Book Review: Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson

Cover art by Chris McGrath, property of Tor Fantasy.

This one isn't part of my 2015 Reading Challenge because I'd already read it before. I just picked it up at the library in December and was already in the middle of it when I started the Reading Challenge, so I finished it this week and want to review it because it's one of my favorites.

If you've never read the Mistborn series what is wrong with you??? then I think you'd be a tiny bit lost reading Alloy of Law. Or, you'd at least not get all the little allusions and inside jokes that come from the original trilogy.

Regardless, this is a great read. I'll try to forget about the original trilogy when saying why I like it so much.

Here's the synopsis:

In the three hundred years since the events of the Mistborn trilogy, science and technology have marched on. Scadrial is now on the verge of modernity, with railroads, electric lighting, and even the first steel-framed skyscrapers racing for the clouds. 

Yet even with these advances, the magics of Allomancy and Feruchemy continue to play a role in this reborn world. Out in the frontier lands known as the Roughs, they are crucial tools for those attempting to establish order and justice. 

One is Waxillium Ladrian, a rare Twinborn who can Push on metals with his Allomancy and use Feruchemy to become lighter or heavier at will. After twenty years in the Roughs, Wax must now put away his guns and assume the duties incumbent upon the head of a noble house—until he learns the hard way that the mansions and elegant tree-lined streets of the city can be even more dangerous than the dusty plains of the Roughs.

It's essentially a Western mixed with steampunk mixed with fantasy. And it's as cool as it sounds.

Without giving away the plot, let me just say that the fight scenes are heart-pounding, the characters highly amusing and admirable, the world so fun, and the plot never providing a dull moment.

Two things I want to touch on a little more:

First, the characters are so well-rounded. I sometimes find it hard to give my characters even one memorable trait that will get them to stand out in the minds of the readers. Wax and Wayne have like twenty each, and even the minor characters have something that makes you remember them easily when they show up again.

Second, Brandon Sanderson is a master at establishing setting and character in such a way that even though you've only known them for a few pages, you feel like you've known them for years.

The prologue, for example, is only around 10 pages long, and yet (SPOILERS!!!) we meet Lessie, see her and Wax interact, and we instantly love them both. Then Lessie dies, and we feel Wax's anguish! We mourn a woman we just barely met!

We also get a really good idea of what the Roughs are like, even though they never show up again for the rest of the book. And we can see how much Wax changes between that short prologue and the rest of the book.

That is skill.

I highly recommend that you read the original Mistborn trilogy first, so that you can understand the history/mythology that is referenced so often in Alloy of Law. And so that you can get how funny it is that Spook's low-born street dialect is now considered "high speak."

But this novel does stand well on its own and makes a very fun read even if you don't know much about the background. I give it a ten.

2015 Reading Challenge: The Captive Maiden and A Thousand Splendid Suns

Completely by accident, the next two books I read for the Reading Challenge featured female leads.

First, there was The Captive Maiden by Melanie Dickerson. This fell under the category of a book by an author I've never read before.

Synopsis:

Gisela's childhood was filled with laughter and visits from nobles such as the duke and his young son. But since her father's death, each day has been filled with nothing but servitude to her stepmother. So when Gisela meets the duke's son, Valten--the boy she has daydreamed about for years--and learns he is throwing a ball, she vows to attend, even if it's only for a taste of a life she'll never have. To her surprise, she catches Valten's eye. Though he is rough around the edges, Gisela finds Valten has completely captured her heart. But other forces are bent on keeping the two from falling further in love, putting Gisela in more danger than she ever imagined.

My rating: 4 out of 5

This book was better than its cover implied. Normally I wouldn't even pick up a book like this, but I'd heard from several friends that it was really good, so I gave it a shot. I'm glad I did.

As you can probably tell from the cover and the synopsis, this book was a different take on the Cinderella story. What I loved about it was that it was a historically accurate twist, set in 14th century Germany. Everything felt authentic and realistic--a fairy tale without magic. I've got nothing against magic, of course, but this felt like the original fairy tale--the true story that inspired the fairy tale that has been passed on ever since. It was really well done.

I also loved that God was seamlessly part of the story. The setting was historically Roman Catholic, with chivalrous knights and friars and cross necklaces, so when the characters turned to God in their time of trouble, it didn't feel preachy at all. It felt like something these historic characters naturally would have done, yet it really did inspire me as I read it in 21st century America.

