Tag Archives: Books

Review: The Winter Rose

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The Winter Rose by Melanie Dobson is a dual-timeline novel.

Grace Tonquin is an American Quaker woman living in Vichy France during WWII. She had left behind the lifestyle of her actress mother, Ruby. Now she works with a network of others to help Jewish children escape France over the Pyrénées mountains into Spain. Grace has been told by Roland, her friend and leader, this must be her last group. Previously she had gotten the children to those who would take them over the mountains; now she must go with them. It was no longer safe for her to remain in France.

One boy, Louis, ends up having to remain behind in hiding with Helene, a woman who worked with Grace. Grace takes the remaining eleven children through various dangers until they finally arrive in Spain.

Most of the children are sent to live with relatives. Grace takes two of the children, siblings Elias and Marguerite, home with her to Oregon. She and Roland marry, and they raise the children as their own.

In 2003, Addie Hoult comes to Tonquin Lake in OR to look for any remnants of the Tonquin family. Her mentor and father-figure, Charlie Tonquin, is desperately ill and needs a transplant preferably from someone related. Charlie has always steadfastly refused to share anything about his family or his past. But Addie is determined to try to find his relatives, hopefully even his long lost sister.

I had seen films about people who helped Jewish children escape over the mountains. However, those movies ended with the children getting safely over, where it was assumed they lived happy and stable lives afterward. This book deals with the aftermath some of them faced. Even getting to safety, many of them couldn’t help but be traumatized by having to leave their homes and families, travel in difficult conditions, and witness things children should not have to see.

Some of the quotes I liked best:

She didn’t understand, nor would she ever, why God didn’t rescue everyone in this life, but it was her job, her grandfather had often reminded her, to be faithful in caring for those God gave to her (p. 37, Kindle version).

No one wants to hold you against your will. We want you to master your will so you can be in control of yourself (p. 189).

Living, I think, defies the loss. Loving well defies it, too (p. 301).

I enjoyed Melanie’s notes at the end where she told some of the history the novel was based on as well as what was fictional. She included some of that information on her website here.

When I’ve shared Melanie’s books before, some have wondered if she was related to or connected with the Dobsons of Focus on the Family. The “About the Author” page at the back of the book says, in part, “Melanie is the previous corporate publicity manager at Focus on the Family, owner of the publicity firm Dobson Media Group, and a former adjunct professor at George Fox University.” Since her husband’s last name is Dobson and she worked at Focus, I assume he is related somehow–unless the same last name is just a coincidence.

Overall, I thought this was a good book. I got a little lost in some places, unusual for Melanie’s books. But I appreciated getting to know “the rest of the story,” as Paul Harvey wold have said, behind some of the displaced children of WWII and the people who helped them. However, they aren’t the only ones in the story dealing with past wounds and needing to heal from their experiences. That seems to be the common theme among many of the characters.

Review: When I Close My Eyes

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When I Close My Eyes, a novel by Elizabeth Musser

When I Close My Eyes by Elizabeth Musser is told from three different viewpoints.

Henry Hughes is ex-military with a wife and young son, Jace. Jace has had heart problems most of his young life and needs open-heart surgery. Henry doesn’t know how he’s going to pay the medical bills. His friend mentions he could get him a “job” with another friend–a job as a hit man. Henry is so desperate, he agrees to take on such a job just this once.

He stakes out the lady he has been hired to kill on a street in Asheville, NC, takes aim as she goes to her car—but she turns her head just as he fires. Consequently, the bullet that went through her brain puts her in a coma, but doesn’t kill her. He won’t get his money if she doesn’t die, but he can’t do anything else since people come running.

Henry hadn’t known anything about the woman he tried to assassinate, but when her name is splashed all over the news, he learns she is a best-selling author, Josephine Bourdillon. He begins to read her books and wonders if she really believes what she’s written about faith and forgiveness. He vacillates between wanting to ask her and needing to finish the job.

In her coma, Josephine remembers her past: society parents who kept up appearances despite fighting, alcoholism, and philandering behind the scenes, a rebellious, dramatic sister, and her own struggle with depression. She felt she had to be the perfect daughter to maintain the family myth and had to carry the weight of helping her sister, who, more often than not, didn’t want help.

Josephine’s daughter, Paige, has rejected the faith of her parents due to the hypocrisy of her grandfather and another family friend. Paige is a junior in high school but mature for her age. Her sister, Hannah, comes home from her year of studying in France to be with the family in the wake of Josephine’s shooting.

