Jellicoe Road: A Chick Lit Wednesday Review

A few months ago I predicted on this blog that Paper Towns (2008) would be receiving a nod from the Printz committee at the 2009 awards ceremony. Failing that, I was certain that after nabbing a National Book Award, What I Saw and How I Lied (2008) would take a Printz award/honor.

You can therefore imagine my surprise when it was neither of my predicted titles but Melina Marchetta’s Jellicoe Road* (2008**) that won the 2009 Printz Award for excellence in young adult literature. Being a fan of Marchetta’s previous novels Looking for Alibrandi (1992) and especially Saving Francesca (2005) you can also imagine my embarrassment upon realizing one of my favorite authors had published a new book without my realizing it.

The only solution, of course, was to immediately procure a copy from my place of employ and read it as soon as possible.

Jellicoe Road is not a novel with one protagonist. Rather, it is one with many. The story starts on the Jellicoe Road with a tragic accident that will have far reaching repercussions for each character in the novel. Then, abruptly, the story starts again twenty-two years later at the Jellicoe School–the boarding school located farther down the same road–when Taylor Markham is chosen to lead the school’s faction in a secret territory war that has spanned a generation between the school boarders, the Townies, and the Cadets.

The Jellicoe School is the only real home Taylor has ever known. She has been at the school since she was eleven, when her mother abandoned her on Jellicoe Road and Hannah drove by to pick Taylor up and take her to the school. Now seventeen, Taylor is in many ways still a young girl afraid of being abandoned by those she loves. Which is why, at the start of the story, Taylor balks at the authority thrust upon her and the relationships it will necessitate. Leading the Jellicoe School through the territory wars is bad enough, but being in charge of an entire dorm of students seems truly unbearable. Taylor’s resolve to live a life apart is tested, and in many ways broken, with the efforts of well-meaning friends and the appearance of Jonah Griggs–the one person Taylor never expected to see, or need, ever again.

As the territory wars escalate, Taylor’s life is thrown into disarray with the sudden disappearance of Hannah–the only adult Taylor would come close to calling family. With Hannah gone, Taylor begins reading Hannah’s unfinished novel for lack of anything else to cling to. Marchetta weaves Taylor’s story and the events of Hannah’s novel and even the histories of other characters together to create one haunting narrative where, the more Taylor reads, the more it feels like she is looking not at fictitious characters but at people she has known her entire life.

While trying to understand Hannah’s sudden absence, Taylor also starts to understand herself. Eventually she realizes that living life at a distance offers no protection from abandonment and provides even fewer options to heal scars from past betrayals.

The novel starts with rapid fire narration as Taylor throws out events and names at the reader without any frame of reference. Later in the story the importance of the Cadet, the Hermit, and the Brigadier becomes painfully obvious. But in the first pages the narrative comes closer to painfully confusing and unwieldy. By the end of my reading I had a marker at almost every page to indicated important points and favorite passages. However, if you can roll with the uncertainty, you will be rewarded. At a little over four hundred pages, Marchetta still creates a page-turner that moves quickly and weaves together every single narrative thread by the final page.

Because Taylor is not forthcoming with explanations, the novel reads like a mystery (fitting since my two Printz Award predictions were also mysteries of sorts). However a good portion of the story is also simply about friendship and love. Taylor expects neither from her time on the Jellicoe Road even though they might be exactly what she was supposed to find there all along. Marchetta blends moments of humor and gravitas in her unique prose style to create another really great read.

* Jellicoe Road was actually originally published, I assume in Marchetta’s native Australia, with the title On the Jellicoe Road. For various reasons, upon finishing the novel, I feel that this title is superior to the American edition’s shortened version.

** The book was originally published, again I assume in Australia, in 2006.

*** In addition to the original title being superior, in terms of relevance to the story, the original cover art is also much more apt. (Although I just realized the US cover has a Poppy on it which I will grudgingly admit is actually pretty relevant to the story. It also makes it impossible to pick a cover to feature here so, readers, you get both.)

The Noticer - A book to be thought about

“Sometimes, all a person needs is a little perspective.” And this is what ‘The Noticer’ gives you. The Noticer is a compilation of phases of life that almost each individual goes through at some point in time. By creating characters around these phases, this book presents a different perspective of looking at things. The central character Jones, who I believe represents God, meets different people going through different phases of their life and are unhappy about different things. All these people are the brink of just losing it all when Jones comes into their lives and helps them see the unseen side of the picture.

I don’t like reading self help books, but this book is different. It’s like a friend who knows what you’re going through and helps you figure out your way. If you want to understand the book, you need to relate it to your life. When you do that, you realize why things happened in a certain way. The Noticer tells you how to recognize and nurture human relationships and how to understand the other people around you. It is plain psychology which most of us fail to see.

In my opinion, The Noticer should not be just read, it should be thought about.

Other info:

The Noticer Project is a worldwide movement to “notice” the five most influential people in your life! - http://www.thenoticerproject.com

And the Whitneys Go to...

Here are the winners (you can read the liveblogging transcript here)

Best Romance: Spare Change, by Aubrey Mace

Best Mystery: Stephanie Black, Fool Me Twice

Best Speculative: Brandon Sanderson, Hero of Ages

Best Historical: Abinadi, H. B. Moore

Best Youth: James Dashner, the 13th Reality

Best General Fiction: Waiting for the Light to Change, Annette Haws

Best Novel by a New Author: Angela Hallstrom, Bound on Earth

Best Novel: Traitor, by Sandra Grey

Okay, so, um, I got three right in my Segullah post: Stephanie Black, Annette Haws, and Angela Hallstrom. I confess that while I am happy for the winners, I am a little bummed for the sake of those who I wanted to win. I really think Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow, deserved to win something, for instance. I could say that about a lot of other books I voted for. And heck, ones I didn’t vote for in first place but chose for second. I loved Seeking Persephone, for example.

Not that I’m trying to take away from the books that won; congratulations are in order. Way to go Whitney winners!

And to those who didn’t win, if you read this, and it’s any consolation, you can know that I (and I’m sure many others) was pulling for you. I hope to read you in the finals again next year.

Dragons of the Highlord Skies - Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Dragonlance

The Lost Chronicles, Volume Two

Dragons of the Highlord Skies by Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman

The Lost Chronicles series is an informal sequel to the Dragonlance Chronicles that reveals untold tales from the original, classic epic. So much for the brief synopsis I pinched from the dustjacket.

This is a series of three books published in one volume written from the point of view of three Solamnic Knights and also the view of Kitiara. We see her riding Skie, the blue dragon and how she gets the support of Lord Soth. We understand how she has risen so far and why she is so great. We begin to understand some of the problems Sturm had in Solamnia and see some knights following the The Measure to the letter and how much trouble it gets them into which is shown in other books.

I was so excited to read this book. Most of the books I’ve read recently have been mysteries, biographies or autobiographies. While I love reading about other people and what they’ve done with their lives, my first love is fantasy while my second is science fiction. While reading this book, I felt I was home again.

What I loved about it. There’s so much I loved and so much is unquantifiable that it’s hard to know where to start. I think I need to start with Dragonlance. I actually don’t like the whole of Dragonlance. I really only like the stories with certain characters, such as Tanis, Raistlin, Caramon, Tasslehof, Kitiara, Flint, Sturm and any of their close friends. It’s hard to know why, but my guess is because they are so well drawn and each one has flaws just like people in real life. Except, Tas, of course, who is just perfect as he is and has absolutely no flaws whatsoever, or so he’d have you believe.

I liked being able to see how the details in these books dovetailed with some of the other books. We get to see the opposition’s point of view with the assassination of Verminaard and how that changed their strategy for the war along with several other points that dovetail very nicely.

It is fabulous being able to actually see Kitiara from her mind and not through Tanis’ eyes. He is very biased about her and this shows her as she truly is, a really formidable character.

One of the parts I like the most is seeing Laurana mature and take her own part in the destiny of Krynn, rather than remaining a hanger-on and being in the way. In the early books and throughout most of these, she is just there getting in the way, but this shows the beginning of her journey of self discovery which is continued in Dragons of Spring Dawning.

What I didn’t like about it. That’s an easy one. I borrowed it from the library at the same time as an Andre Norton and there’s just not enough time in three weeks to read both books properly, especially as they’re both three-parters. I totally overestimated the amount of time I’d have to read.

Warnings:

This is Dragonlance, how many warnings do you need about blood, gore and violence?

The Heartless Stone, by Tom Zoellner

Want to know all about diamonds? You can find out by reading this book. You get more . . . a lot more, if that’s what you want (maybe you don’t).

The author tells how diamonds develop, how they’re mined, how they’re sold and marketed, and how artificial diamonds are made. He does not take a chronological approach. This is not a history of diamonds. Instead, each chapter focuses on an area of the world where diamonds are sold or marketed: Brazil, South Africa, Canada, etc. This causes some repetition of basic background facts.

