How Do I Love Thee? by Nancy Moser is the story of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning. I had always been intrigued by what little I knew of their love story and welcomed the chance to read more about it.

The book begins with Elizabeth as an established, respected poet in her later thirties, but practically a recluse. As a child she had begun having some recurrent chest congestion which led to her becoming weak and easily over-tired and over-stimulated. Further reading outside the book indicated that her illness was never specifically diagnosed. She became nearly an invalid, and with that and her father’s unusual disinclination toward visitors, her world was primarily her room. She became afraid of even meeting people and turned down requests from other poets of her day to meet with her. Any visitors outside her family and small circle of friends would cause her to panic.

Her father was beyond authoritarian to the point of insisting that none of his children marry. This is never explained — his reasons may not have been known. Perhaps after his wife died it was his way of not “losing” any more of his family. But he was Elizabeth’s chief love, and her loyalty caused her to think he was only somewhat eccentric. Later she realized that “he…instead of loving me with the unconditional love that had been my offering, loved with a possessive hand that hurt in its clutching, that caused bruises and offered no solace” (p. 223). “His love consumed me like a shroud, cloaked me in anxiety, bathed me in fear of an unwitting transgression that would bring his displeasure. Being loved by Papa involved clutching my arms around myself in protection”(p. 235).

She was thirty-nine when she received a letter from fellow poet and admirer, Robert Browning. She was aware of his work and admired it and decided she did want to meet him. They were opposites in many ways. Her life had been overshadowed by sorrow; his had been bright and happy. She lived in her room; he had traveled the world. She was retiring; he was effusive. But they fell in love. “I had found the population of books gentle mates but hadn’t known there was any sweeter music…” until Robert (pp. 232-233). Then they had to figure out what kind of relationship they could have in light of her health and her father.

I mentioned several days ago that at first I wasn’t enjoying the book as much as I thought I would. Part of the reason for that is that Robert doesn’t come into the picture until a third of the way through the book. Yet I can understand now that the first third of the book is needed to fully understand Elizabeth’s life and what it meant for her to take the steps she did. It would not have made the same impact and would not have entirely made sense if the book had started with their meeting. Also, at first I didn’t like that the point of view was in the first person. I know that poets probably don’t talk in everyday life like their poems sound, but at first I didn’t see much depth in her conversations. And, knowing this was a fictionalized story, I disliked reading as if I were hearing her own thoughts without knowing if they were hers or the author’s and would have preferred a third person viewpoint. By the time she first heard from Robert, though, I liked being inside her head, and at that point the story became captivating. Theirs was no fairy-tale infatuation: their love strengthened each other and brought out the best in each other.

I appreciated that Nancy Moser included several appendices in the back, especially a section discussing what was fact and fiction in the story. Some of her changes were understandable, such as changing duplicate names to avoid confusion. Purist that I am, I wish she had not changed any of the incidents. But I feel confident overall that the story is truly Elizabeth’s and Robert’s, and I very much enjoyed reading it.

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

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.

August was a busy month, but a long road trip provided a lot of good reading time.

I finished:

Sometimes a Light Surprises by Jamie Langston Turner and reviewed it here.

To The Golden Shore by Courtney Anderson and reviewed it here.

Above the Line: Take Two by Karen Kingsbury, the second in the Above the Line series about two Christian filmakers trying to make films of Hollywood quality in technicality yet contain life-changing values. The daughter of one is pushing her boundaries much farther from the faith she was raised in, and some of the scenes, though not explicit, might need to be preread and discussed before letting daughters read it. I can appreciate the fine line Karen is trying to walk between not showing too much yet needing to show the consequences of compromises and poor decisions.

An Unexpected Love by Tracie Peterson and Judith Miller, second in the Broadmoor Legacy series about three cousins from a wealthy family in the 19th century. This one focuses on Sophie, wose mother passed away years earlier and whose father, in his grief, has thrown himself into charity work in neglect of his daughter. She in turn becomes flirtatious and seeks attention in the wrong ways. Very good book though maybe a little predictable.

Sisterchicks in Wooden Shoes by Robin Jones Gunn. An abnormal medical test sends Summer into a need to escape for a while. So she goes to visit her long-time pen pal in Holland, Noelle. Loved this book and the glimpses of Holland as well as the interaction between the two friends.