As police investigate, Paige is concerned that they’ll find out about what the family calls “the awful year.” Besides the death of her mother’s parents that year, there are hints of a secret that Paige doesn’t want to get out, a secret that might implicate someone in the family.

The “whodunnit” part of the story was handled well. Henry, of course, pulled the trigger, but once police find him, they want to know who hired him. I was sure it was one character—not the character the story points to at first—but I was wrong.

Depression is a big part of the book. Elizabeth said in a couple of interviews (here and here) that though her family was different from Josephine’s, her journey with depression was very similar. She wanted to bring light to that topic and show that even people of deep faith can struggle with depression. I would caution readers who might be sensitive to this that there is a suicide attempt in the book.

Other themes are hypocrisy and God’s grace.

I love that Elizabeth draws from her own experiences. She grew up in Atlanta, and she and her husband have been missionaries to France for several decades. Both Atlanta and France are featured in this book. The bulk of the story takes place in Asheville, NC. I’m not sure if Elizabeth has connections there, but that’s a city I love to visit. The drive some of the characters took on I-40 through the mountains is very familiar to me.

Some of my favorite quotes:

Mama always said that the painful things of life got redeemed in her stories.

The bad stuff hadn’t been able to snuff out the good stuff, or maybe it even happened because of the bad stuff.

My parents knew a lot about real, deep-down love. They knew it hurt. They knew it cost something valuable. They knew it was worth keeping.

There were just a couple of things I didn’t like. One was the use of a couple of words that aren’t profanity, but aren’t usually found in Christian books (though one is in the KJV. However, it’s not used there like it is used today). The other was bedroom scenes with Josephine and her husband, and mention of Henry’s wife in a see-through nightie. Nothing explicit was shown, but it was still more than I wanted to read. None of these things needed to be in the book. They only make up maybe half of one percent of the total book, but they still marred it a little.

Overall, however, the story was very good and the characters were well-developed.

I listened to the audiobook nicely read by three different narrators.

Review: Adorning the Dark

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Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson

My first encounter with Andrew Peterson’s music was when a friend put the music video for “Dancing in the Mine Fields” on Facebook. The song is sweet one about marriage, and the video features several older couple holding their wedding portraits.

Then when I read The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, I loved it so much I looked up some background information about it. I discovered another music video of Andrew’s called “The Ballad of Jody Baxter,” Jody being the main character in The Yearling.

Those songs are folksy, but many of you might be familiar with a contemporary song of Andrew’s titled “Is He Worthy?” We sing this at church sometimes.

I knew that Andrew had written a series of fantasy novels for children called The Wingfeaher Saga. I have not read them yet, but I want to. I’ve heard good things about them.

And somewhere along the way, I learned that Andrew was instrumental in forming The Rabbit Room, a site dedicated to “Cultivating and curating story, music, and art to nourish Christ-centered communities for the life of the world.” I have read a few articles there.

Even with that limited knowledge, I was interested when I saw Andrew’s Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making come up for a Kindle sale.

Andrew says he writes and speaks on this topic as “a practitioner, not an academic,” which means he “learned by doing, which is a nice way of saying that that I learned by doing it wrong half the time” (p. 4, Kindle version).

But not writing as an academic made the book extremely relatable. Andrew shares his journey, his testimony, and what he learned along he way.

Though he writes frequently of song-writing, many of of illustrations work for other kinds of writing and artistic expression as well.

In the first chapter, Andrew shares that many people know Bach wrote S. D. G., standing for Soli Deo Gloria (“glory to God alone”) on his manuscripts. But Andrew shares what few people know: that Bach also wrote “Jesu Juva,” Latin for “Jesus, help!” on his manuscripts as well. That’s an emphasis throughout the book. Andrew says is calling is “to use whatever gifts I’ve been given to tell the truth as beautifully as I can” (p. 4), and “to make known the heart of God” (p. 5).

He writes about battling self-doubt, creating as an act of worship, the fact that creating is work, not magic, that writing what we know doesn’t mean the polished end, but the struggle. He writes about humility, self-consciousness, and the fact that we don’t create to draw attention to ourselves even though “art is necessarily created by a Self” (p. 28). He references Lewis and Tolkien and others and talks about imagination, serving the work, and serving the audience.

One of the references to Lewis described his use of the word sehnsucht, an inconsolable longing which is evidence we were made for something more than we see and experience in this world.

One favorite section was about the tension between art and agenda and what makes Christian art Christian.

