Category Archives: Books

Top 100 Children’s Novels Meme

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I saw at Semicolon that Betsy at Fuse #8 has been counting down the Top 100 Children’s Novels from the survey she took back in January. Then, Teacher Ninja turned the list into a meme: which of the Top 100 Children’s Novels have you read? I’ve put the ones I have read on bold print, the ones I have only an acquaintance with in italics.

100. The Egypt Game – Snyder (1967)
99. The Indian in the Cupboard – Banks (1980) I liked them until I got to the end and was very disappointed at what was behind it all.)
98. Children of Green Knowe – Boston (1954)
97. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane – DiCamillo (2006)
96. The Witches – Dahl (1983)
95. Pippi Longstocking – Lindgren (1950) (Saw a film years ago, not sure if I ever read it — don’t think so.)
94. Swallows and Amazons – Ransome (1930)
93. Caddie Woodlawn – Brink (1935)
92. Ella Enchanted – Levine (1997) (Saw the film, haven’t read the book)
91. Sideways Stories from Wayside School – Sachar (1978) (I don’t think I read this, but my oldest son did and enjoyed it.)
90. Sarah, Plain and Tall – MacLachlan (1985) (Saw the Glenn Close film and I think I read the book, but I can’t remember for sure.)
89. Ramona and Her Father – Cleary (1977)
88. The High King – Alexander (1968)
87. The View from Saturday – Konigsburg (1996)
86. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – Rowling (1999)
85. On the Banks of Plum Creek – Wilder (1937)
84. The Little White Horse – Goudge (1946)
83. The Thief – Turner (1997)
82. The Book of Three – Alexander (1964)
81. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon – Lin (2009)
80. The Graveyard Book – Gaiman (200 8)
79. All-of-a-Kind-Family – Taylor (1951)
78. Johnny Tremain – Forbes (1943)
77. The City of Ember – DuPrau (2003)
76. Out of the Dust – Hesse (1997)
75. Love That Dog – Creech (2001)
74. The Borrowers – Norton (1953)
73. My Side of the Mountain – George (1959)
72. My Father’s Dragon – Gannett (1948)
71. The Bad Beginning – Snicket (1999)
70. Betsy-Tacy – Lovelace (1940)
69. The Mysterious Benedict Society – Stewart ( 2007)
68. Walk Two Moons – Creech (1994)
67. Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher – Coville (1991)
66. Henry Huggins – Cleary (1950)
65. Ballet Shoes – Streatfield (1936)
64. A Long Way from Chicago – Peck (1998)
63. Gone-Away Lake – Enright (1957)
62. The Secret of the Old Clock – Keene (1959)
61. Stargirl – Spinelli (2000)
60. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle – Avi (1990)
59. Inkheart – Funke (2003) (Saw the film)
58. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase – Aiken (1962)
57. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 – Cleary (1981)
56. Number the Stars – Lowry (1989)
55. The Great Gilly Hopkins – Paterson (1978)
54. The BFG – Dahl (1982)
53. Wind in the Willows – Grahame (1908)
52. The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007)
51. The Saturdays – Enright (1941)
50. Island of the Blue Dolphins – O’Dell (1960)
49. Frindle – Clements (1996)
48. The Penderwicks – Birdsall (2005)
47. Bud, Not Buddy – Curtis (1999)
46. Where the Red Fern Grows – Rawls (1961) (Saw the film, think I read the book, can’t say for sure.)
45. The Golden Compass – Pullman (1995)
44. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing – Blume (1972)
43. Ramona the Pest – Cleary (1968)
42. Little House on the Prairie – Wilder (1935)
41. The Witch of Blackbird Pond – Speare (1958)
40. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – Baum (1900) (Who hasn’t seen the film? But I haven’t read it. Janet has.)
39. When You Reach Me – Stead (2009)
38. HP and the Order of the Phoenix – Rowling (2003)
37. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry – Taylor (1976)
36. Are You there, God? It’s Me, Margaret – Blume (1970)
35. HP and the Goblet of Fire – Rowling (2000)
34. The Watsons Go to Birmingham – Curtis (1995)
33. James and the Giant Peach – Dahl (1961) (Saw the film, didn’t care for it.)
32. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH – O’Brian (1971)
31. Half Magic – Eager (1954)
30. Winnie-the-Pooh – Milne (1926)
29. The Dark Is Rising – Cooper (1973)
28. A Little Princess – Burnett (1905)
27. Alice I and II – Carroll (1865/72)
26. Hatchet – Paulsen (1989)
25. Little Women – Alcott (1868/9)
24. HP and the Deathly Hallows – Rowling (2007)
23. Little House in the Big Woods – Wilder (1932)
22. The Tale of Despereaux – DiCamillo (2003)
21. The Lightening Thief – Riordan (2005)
20. Tuck Everlasting – Babbitt (1975) (Saw the film.)
19. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Dahl (1964) (Saw the film, think I may have read it, not sure. I think oldest son did.)
18. Matilda – Dahl (1988)
17. Maniac Magee – Spinelli (1990)
16. Harriet the Spy – Fitzhugh (1964)
15. Because of Winn-Dixie – DiCamillo (2000)
14. HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban – Rowling (1999)
13. Bridge to Terabithia – Paterson (1977)
12. The Hobbit – Tolkien (1938)
11. The Westing Game – Raskin (1978)
10. The Phantom Tollbooth – Juster (1961)
9. Anne of Green Gables – Montgomery (1908)
8. The Secret Garden – Burnett (1911)
7. The Giver -Lowry (1993)
6. Holes – Sachar (1998) (Saw the film.)
5. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler – Koningsburg (1967)
4. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe – Lewis (1950)
3. Harry Potter #1 – Rowling (1997)
2. A Wrinkle in Time – L’Engle (1962)
1. Charlotte’s Web – White (1952)

