"A World More Bright, the Life of Mary Baker Eddy" by Isabel Ferguson and Heather Vogel Frederick

Once in a while I enjoy reading biographies. I especially like books about strong women that left their mark on history. Mary Baker Eddy was definitely such a woman. A sickly girl born in early 1800s in the country side of New Hampshire, she had her fair share of struggle: early widowhood, forced separation from her only son, health problems, poverty, abandonment by her second husband... However, her story is not about what she suffered although those trials definitely molded her into who she became. Her story is that of triumph. In her 40s she wrote a book that has influenced not only the American religious thought, but has had an impact on countless lives around the world. It still stirs its readers with questions like: is God all good? If so, is He also the source of evil? Her book, of course, is Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Eddy went on to establish a church, a college, a publishing house, and launched what would become a multiple Pulitzer-prize winning newspaper The Christian Science Monitor. She accomplished all of this and more during the time when women did not even have a right to vote...

This new biography is an excellent introduction to the life of a great American religious leader and thinker. The book is very well written. I loved all the colorful pictures and side bars that provide additional glimpses into the time period and customs of the day, thus providing an excellent backdrop to the story. The book is also very manageable lengthwise - just a little over 200 pages. Overall, this biography felt very fresh, unlike some that you take off the shelf and feel like blowing dust off the cover. So if you like books about late 19th-early 20th century and want to learn more about a woman who was in her day a real celebrity, this is definitely a book to check out. 

"Ready Player One" by Ernst Cline

I had conflicting feelings about this book. On the one hand, I heard wonderful reviews of this book from readers of different ages. However, what made me pause was the fact that much of the action was supposed to take place inside a video game. I never liked video games and was not sure I'd want to read a book about being in one... In addition, I heard the book described as being filled with 1980s trivia. Frankly, I was not sure about my 1980s trivia knowledge... Nonetheless, I decided to give it a shot; and what a great read this turned out to be!

The book is funny, well-written and very engaging. The 80s references were very understandable. The characters were interesting and likable. I loved everything about this book. Now about the video game. This is not the correct description, at least in my mind. The story is set in 2045, when the human civilization takes a downturn due to diminished natural resources. The only diversion humans have is this massive online virtual reality where everyone spends most of their waking hours. This is where you work, shop, watch movies and news, meet friends, go to school, etc. Seeing how even today we spend a lot of time doing things online, I can totally see the possibility of such a virtual reality being created some day. Cline does a fantastic job describing what it feels like to be inside this virtual reality. He is also good at portraying the loneliness his characters experience in real life even though their virtual lives are packed with adventures, friendships and even romance.

The main character (Wade, aka Parzival) and his friends are engaged in a once in a lifetime game/online puzzle set up by a renown video game designer who had recently passed away. The winner will get his entire fortune valued in billions of dollars. The story is filled with twists and turns. The relationships in the book are sweet and heartwarming, and the story has a really good ending. I rated this book at 5 out of 5 starts on Goodreads and I highly recommend it to everyone who likes science fiction and adventure stories.

Reading Challenges

I have not posted anything for a couple of weeks, so thought it was about time. September has been a slow reading month for me so far mostly because I am taking a very reading-intensive class which does not leave a lot of time for reading for fun. However, I did finish a children's book called The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer. It is the first book in his The Land of Stories series and is a great book for middle graders. It is vaguely reminiscent of The Magic Tree House books in that the two main characters (a brother and a sister) journey into another world. However, Colfer's book is definitely more complex and intended for an older age-group. If you or your children like fairy tales, you will enjoy this book. Without giving too much away, the two main characters literally fall into a book of fairy tales and then spent the rest of the story traveling through the magic world trying to find their way back. My daughter will definitely enjoy this book. Colfer has released two more books in the series so if you get into it, you'll be busy for a while. I am not planning on reading other books in this series simply because I can only stand so much middle grade fiction.

I have started reading Ready Player One by Ernst Cline. I am only 50 pages into it and I love it! I had heard a lot about this book and was really looking forward to reading it. It is an adult sci-fi/dystopian novel and most of the story takes place in a virtual online reality. The book is filled with 1980s trivia and references and is a lot of fun. I will definitely post a full review once I am finished with it.

I do still have quite a bit of books on my to read list on goodreads (you can follow me here), so hopefully once I am done with this class in mid-October, I will be able to get through some of them. I am yet to start on the three classic novels that I was planning to read this year (see my post from July here). Overall, the reading challenge I set for my self for 2014 was 60 books. I am at 41 right now. This is without counting 3 mammoth-size textbooks I read for school. So this has been a pretty good reading year so far despite the usual lack of time and well, life in the real world!