The Palamino - A Rant (Sort of )

First off, let me say that I really have no business reading The Palamino by Katy Pistole. It's a Christian-preteen-horse-story. Christian novels = haven't read too many, but if all of them are as "mushy" (for lack of a better word; I don't mean as in romance) as this one, I'm not too interested. Preteen = Well... I'm not one. Horse-stories = Been there, done that. Not really my thing anymore.

However, I did read the book when I was 12 or 13. Devoured it, really. Then my mum found the second book at the local thrift store: I read about 10 of the 19 chapters aloud to my sister before my throat went hoarse and I agreed to let her finish it on her own. We liked that one, too. Then I reread it when I was 14 and it seemed a little flatter. But it wasn't until my 11-year-old sister read it that I realized something:

It's silly.
In a fun way that I don't mind too much, but nevertheless, it's preteen fiction that's a little over-the-top sometimes.

I was walking by my sister's bedroom, and asked her how she liked the book so far. "It's pretty good," said she, marking her place, "But there sure are a lot of tears running down peoples' faces, aren't there?" I laughed, "Yeah, I guess there are." "It's like, 'Tears ran down Jenny's cheeks, tears ran down Jenny's mother's cheeks, tears ran down Jenny's father's cheeks, tears ran down Kathy's cheeks.' I'm drowning here!" I giggled and told my other sister, who also giggled.

My little sister read the second book and pointed out even more of those very active tears.

I tried to read the third book, but at fifteen... well... you know. I just couldn't bring myself to get past the first page. Maybe someday, to prove that I'm not ashamed to read Christian horse-stories. Because there's nothing really WRONG with the books: they're just... as I said, a little over-the-top.

The Day That Was Tuesday

I made my first real "enemy" today. He's a radio talk show host and he doesn't know that I exist, nor that he is my enemy. Today he was talking with people for at least 45 minutes on how he can't believe Catholics can believe what they believe and still hold their heads up.

Pfffft.

What I was thinking, as I turned my rock-hard music up very high (Superchic[k] isn't exactly rock hard, but if you turn it up loud enough it's very satisfying when you're angry) and read The Queen of Attolia and STILL heard that man talking and talking and talking and swearing and talking, was "I'm going to pray for you, pal, and there's nothing you can do about it! Ha! Ha!"

I never heard what his name was, so I decided to name him Rob Tirsch after the "evil prince" in The Shadow of the Bear (I must have been feeling particularly disgusted with Rob at the time. I can't remember what I was thinking, though); he would be my enemy, and I was going to pray for him. But then I realized that I would be praying for him...for revenge. Which kills the entire point. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that...

Anyhow. A lady with a beautiful little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes almost left her daughter's shoes behind in the parking lot of Baja Fresh. I tapped frantically on her window and held up the shoes. When she opened the door, took the shoes, and thanked me, it occurred to me that I had perhaps tapped too frantically, and I said, "Sorry." I don't know what I'm thinking sometimes.

Little Women, the musical

**Little Women WHO ENDS UP WITH WHO spoilers**


So... my sisters and I saw Little Women, the musical last night.

It was very good.

But I have a few minor quibbles:

The beginning was very confusing; the play started with Jo complaining to Professor Bhaer over a rejection letter. He walks off stage and she starts singing. A chair is pushed onto the stage, the rest of the March girls sit around it, Jo sits down in the chair, and I guess the whole thing switches to flashback, then switches back to the present in the second act.

They didn't show any of Amy's time in Europe. Mr. Lawrence mentions that Laurie met up with her and Florence, then later she comes home grown up, lovely, severely overusing the word 'dear', and engaged to Laurie. They made Amy and Laurie out to be the ridiculous couple. While they were singing their cutsie little song about how they came to be engaged, Laurie was sneaking Jo these "Hahaha, look at me now!" looks. It was funny, but annoying.

The songs were just average. The lyrics were pretty forgettable, and I didn't like the way they hardly ever rhymed.

And that's all for the complaints.

The characters: Mr. Lawrence was more cranky than he is in the book but it worked, and Aunt March wasn't cranky enough, just snobby and annoying. Laurie was very funny, Amy was rather selfish, Jo was passionate and Beth had the sweetest voice, being Beth. The cast was really good, and they had a funny script.

I admit I was very glad that the play ended happily, with a few laughs, because I was very much afraid that I was going to come out of the theater with red eyes.

I almost did anyways, because there's something so amazing about listening to the screaming and cheering of people around you who probably never read the book, but appreciated the story, the characters, and the actors all the same. Everyone knew who to scream for, too. Hehe.

The Seven Sleepers - Ranting and Personality Types

I used to be crazy about The Seven Sleepers series by Gilbert Morris. Now that I'm re-reading them, I'm thinking - "What was I thinking?"

The first book wasn't so bad, but after that they all got extremely unoriginal. I'm always recognizing things from The Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings. (Especially in The Lost Chronicles!) Here's how most of the books go:

Josh: *says something that makes Sarah blush*
Goel: Go here.
Troubled People: We have heard of Goel. We have heard of the prophecy. We have heard of the Sleepers. And there is a traitor among us.
"The Dark Lord:" Kill the Sleepers. Kill the Sleepers. Kill the Sleepers. If you fail, I'll kill you.
The Sleepers save everyone and don't get killed.
Josh: *says something that makes Sarah blush*
One of the Sleepers: Come on, let's go see what Goel has in store for us next!
The End.

Gaauuraaugh!

Besides the lame plots:

Abbey is sometimes spelled "Abbey" and sometimes "Abbie." She has dark hair in the first book and blonde hair in all the rest.

Sarah's eyes are usually brown, but in the fifth book they're blue. Yes, both are lovely, but please just make up your mind.

We even have a rhyming prophecy. Hehe.

But for some unexplainable reason my sister and I find them immensely entertaining. No - looking back on this post, I see that it's not so unexplainable! *grin*

Anyhow...onto my favorite part. Personality types for the Sleepers. These are just my opinions and my sister's, of course.

Josh Adams - ISFJ, Phlegmatic-Melancholy
Sarah Collingwood - ESFJ, Phlegmatic-Sanguine (Extraverts can be a little shy...)
Jake Garfield - INTP, Choleric-Melancholy
Dave Cooper - xSTP, Melancholy-Choleric (maybe...)
"Reb" Jackson - ESTP, Choleric-Sanguine
Abigail Roberts - ESFP, Choleric-Sanguine
"Wash" Jones - ISFP, Phlegmatic-Sanguine

Or something like that. :) I figure we're close enough.