A Dollar Store Find!

The Truth About Sparrows by Marian Hale
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I got this book at the dollar store, for, you guessed it, $1. I liked it so it was a dollar well spent.

As a girl who moved multiple times during her growing up years, I could understand Sadie's angst about leaving her home, best friend, and having to start somewhere new. Her struggle with her angry feelings and her desire to be a good person also resonated with me.

The author did a good job of describing Sadie's feelings as she transitioned from one type of life to another. I would recommend this teen fiction book to both adults and teens.

I enjoyed the interview with the author at the end of the book. When asked what she (the author) wished she could do better, she responded: "Everything! But being imperfect is not such a bad thing. I like to think we're all like jigsaw puzzles with pieces missing here and there. The lessons we learn, the people we meet and come to love, simply fill in the missing pieces and help complete the picture of who we are."

I think this perfectly describes what happened to Sadie in "The Truth About Sparrows".

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A Mystery Steeped in History

The Cutting Season by Attica Locke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Cutting Season is not the typical genre of book that I read. I was enticed into reading this because of the reviews on Goodreads. As a bonus, I could borrow it for my kindle from my local library so decided to give it a try. I'd call it mystery and suspense, although I see some descriptions call it a "thriller". I don't know why, but I typically veer away from those types of books.

Caren Gray is an African American woman who manages a plantation in the South. What's fascinating about this is that her grandparents were slaves on this plantation, and her mother brought her up there. Caren had been determined to escape from the past, and left to pursue a law degree. The birth of her child and a sorrow pulled her back home. I would say she has a love/hate relationship with the plantation and it's owners. The prejudices that follow Black-Americans can't be understood by me, a white woman, but you can feel the tensions in the story.

Caren finds a body on the plantation and the story revolves around who committed this murder, as well as the disappearance of a slave ancestor from her family history. In the meantime, her failed love story, her failed dreams and her daughter's isolation all collide--will she find a way to get back to those dreams and start life anew?

I was always eager to get back to the book to find out what was going to happen next (I read this while on a cruise so I didn't have uninterrupted reading time) and will be trying more of Attica Locke's books.


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The Cove by Ron Rash
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Cove is not a book I would normally choose--it ended up in my hands because it was rated as one of the best for 2011-12 on some review that I read. I'm not 100% certain how to describe it. The words "haunting" and "beautiful" are two words that come to mind. They don't seem like they go together do they? If you've read Cold Mountain, or seen the movie The Piano, perhaps you will understand why I choose those words.

The Cove is set in a mountain community in the southern United States during the World War. The mountain people hold on to many superstitions and the main character, Laurel, is ostracized due to their ignorance. She describes herself as feeling a "lavish of aloneness". In fact, she was so alone that sometimes when she looked in the mirror she wasn't sure she was real.

A stranger, Walter, comes on the scene, and she begins to feel she has a friend. She remarks how it feels good to have someone look her in the eyes. Eventually, Laurel discovers Walter has a secret--that secret puts them into a danger.

What's so haunting and troubling about this situation is that it really doesn't need to happen. If it wasn't for one person's foolish pride, pompousness and desire to be admired, the outcome could have been different. As is always the case with people who are full of themselves, others egg them on and escalate emotions that lead to irrevocable circumstances shaming to communities.

Life is full of both beautiful and troubling moments isn't it? The best books capture both, and for me, The Cove succeeded.

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No Room

It's Christ-mas, and I barely have given Him the attention He deserves. Despite the fact that I've been enjoying advent devotions, despite the fact that I pray, despite the fact that I know I can't survive without Him, He hasn't been receiving my full attention.

Truth to be told, I'm about three days behind in The Christ of Christmas, which I'm using for my advent reading. No good excuse, just too busy with a kitchen remodel project and work deadlines.

Normally, I start the day with God, both devotions and prayer. But today I got up early and walked with a friend. I had to be at work by 7:30 and didn't have time for God. My solution was to take my devotional with me, so I could take a moment after getting a meeting room ready. I do know if I don't have God in the day, my heart feels lonely for time with Him, so I decided to "fit" Him in my schedule.

The Bible reading was from Luke 2:4-7, where we hear how it was time for Jesus to be born, but there was no place for Him--no room at the Inn. It hit me then, that this was me. I've been so caught up in the daily grind, that there is "no room" for Him. Oh sure, I know He's there, but I'm fitting Him in my schedule, instead of fitting my schedule to Him. How many more of us are there right now, and maybe even everyday, who have no room for Him. No room for Jesus to transform us into His love?

A paragraph from the devotion for December 16:

We often look for Him in the roar and the trumpet, in the earthquake and the fire. Then we discover that He came to earth in a way that was most beautiful: He walked through our midst in felted fields and whispered to a few people that He was in the neighborhood.

Is that me, I wonder? Do people know God's in my neighborhood? Are my neighbors seeing God made flesh in me? That's what we are, isn't it? We have these human bodies, and God has promised to tabernacle with us, to live in our hearts. Is my flesh reflecting God's glory to my neighbors?