One great problem with much art that’s called “Christian” is agenda, which is to say that it’s either didactic, or manipulative, or merely pragmatic—in other words, the artistic purity of the work tends to take a back seat to the artist’s agenda (p. 47).

Art and agenda can and do coexist . . . Agenda is bad when it usurps the beauty. Christian art should strive for a marriage of the two, just as Christ is described as being “full of grace and truth” (John 1: 14). Truth without beauty can be a weapon; beauty without truth can be spineless. The two together are like lyric and melody (p. 47).

He describes revision, or selectivity, as “[pulling] the weeds before they choke the flowers” (p. 61) and being “able to discern what’s necessary to the aesthetic of the song and what isn’t. Then lose what isn’t” (p. 59). He points out that it takes forty gallon of maple sap to make one gallon of maple syrup. You wouldn’t put the sap on your pancakes. But once it’s boiled down, it’s perfect. On the other hand, “Revision is crucial . . . but it’s possible to monkey with something so much that the magic dies” (p. 99).

He writes that creating is not just inspiration, but also discernment and discipline—or dying to self.

He tells how art nourishes community and community nourishes art.

One of my favorite sections talks about how creativity isn’t just being “artsy.” We’re creative because we’re made in the Creator’s image. Andrew says the Rabbit Room’s conference, Hutchmoot, was meant to “encourage people to look for the glimmer of the gospel in all corners of life, that they would see their God-given creativity in both their artistic works and their front gardens, in their home repair and the making of their morning coffee, and that they would call out that glorious creativity in everyone they meet” (p. 89). His wife would “never claim to be an artist, but she’s one of the most creative people I know. Her song is our family” (p. 104).

I have multitudes of quotes marked besides what I’ve already shared. Here are a few:

Who do I think I am, anyway? We need not look anywhere but to the eyes of our Savior for our true identity, an identity which is profoundly complex, unfathomable, deep as the sea, and yet can be boiled down to one little word: beloved. That’s it. And that’s why it’s so silly (and perilous) to use your gifting to clothe yourself with meaning. Those clothes will never quite fit (p. 15).

Living as we do in dying bodies in a dying world, our best work always falls short of the initiating vision (p. 16).

If you wait until the conditions are perfect, you’ll never write a thing (p. 26).

Jesus, you’re the source of beauty: help us make something beautiful; Jesus, you’re the Word that was with God in the beginning, the Word that made all creation: give us words and be with us in this beginning of this creation; Jesus, you’re the light of the world: light our way into this mystery; Jesus, you love perfectly and with perfect humility: let this imperfect music bear your perfect love to every ear that hears it (p. 10).

The reintroduction of fairy tales to my redeemed imagination helped me to see the Maker, his Word, and the abounding human (but sometimes Spirit-commandeered) tales as interconnected. It was like holding the intricate crystal of Scripture up to the light, seeing it lovely and complete, then discovering on the sidewalk a spray of refracted colors. The colors aren’t Scripture, nor are they the light behind it. Rather, they’re an expression of the truth, born of the light beyond, framed by the prism of revelation, and given expression on solid ground (p. 41).

Somewhere out there, men and women with redeemed, integrated imaginations are sitting down to spin a tale that awakens, a tale that leaves the reader with a painful longing that points them home, a tale whose fictional beauty begets beauty in the present world and heralds the world to come. Someone out there is building a bridge so we can slip across to elf-land and smuggle back some of its light into this present darkness (p. 42).

The real flash of inspiration came not before they started working, but during the process (p. 47).

Keep working, keep straining toward a level of excellence that will most likely elude you forever, but it’s the only way your songs are ever going to move from bad to decent to good (p. 74)

Become a student of the craft. Have conversations with people whose insight dwarfs your own; they’ll teach you what to look for (p. 74).

Constraints are wonderful things, and lead you down paths you might not otherwise take (p. 99).

One holy way of mending the world is to sing, to write, to paint, to weave new worlds. Because the seed of your feeble-yet-faithful work fell to the ground, died, and rose again, what Christ has done through you will call forth praise from lonesome travelers long after your name is forgotten. They will know someone lived and loved here.

Whoever they were, they will think, they belonged to God. It’s clear that they believed the stories of Jesus were true, and it gave them a hope that made their lives beautiful in ways that will unfold for ages . . .

