Book Review: Goodnight, Beautiful by Dorothy Koomson

Nova and Mal have been best friends since, well, forever really. They grew up together and Nova thought they’d end up together as well.

But when Mal met Stephanie, he fell in love and married her. The couple have a big favour to ask Nova – will she have a baby for them? Nova agrees but when the couple suddenly decide they don’t want their baby anymore, Nova is left feeling frightened, alone and unsure she can be a single mother.

Flicking from the past to the present day, Nova’s son’s life hangs in the balance, and so does Mal and Stephanie’s marriage. Can both survive?

The blurb in itself suggests that this is going to be an emotional read, as are all of Dorothy Koomson’s novels. The main idea focuses on the issue of surrogacy, which isn’t an issue I’ve ever read about in a fictional book before. Surrogacy is something I know I could never do, I couldn’t grow a baby only to give it away the end and this theme is well-explored by Koomson, showing us Nova’s thoughts about the idea and how she comes to the decisions she eventually reaches. But the most important part of the surrogacy issue in this book is how it changes the relationships of those involved, right from finding out the surrogate mother is pregnant to the birth of the baby, and beyond.

I found the way that Koomson approached the whole issue was delicately done, and this really is a credit to her writing skill and indeed style. The whole background for the story was so well done that it really wasn’t a shock to read about, and nothing too graphic was written about, the idea of the surrogacy really focussed on Nova and Mal’s relationship, and the effect the surrogacy had on Stephanie, the outsider. Koomson really has a skill for writing well developed relationships between characters, and this was really a great element of the book. Koomson really knows how to engage her readers with an emotional storyline which has you hooked in minutes, and leaving you not able to put the book down again until its finished!

The characters themselves were very interesting too, with the main 2 characters of Nova and Mal being very detailed in background, emotion and story. The book flips between the present day and the past, right back to the childhood of the pair, and this allows you to get into the minds of both, particularly Nova as she is the storyteller for most of the book, and allows you to build up in your mind why things in the future (i.e. present day in the book) happen as they do. Mal’s wife Stephanie was clearly meant to be the evil outsider, and right from the off I really didn’t like her. How a woman can make her man choose between her and his child is beyond me, and for this I hated her instantly. Even towards the end when her past is fully revealed, I sympathised with her but didn’t feel it justified what she had to done to Nova and Mal.

The writing style used in the book was quite interesting to me, partly because it left me feeling confused quite frequently throughout the book! Despite the fact that Koomson had chose to tell the story from both Stephanie and Nova’s perspectives, so that’s 2 storytellers, she’s chosen to write in the first person without giving a name at the top of a new chapter to tell you who is narrating that particular section. I sometimes found I had to read almost 2 pages of a chapter before I got whether Nova or Stephanie were ‘talking’, and this left me frustrated and often confused. I always find first person narratives work best when there is only one storyteller as you can follow emotion and the story much better, but the 2 person first-person narrative just didn’t work, it would have been much better in the third person!

Although I have found the previous Koomson reads of “Marshmallows for Breakfast” and “My Best Friend’s Girl” quite uplifting, this one was quite the opposite, and I had a feeling all the way through that I might not get the happy ending I was hoping for. There wasn’t much happiness throughout the book as a whole to be honest, what with unrequited love, mental illness, failed surrogacy and broken friendships being the main themes in the book. I was hoping for a small glimmer of happiness somewhere in the book, but there just seemed to be misery all around which left me feeling a bit drained after reading large chunks of the book. It’s a shame Koomson didn’t write just a chapter of something happy going on in the story, as this really lost the book a star on its rating from me. It was quite a depressing read, and I did find myself a bit teary at stages throughout, so it wasn’t the light hearted chick-lit read I was hoping for! It is a very well-written story with interesting themes, great characters and a very easy to read style, but just a little depressing for me! I’d still recommend it to Koomson fans though, it is up to her usual writing standards. I’d give it 3.5 stars if I could, but I decided to round it up for writing and a good story.

