April 10, 2013

What I've Been Reading... Johnny Cash series!

This is a little delayed, because I actually finished this series of books right before I left for the Dominican.  I have never claimed to be a good writer, and usually suck at reading even more. I've recently fell in love with reading and I don't understand it at all! I guess it's a new time in my life, for new things!  So, I'm gonna give it my best shot, giving a brief description of the books and my thoughts about each. Here we go!

What I've been Reading What I've been Reading

Johnny Cash - The Autobiography: This was simply an amazing book. It was easy to read and flowed well. Johnny is a great story teller. He tells all about his life from beginning until end...well almost end. He lets you in on everything from family, to band members, song inspiration and wacky stories. It was fascinating and I couldn't put it down! It's also fun to read and see how it lines up with the movie "Walk the Line". Pretty cool!

The Man Called Cash by Steve Turner: I thought this might be boring and just repeat what I had already read. Sometimes it did repeat stories, but in a different and equally interesting way. Steve Turner actually goes into detail on some things that you might have wondered about after reading the autobiography. He also points out some discrepancies in stories from what he had learned vs what Johnny says. Very very interesting. Some of the things made you wonder if Johnny was just a story teller, liar, exaggerator or crazy. Hahah. It's a great read and the perfect compliment to the autobiography. I also learned that Shel Silverstein who wrote The Giving Tree, also wrote A Boy Named Sue. Mind blown!

I Walked The Line by Vivian Cash: When I found out that Johnny's first wife Vivian wrote a book, I knew I had to read it. I always thought the movie unfairly portrayed her as some sort of witch who deserved everything that happened to her. She gets to tell her side of the story in this book, and with Cash's blessing even. She seemed to be a very dedicated and loving wife who's family was destroyed by addiction. With Johnny's big time problem with amphetamines, and the fact his wife and children were rarely with him, his life got well...messed up. The book includes EVERY SINGLE letter that Johnny wrote to Vivan while he was stationed in Germany. It got a little old at times, but I persevered through them and I'm glad I did. Very very cool book, definitely worth the read!

Man In White by Johnny Cash: This is a historical fiction written by Cash himself about the conversion of the apostle Paul. At times during the book I got bored, then at times I was loving it. I got mad at myself a few times for not understanding what was going on. I expected a little more of myself since I have read the Bible and should know this stuff! *sigh * Overall it was great and really put life to the the Pharisees, Saul/Paul, Peter and the whole Damascus road experience. If you're going to read this, I highly recommend at least reading Acts chapter 7, 8 & 9 first. I read those chapters after the book, and it was just as fun to compare and contrast.

Now enjoy "Flushed From The Bathroom of Your Heart" by Johnny Cash.