This is why the Enemy wants you to think you have no song to write, no story to tell, no painting to paint. He wants to quiet you. So sing. Let the Word by which the Creator made you fill your imagination, guide your pen, lead you from note to note until a melody is strung together like a glimmering constellation in the clear sky. Love the Lord your God, and love your neighbor, too, by making worlds and works of beauty that blanket the earth like flowers. Let your homesickness keep you always from spiritual slumber. Remember that it is in the fellowship of saints, of friends and family, that your gift will grow best, and will find its best expression (p. 98).

My only tiny quibble with the book is the title. Andrew speaks throughout the book of pushing back the darkness by shining light. To me, that sounds more accurate than adorning or decorating or enhancing the darkness.

Even though our tastes in music are different and I didn’t know many of the artists or songs Andrew referenced, I got so much from this book. I did add several of the books he mentioned to my want-to-read list. Parts of this book brought me to tears. But it also stirred my soul, fired my imagination, and left me with a burning desire to keep writing.

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Review: The Cost of Betrayal

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The Cost of Betrayal: three suspense novellas.

The Cost of Betrayal is a trio of romantic suspense novellas by Dee Henderson, Dani Pettrey, and Lynette Eason.

In Betrayed by Dee Henderson, Paul and Ann Falcon (from Full Disclosure) are at an auction just for fun. Ann buys a box of perfumes and scarves as inspiration for painting. But when Ann looks through the box at home, she discovers an engraved jewelry box with a ring stuck in it and an engraved pink pocketknife. A retired Midwest Homicide Investigator, Ann puts her skills to work to search for the owners to try to return those items. She discovers the knife belongs to a Janelle Roberts, imprisoned for killing her boyfriend after a bad breakup.

But the more Ann looks into the case, the more she thinks Janelle is innocent. Ann’s husband, Paul, is the head of the Chicago FBI office, and they pool their resources to look into Janelle’s case. They find enough to free Janelle, but not enough to convict the person they think is guilty.

They graciously provide for Janelle to hide out on an island with a friend and psychiatrist who can help her process what has happened to her and help her decide what to do with her future. Meanwhile, they watch the suspected guilty party, waiting for her reaction to Janelle’s release.

In Deadly Isle by Dani Pettrey, Tennyson (“Teni”) Kent’s fiance has just broken up with her. Joining her cousin, Julia, for their regular swim, Teni falls behind due to her emotions. When she gets to their usual stopping place, she doesn’t see her cousin. But she does see her boyfriend from years ago, Callum. He picks her up in his boat and joins the search for Julia. Sadly, they find her body.

Teni is an underwater investigator and Maryland NRP officer, so she sets about documenting the accident, not realizing at first that Julia’s death resulted from foul play.

Then, back at home, Teni’s house explodes due to a cut gas line. Teni happened to be out investigating a noise, so her life is mercifully spared. But she and Callum wonder—is someone out for her family? Or was Teni the target in Julia’s murder?

As a storm rolls in, landlines are down and Teni and Callum are on their own trying to figure out what happened and avoid getting killed.

In Code of Ethics by Lynette Eason, trauma surgeon Ruthie St. John works on Detective Isaac Martinez when he comes into the ER with a gunshot wound. Hours later, when she goes to check on him before leaving for vacation, she finds an unknown orderly attempting to put something in Martinez’ IV. After a scuffle, Ruthie learns that Isaac has been investigating some bad cops. He had reported one for stealing money and drugs from the evidence room. But the security footage was altered, and Isaac has no proof. Now many of the cops on the force have turned against him. He needs to look for evidence, but he’s in no shape to.

Ruthie is the only medical person in a family of cops. She sneaks Isaac out of the hospital and takes him to the cabin she had rented for her vacation. She calls her two brothers for help and reports to her mother, the chief of police. Ruthie helps Isaac track down his main lead, only to discover she isn’t who he though she was.

Of these three authors, I’ve only read Dee before (except for another trio of novellas by these ladies which I had forgotten about). I’ve read and loved most of Dee’s novels. If you love suspense, she’s your girl. It was fun to “visit” with characters Paul and Ann again. (As an aside, I have heard that some of Dee’s theology is somewhat wonky in her nonfiction and a couple of her novels. I’ve not read those, and I don’t remember seeing anything amiss in the novels of hers that I’ve read. But, with any author, exercise discernment.)

I’ve seen some of Dani’s posts on Inspired by Life and Fiction (a group blog where ten authors take turns posting) and Lynette’s on The Write Conversation and the Steve Laube Agency blog. But I have not read their books yet.

