Book Reviews

Summary: A 16 year old English girl that grew up in the free society of Barbados moves to a closely controlled community of Puritans in Connecticut in 1687.

Yet once again, I thought I had read a book, and when I go to read it again, realize I had not.  This season of not buying new books has been pushing me to my library for audiobooks.   I have tons of kindle books in my library that I need to get around to reading.  But I do not have a lot of audiobooks that I have not read, especially fiction audiobooks.  So I am working through my library wishlist.

The Witch of Blackbird pond was published in 1958 and was the first of two Newberry Awards that Elizabeth George Speare won (The other was for The Bronze Bow).  Only 5 authors have received 2 Newberry Awards and no author has received more than two.  When I was growing up I read a lot of historical fiction in my middle grade years.  And since then I have read a lot more history.  I am fairly familiar with the time period.  Jonathan Edwards (although from Massachusetts) was born a few years after this book was set.

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Summary: A great reminder of what is gained and lost by stability, and what happens when we are willing to find out.

There is a great quote by CS Lewis from God in the Dock about the importance of reading old books.  He says that it is not because they are inherently better because they are old, but because they have different biases and blind spots and we get things out of them that we cannot out of modern books because those books can speak to us in ways that modern books cannot.  This book reminds me that this is generationally true as well.

I have read a lot of 20 something memoirs.  Donald Miller, Shauna Niequist, Anne Marie Miller and the many others.  There is something particularly bold (and foolish) about writing a memoir when you are only about 20 or 30 percent through your life.  There is so much more to learn and understand and experience that it is just not possible to have learned, understood or experienced when you are still in your 20s.

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Summary: A Very Short Introduction to the Academic field of African History, not actual history itself.

Oxford Press’ Very Short Introduction series continues to interest and somewhat discourage me.

It is interesting because the idea of getting a short introduction to a particular subject in about 150 or so pages by someone that is well known in the field is a great idea.

The problem is that about half of the books I have read from the series just do not live up to the promise.  A Very Short Introduction to African History has the same basic problems as A Very Short Introduction to the Bible.  It is a lot about the academic practice of African History, the problems of doing history with predominantly non-literate cultures, in a geography that tends to short term structures, that has been very altered by climate change over the past 10,000 years and with a subject as diverse as an entire continent that is separated by language, culture, racial characteristics and that contains a huge diaspora.

All of those academic concerns really are interesting, but they do not tell me much about actual African History.  And I think most people that pick up the book, probably are interested more in the actual African History than the problems of the academic study of African History.

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Summary: A young adult retelling of Beauty and the Beast.  Although it feels more like a retelling of the Disney movie than the original story.

YA sync is a program that matches an old book to a thematically similar new book and gives both audiobooks away during the summer.  It is a great program to introduce teens to both new and old books that they might not find another way.  (The 2014 summer schedule has been released and it includes Corrie ten Boom’s The Hiding Place.)

I picked up Beastly two or three years ago through YA Sync but until now had not listened it.  Beastly is a retelling of the Beauty and the Beast story.  I read the original short story a while ago.  So I am familiar with both the Disney and original story and this feels more like the Disney than the original (although Disney is pretty true to the original.)

Kyle is a spoiled, rich 16 year old.  His father is a network news anchor that has no time for Kyle.  His mother ran off years ago.  After being mean to a girl at school (asking her to the dance and then publicly standing her up at the entrance to the dance) he is cursed and turned into a beast.  He has two years to get someone to love him and kiss him or else the curse will become permanent.

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Reposting this 2012 review because the Kindle and Audible Audiobooks are free for the month of March as part of a promotion of whispersync. See the bottom of the review for details.

Summary: Sherlock Holmes solves a murder.

After reading the Picture of Dorian Gray, I decided to move onto The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  Like so many classics, I am familiar with Sherlock Holmes, but I have not actually read more than one or two short stories.  This is a full book, about the same length as Dorian Gray and as I found out when looking into Dorian Gray, they were both commissioned at the same dinner meeting with an editor of a monthly literary journal.

