"The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

I have a confession to make: I’m a very stubborn person. One of my pet peeves is when family or friends say something to me like, “You just HAVE to see this movie!” When this statement is paired with the cultural pressure of a viral hit, sometimes I vow to never give in to such pressure. A perfect example is Napoleon Dynamite. I had so many college buddies tell me that I HAD to see that movie, and it was such a pop-culture hit, that I rebelled against their expectations and made myself a promise to never ever see Napoleon Dynamite. To this day, I’ve kept my vow. (A similar thing happened with Nacho Libre)

So, I was close to shutting out “The Hunger Games” completely, but in the end it was the appeal the book and movie had to young people that caused me to read the book. Disclaimer: this is different than “Twilight”. I will never, ever, EVER see or read “Twilight” or any of its sequels. Period.  End of story. I mean, come on. Vampires? Really? Anyway….

Quick plot summary: North America no longer exists. In its place is Panem, a nation divided into 12 districts. Each district is controlled by the Capitol, and each district is responsible for a portion of the economic foundation of Panem (for example, one district does coal mining, one district does agriculture, etc). Of course, the Capitol is a brutal master, and the people are pretty much slaves to the powers that be. Every year, names of a boy and a girl from each district are selected to participate in a fight to the death – the Hunger Games. In an Ancient-Roman-like way, the Capitol glamorizes this expression of their control over the people. Our main character, Katniss Everdeen, is the female participant for District 12.

I will give Suzanne Collins a lot of credit for writing an incredibly captivating story. There are so many good things I can say about it. She covers the full range of human emotions, and she covers them extremely well. She takes a difficult subject (death) and lets us peer inside the mind of a young girl who is facing it honestly. Young people today already think of death – we know this by the suicide rates of teens. But books like these could cause young people to think more deeply about death – and its consequences – which could potentially lead to opportunities for sharing the Gospel.

After all, Katniss, the main character, is stuck in a cruel man-made world where kids fight to the death. In reality, we are all facing imminent death – and none of us knows when it might come. Katniss sees her opponents in the Hunger Games as human – even if they are slightly more savage than she is. In fact, she finds terrible similarities between herself and the negative qualities of those opponents. This is a true-to-life view of human nature. We are all fallen – we are all capable of dreadful evil.

Let me speak for a moment about the death in the book. The author always speaks of death with a sort of sacredness that’s difficult to explain. Katniss avoids killing if at all possible, and only does so when it is necessary for survival. So, the idea I’d had in my mind from highly critical reviews of the book about kids gleefully hacking each other to pieces was not accurate. Yes, kids kill kids in the book. No, the author does not glorify it or make it appealing. She does not present murder as a possible solution to a conflict between young people, or any other such nonsense. There are several scenes that are quite gruesome, but again, the author intended for such scenes to be gruesome.

There is also a bit of romance in the book between young people. I’m of the opinion that young people who think they are in love are highly mistaken. Love is a difficult and life-long decision. It is an emotion tied to the will. It is sacrificial and selfless. Young people tend to see love in a more shallow way. But, in the book, the romance between the young people is not overly sexualized, which I greatly appreciated (true, there is some kissing in the book, but the author does not dwell on sensuality). In a day when kids are made to think that sex, sexiness, romance, physical interaction, and love are worth having RIGHT NOW instead of being worth waiting for, I appreciated that the main character’s parents had a happy and fulfilling marriage, and Katniss also looked ahead several times to thoughts of her own marriage (even though toward the end of the book, she is thinking she will never marry).

Other than two or three minor swear words, I did not take issue with much of the content of the book. The story was fascinating and compelling. The setting and plot was surreal, yet very real. The post-apocalyptic backdrop seemed to be a frightening glimpse into the potential future of the country. We like to think of our nation as too civilized to ever do anything like the Hunger Games for real, but remember that each of us is capable of great evil. And people in power tend to be corrupted more quickly than the powerless.

Since it is part of a trilogy, the book ends in great suspense. But, being a Christian fiction fan, it is difficult to read a book with such sorrow and pain and never see the Healer and Savior make an appearance. Jesus Christ – what a Savior He is! And I only wish that I could introduce every young person who faces the fear of death to the One Who has already conquered death itself.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention, special thanks to JT for letting me borrow his copy of "The Hunger Games"!

"To Be Perfectly Honest" by Phil Callaway

This may possibly be the funniest book I've ever read. But, it was also one of the most convicting. Christian funny-man Phil Callaway takes a one-year vow to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. Sound easy?

The book is set up almost like a diary or journal. Paragraphs are group under headings numbering off how far into the truth-vow the writing took place. So, he starts with Day 1 and goes from there. It was a brutally, BRUTALLY honest book - especially the way Phil Callaway wrote about himself. We see him losing money on an internet investment, fighting bitterness against a former friend who is out to slander his reputation, confronting bad habits (both his own and those of others), and many other scenarios that are all-too realistic.