Some of these I’ve not heard of. Some I have wanted to get to but haven’t yet. I am surprised to see The Hobbit classified as a children’s novel.

Some I have read that are not here:

The rest of the Anne of Green Gables series by L. M. Montgomery
The rest of the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The rest of Louisa May Alcott’s books that could be classified as being children’s novels (Little Men, Jo’s Boys, Eight Cousins)
The rest of the Narnia series by C. S. Lewis
The Little Lame Prince
Five Little Peppers and How They Grew (sweet story)
Heidi
One or two of the Boxcar Children series
Several Encyclopedia Brown books
A few Hardy Boys novels
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (I think…)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn or maybe both.
Black Beauty
The first few Lemony Snicket books
Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie (though that is probably classified as a chapter book rather than a novel.

…and possibly others I am not remembering. By the time my kids got to novels, either their reading had dropped off dramatically (my younger two) or their reading outpaced my own (my oldest).

Let me know if you do this so I can come over and compare lists. 🙂

The Hidden Flame

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The Hidden Flame by Janette Oke and Davis Bunn is the second in the Acts of Faith series set during the time of the early church in Acts. The first book, The Centurion’s Wife (reviewed here) took place just after the death and resurrection of Christ. The Hidden Flame picks up right where the action left off in the earlier book, but then there is a two-year gap before we see the early disciples in their new patterns of life.

The main character of this book is Abigail, a friend of Leah’s from the previous book. Abigail thought she had lost her entire family, but discovered her brother alive at the end of the first book. Now they have become integrated with the disciples, and despite Abigail’s previous injuries from a cauldron of boiling water spilling onto her, she is an active member, busy ministering in the kitchens and in distributing food to the poor. Two men are after her hand: one an older, wealthy Jewish merchant, the other a young Roman soldier. The problem, though, is that neither of them are believers, which is something she strongly desires in a mate, but women in that day had little say about whom they were given to in marriage.

