This Scarlet Cord

It's been a while since I've posted a Booksneeze review, but I thought I should start up again. This Scarlet Cord, a fictional retelling of Rahab's story, is well-written, with historical details and vivid characters.

The most unique element is the concept that Rahab may not have been a prostitute. Instead, the author draws from Canaanite rituals to provide a plausible alternative. While I find this explanation intriguing, I wondered what motivated the author to do so. She mentions it briefly in the discussion questions, but does not go into much detail.

The book does mention some Canaanite rituals and include an attempted rape scene, but the details are kept to a minimum. I would recommend this book for high school and above.

I was given a free copy of this book by the Booksneeze program but was not required to write a positive review.

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Flesh, Stone and River

Okay, so I haven't been shy about my feelings for River Song, and since I'm rewatching Flesh and Stone, I decided to blog some of my thoughts as I watched it. This two-parter is the first episode with River Song I saw, so it's special for me.

Random fact: First time I saw this, I thought River might be a Time Lord because she was called Doctor. Then cue season six, and

Doctor. The word for healer and wise man throughout the universe. We get that word from you, you know, but if you carry on the way you are, what might that word come to mean?

So I was right, in a way. And now that we know the truth of Amy and River's relationship, I love their scenes even more than before. River is so motherly and caring towards her, when it is actually the other way around. I'm a sucker for hurt/comfort and woobies, so I just get little heart pangs seeing the Angel come for Amy and that moment where the Angels almost grab her makes me gasp in relief.

A Note on Healthy Relationships.

I was replying to a comment on my post I don't hate Rose Tyler....but Sarah Jane Smith trumps everyone, ever! and decided to make it into a new post.

While I'm not a psychologist, I think the Doctor has some codependent tendencies with Rose, as well as what TV Tropes would call Morality Chain or Living Emotional Crutch. That's not her fault--but in simple terms, I believe a romance should be between two emotional stable, mature people. The Doctor may be mature, but emotionally stable? Hardly. But I don't want to get into the characterizations of Ten.

--me

If we're going there, River and Eleven are hardly emotionally stable either. I don't hold that against them or the ship (I've come to board that ship as well, thank you madis hartte). The Doctor is a damaged man. I wouldn't deny him love because of that, although I would say I don't think any of his relationships are totally healthy

-Lostarial

She has a point, but....Eleven/River doesn't feel as mismatched as Rose/Ten. Let's see if I can sort out why I feel this way. Or this could just turn into a mass of Doctor/River feels. Either way, it should be interesting.

First of all, River's life has been intertwined with the Doctor's since birth. I feel a bithypocritical saying this when I brought up the age difference either, but in one sense, one of his big difficulties with a human relationship isn't there for River.

I don't age, I regenerate. But humans decay. You wither and you die. Imagine watching that happen to someone you--

Tenth Doctor, School Reunion

Granted, he's already seen River's fate, which is equally horrible, but he won't see her grow old. Even with just the one life, she could have centuries of adventures with him. And because they don't experience a linear adventure, it's harder to define a beginning or end.

Secondly, they are certain bits of life that each of them "get" in a way very few others do. The Doctor committed genocide and has to live with that guilt every day, while River is imprisoned as his murder. (Side note: that's why I find his line in TWORS so heartwarming: "You are forgiven. Always and completely forgiven." Because what did he say when Amy said he wanted to be forgiven: "Don't we all?") They know about meeting people out of order, fixed points and the temptation to break them.

It's not that they're emotionally stable people. But the deep parts, the things they try to hide from others--those wounds match. And because of that, they understand each other in a way no one else can. As much as I love his companions, none of them can understand what it means to be the last and the only, someone utterly alien and so close to humanity. They may see some of his masks, and catch glimpses underneath, but it would take much longer than any of the new series companions have to start understanding. Maybe that's why Amy's increasingly accurate in her statements on him

"What if you were really old, and really kind and alone? Your whole race dead, no future. What couldn't you do then? If you were that old, and that kind, and the very last of your kind.... you couldn't just stand there and watch children cry."

Beast Below, season five

Amy:You want to be forgiven

Doctor: Don't we all?

--The Doctor's Wife, season six

The Doctor: Today, I honor victims first; his, The Master's, the Daleks', all the people who died because of my mercy!

Amy: See, this is what happens when you travel alone for too long.

