Anne Rice, Fabio and Francine Rivers on a Monday

I just started Anne Rice's Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt. Have any of you read this? I'm LOVING it! (In a nutshell, it's a novel about the early life of Jesus. There's a second book too called Christ the Lord: Road to Cana. I look forward to reading that one next!)

Having been a Christian my entire life, it's really fascinating to think about Jesus' early years, His childhood...things I'd never much considered before because they're not recorded in the Bible.

Anne Rice actually has an interesting story herself. (Maybe not on the same level as Jesus, but still. :) ) Author of Interview With a Vampire and various other works of dark-ish fiction (none of which I have read or seen on film--I know, I'm probably one of the few), she converted (back) to Catholicism some number of years ago. (Though rejects many of the social positions that the Catholic Church holds.) And made the decision to stop writing about vampires, witches and the like. You can read a little about her conversion and her process of writing these latest novels here.

Who'd have thought that the same woman who wrote the Vampire Chronicles would go on to write about Christ's life? Kinda weird.

{Total side-note, but does anyone else think Twilight is a slight ripoff of the aforementioned Vampire Chronicles? I know, I know, I haven't read or watched Anne's stuff--though I HAVE wasted, er, taken the time to read Twilight--BUT I know the plot and it seems pretty similar. Granted they're all pulling from vampire legend, but still. Maybe I'm just biased against all things Twilight. Another post for another time.}

Even MORE of a side-note (I heart tangents)...did you know that the Christian author Francine Rivers used to exclusively write nasty romance novels? Heehee. Since making that happy little discovery (no, I did NOT stumble upon one of her earlier tomes while perusing the Fabio-on-the-cover section at Wal Mart. Somebody TOLD me about Francine) I've thought about the books of hers I've read, and I can totally see it. Somehow it fits with her writing style. For some reason I got a real kick out of this. (Consider the above picture of Fabio a total bonus. Completely unnecessary to post his photo, but whatever, it's not every day you have an excuse to put him on your blog. That hair is just.too.much.)

I definitely want to share at some point about another book I'm reading, Lauren Winner's Mudhouse Sabbath. I'm not too far into it but I'm thoroughly enjoying a peek into Jewish culture and religious practice, from the perspective of someone raised Jewish but who later converted to Christianity. But I'll do that later, because Fabio is a tough act to follow and somehow this just doesn't fit.

For now though I'm off to make some phone calls to try to find some glasses for my son. Did you know that most labs won't make his lenses because his prescription is so strong? Frustrating. So far it has resulted in many dead-ends, hours of wasted time, and much hair-pulling on my part. But today is the day: I am DETERMINED to get this figured out!!! (Then I think I need to escape into one of the afore-mentioned books. With a glass of iced tea or a Diet Coke. Because I will have earned it. And I'm referring to Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt and Mudhouse Sabbath. NOT Twilight or, worse yet, something with Mr. I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Butter on the cover. Just so we're clear. Ew.)

Have a great Monday!