Book Review, sort of

When Andy is away, the Bethy will play. Or read, actually.

 I have not been feeling good, physically, and I never sleep well when Andy is gone, so that combo has given me plenty of excuses to curl up with books and just read, and read, and read. One of the quickies I devoured was the Twilight novella, "The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner", by Stephenie Meyer. Most of you know that I liked the Twilight books, even though they are teen books, about vampires, and are slightly cheesy. They are clean, and humorous and made me realize that I do actually like to pick sides... even though I had thought myself so carefully neutral on so many things all my life. (I'm team Jacob, just so you know... ice cold and hard as a rock, yuck! I will totally take warm and furry, thank you!)
 Anyway, back to Bree. Bree is a character, a brand new vampire, that makes a short appearance in the third book before being cruelly killed by the Volturi. This book tells her story in more detail. You can read someone else's, slightly teen-ish, review of it, if you like, but she does cuss a few times, so watch out.
 I wanted to talk a little about what Stephenie Meyer said in the preface notes.
 When she was first writing Eclipse, in which Bree appears, the only thing she could see, think, feel or breathe was Bella. Bella is the main character, and everything was about her. For an author, I suppose that is how it should be. But when Stephenie went back to edit she began to look at things from other's point of view. That is when Bree's story began to strike her. For some reason that stuck with me.
 How often do we only see the world from one point of view? We eat, sleep and breathe "Bella" - or whatever it may be. I suppose I should say "Bethany". We are not writing a book, trying to become a character. We are living life. We already are a character, hopefully a Godly one. We need to see life from more then one point of view. The Book we are to follow has already been written, and it says, "Do to other's what you would have them do to you," and "be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another". Self centered is not mentioned in there anywhere. Seeking our own desires first is definitely not a plus. Thinking that we know all the answers, and are the only ones whom God speaks to - I am pretty sure that would be considered one sided.
 So, the first thing I was reminded of through Bree Tanner was, 1) Don't wait until you reach the "editing stage", looking back on your life, before you see the world from someone else's point of view. Even if it doesn't completely agree with yours, looking at that point of view won't kill you. I promise.
 Remember to try to do that every day, not just at the end.

 Another thing Stephanie said in the preface was that as she wrote and became attached to Bree, she began to wish that she had ended that chapter of Eclipse differently. But the words had already been printed, and she couldn't take them back.
 How often do we say something, and wish it "unsaid"? But words cannot be taken back. Bree was already dead before the book was even begun, because Eclipse had already been written.
 Apologies are wonderful things, and forgiveness is powerful, but learning to think first, to pray over our words before we let them out - that is even greater.
 There are a million sayings out there about this idea that our mother's drilled into our heads. Surprise! They are true.
 Bree Lesson number 2) Once the words are spoken you can't take them back. So think before you speak.
 The Bree book was a fun and easy read, and fit in nicely with the Twilight series. But I actually like the little intro at the beginning better then anything. God used those words to speak to me, and I hope He uses them for you too.
 And since I missed Waste Not Want Not Wednesday... I suppose I will just head to bed, and perhaps another good book?