What is a bigger problem is the author’s choice of the notebook dump approach to fact gathering. Instead of going to a location, interviewing knowledgeable people, digesting his notes, and writing a description based on his work, he makes his work the story. He doesn’t just gather facts from Vicki the Canadian geologist–he has to tell you what clothes she was wearing, when she was engaged, what she thought of diamonds for herself, etc. Some readers, I suppose, will like the author’s approach. For me, what is acceptable in a long magazine article became very tiresome in a book. I have said nothing about his motif of his own failed engagement and the saga of his useless rejected engagement ring.

Really, though, if you can bear that kind of thing, there is much useful information here. I read this book because I heard a recent interview with the author about his new book, Uranium, which I also intend to read.

Book Review: What He Must Be

What He Must Be: …If He Wants to Marry My Daughter

Voddie T. Baucham Jr.

ISBN-10: 1581349300

ISBN-13: 9781581349306

There are some books that are enjoyable, convicting, and hard to put down. What He Must Be is all of those. Voddie Baucham has written a classic.

In the last few years the name Voddie Baucham has come to our attention as a man who is very concerned for the family. His Family Driven Faith was a very good book. What He Must Be is even better. Baucham has done excellently.

Baucham takes personal experience, patterns in his own extended family, statistics, and most importantly- Scripture, to show us what a man must be if he is to be a man who is to marry his daughter. Honestly, I am convinced that I hold the same opinions and convictions.

Essentially, Baucham declares that a man must be mature, stable, holy, and responsible if he is to be a truly good candidate for marriage.

What He Must Be is a prophet, one who speaks to his family on behalf of God. He must also be a priest, one who speaks to God on behalf of his family. He is to lead his family in the ways of Jesus Christ. He must also be a protector and provider. It is particularly interesting and gratifying that Bauchum does not expect someone who is a protector and provider to measure up to a macho man standard. What he does tell us is that God’s Word presents to us a picture of one who is sensitive to the needs of his wife, sensitive to the dangers and fears that she faces, and then takes the responsibility of working to meet those needs so that his wife is safe and provided for.

What He Must Be combines humor, passion, compassion, and strong convictions to give to us a wonderful picture of what a man should/must be if he is to be fit for marriage.

Highly recommended.

Jeffery Ladd on PhotoBook collecting

Interesting post, with a ton of comments by Jeffery Ladd for his two year anniversary reviewing photobooks on his Sb4, which is linked up here. And reserve some time before attempting to read all of the comments, there were over a 100 I think at last count. I could not make it though the entire list tonight.

Meanwhile, I have been a little conservative about my own personal background about providing these reviews, but if you are interested, I have provided some insight on my personal blog, Singular Images, here. In retrospect, I have been reluctant to write here about my reviewing process, but that is probably just a personal issue about how comfortable I am about the subject. That may change over time, eh?

So for transparency, I acquire some of books for review by outright purchasing them and some are provided by the publishers. And as a photographer, I creat my own books, so I tread lighthly here. Regardless, I don’t pull any punches as to what I think about the books I review, which is why I am pretty sure that I am on at least one publishers shit list at the moment, (if not two), as well as some photographers are not exactly enamoured with my reviews, while others state that they appreciate my feedback.

So it is interesting to read Jeffery’s post and the subsequent discussion about the fine art photography photobook market. And for the record, I do not purchase extra copies of any photobooks that I provide a favorable review, as I read them, use them and enjoy them and I am not a collector per se.

Best regards, Douglas Stockdale

BTW with all of the talk about Martin Parr, did any see the brief piece about him on Ovation Sunday night, when he stated that when he decided to join a photo agency, he went for the best with Magnum? I think he is both a creative photographer as well as an astute business guy.

Bountiful book exposes 'saints'

The Secret Lives of Saints, by Daphne Bramham

Reviewed by Janet Nicol

The Secret Lives of Saints (Daphne Bramham, Random House Canada, Toronto, 2008. 445 pp $32.95 cloth) reveals disturbing truths about a fundamentalist Mormon sect in Bountiful, a community of more than 1,200 people in south-eastern British Columbia. Author Daphne Bramham has frequently expounded on injustices committed toward its residents in her Vancouver Sun columns. Now her book offers the big picture, delivering a compelling story dominated with villains, victims, and apathetic observers.

Much of Bramham’s evidence of wrong-doings is based on testimonies of former residents. She also uses the words of Winston Blackmore, an expelled bishop who continues to lead a faction of sect members, to prove leadership at Bountiful is anything but saintly. Descriptions of similar activities of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS) in Utah, Arizona, and Texas are detailed. (The FLDS is not to be confused with mainstream Mormons who oppose multiple marriages.) Bramham repeatedly illustrates how British Columbians are reluctant to protest the Mormon sect’s harmful impact on its women and children, despite the fact polygamy has been illegal since 1890.

Two independent schools at Bountiful—funded by BC taxpayers to the tune of $800,000 annually—enroll an estimated 400 students. Citing annual government inspector reports, the author notes Bountiful Elementary and Secondary School (BESS) has operated in the past with only three out of ten teaching staff holding BC College of Teachers’ certifications.

Blackmore founded Mormon Hills in 2001 and named himself superintendent. But few students from either school graduate from Grade 12. Drop-out rates are high and occur early—girls leave to enter “assigned” marriages as young as 14, and boys, as early as Grade 8, to work in low-wage jobs. Many boys are also cast out of Bountiful by church elders to decrease the ratio of grooms to brides.

The schools profess to follow BC curriculum, yet Bramham argues subject content is distorted or ignored. Religious doctrine prevails on posters, exam questions, and video-taped songs and sermons. Domestic skills are emphasized for female students. A few “trusted” females are encouraged to become nurses, teachers, and midwives so the community can be self-sufficient. All classroom learners are kept insulated from, and in contempt of, the “outside” world.

Bramham compares these human rights violations to that of the Taliban in Afghanistan. She asks: “How is it that two nations, so clear-sighted in recognizing human rights atrocities in other countries and so fearless in taking on tyrannical rulers on the other side of the world, have been so blind to the human rights violations committed against their own women and children?”

Fundamentalist Mormons first settled in the area in the late 1940s. Over the ensuing years, opportunities to take legal action occurred, Bramham observes, including in the 1990s. But provincial NDP Minister Penny Priddy was unable to convince her cabinet colleagues to lay charges against Bountiful’s leaders. “Bountiful is like a sleeping snake,” she told the author. “Everybody takes a stick and pokes at it once in a while.” Priddy cites apathy as the single biggest reason for government inaction.

Four years ago, the BC Teachers’ Federation joined the protest, delivering a petition of teachers’ signatures to the Liberal government. Meantime, BC Attorney General Wally Oppal ordered a two-year RCMP investigation and two independent inquiries. And now he has appointed special prosecutor Terrance Robertson to head a third investigation. Another key breakthrough came in November 2007, when FLDS “prophet” Warren Jeffs was tried and sentenced by an American court to 10 years in prison on two counts of rape as an accomplice. (Jeffs had assigned the marriage of a 14-year-old girl to a 19-year-old male.)

Because of growing public condemnation, Blackmore may be loosening his hold on his multiple wives, children, and followers. Recently he hired three certified teachers at Mormon Hills and he is improving academic standards, according to Audrey Vance, a Creston resident and former school trustee. Vance is one of a dozen members of “Altering Destiny Through Education.”

“Last year 10 of Winston’s students graduated from Homelinks,” Vance said in a telephone interview. (Homelinks is a public education program in Creston.) Vance’s group supports education for Bountiful’s youth, believing learning can be a path out.

In a telephone interview, Bramham says sect elders only want their members to be “minimally educated.” They want the children to have the basics—reading, writing, and math,” she says. Beyond this, leaders discourage higher learning for young people because they are only going to face a life of domestic or manual work. “This also makes it harder to escape,” Bramham adds.

Bramham thinks the Independent School Act needs to be re-written. “Teachers need to meet the basic professional requirements,” she says, “and safeguards to the curriculum need to be added so inspectors have tools to maintain standards.”

But while the wheels of reform and investigation grind slowly, the leaders of Bountiful continue to assign child brides to older men and exploit or “throw away” boys. Airing the “secrets” of the saints, as Bramham does in this book, is a convincing and compassionate step toward change in our own backyard.

Re-printed from BC Teacher magazine, March, 2009.

Fire by Kristen Cashore

“There are the ordinary humans; farmers, shepherds, soldiers, a king, and his court. This other land is also populated by a mutant species of creatures known as “monsters.” A monster mouse is mouselike except that it is covered in brightly colored fur and stunningly beautiful. There is a monster human with hair the color of flame. She is of devastating beauty and has the ability to bend other minds to her own.”

The human monster is named Fire. Imagine Aphrodite and then amplify her power.