Another paragraph:

Most of Bethlehem didn't know God was in town. Some people there may still not know it or at least not think much of it. Sometimes God comes so quietly, you have to listen closely to know He's even there.

I wonder if people know God is in town when they visit with me?

My wish would be that I become a person that does provide a "room" for everyone who crosses my path, and that they recognize God is living in me. I love the prayer that ends Day 16:

May my life bring Christ quietly into the circle of human need so those who need You will not be frightened by Your presence but enveloped in it.

As good a way to end the day, as to start it!

Fairy Tales Can Still be Good Reading

The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love George MacDonald. I especially like his fairy tale and fantasy books. Like C.S. Lewis, I love the theology in the stories, and I always find something that speaks to me, or causes me to think more deeply. For example, "It is always dangerous to do things you don't know about." What a simple phrase, but how many times don't I rush in to "fix" something without knowing all there is to know about a situation.

But I digress from the story itself, which is the story of how Curdie, a miner's boy, is to go on a quest. He doesn't really know what the quest is when he starts out, but he is to find out as he goes along . . . "you have orders enough to start with, and you will find, as you go on, and as you need to know, what you have to do. But I warn you that perhaps it will not look the least like what you may have been fancying I require of you." That's a nice little piece of theology that most of us can relate to!

Along the way, Curdie is given a gift of discernment. He will be able to discern whether a man is turning into a beast. "Now listen. Since it is always what they do, whether in their minds or their bodies, that makes men go down to be less than men, that is beasts . . . they do not know it of course, for a beast does not know that he is a beast, and the nearer a man gets to being a beast, the less he knows it." So true! It seems like in our society we are always choosing to be less of the men or women God created us to be.

At any rate, I liked this old-fashioned story and the old-fashioned message.

For more grown up fantasy, I highly recommend MacDonald's "Lilith". I think it rivals "Lord of the Rings" in many ways. You can get it free for your kindle :-).

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An African Memoir

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A quirky title always catches my attention, and this was no exception. This memoir of Bobo (Alexandra) Fuller's life is basically a love story about Africa. Not a romantic love story, but real life love story of hard work and tough times in what can be a hard life, but I love it anyway, love story.

Bobo moves with her family to Africa when she is two years old. She has no memory of life before Africa, so when she does go to England, she is surprised by the things she misses, things she just takes for granted are a part of everyone's lives.

 ". . . her (Africa's) smell; hot, sweet, smoky, salty ,sharp-soft. It is like black tea, cut tobacco, fresh fire, old sweat, young grass." 

Then you have the sounds of Africa

"At dawn there is an explosion of daybirds. . .in the hot, slow time of day. . . the sound of heat. The grasshoppers and crickets sing and whine. Drying grass crackles. Dogs pant. . .And at four o'clock. . . there is the shuffling sound of animals coming back into action to secure themselves for the night. . .The night creatures saw and hum with such persistence that the human brain is forced to translate the song into pulse." Those words gave me a nice picture of her Africa.

I was surprised to learn that the author now lives in Wyoming as her passion for Africa came through so clear in her memoir.

I liked this book well enough to try another. . . either "Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness" or "Scribbling the Cat: Travels with An African Soldier".

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Paris in Love by Eloisa James

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I picked up "Paris in Love" solely for the title name, and if truth be told, the jacket cover picture. I have never been to Paris, and I knew nothing about Eloisa James. It tickled me to learn that Eloisa is not only a Professor of Shakespeare, but a popular and best selling author of romance novels for HarperCollins. Even though I have given up the sordid romance, I may need to try one of hers - perhaps "The Taming of the Duke", or, "Midnight Pleasures".

I loved Eloisa's writing. I enjoyed her fanciful imagination, and her use of language. It's my understanding that these days, when writing publicity, the guideline is to write for a sixth grade education. It often seems to me that this practice has also been embedded in the novels we read. It was a pleasure to read a book that uses words we don't see so much these days (like insouscience, ignominous and salient). I love words and it's a pleasure to see them used so well.

Her descriptions are lovely:

"Today is rainy, cool, and windy. The sky is silvery gray, like the watered silk skirts of a Victorian lady, long widowed, and still regretful".

 Or consider this fanciful imagining from viewing a Dior window:

"The mannequin came alive in my imagination. I could picture a sleek and gorgeous woman drifting into a drawing room--although she then regarded reproachfully my scuffed shoes and the smudged cuff of my white shirt".

If you have been to Paris, you should read this book for it's descriptions of the city, food and museums. If you haven't been, like me, you will be charmed by the city due to Eloisa's writing.

This memoir is really about family--how she and her husband took a year sabbatical and went to Paris with their children. How this strengthened their family, in part because they only had each other. Not that they didn't have other relationships and friends, they did, but their family unit was their main source of strength and connection.

I started out writing this review by giving "Paris in Love" four stars--but the more I've written, the more I've realized how much I really liked this book, so I'm changing it up to five stars.

Now hmmmm....should I try one of the romances?!

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