mocking what?

nov 6th at 8 pm will be our next meeting.  we are reading the mockingbird next door, which is based on  harper lee.  so excited for this one, because i love to kill a mockingbird and i like finding out about authors lives.  the backstory of why they write~i find interesting.  enjoy and as always happy reading!

giver

i'm pretty sure i mentioned that i was totally obsessed with this book.  and the 3 that follow it.  well, i am.  so, so good.  so~let's begin.  had a great night with the book nook ladies last thursday!  the giver centers on a boy jonas, his family, and the community in which they live.  the community is full of sameness=no growth=no differences=true emotion is lost=no choice=it's just how it is.  sameness.  a few thoughts that came from this:  how do you know true good in the world when there isn't true joy or even bad?  especially if those choices aren't allowed.  if you take  choices away, what you have is control and that isn't what is real.  yet, you do have to have rules to make a balance.  jonas has a family unit.  they were assigned to each other.  that's how it works.  you apply to be married, you apply to have children, and everything is assigned based on what the leaders think would be a good match.  that also includes your job.  so again, no choice making or outside thinking goes on.  sameness is key.  jonas is assigned receiver.  it's an honor.  he works with the giver who holds memories of the past.  the giver gives those memories to jonas who now receives them.  and it is painful to be the only ones to hold on to these memories.  if you had others to share with, then you could come together in the joys of sledding and christmas for example or if there are hard times you could work together to figure it out…and here that doesn't happen.  it is all on the giver and receiver.  a tough place to be.  and it is hard for jonas.  when his family takes in gabriel it brings in a feeling for jonas he hasn't had and that is love.  and it is out of love that this book ends how it does.  which i won't say…i am going to end with a quote brought in by marie:
but while the atonement is meant to help us all become more like christ, it is not meant to make us all the same.  sometimes we confuse differences in personality with sin.  we can even make the mistake of thinking that because someone is different from us, it must mean they are not pleasing to god.  this line of thinkings leads some to believe that the church wants to create every member from a single mold-that each one should look, feel, think, and behave like every other.  this could contradict the genius of god who created man different from his brother, every son different from his father.  even identical twins are not identical in their personalities and spiritual identity. ~president uchtdorf.
this was a great choice marie.  loved it!  i enjoyed the story alone and how it fits as a whole with the ones that come next.  such a great discussion.  so until next time, happy reading!