This is not a sequel to Graceling but a companion, as the only character readers will recognize is the future King Leek. I had high hopes for this book and I wasn’t disappointed. I won’t give a detailed review, as I read a very early galley copy. But I will say I really enjoyed the main character, Fire. Cashore writes some really excellent dialogue - witty and poignant. I found myself laughing out loud or squealing at points. Those who enjoyed the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer would LOVE Cashore’s writing. Only Chashore’s much better!

I can’t wait to see the final version

In the Land of the Jane Fonda Urinal Target -- ‘What’s the Matter With Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America’

How ignoring the economy and lifting up wedge issues got us into a mess

What’s the Matter With Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America. Holt, 336 pp., $16, paperback.

By Janice Harayda

Why did the Republican Party for years attract so many Americans who recently have lost their homes, jobs or life savings to its policies? How did the GOP recast itself as the party of working-class voters, who for generations had lined up behind the Democrats?

Thomas Frank gives bracing and witty answers in What’s the Matter With Kansas?, a former New York Times bestseller that is still one of the best books on the political roots of the current fiscal mess. Frank argues that for decades, Republicans have been eroding the traditional Democratic base by focusing on wedge issues such as abortion, gun control, and “filth” in the media, not on the economic policies that separate the parties. And since the Clinton administration, the Democratic Leadership Council has played into their hands by promoting “triangulation,” a business-friendly stance that downplays its differences with the GOP.

The result: The line between the parties blurred, and year after year Americans elected Republicans whose laissez-faire economic policies eventually would wipe out their 401(k)s.

Frank refracts the changes through his native Kansas, once a hotbed of progressive ideals, a state that has paid a scalper’s price for its march to the right. A portent of the American economic meltdown occurred when the attacks of Sept. 11 halted the orders to the Boeing, a mainstay of the Wichita economy. The aircraft manufacturer laid off many union workers and said that, this time, their jobs wouldn’t be coming back.

“In the summer of 2003, unemployment in Wichita passed 7 percent and foreclosures on homes spiked as these disasters reverberated through the local economy,” Frank writes.

But Kansans didn’t seem blame the Republican union-busting policies exemplified by Ronald Reagan’s decision to fire striking air traffic controllers. The state went for George Bush in 2004. And Frank’s pessimism about its political climate seems well-founded, if not prophetic, given the economic free fall that has occurred since the publication of his book. Even as the recession was spreading around the world, Kansas voted Republican in the 2008 presidential election.

Best line: At Kansas Vietnam Veterans reunion in 2002, trinket vendors sold “such items as the Jane Fonda urinal target.”

Worst line: Frank describes how the national swerve to the right affected his hometown, the affluent Mission Hills, Kansas, and says you “can observe the same changes” in Shaker Heights, Ohio. No, you can’t. Parts of Shaker Heights — where I lived for 11 of the years when those changes supposed to be occurring — may look like Mission Hills with its castellated stone fortresses. But the Cleveland suburb is 10 times the size of Mission Hills, has a far more diverse population, and for other reasons does not fit the pattern he describes. Shaker Heights has lost enough of its cachet in the past several decades that the elite suburbs now lie farther to the east. Those suburbs include Hunting Valley, which more closely resembles his hometown.

Editor: Sara Bershtel

Published: June 2004 (hardcover), April 2005 (paperback).

Furthermore: Frank’s latest book is The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule.

Janice Harayda is a novelist and former book editor of the Plain Dealer in Cleveland.

© 2009 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.

Book Review on Skye Jethani’s THE DIVINE COMMODITY

I always enjoy meeting the people who write the books I read. It adds a certain texture to the experience.

Last month, I was in a two-day meeting in Chicago that drew various Christian leaders from around the country. Skye Jethani was present at this meeting, and it was the first time we met in person.

Skye attended with some other folks on the Christianity Today staff, Marshall Shelley and Kevin Miller. I’ve been reading Shelley and Miller for years, as I’ve been a devoted reader of CT since I was in my early 20s (I, of course, am only 29 now, but that’s beside the point). J

Meeting these men in person was a neat experience. Shelley and Miller were delightful, and as can be imagined, they were both incredibly sharp and insightful.

I was also impressed by Skye. And I’m not *only* speaking of his fantastic hair cut — which is striking in its own right (may his tribe increase!). But what he brought to the table in our meetings resonated very strongly with my own heart.

On the last day of the event, Skye handed me his new book, The Divine Commodity.

Two things stood out immediately. First, the cover - it’s absolutely gorgeous. Hardback with a killer design imprinted instead of on a paper sleeve (I never liked those sleeves).

Second, the endorsements. When influential authors like Greg Boyd, Alan Hirsch, and Brian McLaren all endorse the same book, you’d be very wise to take notice of it. And you’d be wiser to secure a copy and read it.

I began reading the book on the plane on my way back home.

Before I plunge in here, people who know me can testify to the following. 1) I’m not easily impressed. In fact, I’m the guy who airs on the side of being monumentally UNimpressed by most things in the Christian world today. 2) I’m not inclined to be complimentary unless I feel it’s deserved. You won’t find me pouring butter all over anyone (the exception being Mr. Lobster).

I’ll leave it to the other bloggers to write a blow-by-blow review of the book. Instead, I’d like to make a few observations on how the terrain looks from my hill, a few personal reactions, and then my question to Skye.

OBSERVATIONS

1. The writing style. It’s excellent. Skye’s book scores well above average here. It’s well written, clear, and holds the attention of the reader. That latter part is not easy to do with someone like me. I’ll shamelessly admit that I move into ADHD mode whenever a book is in my hands. It takes A LOT for a book to grab me … and even more for to keep me.

2. The subject. Hugely important and so little talked about. I’ve been saying it for years: The church of Jesus Christ is dying for a lack of creativity and imagination. We Christians, as a whole, are the most unimaginative people on the planet. The creativity and imagination of Divinity is resident within us, but it’s rarely expressed as a whole. I believe there’s a hidden obvious reason for this (which I’ll discuss in a minute), but in short, it’s a problem of huge proportions. Especially since our God is the most creative Person in the universe.

3. The point. Skye does a great job unfolding the problem and identifying some of the nuances surrounding it. He makes great use of quotations by other authors, and uses van Gogh as a template for each chapter. You will learn a lot of things you didn’t know before reading this book, and it will provoke you to think.

4. The rating. I give it 5 stars, and I hope that both of my blog readers will go out and purchase a copy of the book. JYou can get it from any Christian bookstore or from Amazon.com. I suspect that Amazon has the best prices.

PERSONAL REACTIONS

Beyond enjoying the book, I want to state what I believe to be one of the greatest obstacles and hindrances to unleashing the creativity and imagination resident in the Body of Christ today.

It’s the perfunctory way that most of us do church. The 500-year old Sunday morning Protestant order of worship has been set in concrete for the last five decades and most Protestant and evangelical churches simply will not change it.

To my mind, this is one of the most uncreative and unimaginative things that’s been invented by the minds of mortal men. I realize that some pastors may think they’ve broken with it by substituting pews with chairs, having the worship team sing 5 songs instead of 10, trimming down the sermon from 50 minutes to 20 minutes, having coffee before the service starts, not using bulletins, etc. etc.

But let’s be honest. These are minor tweeks. The fact is, this ritual renders most of God’s people passive for the entire event. (And God’s people call it “going to church.”) The ritual is more akin to a spectator sport than anything else. Yes, you can worship God and sing songs in your pew or chair, but beyond that, there’s little to no participation. The creativity of the Body is quite limited as a result.

I live in a world where God’s people gather for church meetings that have endless variety in them. Open participation is present in these gatherings. It’s the norm, not the exception. And the kinds of meetings to express Jesus Christ are endless. There’s no static ritual that the churches are stuck in. The variety is as vast as the unsearchable riches of our Lord Himself. Further, the creativity of God’s people is constantly encouraged and watered. And the results are exciting, dramatic, and often unpredictable.

I’ve discovered that to the average church going Christian, what I’ve just said above has no points of contact with their experience. They can’t even imagine meetings like this. (That’s the confession of many whom I’ve talked with by the way.)

The reason: They’ve been given only one experience of “church,” and it’s the only grid through which to understand the meetings of God’s people. That, or a Bible study or prayer meeting. And those are fairly typical as well.

Of course, there’s a price to pay for having the kind of rich, open-participatory church meetings I’ve described. It requires that every member put their hands to the plow and prepare spiritually for their gatherings and take responsibility to express their portion of Christ in them.

Attending a typical church service with the 500-year old order of worship in place is far easier and much more convenient. Nothing is required except showing up. The show will go on nonetheless.

I realize that many people enjoy the Sunday order of worship. And that’s fine. But we’re talking about *hindrances* to the creativity and imagination of the church of Jesus Christ. And we shouldn’t be afraid to face this one question head on:

“Is it POSSIBLE that the way we typically do church has hindered the creativity of God’s people to think outside the box?” Is that possible?

Last month, I was speaking at George Fox Seminary and I made the following statement: “I think we should take Sunday morning church service out behind the barn and shoot it dead.”