Both Wilde and Doyle submitted stories and both were eventually published as full length book in 1890.

The Sign of Four opens with Holmes doing drugs (cocaine in this case, but it is clear from the story that Homes also was doing heroin).  Holmes claimed to a very concerned Watson, it was his only option when there were no cases.

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Summary: The book that coined the word cyberspace turns 30 this year.  Arguably the start of the cyberpunk movement.

Growing up, my go-to genres were Science Fiction, Fantasy and Biography. All three of which I still have a great fondness for, even though I have have greatly expanded my literary palate.

Neuromancer is one of those books that is referred to by so many that I feel like I should have read it by now.  I have read a number of other cyberpunk books but not this one that is now 30 years old.

If you have not heard of cyberpunk but have heard of Neuromancer, it is because William Gibson coined the word cyberspace in its pages.

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Summary: Using the book of Ruth to explore relationships as a Christian.

When I was offered this book to review, I was excited. I have read Miller’s previous book, A Praying Life, twice and highly recommend it as a practical guide on prayer.

But as much as it grieves me I had to really force myself to finish the book. Others might not be as irritated as I was, but it seemed to hit all of my major issues with Christian Living books. First, it attempts to use historical research and language study to try and establish authority and background on the book of Ruth. I am not opposed to this, strongly support this. But Miller seems to spend more time reading modern culture back onto the book of Ruth than using historical research to illuminate us modern readers. And his lack of academic skills shows through. This is reminiscent of a pastor that has a read a lot of commentaries and taken a few hebrew words and cultural concepts and pulled far more out of them than what is really warranted.

Second, Miller repeatedly over simplifies problems, which then leads to overly simplified answers. One good example:

“Our modern age creates categories…and then traps people in them. For instance if we label 2 year olds with ‘Terrible twos’ then they are no longer responsible. So when they lose their tempers they are just exhibiting the ‘terrible twos’ instead of sin in need of discipline. Labeling returns us to the rigid world of paganism which freezes everyone into a category, ethnic group, occupation or social status.”

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Summary: A very helpful book, when used rightly.

When Helping Hurts is a book that has really changed the way that many have looked at Christian social ministry and short term missions. But I have been reluctant to read it. Not because I thought it would be a bad book but because I feared how it misused. However, since christianaudio has it as the free book for February 2014, I thought it would be a good time to read and review it.

First a bit of background on me and how I am reading it. I have a Masters in Social Service Administration (like an MSW, but administratively focused.) I have been a consultant for small church based non-profits since 1997. Initially working for a denominational office, I spun off my work into an independent organization when the denominational office ran out of funding for my position.  My wife was also a short term volunteer coordinator for almost a year before we were married at the same denominational office.

So I do not come at this book ignorant of how Christians have approached social ministry or short term missions nor the current best practices for Christian ministry. I can tell you that this book (and several similar like Toxic Charity by Robert Lupton) have made a difference. Many funders and staff at non-profits have read these and really want to focus on doing the best work for the kingdom of Christ.

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Summary: A Catholic understanding of the role of spiritual direction.

One of the most important reasons to regularly read outside your stream of Christianity is that the same words or concepts are treated differently because of the experience of the different stream of faith.  That difference can often spark new understanding, or at least fresh perspective on your own stream.

So I have read several books about spiritual direction, but none previous to this from a particularly Catholic perspective.  Regular readers of this blog may know that I started seeing a spiritual director early last fall.  I am still trying to work through my role in (and the full purpose of) spiritual direction.

Because this book is written particularly to Catholics (as opposed to for Christians but by a Catholic) there are some differences in perspective (no Protestant book on spiritual direction would include a section on Mary as the exemplary pathway to Jesus).  But overwhelmingly this book is helpful to both Protestant and Catholics that are interested in spiritual direction if you read it generously.

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