Genesis 1:2

"The earth was empty and had no form. Darkness covered the ocean, and God's spirit was moving over the water."

         This passage shows how our world and the lives we have are the result of God's imagination and his creativity. It shows how stark and bleak everything was before he started to work. It makes me glad that he did create everything and shape it and make it just as beautiful as it is.

      To be honest the world beforehand sounds to me just plain eerie, I don't much like the sound of it at all.

Rowen

Genesis 1:1

"In the beginning God created the sky and the earth"

       This verse shows to me the power of God and his eternity. He must have huge power as he created the sky and the earth and if it was the beginning what did he use as there would have been nothing for him to use. It shows his eternity as he was at the beginning which is a very long time ago.

        It also raises questions, at the beginning of Sixth Form I took five subjects four of which were sciences. My mum did a degree in science and my brain is very much wired to be analytical, factual, logical. It is not designed to take leaps of faith without evidence which is more or less what this verse requires you to do. My scientifical brain with it's lust for explanation would say that this verse sums up the whole of the Big Bang Theory for which the sky itself is constantly providing evidence.

      This verse honestly says to me Big Bang Theory, however it requires too much faith for me that the Big Bang Theory just happened to start itself, I think it's far too much coincidence, therefore I would say that God set things in motion, got everything moving.

Rowen

P.S I've missed being able to be philosophical, I havn't done it in a while. I used to do so with a group of friends but it died out. The only thing I'm missing is someone to argue with :P

A Verse a Day

          One of the more thumbed books that I own is my Bible. I have a New Century Version Youth Bible which was given to me by my parents as a Christmas present in 2003. I have two other less used Bibles; one is a Gideon's Bible which my yeargroup was handed in out first year of High School, the kind which contains only the Gospel and Old Testament and which can be found in hotel rooms the world over. My third Bible is a Children's Bible which I think I was given as a Christening present; it encompasses 365 of the more well known Bible stories which have been taken out of verse format and made suitable for Children, with a different story for every day of the year.
          As a Christian the Bible is very important to me and as such is a book I believe I should read more regularly than I do, as I currently binge on it, reading none for months at a time and then reading whole books at once. I think I should read it a verse at a time to be able to think more about the words and reflect on their meaning to me. I also think that I should eventually read the whole thing... something which I've never attempted to do.
         My faith is perhaps not as whole-hearted as that which some people have, I'm not convinced which parts of my religion I believe, however I do think it is definately a good thing. I believe in God and I believe in Jesus, although I'm not too convinced over the Holy Spirit. I'm not sure I entirely get the Heaven and Hell aspects; I'd like to believe Heaven exists but without Hell, however there's so many different prophesies about it in the Bible that I'm not sure which to take. My favourite thing about my faith, the aspect which I try to take away from it is the principles and strong moral compass with which it provides you. I also love the feeling of security and calm which it can give to me at times when I don't think I would otherwise cope very well.
          The above reasons are why I'm going to use this blog to start a new project for me. I'm going to go through the Bible from beginning to end and do my best to post every day a verse from the bible and my honest opinion and reflection upon it. I will not guarantee I'll manage it as I'm human and not infallible and life will undoubtedly get in the way. However it is a good habit which I will try to set up, even though it will take me years to succeed.
          I will do my best.

Rowen

A Trip to the Zoo

       I'd be surprised if you hadn't noticed but i really don't blog about my life that much, it's a bit personal and I'm not really sure if I want to get personal so I'm gonna opt for not. However, yesterday I went to the zoo, because one of my cousins was going to meet a friend and the other wanted some company, me and my sister and my mum and my aunt all went. I came home and was a bit surprised at how proud I was of how some of my photos turned out, as such I'm going to share a few of the better ones, but ignore any which have people.

Zebra having a lie down, it was a warm day.





Llamas or possibly Alpakas

Doesn't this Cheetah just look regal sitting this way?

I never knew just how loud a Donkey could be until I heard this one start braying

This Giraffe was a little bit restless, he kept pacing, but he was the only one who came close and posed for the cameras

I loved the way the fence mesh framed the duckling in this one.

The Molerats loved to play

This one's just adorable, I don't know what he's looking at though.

Sunbathing Meerkat

THe way this little Meerkat was sitting I couldn't help but be reminded of a baby on a playmat.

Sentry Meerkat's at Alert

There was a whole huge family of them.

Some animals just love to climb... the Red Panda among them, I don't think these were even above the enclosure from which their tree was growing.

Meditating Lemur... If he can do it why can't I?

The Fur seals were all in the water, and they were having so much fun playing that they wouldn't keep still long enough to take a photo of them, so it's more by luck than judgement that I got this one. I like how it turned out though.

The penguins were having fun in the water too. As this one was swimming there was only one penguin who wasn't in the water.

I didn't think I'd managed to capture the bubbles on this one, but I did. Just look at him go... If you look really closely you might even see our legs.

I thought this bird was cute, although he wasn't actually one of the animals supposed to be there.