--A Town Called Mercy, season seven*

*from trailer

The Harbringer by Jonathan Cahn

When I was at the public library the other day, I picked up four pens, one eraser, and a free book as prizes from their adult reading program. Passing over suspense and romance, I picked up The Harbringer by Jonathan Cohn. Even though Christian prophecy/political novels aren't my thing, at least it's a clean read.

The structure is awkward and doesn't flow well,. The story begins with a man walking into a reporter's office with a printed manuscript of his encounters with a strange man. For the rest of the book, we receive occasional interjections by the reporter. The distance this creates detracts from the story line. Further more, the plot is unnecessarily tedious.

It begins with the main character receiving a Middle-Eastern seal in the mail. Through chance encounters with a self-deemed prophets, he learns the connection between the fall of Israel and the collapse of modern America. By the very nature of the topic, this makes the book rather pedantic. The character receives a seal, puzzles out the meaning, meets the prophet, hears the actual meaning, and receives another seal. While it could be inferred that the prophet did this so the narrator would investigate for himself, it stilts the story flow. If the author truly believed these principals, he should have written nonfiction, instead of creating characters who are merely mouthpieces for doctrine.

The doctrine is also peculiar. It is a specific use of convenient theology--the belief that America occupies the same place in the modern era as Israel did in ancient days. While some of the connections were fascinating, the author confuses similarity with correspondence. While I agree that 9-11 and the 2008 financial crisis were consequent of sinful behavior, I hesitate to label them judgments.

The author does include his sources, for those who wish to investigate further.

A Church Thought

During the sermon today, the pastor mentioned how we tend to focus on the characters of a story--David was brave, Abraham was trusting--to the exclusion of the main point, which is Christ. While I can see where he was coming from, I respectfully disagree. What he referred to is oversimplification, not a matter of characters.

In fact, I think we tend to ignore the characters in favor of the lessons we are trying to learn. But they were real people, just like we are. James and John had tempers and nicknames to match, Joseph was an annoying little brother, and the man born blind had parents who were shocked when he could see. If we could see them as real people, it just makes the Bible even more amazing.

Yes, it's the greatest of books, but it is also a book. A story.

Asylum of the Daleks response...with spoilers

So, for my faithful friends who have not yet seen Asylum of the Daleks, you might want to skip this post, because I will attempt to record my feels without flailing, in a dignified manner.

First of all, I got to watch this one LEGALLY! My roommate has BBCA at her house, so eight or so of us went over and had supper there and played a round of Apples to Apples before the episode. Then we went downstairs and watched the end of the BBCA marathon (Doctor, Widow, Wardrobe). Incidentally, they cut out the whole "awkward bit" at the end and went straight to Amy/Doctor hugs, as well as cutting that lovely line about why the Doctor can't fly them home.

But then Asylum of the Daleks...and first of all...Skaro. Wow. So it wasn't time-locked after all, further proof that the Doctor wasn't aiming for the Daleks at all. The woman was referring to the Doctor as a legend, tying back to the end of season six. But when the eyestalk came out of her forehead, I was like Drats! Terrifying Daleks.

Then Amy and Rory--no, I couldn't believe that their marriage was that bad. Pond Life was terrible, but I still was shocked at the divorce papers. But then, *posh* back with the Doctor. And shoved into an Asylum of insane Daleks. But that line about "Daleks have an idea of beauty; maybe that is why we have never destroyed you--" makes so much sense. Because without the Doctor to hate, the Daleks diminished...which comes into play at the end of the episode. The conversion of dead humans was pretty creepy too, as was the possibility of Amy becoming a Dalek.

Oswin was clever, a bit too flirtly for the situation in my mind, but I really thought she was funny, especially with the souffle. I have already seen her tagged as "Souffle Girl" on Tumblr, so she obviously was a hit. Clever, clever Moffat, to tell us we wouldn't see Jenna-Louise Coleman until Christmas; if he hadn't told us a date, we'd be looking everywhere; instead, we're surprised. And then...Amy's revelation. Oh, sweet sonic screwdriver, poor Amy. First you get Rory trying to be heroic and brave and then she tells him that. Oh. Amy. Demon's Run just got even worse for me. I suspected they weren't gonna have another child because of what happened to River; I never dreamed that they can't. I'm gonna write a fic for that. And then work on my one where they adopt Sky Smith after Sarah Jane dies. Then when I went on TV tropes, I learned that she signed the divorce papers Amy Williams. Oh, Amy.

As for Oswin. I never even imagined...oh, Oswin. And what does this mean about Clara? Because is this Clara Oswin or a relative of Clara Oswin or...MOFFAT! MOFFAT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO US?