Seriously? 52 Books in 52 Weeks

In January I started a reading challenge that is stretching me real bad. Last year I read somewhere around 20 books. This challenge, if completed (and it will be), will leave me having read 52 books in one year. Oh yeah and not just books I like but ones that are 100 years old or a Pulitzer Prize winner. *insert snarky face.

Don't get me wrong, I like to read, be it a little on the slow side, but I like to read what I enjoy. I like to be entertained while being challenged to think. In the midst of my 40's I find me trying to better myself or maybe catch up on stuff I avoided so that... I don't know...perhaps I can be a "grown up".

Well let me tell you being a "grown up" is over-rated with a capital O. Here I am on March 15th and I am on my 8th book. I should be on number 10 or 11. What happened?

I'll tell you what happened. The Picture of Dorian Gray is what happened. OH. MY. LORD. If I could meet Oscar Wilde I would slap his face and stamp "Superfluous" on his book in red ink like my high school English teacher would have done to me. That story has so many useless words. I thought it would be interesting. Dorian Gray has popped up in other things I enjoyed; like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or Penny Dreadful and I liked him just fine. But this book - ugh. It is not even that long, but I trudged through it for 3 weeks. He rambled on in my head for 3 weeks only to climax and end in about a page and half. Figures.

The one book that has truly been a joy was Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. I loved it. It was amazing. I have talked about it to anyone I thought might read it. Ready Player One is set about 30 years in the future, but is filled front to back with 80's pop culture references, especially ones about video games. The main character (Wade Watts) is a teenager who practically lives in a virtual reality world called OASIS, whose creator (James Halliday), a teen in the 80's, has left behind an "Easter Egg" in the wake of his death. I also was a teenager in the 80's and have been known to play a video game or two, so this was quite a nostalgic read for me. After a while I barely noticed the 80's stuff because I got very involved with the characters and the story itself. A lot of it is a mystery that you as the reader will not be able to solve without the characters. In turn they find themselves in the same predicament with each other as the whole thing is based on a competition to find the "Easter Egg" that will leave someone very very wealthy. Like filthy stickin' rich wealthy. It's a really good story. Did I mention I loved this book?

So far I have read: Holes in the Ground by JA Konrath
                               Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
                               The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
                               Chosen by KF Breene
                               The Housewife Assassin's Handbook by Josie Brown
                               The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
                               Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Currently I am reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I have a few others I am reading on occasion: Renew Your Mind in 30 Days by Phil Drysdale, Angry Conversations with God by Susan E Isaacs, and The Walking Dead Compendium One by Robert Kirkman.

My book selection process has been interesting, almost like a research project. I really am trying to branch out. For a very long time I read primarily Christian fiction and then started reading more Young Adult stuff. (I love the Hunger Games trilogy and The Uglies series.) I have taken the prompts on the challenge and attempted to get outside my comfort zone while trying not to commit reading suicide. I am doing pretty good so far, no thanks to Dorian Gray and Oscar Wilde. Summertime will surely see me caught up since I love to sit in the sun and read a good book.

Here is the challenge if you are interested: PopSugar 2015 Reading Challenge
Also Goodreads.com has a great group working on the challenge: Ultimate 2015 Reading Challenge

Syncretism

Syncretism
noun
1. the amalgamation or attempted amalgamation of different religions, cultures, or schools of thought.

"My ideas about God weren't all good, all bad, or even all Christian. They were a syncretism of good theology, bad parenting, Lutheran passivity, and American culture." Susan E Isaacs author of Angry Conversations with God

I love when I run across a word that I do not know. I am quick to look it up to gain a grasp of it's meaning.

This word, syncretism, stood out to me, not only because I did not recognize it, but because of the context in which it was used. In her memoir, Isaacs is trying to deal with how her relationship with God went off the rails by going to marriage counseling with God. This to me is a fascinating concept that is completely based on her perception of God and conversations that basically take place with the help of her imagination (and probably with just a smidge of God intervention. I'm only on page 17 so I do not know exactly how this is going to go, but it looks to be an adventure.

Anyway, in the quote, she describes the makeup/syncretism of her belief system. Based on the definition of this word, it might would be easy to become offended by this whole statement, but a person being honest with oneself would realize we each have a syncretism of many different ideas from many different places that make up our image of God; good, bad, and ugly. I know I do. You may say "Well I get all my ideas straight from the Bible!" but in reality you probably read the Bible with your own life filters, word definitions and cultural ideas. I do and at 44 I can tell you that my understanding about things I read in the Bible and understand about God have changed a few times over the years simply because I either matured or gained new knowledge I did not previously possess. That is the glory of growth.

So that is it, I just wanted to share my new word with whoever is reading this, even if it's just me.

Choices

I am sick to my stomach today. You wanna know why? It is this crap about living like you're gonna die young. I have had so many conversations through the years with people who have this attitude. Apparently Ke$ha thinks it's such a good idea she sings about it in a catchy song.

Do you know how many twenty, thirty, forty even fifty-somethings (and even older) out there believed they were gonna die young and are not dead yet? A lot, that's how many. Do you know how many did die young, or are dying young, and wish they could have lived to be old? A lot, dare I say most.

The belief about dying young is just code for "I want to be irresponsible and not have to wake up and face the reality I created with all my bad irresponsible choices". Yes I said CHOICES.

Guess what? The choices you make in your life are just that, YOUR CHOICES. You cannot truly stand and say it was someone else's fault when you leave a wake of destruction behind you as a result of choices you make. Honestly chances are really good you will live to be much much older than you are right now, even with all your bad choices. One day you are going to have to stand up and say "yes, I did ____" and "no, I did not do ____". You will have to own it. It's on you. Period.

I think this is the real reason people want to believe there is no heaven or hell, because if there is then death will not even keep you from facing choices you make. All I will say about that is "WHAT A HUGE GAMBLE". There is way too much evidence to speak of an afterlife to think that death is any kind of an escape. But if you are willing to take the risk, go ahead.

As far as life goes, keep in mind, you are not the only one who pays for your choices. You are the sower/planter of them and you will reap their fruit; remember though, others will eat of their fruit as well. You, your parents, your spouse,  your siblings, your children, your friends, your co-workers, and your victims will all in some way taste the fruit of your choices. Wait did I say VICTIMS? Yes, yes I did! Your bad choices may/will lead to many different scenarios in which you will leave victims behind. I know that's hard to chew on because in this selfish attitude about living like you're gonna die young is the inherent belief that you are the only one affected by your choices. That is a a HUGE LIE. Stop believing this insanity. You are not an island. You do not live in a bubble You are not alone.

Your life touches so many people. Your choices matter. Your life matters. YOU MATTER!!!!!

I will leave with this: May your days be long and your choices wise!