Angry polecat... at least I think he's a polecat. There were two of these, both in separate cages. This one kept growling while the other wouldn't stop pacing.



 




I don't know what this bird was doing... maybe thinking along the lines of 'I can't see you then you can't see me!'

These chickens were loose in the area near to the farm barn.

Isn't the sleepy face of this snow leopard just adorable. I can't believe I managed to capture this through the glass. It's possibly my favourite photo from the day!

If you managed to make it to the end of all these photos I have to say well done and sorry there were so many. I was surprised at how many of the ones I took were anywhere near good, and this is only about 1/5 of what I took. The joys of a digital camera :P
         It was a fantastic day because of the sunny weather and the people I was with, and it was definately a good first day of summer.

-disclaimer; this post has nothing to do with the fact I'm not optimistic about when I'll next post due to the tediousness of my current book or the fact that I feel guilty when I don't post for a long time -

Rowen

Game of Thrones - George R R Martin

       A Game of Thrones is a very good book which somewhat perplexed me for a while. I was first introduced to it just over a month ago when Sky Atlantic aired it as their brand new Fantasy Adventure series. My Dad had recorded the first episode and said something to the effect of 'I think you might quite like this' so come thursday evening we sat down as a family, minus my brother who refuses to participate in Family Tv time, and we watched the first episode. I have to say it somewhat bowled me over, for a Tv series it was expertly done and in my opinion was on a par with some major films such as Lord of the Rings.
       I loved it so much in fact that i did something which completely goes against the grain with me, and something which I doubt I would have done if I'd know at the time that it was based on a book. I wikipedia'd it. I was eager to find out what was happening next week, upon reaching it's page I was both disappointed and gleeful that it had been released in America only one day prior to being released in the UK, it's the small things. However I was delighted to discover that it existed in novel format and I contemplated going out to buy it at the first available opportunity. The only thing which tempered me was that it was a mere fortnight before my birthday when this situation arose. My dad also mentioned that my God-dad had some of the books from the series and might be willing to lend me them.
        My birthday arrived and with it the present from my Godparents. Frankly it felt a bit like a brick, it was heavy. I opened it to find this inside and was quite excited. My mum almost immediately requested that she was allowed to read it soon, and my sisted sat there with a smug smile saying it was all her fault. As soon as I'd finished 'Holy Fools' I began to read, and made the immediate discovery as to why the Tv series was so good. The dialogue was almost word perfect to that of the book and the scenes were taken directly from the descriptions.
       This book however was a contradiction, I loved it but I had a nightmare of a time trying to get into it. I thought the storyline was fantastic but I fell asleep whilst reading it. I loved the fact that the Tv series had been so faithful as it's such a rare occasion, but I hated it. And the reason I hated that perfection was because it was what was causing my struggles with the book. I was practically reading something I'd already read and that for me is my worst nightmare, I hate it and I really struggle to do so in an immediate sense, although I did once reread a series of books it was approximately ten years later, they were some of the first full-length books I ever read, and as I did so it all cam flooding back to me. Anyway, this week I made a breakthrough, I managed to get ahead in the book of where the Tv series was and it was exactly how I think a book should be. I couldn't put it down and I really didn't want to put it down. This was also when I first started to notice discrepancies between the two, when things started to play out of order and when phrasings changed, they even added a couple of extra scenes. And, despite disliking the fact it deviated, I completely understand why they had to do it. The extra scenes covered flashbacks and thoughts which couldn't possibly be done any other way.
       Something else which I loved about this book was that I don't know which characters I trust and which I don't. I'll be learning to like one and then they'll do something which puts me off them. In this book there are 8 characters whose voices tell the story. and I like them to varying degrees. My favourite by a long way is Jon Snow who I pity and admire and also think can be a bit pig-headed. Next is Arya Stark, Jon's half-sister, I like her Tom-boy aspects and willingness to give everything a go, except sewing. Then come's Tyrion Lannister, who I really don't know how I should feel about, because he's one of the Lannister's who are undoubtedly the bad-guys, but he's so amusing and carries around the weight of the world on his shoulders that you can't help but pity him and have a little love for him. After Tyrion is Daenerys Targaryen, who seems at first wildly unrelated to the rest of the characters but you soon begin to see the links evolve, she pretty, and young and abused. Then is Bran, short for Brandon, Stark he was a bit of a wild-child like his sister Arya until the Lannisters pushed him from a tower and he broke his spine paralysing him from the waist down. Then comes the honourable Lord Eddard Stark, you want to be able to like him but for some reason find yourself to love him with the same fierceness you feel you should. Sansa Stark is second from last, I do not actively dislike her, yet she has a mean streak which causes me to, this is probably caused by her, as described in the book, being a 'little idiot'. Lady Catelyn Stark is my least favourite of the 8 viewpoint characters, this is because she is mean, insensitive and uncaring to Jon Snow, although she has an admirable love for her own five true-born children, she can't find it in her to care for her Bastard Stepson Jon Snow and is cruel to him at any given moment, you find yourself asking 'why blame the child and not the parent?' because Lord Eddard she does not blame.