I mentioned in my review of the first book that I approach Biblical fiction somewhat warily as too often the author’s imagination can take off and obscure or even supersede the facts. But David Bunn and Janette Oke are as careful as I think they can be. The reader has to understand  that the characters who are developed a little more than the Bible gives us information about are products of the author’s imagination and therefore not entirely Biblical, but I think the authors do a good job of fleshing out what they think the Biblical characters might have been like.

The main events from the book of Acts here are the way the church dealt with the persecuted or displaced early believers, the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira, the naming of the first deacons, and the stoning of Stephen. I especially appreciated the way the situation with Ananias and Sapphira was handled. We tend to breeze right through that passage on the way to the next, but this caused me to think for the first time how the incident must have impacted  both the community and the believers, who I imagine would have been very shaken. As the different believers in the story wrestle with what has happened and discuss it with each other, we hear varying views of possible reasons the Lord handled the situation in just that way without a one dogmatic, overriding view.

I am assuming there will be more books in the series: there were no loose ends at the conclusion, but there was a feel that there was more of the story to come. I look forward to it.

(This review will be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)

Book Review: Where My Heart Belongs

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Where My Heart Belongs by Tracie Peterson is a prodigal daughter story. Amy changed her name at the age of eighteen, demanded her inheritance from her father, and left home without another word for twelve years. Suddenly she shows back up on the old homestead doorstep wanting to renew family ties. Her older sister, Kathy, is understandably wary at first and wrestles with her own feelings of anger and betrayal.

Tracie does a good job with what could have been, but is not, a clichéd story (not that the Biblical prodigal story itself is clichéd — it is a marvelous parable of redemption.) I found myself empathizing with both characters as they worked through their various issues and alternately took steps toward and then away from understanding and forgiving each other. There were layers to each that I would not have originally anticipated.

My only quibbles were that the latter part of the book seemed a little rushed, and it ended maybe a little too perfectly, but on the other hand, every now and then it is nice to have things end in the ideal way we all really wish would happen, and after all the anguish both characters suffer, it is good to see things turn around for them.

Book Review: Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross: Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter

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Over the last couple of years, I saw the book Come Thou Long Expected Jesus mentioned on several blogs. It was compiled by Nancy Guthrie and included excerpts from the writings and sermons of godly Christians through the ages. I read and enjoyed it very much last Christmastime, and then when I saw Nancy had put together a similar book for Easter, Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross: Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter I got it to read this Easter season.

The preface says:

Oh, what we miss out on when we rush past the cross of Christ.Oh, the richness and reward when stop to linger before it, when we take the time to “consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself” (Hebrews 12:3). In a culture where crosses have become commonplace as architecture and jewelry, how we need to truly gaze upon the cross of Christ in all its ugliness and beauty, in its death and in its healing, in the painful price paid there, and in its free gift of grace. Jesus, keep us near the cross.

And that is just what the book endeavors to help us do. Each of the twenty-five chapters is an excerpt from a book or sermon from various, mostly well-known Christians throughout the ages, from Augustine, Luther, Edwards, and Spurgeon all the way to John Piper, John MacArthur, J. I. Packer, and others. There were a handful of names I did not recognize, so please don’t count this as an endorsement of everything ever written or said by every author, but for the most part I agreed with everything in this book.

The chapters all deal with Christ’s death and resurrection, some in general, some on a particular aspect, such as C. J. Mahaney’s chapter on “The Cup,” exactly what was meant, what cup Christ was talking about when he said, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt’ (Matthew 26:39), or an exploration of some of the things Christ said from the cross, or J. I. Packer’s treatment of what was meant in Christ’s descent into hell and ascension into heaven. Just yesterday I found here a list of all the chapters and authors with a quote from each chapter, but today that link brings up a window about exceeded bandwidth: hopefully that will be rectified soon. Each chapter is 3-5 pages long, and it was very manageable to read one a day. I wouldn’t recommend reading more than that at a time: just soaking on one chapter and thinking over it through the day is rich meditation.

