Odds Are, You're Going to Be Exalted by Alonzo Gaskill

**Note: I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This book is written by an LDS author and is pretty particular to LDS doctrine. If you have questions about my beliefs, I'd love to talk to you, or you can visit THIS PAGE on Mormon.org to understand a little more about what we believe this life and the life after are all about. I love talking to people about what I believe, but please don't use this post as a forum for negative comments about my beliefs.



As a guilt-prone person of faith, I have lots of moments where I wonder if I'm really doing enough in the eyes of God. I always feel like I could be doing more...because all of us could be doing more. When is enough, enough? And even though I know we have been given the gift of Jesus Christ's Atonement to help overcome sin and weakness, I wonder if I'm applying it the way I'm supposed to. If I'm going to make it to the highest degree of glory, with all my family in tow, have I really done enough? This book calmed many of those doubts and fears.

I originally picked this book up because the author was my Book of Mormon professor my very first semester at BYU. He was the most entertaining professor I ever had, and he is an amazing scriptorian. When I saw this title pop up on my local library's Overdrive list, I decided to give it a shot. I'm so glad I did.

Gaskill uses a mix of scripture, quotes from general authorities, and commentary from gospel scholars to provide a compelling argument for his title statement: odds are, you're going to be exalted. One of his main points really hit home with me. After discussing what we know about the opportunity people without the gospel will have to receive it after death, he addresses this question: "so wouldn't it be easier to get to the celestial kingdom if I didn't have the gospel on earth then just accept it after?" He notes that there is no way being born in the latter-days and having the blessings of the gospel and covenants in the temple is a disadvantage. While it's true that where much is given, much is required, that doesn't mean having the gospel means you're less likely to make it to the celestial kingdom. That doesn't even sound logical. We should have a great advantage because we have the gospel and access to so many blessings. He provides much more evidence supporting this idea in the book.

After initially feeling reassured while reading the book, I started to have one big, creeping doubt as I got closer to the end. In a section on wayward children, Gaskill provides scriptures and quotes to support the idea that children will eventually return, after they've gone through the proper repentance process and suffered for any sins left unresolved. As a parent, I found comfort in this idea and know that the scriptures promise this. However, I have a hard time wanting this to apply to even the people in my life who are very intentionally making choices that harm other people, trying to tear them down. If these people have parents who keep their covenants, do they get to make it to? That doesn't seem fair to me, when I'm over here trying my hardest to live the right way. The justice part of my brain couldn't make peace with that. In the final chapters, my worries were assuaged. Through quotes from general authorities, Gaskill brought home the point that, in the end, both justice and mercy will prevail. God will take care of all. We are all His children and He wants us all to return to Him, but He will not let any unclean thing enter his presence. It will all work out. I want Him to be merciful with me, so I have to let Him show mercy towards others, trusting that the demands of justice will be met.

I would highly recommend this book to any LDS person looking to gain some additional insight into the plan of salvation. It was extremely thought provoking and allowed my husband and I to have some great discussions. I do have one disclaimer on any book like this, written by a gospel scholar and not as a church publication: THIS BOOK IS OPINION, NOT DOCTRINE. Although Gaskill uses scriptures and quotes from general authorities, he put them together in a way that makes sense to him that support his opinion of the plan of salvation. There are some beautiful truths in this book, but it is up to each of us, individually, to prayerfully consider the ideas and make sense of it.

Overall Rating:  4 stars

Content Warning: Nothing offensive, just a lot of religious stuff!

Target Audience: LDS adults, possibly even teens

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I hadn't read Harper Lee's classic since high school, so when I heard her new book was coming out later this year, I decided it was the perfect time to re-read To Kill a Mockingbird. I've always counted it as one of my favorite books, so I was curious to see if that sentiment would hold true 15 years later, now as an adult and mother.

I was sucked in from the very first page. It's a shame Lee never really wrote anything else. Her writing is captivating. The characters are so rich. And I have a confession to make. I. LOVE. ATTICUS. FINCH. He strikes a perfect balance of tirelessly sticking to his guns while being the most empathetic person in Maycomb County. His ability to stay cool under pressure speaks volumes about his personal integrity.

One of my favorite things about this book is that it's told from Scout's perspective. The events of this novel would be interesting regardless of who's narrating. But having the whole thing told from a young child's perspective brings a certain clarity and naive honesty to the story. Atticus often has to reign in Scout's temper and teach her the very principles that make him such a respectable man. Scout is also proof that the racial prejudices at the foundation of the story are culturally imposed, not something we identify with as children. Scout, who has been raised by a black nanny, can't understand why the white people in town are so willing to believe a lie about a black man when there's a pretty questionable white man tied to the problem. I would guess this fact may be the reason Lee chose Scout as the narrator. By examining racial prejudices from a child's perspective, Lee illuminates just how unjust things were in segregated communities not so long ago.