Rating: 4/5

Abraham Lincoln

A Brief Review of George McGovern’s Abraham Lincoln

George McGovern – former Democratic senator from South Dakota and losing presidential candidate in the 1972 election – has written a short, solid, workmanlike biography of Abraham Lincoln as part of Henry Holt and Company’s The American Presidents Series (see previous reviews of volumes in the series on Grover Cleveland, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Buchanan and Thomas Jefferson). A mere 155 pages in length and compiled from a careful and thorough reading of the secondary sources, McGovern’s biography is not so stunningly incisive as James McPherson’s very brief Abraham Lincoln, nor so voluminous as many of the new biographies appearing in this bicentennial year of Lincoln’s birth, but is nevertheless a good introductory work for those with limited time seeking to learn more about America’s greatest president.

If McGovern’s biography has a conspicuous weakness it is the short shrift which he gives to Lincoln’s role as commander-in-chief and the course of the war — his discussion of battlefield developments is somewhat confused and discontinuous – but this is a relatively minor flaw in a book which must necessarily sacrifice some detail for the sake of brevity. If the book has a strength, it is McGovern’s emphasis upon some aspects of Lincoln’s life and presidency which receive little attention in other compressed biographies. For instance, as in this excerpt, Lincoln’s other legislative achievements beyond the imperatives of the war:

“As he prepared to deliver his annual message to Congress in December, Lincoln reflected on the legislative achievements of his first term, which had been all but overlooked because of the country’s preoccupation with the war. Many new laws, passed by the Republican-controlled Congress, would prove to have long-lasting consequences as the nation pushed relentlessly westward, settling new lands and expanding its borders.

“A series of financial measures had been enacted to fund the war, which was costing $2 million daily. Under the direction of the Treasury Department, and with the administrative guidance of the Philadelphia banker Jay Cooke, the government had issued war bonds (which, over the course of the war, would raise about $3 billion for the Union, or 65 percent of its revenue). Needing an unrestricted currency supply to fuel the bond program, Congress passed the Legal Tender Act in 1862, which authorized the production and distribution of paper money, known popularly as greenbacks.

“More significantly, the Internal Revenue Act of 1861, the first federal income tax in American history, assured the financial community that the government would have a reliable source of income to pay the interest on war bonds. Subsequent Revenue Acts of 1862 and 1864 created moderately progressive tax brackets and set rates at 5, 7.5, and 10 percent. By the end of the war nearly one in ten American households (mostly in the affluent states in the industrial Northeast, the section of the country that held most of the wealth) paid an income tax.

“Also enacted was an excise tax system that imposed taxes on almost everything: liquor, professional licenses, carriages, yachts, medicines, corporations, stamps, and the like. The Morrill Tariff Acts of 1860 and 1861 doubled the amounts of taxes collected on dutiable items brought into the United States, while at the same time protecting the steel, iron, mineral, beef, and fishing industries, among many others. Congress also enacted the National Banking Acts of 1863 and 1864, which established a system of national charters for banks and encouraged the implementation of a national currency. They also mandated that one-third of a new bank’s notes had to be backed by federal bonds, thus assisting the war effort. When state banks balked at the new regulation, a provision of the 1864 Act imposed a 10 percent tax on state bank notes; state banks then had to choose to comply or go out of business. Overall, the tax system quickly grew so large that the Bureau of Internal Revenue was created to administer it. These finance measures reversed the downward trends instituted by Democratic Congresses of the 1840s and 1850s, and fulfilled Republican promises from the campaign of 1860.

“During Lincoln’s first term, the Republican Congress also passed the Homestead Act of 1862, which made public lands in the West available for small farmers. For decades the distribution of these lands had been the subject of great debate and controversy, in Washington and among the American population. Under the new Homestead Act, any adult citizen who headed a household could win title to 160 acres of frontier land simply by living on it for five years. By the end of the war more than fifteen thousand homestead claims had been filed, with more to come. While some portion of the land ended up in the control of speculators and railroads, many settlers stuck it out, raised their families, and harvested crops, thereby establishing a framework for the large-scale development of vast Western territories over the course of the next forty years. The 160-acre tracts created the model of the American family farm for the next century.