To my surprise, the audience began to applaud.

Point: There’s restlessness in the Body of Christ today. There’s a certain boredom that a significant number of Christians are experiencing with the typical way church is done today. And lack of imagination and creativity = boredom. And there’s nothing boring about Jesus Christ when He’s being expressed in His fullness by His people. He’s anything but boring.

That said, I believe Skye’s book will help to show us the problems in our lack of creativity, and it will help us to begin to explore new and fresh ways to be church in this generation. And hopefully, to take the risks of thinking outside the box and doing church differently than it’s been done over the last 500 years.

Not to put too fine a point on it: The church of Jesus Christ is the most glorious woman on the planet. Right or wrong, I see her in the main today hiding her glory under a bushel. Her spiritual instincts, which includes her creativity, have been largely deadened. As a result, she has been veiled to most of us.

If we can entertain the possibility that there just may be a better way to unleash the native creativity in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ today, then I believe the Lord will  be able to gain more for Himself and His eternal purpose. And He will be able to express His glory through His much loved Bride in multi-splendid ways. Or to quote Paul, “that the multi-splendored wisdom of God (which is Christ Himself) might be made known through the church …”

Note those last three words … “through the church.”

MY QUESTION TO SKYE

I was asked to submit a question to Skye about his book. Here it is. Check back in a few days to see Skye’s answer, which I will be posting on this blog.

Skye, Suppose that the leadership team of a local church of 100 committed members comes to you and asks, “We want to *fully* unleash the imagination inherent in the members of our congregation to express Jesus Christ in creative and effective ways, and we are willing to do ANYTHING you prescribe to accomplish this goal, no matter how drastic or radical it may be.” What would you tell them?

Visit some of the other blogs below that are blurbing about the book. Some important news follows this list.

Out of Ur (OutofUr.com)

Flowerdust.net (http://www.flowerdust.net/)

Stuff Christians Like (http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/)

Ragamuffin Soul (www.ragamuffinsoul.com)

Monday Morning Insight (http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/)

Mark D Roberts (http://www.markdroberts.com/)

Ben Arment (www.benarment.com)

Church Relevance (http://churchrelevance.com/)

Bob Franquiz (http://bobfranquiz.typepad.com/)

Bob Hyatt (http://bobhyatt.typepad.com/)

Cole-Slaw (http://cole-slaw.blogspot.com/)

The Forgotten Ways (www.theforgottenways.org)

Reclaiming the Mission (http://www.reclaimingthemission.com/)

The Shlog (http://www.shaungroves.com/shlog)

Frank Viola (www.frankviola.wordpress.com/)

The Gospel-Driven Church (http://www.gospeldrivenchurch.blogspot.com/)

Christina Meyer (http://w2christina.blogspot.com/)

Lee Coate (http://leecoate.wordpress.com/)

Preaching Today (http://blog.preachingtoday.com/)

Gathering In Light (http://gatheringinlight.com/)

Off the Agenda (http://blog.BuildingChurchLeaders.com)

Take Your Vitamin Z (www.takeyourvitaminz.blogspot.com)

Staying Focused (http://kimmartinezstayingfocused.wordpress.com/)

ZonderFann (http://zonderfann.com/)

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1. Listen to the FromEternity2Here podcast and a new radio interview on the book - http://www.frometernitytohere.org/podcast.htm
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The Stolen Child

Henry was an unhappy little boy who one day decides to run away from home into the neighboring woods. Unknown to Henry, a wild bunch of fairy children had been spying on him and his family. His entrance into the woods gives them the perfect opportunity to make the switch. The fairy children are actually changelings, who kidnap unsuspecting children and send one of their own, an impostor, to take their place in the home.

Henry is now renamed Aniday and he finds himself with these children, being taught the changeling ways and forbidden to go home. The new changeling Henry struggles to integrate himself into his new family, hoping that no one realizes the switch. But as time goes on, both the changeling Henry and Aniday begin to forget their past lives. As Aniday ages mentally but not physically, he questions why he was chosen to be taken and desires to learn more about the family he left behind. At the same time, Henry grows into adulthood but struggles with suppressed memories of a childhood of German heritage before he even became a changeling.

Told by both Henry the changeling and Aniday in alternating chapters, The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue is a beautifully written fantasy novel. Even though I felt the chapters with Aniday were at first a bit slow, they eventually picked up and didn’t deter me from my overall enjoyment with the book. The author blends fantasy and realism seamlessly and I quickly became emotionally involved with both Anidayand Henry. The book is frequently haunting, sometimes sad andultimately un-put-downable.

Memory, which so confounds our waking life with anticipation and regret, may well be our one true earthly consolation when time slips out of joint.

Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler’s Wife said “The Stolen Child is unsentimental and vividly imagined. Keith Donohue evokes the otherwordly with humor and the ordinary with wonder.” I think she hit the nail on the head with this quote. The Stolen Child is simply a great book.

Keith Donohue just came out with another book, Angels of Destruction, and if it’s anything like his first one, I am sure it must be a winner. This was the second book I read for Carl V.’s Once Upon a Time Challenge.

Book Review: Antichrist: Islam's Awaited Messiah by Joel Richardson

Book Review: Antichrist: Islam’s Awaited Messiah by Joel Richardson

Rating: 9 out of 10

Several years ago I took a class about Islam. I recall at the time being startled when learning about Islamic Eschatology (end times teaching). I couldn’t help but wonder how Muslim beliefs about the end times fit into the Christian end of the world scenarios I was more familiar with. As I learned about the coming of the Mahdi (the Islamic savior), I remember thinking there were striking similarities between the Christian Antichrist and the way the Mahdi is depicted in Islamic tradition. I briefly considered writing a work of fiction on the topic. My plan was to write a book about the Antichrist appearing on Earth in the form of the Mahdi. As it turns out, I was not the only person to have such thoughts.

Joel Richardson did not write a peace of fiction, but he did write an incredibly well researched book that compares the eschatology of Islam and Christianity. Richardson quotes the Bible, the Quaran, and other Islamic sources to compare the Mahdi with the Antichrist. He then takes his study one step further and compares the Muslim version of Jesus with the False Prophet that is depicted in the Bible. To further solidify his thesis, Richardson then compares the Biblical Jesus with the Dajjal (Islam’s Antichrist). Richardson then analyzes other aspects of Islam to see how it fits into Biblical eschatology.

I want to point out that this book is not anti-Islam. Richardson seems to have a genuine love for Muslim people and does not seem to harbor any ill-will towards Islam as a religion. His book is well researched and well written. Many people who study or write about eschatology are portrayed as “nut jobs” or “zealots,” Richardson is neither. His book is a scholarly study of the two faiths. I must say that while I enjoyed Joel Rosenberg’s Epicenter tremendously, I find that certain aspects of Richardson’s work makes more sense intellectually.

I highly recommend this book for anyone that is interested in eschatology or Islam. It is a fantastic book.

You Can Do It, Sam by Amy Hest

When you have a kid and you give the kid a name, one gift that people love to get you is a book about a character with your kid’s name. This can go one of two ways. You can end up with a charming awesome book that your kid loves, or you can end up with a dud that has your kid’s name on the cover.

A friend gave us You Can Do It, Sam when our Sam was born, and after we got over the “Hey, it says Sam!” stage and read it once, we thought that we sort of had a dud on our hands.

“It happened one winter morning on Plum Street . . . and the moon was still up, making moonbeams and shadows on Plum Street.”

This is the first page of the book, and that odd repetition continues throughout. After one reading, it was a little off-putting, sounding almost like it had been poorly translated from another language. And the “It” that “happened” turns out to be a bear and her son making cakes for their friends and then dropping them off at each door on the street. Not such an exciting happening.

(I just noticed that I mentioned the race of  the characters even though it really has no effect on the story. I guess I shouldn’t do that. Bears are people, same as you and me. I’m sorry if I’ve offended anyone.)

So we had a book written in a very awkward style with a story that is beyond simple, but Sam kept requesting it, so we kept reading it to him. And of course, we fell in love with it.

You Can Do It, Sam is one of the coziest books we own. It is all about quiet winter mornings and the excitement of planning a nice surprise. What struck me at first as awkward repetition in Amy Hest’s writing eventually began to feel absolutely appropriate. One the one hand it sounds like any child’s random bouncy speech. It reminds me of my cousin’s son who greeted me one day by declaring, “I have a Pokemon watch and this is my Pokemon watch!” And at the same time it sounds like a mother telling her child all the nicest things. “I’m going to take you to bed, and I’m going to tuck you in bed, and I’m going to kiss you on the nose while you’re tucked in bed.”

