older than 2. . . or maybe they should be older than 18 before they read this stuff. It’s not trashy or bloody, yet, but it is suspenseful in a scary kind of way.

Wrap-up: I finished the book, and I’m glad to say it didn’t get too bloody. Actually, it wasn’t any worse than some of the other mystery novels I read. The big difference is that this isn’t a mystery novel. Our library puts little stickers of Sherlock Holmes on mystery novels, but they got this one wrong. It does have a cop and a bad guy, but there’s no real mystery to it . . . at least not in the main plot. It would be better classified as a thriller/suspense novel than a mystery novel. I was worried I’d have to skip a chapter or two to get past the blood and guts, but that never happened, so I enjoyed the novel.

Riding the Rap by Elmore Leonard