“Also in 1862 Lincoln signed into law the Morrill Land Grant College Act, named for Senator Justin Morrill of Vermont. The statute transferred federal lands to states to be sold for the establishment and support of agricultural and mechanical arts colleges, which paved the way for the establishment of state university systems throughout the Midwest and West. The program was set up proportionately, dependent upon the number of congressional representatives, and eventually involved the transfer of nearly seventeen million acres of land. That same year, Congress and Lincoln established the Department of Agriculture to look after the interests of farmers (although the department would not gain cabinet-level status for some twenty years.).

“These three landmark acts – the Homestead Act, the Land Grant College Act, and the creation of the US Department of Agriculture, all enacted in the middle of the Civil War – formed a tripod on which much of America’s great agricultural success has rested from that day until the present.

“also of great importance was the passage of the Pacific Railway Acts of 1862 and 1864. These laws provided for the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from Omaha to Sacramento for the movement of passengers and freight as well as government use for postal, military, and other purposes. All told, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads received more than 175 million acres from the government for use as right-of-way, and began construction. Utilizing thousands of immigrant laborers from Ireland, Germany, Italy, and China, and with the Union Pacific pushing west and the Central Pacific pushing east, the two lines met and merged near Ogden, Utah, in 1869, finally and forever linking the two coasts. Lincoln’s support for all these laws was a reflection of the Whig principles that had nurtured him: the belief that the federal government could and should play an important role in the public welfare.”

"Shock and Steadfastness" (Book Review)

“Shock and Steadfastness” by Kareem Bakradouny (Book Review, May 25, 2009)

 

This Arabic/Lebanese manuscript “Sadmat wa Soumoud” is of 518 pages and a report of the period of former Lebanese President Emile Lahoud.  The author and politician Kareem Bakradouny is the biographer of Lahoud since he acceded to chief of the army in 1992. Bakradouny met with Lahoud every Friday from 1992 to 2007. The meetings were held first in the Kaslik swimming club till the assassination of late Rafic Hariri PM, and then at the Presidential Palace. Before heading to a meeting, Bakradouny would wait for the call and then they would talk in a small room facing the sea.  The author hand wrote the discussions and sometimes he would record them.

Bakradouny decided to postpone the military period of Lahoud for another volume. The book is divided into three parts each of three chapters.  The first part is “The Road to the Presidency”, the second part “Period of Cohabitation (with Rafic Hariri PM)”, and the third part “Period of Calamities”.

 

“Shock and Steadfastness” takes you from unifying the army, internal political struggle, the liberation of south Lebanon in May 24, 2000 and the negotiations for confirming the “Blue Line” on the border with Israel, the confrontation with the Moslem extremists in the district of Donnieh, the logic of statehood versus market requirements, the beginning of a string of assassinations, the pressures of the US Bush Jr. Administration, the roadblocks for extending the Presidency tenure three more years, the assassination of Rafic Hariri, the July War of  2006, the withdrawal of the Syrian troops from Lebanon, the string of assassinations, and the ceremony for leaving the Presidential Palace.

            Emile Lahoud used to never wear any coat or jacket during the coldest seasons until a friend was once shocked to see him swimming and asked him “Have you got hit on your head as a kid?”  Since then Lahoud wears a simple black leather jacket in winter time. Lahoud’s breakfast is a piece of banana and a cone of ice cream for lunch.  The main eating session is dinner.  Lahoud records on a tape the topics that he wants to approach in a discussion or matters to follow up on.

            President Lahoud ascended the military ranks normally and was the first Chief of the army who ran the tiny navy. He was appointed Chief in November 1989 after General Aoun was forced into exile to France.  General Lahoud had the task to re-unite the dismantled army after over 15 years of civil war; he combined the regiments so that they represent all the Lebanese sects and ordered the regiments to relocate every 9 months to different parts of Lebanon so that every soldier knows his country.  He negotiated the best deals for arms, medicine, and insurance.

            General Lahoud refused political deals with President Hrawy and Rafic Hariri PM for transferring officers and followed the strict military procedures.  Any high officer who refused to obey orders for the re-organization of the army was dismissed and Syria never tried to pressure Lahoud to rescinding his orders.  The billionaire Rafic Hariri used to offer the army cash money every month but General Lahoud refused saying “The State is responsible for the budget of the army” so that he can exercise his functions without undue political pressures.