Anita Jeram’s illustrations are covered in snow, but they also have a warm scarf wrapped around them and warm cup of cocoa held tight in their paws. Mrs. Bear and Sam are bears that I would like to know as we watch them making cakes before dawn in their little white house and taking them from door to door in their green truck. Mrs. Bear gives her son the priceless gift of trusting him to take each cake to each house all by himself, which he does flawlessly and with many waves back to his mom. Jeram also includes a nice visual B-story involving birds and crumbs. These kinds of details are always fun to find and point out, especially when your kid starts to notice them.

The book ends just the way you want any early morning winter outing to end, with cocoa and cakes by the stove with warm socks.

With children’s books the rule seems to be that it’s not important whether or not anything actually happens. Nothing at all can happen and it can still be satisfying as long as the nothing happens with some style and emotion.

So, my apologies to Amy Hest and Anita Jeram for not loving their book right away. Because we love their book and Sam loves to read it and it’s one of our favorite books.

Star Wars Joiner King

 I just read Star Wars The Joiner King by Troy Denning, so on to the next in the Dark Nest series called the Unseen Queen. First I’m not sure why Hans Solo is featured on the cover of this book being that it is not primarily about him. It is a good story and well written. I did not have any issues with the book and it eventually did prove to be one of those can’t-put-down books.

Sometimes I think the Star Wars writers have too much of the callous silly movie style in mind, such as sly witty remarks, never any real sense of danger as well as the characters never display the magnitude of risk or danger endemic in what they do. Actually, with Han Solo, Denning does well in doing away with any silly invincibleness with him, but it’s Mara Jade and Luke that get pretty annoying.

There is always something disturbing about sentient insects and so the story has that going for it. One problem I have with some Star Wars writers is that they get so technical and descriptive that I have no idea what they are talking about or in many cases I simply cannot visualize the situation. I imagine they have a couple of goals, one to meet the standards of the Star Wars brand, Lucas, et al, thus they have to show a well researched product. On the other hand, they should do focus groups with regular readers like myself and see if we can decipher what’s going on. In a light saber duel or space ship duel, after, three pages of stuff, I have no clue what just happened and I’m basically scanning to see who won. The technical expertise is impressive but still the point of writing is to communicate.

One interesting idea Denning explores in this book is the whole conscious versus unconscious personality. The idea was that all living things have a conscious personality that is influenced by an unconscious personality. In the case of the Killik, an insect species, their unconscious personality becomes inbued with the dark side of the force and causes all kinds of trouble. It is interesting because they present both personalities as distinct, discrete and independent–thus you can be evil but not aware of the root of the evil influence or in the case of the Killik, not even able to acknowledge the darkness because you are not conscious of it.

Write Writers Write!

Hopes and Dreams

You too will meet your fate.  All suns will set on your finite vision.  For now, in the sunrise of your youth your dreams must be your highest hope.

Before I start a day of writing, I peruse the New York Times reviews of books - and this allows me to tap into the rage that lies hidden and dormant within me like a tumor of magma.  I wonder to myself, why did these individuals find publishers?  How did they catch the eye of an agent to publish their works, which seem so mired in the present that they are the dead and dessicated skeletons of dreams and visions, but not dreams themselves.

What I am trying to say is that most of what is out there, is boring.  Perhaps it documents the profound boredom and nihilism of Modern Day America.  Perhaps it trades on pat notions of morality and the good life.  Perhaps it toys with “good” and “evil” and doesn’t realize that they do not exist, even as value judgments.  They are empty.  When you write a story where the reader cannot discern whether characters are “good” or “evil” but merely human, they will tell you that you have chilled them to their core.  You have forced them to think about themselves.  They do not sit in judgment on a pedestal, you have reduced them to their naked humanity.  This is the essence of horror.  We exist not in a black and white world of friend and enemy, but in a world full of color.  And the colors have no purpose but through the observer.  But what I say hearkens back to tales of today.  Tales about unwitting terrorists.  Tales about evil terrorists and heroic counter terrorism teams.  Historical period pieces set in turn of the century Vienna.  The Vietnam War.  Vampires in love.  Cute Puppies.  Children with crack pipes.

The Vietnam War is as dead and buried as the over 65,000 brave young men who bled and died there in the jungles.  However, the National Book Award Winner for 2008 was a story set in its jungles.  I think the Vietnam War literature reached its high point with Graham Greene’s The Quiet American. It was written before major US invovlement and predicted the hubris and arrogance which would lead to our “defeat” there.

The Iraq War is as dying as slow a death in the American Consciousness.  It has receded to back page blurbs.  Afghanistan, the war that was forgotten in the height of the Bush Administration’s war fever for Iraq, has proceeded straight into the front pages.  Pakistan has been destabilized by the Afghani militants pouring across its borders.  This will be a recurring cycle for the next fifty years.  We will go to Afghanistan, Iraq will implode.  We will be called to stabilize Iraq.  Afghanistan will implode.  Congratulations gentlemen, you have created your next self perpetuating war.  This one will not be cold.  And I look forward to fighting it.

Iraq.  Never in the history of warfare, has a populace been more shielded from the effects of a war that they perpetuated. You can blame President George W. Bush for Iraq, but you took part.  And you did not suffer in the least, unless one of your family members was killed in that desert swamp of the soul.

Is it possible to elicit passions anymore?  That is what you have to ask yourself.  Are you going to be writing to perpetuate the status quo, the consumer credit class, the enfranchised ideas that led this country to the brink of ruin?  Those were the happy times.  Much like a drunk at the beginning of his binge.  A giddy addict fresh from scoring.  It is time to feel some pain.  It is time to confront it head on!  March through it, bathe in it.  You will learn how to suffer like the Ancient Greeks, those champions of catastrophe and crisis.

You have to search yourself, and ask yourself - what am I doing this for?  Why do I write?  You could even write an essay about it like Ralph Waldo Emerson.  You should be able to boil the essence of your answer into one sentence.  A multifaceted gem.

Writers spend alot of time with themselves.  They are the ultimate practicioners of the one Socratic imperative - “Know Thyself”.  However many of them do not know much more besides that.

Do the world a favor and learn to find beauty in a pile of trash.  Learn to breathe it and let it flow from you mind through your fingertips.  Be a teacher and open the eyes of your fellow man.  Discover the living breathing world that many trammel on in their quest for their God, the pimp roll in their pockets.

Report on this living world.  Don’t follow the dead to their tombs.  Don’t build a framework of half truths cemented by what you think will sell in the marketplace.  I am going to tell you, if you are not creating, striving to produce works of art that will illuminate the future pathways of mankind you are a mere consumer, you are on this planet to line someone’s pockets.  That is it!

I would declare that the cultural division in America is even more stark, we are broken down into “entertainers” and “the entertained.”  The entertainers create entertainment which the entertained talk about.  They speak  Athletes, writers, actors, video game producers, device producers, consumables producers, music producers, singers, songwriters…..

They produce framework through which we see the world.  They produce the devices through which we play our entertainment.

Did you hear they were coming out with a new storage medium that could store the entire canon of Western Civilization on a single disk?

Did you hear they made a movie which poked so many holes in the internal logic of the Bible that it collapsed and was in need of replacement?

Did you hear they made a machine which induces an instantaneous orgasm?  The need for companionship has dissolved!

We all have it in us to tell stories.  It is what we have been doing since we descended from the trees and took to caves.  If we did not tell each other stories the world would seem like so much eating, being eaten, struggling, breeding, and dying.  The existence of an animal, no different than the bear in the woods.  This is our base level.  Do you not understand that we create our own meaning, humans?

I have chosen my reason for being.  I have been sharpening my intellect.  I have accorded my will to my purposes.  I have no fear.  You should not either.  Write writers write!

Jeffrey M. Hopkins is the author of Broken Under Interrogation, the American Dream laid bare.

Book Review: The Edge Chronicles Book 1: Beyond the Deepwoods By Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell

 

Title: The Edge Chronicles Book 1: Beyond the Deepwoods

Author: Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell

Reviewer: Josiah Torres (age 12)

Recommended reader age: 14 years old and up

 

Summary:      The intriguing Edge Chronicles series was released in the United States in 1998. Since then it has been a smash hit. I first discovered this fairly interesting series in a small country library where I picked up a copy and borrowed it.  From cover to cover this book is a great novel.  It is engrossing, interesting, heart-pounding and all together smashing. Good job, authors!! The story takes up in a world on the side of a huge cliff, called “The Edge.” It is filled with vast lands, colorful creatures and people - all fantastically expressed by Mr. Riddell. The art is just absolutely outstanding and so is the story line. It invites the reader to listen to the tale of boy named Twig, who was raised by woodtrolls, never knowing his family. One day, after being beaten up by young woodtrolls for straying off “the path” and called an “outsider,” Twig goes on a quest to find his real descent.

 

Response:       Ever since I started reading this book, I loved the series. It is a great new take on fantasy - as you know present day fantasy is all about spell-casting wizards, bloodthirsty vampires, and other harmful things like that. “The Edge Chronicles” shows that you don’t have to include all that gross stuff to make a best seller. There were some things that I read in this book that could be harmful to some children, but I’ll get to that later.

