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RE: Book Reviews - 9/27/2005 6:30:35 PM
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Auben
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From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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quote:
ORIGINAL: babbred
I'm surprised the Mary worship didn't turn to goddess-worship. A few years ago I read Kidd's book Dance of the Dissident Daughter about how she left Christianity and turned to goddess-worship because she felt Christianity placed too many restricitions on women.
Interesting.
No goddess worship. I was slightly uncomfortable with the whole statue of Mary thing but she tied it up nicely at the end when August tells the girl that she needs to realize that the statue can't be her mother, but that she needs to find a mother inside her. Psychobabble essentially. The girl finds women to love her like a mother would.
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 10/3/2005 5:42:46 PM
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gratefulforgrace
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Bee Season by Myla Goldberg
This is probably one of the craziest books I've ever read but also one of the most thought provoking. Although the book is not Christian in any way, I don't think I've ever read such a great description of what it means to be seeking.
Briefly, the story follows a sudden change in the life of 9 year old Eliza Naumann. Three years before, Eliza, unlike her brother Aaron, had not been picked to join her school's Talented and Gifted (TAG) program. This disappointment causes Eliza's father, Saul, to basically write her off. Saul, the cantor at the local synagogue, spends all of his time with Aaron who is brilliant and will surely grow up to be a rabbi. Meanwhile, they all ignore the mother, Miriam, who is brainy and aloof.
Anyway, suddenly Eliza wins her school spelling bee and then the district bee. Her father begins to spend all of his time with her, preparing her for the national bee. Saul believes Eliza is one of the few people in the world who can achieve a mystical state of transcendence and he begins training her in the Kabbala. In this relationship we see two types of seeking. Eliza is hungry for a relationship with her father and does everything he tells her. She eagerly seeks this highest form of transcendence because she knows it will please Saul. Saul is trying to relive his youth and acheive, through his daughter, what he could never acheive on his own.
While Saul is spending all his time with Eliza, Aaron begins to feel very neglected. He realizes that he has blindly accepted Judaism without "reading the back of the box" like the good consumer his father taught him to be. He begins visiting other religious services trying to find closeness to God. He is seeking a place where his uniqueness is valued.
Miriam, too, is seeking something she's missing. She thinks she is filling the void in her life by shoplifting things that she believes should already belong to her.
The book is very interesting and very thought provoking...not at all what I expected.
Grade: B
There are some uncomfortable sex scenes between a married couple in this book...they aren't graphic, just odd. Plus some language and, of course, vivid descriptions of Kabbalistic trances and Hari Krishna chanting.
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Mother of Helen and #2 due March 23!
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RE: Book Reviews - 10/10/2005 11:35:25 AM
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Auben
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From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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Looking Backward 1887-2000 by Edward Bellamay
One of the best known examples of Utopian fiction, written in the 19th century about an upperclass man who awakes from a hypnotic trance over 150 years into the future to find that mankind has formed a social army which has wiped out all problems. Idealistic to the extreme. I can imagine Bellamy imagining his perfect social world for hours. Instead of showing how the world has changed this information is told to the protagonist for page after page. It can get wearying.
Grade: 4 If it weren't for his detailed imagination about every concieveable kind of problem I would rate this book much lower. I respect Mr. Bellamy's sense of social justice but his technique inspires extreme boredom and proves, like the socialists of the last century, to not understand the nature of Man's good and evil.
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 10/10/2005 11:55:27 AM
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gratefulforgrace
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Tamara,
Next I suggest Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman...it's in the same vein as Looking Backward but, IMHO, a much more interesting read. What I think is so interesting about Looking Backward is how much the book, and Bellamy himself, impacted his era. Very interesting.
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Mother of Helen and #2 due March 23!
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RE: Book Reviews - 10/20/2005 6:16:22 PM
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gratefulforgrace
Posts: 258
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The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C.S. Lewis by Alan Jacobs
This is a very interesting biography of C.S. Lewis. Jacobs, a literature professor at Wheaton College, does not examine Lewis's life from a chronological perspective, as so many previous biographies have done, but from a topical point of view. One thing that is great about this book is that it looks at all of Lewis's writing and compares them...it is interesting to see how things that he wrote in The Problem of Pain or The Great Divorce are mirrored in The Chronicles of Narnia.
