Changes to The Reader Club
Welcome to the Reader Club if this is your first episode. If it's not, then welcome back. It's been a while. I am your host, Randal Murphey. Randy, by those who know me well, or you can just call me Randy. You don't have to know me well to call me Randy. It's fine. And I am doing a little bit of a different format. If you are on YouTube, you can watch this. This is the first episode for which I will be doing a video, and it's a little bit different. I'm not quite used to the video format. I typically stumble over my words in the video format. Even the podcast.
When I was doing the podcast, there were many times I was often editing out a lot of things that I had said. So that might happen. here. This part might be edited out. Who knows? But if you're just joining for the first time, this group, video channel, or whatever we call it, reviews books. Mostly, they’re books from young adults and middle grades. And it's usually in the fantasy because that's what I like to read, and please don't judge me. That's also where I write, in middle-grade fantasy or young adult fantasy. It's just what I enjoy and what my kids enjoy right now. And so I started this podcast to, well, it began as a podcast, and it's now morphed into video format. But I started this to read the books my kids are reading.
because I wanted them to read good books, and I wanted to have discussions with them, especially along the lines of the gospel and how we should be oriented from the Bible to the things we're reading and watching and consuming. And so this is how it started, and I figured, you know, some other people might be interested in that. Some kids might be interested in hearing great books to read. It kind of happened from that.
But yeah, new format. It's also going to come with a new... It's a new format, and it's also going to come with a new style. So I'm not going to be doing all the things that I used to do. I will try to do this quickly, or a little more quickly, as I've done. If you've been following me for a while, I started a PhD program just recently, and I need to be able to do a 10-minute video and not have to write it or edit all the video and audio.
and all the things. It took me several hours and I'm trying to cut it down. Part of why I'm doing this is using this little device called Plod. And Plod is a great little device that takes what I'm saying and transcribes it. So if I'm even talking right now, kind of fast, it will hear me transcribe it and I get to just take those notes, copy them and put them on a new, copy them and put them on the reader club.
So if you read it, hopefully you're getting a bit cleaner version than all my ups and ums and all the things people will see on YouTube and judge me for. All right, I read this book last summer to start us off. So it's been a while, so bear with me if I've forgotten some of the details of it, but it's a great book, I assure you. I don't like to give out bad books. I may not be doing my star ratings anymore and all that, but you might see it. It depends.
Intro to the Book
But this is No Ordinary Thing by G. Z. Schmidt. I actually got the opportunity to meet Gigi, so Gail, at a conference-like thing in Orange County, and she even signed my book. I mean, look at that there. If you're reading it, then just know I showed the audience. And great, gal, really lovely, really kind. As I'm a starting author myself, she was sweet and just encouraging. But that doesn't affect my opinion of the book at all. I am going to read the back of the book because I think it summarizes it well.
“When a mysterious customer tells Adam that great adventures await him in the attic of his uncle's bakery. Adam brushes off this exchange. But days later in the attic, Adam makes a discovery that quickly sets him off on a whirlwind adventure. Adam soon suspects that he may not be the only one aware of his extraordinary secret when a tall man with long eyebrows and a thin mustache appears to follow his every move.”
What’s the Story
Now, a little bit of a spoiler. This is a time-traveling book. I don't typically love time-traveling books, but this is, again, magical and fantastic, and it's really great. Part of the reason I don't love time-traveling books is because they loop on themselves, creating a lot of loopholes and I don't love that. But I like this book and think it wraps up nicely, especially in gospel themes. Time travel, I feel like, alludes to an idea that God doesn't exist, that you can do things outside God's control and sovereignty, and that you can change things. But this book actually talks about that.
Not necessarily about God and sovereignty but the way things will always be. It talks about the fact that there are things beyond our control, that they can go back in time, that all those going back in time and all the things that they might be able to do, the same result will always play out. It was always that way. It was always going to be that way. And there's something greater controlling the universe, the timeline, all things. There's something more significant than that. There's something greater than that one character going back in time, thinking that they can change something. And so I think it speaks of the sovereignty of God.
Now, the blurb says Adam was in his uncle's attic. He lives at the bakery in an apartment upstairs in New York. Adam lives with his uncle. So again, a little bit of a spoiler, but Adam's parents have died, and that's in the very first chapter. He's living with his uncle and his parents are gone. So I don't feel like I'm spoiling too much. But he's living with his parents, and as he discovers this time-traveling ability, he begins to think that maybe things can change. And when we believe that we can change things like that, we get the idea that we're in control, like I said before. But it is not just that we’re in control; we become disconnected. With the way that things are.
Adam was already kind of discontented. He didn't have a lot of friends. He has a friend, a mouse, and a friend at the homeless shelter who’s an older homeless gentleman who is super sweet and kind. But he didn't have a lot of friends his age. And he's discontent with life. I think one of the things that this book brings out is friendship and contentedness. It focuses on the fact that things aren't going to change and appreciate things the way that things the way are now, in the present. This is a great story to refocus us on contentedness, how to be good friends, and how to put others first.
Final Thoughts
It's a great story. I think for grades probably four through eight. After that, it's perhaps a little young for any high school reader, but I mean, more power to you if you read it. I read it as a 35-year-old man, but it's a great book. I recommend picking it up. If I were to give it, I guess I can still provide star ratings, even though I said no. If I were to give it a star rating, it's a 4.5. It is just an excellent read. Schmidt has done an excellent job. I can't wait to pick up more from her. She has a couple of other books out. I mean, I don't see those getting signed, but you know, I got one. But yeah, it's great. I recommend it. Pick it up at some local bookstore or on Amazon, where it's available.
And until next time, have a good read.
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