ChriSpace

Readings

Yes, I do plan to continue blogging at this space.  Afterall I pay for this webspace!!  Currently I plan to blog about informative stuff here, and fun stuff in my 360 blog.  But it will be changing from time to time.  Well, I guess I am in the 'thoughts sharing' mood these days, and one blog is not reflect my mind quite enough!

During weekend I went to the local bookstore and bought two books: a novel after dark by Japanese author Murakumi Haruki.  Random stories about encounters happened in Tokyo(?) from the time 11:56am to 6am next morning.  So random, but thru Haruki's words anything can be transformed to something unique.

Another book is the prequel to Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown's Angels and Demons.  I was a bit hesitant before buying this book because I don't quite enjoy reading THICK English books at all.  But everyone who finished it says it's worth reading and it is a better book than Da Vinci Code.  Yes, I love Da Vinci Code the book for it's brilliant code sequences and fictional story nature.  I do look forward to reading this book with rave reviews from my friends.

Da Vinci Code

Last night I finally finished "Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown.  If it isn't the most talked about fiction in recent years, I probably wouldn't even start a 400+ page book in the first place.  It is a very interesting book, with a lot of plot twists even until the very end of the story.  As a Christian, a lot of the references to Christianity in the book is just fictional as a matter of fact.  It takes the excluded books to Bible and make them the central theme of this book, namely, Jesus' wife and their descendents.  The author Dan Brown is really walking the fine line.  As a reader you really need to discern what is right and what is wrong in the book.  I don't think the story attacks Christianity and Catholic churches like some people said, but I would say it didn't respect both religions by saying the Catholic churches have conspiracies and Jesus actually has a wife.  So, although I do enjoy the book very much, I will take the ideas presented in the book as a grain of salt.  I think any intelligent and educated people will know the stuff in "Da Vinci Code" are entertaining at best.  However, I do like a lot of the historical references and architecture the book mentions.  It gives you a tour of the arts architecture of France and England.  As the main characters Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu travel across these two countries to resolve the mysteries, the readers follow them and visit some of the very famous places.  The book describes these places in great detail, making you virtually visiting the places.  The illustrated version (which I don't have) is a excellent book to check out the mentioned places since it includes all the pictures of artifacts and locations.

All in all, it is a nice fiction.  Highly entertaining.  I have not read other Dan Brown's book so I can't really compared his other works with this one.  The thing I don't understand is why all the hype?  People should know that this is just a book of fiction and nothing else.  There's really not much to argue religiously wise about the book, because a lot of "facts" mentioned is just plain wrong.  But, the book did a good job making readers believing the "facts" are real, which is confusing to some.

books that give me encouragement

I have many books I want to read. Too many.

Here I am talking exclusively with books about Christianity. All the books you see on the left-hand side of this front page, they're all the books I desperately want to finish.

Right now, I am reading "40 Days of Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren. I've finished 80% of the book. But I stopped because of laziness and excuses. I am glad my church is having the book discussion now. I can "force" myself to read it and think about the stuff in the book.

Think about Life's purposes is very important. I know many people who are very successful in life. They earn a lot of money. They are very well-known and respected people. But during their late stage in life, they are still very confused about why they exist. It is very sad - seeing such wonderful and successful people not knowing why they are on earth.

We didn't just made God up to make ourselves feel better. God exists when nothing exists. Sometimes, I get discouraged in life. There' re so many things that are discouraging. There're so many people who suck major asses. There're a lot of people I just want to kick their butts and forget about their existence. Life sucks at certain stages. But does it mean life is meaningless? Of course not. Because God is loving and although so many things in life sucks He still love us unconditionally. I always remind myself with the nature of God.

Books can definitely help find the answers. But the Bible is the ultimate source to find God's word. I am really looking forward to BSF starting this week...it can "force" myself to read the Bible more! Well I realize I need to be forced to take actions...haha. The nature of human laziness is a notorious problem. I am the role model of such claim :-)