I imagine that the upcoming release of the film version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe will inspire a number of new biographies and re-releases of older ones and it will be difficult to navigate the number of these books. I highly recommend this one especially because Jacobs embrasses, rather than apologizes for, C.S. Lewis's Christianity. Too many secular biographers have made Lewis's faith secondary to his literary successes....Jacobs recognizes them as being intertwined.
A great book.
Grade: A+
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Mother of Helen and #2 due March 23!
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RE: Book Reviews - 10/20/2005 6:23:47 PM
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gratefulforgrace
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Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
I cannot remember when I have been so thoroughly entertained by a novel. I picked this one up on the recommendation of a friend of mine. I do not always rely on this friend's recommendations because we often seem to have different tastes in reading materials...consequently it took me more than a year to finally read this one. Too bad I waited so long.
This book, Clarke's first novel, is a combination of courtly parlor drama and English faery story. The story revolves around two magicians in the early 1800s who are determined to restore practical magic to the realm. The two magicians are certain that magic can be used to secure French defeat in the Napoleonic wars. The book is proper and old fashioned and full of fake footnotes that add to the beauty of the narrative. It has been billed as fantasy but I think it can be more appropriately called literary fiction.
I can't give away any more without giving away the fun of the book....READ IT...I promise you'll love it!
Grade: A+++++
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RE: Book Reviews - 10/21/2005 12:19:43 AM
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Auben
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From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Pulitzer prizewinning book of short stories concerning the hopes and loneliness of people, particularly Indian emigrants. That's a large generalization. This book shines with complex emotions of human beings and is told so simply that it engages deeply without the need for drama. Brilliant.
I picked this up in a used book store, read one page, and bought it. I was most effected by Mrs. Sen, A Temporary Matter, When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine, and The Third and Final Continent. If you enjoy short stories I recommend this collection.
Grade: A (9 out of 10)
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 11/9/2005 3:18:20 PM
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Auben
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From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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They have a great archive of Lewis and Tolkein things at Wheaton College. One of my english professors worked as collections archivist for a few years while getting his Masters degree and he said it was an interesting one. They also have the Billy Grahame museum which could be interesting to anyone in suburban Chicago. Wheaton's a nice town.
I'll post on Gilead in the next day or two.
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 11/9/2005 3:35:46 PM
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gratefulforgrace
Posts: 258
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Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
This book, written in 1971, won a Pulitzer Prize and it was well deserved. The novel is about America, about myths of the American west, the tension between East and West, and our constant struggle for more. It's also about family and marriage. I loved it, engaging, thought provoking and full of some of the most intelligent discussions of sex and marriage that I've ever read. This is one of those books that defies description...read it for yourself!
Grade: A+++++
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Mother of Helen and #2 due March 23!
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RE: Book Reviews - 12/6/2005 4:33:47 PM
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gratefulforgrace
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Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan
I have a bit of a weakness for Amy Tan's writing...I love it and read everything she's written. So, obviously, when I heard about this new book I picked it up.
Saving Fish from Drowning is not like most of Tan's other books. This one doesn't deal with mother/daughter relationships as much as the others and, in some ways, it's less lyrical. Even so, I loved it. Much of the book deals with misunderstandings between cultures and there are a lot of funny incidents that highlight those types of misunderstandings. At the same time, this book definitely makes a political comment about the situation in Burma. It's very interesting and, apparently, based on a true story.
Very enjoyable. Grade: A+
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RE: Book Reviews - 12/9/2005 10:34:42 AM
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Auben
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I can't believe I didn't come back. I'll try to post a few quick reviews.
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Pulitzer price winning novel about an Iowa preacher writing a love letter to his 6 year old son when he's diagnosed with a heart condition. Throught it he gives his life, his family, his memories, and his faith. Along the way he examines the relationships of fathers and sons and the things that divide them. Blessing people. Misunderstandings. Forgiveness. His own heartbreak and joy in this life.