Currently reading:

How Do I Love Thee? by Nancy Moser about the relationship between Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning. I was always fascinated by what little I knew of their story  — how does a reclusive near-invalid with an authoritarian father who insists none of his children marry ever find love? I have to admit I am not yet enjoying the book as much as I thought I would, but I am only about a third of the way through, so hopefully that will change before long.

Things Left Unspoken by Eva Marie Everson. Just barely started but I am drawn in already.

Next in the queue:

Fatal Illusion by Adam Blumer which I agreed to read and review for a blog tour.

A Surrendered Heart by Tracy Peterson and Judith Miller, third in the Broadmoor Legacy series.

Still haven’t gotten to How To Read Slowly by James W. Sire but hope to before reading any other non-fiction.

And if I complete those — I have a stack comprised of some new additions from my birthday as well as some I purchased on a clearance table back in January as well as a few others purchased here and there.

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.

I only reviewed two of these earlier this month, so I’ll say a little more about the rest here than I usually do. I read more non-fiction than fiction this past month — highly unusual for me!!

I finished reading Thread of Deceit by Catherine Palmer. It’s edgier than most of her books. It’s about a man who runs an inner-city activities center, a reporter sent to the center to do a story on lead paint in old buildings, a young girl who comes to the center every day but who will talk to no one, and the “thread of deceit” the man and woman follow to find out the girl’s story.

I completed Take One and This Side of Heaven by Karen Kingsbury, reviewed here.

I also finished Hannah’s Hope: A Journey of Faith by Hope Houchins about a teen-age girl in our state, Hannah Sobeski, who fought a six-month long battle with cancer. The book is primarily made up of the Caring Bridge daily updates with a little background information here and there provided by Hannah’s aunt. It was heart-breaking to want to pull for Hannah throughout the book while knowing the end of the story, but the journey of faith that Hannah and her family and friends went through was probing and thought-provoking. I don’t remember how the story came to public awareness, but I do remember the signs on businesses requesting prayer for her and the news stories that did not shy away from or dim the faith expressed by the family.

My future daughter-in-law gave me a Bible study book titled A Life Surrendered by June Kimmel for Mother’s Day. It sat on my desk for several weeks until one day I just picked it up and started through it — and it was definitely the right thing at the right time for me. It’s a study of surrender through the life of Christ. Very convicting.

Another finished book is Becoming God’s True Woman edited by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. I agreed to review this book because I wanted to read something by DeMoss — I had heard much about her from people I respected. It turns out she didn’t write this book, but she compiled it from several messages by women from a conference for women. Nevertheless a couple of the messages were hers, and they were excellent: very well-written and meaty, filled with the Word. I will have more to say about this book later: I’m still digesting it. I definitely want to read more from DeMoss.

I read Organizing Your Craft Space and almost finished Where Women Create, both by Jo Packham. I don’t usually read this type of book through — I tend to leave them out and browse through them a few minutes here and there. But I read all of the first one except a couple of chapters of craft organization that don’t pertain to me (beads and mosaics). In the first one Jo deals with just about every consideration that could possibly apply to organizing crafting areas. I don’t agree with the brief mentions of feng shui — I don’t believe in “energy” in a room, and most of the recommendations I’ve read from that viewpoint are common sense (for example. placing a desk so it faces the door helps you not to have to crane your neck every time someone enters.) The second book shows the studios or crafting areas of different artist and designers. I enjoyed the different styles, personalities, and tips.

I’m almost finished rereading To The Golden Shore by Courtney Anderson about America’s first missionary, Adoniram Judson. Tremendous, tremendous book. I’m planning to review it soon.

I’ve also started Sometimes a Light Surprises by Jamie Langston Turner about a man whose wife died twenty years earlier in an unsolved murder who, a few weeks before she died, spoke of a “conversion” experience, which he resented. Now the daughter of the woman instrumental in his wife’s conversion applies for a job at his place of business. Turner’s books tend to be, as Bet put it so succinctly once, more character driven than plot driven. So far most of the story has taken place in four characters’ thoughts with not a lot of conversation or action — but where she takes her characters is always interesting. I like how most of her main characters are “outside looking in” to Christianity — we don’t always think about how we come across to people.

I’ve also been reading the daily excerpts from Daily Light on the Daily Path and Our Daily Walk devotional by F. B. Meyer as well as reading through I Thessalonians several times in my effort to slow down and delve into the epistles rather than speeding through them. I just started II Thessalonians this week.

