If variety is the spice of life, this month is on fire.
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Adam Winn (2020). Killing a Messiah. [Audible] Narrated by James Anderson Foster. eChristian.
I did not find this retelling of the days leading to the crucifixion of Jesus compelling or engaging. Several elements from the Gospels go missing (like Judas' kiss) and Jesus himself comes across as passive-aggressive. The level of conspiratorial evil also reads as forced. Granted, the Sanhedrin is hardly a force for good in the Scriptures, but this author views them as corrupt as current American politicians.
The narrator didn't help matters. His gravelly voice is well suited for action/adventure/crime novels, but this text requires a smooth voice, one that can become oily when necessary. Character voices weren't distinct (as may be the case when the story is largely about men), but I found the whole thing unsatisfying.
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Evie Woods (2023). The Lost Bookshop. [Kindle]. One More Chapter.
I loved this charming book! I enjoy magical realism when it's well done, and Woods is a master artist. I didn't mind when the apartment started growing tree branches and dropping books because I could picture the "livingness" of the house. The three primary characters were well-rounded and seemed like they could be real people, living out the consequences of actions taken against them. As they fought to reassert their true selves, they found unexpected connections between past and present where magic and realism intertwine.
Any more than that requires spoilers.
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C.S. Lewis (2005/1952 ). The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. [Audible]. Narrated by Derek Jacobi. Harper Audio.
I loved this book as a child, and I still do. To be fair, I loved most of them (the jury is out on The Silver Chair, which is next on my list), but the imagery alone in this one is worth the reading. The story follows the adventures of four humans: Caspian, Edmund, Lucy, and Eustace, but the most well-rounded character is Reepicheep, the Mouse. The group embarks on a voyage beyond the Lone Islands to determine the fate of seven missing Lords of Narnia. Each of the islands they discover holds a key to what happens when people seek personal fame and glory. Lord Bern was enslaved by a corrupt government. Lord Octesian's (and Eustace)'s greedy hearts turned them into dragons. (Technically, Octesian could have been eaten by a dragon instead of becoming one, but based on what happened to Eustace, I suspect Octesian was the dragon on the island when the group landed.) Lord Restimar lost his life when he dove into the most enticing waters without testing them first. Lord Rhoop learned living with daydreams is far better than living in night-dreams. The remaining Lords were frozen in time; avarice and gluttony were their undoing.
Reepicheep never takes his eye off the prize: to reach Aslan's country. He is alternatively bold and brave, always demanding the return to adventure, and alert to the changes happening both on board and in the sea. My takeaway is that we who are believers should be more like Reepicheep and less like the humans who too easily fell into the habit of familiar, forgetting that Aslan's Country is the ultimate goal.
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Sandy Tolan (2006) The Lemon Tress: An Arab, a Jews, and the Heart of the Middle East. [Kindle] Bloomsbury.
When I started this book I hoped for a story of two families offering a balanced approach to Israel/Palestine and the rights to exist. The author, however, leaned heavily toward the Palestinian "right to return" over the Israeli "right to exist." Tolan chose to focus on the question, "How would you feel if..." while neglecting to consider the statelessness of the Jews after WW2, saying, "Wouldn't it be better to live in peace even though exiled?" He neglects to mention that for Jews there is (and in many ways still is) no peace in European exile, only death and further displacement. Both Jew and Arab have ancestral ties to the land and there should be a way to coexist.
Having said that, the way British partition was handled by all parties involved was horrifically incompetent. To displace one people group in favor of another only engenders bitterness. Unless and until Israeli leadership admits that the way in which they created a state for themselves in 1948 and reaffirmed in 1967 was unnecessarily destructive, there is little hope for dispelling the hatred that leads to events like October 7, 2023.
Make no mistake, however, the insistence that Israel be eliminated as a nation is equally destructive to the hope for peace. Jews are not colonists of the lands from which they came. Nor are Jewish citizens oppressors. Neither Jews nor Arabs should be made refugees; both have legitimate claims to the land. Both have sacred texts that instruct a coming together as children of Abraham (Qur'an 3:64, Isaiah 1:18), not necessarily to agree or capitulate, but to learn how to co-exist as cousins in the land of Abraham.
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K. E. Garland (2023). In Search of a Salve Memoir of a Sex Addict. [Audible] Narrated by Katherin Garland. New Reads Publication.