The main connection with each of the novellas is the fact of betrayal. Dani’s was the scariest to me, making me jump at creaks in the house and such. Lynette’s story appears to feature characters from other books as well.

I was a little frustrated that the case in one of the stories remained unsolved. But that would happen in real life. I’m not sure if the author plans any more stories on those particular characters.

I’ve had the book on hand for a while, but when I saw the audiobook for free through Audible’s Pus Catalog, I decided to get it. It was nicely read by Susan Bennett.

If you like suspense, I am sure you’d like this compilation. Collections of novellas are a nice way to try out new authors.

Review: The Lies of Saints

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The Lies of Saints novel by Sigmund Brouwer

The Lies of Saints is the third Nick Barrett novel by Sigmund Brouwer, the first two being Out of the Shadows and Crown of Thorns, linked to my reviews.

Nick was born into an elite Charleston family but was considered and outsider because his mother was. After his father’s death and his mother’s abandonment, he was raised in an uncle’s family, always aware he was not really a part of the family except by blood.

The first book had Nick coming back to Charleston after several years due to receiving a clue about his mother’s disappearance. He comes into an inheritance and the family home.

He’s not really a detective or investigator—he teaches astronomy. But a detective friend has been in a serious car accident, and Nick volunteers to help her.

It turns out that the hazing and apparent suicide of a Citadel cadet two decades ago is related to the disappearance of a debutante, both of which are also connected to a current case. As Nick asks questions, he’s repeatedly warned not to stir up this hornet’s nest. But as he continues unraveling surprising connections, he finds himself in danger.

Some favorite quotes:

Merely going through rites was a much easier task than following the spirit behind them (p. 40, Kindle app).

Without God, life was dust and had no meaning. With God, hope transformed life and its sorrows (p. 158).

“I understand,” I said. “I will tell this woman how you feel.”

Life burst into the old woman’s face. She pointed at me, still clutching the shawl. “You, young man, have no idea how I feel!”

It was a well-deserved rebuke. “No,” I said quietly. “I don’t” (p. 160).

Not so fast, my junior-grade sidekick (p. 201).

I don’t often read this kind of book, but it’s nice for a change. I like Brouwer’s breezy style of writing here. Though there are dark and scary turns, there’s a lot of underlying humor and banter as well as a few sweet moments.

Review: Being Elisabeth Elliot

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Being Elisabeth Elliot is the second of a two-part biography of Elisabeth by Ellen Vaughn. The first was Becoming Elisabeth Elliot (linked to my review).

I’ve written more about who Elisabeth was in that first review and her influence in my life here, so I won’t go into all that again.

Vaughn’s was the authorized biography: she had access to all Elisabeth’s remaining journals and many letters.

After spending months agonizing over whether to leave or stay in South America, Elisabeth finally felt God would have her go home and be a writer. This volume begins with Elisabeth’s return to the US from Ecuador in 1963 with her young daughter, Valerie.

But then she struggled with what to write, now that she had the time and freedom to.

Plus she was processing much of what had happened in her life so far. Christian literature and missions meetings were filled with victorious tales which she had not experienced. “She railed against the image-conscious habits of the Evangelical Machine, whose every story must end with glorious conversion and coherent happy endings, lest God look bad” (p. 272). She rethought some of her legalistic upbringing. She found that often, God’s ways were inscrutable. He couldn’t be boxed in, figured out, or predicted.

But she found Him trustworthy nonetheless. He may not respond the way we think He should. But He proves Himself good, wise, and holy.

Her private musings during this time period might be shocking and disturbing to some. But I think many of us ask some of the same questions at points in life.

In her first book after the initial ones about her husband, his friends, and their ministry trying to reach the Waorani tribe (then known as Aucas), she wrote a fictionalized account of her experiences in No Graven Image. The book was not well-received. Many misunderstood that the graven image in question was their man-made perceptions of what God should be like.

Vaughn goes on to tell of Elisabeth’s struggles with writing, her widening speaking ministry, her challenges raising Valerie, her surprising second marriage, her husband’s agonizing death from cancer, and her third marriage to Lars Gren. She mentions how some of her books came into being, especially the first few. I would have liked to learn more about the rest of her books.

I was surprised how often Elisabeth said in her journals that she never sought a platform, never wanted to get in the middle of a public debate on thorny issues (especially femininity in a feminist word). But she felt as God gave her openings, she needed to share His truth.

Though she came across as self-assured, she struggled with self-doubt.

I was surprised to learn that she dearly wanted to write a great work of fiction.