I found it startling and sad that my first reaction to learning of Phil's truth vow was: "I would never do that...."  I want to smile and cry at the same time. "Boy, you couldn't get me to tell the whole truth for a year. What would people think?" But, through reading about this hilarious journey, I found that the truth is a precious gift that is often ignored and under-appreciated. It is also a very powerful thing. After all, God is a God of truth - He is not capable of telling a lie. So when we tell the truth (in love) we have the power of God Himself in our speech.

I loved this book - and I plan on reading it again. It was a great encouragement to me. I also appreciated that Phil Callaway shared the pain of his mother's death (which happened during the truth vow). His mother had dementia, and his writing about his visits with her brought tears to my eyes more than once.

Phil says in the epilogue that he prays more honestly now. He claims it has changed his life. I might just take the vow after all...

If you would like to read a chapter or order the book, or if you would like to learn more about Phil Callaway, please visit his website here. I received a free copy of this book from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers in exchange for my "honest" review.

"The Queen" by Steven James

Over 500 pages...but it flies by so quickly. VERY, very few authors write so addictively. My respect for Steven James continues to climb.

Agent Bowers is sent to Wisconsin to help investigate an apparent double murder: a man supposedly shoots his wife and daughter. But not everything is as it seems. The Navy is pressuring the FBI director to put their best people on this case. Why would the Navy be interested in the disappearance of a Wisconsin sawmill worker? Before the book is over, the facts of this case will reach all the way to the Middle East - to a top secret CIA detainment facility.

A couple of negative things about the book. Yet again, one of the villains turns out to be a friend of Bowers.... This has happened in two other books in this series, if my memory is right. Now, it makes for really good page-turning suspense, especially when you can't guess who it is - but at the same time, it is almost getting old. (I mean, does this happen in real life? Can every FBI agent name at least three former colleagues who wound up being serial killers? Maybe so... the nature of the field, I suppose.) I can easily forgive this small issue, however, since the quality of the book is beyond superb.

There were a couple of typos. Sometimes the technical explanations ran a little long. These are all VERY minor things. And, in the grand scheme of things, I'm embarrassed that I even bring them up.

On the positive side, there was less violence in this book. In fact, family and relational issues took up a greater portion of the story than in any of the previous books. That doesn't mean that the book isn't filled with great action and suspense - because it is. We learn a great deal about the backstory of Patrick and his brother Sean (and his brother's wife.....). Patrick is planning on asking a certain someone a certain important question.
Tessa struggles with some of her guilt, as well as the topic of forgiveness. In fact, the best scene of the book (to me) is when Tessa has a deep heart-to-heart with God. It's not a tremendously dramatic conversion, with a sinner's prayer - but Tessa tells Patrick that "something happened" to her in a hospital chapel. It was the closest thing to a salvation experience in the Bowers Files so far! Of all the characters that are in the series, I fully expected Tessa to be the first to take the small steps of faith. And I was right! She's a great character in these books.

According to the Wikipedia page, Steven James is writing a prequel to the series right now; then he will finish the series with "The King" and finally "Checkmate". Let's just say, I'm (not so) patiently waiting!

"The Voice" New Testament

Let me say up front: I am an open-minded KJV reader. I was raised with the King James, and in my research I have not discovered any reason that I should replace my KJV with another version. That being said, I am also aware of the fact that many Godly people use other versions of the Bible - and God is obviously using other translations to reach many people with the Gospel of Christ. I do not collect and burn other Bible versions, nor do I demonize those versions or the people who read them, either from the pulpit or my blog. Those who do so are not dealing realistically with the issue of Bible translation.
The publishers provided me a free copy of "The Voice" to review. Let me begin with my criticisms, and end with the positive elements. My main criticism is the translation process. The translating group decided to go with a "contextual equivalence" instead of formal equivalence or even dynamic equivalence. In an attempt to make their translation accessible to the modern culture, they seem to resort mostly to paraphrase instead of actual translation (from my limited knowledge of Greek). The problem is this: God gave us ideas and concepts, but He had to use words in order to do it - and it seems obvious that He chose His Words with great care. So, formal equivalence seems to be superior to either dynamic or contextual equivalence.
My second criticism.... To be blunt, I fail to see the need for another Bible translation or version. Statistics tell us that Christians aren't reading the ones we already have, and I doubt that it is because they don't have access to a good version. My third criticism is minor. "Story" seems to be a bit of a buzzword these days among Christian authors, and "The Voice" buys into it totally. Even the cover says, "Step into the Story of Scripture" (italics in original, not added by me). I'm not a big fan of fads and buzzwords.
So, now to the positive things. First, I actually liked the quality of the copy I received. It seemed durable, with thick paper and sturdy binding. It would probably last a long time. Second, I thought the dialogue between the characters was presented in a unique way. It was done much like a screenplay or script, with the name of the person talking written in bold, followed by his dialogue.

For those of you who like to read the thoughts and events in Scripture written in unique ways to give your mind a better picture to grasp, you will probably find "The Voice" an interesting addition to your Bible collection. For those of you who are waiting for a good reason to read something besides your KJV, you will need to wait a little longer.
Special thanks to Thomas Nelson publishers for the free review copy of "The Voice" New Testament.