"The Falling Away" By T.L. Hines

The Falling Away is about a man who is running away. He ran from the Crow Reservation where he grew up because he felt responisible for his sisters disappearance. He ran to the Arm, but after his leg was mangled and his buddy was killed when a bomb exploded, he had to escape from those memories too. Now he's gotten mixed up in the wrong line of business and he's running from people who would prefer him dead.

The Falling Away was a unpredictable book. Many times throughout the book I thought I had figured out what was going to happen but then T.L. Hines would throw in a twist. I have to say that he made sure that the book was unpredictable at times which I found kept me motivated to read the book. I must say that at certain points in the book it can be hard to understand the meaning. In the end I would definitely recommend this book to people.

This book was provided to me by Thomas Nelson's "Book Sneeze" program.

"I am Hutterite" by Mary-Ann Kirkby

“I Am Hutterite” is published by Thomas Nelson in 2010 and written by Mary-Ann Kirkby, This novel is catalogued as a biography / autobiography. This composition has an ISBN 978-0-8499-4810-7 and a list price of $19.99 USD.
The author, Mary-Ann Kirkby recounts her time within the Hutterite colony as a child. She paints a powerful picture of the lives of the individuals that have impacted her during this impressionable stage. Ms. Kirkby allows us to understand the decisions made by the Hutterite in their chosen approach to life. We are permitted an in-depth look at the clothing, relationships and religious passion that makes up the colony. In order for this detailed examination, Ms. Kirkby exposes her inner most fears and joys in a passionate fashion that creates a bond between the reader and the author. We are able to picture not only of the depiction mentally but physically as well.
This novel answers the questions that I have had in regards to the Hutterites. While I find it disturbing in places on how different their lives are from conventional society, I find it a breath of fresh air to know that the same difficulties arise in their lives as in the lives of what is considered a typical lifestyle.
This book was provided to me by Thomas Nelson's book sneeze program.

Tiara's

Wednesday night I tuned in to see a show called Toddlers & Tiaras. Now, I love watching cute videos of little kids dancing or singing etc, but the kids in these pageants looked, well, kinda creepy.

The "Wow wear" (I think I got the name right) and the Talent competitions were pretty cute, but the "Beauty" part, they looked like china dolls, it was hard to believe there was a living, breathing child behind all that foundation, spray tan, mascara, lipstick... actually I think those 4-year-olds were wearing more make-up than I've worn in my life put together... and I'm not exaggerating at all.

But fine, they are little girls and little girls DO like to dress up. I'm sure a lot of them enjoyed themselves and it didn't even bother me that the mum's pushed them to practice when they didn't always want to. (I mean, doesn't every Olympic athlete grow up to say "And thanks to my mum who always pushed me, even when I didn't want to practise all the time, if it wasn't for her I wouldn't have made it... I love you, Mum!" just before he/she draps his medal over his parents neck.)

What did bother me was that a little girl got 2nd place without competing in the talent portion. I checked some forums and found out that you just need Beauty to win overall, the other categories are just for little trophies. That's right, a good lesson for kids to learn: Talent is important, but being pretty is more important.

What else bothered me? How about that this said 2nd place finisher had a twin sister who finished 3rd. (Okay so, that's not too bad) But the little girl in third "AshLynn Sterling" (and yes the "L" is capitalized for some reason) was made to believe she wasn't as "good" as her twin. No, not from those running the show, but from her own mother.

Okay, I'd like to believe some editing was involved but there are some things that can't be overlooked. Her mother actually said that the other twin BreAnne (again, yes a random capital in the name) was prettier, and more talented, and more full of life, and well, "more like me". AshLynn she said was "just AshLynn". (Actually, the girls looked a lot alike, though I personally thought AshLynn was the cuter, but then again, I don't think all the make-up looks "pretty" on little kids either so maybe I just have odd taste.)

Then she made AshLynn wear a ripped dress and bought a nice new $2000 dollar dress for BreAnne (And no, I'm not adding extra zero's to that figure.) She told AshLynn she'd sew the old ripped dress, but she didn't. AshLynn was a great sport about it, though she did shed a few sad quiet tears about it when she first found out her dress was torn, but she did not whine or through a tantrum or anything like that.

BreAnne did throw a tantrum though, and talked badly about her sister and whined and complained and the who she-bang (but who can blame her, she's a spoiled favourite-child, six-year-old), until her Dad finally pulled her out of the talent portion of the competition. (Which is why I was suprised to see her place 2nd)

Okay so maybe favouritism was supposed to be a "tv selling point?" Hmm, the ripped dress was real though, the sad look in AshLynn's eyes as she tried sooo hard to get some attention was real, and what child wants to grow up and learn that their mother said their sister was the "pretty, talented" one on tv just to make enough money to get said sister another new dress.

AshLynn was however told she was the director's favourite and she was so proud of herself saying "I can't stop smiling!" Then she graciously offered her balloons to another younger sister (There are actually 5 girls in the family. But at the end BreAnne told AshLynn that "Mum says I was the winner though" or something like that, to which AshLynn quietly sheds a few more tears and pushes away BreAnne's hug. I'm probably not the only one who wanted to adopt that little girl.