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Under the Banner of Heaven
Jan. 4th, 2006 | 07:45 pm
Well, it's January 4. I'll finish book number one by the end of the evening. (Thanks to the Rose Bowl taking Lost off the air for the evening.)
Number 1:
I picked up Under the Banner of Heaven after a girl I work with at the bookstore recommended it to me. She always laughs because I tend to point out which books I've read whenever customers bring their purchases to the register. She asked if I had read this; I hadn't, so I bought myself a copy.
It was intriguing. I didn't really know anything about Mormonism, let alone Mormon Fundamentalism, before reading it. I was way off base in my ideas about Mormonism, which isn't too terribly a bad thing. Every bad stereotype attributed to Mormons is basically a tenet of the fundamentalist movement. The descriptions of the fanaticism that drove people to kidnap, massacre, murder... It's something I'll never fully understand.
And I've never read anything by Krakauer before, but I hope to get another of his in (probably Into the Wild) before this year is over.
Overall, I'd give this book and A-. For the most part I was engaged completely. There was a moment or two there where I lost interest in the deep-seeded history.
(Fun Facts that could have helped me during Trivia Night:
- The state of Utah's nickname is the Beehive State. Why? Because Brigham Young wanted to name the state (well, territory) Deseret, which in The Book of Mormon means "Honeycomb." Young thought this was a good fit for the mostly Mormon-settled land because the Mormons were like little worker bees building their cities.
- The transcontinental railroad was connected in Utah.)
Number 1:
I picked up Under the Banner of Heaven after a girl I work with at the bookstore recommended it to me. She always laughs because I tend to point out which books I've read whenever customers bring their purchases to the register. She asked if I had read this; I hadn't, so I bought myself a copy.
It was intriguing. I didn't really know anything about Mormonism, let alone Mormon Fundamentalism, before reading it. I was way off base in my ideas about Mormonism, which isn't too terribly a bad thing. Every bad stereotype attributed to Mormons is basically a tenet of the fundamentalist movement. The descriptions of the fanaticism that drove people to kidnap, massacre, murder... It's something I'll never fully understand.
And I've never read anything by Krakauer before, but I hope to get another of his in (probably Into the Wild) before this year is over.
Overall, I'd give this book and A-. For the most part I was engaged completely. There was a moment or two there where I lost interest in the deep-seeded history.
(Fun Facts that could have helped me during Trivia Night:
- The state of Utah's nickname is the Beehive State. Why? Because Brigham Young wanted to name the state (well, territory) Deseret, which in The Book of Mormon means "Honeycomb." Young thought this was a good fit for the mostly Mormon-settled land because the Mormons were like little worker bees building their cities.
- The transcontinental railroad was connected in Utah.)