Book Reviews

Abba, Give Me a Word: The Path of Spiritual Direction by Roger Owens

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Abba, Give Me a WordSummary: A guide to the need and experience of what it means to be under spiritual direction.

After reading fictional account of spiritual direction in Susan Howatch’s Church of England series, I decided to read a non-fiction account of spiritual direction.

In Abba, Give Me a Word, Roger Owens, a pastor, gives an account of how he found a spiritual director, and how to be under spiritual direction and use that form of spiritual direction (sort of mentoring/counseling/friendship/accountability) to grow spiritually.

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Glittering Images by Susan Howatch (Church of England Series #1)

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Glittering Images by Susan Howatch (Church of England Series #1)Summary: Internal Church of England political intrigue from 1937.

This is another one of those books that someone recommended (Rhett Smith) and I bought, but then I waited 2 or 3 years to actually get around to reading, and then I absolutely loved.

I would chalk up the delay to divine intervention, but that is too strong.  The main character, Charles, is a professor of Theology at Cambridge and protégé of the Archbishop of Canterbury (head of Church of England.)  He is asked, very privately, by the Archbishop to go investigate Bishop Jardine.  Bishop Jardine has been publicly speaking out in favor of liberalizing the divorce laws and against the official teaching of the Church of England.

Charles is being sent to see if the rumors of Bishop Jardine being a womanizer have any truth.  Charles, with trepidation about undertaking the mission, goes and immediately falls for Jardine’s wife’s secretary  This leads to a myriad of issues, both with Charles’ official mission and his internal issues that the investigation dredges up.  Eventually, Charles breaks down and seeks the help of a spiritual director and Anglican monk, Jon Darrow.

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Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature Is Almost Certainly False

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The basic thesis is pretty self explanatory from the title alone; what makes it extra fascinating is that Nagel is an atheist. He argues that evolutionary natural selection has enormous obstacles to overcome in plausibly explaining man’s consciousness, his ability to reason, and his recognition of objective moral values–both in how they can currently exist … Read more

The Summer I Learned to Dive by Shannon McCrimmon

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The Summer I Learned to Dive by Shannon McCrimmon

Takeaway: Coming of age means realizing your dreams may not be what is important.

I am not sure why I enjoy reading young adult coming of age books, but there is something refreshing about the innocence of realizing that the whole world does not revolve around you that I find encouraging.

Finn (Finley) has lived her life believing that it was just her and her mom. Everyone else in her life has rejected her or was not around. So Finn focused on her dreams and studied and prepared for a future of being a doctor. On the night of her graduation (she was valedictorian with a full ride to a great college) she finds a stack of letters from her grandparents that her mother had hidden from her.

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Portofino: A Novel (Calvin Becker Trilogy) by Frank Schaeffer

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Takeaway: Frank Schaeffer’s autobiographical novel has the unique ability to tell difficult truths without making the characters completely unlikable. Just over two weeks ago Edith Schaeffer passed away at the age of 98.  About six months ago I had read Frank Schaeffer’s memoir, Sex, Mom and God.  So when I read Frank’s tribute to his mom … Read more

Back on Murder (A Roland March Mystery, #1) by J. Mark Bertrand

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Back on Murder (A Roland March Mystery, #1) by J. Mark BertrandRoland March used to be a rising star as a homicide detective, but after a family tragedy knocked the wind out of him, so to speak, he’s lost the respect of his colleagues and been relegated to working the bottom of the barrel cases in his department. Until, that is, he sees some evidence at a crime scene that nobody else catches. Grafted into the investigation, March’s instincts lead him to connect two seemingly unrelated cases—a drug-related murder/kidnapping in the hood and a high-profile missing person case involving the daughter of a megachurch pastor. March and his new partner continue to dig, and he eventually uncovers evidence of internal corruption by his arch-nemesis in another department.

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Camilla by Madeline L’Engle

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I am on vacation this week, so this is a ‘best of’ review. Summary: Coming of age novel the way coming of age novels should be written.  All about realizing that the world does not revolve around you. The book description on Amazon does not do this book justice. It is a coming of age … Read more