 

Grades: (with 1 being low and 5 being high)

 

               Violence: 4/5(Some unsuitable content)  Now I come to the down fall. As good as this book is, it does have some flaws. The violence in this book is pretty strong. A hoverworm tries to kill Twig, who stabs it with a knife, resulting in a bang. A really gruesome part is when a caterbird saves Twig and kills a skullpelt. The dead skullpelt is then shown on the next page in a detailed illustration, dead with blood dripping out of its mouth in large quantities. A banderbear is eaten by wig-wigs, carnivorous hairballs hungry for flesh. A bloodoak tries to kill Twig, but Twig makes a narrow escape, which I can not tell you about because it will ruin the story for you. During the trog bloodoak ceremony, a girl drinks blood, and then is showered in it and then turned into a huge, lumbering, female trog. 

 

              Sexual Content: 0/5(none) No Sexual Content.

 

              Language: 0/5(none) No Language.

 

              Christian Themes: 3/5 (slightly inappropriate) There is a demon-like creature at the end.  He is expressed in stunning detail in one Mr. Riddell’s illustrations.  His encounter is about tempting Twig, who then gives in only to find himself falling off the Edge.  He is then rescued and learns a lesson as well.

 

             Anti-Christian Themes: 3/5 (slightly inappropriate) The same issue as above.

        

          Torres Family Recommendations: Due to the violent elements and the encounter with the demon, or “gloamglozer,” I am forced to recommend this book for ages 14 and up. 

The Cause for the Pain- Seeking Repentance in the Shadow of the Cross

Right now in my personal Bible study time I am going through the minor prophets with the help of commentaries by Mark Dever and James M. Boice.  In reading Boice’s commentary on the prophet Joel there came the following paragraph ending out the chapter on verses 1.1 through 1.20.  I found it incredibly pertinent for our situation as a country right now and thought it worth sharing in light of that and my recent discussion on corporate repentance (1 and 2):

This brings us to the bottom line, which is the point of Joel’s prophecy.  Both the delays in God’s judgment (the periods of grace) and the previews of judgment in such catastrophic events as locust plagues and earthquakes are for out good, that we might repent.

In America we have not seen many disasters of this magnitude.  But few would deny that times are not good and that even worse times may lie ahead.  We have not had earthquakes of the size of the one at Lisbon [in 1755], but our cities have been ravaged by blight and riot, by corruption and other forms of decay.  We have not been destroyed by locust, but we have seen our economy weakened by the declining value of the dollar, an intolerable balance of payments deficit and shortages of oil and other necessities.  We have had droughts.  Are we to make light of such things?  Are we to dismiss them and then merely go our normal way until even greater judgments overtake us?  Are we to say, “Such things just happen”?  Are we to blame Russia or communism or Iran or Islam?  No doubt God does use causes, and the opposition of these or other countries may be among them.  But the wise will see these things as having come from God and lead us in personal and national repentance. (The Minor Prophets: Vol. 1, James M. Boice, pp. 126-127)

Is this where we are right now?  Are we seeing the current economic and social strife lead to personal and national repentance?  Should we?  

I get scared because I think the church in America is experiencing all of this negative stuff, a poor economy, the war on terror, domestic disasters of flooding and fire, and we are deflecting it off of ourselves and onto others whose “sin” must be causing us.  Pain and suffering and death occur because of all our depravity and watching it go on in our own backyard should not cause a time of moralistic posturing; it should compel us to face up to the sin in our own lives, both individually and corporately, and repent of it to the glory of God.  

What better time than in the shadow of the cross, the weekend we celebrate the death and resurrection of the one who died for those sins, than to find ourselves on our knees asking for forgiveness of them.

Celebrate Poetry Month with Random Acts of Poetry

This is Poetry Month

Has anybody noticed?

Clouds float by in a denim sky.

My sneakers hit the ground with the precise sound of nothing much.

Birds fly. People frequent the supermarket,

Fret about the economy, acne and rain.

Drops splatter the windows. The room is chill but cheery.

Here I sit with a book of poetry.

It flips open

and out leaps another

ecstasy.

by Tina Zubak

April is poetry month. I’m celebrating with random acts of poetry and you can too. I’m hanging poems around our Teen Area. You could read a poem or poetry book, write a poem or 28 poems. You can give them away. Find one you like or find many. Guys write and read poetry, too; it’s very macho.* Any girl would love a poem you wrote about her (provided it’s complimentary). The world is full of poetry.

Here are some books you might like:

 

 

LOVE: Selected Poems by e.e. cummings

Nobody writes more wondrous love poems than e.e. cummings. They are like spun silk or gossamer jewels. Christopher Myers annoints this book with collages and paintings that capture their sensuality.

 

 

* You Hear Me edited by Betsy Franco

Guys write about cars anger being a father having a father who doesn’t care divorce the ghetto AIDs girls drugs alienation hope.

19 Varieties of Gazelle by Naomi Shihab Nye

Ms. Nye is a Palestinian American who grew up in the United States but writes movingly of the Middle East conflict and being an Arab American. Her poems about the soldiers, children, landscape and more personalize the war we’ve heard so much about. Also, don’t miss A Maze Me: Poems for Girls and other books by this author.

If you write poems - or fiction- or would like to, check out our Ralph Munn workshops and writing contest. Ask a Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh  librarian, or see our website at:

http://www.carnegielibrary.org/teens/library/special/CreativeWritingContest.html

 

 

 

Amy's Marginalia: The Great Divorce

I love it when God, in his perfect timing, decides to give me just the right information, just when I need it.  That happened last week, when I was reading C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce for the second time in my life.  The first time I read it, I was in high school, and the thing went right over my head.  This time, I read it, and I at least knew what questions to ask when I got confused.  It’s progress, I suppose.

Poor Dan.  He took me out for a romantic dinner last weekend, and all I wanted to do was pepper him with deep theological conundrums this book was creating for me.  I could tell he was looking to unwind, and I was just revving up for some heavy analytical work.  But, as always, he was patient with me and helped me sort out some of my questions.

And this week, our pastor was teaching on a very helpful portion of scripture, I Peter 3:17-22. I felt blessed by God’s providential timing, that I could get some more answers to the questions that were bothering me.  Verses 18 and 19 are particularly appropriate: “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison.”  It’s the “spirits in prison” bit that particularly confuses a lot of people, and in The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis is merely giving his own take on the verse. 

The plot of the short story is fairly straight forward. A bus load of people from hell go to heaven for a little vacation.  Obviously, trouble ensues.  But the confusing stuff comes from Lewis’ ideas coming out of the mouths of the heaven dwellers, about the relationship between heaven and hell.  

In this highly unorthodox version, hell and heaven aren’t so neatly separated.  Traffic can flow from hell (or the Valley of the Shadow of Death) to heaven (or the Valley of the Shadow of Life) but not the other way around.  Unsaved souls can choose to take their vacation on Earth to visit old “haunts” or see what they are missing in heaven.  When they visit heaven, they are ghostlike (”man-shaped stains on the brightness of that air”), while the heavenly people are surreally solid, like everything else in heaven.  The longer ghosts stick around in heaven, and the more they climb the mountains, the more solid they become, just like the other folks there.  So, basically, there is hope for the unsaved to find salvation after death.  They just have to accept Christ once they are there, which most of the vacationers can’t manage.  So, they choose hell anyway: “All that are in Hell, choose it” (75).

I know I haven’t done Lewis’ elegant explanation of this heaven/hell/purgatory any justice, but for brevity’s sake, I hope I hit the basics.

Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology has also come in handy, as I think about these issues. I’m inclined, along with most Church tradition, to assume that after death, you don’t get second chances.  Think about the story of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16. When the rich man, dwelling in hell asks Lazarus for some water, Abraham responds: “Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us” (25-26).  There are no tour groups passing from hell across that “great chasm.”

In addition, there’s a great verse in Hebrews about judgment following death: “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (9:27).  There’s nothing mentioned about any second chances in the middle. 

So, now that I’ve sorted out some of these key issues, I’m left with discussing the merits of the book.  Lewis hasn’t offered up heresy here.  He’s not challenging any of the key issues of the Christian faith such as the resurrection, the nature of God, Jesus’ divinity, and the like.  The book doesn’t come close to failing in the same serious ways, theologically, as the Shack (read my review here).  And its quality of writing puts the Shack to shame in every regard. 

Read the book for the characterizations of people who are so entrenched in sin that they can’t see Jesus standing right before them.  Lewis portrays several people who journey from hell, only to hop right back on the bus, when their creature comforts are challenged.  This is the heart of the book, not the details about why people can go from one place to another.  I certainly felt convicted when I saw in myself some of the qualities of the hell dwellers.  I want to be one of those solid types that hangs out with Jesus.

If I recommend any books that you’d like to purchase, consider buying them through Amazon using the links on my site, so I get a percent of the purchase price back to buy more books to review!