Plans for the next month are to finish Sometimes a Light Surprises, to read Take Two, the next in the Above the Line series by Karen Kingsbury. I would really like to read How To Read Slowly by James W. Sire. I am thinking (hoping) it will help me retain more of what I read from non-fiction books. After that I’m not sure. I have a whole stack of books to read and a long trip to and from a wedding this month, so I am planning to take several!

(And Ann, thanks to this post of yours, I removed the adjective “amazing” from one of my descriptions. 🙂 )

Take One by Karen Kingsbury is the first in the new Above the Line series. Though it is not a continuation of the others series involving the Baxter family, some of the characters from those series do appear here and there, and it was fun to “catch up” with them. This book can be read and enjoyed as is, though, without having to go back and reread the previous books.

The story involves two friends, former missionaries, who feel called to a ministry of producing independent inspirational films, and the various problems, setbacks, and answers to prayer along the way. Another prominent story line involves the college-age daughter of one of them who is bitter about the loss of a friend and struggles in her beliefs, pushing the envelope in her behavior. Though there’s nothing overly explicit described, parents might want to preview this book before letting daughters read it and be prepared to discuss some of the girl’s behavior. A third story line involves Bailey, Cory, and Tim from the previous books.

I enjoyed the book and the behind-the-scenes look at what it involved in film-making and the trials of faith of the two men and their families. One has his wife with him while the wife of the other stayed home with small children, and there are struggles each family faces. In all honesty I am a little tired of the Bailey/Tim/Cory storyline, but in the phase of life Bailey is in, it is understandable that she would still be searching and trying to discern the Lord’s will in that area. If you like Karen’s other books, you will like this as well.

This Side of Heaven is not exactly a sequel of A Thousand Tomorrows, about Cody, the bullrider, and his wife with cystic fibrosis, and Just Beyond the Clouds, about Cody’s brother with Down’s Syndrome, but those characters do appear. This story is about a young man named Josh who wandered from his family’s beliefs and standards, had a short dalliance with a woman while out of town, resulting in a daughter that he believes is his, but his parents don’t, and then suffers an accident leaving him in pain and unable to work while the insurance company stalls payment. The previous books have been criticized by some because their references to faith were vague, but in this book the message of the gospel and the grace needed just to live in this world every day is very clear. This book is a little grittier, though, than other books of Karen’s that I have read. Nevertheless, these are situations that people do face. I could have done without the references to online poker, however: that can be so detrimental to some that I wish some of the characters had met through another venue.

All Josh wants to do is get his settlement, have the surgery that will relieve his pain, prove that his daughter is his, and take care of her. His mother, Annie, struggles with shame over what Josh has and hasn’t done with his life, and her story especially spoke to me: sometimes when someone “falls away” it’s easy to focus on our feelings rather than their needs, and her struggles were very real to me.

If you do read this book, be sure to read Karen’s afterword. It sheds a poignant light on the story.

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

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 plan to read. You can learn more about it by clicking the link or the button.

I seriously thought about just linking to my Spring Reading Thing Wrap-Up post, since most of this will be repeat information from that post. But I decided against it as it’s rather long.

I mentioned last month that I had finished a couple of books but had not reviewed them yet. I got that done: In Trouble and In Joy: Four Women Who Lived for God by Sharon James, is reviewed here, and Passionate Housewives Desperate For God by Jennie Chauncey and Stacy McDonald is reviewed here.

Within the last month I read The Secret by Beverly Lewis and House Blend: Warm Stories From Your Favorite Authors, but didn’t review them except fpr a few lines on the spring reading thing post.

I’m about 2/3 of the way through To the Golden Shore by Courtney Anderson and 1/3 of the way through Thread of Deceit by Catherine Palmer. The latter is a little “edgier” than what I usually read, but it is good.

I am having a hard time deciding what to read this next month. I still have several unread books stacked up from a clearance sale in January, but I have been hankering to read something by Agatha Christie and P. D. Wodehouse, too (any recommendations from either of those authors?) I guess I’ll see what I am in the mood for when I get done with the books I am currently reading.

In my reading through the Bible I am in the epistles now, and instead of speeding through them, I am taking time to read one book over and over. I’ve spent the last several weeks in Colossians and just started I Thessalonians. I’ve also been reading daily in Our Daily Walk by F. B. Meyer.

You can check out what is on other people’s nightstands this month or join in here.