Over three weeks into the Spring Reading Thing 2009 and I haven’t made any progress on the books I really need to be reading (i.e. the non-fiction ones that have been sitting around either on my shelf or on my list for a long time). I am going to start working on those this week and hopefully will have a better report next time.
In the meantime, I have reviewed some of the novels I have read lately (some of them were from before I put up my first post, but they were finished after March 20th, which was the official start date!). I added rating stars, but please don’t think two stars is horrible, because if it was that bad, I would have stopped reading it or not even tried to rate it.
Healing Waters by Nancy Rue & Stephen Arterburn ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
This book is labeled as a Sullivan Crisp novel, so I wasn’t sure if I would be too out of the loop, not having read any other books with this main character. As far as I can tell, it did not detract from the story, and I am definitely going to seek out some of the other books to read more.
I’m not going to even try to give a one-sentence blurb; this is such a complex book with an intriguing amount of depth in both the relationships and the ideas. Ultimately, it is about the relationship between God and faith and suffering, and I highly recommend it.
Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler ★ ★ ★ ★
I really enjoyed this novel about a single woman from current-day Los Angeles wakes up in the body of a woman living during the time of Jane Austen.
As fun as it is to watch her navigate the strange customs and interpersonal relationships, there is also a sense of mystery about who she really is and how she and this other woman are connected. (And I didn’t have the annoying sense that I so often have with these types of books that the author is trying to mimic Austen’s turn of phrase.)
The God Cookie by Geoffrey Wood ★ ★ ★ ★
I wasn’t too sure about this one in the first couple of chapters, but I definitely got into in as it went along. I was afraid it was going to be another “Heart Reader,” which was fine but more about the message than the characters, so I was very pleasantly surprised by the depth of the relationships created during the course of the story.
Here’s a paragraph that really stood out to me:
When everything all in a moment comes together, surprisingly perfect, it doesn’t prove there’s a loving God; but if there is, isn’t it perfect when all in a moment, God proves how surprisingly he loves? It was like magic, but so much of magic is about misdirection, whereas so much of redemption is straightforward and ordinary, piercing true and lit with surprise.
And I love the “Extra Bit” – very clever!
Lessons in Heartbreak by Cathy Kelly ★ ★ ★
This story starts out with Izzie, an Irish girl living and working in New York, and weaves in and out with what is happening back in her hometown in Ireland as her grandmother, Lily, comes to the end of her life.
While you are learning about what is going on in the current day, you are also learning about Lily’s history as a nurse during World War II and how her experiences have shaped the present. Definitely a satisfying read.
Every Now and Then by Karen Kingsbury ★ ★ ★
I love Karen Kingsbury’s books. The 9/11 series books, of which this is one, doesn’t draw me as much as the Baxter family ones, but they are still quite good. Having read the previous stories where the main characters are healing and moving on from the tragedies they experienced, I really felt the contrast with this main character, Alex Brady, who is still hard and withdrawn so many years later.
He has thrown himself into fighting the bad guys, but later is confronted by his friend Clay with the truth about Jesus’ sacrifice in these words:
“Christ didn’t die so we could go out and win the fight against evil in the world.” … He pressed his open hand to the place over his heart. “He died so we might win the fight against evil here. Within us.”
Scrapping Plans by Rebeca Seitz ★ ★
How can anyone resist a fun, light book about sisters and friends and romance and faith that also includes scrapbooking? This is part of her Sisters, Ink. series. Even though they aren’t earth-shattering novels, there is something about them that keeps drawing me back to read more.
Dangerous Heart by Tracey Bateman ★ ★
Light, historical, romantic Christian fiction – what more can I say. Well, I guess I will say, this is a good book to have along when you want to have something to read but know you aren’t going to be able to focus on a really involved story.
Also, it’s the last in a trilogy, so you may want to look for the first two if you like this type of book (although it’s certainly not required to follow along).
Luke’s Story: By Faith Alone by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins ★ ★
I have generally avoided their books, feeling that I was traumatized enough in high school by the rapture movies shown in youth group, and not wanting to get caught up in all of that again. At the church I attend now, our pastor says that when he is asked whether he is a pre-millenialist or post-millenialist, he claims to be a pan-millenialist: “It will all pan out in the end.” That works for me, as I have other fish to fry theologically at the moment.
Anyway, I was intrigued when I saw they were writing novelizations of the lives of the gospel writers. Evidently, John and Mark have already been published, so I will likely read those as well. I did enjoy this book overall, although at points it got a bit too didactic and too much straight from scripture (especially since they include the entire book of Luke at the end of the book).
I’ll post more as the challenge continues, and you can see what I am supposed to be reading at my Spring Reading Thing post. You can also check out other people’s lists and reviews at Callapidder Days.
