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Absolute Truths by Susan Howatch (Church of England #6)

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Absolute Truths by Susan HowatchTakeaway: Best of the series. God’s Truth matters more than our own presentation of God’s Truth.

This last book of the Church of England series has been the best of them all. And while it could be read by itself, you would be missing a lot of nuance that really shows what a spectacular author Howatch is.

The Absolute Truths again comes back to the beginning of the series and has Charles Ashworth as the narrator.  Ashworth is telling his story from his old age.  Things have changed since 1937 when the first book was set.

In the first book he meets a potential mentor, falls in love with the woman that becomes his second wife, deals with the death of his first wife (seven years prior), comes to terms with his father and a whole host of other issues.

Most of this book is concerned with 1965.  Ashworth is the Bishop at Starbridge.  (Book six goes back in time, because both books four and five start in 1963 and 1968, but then end in the 1980s.)  He is at the peak of his career and things are going very well.  Until his third life crisis hits and he is totally unprepared.

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Mystical Paths by Susan Howatch (Church of England #5)

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Mystical Paths by Susan HowatchSummary: The son of Jon Darrow, Nicholas, has to come to his own faith and purpose.  

I am continuing to really enjoy the Church of England Series.  Mystical Paths is the fifth of the Church of England series and is the start of a spinoff series about Nicholas that starts with High Fliers.  There is one more in the Church of England Series, Absolute Truths.  But that book goes back to the 1960s again and revisits the original protagonist that started the series, Charles Ashworth.

Mystical Paths broke the series format again.  This book is mostly a mystery/thriller.  Christian Aysgarth, the oldest son of Neville (subject of books 3 and 4) died in 1965.  But Katie, his wife is still troubled with the thought that it was not an accident, but a suicide (and she is to blame).

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Pandora Park by Piers Anthony

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Summary: Two children find their way into a magic park. This is Piers Anthony’s first children’s book and it shows. It isn’t horrible, but Anthony doesn’t really know his audience and it alternates between middle grade and older and I kept having this feeling of dread that some of his more erotic work was going … Read more

Imagining the Kingdom: How Worship Works by James KA Smith

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Takeaway: Worship, Spiritual Development, Discipleship, all are based on what we do, not just what we think.  Plans for growth and worship based primarily on knowledge break down and leave Christians ill prepared for actual life as a Christian.

It has been six weeks since I have finished Imagining the Kingdom and I am still not sure how to write the review.  But I finally decided that the review is not going to get better the longer I think about it, it is going to get worse.  So I need to just write and apologize for not having fully processed this book.

Imagining the Kingdom: How Worship Works has a deceptively simple premise.  Growth is based on practice.

Early in the book is a memorable illustration.  Smith, having being influenced by his his wife to read more about eating healthy looks around for a pen to highlight a passage from one of Michael Polen’s books.  As he is looking around he realizes that he is sitting (and eating) in a Costco food court.

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Reflections on the Psalms by CS Lewis

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Reflections on the Psalms by CS LewisSummary: Lewis reads the Psalms as an insightful outsider.

I am continuing my quest to read more CS Lewis after reading McGrath’s new biography a few weeks ago.  (And to justify the fact that I have purchased so many of Lewis’ books recently.  Many of his non-fiction books are less than $3, this one is currently $2.24 on kindle).

This was the first of Lewis’ non-fiction books I read after reading McGrath’s biography.  Psalms and I have had a difficult relationship.  I am not extraordinarily fond of poetry and for too long I have viewed Psalms as a book of poetry, not a book of prayers.

Part of this is that I grew up in a church background that values extemporaneous prayers, not written prayers.  So it has only been recently that I have started regularly using prayer books like Phillis Tickle’s Prayers for Summertime or the Book of Common Prayer.

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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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The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone–Especially Ourselves

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Takeaway: We do not always know why we do what we do, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to understand. I am a fan of behavioral economics.  Basically it is a cross between economics and psychology and sociology.  Behavioral Economics tries to understand why we do what we do. Contrary to the standard understanding … Read more