It's a light read, but it was more serious than I expected. I was invested in the characters, they were all fleshed out pretty well, and the plot was compelling. It's definitely for middle readers, with very black-and-white characters, but it was fun for me, too.

A book with a number in the title:

Synopsis:

Propelled by the same superb instinct for storytelling that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once an incredible chronicle of thirty years of Afghan history and a deeply moving story of family, friendship, faith, and the salvation to be found in love. 

Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them—in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul—they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation. With heart-wrenching power and suspense, Hosseini shows how a woman’s love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice, and that in the end it is love, or even the memory of love, that is often the key to survival. 

A stunning accomplishment, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a haunting, heartbreaking, compelling story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love. 

My rating: 5 out of 5

That synopsis is much better than anything I could come up with. I can really only add my raving recommendation that everyone read this book.

This book was the exact opposite of a fairy tale. I have never been more grateful to be an American woman after reading this.

It's fiction, but like The Kite Runner, it's historical fiction set in the not-so-distant past. I learned so much about Afghan history and about how the people live. It gave me chills when I realized that such horrible events happened in my lifetime while I was an innocent grade schooler.

The story arch of one of the main characters, Mariam, was the most beautifully tragic thing I've read in a long time. I burst into tears in front of my family while finishing it.

I don't want to get into anything because I want everyone to read it themselves and experience the narrative for themselves. But what I came away with after reading this book is that war is never a good answer, but no matter how horrible things get, life goes on. And the struggle for women's rights is very real, but not all men are monsters.

This was a really gritty, emotionally painful read, but I wish I chose more entertainment like this that leaves me breathless and teary and enlightened.

If you're looking for a book that's deep and beautiful and will make you grateful for the life you have, pick up A Thousand Splendid Suns.

2015 Reading Challenge: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

I figured I was going to read the book list out of order, just because of time restraints and availability at the library. So my first 2015 Reading Challenge book was And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. It fit under the "mystery or thriller" category. One week into the year, one book down! I'm doing great so far!

I could have chosen a much scarier "mystery or thriller," but after being a bit traumatized by Stephen King and Dean Koontz and Michael Crichton, I decided to take it easy and just choose something by Agatha Christie.

I can't believe this was my first time reading one of her books. I've heard about Agatha Christie for years (especially in my literature classes, and in one of my favorite episodes of "Doctor Who"), but I had no idea how many books she'd written and how highly acclaimed they were.

I don't know if this is still true, what with J.K. Rowling in the picture, but Christie is listed as the best-selling novelist of all time in the Guinness Book of World Records. Only Shakespeare and the Bible top her book sales. And Then There Were None is her best-selling novel ever (and the world's best-selling mystery book EVER), but I didn't know that beforehand. I just picked it at random. What good intuition I have.

Anyways, having read my first Agatha Christie novel, I can see the appeal of her books. And Then There Were None was first published in 1939 so the writing and dialogue are old-fashioned, but they still sound really good. It's hard to explain. I guess what I mean is that even though the words the characters used were archaic and formal, the way Christie wrote them still made them sound like casual, natural speech.

The story is about ten people who are lured to an island under false pretenses and are murdered one by one by an invisible, impossible assailant. They're positive that they're alone on the island, so it must be one of them killing the others, but it's impossible to tell who the murderer is. Each character is given plenty of background and distinctive attitudes. Each one has been accused of murder and is suspected of evading justice. Some pasts seem shadier than others, but just when you're sure you know who the culprit is, that person is killed. It's a brilliant "locked room" mystery, where you just cannot figure out how the murderer is pulling it off without getting caught.

The mystery kept me tearing through the pages with a desperate hunger for answers. I could have fit this one under the "book you can read in a day" category. Christie is called "The Queen of Mystery," and she totally deserves the title.

In fact, the facts aren't revealed until the very last page, just when you're about to tear your hair out in frustration. But it was worth the trip.

I was about to write about how Christie's writing uses a ton of tropes that I've been taught not to use (like tons of adverbs, internal dialogue, and third person omniscient point of view), but then I realized that those writing choices are probably taboo now because they've been so overused because Agatha Christie used them so well. I wouldn't be surprised in the least to learn that everyone's been copying her style to the point of ruining the tropes for writers and readers ever since.

I'm rambling, but I really don't know what else to say without ruining the story for you. I'm just excited to read more of her stories because this was a really fun locked room mystery that gets you thinking about the moral implications of a murderer targeting suspected murderers.

