Book Reviews – Page 153

Wife Review of Divergent by Veronica Roth

May 3, 2012 by Adam Shields

I suppose this means my posts may be more like every couple of months rather than weekly. You will be proud to hear that I have actually read several books since I last guest posted here. Over my Spring Break (I am the Academic Coach at an elementary school) I decided to read The Hunger … Read more

Most Read Book Reviews in April

May 2, 2012 by Adam Shields

I have not been posting these lately but, I find it interesting that the top book reviews this month are all from this month. And the most read book review of the month, was posted the last day of the month. I can tell I have been on a fiction kick. In order: The Magicians, … Read more

The Diety Formerly Known As God by Jarrett Stevens

April 28, 2012 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: A reminder that we are not God. We need to submit to God and not try to get our idea of God to submit to us.

Books that help us correct our false ideas about God are everywhere. There are so many because we have a sinful nature that tries to recreate God in our image.

Imaginary Jesus uses humor and a fictional memoir filled with false Jesus characters and the main character has to find the right one.

The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love With the God Jesus Knows by James Bryan Smith uses our understanding of the relationship between the Son and the Father to correct our understanding of God.

And Both Were Young by Madeline L’Engle

April 23, 2012 by Adam Shields

Summary: A post-World War II boarding school is the setting of a classic coming of age story.

I have read a number of Madeleine L’Engle books over the last year or so. Originally I wanted to re-read the Wrinkle in Time series. Which led me to the last two books in the quintet that I had not read previously.

I also ran across Camilla, which along with And Both Were Young, are her two best known books writing in the late 1940s. They are both classic coming of age books. More about what it means to grow up and become and adult than about sexual discovery (which is what coming of age books have come to mean recently.)

Both books dealt with very serious issues and I was surprised that young adult literature of the time allowed. Camilla included issues of divorce, suicide, affairs and more.

And Both Were Young is set in the last 1940s in Switzerland. Philippa (Flip) is sent to boarding school there. Her mother recently died in a car accident and her father is an artist that is going around the world to document children that have been affected by war.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

January 23, 2025April 20, 2012 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Subject matter and writing style and content do not always match. Odd to hear tragic, violent and heart rending action in such beautiful prose.

I am clearly following popularity when I read Cormac McCarthy. I had not read him before I watched No Country for Old Men. I then listen to the book as an Audiobook.

The Road has the same narrator, but the southwestern rural drawl did not seem to fit the character quite as well. But it grew on me.

What I like so much about McCarthy’s writing is the lyric (almost poetic) descriptions of the narrative.

He is beautiful to listen to, even as the incredibly tragic or violent actions are happening.

Shadows in Flight by Orson Scott Card

April 19, 2012 by Adam Shields

Summary: Bean and his three gifted children are flying through space searching for a cure and a home.

I am a pretty big Orson Scott Card fan. I have read almost everything he has written, and he has written a lot over the last 35 or so years.

Any author that has written as much as Card has, has some uneven work.

The Shadow series, which is a complete series that is ancillary to the Ender series, has been particularly uneven. I love the characters of Bean and Petra. But the series as a whole has been far less satisfying than I would have liked. There have been plenty of books but they haven’t moved as much as I would have liked them too.

Shadows in Flight feels like a re-start to the series. Bean has left earth with his children. The story line that Card had to interact with because it covered ground that was mentioned in the Ender series is now over. Bean is in his early 20s, his children are 6. And Bean is near death. He has grown to about 25 ft tall and can only live in the cargo hold. His body is shutting down, but living at near zero G has helped him live a couple years past his life expectancy. He has tried, to the best of his ability, to raise his children well. Preparing them for life without them.

Crazy for God by Frank Schaeffer

April 16, 2012 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Christians need to allow their heroes to be real people. Putting people up on a pedestal not only harms those looking, but those on the pedestal.

I honestly do not know much about Francis Schaeffer. I have read one short book on the importance of ecumenical cooperation that I really liked.

But otherwise, I have stereotyped Francis Schaeffer as a bit of a kook, even though many hold him as one of the greatest Evangelical thinkers of the last century.

So I was not really all that interested in this book. I had heard it was a screed against Evangelicals and a book by a child tearing down his parents.

But eventually I worked my way around to it. And I am very glad that I did. It is one of the best memoirs I have read in a while. Frank (son of Francis and Edith) is clear at the beginning of the book that he is writing a memoir. These are his memoires. He is not focused primarily on telling the story of his parents or writing a biography, but telling his own story as he remembers it.

An American Spy by Olen Steinhauer

April 11, 2012 by Adam Shields

Quick Thoughts: Milo Weaver, hero of the first two books is not in this one until 1/3 in. Either a good conclusion or a set up for a re-start of the series.

I read the first book in this series on a whim. I did not know anything about it. But I was bored with my standard fare and wanted something different.

The first book, The Tourist, It focused on Milo Weaver and his desire to leave his job as a black ops spy, but includes a lot of background that does not come out quickly. The second book The Nearest Exit, follows right on the heels of The Tourist, but you are well into the book before you realize that.

The Final Hour (Homelanders #4) by Andrew Klavan

April 10, 2012 by Adam Shields

Summary: The conclusion, this time, is real.

The end of The Truth of The Matter (book #3), felt like a conclusion. Because there is a book four, I knew it was not. But it appeared that the terrorist ring had been broken up. Charlie was found by the good guys and he would be heading home soon, cleared of murder and ready to enjoy his regular life.

It was not to be.

The Doctrine of the Trinity in the Early Church by Franz Dunzl

December 20, 2024April 9, 2012 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Doctrine is the attempt to speak of God faithfully to our culture, but it is limited to the tools that are available to our language, philosophy and culture.

Speaking of God is difficult. There is one group of people that believe that God is so Other that we can only talk about what God is not. And they have a point. God is far beyond our comprehension.

But God has revealed himself to us. There is both scripture, which is God speaking in human language through the writing of dozens of God’s followers. And then there is Jesus Christ, which was God himself come to earth to reveal God’s nature and love to us.

This very helpful book, details the early working out in human language the nature of the Trinity. It is important to remember that what was being done was not creating the Trinity. The Trinity exists independent of human language. But the early church had to figure out a way to speak of the Trinity using human language and philosophy.