            There was an international decision to contain the Islamic resistance in south Lebanon and General Lahoud refused to confront the army with the resistance fighting the Israeli occupiers.  President Hafez Assad of Syria decided to meet Lahoud for the first time; General Lahoud told Hafez Assad “I am re-building the army to resist Israel and my conscience refuses to fight those who are fighting Israeli occupation” Since that meeting the political pressures on Lahoud faded away and he could focus on the re-organization of the army and freeing the resistance from political pressures and its freedom of movement in areas not in the army control.  When Israel bombed Lebanon for 7 days in 1993, General Lahoud ordered to return fire and Israel stopped its shelling.

            Lahoud was elected President of the Republic by unanimity after revising item 49 in the Constitution that denied a high ranked employee candidacy before resigning his post for a period.  Lahoud asked the Lebanese to contribute to a bank account in order to support the State treasury; (I remember that I contributed $100 while in the USA).  He had a program of fighting corruption but the political system in Lebanon was a insurmountable barrier given that the Taef Constitution robbed the President of valuable powers and the power was transferred basically to the Prime Minister and the cabinet.  Rafic Hariri controlled the new powers were bequeathed on the cabinet combined. (to be continued)

Book Review: Little Brother by Cory Doctrow

Yes, Little Brother by Cory Doctrow of Boing Boing fame is a kid’s book. That doesn’t mean it’s not a lot of exciting and fun reading for adults as well.

US teenager Marcus gets into trouble with the law – with the überscary Department of Homeland Security to be exact, but he’s not about to take the government’s bullying nonsense lying down. His troubles start when he runs foul of his school’s electronic surveillance system. And if you think that’s an unlikely scenario, check out this…

Little Brother is one of those books that shows that young adult literature can explore serious politics without being patronising. A progressive thriller for young people. I just wish my kids were a little older. Ah well, they’ll just have to wait a couple of years before I highly recommend it to them. You can download the text for free here.

I Heart Our Planet

A lot of family, pet/animal and eco stories this week…

Seems I’m feeling rather earthy!

360 Blog

June Volunteering

Petition Against Global Warming

Children’s Bookclub

The Peace Book (review)

Earth Talk

A Greener Shade of Red, White and Blue

Female Talk

Freedom Takes No Holidays

Healthy and Hale

National Hamburger Day

Living To Do

How to Save a Life

Parenting Report

Great Graduation Gifts

Pet in the Pocket

Hamsters: A Great First Pet

Real Book

A Tale of Rape and Redemption (review)

Turtle City

Baby Sea Turtles Released for World Turtle Day

Whale City

Greenland: New Home for Right Whales

Working and Parenting

Sneaking in Family Fitness

Poetry

“first day of preschool“

The Mothman Prophecies

The Mothman Prophecies by John Keel

I’ve known about Mothman for years. I’ve been reading books on the unexplained ever since I could read, and just about every compendium about monsters or mysterious beings has an entry on Mothman in it. But until recently, I had never read what most would say is the ultimate account of the Mothman legend: The Mothman Prophecies, by John Keel.

John Keel was a journalist who was investigating the Point Pleasant area while all of these mysterious events were happening. The basic story can be summed up thusly: a tall, gray man-beast that could fly, dubbed “Mothman,” was terrorizing local residents. It had red, glowing eyes, and basically hung out around an old munitions dump in the area called the TNT area. On the surface, it’s a typical “lover’s lane monster.” But there’s more to the story than that. Much more.

And that’s really the biggest weakness of this book. Keel really tried to delve into detail, but the narrative doesn’t really follow one direct path. It jumps around to different people, different witnesses, and in fact, different times. Some parts later in the book actually happened before things in the beginning of the book. It was a bit confusing, and also a bit annoying.

There is an array of weird characters and happenings in the book, and very few can actually be considered “Mothman.” There were weird phone calls with odd sounds and strange voices. There were the “oriental” or “negroid” looking visitors (these 2 terms, quoted directly from the book, really betray the age of the book). And then there was Indrid Cold and friends, a very unusual group. All of these phenomena would be very interesting, but the jumpiness of the narrative doesn’t really let you get to know any of them too well. Once Keel starts getting on a roll talking about one incident or being, the focus is changed 180 degrees, onto a completely new subject, or one from so early on in the book you have already forgotten most of the details.

