When I first saw the book Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore popping up here and there, I saw the front cover went on to say, “A modern-day slave, an international art dealer, and the unlikely woman who bound them together.”

Hmm, I thought. Might be interesting. But not enough to compel me to get it. It just didn’t seem to “grab” me.

Then I began seeing it on more and more blogs, getting rave reviews by people I knew and respected.

Hmm, I thought. Maybe I’d better check it out.

So I got it. And put it on my shelf. And it sat there for weeks.

Finally I had a desire to pick it up and read it — after I found it in a box of books that wouldn’t fit on my bookcases.

Wow. I am so glad I did.

I don’t know if most of us have a truly correct view of poverty in this country. I’ve personally known people who lived quite comfortably and happily under what the government set as the poverty level. I’ve known others who felt they were poverty-stricken because they could not afford cable TV service. The poverty described in this book is raw, real, stark, and almost inescapable — almost unfathomable. Denver Moore escaped from virtual slavery on a plantation in Louisiana by riding the rails to what he truly perceived as a better life as a homeless man in Texas.

Ron Hall began serving at a homeless shelter only because his wife wanted him to come with her. “I hate to admit this now,” he writes, “but I had pictured myself more as a sort of indulgence benefactor: I would give him a little bit of my valuable time, which, had I not been so benevolent, I could have used to make a few more thousand dollars. And from time to time, I imagined, if Denver stayed cleaned up and sober, I’d take him of field trips from hobo land to restaurants and malls, a kind of peep show where he could glimpse the fruit of responsible living and perhaps change his ways accordingly” (p. 111).

It didn’t exactly turn out that way.

Both men were challenged, both learned of their own ignorance, assumptions, and prejudices, both were stretched beyond themselves and the world they had known. Both taught each other, learned from each other, and supported each other.

This is a riveting book. Parts of it horrified me, parts had me in tears, parts were sheer beauty.

And it’s true. A real story with real people.

(This review will be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday review of Books and the next 5 Minutes For Books I Read It column.)

The folks at 5 Minutes For Books host What’s On Your Nightstand? the fourth Tuesday of each month in which we can share about the books we have been reading and/or plan to read. You can learn more about it by clicking the link or the button.

Wow, I can’t believe it is the last week in October already. The month just flew by.

Here’s what I read since last time:

Her Daughter’s Dream by Francine Rivers, the sequel to Her Mother’s Hope, reviewed here.

The Thorn by Beverly Lewis, reviewed here, the first of a new Amish series about two sisters on different paths.

I’m Outnumbered!: One Mom’s Lessons in the Lively Art of Raising Boys by Laura Lee Groves, reviewed here.

Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God by Noel Piper, short biographies of Sarah Edwards, Gladys Aylward, Lilias Trotter, Esther Ahn Kim, and Helen Roseveare, reviewed here.

Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall, Denver Moore, and Lynn Vincent, reviewed here, about an unlikely friendship between an art dealer and a homeless man.

I’ve started 50 People Every Christian Should Know: Learning From Spiritual Giants of the Faith by Warren Wiersbe and A Novel Idea: Everything You Need to Know about Writing Inspirational Fiction (that one wasn’t on my Fall Into Reading challenge goals, — it was on my shelf for “some day” — but I felt a sudden urge to start it) and just picked up Start Somewhere: Losing What’s Weighing You Down from the Inside Out by Calvin Nowell and Gayla Zoz.

Next up: Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs, In the Company of Others by Jan Karon, and something by Agatha Christie — still haven’t decided yet.

Happy Reading!

Sherry at Semicolon posted a link to one pastor’s list of 99 Books That Made My First 50 Years Worth Living. He was going to make a list of 50 but ended up with 99. That, of course, got me to thinking about what books I would put on such a list. If I keep strictly to the first 50 years, I can’t include the ones I have read in the last three, which is unfortunate since I’ve only been chronicling the books I have read since starting a blog. But I might just sneak a couple of those on the list. I think I am going to separate them into categories just because that will help me, I think.

Later in his post he asked for ideas for books one should not die without reading. That would be a much shorter list. So I am going here for those that have most enriched or impacted my life.