I'm glad I took the time to re-read Mockingbird and plan on doing it again a few years down the road. It's a literary masterpiece that examines issues that, although removed in time and place, still exist today. It's a good reminder to try to look at things objectively and not let our own prejudices create blind spots.

Overall Rating: 5 stars

Content Warning: Occasional language. Sensitive subject matter for children (the central point of the story is a lawsuit alleging the rape of a white girl).

Target Audience: Anyone high school age or older should read this book at least once in their lifetime. If you've been putting it off, go pick it up and read it!

Breathing Room by Marsha Hayles

Breathing Room is another Beehive Award Nominee that I picked up alongside Skinny and Paperboy. This children's novel tells the story of Evvy, a 13-year-old girl battling tuberculosis in 1940. As was customary at the time, Evvy is sent to a sanatorium where she rooms with several other girls battling the same, terrible disease. Evvy experiences pain, heartache and loss as she battles her own disease and watches those around her suffer as well. Her hopeful attitude carries her through as she makes dear friends and tries to heal enough to return home.

It's fascinating to me to read about how doctors used to try to treat various illnesses. They were often working blind, and so much of it was guesswork. I think we take medical technology advances for granted. When my oldest daughter was only 6 weeks old, she was hospitalized with an infection that led to a diagnosis of a kidney issue. After a 10 month battle with repeated infections, she had surgery to correct the problem. Many times in those 10 months, I thought about the fact that just 50 or 100 years ago, she would have died.

There are so many curable diseases now. Tuberculosis is one of those. We have vaccines to prevent it, and doctors know exactly how to treat it if you do contract it. But in 1940, it was dangerous enough to send small children to sanatoriums hundreds of miles from home, to be cared for by stranger, alongside other dying children. As a mother, I can't imagine sending my child a place like that. But it was necessary for survival back then. I found Evvy to be an admirable character, full of compassion, determination and, above all, bravery. In a time when she could have just worried about herself, she looked to help others. Amid bizarre, painful treatments, she found reasons to have hope. That's more people twice or three times her age could often do.

I thought this was a good quick, but insightful, read. Although the subject matter is a little heavy for a kids' book, I would read this with a 9 or 10 year old. I think it could provide for really good discussions about disease, death, and the amazing medical advances we've had in the last 75 years.

Overall Rating: 3 stars

Content Warnings: Heavy subject matter for young children.

Target Audience: Upper elementary/middle school kids.

Paperboy by Vince Vawter

This was the February pick for my neighborhood book club. It's another one off the Beehive Award Nominees table, and it was also a Newbery Honor book for 2014. Using his own life experience with a severe stutter, Vawter creates a simple story about a stuttering 11-year-old boy growing up in Memphis in 1959. The main character (whose name you don't learn until the end of the book) takes over his friend's paper route while he's out of town one summer. He meets some interesting neighborhood characters along the way and allows his naive innocence to put him in danger's way. 

One of my first thoughts about this book was how different our world was back then. The boy is put in some pretty sketchy situations that would make any mom nervous, from flirtatious older women to strangers inviting him in and a downright dangerous homeless man. I found myself distracted a bit by the minor characters and the problems they brought to the table that were never resolved. The author hinted at a lot of possible story lines with different characters, but most of them never came to fruition. The paperboy himself was forgettable and seemed a little too naive to me.

One member of my book club listened to the audiobook version of Paperboy and said the author's note at the end was very interesting to listen to. Vawter still has a bit of a speech impediment, which was audible in the small section he read aloud at the end. 

I do think this could make an good pick for a 4th-6th grade boy. Sometimes it's hard to find good "boy" reads in that age range. It has a wide variety of characters and introduces a different era of the not-too-distant past that they may not be familiar with. That being said, I didn't think it was great, and I certainly didn't think it deserved a Newbery Honor. When I was in elementary school, the Newbery Award was reserved for the best of the best. It seems these days, many of the Newbery books are just so-so, including this selection.

Overall Rating: 3 stars

Content Warnings: There are a couple scenes of adult drunkenness and hints of domestic violence.

Target Audience: Upper elementary to middle school boys

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

In this inspiring true story, a team of nine rural boys from Washington cause the nation and the world to pause and reconsider everything they know about the sport of rowing. Most of the story focuses on Joe Rantz, the ultimate underdog, who fought against amazing odds to end up as one of the top rowers for the University of Washington in the 1930s. As the Washington boys work towards their Olympic dreams, Hitler and his minions are carefully crafting the 1936 Olympic Games to show the world a beautiful facade hiding horrors no one had possibly yet imagined. For fans of Unbroken, this rowing team competed at the same Olympics as Louie Zamperini.

After reading Unbroken, I saw this book suggested on Amazon and immediately put it on hold at my library. It took a couple months to make its way to me, so I was a little extra anxious to get started with it when I finally got my hands on it. I wasn't disappointed! Who doesn't love an underdog story? I'm amazed that, even though I knew how it would end, there was still so much suspense leading up to each event. The author did an excellent job of building the story to make you feel part of it and get your hopes up each time the team competes.