And this is why I'm glad I'm doing this 2015 Reading Challenge. It's already introduced me to a writer and writing style that I probably wouldn't have naturally turned to. Now I have dozens more Agatha Christie books I'm excited to read someday.

Freewrite: 2015 Reading List

I'm not going to share all my New Year's resolutions with you, but one thing I really want to do is a 2015 reading list I found on Pinterest.

I had already made a goal to read a book a week (which isn't hard for me to do, but sometimes I just don't), but this list is going to make me branch out a bit on my reading choices.

Here's the list, and the books I've chosen for each category. I'm going to try and only read books I've never read before, I won't use the same book for multiple categories, and you can be sure I'll review each one.

A book with more than 500 pages: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

A classic romance: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

A book that became a movie: The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman

A book published this year (I'm gonna do 2014): Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult

A book with a number in the title: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

A book written by someone under 30: Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

A book with nonhuman characters: Watership Down by Richard Adams

A funny book: The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

A book by a female author: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

A mystery or thriller: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

A book with a one-word title: Emma by Jane Austen

A book of short stories: Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman

A book set in a different country: The Rent Collector by Camron Wright

A nonfiction book: Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing

A popular author's first book: Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

A book from an author you love that you haven't read yet: The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan

A book a friend recommended: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

A Pulitzer Prize-winning book: The Color Purple by Alice Walker

A book based on a true story: The Undaunted by Gerald Lund

A book at the bottom of your to-read list: On Basilisk Station by David Weber

A book your mom loves: Shannon Derry by Carol Warburton

A book that scares you: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

A book more than 100 years old: The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

A book based entirely on its cover: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

A book you were supposed to read in school but didn't: Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

A memoir: Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

A book you can finish in a day: The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie

A book with antonyms in the title: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

A book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit: Dogsong by Gary Paulsen

A book that came out the year you were born: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

A book with bad reviews: The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin

A trilogy: The Hourglass Door trilogy by Lisa Mangum

A book from your childhood: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

A book with a love triangle: The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley

A book set in the future: Legend by Marie Lu

A book set in high school: I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells

A book with a color in the title: Strands of Bronze and Gold by Jane Nickerson

A book that made you cry: My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

A book with magic: Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

A graphic novel: Watchmen by Alan Moore

A book by an author you've never read before: The Captive Maiden by Melanie Dickerson

A book you own but have never read: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

A book that takes place in your hometown: Letters for Emily by Camron Wright

A book that was originally written in a different language: The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

A book set during Christmas: The Mistletoe Promise by Richard Paul Evans

A book written by an author with your same initials: The Collected Works of C. S. Lewis

A play: Hamlet by William Shakespeare

A banned book: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

A book based on or turned into a TV show: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

A book you started but never finished: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

These are all subject to change, and I probably won't read them in that order, but this is my list! Wish me luck getting through them all in one year.

Movie/Book Review: Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Cover of the biography property of Random House Publishing Group. 

Wow, it's been a long time since I wrote last. Sorry about that. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas! I sure did.

During the holiday season there were a lot of topics that I half-heartedly wanted to write about, but none of them drove me to write. This morning I feel driven. It's like an annoying itch that will only go away once I put the words down.

Last night my family and I went to see "Unbroken." Not all of us were very excited to see it, because half of us had read the book, and the reviews were very mixed. Some of us had been wanting to see "Big Hero 6" or "Into the Woods" because their reviews were very very positive. But last night we just really wanted to see ANY movie, and we were all curious enough about "Unbroken" to agree on it and give it a shot.

Maybe it was just my low expectations, but I was very pleasantly surprised by how well-made it was. I assumed the bad reviews were because of bad acting or bad production or something, but I was so wrong. The acting was great, the production value was incredible, and I thought it was very true to the story. It was a longer movie than I expected, and it did a good job of taking the time to show Louis Zamperini surviving his trials during the war.

I recommend it to everyone, though be prepared for some gritty details they kept in. There were a couple things that made my stomach churn. It could have been worse, though. A blow-by-blow adaptation of the book would have been rated R.

So I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. However, I can see why some reviewers didn't like it, and I do have a foot in their camp.

The ending was such a disappointment. Beware of spoilers if you haven't read the book.

The movie does a brilliant job of showing Louis' war days, from when he's a bombardier to when he survives on the ocean to when he survives the POW camps. And it shows him becoming a great runner and going to the Olympics and all that. All those incidents are, of course, amazing. Louis Zamperini was an incredible person, and what he went through is almost unbelievable.

