Another Book Review

If you're friends with me on Google+ or Facebook, you may remember I accidentally stayed up really late a few nights ago reading an entire book. Which one, you may ask? Heaven is for Real. My mom recommended it a while ago, and I finally had the chance to check it out from the library. Originally I was just going to read a few chapters, but I ended up finishing it before I put it down. It's a quick and easy read; it's also one I've been thinking about for days.

I hate spoilers, so as usual I'm not going to give anything away. Heaven is for Real is the story of a Pastor's son (Colton) that almost dies at the age of three. A few months later, after turning four, his parents start to piece together what he really experienced: heaven.

When Colton makes a few offhand comments about God that most 4 year olds wouldn't grasp, his parents attribute it to amazing Sunday School teachers. But when he starts going into detail about God, heaven and his family's time at the hospital - including what his parents were doing while he was in surgery - they realize it's more than anything he was learning at church. They begin asking him open-ended questions about his experience, trying to find out more about it while not confining his answers to their preconceived answers.

There are a lot of things I liked about this book. One thing I really like is that it doesn't try to be more than it is; it's a father sharing his experience of a terrifying experience with his son, and his struggle to really understand what happened and allow his son to teach him about God and heaven.

I previously shared that we're going through the 40 Days of Purpose at my church, and one of the concepts Rick Warren shares is that we were made for eternity. We want to live forever, and we will; just not on this side of death. With that in mind, it's not surprising that a story about heaven is riveting enough to keep me enthralled into the wee hours of the morning.

Another important element is that everything Colton says fits with what's described in the Bible. Plus, with everything described through the eyes of a four-year-old, ideas that are revealed but hard to grasp even seem more simple.

Heaven is for Real tells Colton's story better than I can, so I'm not going to go into specific details. Instead, I'll just recommend that you find a copy of it online, in a local bookstore or at the library.

The Hunger Games

I have a new favorite book trilogy: The Hunger Games. Okay, to be fair, this doesn't replace my other books as favorites, it's merely added to the list of those I re-read from time to time. But back to The Hunger Games...

These books are popular right now, and for good reason. Although they aren't a challenging read, they're a fun one. Without giving too much away, the trilogy is about a suppressed society that the government controls through taking advantage of its citizens and their need for food. The books follow the story of Katniss, a 16 year-old girl that's grown up in a coal mining district.

A few things I like about the story, without spoilers:

• It's told through Katniss' eyes, which helps you see her growth and development over the course of the story. You can also see the character development of her friends and family through her eyes, too. Character development is always a key part of a good story.
• It takes place in the future in the United States (although it's not the U.S. anymore). No, we don't know what the future will bring, but there are elements of the society described that seem fairly realistic.
• It's a quick read. I've already read it twice; the first time I read all 3 books in 6 days (it would have been much faster if I didn't need to work, sleep, eat...).

I'm also excited to see the movie, although I'm sure the books will be better. The official site seems like it has a lot of fun stuff to help prepare for it, including a separate site mimicking The Capitol where you can get your District Identification Pass. Here's mine:

And here's the teaser trailer:

Anyone else into the Hunger Games? Did you get your District Identification Pass yet? What's your assigned occupation?

Captain America

Have you seen Captain America yet? If not, I would encourage it. To be honest, when I originally saw the preview I wasn't exactly convinced I wanted to pay to see it in theaters, but my wonderful husband convinced me to go, and I really liked it! Here are just some of the elements I appreciated:

• The overall retro feel to the movie.
• Humor is interjected throughout the story.
• Two of the characters speak Norwegian for a brief moment in one scene.
• It's a fun story.
• The action scenes were fun.
• It reminded me of Iron Man in terms of the fun story and overall feel.

I'm not sure how much longer Captain America will be in theaters, but if you have a chance, you should go see it. It's worth staying through the credits, too. There's a fun bit at the end.

Google+

For those of you that don't know, Google+ is slowly rolling out. What is it, you ask? The basic definition is "Facebook, but with a few key differences." Check out their demo to get a better feel for what it is and how it's different.

So what do I think? I really like it so far! Granted, I've only been using it for a couple of hours and I only have 10 contacts, but there are a couple of elements I really like so far:

Circles. I like to organize things. I like it when everything fits into little boxes. Unfortunately, relationships just aren't like that. A relative can also be a friend from church; a neighbor can also be a friend from college. I've tried to organize my friends on Facebook from time to time, but it just gets confusing…and I don't really see much of a point beyond me liking to be organized. Google+ organizes your contacts through circles, and when you post something you can select which circle(s) you want to see it. So my friends from rowing can see crew posts and my friends from the area can see local area posts…or everyone can see them all. Circles give you the ability to decide who sees what in a very easy way in addition to being extremely easy to set up, edit, etc. The organizer in me likes it!

Sparks. You can basically save search terms for things you're interested in, read them in the browser and post them to your profile really easily. Kind of a cool way to keep up with random things you care about.

I'm excited to keep using Google+ over the next few weeks so I can understand how to use it even better!

July 4 update:
A few more things I love about Google+

• The ability to format your posts. You can use bold, italics and strike throughs.
• The ability to edit both posts and comments whenever. There isn't a time limit, you just select "edit" from the drop down menu.
• The ability to mute a post. You know how sometimes you comment on a post, and then a bunch of people you don't know have a whole conversation? Google+ lets you mute the post so you aren't notified for every. single. comment.