From the time Elisabeth Elliot returned to the United States from Ecuador in the early ’60s, she had devoured classic and modern literature that evoked the human condition against the backdrop of God’s mysterious universe. She wanted to write great novels. She wanted to engage and stir urbane New Yorkers. She wanted to call into being essential human truths through the power of story. She wanted pages that she had written to stir people’s hearts in the same way she was so deeply stirred, her heart and eyes lifted up, by well-crafted literature, visual art, and music (p. 253).

She attempted this, but ultimately felt it was beyond her. Many of us are glad God led her as He did, writing nonfiction for Christian women.

Much of what I would have liked to know more about was lost due to Lars burning “most of her journals from the years of their marriage, a choice he now regrets” (p. 274).

I started this book with reticence because I had heard negative things about it. I thought Vaughn’s writing was engaging and readable. I agree that she shared some things from Elisabeth’s journals about her physical relationship with her second husband, Addison, that would have been best left out. I agree, too, that she inserted herself into the narrative more than she should have. Vaughn’s husband died of cancer right after she wrote about Addison Leitch’s death, and having traveled this journey with Elisabeth through her journals was a help to her. But this would have been better placed in an appendix or afterword. Plus she “argues” with Elisabeth in an imaginary conversation as to whether or not she should have married Lars. In various other places, we’re aware of the author in ways we should not have been.

I appreciated Vaughn’s difficulty in trying to tell the truth about Elisabeth as best she could. I can’t imagine filtering through all the material available to her and trying to discern what to share and what to leave out. Though overall she covers the same ground as Lucy S. R. Austen in her biography, they bring out many different things as well.

Elisabeth never claimed to be perfect and would never wanted to have been portrayed as such. She was more complicated than many knew.

The very last page of the book tells about the Elisabeth Elliot Foundation, which is placing all her writings and radio programs in one spot. At the very bottom, the page says the foundation’s mission is to give “Hope in Suffering, Restoration in Conflict, and Joy and Obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ.” I thought this remarkably echoed Elisabeth’s ministry as well.

Review: How to Write a Sentence and How to Read One

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When I was in school, the types of sentences we learned about were declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory. There were also simple, complex, and compound sentences.

Recently I learned about right-branching sentences.

But Stanley Fish doesn’t write about any of these in How to Write a Sentence and How to Read One.

First he spends time explaining what a sentence is: organization of words in logical relationships.

If one understands that a sentence is a structure of logical relationships and that the number of relationships involved is finite, one understands too that there is only one error to worry about, the error of being illogical, and only one rule to follow: make sure that every component of your sentences is related to the other components in a way that is clear and unambiguous (unless ambiguity is what you are aiming at) (p. 20).

He suggests practicing various forms of sentences without regard to content at first to get used to logical progressions and connections. He compares this to learning scales in music.

He expounds on the subordinating, additive, and satiric styles of sentences.

The subordinating style, he says, is technically called hypotaxis. This involves “the art of arranging objects and actions in relationships of causality, temporality, and precedence” (p. 50).

The additive style, also known as parataxis, involves a “coordinate, rather than a subordinate construction” (p. 62).

The first displays “planning, order, and control”; the latter has the effect of “spontaneity, haphazardness, and chance” (p. 61), even though it might be just as carefully planned.

“Satire, the art in which ‘human vice or folly is attacked through irony, derision, or wit'” (p. 89), is a “content category . . . but there’s a lot of formal skill in writing satire” (p. 90).

Fish has a chapter on each of these styles with numerous examples from literature. He also has a chapter on effective first and last sentences, with abundant examples as well. Many of the examples are well-known; some are obscure.

My one quibble with his examples, though, is that many of them are from older writings and are so long, no editor would allow them today. One random example on page 145 (Kindle version) has 76 words and nine clauses. One can say a lot with that much material! 

Nevertheless, the point is taken that effective sentences are thoughtfully arranged, not randomly scattered. 

Some of my favorite quotes from the book:

Language is not a handmaiden to perception; it is perception; it gives shape to what would otherwise be inert and dead (p. 42).

Content must take center stage, for the expression of content is what writing is for (p. 134).

What you can compose depends on what you’re composed of (p. 138).

Evanescence can be produced by language that in its mundane use sits inert on the page (p. 146).

I think I’ll need to read this book again to benefit from it more. It had the misfortune of being dipped into in bits and pieces among other reads. But I think my brain needs a rest first. I was glad I read this via the Kindle app, where I could tap some of the words I’d never seen before and use the built-in dictionary to find out what they meant.