However, the movie ends when Louis comes home from war. To the average viewer who hadn't read the book, that would seem like an appropriate happy ending for a war-torn hero. But if you have read the book, then you know that coming home from the war was not his ultimate triumph! In fact, Louis was a mess when he came back from war. He had severe post-traumatic stress to the point that he was always yelling at his family, became withdrawn from society, almost ruined his marriage, and sunk into alcoholism for a long time. Yes he was strong and defiant and brave during all this war trials, but when he went home, he actually was pretty broken. So for me, who had read the book, having it end there just made me sad. It didn't give me a triumphant feeling at all.

The triumph of Louis's life was not that he got through the war. It was that he got through the consequences of the war, rose about the alcoholism and the anger and the depression, and actually turned his life over to God. He found peace in his heart through the Atonement, and he learned to forgive the captors who had ruined his life.

The book is one of the most incredible reads of my life. Laura Hillenbrand wrote the most detailed and interesting biography I've ever read, and she made sure that there was that overall theme of Louis rising above challenges and finding God in his life.

Angelina Jolie got the overcoming challenges part down okay, and her directional debut was much better than I expected. But her theme of Louis finding God and learning to forgive was glossed over in a text-on-screen epilogue, like P.S. Louis really did turn to God, but you don't get to see it. Oh and P.P.S. he also met with and forgave his captors, but you don't get to see that either.

Those were the parts I really wanted to see because they were what stunned me the most when I read the book. To have them just tacked onto the end was like a slap in the face.

I wish she had gone either direction--either making it a half hour longer to show us Louis' post-war problems and unbroken attitude in the end (yes, I would have happily sat through despite the fact that it was already a very long movie); or just cutting out the mentions of Louis dedicating his life to God. Obviously I wouldn't have liked it that way, either, but at least it wouldn't have felt so thrown together. Just saying in the end that he became faithful and positive almost confuses the audience, because there was nothing during his war years that showed him turning to God (except for that one time when he thought he was going to die on the ocean, but never again after that).

In conclusion, I really did like this movie. It was an amazing watch, and I recommend it to everybody who's seen the mixed reviews and isn't sure about it. Kudos to Angelina Jolie for doing as well as she did. I look forward to seeing what she'll do next. I just hope that next time she doesn't use a cop-out ending like this one.

However, I recommend reading the book first so that you can really get a feel for who Louis Zamperini was and what his unbroken spirit was really about.

Sunday Soliloquy: We Need a Little Christmas

During our morning scripture study, Sarah and I were talking about fasting and why we need to do it at least once a month. After reading several verses and talking about personal experiences, we concluded that fasting is a kind of magnified, extended prayer. 

Prayer is something we do (or should do) every morning and every evening, and really any time. But when we fast, we humble ourselves a little more. Every rumble of our empty bellies is like a reminder to pray and think about why you're fasting and what you're asking of the Lord. Rather than pray in the morning and then forget to pray again until evening, our hunger reminds us all day to have a prayer in our hearts. 

Christmas is like fasting.

You know the song, "We Need a Little Christmas"? I used to find it so annoying, but now it's one of my favorites.

Here are the lyrics, in case you're unfamiliar with it:

Haul out the holly;
Put up the tree before my spirit falls again.
Fill up the stocking,
I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now.

For we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute.
Candles in the window,
Carols at the spinet.
Yes we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute. 

It hasn't snowed a single flurry,
But Santa, dear, we're in a hurry. 

So climb down the chimney;
Put up the brightest string of lights I've ever seen.
Slice up the fruitcake;
It's time we hung some tinsel on that evergreen bough. 

For I've grown a little leaner,
Grown a little colder,
Grown a little sadder,
Grown a little older.
And I need a little angel
Sitting on my shoulder;
Need a little Christmas now!

It's a very cheerful melody. Very peppy. Which is why I never really liked it before--I tend to gravitate towards the somber, reverent Christmas songs.

But that last verse is as somber as they come even if the tune is upbeat, and it kind of encompasses everything I feel around the Christmas season. 

This week in Utah has been really sunny, but usually it's incredibly cold, cloudy, and miserable this time of year. Even though we now know Christ was born in April, I'm kind of glad Christmas is in December, because what better time for the most cheerful holiday of the year?

