Subtitle: Practicing the Presence and Absence of God. I found this book to be quite engaging.  My first adjective for this book was ' stimulating ', but from other reviews I've read that seems to be a polite way of saying I didn't agree with parts of the book.  While I did question some parts of it the author, Woodley, always seemed to back up his statements with Scripture.

One reviewer said this book was Pride and Prejudice with Dragons.  I would offer that this is 'ChickLit' with dragons. The dragons even sparkle in the sun, if that's what you like. To be honest I was disappointed with this book.   Disappointed that it was the last in the series, that is. It finished where I expected it to, so the story of what happens next will hopefully be explored in another series. ( Update 17th July 2016:  Wow, I was really wrong with this. The series extended for two more books.... which I faithfully read). 

With a set of directions we can easily get lost if we make the wrong turn but with a ‘ helicopter’ view we can re-set our course if we get lost and reach our destination with ease. I really found this book quite repetitious, however in Chapter 6 Tripp and Lane explain why the first half of the book (and the last half of the book) seems to be banging away at the same points. Tripp and Lane begin this book by defining the problem--which is that in many areas of our lives we do not believe the gospel. Then, before getting into any practical tips, they seek to lay a solid theological foundation. Before showing us how to change they paint a picture of where God is taking us and point us to the Saviour that is taking us there.

"In all the course of my life I never slept worse my dear wife and I than I did last night - what with the hard ground, spiders, ants and every vermin that you can think of crawling over me.  I was glad when morning came" The above is a quote from the book 1788.  It in turn is a quote from the pages of Lieutenant Ralph Clark's journal in Feburary 1788.  This was written over 200  years ago and yet how apt is it now? For all intents and purposes it could be a page out of one of my camping journals as I was able to relate to this man's discomfort.  In some ways Australia hasn't changed a bit.   Every time I go out into the bush I have 'every vermin that you can think of crawling over me' and this happens in my house sometimes as well.

I have been reading through some peoples new years resolutions and found the following two amusing and helpful (in that order).

With 2009 over I thought it would be a good time to examine my reading habits for the past year. I guess this could be considered part of my new years resolutions. My primary goal in 2009 was to read through Calvin's Institutes of Christian Religion in a year and then I listed 3 Fiction books from my favourite authors and some non-fiction books. 3 out of 4 ain't bad I suppose, but Calvin didn't get read unfortunately. All up a list of about 15 books. I read the following 27 books.

It's nice to return to the 'Realm of the Elderlings' and continue the story of the dragon’s restoration into that world. I enjoyed this story and am looking forward to book two. This book seems to take a similar route as the Soldier Son Trilogy and 'The Dragon Keeper' being book one sets up the main characters, their backgrounds and motivations and then ends as the 'Quest to find the Elderling city of Kelsingra' begins. There are some compelling characters and a few nasty ones as well. A theme which runs through this book seems to be how the various female characters deal with and try to overcome the male bullies who have through various means manipulated their lives. Not too gritty but sometimes a little disturbing. Update: 17th July 2016 I've since read all four books in the Rain Wilds series, and enjoyed them all.  While interesting to see the Elderlings and Dragons restored to this world I didn't enjoy the characte...