Left Behind

by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins

I haven't read this book in almost eighteen or nineteen years.  It feels so weird to type that.  The last time I recall reading it though, I was in the throws of pregnancies and toddlerhood.  I was one of the last to pick it up at the time, everyone else I knew had already read it or was on like book eight or nine of the series.  I do remember when I finally decided to see what all of the fuss was about, it was only two or three years after 9/11, and the story gripped me.  I remember reading as much as I could before exhaustion took over each night.

I was delighted to find it just as gripping today as I did then, but was surprised with one main difference.  The changes that the world, our nation, and our communities have undergone in the last fifteen to twenty years were more stark, more obvious.  I am not just talking about the technological differences (they still used palm pilots and VCR's), but the divisions, the anger, the mass shootings and riots and even in how the news was reported...you don't really grasp how much has changed until you read a book that was written in the mid-90s and compare it today.

Anyway - I won't type much of a review because I know most people have either read the first book or seen one of several movies out about it (my personal favorites are the original three with Kirk Cameron), but I do hope to read the entire series.  I never finished it the first time through because it was still being written and published and by the time the last book hit the shelves life had become a bit crazier in our neck of the woods, so I had to shelve all reading for many, many years.  I am SO thankful to be back to reading again, I think reading and writing are two of the greatest gifts God has given us.  Have a great week - hope it included some great reading.  💕