By December, we're looking back on the goals we didn't meet, the funds we failed to save up, the improvements we neglected this year. We're freezing and the days are short, which means less natural endorphins from sunlight. And the older we get, the less magical the world around us seems to be.

But then--Christmas! Christmas happens! And who cares that we fell short? Who cares that it's dark and cold and miserable? It's Christmas! 

We need Christmas to come around every year. It's not just a nice tradition; it's something as necessary for our yearly spiritual health as a fast is for our monthly spiritual health. We need it. 

Christmas means making an effort to connect with people. It means giving gifts to neighbors we've never met and to coworkers we don't get along with and to family members we may be disconnected from. 

It means that even when we've grown too old to believe in Santa Claus and flying reindeer, we can still think back on the magic and the wonder we used to feel. It means that we strive to feel it again, or at least help those around us feel it again or for the first time.

But most of all, Christmas means thinking about the Savior. Just as fasting is an extra push of prayer (which should be a daily habit), thinking of Christ should be something we do every day of the year, but the month of December gives us reminders at every turn. It's in our face wherever we go--in supermarkets and on the radio and in our homes. 

Christmas gives us that extra nudge to remember the greatest gift that God has ever given us--His beloved son, Jesus Christ.

One of my favorite parts of the Book of Mormon is when Nephi is asking the angel about his father's vision of the Tree of Life. The angel shows Nephi the tree, and Nephi asks for an interpretation. 

The angel could have very easily just said, "Oh, it's God's love." Instead, the angel disappeared, and Nephi had a vision of his own.

And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the great city of Jerusalem, and also other cities. And I beheld the city of Nazareth; and in the city of Nazareth I beheld a virgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white. 

And it came to pass that I saw the heavens open; and an angel came down and stood before me; and he said unto me: Nephi, what beholdest thou? 

And I said unto him: A virgin, most beautiful and fair above all other virgins. 

And he said unto me: Knowest thou the condescension of God? 

And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things. 

And he said unto me: Behold, the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Song of God, after the manner of the flesh. 

And it came to pass that I beheld that she was carried away in the Spirit; and after she had been carried away in the Spirit for the space of a time the angel spake unto me, saying: Look! 

And I looked and beheld the virgin again, bearing a child in her arms. 

And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw? 

And I answered him, saying: Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things. 

And he spake unto me, saying: Yea, and the most joyous to the soul.

(1 Nephi 11: 13-23)

Nephi already knew that the Lord loves all His children. That was probably the most fundamental thing Nephi knew--the thing his "goodly parents" taught him his whole life. 

But then he saw the first Christmas, and he knew. 

God loves us. He didn't send His Beloved Son to be born of a virgin in a lowly manger just to show us a miracle--He did it so that His Son could grow up leading us by example, work miracles to give us hope and comfort, suffer for our sins, and conquer death. All for our sakes. 

God has given us countless blessings--so many that we probably don't even know about, let alone acknowledge. But His Son was the greatest gift of all--the light of the world. 

It's something we should remember every day of our lives, but Christmas gives us that extra little push--that constant reminder in the month of December that lifts our spirits and reminds us of the love God has for us all year round. 

So rather than get annoyed by people who clamor for "A little Christmas now," I'm going to try to appreciate every day of this month where everyone and everything around me reminds me of what I wish I remembered more during the rest of the year.

May we all feel God's love for us and for those around us as we celebrate this wonderful Christmas season. 

God bless us, every one. 

Ambiance/Production(?) Review: The Forgotten Carols by Michael McLean

You may or may not know this already, but I've been hired as the Deseret Book corporate office receptionist, which I'm extremely excited about because I get to meet cool people ever day, it's deep in the heart of the editing world, and I get awesome perks.

Case in point: By the time I started working there, Secret Santa assignments had already been given and carried out and I didn't expect to be involved in any way. But on my second day, I got to my desk and found these from Santa!

Awww! Unfortunately I'm off of sugar right now (which will get its own blog post explanation later), so I didn't eat them myself but Mom, Sarah, and Ashley really enjoyed them! And in this case, it really was the thought that counted.

I could list a bunch of awesome people (including some LDS celebrities) that I met just this first week in the office, but I won't. Just know it's been incredible. 

And then on Thursday it was a normal, chill day at the desk when I got an e-mail saying that Corporate was giving away 100 free tickets to their employees for The Forgotten Carols Friday night in Orem. 

I pounced. Not even knowing who could go with me or if I could make it, I snatched up four tickets right away. 

