At the beginning of the year, I was browsing books related to puppy training, when I stumbled upon a book by Harold Hansen, entitled: The Dog Trainer's Guide to Parenting: Rewarding Good Behavior, Practicing Patience and Other Positive Techniques That Work. I thought, "Why not learn dog training techniques and parenting advice at the same time?"
Well, I tried several times to get through this book, but that is all that was going on - getting through.
You can tell from chapter titles and section headings that the author has several practical ideas to incorporate in your parenting. Things like "Get Results Without Getting Angry," "Plan Rather Than React," "Saying it Once," "Be Consistently Effective," "Talk Less and Act More," etc. Many of these ideas are things I could implement more adequately in our home and the reminders were helpful.
I suppose, for me, it seemed to be over-simplifying a very difficult challenge. It didn't help that the author has never had a child of his own. He has trained dogs and he is a step-parent. There's a whole different dimension of experience and investment that comes when you are dealing with the "seed of your loins," so to speak. I had a very difficult time believing that raising your child could be reduced down to simple steps equivalent to what is necessary to train a dog. In the end, I just gave up.
When I noticed Barbara Ehrenreich's book, Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America," it seemed like a chance to consider the opposite side of the spectrum from the positive thinking book I read and reviewed last year. I really did try to give it a go. I made it to page 75, but just couldn't take the author's perspective for another page.
It was just too far on the opposite side for me. I doubt the majority of people are sitting around in a boat with oars in the middle of a flood, refusing to use the oars because they are busy mentally conjuring up a magnificent rescue for themselves. I don't believe that positive thinking by itself will cure illness, but I do believe that patients who follow the doctors orders, but also attempt to keep their spirits up and address the problem to The Almighty, may actually experience better results than those who immediately give up and submit to defeat.
The author scorned individuals who are able to see the gift within the curse of cancer. She would say that she doesn't buy into the positive thinking movement, yet she readily admitted to putting her "faith" in science. She claims that all that cancer gave to her was "a very personal, agonizing encounter with an ideological force in American culture that I had not been aware of before - one that encourages us to deny reality, submit cheerfully to misfortune, and blame only ourselves for our fate." My question is why the author cannot see that reality is far bigger than what we can see and touch (it has a spiritual dimension she cannot seem to sense), attitude towards misfortune often determines whether misfortune profits us or not, and those who choose to place their faith in God during illness or trial are clearly not blaming themselves for their fate or taking the credit for their redemption.
I discovered Nick Hornby quite a few years back and absolutely loved About a Boy, and How to Be Good. I knew this autobiography, titled Fever Pitch, was about his obsession with football. However, I really hoped that there would be enough life story involved to keep me going. After all, an endorsement on the back of the book, from GQ promised, "Whether you are interested in football or not, this is tears-running-down-your-face funny, read-bits-out-loud-to-complete-strangers funny, but also highly perceptive and honest about Hornby's obsession and the state of the game."
Lofty recommendation, I must say. Alas, for me, I was hoping for a book with more "funny" and less "football" or "obsession." I only made it to page 67, but I did get an eye-opening glimpse into the inner workings of an obsessed mind. He recounts, from memory, every single game! Good Lord!
I love music and thoroughly enjoyed the many years of playing in brass bands, but I would be hard pressed to memorialize each and every piece of music we played. I adore books, but I can't even remember enough of these four attempts to give adequate descriptions of what I was reading. I can't think of anything I am obsessed with enough to provide a play-by-play.
Finally, I really, really wanted to read Randy Alcorn's book, If God is Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil. It had been a reading suggestion I gleaned from Bob Hostetler's blog. The topic is one I struggle with.
I've had this book checked out probably since the beginning of the year. I'm guessing that my life is merely too chaotic, at the moment, for digesting such an intense and comprehensive subject (the book is almost 500 pages long - sheesh!). As much as I know I could benefit from reading his dissertation on God's redemptive power through suffering, I just can't stick with it.
So, I'm giving up on these non-fiction endeavors. I'm heading back into the soft, simple, humorous world of juvenile fiction. I'm about to embark on a new Kate Klise book (always a welcome opportunity). Plus, I have two non-fiction books, just received in the mail, which I am eager to read, as well as a couple of writing books.
Life is too short to settle for reading books just to get through them!
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