This is not my usual fare, but Kathy is a friend. I knew her narration would make her story more poignant, but I was not ready for the horror of her childhood. She tried to overcome the abuse and abandonment issues of closed adoption and parental death through addiction, not to drugs, but to alcohol, exhibitionism, and sex. Over three decades, Garland struggled to contain her inner demons by wearing the life of a wife, mother, and university professor but came to understand that her addictions were partly genetic and required more than a steeled resolve to control.
Along the way, her husband, who had his own coping mechanisms for life's trials, sought to understand her. He threatened to leave but never did. Their story continues, but without the devastating secrets that walled each of them into their private versions of hell. Garland found release in yoga, meditation, and writing. Her memoir is her story, but the lessons she learned in life are universal: truth is better than deceit, trauma must be addressed fearlessly, and love is not always enough to heal a broken heart or mind.
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L.C. Marino (2024). Burn the Girls.
Well, THAT was terrifying!!
I was introduced to this author and series on Substack. L.C. Marino posted chapters of the book in serial form both there and on Kindle Vella as he went along. Substack, by the way, has a lively fiction presence with many exceptional writers publishing in nearly every genre.
Burn the Girls is a fast-paced novel winding sinister supernatural characters with a fully human grief-stricken family. The family, or at least the family home, is both cursed and haunted. I highly recommend the prequel (Bury the Child) as background. It may not be technically necessary, but I think most readers would find it useful and it's a short read.
The protagonist, Constance, is preternaturally capable and independent. As much as she wants to run far and fast from the house her mother inherited, she commits to staying until the end of the school year. Of course, plans have to change when the paranormal enters the scene. Love and loyalty to family supersede personal goals, and by the end of the book, Constance is forever altered.
While Constance is fairly well-developed as a character, most of the adult characters are a little flat. Family members who know the house's history seem blithely unaware of the dangers that lurk within. Friends and foes aren't connected clearly and seem almost as solid as the ghosts.
It's a good read, and it will be interesting to see the series unfold.
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Damian Dibben (2018). Tomorrow. Hanover Square Press.
I got this book by accident. I wanted to reserve Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow at the library to prepare for book club at the end of February, but I clicked on this one instead. I am so glad I did!
The book should have been ridiculous. One man creates a potion that, when injected into a person many times becomes a life-preserving internal stone that provides immortality. He and another man choose immortality and the chemyst then treats his dog, ensuring the dog will live forever, too. The men then argue and separate, one to the aid of humanity and the other to selfish ambition. It's a silly premise.
Adding to what should not work is the timeline over three hundred years, from the Renaissance to Waterloo. Oh, and the story is told by the dog, whose name isn't revealed until the 18th chapter, along with that of his master. It's ridiculous, right? Explain to me, then, why I could not put this book down.
I read half the book in a single sitting and completed it in two more, for a total of about five hours for 334 pages. I do read fast, but I also get restless easily. The writing is beautiful and the relationship between man and dog is the essence of loyalty and love. Separated for 127 years, neither forgot the other, and their connection kept them hopeful for an eventual reunion.
Along the way, there is a thoughtful pondering of what human immortality might mean, both for good and for ill. It is a lonely life. Mortals age and die, again and again, making relationships foolhardy. War upon war only magnifies the futility of life, even for the immortal. In many ways, the author relays that dying and death are not to be feared, but are a natural conclusion to living. Live well, or, as the dog ponders, "For what point does life have if it is not an adventure?"
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C.S. Lewis (2019 audio). Prince Caspian. [Audible]. Narrated by Lynn Redgrave. Originally published in 1951/
Of all the Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian contains more preparation for the next books than a compelling story of its own. It offers the history of the Kings of Narnia after the Golden Age, introduces Reepicheep, who has his own story in Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and suggests the rifts that eventually separate the siblings when the series completes.
The book is mostly a war story as Prince Caspian strives to retake the throne from his evil uncle, King Miraz, and restore Narnia to its pristine setting with talking beasts and walking trees. It takes place a thousand years after the reign of Kings Peter and Edmund and Queens Susan and Lucy. Cair Paravel is in ruins and the landscape has shifted so that promontories become islands and forests grow into dark and scary places that elicit ghost stories. Dwarf Trumpkin fills the four former rulers on the happenings in Narnia in their absence and then they're off to the battle.
Connections to the Bible are harder to find than in the other books. The most important lesson is that God is with his children even when they can't see him. In the face of ridicule, standing on the convictions of faith matter most. Eventually, others will see the truth.
Well, what do you think? Any books you might consider checking out from your local library?
Thank you Stephanie 💕