The Forgotten Carols has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I grew up listening to the CD while driving home from grandparents' houses on cold winter nights. I read the book once a long time ago. But I had yet to actually see the full production. It's been on my bucket list for forever, I just never got the chance or had the money. 

So to be offered tickets for free (even if they were last-minute for a production far away) was the best Christmas present I could have asked for this season.

Official logo from forgottencarols.com

I'm categorizing this as partly Ambiance because going to this production was an experience. It wasn't a play to be analyzed and criticized, it was a memory and a flood of feelings that has to be witnessed for oneself to be understood--as grandiose and moving as a spectacular landscape or a brilliant sunrise. 

I was really stressed leading up to the performance, because I was told we had to claim my tickets before 6:30 or they would be given away. Cue bumper-to-bumper traffic. 

We made it there by 6:45, and to my immense relief my tickets were still there waiting for us! It was just me and Mom who made it (it was too last minute for anyone else to come with us), and we had great seats only a few rows back from the side of the stage.

I knew what to expect from the story because, like I said, I grew up listening to it and reading it. But seeing it all in musical form was completely different. The singing wasn't as good as the CD I have on my iPod, but the acting was good and hearing the songs in the context was like really hearing them for the first time. 

For those of you who know absolutely nothing about The Forgotten Carols, it's about a nurse named Constance who is given the task of taking care of an eccentric old man over the week of Christmas. Constance is always caught up in her work and doesn't connect with people well. When she arrives at the man's house, she is at first very annoyed by the crazy "Uncle" John, who resists her professionalism, calling her Connie Lou, insisting he's over 2000 years old, and sharing Christmas carols with her that she's never heard before. 

Photo from forgottencarols.com

Uncle John's carols are all from people who witnessed the birth of the Savior themselves (he's 2000 years old, remember, so he knew them all personally), and as he shares them, Constance's empty life is gradually filled with the true spirit of Christmas, and she learns to open her heart to others.

Here's a trailer, if that wasn't enough for you:

It's a very simple stage production, with a limited cast and a small choir, but the music and the feelings were as powerful as a MoTab performance in the Conference Center.

I laughed, and I cried. Oh my goodness did I cry. The touching story of Uncle John forever changing Connie Lou's life wasn't the half of it, though that was tear-jerking on its own. No, what really got to me was how Michael McLean ended the show. 

McLean plays Uncle John himself, so when he came onto the stage to end the show, we all greeted him with roaring applause. But after a few more jokes and thanks to those who helped put it together, he got very sober. He told us how this was his first production without at least one of his parents in attendance, and that he was actually wearing his late father's clothes as Uncle John's costume.

He then proceeded to play one of his older songs for us on the piano. I'm sure you'd recognize it if you heard it. The chorus goes, "We can be together forever someday," repeated three times. Hearing him sing it was sad enough, knowing he was thinking of his parents. But then he played it again and had us sing the chorus with him.

Afterwards, he said, "Wow. That was...so reverent." We'd all kind of mumble-sung it half-heartedly, so he made us sing it again, this time with our arms linked with the people sitting next to us. This time we all sang a little louder--with a little more love in our hearts.

Finally, he told us to think about someone who wasn't there with us--someone who just couldn't make it. Someone who is far away. Someone who maybe isn't even on this side of the veil anymore.

When we sang it that last time, half of the audience sang it at the top of their lungs. The rest of us were too choked up with tears to sing at all.

McLean let the chorus trail off. The dark auditorium was filled with eye drying and sniffles. He asked us to remember what the Christmas season is really about. He reminded us that we sometimes feel like our carols are forgotten, but that Christ and Heavenly Father never forget us. And then he asked us to sing the one carol we'll never forget--"Silent Night."

Again, I was too choked up to sing very much, but I did my best. After singing the first verse, he asked us to hum it again. As we did, he said goodbye, he walked off the stage, and the lights shut off before we'd even made it to the last line.

A few people clapped when the song faded away, but for the most part the audience was quiet. Reverent. I've never seen anything like it before. Not even General Conference ends that quietly and thoughtfully.

I left that auditorium with a resolve in my heart to not only listen to The Forgotten Carols until April but also to open my heart more and remember Christ. Not just during the month of December, but all year round.

In summary, I recommend seeing this production if you get the chance. I HIGHLY recommend it. No matter who you are, no matter your circumstance, this production will speak to you. It will remind you what Christmas is all about. Who it has always been about.

Merry Christmas!