The book ends very much the same way the movie based on it does, with the tragedy at the Silver Bridge. It’s because of this event that Mothman is seen as some sort of portent to disaster. To see Mothman is to know that something bad is going to happen.

It’s hard for me to recall much about the book, as I sit here writing this review. A lot of it confused me, and a lot of what I do remember seems fuzzy at best. Perhaps Indrid Cold is somehow interfering with my own thought processes? Seriously though, I wanted to like this book, and there is a lot to like in here. But I wish there was some more structure and organization regarding the timeline and narrative. A great story needs to be told well, and The Mothman Prophecies just didn’t do it for me.

The Good: Some genuinely creepy goings-on make some of the accounts in this book well worth reading, and makes you wonder what really is going on, whether it’s alien beings, the government, or something we don’t even have a name for yet. Fact or fiction, it’ll make you wonder and send some chills down your spine.

The Bad: The book is old, so a lot of the narrative is hard to relate to today. It was originally published in 1975, and most of these events happened years before that. There’s also a lack of pictures (which is a major pet peeve of mine when it comes to books on the unexplained and paranormal), and it would have been nice to at least see some of the creepy locales where a lot of the events took place, like the TNT area, or the Silver Bridge. Especially since my edition of the book was a re-release after the Richard Gere movie version came out.

The Ugly: As I mentioned earlier, this book really meanders. It’s hard to keep up with all the names and places and times when Keel bounces all over the place. I found it very difficult to read because of this. The narrative should flow, not change gears at every other page.

The Bottom Line: Let’s face it, the book is a classic, even if it hasn’t held up well through the years. If you already know a lot about the Mothman legend, it’s a worthwhile read. But for the uninitiated, it could confuse more than tantalize.

Final Score: 75%

Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary by Brandon Mull

Finally had a chance to sit down and finish this fantastic book this morning.  The fourth in Brandon Mull’s Fablehaven series, Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary follows route in being bigger and better than its predecessors.  I really cannot rave about this series enough.  Once again, Seth and Kendra Sorens0n have serious challenges and adventures and manage to prove themselves in the process.

I really can’t say all that I want to about this book because it would spoil the pants off of anyone who hasn’t read the series!  But I can say that these books are ridiculously inventive, completely understanding of kids’ intelligence—and completely appealing to the kid inside each one of us.  There’s really nothing I can compare this series to.  It’s not a Harry-Potteresque allegory, it deals with real-life ch0ices and consequences, and real-life challenges… it just does it with a cast that includes dragons and satyrs and giants and trolls.  That said, it is also something completely fantastical.  It’s something akin to mythology, where the heroes are just normal people, standing up against enormous (sometimes literally!) odds.  And through it all there is a sense of humor, danger, intrigue… even the smallest shades of romance.

As always, there’s also masterfully subtle lessons built in to the stories about teamwork, taking chances, being honest, and accepting responsibility for your actions.  Meanwhile, Mull has gotten better and better at conveying emotion and (admittedly) whopping the reader over the head with unexpected twists and turns.

I’m already ready for the next one – or maybe I’m not, since it’s the last one planned for the series.  The last one!  What am I supposed to do to get my fantasy kick after this?  Why must I be so series-prone, and love characters so much?  While I’m the first to admit that a story that last forever is a story that lasts too long, I hate to say goodbye to them, too.  Then again, I could certainly do with a re-read… once I get the books back from my brother, that is!

Fablehaven is also published by Shadow Mountain, the very publisher I’m eyeing myself.  I would love to see my books up alongside the likes of the Fablehaven series.  Someday, they just might be.

Anyhow, go grab these books!  The first three are already in paperback, and so, so very worthy of being added to your personal library, and once you pick the first one up, you’ll just want to keep on reading.

Review: Angels of Destruction by Keith Donohue

There was a different world in 1970’s America. Plenty of average, run of the mill teenagers were growing their hair long, doing drugs, preaching peace,  while some joined underground organizations bent on revolution and world salvation, their ears ringing from the reports of Vietnam and civil rights. The world, it has been said, was never to be the same, despite older generations’ desperate attempts to preserve life as they knew it.

