Book Reviews

Takeaway: If we are going to take scripture seriously, we need to understand how it came to be.

Part of the movement within Christianity and the modern world is that the traditional means of understanding authority has changed.  No longer is it good enough to say, the bible says so.  Or at least, there are several important steps between.  And at least one of them is coming to an understanding that the bible is trustworthy.

For the Evangelical, understanding scripture as trustworthy means that we need to understand how we got the bible in the form it is in.

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Summary: Mix the Bachelor and Hunger Games, drop the blood, increase the romance and throw in a few dystopian elements and you get the Selection.

I think like most people I picked up this book because of the cover.  Almost every review I have read has commented on the cover.

There is more to this book than they cover, but like the cover this is mostly eye candy.

America Singer has been chosen for a competition to become the wife of the Prince and eventually the Queen.  The set up is very much like an episode of the Bachelor.  There are group meetings with the guy, everyone is swooning for him (except America), individual dates, people get eliminated.  There is a host that interviews the girls and the Prince and the whole country is wrapped up in the results.

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Takeaway: An attitude of doubt and the ability to ask a good question are two different things.

One of the problems of reading a large number of books on top of one another is that inevitably the books end up in conversation with one another.  I started The End of Our Exploring right as I was finishing up The Art of Letting Go: The Wisdom of St Francis.  Richard Rohr, a Franciscan Priest, is known for his books on spiritual development, especially male rituals of adulthood.  So even though the two books are about totally different issues, both Rohr and Anderson spend time talking about how pain relates to questioning and spiritual growth.

Rohr expressly says that pain is a necessary component to both spiritual and emotional growth.  But Anderson suggests it is a weakness of contemporary Christianity that “we often do not begin to question until the megaphone of suffering has awakened us from our sleep.”  Maybe Anderson needs to allow us as Christians to have more pain.  But I think they are both right, pain and discomfort often present during growth.

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I am reposting this review because this book, and the following book are on sale for $1.99.

Summary: Emerson discovers that she is not just a messed up kid that people think is crazy.  She is actually a time traveler.

I am not sure why Young Adult literature seems to attract me so often.  Maybe because the themes are often so clear, or that they are often quick reads or that I usually actually like the characters (unlike so many of the adult oriented fiction that I have read recently.)

Regardless, this is the opening of a series that I mostly liked.  Emerson is a 17 year old girl that has spent the last few years trying to escape from two things.  1) Her parents died.  And 2) she can see ghosts.  She has been treated by a variety of mental health professionals and quacks.  Her brother (her guardian) has found yet another person to work with her.  And being that this is a young adult book, he (Michael) is hot, and just a couple years older than her.

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Summary: A utopian future that realizes it dystopian potential.

If you are impatiently waiting for the Hunger Games movie, you should pick this up.  It is a trilogy as well, but only this first book is out.  The second book will be released May 1, 2012.

The main character Beatrice, is part of a faction devoted to selflessness.  As she approaches her time of choosing which faction to join (the others are devoted to bravery, knowledge, truth telling and peace) she realizes she is not nearly as selfless as she should be to continue to live with her family’s faction.  The factions were established to keep peace and create the perfect society after the last great war.  However, the tentions between the factions are increasing.

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Takeaway: If theology was taught like this more often, it would not be such a bad word for so much of the church.

I am a fan of Eugene Peterson. I think he is the best living narrative theologian out there. Others write about narrative theology and using story to communicate the gospel. Peterson writes as a pastor and doesn’t just write about theology, but shows us how to read scripture and how to understand the gospel. He does theology.

Tell it Slant is another in Peterson’s recent series of books. I listened to this one on audio as I have the others. Peterson is best, at least for me, on audio. Grover Gardner is a great narrator and give just the right voice to Peterson.

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I am pleased to report that Eleanor and Park By Rainbow Rowell is another book that can be included in a list of books that is redeeming the young adult genre. No vampires. No fights to the death. No flying witches. This story is about two individuals who both have home lives that could be better (that is an understatement for one of them) and yet they find friendship, love and an escape with each other.

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Summary: A young adult coming of age book in a fictional 18th century setting.

Lloyd Alexander is known for his Prydain novels (The High King, Book of Three, etc.), but he has written a number of other books.  Some of my favorites were the Westmark series.  I read them several times as an early teen and was feeling nostalgic and decided to track them down.  They are not available on kindle, so I found an old paperback copy.

Westmark is a fictional monarchy in a world that seems very much like 18th century europe.  It is a relatively small kingdom.  But it has seen better days.  The king, since his daughter disappeared (and presumably died), has become despondent and reclusive.  In the eight years she has been gone, one of the king’s advisors has slowly taken over the kingdom and turned it into a tyranny.

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