OK, let’s see how many I end up with…

Classics:

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens

Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little Women, Little Men, and Jo’s Boys by Louisa May Alcott

Anne of Green Gables and all its sequels by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Ben Hur by Lew Wallace

The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis

Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Biographies:

Amy Carmichael of Dohnavur by Frank Houghton

Hudson Taylor: Growth of a Soul by Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor

By Searching, In the Arena, and Second Mile People by Isobel Kuhn

Mountain Rain: A New Biography of J. O. Fraser by Eleen Crossman

Goforth of China by Rosalind Goforth

Climbing by Rosalind Goforth

The Small Woman by Alan Burgess (about Gladys Aylward)

Evidence Not Seen: A Woman’s Miraculous Faith in the Jungles of World War II by Darlene Deibler Rose

In the Presence of My Enemies by Gracia Burnham

Mimosa by Amy Carmichael

Gifted Hands by Ben Carson

The Valley Is Bright by Nell Collins and Mary Beth Moster

Marriage to a Difficult Man:The Uncommon Union of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards by Elisabeth D. Dodds

Through Gates of Splendor, The Savage My Kinsman, Shadow of the Almighty, The Journals of Jim Elliot by Elisabeth Elliot

To the Golden Shore: The Life of Adoniram Judson by Courtney Anderson

Heir to a Dream by Pete Marovich

Beyond My Dreams by Dr. Bill Maher

Twice Pardoned by Harold Miller

The Autobiography of George Muller

The End of the Spear by Steve Saint

Daktar: Diplomat in Bangladesh by Viggo Olsen

Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon by Charles Ray

Mary Slessor: Queen of Calabar by Sam Wellman

Cowboy Boots In Darkest Africa by Bill Rice

The God I Love by Joni Eareckson Tada

Charlie’s Victory by Charlie and Lucy Wedemeyer

One Candle to Burn by Kay Washer

Children of the Storm: The Autobiography of Natasha Vins

The Reel Story by Larry D. Vaughn

More Precious Than Gold: The Fiery Trials of a Family’s Faith by John Vaughn

Dorie: The Girl Nobody Loved by Doris Van Stone

Biography of William Cary (can’t remember which exact one I read)

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

Christian Books (not fiction or biography):

The Bible

Changed Into His Image by Jim Berg

Spiritual Depression by David Martin Lloyd Jones

Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders

Full Assurance by H. A. ironside

Sometimes I Prefer to Fuss by Verda Peet

Let Me Be a Woman by Elisabeth Elliot

Winning the Inner War: How To Say No to a Stubborn Habit by Erwin Lutzer

The Shaping of a Christian Family by Elisabeth Elliot

Dare to Discipline by James Dobson

The Ministry of Marriage by Jim Binney

On Asking God Why, Passion and Purity, Keep a Quiet Heart, A Path Through Suffering by Elisabeth Elliot

The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Ormartian

When God Weeps by Joni Eareckson Tada

When Is It Right To Die by Joni Eareckson Tada

Rose From Brier by Amy Carmichael

A Woman After God’s Own Heart by Elizabeth George

Becoming God’s True Woman by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, et al

The Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer

Hoping For Something Better by Nancy Guthrie

Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman, Disciplines of the Heart, and Disciplines of the Home by Anne Ortlund

Hints on Child Training by H. Clay Trumbull

Christian Fiction:

Jan Karon’s Mitford series

Not My Will by Francena Arnold, possibly the first Christian novel I read

Janette Oke’s Love Comes Softly and A Prairie Legacy series, particularly A Quiet Strength

Ted Dekker’s Circle trilogy

Francine Rivers’ Mark of the Lion series

The Princess and Sophie’s Heart by Lori Wick

This is an almost impossible task, especially with the last category, because I have enjoyed and been greatly enriched by many books, but to keep this list at all manageable, I’ve just listed the ones which had the most major impact on me in some way. They are in no particular order — I mostly jotted them down as they came to mind. By my count that is 98 if I only count each series as one. On any given day this list would probably vary a bit, but these, I think, are the standouts. Yet even so, I feel I must be forgetting something….

Any of these on your list? Which ones? What others would you include?

The Thorn by Beverly Lewis is the first of her new Rose trilogy. Rose’s sister, Hannah (Hen for short) had run off a few years earlier to marry an Englisher and leave the Amish lifestyle behind, but now that her young daughter is displaying worldly attitudes, Hen’s roots tug at her heart and pull her back to her home and community. Her husband wants no part of Amish life, leaving Hen at a seeming impasse.

Rose has long been the only real friend to the bishop’s foster son, Nick, who seems to resent his Amish upbringing and has never quite fit in. Rose has been the primary caretaker for her invalid mother since her accident, and though she loves caring for her mother, she wonders if she will ever be free to marry. When kind and handsome Silas shows an interest, Rose is thrilled. But Nick seems to be pulling her closer to what he calls “the edge,” the desire to experience what the non-Amish world is like beyond the confines of their community.

Beverly Lewis was the first author I read in the Amish fiction genre, and to me she’s the best. I enjoyed the exploration of some of the different issues that came up in this book, and, as always, immediately identified with her characters. I am looking forward to seeing what is in store for Rose, Hen, and Nick.

Her Daughter’s Dream by Francine Rivers is the sequel to Her Mother’s Hope, which I reviewed earlier here. Though you could say the main subject of both books is mother-daughter conflict, that statement hardly does the books justice.