All the chapters did not resonate with me equally, but that may have been due to sleepiness or distraction on my part on given mornings. Probably my favorites were C. J. Mahaney’s on “The Cup,” C. H. Spurgeon’s “Then They Did Spit Upon His Face,” and Raymond Ortlund’s on “The Most Important Word in the Universe.” I shared several quotes from the last one yesterday, but two that impacted me were:

In human religions, it’s the worshipper who placates the offended deity with rituals and sacrifices and bribes. But in the gospel, it is God Himself who provides the offering.

And:

The God you have offended doesn’t demand your blood; he gives his own in Jesus Christ.

Overall the book did fulfill it’s purpose set out in the preface: it did cause me to slow down and meditate on what Christ did for me, to appreciate it anew, to revive my love for Him and thankfulness to Him. I plan to make this book a regular part of my Easter preparations in the coming years, but of course the topic is not confined to Easter: this book will help you contemplate the cross and what it means for you any day of the year.

What’s On Your Nightstand: March

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What's On Your NightstandThe 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.

It seems strange to be doing a “nightstand” post when there is still a week left in March, but these come up on the fourth Tuesday of the month rather than the last Tuesday. On months we have a fifth Tuesday, we have the Classics Bookclub.

Since the last nightstand post I have finished:

Parting the Waters:Finding Beauty in Brokenness by Jeanne Damoff about her teen-age son’s near-drowning and the aftermath, reviewed here. Excellent book: I highly recommend it.

Dr. Sa’eed of Iran: Kurdish Physician to Princes and Peasants Nobles and Nomads by Jay M. Rasooli and Cady H. Allen, reviewed here. Another good one, a true story about a young Islamic man who became a Christian. The persecution he faced put me to shame, but it was encouraging to know that the light of the gospel can penetrate even hearts determined to oppose it.

Carry On, Jeeves by P. D. Wodehouse, reviewed here. I was in the mood for a lighter read, and this definitely fit the bill.

I am currently reading:

Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross: Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter, essays on various aspects of the death and resurrection of Christ from people such as Charles H. Spurgeon and Martin Luther to John MacArthur and Joni Eareckson Tada, compiled by Nancy Guthrie.

The Hidden Flame by Janette Oke and Davis Bunn, the second in the Acts of Faith series set just after the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.

I just began Where My Heart Belongs by Tracie Peterson, about a prodigal daughter who comes home and the older sister who stayed behind, and their conflicts.

I am sure that I’ll pick up next Take 3, the third in the Above the Line series about Christian filmmakers by Karen Kingsbury, as it is due out this week. After that, I’m not sure, but it will likely be something from my Spring Reading Thing Goals.

Happy Reading!

Carry On, Jeeves

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I don’t know how I first became aware of Jeeves and Wooster: I think possibly through a clip on someone’s blog of an old program of the pair starring a young Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. But after searching around, I discovered that P. D. Wodehouse wrote a whole series of books based on the characters of English gentleman Bertram Wooster and his valet, Jeeves (or, as he calls himself, a gentleman’s personal gentleman) on which the programs were based.

After reading several very good but very serious books, I was in the mood for something lighter. I perused our little branch library and found Carry On, Jeeves. I don’t know if it was the first in the series, but the first chapter told how Jeeves came into Mr. Wooster’s employ, so that seemed a good place to start.

Bertram is a pleasant, but not overly bright gentleman. Jeeves is the quintessential English valet, the soul of decorum, who seems to just noiselessly appear when needed, never offends, always seems to have the right answer and knows what to do, but he is not above quiet, unobtrusive manipulation. Jeeves is particularly offended, however, when Bertram insists on fashion of which Jeeves disapproves.

This particular book seems a collection of stories of Wooster’s various friends who run into some kind of trouble. They appeal to Jeeves for help, and he comes up with some kind of ruse which usually has unintended consequences and is the base for the book’s comedy. Though the plot is a little formulaic, the characters are generally well-drawn. What I enjoyed most about Wodehouse’s writing, though, was his phraseology. For instance, this is one response when Bertram is expecting Jeeves to have a comeback or argue with him, but Jeeves only says, “As you say, sir.”