But I can recommend this book for thoughtful examination of what sentences are and how they can be effectively composed.

Review: By Way of the Moonlight

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In By Way of the Moonlight by Elizabeth Musser, Allie Massey’s grandmother, known as Nana Dale, has just died. Nana Dale was an accomplished horsewoman, placing first in several shows and even riding in the Olympics. Their plan had always been that Allie would inherit the grounds, house, and enough money to open an equine therapy business on her grandmother’s property.

But the family learns at the reading of the will that Nana Dale sold the property to a development firm, evidently taken advantage of in her beginning dementia by an unscrupulous contractor.

Now Allie has a limited time to clear the house and have an estate sale before the house is imploded.

Allie is beyond upset. She can’t cope. She even breaks up with her fiance. Nana Dale had left a letter with cryptic instructions to find a cherrywood chest which will have more information. But no one in the family has seen such a chest.

In intermittent flashbacks, we learn of Dale’s life. She had loved horses from her earliest memories. But her father’s business crashed along with the economy during the Depression, and the horses had to be sold. Dale prayed long years that she might find Essie, her beloved filly.

Before the Depression, when her family boarded horses, Dale met a boy named Tommy with a horse named Infinity. The two became friends, even competing as a couple in some events.

The rest of Dale’s story takes us through Tommy’s bout with polio, mounted patrols along the coast during WWII called Sand Pounders, and a daring rescue of a sailor whose ship was torpedoed, which resulted in a major surprise.

In one interview, Elizabeth said part of the story was inspired by her mother’s property in Atlanta. In a series of short videos, Elizabeth takes readers through various areas of the house and grounds that were inspiration for the novel, which was fun to see. She said that there is pressure now, just like in the book, for owners of such properties to sell to developers who want to raze the buildings and put up new cluster houses.

The WWII and Sand Pounders sections of the book are not Elizabeth’s mother’s history. But when she happened upon information about the coastal mounted patrol, she wanted to include them in her book.

Elizabeth says later in her interview that in this book she wanted to “examine the thin line between fighting for what you believe in and developing an unhealthy obsession. Both women learn important lessons about pursuing dreams at all costs, which may cause them to sacrifice something or someone they love.”

I listened to the audiobook read by Susan Bennett. I thought Susan did a great job with the character voices, but the narration seemed too slow. Maybe she thought that was fitting for a Southern accent (the next audiobook I started is also read by Susan, but at a much more normal pace). Also, she had an annoying habit of turning one-syllable words into two syllables, especially at the end of sentences (not to be nitpicky, but after 14+ hours of listening, some things grate). The audiobook didn’t provide any back matter, so I am thankful Elizabeth included information and links to interviews here.

The story itself also seemed a little slow, especially the modern-day part. There’s almost no movement in plot in Allie’s story until near the end.

Nevertheless, overall, this was a good book. One of my favorite quotes, and themes, in the book is “When life gets hard to stand, kneel.”

Another: “Bitterness will rot out your soul. . . You may never get the answer on this side of life to the why. So it’s much better to ask the question, ‘Now that I’m in this place, Lord, what do you want me to do?'”

And “Life ain’t fair. It’s brutal sometimes. . . faith don’t stop the horrible things. But faith helps you walk through those things, whipped and angry and screaming on the inside. Lord don’t mind our screaming and raging. He done shown us how to do it in those psalms of his that King David wrote.”

Elizabeth is one of my favorite authors. Even though I like some of her other books better than this one, I did enjoy this one and can highly recommend it as well.

Review: I Can Only Imagine

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I Can Only Imagine

Even if you don’t listen to contemporary Christian music, you’ve probably heard the song “I Can Only Imagine,” a crossover hit by Bart Millard and Mercy Me.

The inspiration for the song came from a comment Bart’s grandmother made after Bart’s father’s funeral: “Bart, I can only imagine what Bub must be seeing now.”

Bart’s relationship with his father had been rocky, to say the least. He described his dad as a monster who either beat him severely, or checked out completely, saying he didn’t care what Bart did.

But, miraculously, Bart’s father became a Christian. Bart had a front row seat to the dramatic changes in his father’s life as he cared for him during final decline with pancreatic cancer.

I had seen the film of Bart’s life by the same title as the song and was deeply touched. He said the original taping was six hours of material, so four of those had to be cut for the final product. He decided to write a memoir, also titled I Can Only Imagine, to tell the more complete story.