More accessible than her first novel (House-keeping reviewed in this thread), Robinson has a touch for haunting and poetic prose. Her preacher is a perfect preacher and a human one. A segment in the beginning (page 30-80) is a bit slow but once the element of outside conflict is brought in by a prodigal godson, it picks up.
very clean Grade: 8.25 --I still prefer House-keeping although this was much easier to read.
A River Runs Through It and other Stories by Norman Maclean
Main story: Man's tale of the helplessness of trying to help people set in their ways. Two brothers, sons of a Scottish presbyterian minister, are brought up to be tough and good fly fisherman. One of the son's develops a genius for it but also an enjoyment of gambling and drinking. The story follows the older brother as he tries to find a way to help someone who's strong and proud and doesn't want help. Help is for the weak. He also half attempts to help his wife with her own seriously messed up brother.
Some very beautiful passages on fly fishing and the admiration strong men can feel for each other. I was touched by the older brother's struggle and with the father facing his old age and diminished physical abilities. This was a very masculine book, beautifully writtten. The other stories deal with logging in Montana with the same narrator (who's an obviously Maclean) which are interesting but not of the same caliber thematically.
Very tough and masculine. More than passing mention of prostitutes/sex and drinking. There were things my husband found funny that I didn't. Still.
Grade: 8 for the title story. 6 for the others.
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 12/9/2005 6:55:20 PM
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gratefulforgrace
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I'm subscribed to a fiction listserv and this week people have been sharing about the best books they read in 2005. I made a huge list of titles to read and just finished the first one.
Being Dead by Jim Crace
This is simultaneously a story of life and death. Celice and Joseph are in their 50s and have been married for more than 30 years when they take a day trip to the bay where they first met. They make love in the sand dunes but are interrupted by their brutal murder at the hands of a thief. This happens in the first chapter of the book and the rest of the book details the decisions that led to the couples afternoon tryst on the bay. The book also explains how the couple met as students studying for their doctorates in zoology and why the bay is so significant to them.
I thought the book was lovely. Jim Crace is a gifted writer with a rare talent for creating real characters. The book is honest and moving with intricately crafted sentences and descriptions. Some people probably would not like this book. Crace is very straight-forward about the manner of the couple's death and the biological functions that accompany death. He details the putrefaction of the couple as their bodies lie in the sand for 4 days before they are discovered. There are also numerous references to sex, although none are graphic. The words Crace uses, though, are delicious and well chosen...the book is very worthwhile.
Grade: A+
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Proud Follower of Christ
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Mother of Helen and #2 due March 23!
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RE: Book Reviews - 12/9/2005 11:08:19 PM
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Auben
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From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas
Short poetic-prose memoir of Thomas' Christmases as a little boy. It shifts radically from almost absurd poetic description to hilarious memory. I could easily picture the people he described.
Enjoyable. Bubbly. Masterful description. Too short and I thought it might be over it's readers in the children's department of the library. Sometimes I had trouble following him when his language just flowed. Really hilarious snowball story. Great illustrations.
Grade: It could have been so much better. It was genius in places. (I need to go get some of his poetry.) 7
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 12/14/2005 5:10:32 PM
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Auben
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From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
This book begins with the miracle birth of a boy with asthmatic lungs and continues as he catalogues his father's other miracles and strong faith during the trial of the oldest brother in 1960s Minnesota. Absolutely beautiful and full of people of strong faith in dark circumstances. Fresh and often funny. Completely recommended to anyone who likes well-written mainstream fiction with christian themes.
Dh finished this one first he enjoyed it so much.
Grade: 9.5 One of the best I've read this year.
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 12/26/2005 9:45:00 PM
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Auben
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From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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The Historian by Elizabeth Kosova
I believe Kristin already reviewed this one so I'll keep it short. Long for a page-turner, but definitely a page-turner. Focuses on 3 generations of historians on the chase after Vlad Tepes aka Dracula. Fascinating turns through Istanbul (Constantinople) and eastern Europe in the 50s and 70s (Hungary, Bulgaria).
