Playing Catch Up

Though the keys have been idle, my eyes have not and I have still been reading these last few months. There just hasn't been time to write about it!

Today, I will play catch up with only a few brief thoughts about each book.

Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana 

By Anne Rice

2008

I don’t think I would have pulled this book off the shelf myself, but my husband gave it to me for Christmas. After reading it last month, I am still gathering my thoughts. How should I feel about a book written from Jesus’ point of view?

A book that is not the Bible.

The Road to Cana covers the months leading up to the wedding where Jesus turns water into wine. The Bible doesn’t tell us anything about Jesus during this time, so who knows, perhaps what Anne Rice has suggested really could have happened.

The book appears to have been thoroughly researched. The historical detail, sights, and sounds are all amazing. To me, this makes it a great read, despite everything.

Just one further note, once I finished the book I was left with a curiosity about the author, Anne Rice. I knew her name from the many vampire books she’d written years ago, but I knew nothing of her personally.

Who is she that she can write a book through the eyes of Jesus?

On her website www.annerice.com I discovered a great many interesting things. For instance, did you know she was born as Howard Allen O’Brien  and chose the name “Anne” when entering first grade?
Also, that in 1998 Anne returned to the Catholic Church and, “in 2002 consecrated her writing entirely to Christ, vowing to write for Him or about Him”.

Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World

By Joanna Weaver

2000

It was with an intentional heart that I picked this book from my library. I’ve owned it for years, always hoping to read it someday, but never quite got around to it. After being assigned to teach that a woman should be “busy at home” for our Women’s Bible Study at church, I picked it up out of desperation!

I needed some direction...  

The book focuses on the Bible passage Luke 10:38-42 where Martha is busy working while her sister, Mary, sits at Jesus’ feet listening. Martha is worried and upset about her workload and almost chastises Jesus for not caring that she is doing everything while her sister just, well,  sits. In return, Jesus tells Martha that Mary has chosen what is better.

The book spoke to me in so many different ways, but essentially it comes down to this:

I need to spend time at Jesus’ feet before doing anything else. If I don’t, nothing will work because I don’t have the proper strength, motive, perspective or purpose.

Very powerful, and very useful in my talk.

A Wife After God’s Own Heart

 

By Elizabeth George

2004

Something else to help with the Women’s Bible Study... 

This book covers topics such as growing in your relationship with Jesus, functioning as a team with your husband, money management, keeping your home, raising your children, and making time for fun.

All good things.

Several ideas caught my eye...

• I need to make choices that can help me grow closer to the Lord
• I need to pick the right time in order to discuss issues with my husband, ie not as soon as he walks in the door after work.
• I bring glory and honor to God by keeping my home.
• I need to pray for my children.
• What a joy it is to serve the Lord with my husband.

Nothing really new, but certainly good reminders.

Half-Blood Blues

By Esi Edugyan

2011

This book won the Scotiabank Giller Prize and was a finalist for The GGs, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and the Man Booker Prize. I have no idea what these individual contests consider, but I do know they serve as Canada's top literary awards. I guess that’s another topic...

Because this book was recognized so highly, and because I didn't know anything about Blues music during  World War Two, I purchased it at our local big box book store.

So glad I did.

I couldn’t put it down. And because I read it during a family vacation, I didn't have to.

It did take me a few pages to get used to the unique dialogue.  However, once I did, it was beautiful.

The book was so well written and the story so fascinating, I bought it for my dad for Christmas. He also loved it and he’s a fussy reader!

The Best of Me

By Nicholas Sparks

2011

I haven’t read a lot of Nicholas Sparks, perhaps A Walk to Remember and that’s it. So, when I picked up his newest at the library on a whim, I didn’t really know what to expect.

I had an inkling that Mr. Sparks was a good, clean writer, and that he may even be a Christian. Apparently, he is, and according to a website I found, this is what he says...

The author told The Christian Post that his writing never includes adultery or pre-marital sex, although he knows that it happens in real life. He chooses not to write using profanity or sex because it is the higher road to do so, and not the “easy” way to create a conflict in a story.

Sparks says he is comfortable writing about his faith, and just because pre-marital sex does occur, [it] does not mean it occurs in 100 percent of young people. He believes that his exclusion of sex in his writing may encourage young people that “you can be in love and not go all the way.”

Without having this knowledge as I read the book, I found myself going “uh oh” a few times with the choices the main characters made. However, to say any more would ruin the story.

Let’s just say, I gave a sigh of relief at the end and I truly enjoyed the book.

I might even read a few more!

Chronicles of the Kings

(Gods and Kings; Song of Redemption; The Strength of His Hand; Faith of my Fathers; Among the Gods)

By Lynn Austin

This Biblical series follows Judah’s kings from Ahaz to Manasseh. While much of this series is fiction and speculation, the plot follows Biblical accounts found in 1 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Isaiah and probably several others books.

While some readers may regard these books as “light reading”, I thoroughly enjoyed them and found they helped bring the Bible to life.

What was especially interesting for me, is that the first book talks about the building of Hezekiah's Tunnel in Jerusalem in great detail. Well, a group from our church just visited the real Hezekiah's tunnel on their recent trip to Israel. It really does exists!

I would recommend this series in a heartbeat.




I have a few more books to add to this list, but I'll wait for another day...