Joe Rantz's story is pretty amazing. Just like when I read Unbroken, I came away with a sense of how different life was back then. These men had real work ethic and weren't afraid to live on bare bones for the chance to go to a university and be on the rowing crew. They dedicated themselves to school and sport. It's rare to find people today with the same work ethic that existed back then.

I also found it interesting to read about some of the preparations for the 1936 Olympics. Hitler and his right-hand man, Goebbels, put an insane amount of effort and money into the facade they built to hide the gruesome reality of Germany at that time.

Overall, I loved this book. The only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5 is for the excessive descriptions in some sections. The pace dragged a little at certain points of the book. Where Unbroken kept me turning pages and intrigued every step of the way, The Boys in the Boat, was easy to put down here or there. Other than the slow parts, this was an excellent read. I knew nothing about rowing before I picked this up, but that didn't matter. The author explains the intricacies of the sport well enough that by the end, you understand how miraculous the ending is.

Overall Rating: 4 stars

Content Warning: There is some brief, scattered language, but not much. Some adult topics are grazed over, but nothing graphic is discussed.

Target Audience: Anyone looking for a fascinating, true story, fans of Unbroken, anyone who's interested in rowing.

Skinny by Donna Cooner

Based on the author's own life experiences, Skinny takes on a heavy subject matter in a YA format. Fifteen-year-old Ever has been overweight for most of her short life. We encounter her as she makes the decision to have gastric bypass surgery to (hopefully) transform her into a more confident young woman ready to take on what life brings her. In Ever's experiences leading up to and following her surgery, she is constantly haunted by "Skinny", the voice in her head telling her she'll never be good enough. Ever soon discovers getting rid of "Skinny" will take a lot more than a surgery, as she tries to conquer the mental and emotional battle that follows gastric bypass.

I picked this book up because it was on the Beehive Award Nominees table at my local library. It looked like a quick, easy read and sounded interesting. I really didn't know much about gastric bypass surgery before reading this book. It was fascinating to learn about the months of preparation and weight loss that have to occur before the surgery and the strict diet and lifestyle in the months following.

My biggest hang-up with this book is the intended audience as a young adult novel. I have a 13 year old girl living in my house, and I've been a teenage girl myself. Self-esteem is not at the top of the list for characteristics of teenage girls. Many teens struggle with perceived weight issues, even when they're not actually overweight. Skinny is full of a lot of negative self-talk and weight related put-downs. Although I understand the issues addressed are real for some teens, I think teen girls have enough negative self-talk going on in their own heads without having to read more in a book. I would guess that most teenagers don't even really understand what gastric bypass is or when it's necessary, so I could see a teenage girl with low self-esteem and slight weight issues thinking this could be a solution to her problems. Part of my hesitation probably stems from what I know about a friend who developed an eating disorder in middle school and eventually died from it. Suffering from low self-esteem and a warped body image, my already skinny friend watched a video about eating disorders in our 7th grade health class. The video gave her ideas of how to hide the eating disorder from her parents, which helped foster the disease that eventually killed her. I do think it's important for teens to be given honest, open information about real life. I just don't know that a book like this offers the right message for teens who are already struggling with similar issues.

Overall Rating: 2 stars

Content Warning: heavy subject matter and a lot of name calling, including some foul names

Target Audience: Definitely not teenage girls. I just don't know that I'd recommend this one to anyone.

Don't Judge a Girl By Her Cover by Ally Carter (Gallagher Girls #3)

In the 3rd installment of the Gallagher Girls series, Cammie Morgan (spy girl in training), finds herself stuck in the middle of a complex kidnapping plot intertwined with a presidential campaign. As she tries to uncover who is behind it all, she discovers secrets much darker and deeper than she ever imagined.

Ally Carter stays true-to-form in this Gallagher installment, providing an easy, entertaining read with a little bit of intrigue. Although the premise of the whole series (top secret school for spy girls in training) is a bit far-fetched, it is highly amusing and will keep you laughing. Any girl who has watched Alias has tried to channel her inner Sydney Bristow at some point. This series does the same thing for teenagers. I particularly liked Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover because of the new insights into Cammie's history. The first two books seemed to just introduce a lot for the series. This book was the first one that seemed to delve into something a little deeper.

For me, this series is a perfect "in between" read. When I've just finished a lengthy novel, something really serious or anything non-fiction, this series provides a quick refresh before I jump into the next thing on my to-read list. Because of that, I haven't finished the series yet. I just pick them up as a quick 1 day read here or there. However, I'm confident Ally Carter will deliver with the final 3 in this series as well!

Overall Rating: 4 stars

Content Warning: These are pretty squeaky clean. There might be a mild swear word here or there, but I honestly can't remember any. I'd have no problem letting my 13 year old read this (and probably would have let her read them 2 years ago).

Target Audience: Teenage girls or women looking something quick and fun