In the interest of better management and ease, I'm now doing all my book reviews at:
http://thesoundsofliving.blogspot.com/, until further notice.
There are several new ones not posted here.
Thanks for understanding.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Finding Our Way Home
Finding Our Way Home by Charlene Baumbich, is a nice book to
read, with one caveat. I would classify
this book as wholesome, or inspirational fiction, rather than Christian
fiction.
The characters are very relatable and human. I especially
enjoyed Evelyn and would love to find a friend like her. Evelyn is very
outspoken and a little pushy, but she does it with love and concern-not in a
mean spirited or hateful way.
Sasha, the main character, has her ballet career cut short
by a fall causing too many injuries to be able to return to ballet. The book
follows her struggles with therapy, a marriage she ran away from and her
equally head strong assistant, Evelyn.
I was disturbed by the seeming "magical" quality
of the snow globe and the fact that there was very little of a
"Christian" nature in this book. I've always felt a Christian book should have
a clear message of salvation, bible verses or at the very least people that go
to church. Having said that, if you can
overlook the magic, perhaps this book is better suited to the more mature
Christian and not a new believer.
I got into a lively discussion with another book lover as to
whether the book was actually Christian fiction. Some of the questions floated
were:
1) if the book were set in another country, like Saudi Arabia,
would it be termed "Muslim fiction"?
2) do Christian books have to have Bible verses or a plan of
salvation? (as this book has neither),
3)are the minor glimpses into Sasha's marriage, especially
the bedroom scenes, a mildly risqué part of the book, too much for Christian
fiction?
I did enjoy the book, and as you can see it opened the way
for quite a debate! The characters came
alive and you felt empathy for them. The
story reads as true to life. I would hesitate, however, in recommending it for
everyone, young people in particular.
This book was provided to me free by Waterbrook Multnomah in
exchange for an unbiased review.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Where Lilacs Still Bloom, by Jane Kirkpatrick, is a
wonderful book of fiction based on the life of Hulda Klager.
Hulda was born in 1863 and came to America with her family
when she was two. With only an eighth
grade education she was able to turn her love of hybridizing and lilacs into a
rich legacy by creating over 250 new varieties of lilacs.
Her father encouraged her in her experiments and cautioned
her that not everyone would think what she did was a respectable or moral thing.
Indeed Hulda, herself, sometimes felt
guilt that was induced by others, at what some perceived as tampering with
nature.
In her 96 years of living, Hulda faced many, many heartaches
and losses and even overcame a bout of major depression to triumph over most of
the hardships.
Jane Kirkpatrick does a masterful job of integrating
composite characters with real people allowing the reader to get to know Hulda,
her family and her hybridizing experiments even better.
The book is very inspirational and exciting. During the
course of reading, I found that Hulda's gardens have been restored and are
still available for viewing. I've
decided, because of my love for lilacs, that I want to visit her gardens
sometime soon.
This book was provided for me by Waterbrook Multnomah in
exchange for an unbiased review.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
New Review
New review on E-co-nom-ics: A
Simple Twist on Normalcy by Kersten Kelly @
http://youreadwrite.blogspot.com/
http://youreadwrite.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Sunday, April 8, 2012
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