I have finished reading my Decemberween present from Michelle. (photo link will take you to another blogger's opinion on the book) For the second time, actually. Well, sort of. This is the 2nd edition of the original 2000 publication. I read the 1st edition back in 2001. Updated in 2004 to include the Luminous Mysteries of the rosary, this book by a collection of authors presents the RCC's position on why the Church is Marian. Sigh. Alright. First of all. The point of the mother of the king in Israel's history makes wonderful sense. Yes, when the queen mother would ask for something, her son the king would listen. It's just so...I mean...grrr...well, the book's main objective seems to be to enlighten Protestants. They miss the main points that I would think are the most important. Jesus said, "This, then, is how you should pray: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name..." We're supposed to pray to our Father, not our mother. Also, the last thing Mary is recorded as saying in Scripture is at the wedding at Cana where she says to the servants at the wedding, "Do whatever he tells you." That is as much to us as it was to the servants, and I believe that is now and always has been the only message that Mary wants us to hear from her. Those are the 2 points that I would say. As far as the difference in this edition to the 1st, they did a poor job. Doesn't it make sense for the Luminous Mysteries to be listed after the Joyful Mysteries, since that would be more along the lines with historical context? But maybe it's time for a 3rd edition. Because Cardinal Ratzinger is now Pope Ratzinger. They used quotes from him a number of times. Happy Decemberween. And BTW...I love Mary. I respect her and admire her, and I honor her as queen...except that I live in a democracy. I have no concept of queens. In my mind, a queen is just someone who is no different than the rest of us except that the Brits listen to her every word. And she gets whatever she wants as soon as she rings for it. Must be nice. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy..."

I got to blame the ice for a day off today, but I also got to spend my rare day off with a lovely headache. Maybe it's this old-fashioned, low-tech computer screen. I doubt that, though, 'cause I spent most of the day reading. I finished the 2005 Evanovich book. For some reason it was more interesting than the last one. I don't think I can stand one more sex-crazed stalker, though. I gotta give props to the editor, though. I pick up errors - spelling, punctuation, etc. - but I haven't caught any in these books. That's just very unusual. And I appreciate it quite a bit. If you follow the link, aka the image, it'll take you to the Amazon site for the book, and it has a video interview on there of the author. In it she talks about why the books haven't made it to the big screen yet. If she keeps writing these things, maybe they could be a tv show, but I think just one movie would cover the series. I'm tellin' ya, it's just too much of the same thing over and over. Maybe I should get a rating system for these things. Nah.

This 2004 installment to the Evanovich series does not get as high a review as the others. The plot is always the same. I can't say that, really, since I havn't read them all, but I really don't think I could. I have one more to read for sure, and after that we'll just have to see. I wonder if a man can read these books. I wouldn't think so. Evanovich seems to try to play off of a woman's fear of being stalked and her need to have a sexy man come in and save the day. Over and over and over. "Save me, big strong man! I'm frightened!" Ugh. Stephanie is a liability to her friends, family, and employer. It annoys me. She definitely uses the men in her life, and that's disgusting. She would not be my friend. Yes, and I'm going to attempt to read one more of these. Might as well. Have to do something - the world is covered in ice.

One person told me to read them in order, but another one told me that it didn't matter, so I went with the option that didn't require me to go to the library. However, after reading this one, I was a tad disappointed to see that I don't have the 9th book but will have to skip on to #10. #8 was written by Evanovich in 2003. It was amusing to me 'cause she's up against a private investigator lady in parts of it. The sex and language increased noticably from the 1st one. I've got 2 more of these to read. They're ok, but I don't feel any smarter after reading them. I still think Stephanie needs to find a real job...and by the time #8 came around, maybe she should have gotten over her adverse feelings towards guns. Seriously, if a gun had saved my life like it did hers in the first book, well, I think I'd prolly have one on me at all times. But maybe I'm just weak like that.

Overrated. I'm extra hard on fiction, as it's not my first choice in reading material, but I had to find out what all the hype was about. Now, don't get me wrong, it's not a lousy book at all. I just don't see what all the fuss is about. And I think it's hilarious that people conclude that investigator = bounty hunter. Nah, I don't really identify with Miss. Plum at all. However, I can picture someone else (who shall remain Candy) in some of those situations. At least the book is an easy read. A person gets a sense of accomplishment when they finish relatively thick-looking books more quickly than expected. At least, I do anyways.