In the first book, Marta escapes an abusive father to make a life for herself in America with grit and hard work. When her daughter, Hildemara, is born early, sickly, and frail, Marta’s memories of her fragile sister, Elise, and her untimely end make Marta determined that Hildie will grow up strong. Hildie does survive but views her mother’s tough-love as a lack of love, and she leaves home to pursue a dream she loves that her mother initially hates.

At the opening of Her Daughter’s Dream, Hildie is gravely ill and reluctantly allows her husband to call her mother for help. Hildie’s daughter, Carolyn, has experienced trauma unknown to Hildie, but as Oma Marta comes, Carolyn’s nightmares stop and she bonds with Marta during Hildie’s illness, adding to the rift in their relationship. As Carolyn grows up feeling she will never measure up enough to earn her mother’s approval, she drops out of college with free-spirited roommate Chel to protest the war and experience the counter-culture of the 60s. She comes home a few years later lost, broken, and pregnant. As her mother takes care of her daughter, May Flower Dawn, they bond closely, making Carolyn once again feel left out. But as Dawn grows up, she begins to wonder how all these fractured relationships can be healed and prays and works to that end.

As I said with the first book, you just ache with these people for the mistakes that they make and the pain they experience. I envision each woman with her arms wrapped around herself: Marta’s in fear of loss, Hildie’s in bitterness, Carolyn’s in a self-protective cocoon. But when one’s arms are wrapped around oneself, they are not open to other people or to fully receiving all the Lord has in store. Though each woman has faith in God, during major parts of her life she is not actively trusting Him. This really spoke to me about the dangers of grasping self-protection and the need to let go and trust God for the protection that only He can provide.

I enjoyed how Francine Rivers set each generation and its relationship issues in context in its historical setting. This is a wonderfully written epic story.

The folks at 5 Minutes For Books host What’s On Your Nightstand? the fourth Tuesday of each month in which we can share about the books we have been reading and/or plan to read. You can learn more about it by clicking the link or the button.

Wow, I can’t believe I forgot this again until I saw it at Janet’s!

Here’s what I have finished since last time:

Emma by Jane Austen, reviewed here. A charming, beautiful, rich young woman tries her hand at matchmaking with dismal results — you could say that is the basic plot line, but the book is so much richer than that. Though I have seen it referred to as a comedy, I found much depth in Emma’s maturing. And her dear friend and sharpest critic, Mr. Knightly, lives up to his name as the quintessential English gentleman.

The Unfinished Gift and The Homecoming by Dan Walsh, reviewed here. The first book tells how a death, a war, a grandson, and a box of old letters bring an estranged father and son together; the second continues the story of their family, focusing on the son’s adjusting to life after the death of his wife and the journey of faith of the young woman he hires to be his son’s nanny. Both were great reads.

A Distant Melody by Sarah Sundin was reviewed here with the above two as they are all set in the WWII era and I read them one after the other. This was a delightful book of an ordinary, flawed couple who have various relationship problems when they meet (he can’t talk to girls, she is expected to marry a man her parents approve of but whom she does not love). They keep in contact with each other despite a series of misunderstandings and wartime complications.

Hoping for Something Better: Refusing to Settle for Life as Usual, a Bible study through the book of Hebrews by Nancy Guthrie, reviewed here. I cannot recommend this one highly enough. Excellent.

The Pirate Queen by Patricia Hickman, a story of “finding treasure in unexpected places,” reviewed here. On the very day a woman packs to leave her philandering husband, he comes home to announce he is dying and wants them to go to their coastal home for treatment, where she finds herself in a series of unexpected and difficult circumstances. I enjoyed her journey and her discoveries.

Her Mother’s Hope by Francine Rivers, reviewed here. A mother’s tough-love attempts to raise her daughter to be strong are understood by the daughter as a lack of love, and their relationship problems affect future generations. Epic story against the backdrop of two world wars. Enjoyed it very much.

The Note by Angela Hunt, reviewed here. A short note of love and forgiveness washes up on the Florida coast after a terrible plane crash, and a newspaper columnist seeks for its intended recipient while being unexpectedly affected by its message herself. Loved it!

I am currently reading and almost finished with Her Daughter’s Dream by Francine Rivers, the sequel to Her Mother’s Hope, and am still working on Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God by Noel Piper. I got bogged down with that one and need to move it to the forefront and finish it.

Next I want to start one of the non-fiction books from my fall reading goals, either Start Somewhere: Losing What’s Weighing You Down from the Inside Out by Calvin Nowell and Gayla Zoz or I’m Outnumbered!: One Mom’s Lessons in the Lively Art of Raising Boys by Laura Lee Groves. I think next up after one of those will be Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall, Denver Moore, and Lynn Vincent or The Thorn by Beverly Lewis.

Happy Reading!