The first part of the book tells about Bart’s family, his sports career coming to an end with an injury, his interest in music, and the last years of his father’s life. The rest of the book tells about forming a band and the events leading to and following the release of the song “I Can Only Imagine.” Through some amazing twists and turns, that song launched the band’s career.

Bart said he was tempted to leave the story there with the fairy tale ending. But he went on to talk about his experiences with depression, his young son’s diabetes, his unhealthy lifestyle, his mistaken spiritual beliefs that he had to somehow earn God’s blessings by doing all the right things. As a Christian, he knew he was saved only by God’s grace. But like so many of us, we forget living for Christ is is just as much by His grace.

A few quotes from the book:

Thank the Lord for the prayers and provision of grandmas! I’m not sure what would have happened to Stephen and me without those two sweet saints being the constants in our lives (p. 10, Kindle version).

I once heard a pastor say that when it comes to the sins of our fathers, we either repeat or repent (p. 55).

Isn’t it interesting how some life-changing devastations are actually like the crossover switches on train tracks that take you in a totally new direction, often forcing you onto the path you were supposed to be on all along? God had certainly brought a divine interruption into my life, taking me out of sports and putting me into choir (pp. 61-62).

The moment I realized all of my creativity and talent was simply an overflow of a healthy relationship with Christ, everything changed (p. 172).

While I am here on earth, I am both a work in progress and already made whole because of the cross. I am a child of the risen King who will wrestle with the flesh. I’ll win some and lose some, but it can never change how Christ sees me because the cross was enough! (p. 172).

I’m thankful Bart wrote this book and that I read it. It was just as touching and inspiring as the movie.

Review: Beneath a Golden Veil

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Beneath a Golden Veil by Melanie Dobson

In Beneath a Golden Veil by Melanie Dobson, Alden Payne is a Harvard law student whose father owns a tobacco plantation in 1853 Virginia. Alden’s father expects him to help with and take over the plantation after he finishes school. Alden approaches Christmas break planning to tell his father that he cannot acquiesce to his father’s plans. He braces himself to face his father’s wrath.

At Harvard, “Both students and professors liked to rant about freedom for all men—and pontificate about the evil Southern planters—but in Alden’s opinion, none of them were willing to sacrifice a thing—especially not their cigars—to help free the slaves” (pp. 13-14, Kindle version). Alden doesn’t know what else he can do against such a strong institution, but at least he doesn’t have to be a part of it.

Arriving at home, he finds his father is livid over a runaway slave, a young man with whom Alden played when they were boys. Witnessing his father’s cruelty toward the young man only reinforces Alden’s decision. But now he feels compelled to do more: to help the young man escape. His best bet is to get the young man to Sacramento, where he can then find a way for him to go to Vancouver.

In Sacramento City, Isabelle Labrie owns one of the nicer hotels. She and her aunt had bought part ownership with Ross Kirtland. But Isabelle’s aunt died, and Ross sold his share to go to the gold fields. They plan to marry and run the hotel together when Ross returns. Meanwhile, Isabelle keeps her past a guarded secret, even from Ross. If anyone found out now, she would be ruined, perhaps even in danger.

When a scared young slave runs into her establishment one day, Isabelle and her porter, a freedman, hide him and get him to safety. This starts Isabelle on a mission to look for other slaves she can help. California is a free state, but allows for travelers to bring their slaves to help in the gold fields. The laws concerning slaves are a little murky on finer points.

When Alden’s and Isabelle’s paths cross in Sacramento, they don’t trust each other at first. It’s dangerous even in free California to come out as an abolitionist. Alden has had the young man act as his slave during their travels so they wouldn’t be questioned. But Isabelle thinks he’s an actual slaveholder.

Soon they get on the same page. however. But accomplishing their goals is going to be more dangerous than they thought.

Thankfully, the Kindle version and audiobook came on sale at the same time for a couple of dollars each, so I could go back and forth between them. The narrator did an okay job except for using the same irritating annoyed tone for any bad person, male or female. I’d recommend the print or Kindle version of this one.

Though I’ve read historical fiction about slavery, I haven’t often come across stories from the gold rush era. Melanie’s notes at the end reveal Isabelle’s character is based on a real-life one.

Inhumanity is always hard to read about. But it’s inspiring to read about brave souls who help others at risk to themselves.

There were many layers to this story, especially in Isabelle’s situation. Overall, it was a very good read.