Two Words, One Answer.
meeting place
 The Meeting Place (Song of Acadia #1) $12.99 I am an adult Christian who loves books for children, but I wanted to read something longer that was similar. "The Meeting Place" is truly appropriate for children, in fact, I got a copy for my niece. Unfortunately, I have been unable to get through it so far because it should have ended already. It's a cute story with good lessons about two women from warring cultures who bond over common interests, the most important one being the Bible. As engrossed as I was in this friendship, the characters are so one-dimensional it is agonizing. The good people are unfailingly good, which explains the friendship of the women because they are essentially the same person. The evil Capt. Stevenage and his wife are villains of the sneeringly bad type. Picture Snidely-Whiplash (Capt. Stevenage) to Dudley Do-Right (Capt. Harrow). I was hoping to learn about Acadia since I have a former colleague from Louisiana who is passionate about her Acadian heritage. There are some tidbits about colonial life, but they could be lifted up and dumped in almost any other colonial setting. The mud and tides tied it to Acadia, but little else. The "Witch of Blackbird Pond" (by Elizabeth George Speare) and the PBS show, "Colonial House," have a much greater depth to their depictions of colonial living. I will continue struggling to get through this book. I whipped through "The Year of Living Biblically" recently (a funny and poignant book) and "American on Purpose" (a disturbing and surprisingly unfunny book) recently, so I don't think it's me. "The Meeting Place" is too shallow to be an adult book, and too long to be adequate for younger readers. Its reading level is easily middle-school age. But "The Meeting Place" is a nice read for a rainy day when you have a craving for a pleasant story with nice main characters. It's great mind candy.  Numbered Days $12.99 Fans of "Find Yourself Along the Way" will not be entirely disappointed by "Numbered Days". It's not as close to perfection as their debut album, and the tone is less dreamy than their prior release, but this album is nowhere near bad. |
|