Margaret Quinn had a quiet, rural Pennsylvania life; structured, simple, and average. Simple, that is, until her daughter Erica runs off with her boyfriend, Wiley, to travel across the country to join the underground movement of the Angels of Destruction whose goal it was to destroy the known world and recreate it in their vision. Erica disappeared without a trace, and left to her own devices Margaret slowly loses her composure and her grip on life.

Ten years later, the appearance of a ragged orphan on her doorstep one freezing cold night brings a new sense of purpose to Margaret’s life. But is this child, newly renamed Norah Quinn and passed off as Erica’s daughter, sent to live with her grandmother while her parents mended their relationship, an answer to Norah’s prayers? Readers follow a trail of mystery and tragedy throughout this work, all the while seeking answers to the same questions that plague the characters: Who is Norah Quinn? Where did she really come from? What has become of Erica during the past ten years? Is it possible that Angels walk among us, guiding our path through life and helping to atone for our sins?

The imagery and style of this book is beautiful. Paragraphs worth of descriptive material are so vivid and filled with wonderful comparisons that it is hard to remember one is reading a novel. The characters, as in any great work, appear so well crafted that it wouldn’t have been surprising to see them appear from the pages and walk about on their own accord. The story itself is fresh, creative, and portrayed extremely well. Divided into three sections, readers get a wonderful blend of back story and new action, and the story benefits greatly from this.

It’s hard to find much to fault in this book, and the only improvement I could even think to suggest would be that some conclusions were a little too loose for my liking. Two pivotal characters disappear fairly abruptly and without much explanation. The rest of the story is so well written that it’s easy to accept these instances as part of the natural fabric of the tale. However, Angels of Destruction is such a complex tale that I needed a day to digest what I had read, which gave me time to realize that I felt pieces of the puzzle were missing. It’s a bit unsettling to come to that conclusion, and I wonder if maybe that wasn’t the point Donohue was trying to make. If it’s possible for anyone to understand the puzzling sense of loss Margaret Quinn experienced without losing a child under such circumstances themselves, perhaps these loose ends accomplish such a feat.

4.5 of 5 stars.

The Secret Life of Bees: Conflicted

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The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Paperback: 336 pages

Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (January 28, 2003)

ISBN-10: 0142001740

This is the second time I’ve read this book. The first time was about four years ago, and what a difference four years and some personal growth makes.

The Secret Life of Bees follows Lily Owens, a 14 year old girl in 1964 South Carolina, during the year the Civil Rights Bill was signed. She lives with her father in rural farm country, growing peaches and being miserable. She’s not one of the popular kids, she’s not pretty, and she’s too smart for her father’s peace of mind. Her father, T. Ray, is verbally abusive and emotionally distant, and closed-mouthed about the events leading up to her mother’s death when Lily was four years old.

After an incident between Lily’s African-American nanny Rosaleen and a group of white men, Lily lands in trouble and Rosaleen lands in jail. In a fit of pure spunk, Lily breaks her out and they run away to Tiburon, a town who’s name Lily finds on the back of a picture of a Black Madonna that belonged to her mother. Once they reach the town, they meet the Boatwright sisters, a trio of independent African-American women who raise bees and stand as pillars in a community that worships the Black Mary. August, June, and May Boatwright may hold the secrets of Lily’s mother and her troubled past, and the ability to heal Lily of years of self-doubt and parental abuse.

When I first read this book, I loved it, and I still don’t think it’s a bad book. It has many thought provoking and touching moments, and I do believe Sue Monk Kidd wrote from the heart. Lily is a believable character, and her troubles, large and small, are things many teenagers go through, regardless of what point in history they live. And as a feminist, I like this book a lot because it’s all about women young and old taking charge of their lives as well as they can. But I don’t think the overall story is believable, and I don’t think it’s necessarily right that it was told from the perspective of a white girl.

I can very much see Lily’s personal narrative happening, in that she runs away and ends up staying with generous female figures. But I don’t think, during that time, they would have been black. If they had been black, I don’t see them wanting or having the ability, to take in a young white girl. In that day and age, I just don’t see that as being smart on the part of otherwise highly intelligent characters, or allowed by the white citizens of the town for that matter. And the ending, which I won’t spoil, is not realistic. I feel that there would have been too many repercussions to the final ending for those characters to make those choices.

