Adam Shields

Takeaway: A haunting and beautiful novel.  Shows what can really be done with suspense.

I have been a big fan of the 1940 movie Rebecca by Alfred Hitchcock.  It is one of my all time favorite movies.  But I had not read the book.  It is a very highly rated book written just before the movie in 1938.

The story is that a young woman (who narrates the book, but is never actually named) marries a rich, older widower (Maxim de Winter).  He brings her home to his estate where she is continually haunted by the first Mrs de Winter.  This not really a ghost story, but rather the story of how the young bride feels compared to the other woman.

It is a psychological thriller.  There is no violence, no sex, no bad language, but just a feeling of inferiority and tension that drives the book.  The gender roles of the book are dated.  And at times I just wanted the 2nd Mrs de Winter (or her husband) to pay attention to what was going on around them.  But on the whole it stands up very well after 70 years.

Read more

Summary: Georgie goes to a wedding in Transylvania.  I am sure no bodies will turn up. 

I am a big fan of fluff reading.  So turn the noses up at the idea of a book that does not fully engage the mind or bring up deep ideas.  I am certainly not opposed to big idea books.  But you just can’t only read big idea books, or you are distorting part of the purpose of reading.

Her Royal Spyness series is a light cozy mystery series.  They are set in the early 1930s with Georgie (the 34th in line to the throne) as the main character.  Her family is broke and she is trying to make it on her own.  But she keeps stumbling into (or being pushed by the Queen) into situations where she has to use her head to solve the mystery.

Read more

Summary: Memoir as spiritual growth encouragement.

Jonathan Merritt is a journalist and writer.  His two previous books, A Faith of Our Own (politics and culture) and Green Like God (Environmentalism) are more issue books.  But Jesus is Better Than You Imagined is a memoir.

Jesus is Better Than You Imagined is mostly a book about Merritt’s life and what he has learned through his experiences.  A few years ago I read a number of memoirs in a short period of time and I got a bit burned out by them.

The problem with memoirs is that they are so personal and because of the personal nature it can be hard to interact with them.  And the very nature of memoirs (especially Christian ones) is that the author often seems to be so wise because they are processing what they have learned as part of the book, even though it is often long after the events recounted that the author was really able to fully process the events as they are being presented.

On the other hand, this type of spiritual memoir can really be edifying to read because we can see how God is working through circumstances for their good.  Memoir and spiritual biography I think should be a regular part of any Christian’s spiritual reading.  But there is a problem with too much of a good thing.

Read more

Summary: A series of essays on faith and culture.

James KA Smith is a philosophy professor at Calvin College and editor of Comment Magazine.  He keeps coming across my radar screen but I have not read enough of his books.  I picked up Discipleship in the Present Tense last year when it was released.  It has taken me a nearly a year to get around to reading it, but it is worth the read.

I have had a long standing opposition to parts of Reformed Theology.  But Smith makes me want to investigate wings of the Reformed world that are less focused on the newer ‘Restless and Reformed’ wing and more focused on the older full systems of the Reformed Tradition. (He is more interested in liturgy, the full life of the Christian and less focused on 5 points and cage fighting.)

In the series of 24 essays, Smith mostly is talking about the church’s relationship to culture.  Some of the essays I have read before, such as the very good review of James Davidson Hunter’s book To Change the World which appeared in Books and Culture Magazine and I linked to in my review of Hunter’s book.  But most were new to me.

Read more