I felt as if I had stepped on the place where the last stair ought to have been, but it wasn’t. I felt defiant, if you know what I mean, and there didn’t seem anything to defy.

Both the above and this give that feeling of “I know just what you mean — what an imaginative way to say it.”

It was one of those still evening you get in the summer, when you can hear a snail clear its throat a mile away.

After one plan to help a friend went horribly and awkwardly wrong, Bertram says,

I hardly knew what to do. I wanted, of course, to rush down…and grip the poor blighter silently by the hand; and then, thinking it over, I hadn’t the nerve. Absent treatment seemed the touch. I gave it to him in waves.

Another time when Bertram was suddenly challenged about something that had gone wrong and tried unsuccessfully to think of a response, he thinks to himself:

I strained the old bean til it creaked, but between the collar and the hair parting, nothing stirred.

Of course, this is not a Christian book, and there are a few objectionable elements: a handful of instances of the word “damn,” a good bit of alcohol usage, and an abundance of lying.

I don’t now that I’ll visit another volume of Jeeves and Wooster any time soon, but I enjoyed getting a little better acquainted with them.

(This review will be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books and the 5 Minutes For Books Classic Bookclub)

Spring Reading Thing 2010

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It’s time once again for the annual Spring Reading Thing sponsored by Katrina at Callapidder Days! The idea is to post some reading goals, whether a few pages a day or a list of books to read, just for yourself or with children, not to beat yourself up with if you don’t fulfill every single one in the time frame, but just as a guideline for more purposeful reading. It’s also fun to read other people’s goals and to get some ideas for more good books to read (though my to-be-read list is pretty long now…) Plus there are prizes! You can find the basics and guidelines at Katrina’s as well as a Mr. Linky to post goals now and a wrap-up post at the end.

I have no shortage of books on my shelves waiting to be read plus more I’d like to get to. It’s just a matter of choosing which ones to list!

Non-fiction:

I am currently reading:

Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross: Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter, essays on various aspects of the death and resurrection of Christ from people such as Charles H. Spurgeon and Martin Luther to John MacArthur and Joni Eareckson Tada, compiled by Nancy Guthrie.

I’d also like to read:

Detour, a non-fiction sequel to Dr. Frau: A Woman Doctor Among the Amish by Grace H. Kaiser.
Port of Two Brothers by Paul Schlener, the name of a village along the Amazon in Brazil named for two brother missionaries and their families who worked there.
Beyond Prison Walls by Marian Bomm, about her interment in a Japanese prison camp in WWII.
My Heart Restored, a Bible study by June Kimmel.
Hoping for Something Better: Refusing to Settle for Life as Usual, a Bible study by Nancy Guthrie.

Classics:

I’d like to reread Emma by Jane Austen. I read it over 30 years ago in college and would liek to revisit it again after recently seeing the newest PBS production.  I’m also thinking about The Great Gatsby after seeing someone mention it this morning.

I don’t know if you’d call it a classic exactly, but I am currently reading Carry On, Jeeves by P. D. Wodehouse.

Christian Fiction:

I am currently reading The Hidden Flame by Janette Oke and Davis Bunn, the second in the Acts of Faith series set just after the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.

I’d also like to read:

A Touch of Grace by Lauraine Snelling.
Take 3, the next in the Above the Line series about Christian filmmakers by Karen Kingsbury, due out next week.
The Telling, next in the Seasons of Grace series by Beverly Lewis, due out in April.
Where My Heart Belongs by Tracie Peterson.

That should keep me busy for a while, and if I happen to get through all these, I’ll get to some more that have been waiting for me.

Parting the Waters

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I first read Jeanne Damoff when someone (I’m sorry, I forgot to note who) linked to her articles “How fiction can powerfully inform the practical application of truth,” part one and part two. Both her insights and her writing style resonated with me. Since these articles were part of a writer’s blog called The Master’s Artist, I clicked around to see what else she had written.

