Monday, June 21, 2010

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!


7 comments:

zunzun said...

I read all (BTW, her sister Alice Borchardt is also, albeit a less known, Fantasy writer) of A. Rice's books and although I found Out Of Egypt to be enjoyable it was not up to par when it comes to her writing abilities. I totally get that she was trying to branch out into a different genre but it just felt like a much less imaginative and enthusiastic version of AR wrote it...still...easy, enjoyable read.


As for Twilight...ugh...it's...umm...OK I guess. I don't think it's a ripoff per se (as the series does have a couple of imaginative and interesting twists in there and most of these vampire, human, warewolf triumvirates sort of start to resemble one another -Anita Blake series by LJ Hamilton anyone!LOL!) after a while but I just don't understand the hype. It's a neat little series but not an expectacular example of it's genre so this is where I don't understand the hype...but I guess it's all about marketing. I don't know...I would have adults asking me if I read and telling me that it was "fantastic!!!!" and then I read it and was very disappointed (I actually liked The Host better...was better written). Sadly, Twilight is growing on me though...even the movies (w/ the awful, just awful protagonist actors...neither one of those two kids can act) so maybe I'm now buying into the hype too!LOL

Brianna Heldt said...

zunzun heehee, i agree about twilight! i haven't read rice's other novels so i can't compare...do you think part of it is b/c her books about Jesus are based on a historical figure?

Charla Liedahl said...

I didn't know that Anne Rice came back to her Catholic faith (or that she had faith to begin with.) Interesting! I may have to check out her biblically based novels. Thanks for the heads up!

joy said...

very interesting about anne rice and francine rivers. so, i thought you were a twilight fan in the beginning? did something happen to change your mind? do tell. i can't believe you posted a picture of fabio! ewww.... i love to dislike his long hair

Anonymous said...

Brianna, what has Edward Cullen ever done to you?...

;-)

Brianna Heldt said...

Penny HA!

Joy, I will have to do a post on that...but...in a nutshell, I liked the books okay. They were entertaining enough. But at the end of the day, I found myself utterly annoyed that Edward and Bella's relationship was based on nothing more than physical attraction and sexual tension (in spite of everyone saying the books were so innocent, and that Edward and Bella were so upright for waiting). I found Bella to be weak-willed, obsessive, and one-dimensional.

And, to be honest, it also creeps me out that tons of moms and middle-aged women are pining after two teenage boys and escaping into a world of fantasy "love"--which really isn't love at all. The thought of young girls reading the books is particularly disconcerting to me.

I DON'T have a problem with stories about vampires, or monsters, or whatever. I also like a good love story, but Twilight, for me, wasn't really anything more than a fun little page-turner, and as a story, had some issues. :)

Before all the hate-mail starts rolling in, I'll do a post about this sometime where I better explain myself. :)

Tricia said...

I loved Francine Rivers "The Mark of The Lion" series. I want to read them all again. That is interesting to hear about Anne Rice. I can't wait to tell my hubby. He read all her vampire books. He has one signed copy.

 

Blog Template by YummyLolly.com