Book review

Sebastian Barry: The Secret Scripture

“Sligo made me and Sligo undid me, but then I should have given up much sooner than I did being made or undone by human towns and looked to myself alone. The terror and the hurt in my story happened because when I was young I thought others were the authors of my fortune or misfortune; I did not know that a person could hold up a wall made of imaginary bricks and mortar against the horrors and cruel, dark tricks of time that assail us, and be the author therefore of themselves.”

Roseanne is the author of herself. She has been a patient in the Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital since 1957, before that in Sligo. Now she is a hundred years old, and the hospital is due for closure. Dr. Grene must assess her to see where she is to go; this is the time of Thatcher’s policy to return as many patients as possible to ‘care in the community’ (or the lack of it). The narrative interweaves Roseanne’s secret story of her own life that she keeps hidden under a loose floorboard in her room with extracts from Dr Grene’s Commonplace Book, where he notes his own grief and self-recrimination on the death of his wife. Slowly a picture is built up of the horror and cruelty of the years of Civil War between rival factions fighting for their particular idea of independence and republicanism in Ireland of the Twenties.

Roseanne is a woman and a Presbyterian, and therefore doubly disadvantaged in the fight to have her side of history told. And the question of history, and who owns it, whose version is the ruling one, what goes down in the history books is really the secret subject of this powerful, haunting novel. The language is poetic without being precious, the two different voices are beautifully rendered, and the drive to read on and discover Roseanne’s true story is irresistible. When this won the Booker prize last year, the judges said they had awarded it the prize in spite of misgivings about its flaws, in particular they criticized the rather too unlikely secret that is revealed towards the end. But I didn’t feel this detracted from what is, after all, a story, and to be read as a story and not as a realistic biography of a real woman. Neither would I want to see Roseanne as an allegory for Ireland, that would also be wrong: it is that wonderful thing, a work of art which allows Roseanne to be more than one thing at the same time. She is real and yet a symbol of the repression and damage done to women, to the innocent, by priests, by fanatics, by the forces of war let loose on a community that is pitched neighbour against neighbour. Very moving.

BW3 on Ehrman's New Book

No doubt the majority of my regular readers have already come across Ben Witherington’s review/critique of Bart Ehrman’s latest book but after having just read it in full I thought it necessary to suggest that others do the same.  I don’t agree with every point that BW3 makes but his review is certainly informed (and long, like really really long, and it’s only part 1!).  In the same manner that Misquoting Jesus spawned book-length rebuttals in the form of Misquoting Truth and Lost in Transmission,  and chapter-length rebuttals in Fabricating Jesus; Reinventing Jesus; and Dethroning Jesus,  I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jesus Interrupted receiving the same kind of written response.  Ben’s review is already as long as some book chapters and given the speed with which he writes and his sheer ability to manufacture tons upon tons of material, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a book coming from his pen some time in the future.  But until that happens (if it happens at all) go on over and check out what he’s written right now.

B”H

Book review: 'The Friday Night Knitting Club' by Kate Jacobs

Let me begin by saying: I AM OUTRAGED.

And let me second that by saying some spoilers may abound in this review, because I’m having a hard time controlling my ire!

So here we have Kate Jacobs’ The Friday Night Knitting Club, the story of self-empowered and bold Georgia Walker, a woman who owns and operates a yarn shop in New York City. With her 12-year-old daughter Dakota, Walker & Daughter has grown from a small upstart to a successful business — and great center of a knitting community. Friends Anita and Peri help Georgia with the business; many other friends come in and out as members of the Friday Night Knitting Club, an impromptu gathering which gained momentum until ladies came to rely upon the club as a great place to relax and forget about the stresses of the week. 

As the story progresses, we’re introduced to a myriad of new characters: K.C., a publishing maven whose life — and career — is at a crossroads; Darwin, a graduate student who comes to the club initially to question the “traditional” aspect of the craft which may or may not bind women to the patriarchy; Lucie, a television producer wondering if, at 42, she’s missed her chance to become a mother; Anita, a spritely widow still finding her place in the world after the death of her beloved husband; Cat, the wife of a philandering dingbat who has plenty of money — but still can’t fill up that gaping hole inside her.

And then we have James — the handsome, successful architect who wooed Georgia in  her 20s only to break her heart. And bring her Dakota, their daughter . . . the daughter James couldn’t be bothered to help beyond the customary support payments he deposited in a bank account for Georgia. So when he reappears on the scene and throws off the balance in Georgia’s efficient life, the results are catastrophic.

So. There’s the synopsis . . . nice and easy, leaving out any major spoilers. Let me start out by saying what I liked about the novel — which was basically everything up until the last sixty pages. The sense of place in the novel was impeccable — I was absolutely in love with Georgia’s shop, imagining the coziness with all those skeins of yarn sitting out and ready to be stitched into a purse or a sweater. I loved the apartment she shared with Dakota right above the shop, and I loved the closeness of their relationship.

The members of the knitting club were well-drawn — the characterization was excellent. Though I usually shy away from books with way too many central characters (see: The Reading Group), I really felt like I got to know each individual woman’s troubles, hopes and goals. Each person was clearly defined in my mind, and I really sympathized with them as they made their way through all sorts of twists and turns . . . Anita falling in love again, Peri attempting to start up her business, Cat wanting to leave Adam. All of the dialogue was realistic, and I loved the interplay between each member of the group: K.C.’s brashness; Lucie’s authoritative lead on projects.

And, of course, I ate up the tension between Georgia and James like cookie dough ice cream. It was obvious from the second he reemerged on the scene that he was a whole lot more than just an old flame . . . or her daughter’s father. He is those things, of course, but he’s also Georgia’s first — and only — love. I knew it would only be a matter of time they owned up to their feelings, provided they could release enough of the past’s hurt to move forward. Beautiful.

What I didn’t like?

Um, the ending. Any of it.

Up until I reached those final chapters, I was cruising right along with the club, enjoying the ride toward redemption and reconciliation for everyone. Moving on. Letting go. I lapped up the sage advice of Gran, Georgia’s Scottish grandmother, and thought a lot about what it means to be a “family.” Dakota and Georgia look nothing like each other — Dakota being the daughter of a white woman (Georgia) and a black man (James). Georgia has wild curls and porcelain skin, and feels close to her family roots in Scotland. James, the father Dakota never knew, is from Baltimore . . . and hopes to expose her to the African-American side of her family tree. And there’s Dakota, right in the middle. Thinking. I thought with her.

The novel was very introspective, emotional and well-written. Jacobs writes deftly, showing us just enough of each characters’ sides — the good, the bad, the small — for us to relate to them completely. And, though the novel is written in third person, we feel like we spend the most amount of time with shopkeeper Georgia. We really root for her. We see where she’s been and get a glimpse of where she’s going — this grand, complete life.

And then everything is derailed.

I won’t ruin it for you, I promise. I’ll keep my angry tirades to myself. Suffice it to say you’ll  need some tissues and maybe a soft surface on which to throw the book when you’re done, like I did. Definitely worth reading, but I wish things could have turned out so differently!

4 out of 5!

ISBN: 0425219097 ♥ Purchase from Amazon ♥ Author Website

Book Review: <i>Everyone is Beautiful</i> by Katherine Center

As if being the harried mother of three young boys wasn’t enough, Lanie had to pack up her life and move halfway across the country for her husband’s career. She’s left behind her mother—her only lifeline—and every park she and the boys had ever known. At this point in her life, she is wearing her husband’s clothes, she’s mistaken as a pregnant woman, and her new (and young, of course) landlord has already seen her naked. And that’s just the beginning of Everyone is Beautiful by Katherine Center.

A wonderful addition to the mom lit genre, Everyone is Beautiful follows Lanie, a devoted if not outnumbered and defeated mother of three, as she tries to regain her “self.” This quick and easy read manages to address the very real issue of moms who give practically everything over to the people in their lives—kids, husbands, friends—leaving nothing for themselves.

Center has a good eye for the minutiae of motherhood, and her deft characterization of Lanie gives readers a protagonist they can both cheer for and cringe with. Because of Center’s witty yet touching writing, readers feel the joy and pain as Lanie navigates her new world—new playgrounds, new people, and new chances to find herself.

The secondary characters are equally well written and entertaining. Josh (Lanie’s single landlord), Nora (the widowed downstairs neighbor who is not-so-secretly referred to as “The Witch”), and Nelson (Lanie’s divorced photography teacher) all offer Lanie a glimpse of what her life could be like if she weren’t married to her husband.

Center weaves into the narrative Lanie’s memories of how she met her husband and the story of their courtship. These insights show readers how things used to be, and we anxiously cross our fingers and toes, hoping that Lanie’s relationship with her husband hasn’t changed as much as she thinks.

Moms of all backgrounds will relate to Lanie. It’s possible you may even run into Lanie at your local playground. If you do see her with her greasy hair in a ponytail, diaper bag overflowing, and quite possibly a nursing boob hanging out, don’t rush to judgment. Just ask her if she needs any help.