Writing is dynamic in action, but the transitions between stories are a bit awkward. Every old monestary and sanctuary is some version of awesome. Some logical holes.
All in all a good rousing thriller with a minimum of sex and gore.
Grade: 7.75
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 12/27/2005 2:53:28 PM
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Auben
Posts: 1611
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From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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The Electric Koolaid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
The rollicking non-fiction account of Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters and their journey from personal acid experience to the Acid Tests (multi-media extravaganzas) of the mid-60s. Wolfe puts the day-glo in his adjectives to give you the whole experience, and even makes an interesting case comparing the formation of new religions and the Pranksters connection to Kesey. A very interesting look at the 60s and the formation of the drug culture.
Great style which completely pulls you into the lives of the Pranksters, but occasionally needs some editing to keep the readers interest (IMO).
Grade: 7.5 (down for some over use of funky style)
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 1/1/2006 12:10:59 AM
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uponeagleswings
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The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus.
Even though I read it quickly, I really enjoyed this book. Its a fictional (but supposedly based in fact) account of a girl who is a nanny for the 4 year old boy of 2 very rich New Yorkers. She starts out by agreeing to work 15 hours a week, but in the end has basically given over her life to this "family"- all out of love for the child. There are a lot of "so that's how the other side lives" type of moments and descriptions, but in the end you almost feel sorry for these people who appear to have everything and yet lead empty lives.
Overall I enjoyed this book.
It gets an 8.5 out of 10.
Warning for possibly objectionable material: Cursing (including the f-word) is sprinkled throughout, and there are several situations of intimacy outside of marriage, although without detailed descriptions.
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RE: Book Reviews - 1/12/2006 2:27:37 PM
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Auben
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From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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Last week I finished West with the Night by Beryl Markham.
If you liked Out of Africa about the life of Baroness Karen Blixen, you'll enjoy this. At least two men who were important to her make major appearances in this book, Denys Finch-Hatton and Bror Blixen. Beryl had an exciting life from spear hunting with Nandi warriors, training race horses, and being Nairobi's only freelance bush pilot. She also made it west across the Atlantic Ocean from London when it was still considered probably suicide against the Atlantic headwinds.
I really enjoyed this one and it has moments of absolute brilliance where you're amazed at both her courage and her discernment about people and animals and then there are other moments where it seems simple or rushed. Rumor has it her third husband wrote this one because she hated reading and writing and he was a Hollywood screenwriter.
An interesting story. clean. Grade: 8.25
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 1/24/2006 10:16:19 PM
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Auben
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From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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I think I read something after West wiith the Night but can't remember what.
I did read a book for children learning chess called Chess for Kids by Michael Basman. Its written for the intermediate age (grades 5-8) and includes not just standard play rules but also lots of boards set up to make you practice more advanced concepts. It was really interesting (for me). It taught me a lot more about chess.
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
The book begins with Ender Wiggin as a 6 year old child prodigy being trained by the government to be a commander in a future alien war. It does a credible job following Ender's psychological and tactical training. Unlike some the ending did not surprise me, but a sub-plot in the wrap up did slightly. All around good sci-fi.
Grade: 8.75 Pretty good. Very occasionally the language was crude-in a boys with boys way but I can't remember any swears.
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 1/25/2006 10:00:43 AM
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Auben
Posts: 1611
Joined: 4/13/2005
From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula LeGuin
I like Ursula LeGuin because she's always interested in concepts and ideas as well as plot. This one looked good. George Orr has a problem. His deepest dreams become reality. In trying to keep from dreaming he ends up going to a psychiatrist who uses his dreams to change the world for the better. But is it really better? The problem is that LeGuin is too heavy handed in this one. She tells more than she shows. There is some eastern mystic symbolism in George (he's very buddha like) and western symbolism in the psychiatrist (control and change for the better).
I began to get bored.
Grade: 6
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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It covers her childhood on the farm and school years in Portland during the depression. Interesting read. 