         My God-dad lent me the next three books in the series;

And I intend to read them soon. However I'll be breaking them up with some books from the 1001 because I'd like to be able to intake other stories, I'd like to prolong this one as a lot of the characters are becoming good friends already and I also learnt a valuable lesson once, reading 32 books by the same author in a row will leave you feeling bored and jaded!

Rowen

Holy Fools - Joanne Harris

I liked this book, but it took me a while to get into. It's one my dad got my mum because she's obsessive about 'Blackberry Wine' and didn't mind 'Chocolat' by the same author.
          I think that the cover design is distinctive, and I'm fairly sure that it's the only one which was done for this book, so you'd recognise it anywhere. Although they're about different people you can tell that the same author wrote this book and the two mentioned above from a simple glane at the covers, even without the name, because they are of a similar style which I think is reasonably unique to her.
           Another similarity that I've found between the three books, this is the only one I've read so far however I'm judging from my mother's descriptions, is that they're all set in France during a similar period, and they all explore sins and temptations. There is a common theme of food and of looking at the 'older, pagan gods' in favour of the Christian church, as all her heroines seem to outwardly respect the church, but secretly rebel against it.
           I liked also the fact that there was a twist in the plot which I think someone more astute than me may have picked up on, and which I half guessed, but which really wasn't very obvious. The characters were amusing and although the plot seemed tenuous it had enough twists, turns and excitement to make you want to keep reading.
          I didn't like the fact that it was written in three languages. Mostly english, dotted with some french words and quotes in latin. The quotes weren't too bad as i can't read that at all and so assumed each time that it was probably going to be translated for me and was definately from the bible. It was the french words, they were ones which everyone knows; soeur - sister, mere - mother, mer - sea. But then the names were often french versions of names we commonly use in England. As a result I found myself switching between the two languages not quite sure which my head should be reading in ... It couldn't make it's mind up.
            Overall I liked the book, even though there were parts which irritated me. It was amusing and didn't require too much effort or concentration, I think I may even have learnt one or two things from it.

Rowen

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

              

           This book I bought for two reasons; firstly it was in my version of '1001 books to read before you die' and secondly because I knew that I would be studying the relevent period of Russian history this year. It lived up to my expectations and did more or less what it said it would; described one day in the life of Ivan Denisovich, from the moment that he woke up until the moment he went to sleep.
             In history I've been studying Nazi Germany parallel to Russia, therefore I have a reasonable understanding of the Nazi Concentration camps whilst finding that the equivalent in Russia, the Gulag, are mentioned but never with any detail or depth. Because of the fact that they are in some respects described as being the same you find yourself making the assumption that they are Carbon copies of one another. However, after reading this book, you find that you can pick out a variety of differences, as well as similarities, between the two. It fascinated me.
            A year ago I read Primo Levi's 'If this is a Man', and I found myself drawing parallels with it as I read this book, this is unsuprising when you consider that one was written by a survivor of Auschwitz while the other was written by a survivor of a Gulag. I found a number of differences between the two; the first was that the prisoners in the Gulag's appeared to be valued more, possibly because they weren't classified as a sub-race, they were given more to eat. Secondly they appeared to be less supervised than in the Nazi camp except for when they were being moved to and from work-sites. Thirdly, a prisoner in Soviet Russia was actually able to fulfill his term, and go home, although it was likely to be to exile. One interesting quote I found was;

'Now he didn't know either whether he wanted freedom or not.'

          There were similarities to be found as well; Both camps apparantly had similar bartering systems between the prisoners; There was a similar hierarchy amongst the prisoners although the Gulag one was based more upon respect than the one in concentration camps which were built upon fear and hatred; and there appears to have been a similar attitude that you should live for the day but scrounge for the morrow and that above all you should keep your pride intact because that's what the camps were designed to drain.



Inside cover design



           My favourite thing about this book is the cover design which is striking. The pointing finger representing the Soviet power system and Stalin who simply had to point for you to be locked away. Open the cover and you're greeted by an equally striking image. A collage of pictures of prisoners and machinery, constructed in a way which best emphasises the clockwork nature of the Soviet superpower. I also loved the fact that when I bought the book from Waterstones it came plastic wrapped causing me to treat it with a certain amount of reverence, although not something I think would suit the majority of books it was perfect for this one.



          My least favourite thing about this book was that it had no chapters or divisions of any sort, beyond paragraphs, it was one long block of text from beginning to end. It made sense in the context of the book. Suited it even. But i really didn't like it. It made it hard to put down as there were no natural breaks and as a consequence I became reluctant to pick it up causing me to drag my feet whilst reading it.

          On the whole I found the book and informative, if slightly tedious read. I wanted to love it but I found it didn't quite equal other books of it's type; it didn't quite move me to compassion or tears.

Rowen