The Winter Soldiers

The Winter Soldiers

by Andrew Miller

ISBN 13: 978-1-4134-2997-8 (Trade Paperback)

ISBN 13: 978-1-4134-2998-5 (Hardback)

Pages: 344

Pub Date: June 2004

Publisher: Xlibris

When one thinks of the a typical alternate history most stories usually focus on one or more events that if done differently would change the course of the times and bring us into a much different world. What ifs pose a lot of speculation and have kept readers entertained for years. However, The Winter Soldiers, puts a fresh spin on an intriguing premise.

With the re-elected of Abraham Lincoln as president of the United States in the fall of 1864 the Confederate States of America are destined for defeat. The war should be over in a few months. Lee’s army is caught between a rock and a hard place atPetersburg . The Confederacy is hemorrhaging fast and military options for a victory do not exist. Desperate times call for desperate and imaginative thinking. Southern leaders have devised a scheme they feel will bring a quick and sudden turn around in things and could ensure them a stunning victory. The plan: Kidnap Lincoln and hold him for ransom. The ransom: $50 million in gold and the release of all Confederate soldiers held in Northern prison camps. Southern leaders are confident that this will be a devastating blow to the Yankee’s morale and will topple the Union government. But Lincoln will have to be kidnapped from the very streets of Washington, D.C. itself. A daunting task that will require clever maneuvering.

This kidnapping will be no easy mission. It will require a strategist and someone who has easy access to Washington. It will also require someone who can spill blood without thinking, taking the necessary precautions to see that the mission succeeds at all cost. The South already has a player in place. Philip Bartlett, a Southern aristocrat from New Orleans, has been in Washington since near the beginning of the war. Bartlett is a advocate for Southern independence. He is a man of means, ruthless and a man given to detail. Yet Bartlett does not share the enthusiasm his noble leaders tend to have concerning this mission. He see either success or failure marked with the same end: the defeat of the Confederacy. Philip Bartlett is a soldier and he will follows order, regardless of personal viewpoint.

As careful a planner as Bartlett thinks he is, things are about to come unraveled when Union Captain Peter Murphy becomes his unwitting opponent in a cloak and dagger game that moves through the seedy side of the Union’s capital. Murphy has been sent to Washington for a few months to recoup from the ravages of war that has scared his soul over the last two years. While in Washington, Murphy stumbles, quite by accident, into a hornets nest of espionage that will sweep him and Philip Bartlett into a deadly dance of deception and murder.

Andrew Miller has composed a thrilling alternate history of the Civil War that focuses more on the players than the event that will change history. The readers is quickly drawn into a world of dark maneuvering and ruthless people. Miller paints a believable world of these Civil War times and skillfully guides the reader through the streets of our nation’s capital, a vivid portrait of how much Washington was and still is a den of cutthroats, espionage, death, disease and political scheming. Miller’s characters exemplify how we humans can operate in times of desperate trials. This first novel will not disappoint the alternate history or spy-thriller enthusiast. This is a good read and a well deserved one at that.  — Steven Fivecats, Editor

My First Novel

My first novel Broken Under Interrogation is not a happy work.  It is violent, has been described as obscene, and depressing.  But so is War.  It takes place during an economic depression.  The only people “making it” in the rot belt hometown of the protagonist are drug dealers, pimps, theives, and the corrupt corporate police force paid to tamp them down.  It is a reality that we overlook on a daily basis, and a reality that Iraqis faced on a daily basis during the height of sectarian violence as they toiled to remain alive for another day.  During that period, the people in Iraq that were successful were the gangsters, the militias, the insurgency that fought against the Americans and fellow Iraqis for money, the cross border psychopath Al Qaeda members who built car bombs to send into crowded marketplaces in order to profit from the creation of chaos.

There are people in this world who want to see it burn.  They are possessed of chaotic minds, with an illogic.  Religion is a stabilizing force in the world, but the only thing these people want is to be in charge.  They sow chaos everywhere they go.  Because it is their order.

There is a story of a complainer in life who died and was cast into the pit of hell.  As he was falling, and the heat was searing his soul he cried out to God to save him.  Hearing his cry, God ordered the Angels to retrieve this poor sinner from Hell.  They lowered him an onion on a rope.  The man cried back, “An onion?”

In the hell of my novel, which is a gut wrenching path through the low roads of life, and the muck of the riverbottom - replete with a pimp named Catfish, I toss men an onion.  This comes in the form of a letter from the protagonist to his estranged father.  In the letter the protagonist tells his father that he loves him.  Humans have a choice.  We were not given this choice as a gift.  It is ours.  It is in us.  We manifest this choice through our actions.  The protagonist’s father suffered from the abuse of an alcoholic father who suffered from the abuse of an alcoholic father….ad infinitum.  The protagonist recognizes that his father broke the trend.  Through force of will he did not succumb to the ill treatment he recieved.  He did not become a son tyrannizing abuser.  And that is all we can hope for, that fathers accord their sons more care than they recieved.  That they teach their sons to be men in the old sense of the word, the provider, the caretaker, the defender of the weak, the oppressed, and guardians of their bond.

I have ceased being concerned with myself.  My garden is fertile.  Now I am reaping the harvest.  The time of small minds and smaller hearts is over.

Jeffrey M. Hopkins is the author of Broken Under Interrogation.  He is currently working on his second novel.

PROMO DAY: PREMIUM PROMOTIONAL SERVICES

Response to questions by: Jo-Anne Vandermeulen

What is Premium Promotional Services?

Premium Promotional Services is a professional business for writers. Aggressively, we market the author and their books through individual/combination of promotional services. Premium Promotional Services will solve ALL the author’s promotional needs-massive exposure guaranteed.

We custom design a promotional package that best suits each client’s needs. At Premium Promotional Services, we provide Author Interviews, Book Reviews, Blog Generation, Existing Site Redesign, Virtual Book Tours, and a complete Author Advertising Platform. “You Write - We Promote” at Premium Promotional Services.

When did you launch Premium Promotional Services?

With the vision ‘to help writers’ existing for a long time, we officially opened Premium Promotional Services cyber-doors March 2, 2009.

Why did you start Premium Promotional Services?

By 2008, I had two polished novels ready to be published. Through near a hundred workshops, a few pitching sessions with editors, submission responses by nearly a thousand agents, I soon discovered they all voiced the same concern… “How are you going to promote yourself? Please provide me with information about your author platform.” My first response was: “What? You mean I can’t just write?” There was no where to turn. All doors remained shut.

I set forth to research the area of promotion. I learned I needed to target an audience, build friendships through networks, and provide my followers with a platform they loved. I started my first blog, Jo-Anne Vandermeulen “Conquer All Obstacles”, providing assistance to fellow writers. After a few posts, the comments started pouring in.

The first door flew open…

Immediately, I discovered my niche. Authors from all over the world cried help, requesting promotional services. Through many hours of studying the promotional business and connecting with professionals, I produced templates for author platforms, explored strategies to target an audience, and generated a buzz of massive activity. Through my journey, I discovered techniques to climb to the top of the world wide search engines, and suddenly I was performing my services to over a BILLION viewers on the Internet. No longer was I invisible. I did it! The large number of hits, responses, and dashboard stats proved I had successfully promoted myself. (*Click HERE for more)

The second door flew open…

On March 2, 2009, (with the help of my partner, Brian Knight) Premium Promotional Services launched into production-a writer’s solution to all their promotional and marketing needs. Through my personal blog “Conquer All Obstacles” and the business, “Premium Promotional Services”, there’s no better way to share my wealth of knowledge and help my fellow writers. I can successfully provide a requested service so they can continue to write. (*Click HERE for more*)

What services does Premium Promotional Services offer?

Ø     Advertising Platform

Ø     Author Interviews

Ø     Blog Generation

Ø     Existing Site Redesign

Ø     Book Reviews

Ø     Virtual Book Tours

Where can people find out more about Premium Promotional Services?

Premium Promotional Service website: http://www.premiumpromotions.biz

*If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us on this site or in person.*

Jo-Anne Vandermeulen: gr5mom2@yahoo.ca

Brian Knight: sb.knight@live.com

Anything else you’d like to add?

Our goal at Premium Promotional Services is to market the author and their book(s) using effective and powerful promotional tactics. With the Internet promotional expertise to optimize search engines and generate streams of readers, the author’s name and book(s) will surface to the top. Brian and I will provide the vehicle with the author behind the wheel. At Premium Promotional Services “You Write - We Promote”.

Thank you to Jo Linsdell, creator and manager of Authors and Writers, for hosting this interview.

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Related Posts:

PREMIUM PROMOTIONAL SERVICES

ASK THE EXPERT: MARKETING SERVICES AND THEIR BENEFITS

A LITTLE BIT MORE…”ABOUT JO-ANNE VANDERMEULEN”

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