I discovered her book Parting the Waters: Finding Beauty in Brokenness about her then fifteen-year old son’s near drowning. Such an accident is the stuff of parents’ nightmares. Jeanne takes us from the day before the accident, when unbeknownst to them at the time, they had their last “normal” conversation for a long while, straight into the events of the next day — hearing the startling news that one boy on a class outing had died and that Jacob was in the hospital, having been underwater for several minutes and then receiving CPR for twenty minuted before reviving.

After the first few weeks, the Damoffs were told that Jacob would likely remain in a persistent vegetative state. But doctors and friends continued to work with him, trusting that God would have the last say. I rejoiced right along with the family at Jacob’s first movement, first laugh, first weeping, first words.

Jeanne is transparent and truthful about all of the issues involved as well as the wrestling of her own heart, trusting that God was in control yet struggling with why He allowed this to happen. Early on she wrote:

I saw God’s mercy in the timing [at the beginning of summer, when their teaching responsibilities were over], and the thought upset me. Why did God time this at all? Even in these earliest hours of uninvited, undesired affliction, I feared for the potential damage to our faith and begged God to preserve it. We didn’t understand His plan, but we knew we couldn’t endure this hell without Him.

Yet all throughout the pain and struggle, many different people remarked that something beautiful and unusual characterized the whole situation: they could see the grace of God in action through provision of different items or just the right person, through the family’s, friends’, and community’s interaction and support.

Not only is the story compelling and inspiring, but I love how Jeanne has organized the chapters around a theme, with titles like, “A Pebble Falls,” “First Ripples,” “Breakers,” Deep Waters,” “Stormy Winds, “Undercurrents,” etc., with verses at the beginning of each, such as Isaiah 43:1-2a (But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;And through the rivers, they will not overflow you.”) and Psalm 42:5a,7b (Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me?…All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.)

At the back of the book are two appendices: one contains thoughts and testimonials from others involved in the story, and the other deals with “God’s Purposes in Suffering.”

I am so thankful Jeanne shared their story with us.

(This review will be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)

Dr. Sa’eed of Iran

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Some months back I wrote about Dr. John Dreisbach, a modern-day missionary who recently went Home to heaven. I was listening to his memorial service online when I heard the following poem read:

Christ is my Life, and Christ is my light;
Christ is my guide in the darkness of night;
Priest and strong Advocate Christ is for me;
Christ is my Master, to truth he’s the key.

Christ is my Leader, he peace to me brought;
Christ is my Savior, Christ righteousness wrought;
Christ is my Prophet, my Priest, and my King;
My Way, and the Truth to which I firmly cling.

Christ is my Glory, and Christ is my Crown;
Christ shares my troubles when woe strikes me down;
Christ is my treasure in heaven above:
In every deep sorrow he soothes me with love.

Christ is my Savior, my Portion, my Lord;
All honor and homage to Him I accord.
Christ is my Peace, and Christ my Repast;
Christ is my Rapture forever to last.

In joy and in sorrow Christ satisfies me;
‘Tis Christ who from bondage of sin set me free.
In all times of sickness Christ is my Health;
In want and in poverty Christ is my Wealth.

Afterward I searched online to find out who wrote this poem and discovered it was titled “Dr. Sa’eed’s Hymn” and was contained in the book  Dr. Sa’eed of Iran: Kurdish Physician to Princes and Peasants Nobles and Nomads by Jay M. Rasooli and Cady Hews Allen. It is no longer in print, but Amazon.com has inexpensive used copies, so I ordered one. (If you don’t mind reading books on the computer, the text is online through Google books.)

Dr. Sa’eed’s is a fascinating story. He was born into a Kurdish mullah’s (an Islamic teacher) family in June of 1863 in what was then Persia, now known as Iran. He was uncommonly bright and well-taught, so much so that he was given the title of mullah at the age of thirteen when his father died.

