Anna Tan's Blog, page 53

#bookreview: Once We Were There | Bernice Chauly

Once We Were There by Bernice Chauly
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Once We Were There is dark and gritty, as fueled by drugs and sex as its setting in late 1990's - early 2000's Kuala Lumpur.

The story itself is a story of profound loss. It's the story of a woman first losing herself in her anger and her politics, then losing herself in family and motherhood, losing the child that has become an extension of her self, losing herself to drugs, and finally at the end of it all, trying to discover who sh...

#musicmonday: You are the Beauty | Gungor

This is one of the oddest yet most fascinating songs I've heard in a while.
Which, I guess, is a good way to start off a new year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

#fridayflash: A Hitch in the Plans

"I would like to kiss you," she says.

"Oh." He cocks his head to one side, left eyebrow raised. "Why?"

She shrugs. "Why not?"

He stares at her for a little too long and she finds herself staring back, that space in the back of her head suddenly mute.

"Never mind," she finally says.

But as she turns, before she can flee, his hand is grasping her wrist and pulling her back, fixing her on the spot. Her cheeks burn.

"Why?" he asks again.

There is gold in her mouth, rocks on her tongue, a blissed, hatefu...

#bookreview: Between the Lanterns | J.M. Bush

Between the Lanterns by J.M. Bush
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'd rate this more of a 3.5 (but you know, rounding) mostly because it gets pretty slow going in the middle.

Between the Lanterns is a Southern love story set in a futuristic, heartless, soulless New Dothan. As in really heartless and really soulless, where everyone is all teched out and thinking only of themselves. Yet in the midst of these near-robots, Samantha - a cook who wants people to eat Real Food instead of Nutricator slop - mee...

#musicmonday: I Won't Let You Go | Switchfoot ft. Lauren Daigle

[Verse 1: Jon Foreman]
When it feels like surgery
And it burns like third degree
And you wonder what is it worth?
When your inside's breaking in
And you feel that ache again
And you wonder what's giving birth?

[Pre-Chorus: Jon Foreman]
If you could let the pain of the past go
Of your soul
None of this is in your control

[Chorus: Jon Foreman]
If you could only let your guard down
If you could learn to trust me somehow
Well I swear, that I won't let you go
If you could only let go your doubts
If you could just...

Advent: Divinity in Chains

But you are Divinity,
bound by the chains of humanity.
God made man,

...and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...

might contained
in frailty,
restrained by a form

...and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father...

taken willingly, lovingly,
eyes fixed on eternity.
And all you are,

...he made himself nothing... 

all your glory,
constrained
in the very jars of clay

...by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness...

you formed.
Bound only by
your Wor...

#bookreview: Mythic Orbits 2016 | Travis Perry (ed)

Mythic Orbits 2016: Best Speculative Fiction by Christian Authors by Travis Perry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

TBH Mythic Orbits wasn't exactly what I expected. (Actually, I don't really know what I expect these days.) The title and the cover made me think that it might be more space/scifi than it actually turned out to be; 'speculative fiction', of course, is a rather large umbrella term (though 'Mythic' is also another clue). The actual stories, however, are skewed to the more paranormal/fantasy s...

#musicmonday: O Come, O Come Emmanuel | For King and Country

O come, O come, EmmanuelAnd ransom captive IsraelThat mourns in lonely exile hereUntil the Son of God appearRejoice! Rejoice! EmmanuelShall come to thee, O Israel
O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheerOur spirits by Thine advent hereDisperse the gloomy clouds of nightAnd death's dark shadows put to flight.Rejoice! Rejoice! EmmanuelShall come to thee, O Israel
O come, Thou Key of David, comeAnd open wide our heavenly homeMake safe the way that leads on highAnd close the path to miseryRejoice! R...

Advent: Pilgrims and Promises

O come, Thou Key of David, come,And open wide our heavenly home;Make safe the way that leads on high,And close the path to misery.
---
All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, th...

#musicmonday: Jealous Kind | Jars of Clay

One hundred other lovers, more, one hundred other altars
If I should slow my pace and finally subject me to grace
And love that shames the wise, betrays the heart's deceit and lies
And breaks the back of foolish pride

You know I've been unfaithful
Lovers in lines
While you're turning over tables
With the rage of a jealous kind
I chose the gallows to the aisle
Thought that love would never find
Hanging ropes will never keep you
And your love of a jealous kind
Love of a jealous kind

---

Slow.
Slow your pace.
S...