Book Reviews

Summary: A man leaves his family and heads to Hollywood to direct a film that God told him to direct.

Frank Schaeffer is an acquired taste.  I have mostly enjoyed the three books of his that I have read.  But he has a lot of anger.  And some of it is directed toward valid issues.  Some of it is over the top.

Frank Schaeffer is the only son and youngest child of Edith and Francis Schaeffer.  He grew up at L’aBri, a retreat center in Switzerland that was focused on reaching out to youth.  For a while Frank was one of the best partners in publicizing his father and mother’s work.

But after working to help organize the anti-abortion movement and helping give fuel to new religious right, Frank started working as a Hollywood director and eventually left the Evangelical world, became Eastern Orthodox and has become primarily known as a writer.

After primarily writing non-fiction recently, ‘And God Said, Billy!’ is his first novel since 2006.  The end result is a conversion story of sorts.

We meet Billy after he has been in Hollywood for five years.  Billy Graham (his mother named him after the evangelist in honor of her becoming a Christian at one of his rallies) left his wife and daughter because he felt a call from God to direct a movie about the book of Revelations.

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Takeaway: Mix of interesting and important questions with a handful of wild unsupported conspiracies.

I picked up The Conscience of a Liberal on audiobook on a whim from the library.  I knew from the description that it has a discussion of racial politics after the civil rights era and I thought it might be a good follow up to Mark Noll’s God and Race in American Politics.

Krugman runs through a history of the 20th century in the US as he sees it to illustrate what he thinks is wrong with both US economic theory and history and what is wrong with the state of current US politics (this was written in 2007, so is pretty dated when talking about current politics.)

The history sections are interesting.  Krugman’s point is that the liberal periods of 20th century history were the good parts and the conservative periods were the bad.  By this Krugman means that liberal periods were the points when the economic pie was growing and income inequality was shrinking.  He is telling this story in this method to counter the traditional economic story that says that deregulation and lower taxes expands the economic pie in such a way that everyone is better off, even if some are better off than others.

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Night Film is Marisha Pessl‘s second novel about a New York investigator who gets in over his head when searching for the truth behind the mysterious “œsuicide” of a famous movie director’s daughter.  While looking for evidence and an angle on his story, the main character meets and then teams up with two other characters who help him uncover clues as the three go further and further down the rabbit hole toward the “œtruth”.  Along the way, the three uncover conspiracies, possible murder, black magic and even find their own lives in danger.

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Prices are for Kindle Editions unless noted.

The Screwtape Letters: The Annotated Edition by CS Lewis – $10.99

272 pages, releases Oct 8

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of C. S. Lewis’s death, a special annotated edition of his Christian classic, The Screwtape Letters, with notes and excerpts from his other works that help illuminate this diabolical masterpiece.

A masterpiece of satire, this classic has entertained and enlightened readers the world over with its sly and ironic portrayal of human life from the vantage point of Screwtape, a senior tempter in the service of “Our Father Below.” At once wildly comic, deadly serious, and strikingly original, C. S. Lewis gives us the correspondence of the worldly-wise old devil to his nephew Wormwood, a novice demon in charge of securing the damnation of an ordinary young man. The Screwtape Letters is the most engaging and humorous account of temptation””and triumph over it””ever written.

Now, for the first time, The Screwtape Letters is presented with its full text alongside helpful annotations provided by Lewis enthusiast and dramatist Paul McCusker. The notes include literary, theological, and biographical information to enhance Lewis’s core themes and demystify complex ideas. McCusker also guides readers to concepts and references from the beloved author’s other treasured volumes to deepen and enrich this timeless classic. The annotated edition is the ultimate guide for understanding the heavenly truths buried in these epistles from below.

Allegiant by Veronica Roth – $6.99

Bookwise Reviews: Divergent, Insurgent

544 pages,  Releases October 22

What if your whole world was a lie?
What if a single revelation””like a single choice””changed everything?
What if love and loyalty made you do things you never expected?
The explosive conclusion to Veronica Roth’s #1 New York Times bestselling Divergent trilogy reveals the secrets of the dystopian world that has captivated millions of readers in Divergent and Insurgent.

Paul and the Faithfulness of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God #4) by NT Wright – $63.56 in Hardcover, Kindle pre-order not available yet

1700 pages, releases Nov 1

This highly anticipated two-book fourth volume in N. T. Wright’s magisterial series, Christian Origins and the Question of God, is destined to become the standard reference point on the subject for all serious students of the Bible and theology. The mature summation of a lifetime’s study, this landmark book pays a rich tribute to the breadth and depth of the apostle’s vision, and offers an unparalleled wealth of detailed insights into his life, times, and enduring impact.

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