As a child he once saw a foreigner wearing a hat with a brim, uncommon because Persians then wore brimless hats. When he asked his mother why the man wore that “funny hat.”

“He is an unbeliever,” she replied, “and they do not wish him to see the sky, which is the abode of God.” By such an answer was aversion to non-Moslems instilled in the receptive mind (p. 23).

Sometimes he might be in a Christian home and “accidentally” knock something fragile off a shelf so that it broke or sit on a rug and cut holes in it with his knife. “Such misdeeds, while inspired by bigotry, were done especially to earn merit with God by causing damage to an unbeliever or even to one of a rival Moslem sect” (p 24).

But he also had a thirst for holiness that led him to fervent study and extreme rituals. After years he was still “dissatisfied and restive” (p. 29.) His first encounters with professing Christians were with Catholics who disgusted him, as they drank alcohol (forbidden in the Koran).

When he was seventeen, some Protestant missionaries came to town and engaged Sa’eed as a tutor in the Persian language. He had heard even worse things about Protestants, but he acquiesced.

He was surprised by many things: they knew something of the Koran, they prayed for their enemies, they did not drink, lie, or gossip. Their behavior matched their teaching. They used the Bible for language study, and Sa’eed heard many discussions about Christian teachings. Over time he began to speak with Kasha Yohanan about religion and read the Bible for himself. He began to see his own failings and to doubt what he had always been taught. This was agony to him, causing him to burn himself with hot coals as a vow never to speak with Christians about religion again and to tell the missionary that he was no longer available. But the words he had heard continued to burn in his heart until he finally prayed to be led in the true way. He decided to study both the Bible and the Koran. “In Mohammed’s teachings and personal life I found nothing which would satisfy the longing soul — not a drop of water to quench the thirsty spirit” (p. 38). Finally he yielded to faith in God.

His heart was now at peace, but his persecutions began in earnest. Even his own brother planned to kill him. The rest of the book details his growth, his training as a physician, and his life as a testimony to the One who saved him. Though often in danger, he never failed to treat anyone who called on him, even his enemies. His faith and godly character were a witness and a reflection of the One in Whom he believed.

(This review will be linked to Semicolon’s Saturday Review of Books.)

Booking Through Thursday: Grammar

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btt button The Booking Through Thursday question for this week is:

In honor of National Grammar Day … it IS “March Fourth” after all … do you have any grammar books? Punctuation? Writing guidelines? Style books?

More importantly, have you read them?

How do you feel about grammar in general? Important? Vital? Unnecessary? Fussy?

March Fourth. Ha! I don’t think I ever caught that before.

I do have my trusty Harcourt College Handbook from way back in college days. I haven’t read it through like a book, but I’ve probably referred to every part of it at some point over the years. I do have other grammar, style, writing books that I keep for reference, but these days if a question comes up while I am in the midst of writing, I usually look it up online. For instance, I can’t seem to keep straight when to use “i.e.” and “e.g.” — if I just search for “i.e. and e.g.” I get multitudes of grammar-related sites that can remind me in just seconds which is which.

I do think grammar is important for clear communication. Punctuation marks are somewhat like traffic signs. If everyone interpreted traffic signs differently, we’d have a lot of accidents and traffic snarls. I just saw somewhere recently the following example:

“Let’s eat, Dad!”

“Let’s eat Dad!”

Big difference. 🙂

I think all those elements of grammar can help the writer communicate more clearly, intelligently,  and effectively.

However, as a reader and listener, I think we have to exercise some grace. There are few things more obnoxious than for someone to correct someone else’s grammar in a social setting. Only parents, teachers, and editors should do that for people under their care. Sometimes I can get distracted by someone’s grammar mistake and miss the main point of what they’re saying. Unfortunately, grammar mistakes do have that effect, which is another reason to try to master them. But I do understand that in the heat of communication the subject matter can overtake good grammar. That’s what editors are for. There are no editors for public speaking, however, so I try to be a little for forgiving when listening.