I can truly see the history and lore of those women occurring during that time, but I don’t really like how that story has to be told out of the mouth (and eyes) of a white girl. If Sue Monk Kidd wanted to explore the feminist theology of the Black Madonna, why couldn’t she write it from the perspecitive of a young black girl being initiated into the society around her? Or being rescued by it, in a similar situation to Lily’s? Jump on me if you like, but the Boatwright sisters were turned into a trio of Magical Negros for the benefit of Lily. (Ah! Lily! As in lily white!!)

Every twist and turn of the story became a learning experience for Lily, to the detriment of the stories being told about the black women involved. Every event was an Event! that is there to teach Lily, and through her, the reader, a lesson about racial tension during the Civil Rights Era, or about inter-racial relations, or about people in general. The Messages were so loud sometimes that it was hard to hear the story.

These things don’t kill the book for me, but they were a constant thought in the back of my mind as I read. As I said, it’s still a good book, and I’ve been conflicted about this review for days now. I’d recommend it, just to get someone else’s opinion on it. Please, let me know what you think in the comments.

Book Review: The Time Traveler's Wife

Niffenegger, Audrey. The Time Traveler’s Wife. New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2003.

Henry DeTamble is not an ordinary man. He has what a geneticist later describes as a kind of defect that makes it so that he inadvertently time travels. It leaves him in all sorts of predicaments, having to find clothes after each episode (which he describes almost as epileptic in nature) as he never can take a stitch of clothing or anything with him when it happens. A young girl named Clare encounters an older Henry when she is 6, and he convinces her he is a time traveler who stumbles by chance upon her. Over the years, she comes to know and love this older Henry… whose older self knows that eventually she will be his wife. He leaves her dates that he will appear because, although Clare lives her life chronologically, Henry is not bound by time. The book is pretty much the story of both of their lives, of the chaos of being an uncontrolled time traveler, and yet the classic story of how love overcomes all things. 

It was beautiful. For all its constant time and perspective changes, it reads very well. It’s somewhat like science fiction, but not quite. The characters are deep, and fully dimensional, the details incredibly real unlike some of the shallowly drawn fiction we commonly accept. It is pain and beauty- the bittersweet of reality married to fiction. My only criticism is that it contains a lot of graphic detail when it comes to numerous sex scenes. It’s not that they aren’t well written or don’t add to the depth of the love between the two main characters, but it’s just something I’d rather not read. This book is deep and well-educated, rich with allusions, details, and a well-constructed plot. I liked it overall. It leaves me a bit sad and wistful for my own love… but only the best really do that. 

Paper Towns - John Green

Quentin has lived his entire life next to Margo Roth Spieglemen, and have been secretly in love with her. One night Margo shows up at his window begging him to help her sneak out of her parents house and help her with her plans for that night. For some reason Quentin agrees and what ensues is a revelation about Margo and ultimately himself.

The next day after Quentin and Margo’s secret night escapades. Quentin imagines that this is the renewal of his friendship with Margo, and perhaps even more. However, Margo doesn’t show up that day, and later Quentin discovers that Margo has run away from home again.   Margo had always left clues before, by chance the Quentin discovers a poster on her blind that faces his room. As Quentin tries to investigate the poster he realizes the clues lead him through a few discoveries about Margo he never new.

“…And I could picture her again: she unravels the carpet halfway each night so her hip isn’t against the bare concrete as she lies on her side. She crawls beneath the blanket uses the rest of the carpet as a pillow, and sleeps. But why here? How is this better than home? And if it’s so great why leave? These are the things I cannot imagine, and I realize that I cannot imagine them because I didn’t know Margo. I knew how she smelled, and I knew how she acted in front of me, and I knew how she acted in front of others, and I knew she liked Mountain Dew and adventure and dramatic gestures, and I knew she was funny and smart and just generally more than the rest of us. But I didn’t know what brought her here, or what kept her here, or what made her leave. I didn’t know why she owned thousands of records but never told anyone she even liked music. I didn’t know what she did at night with the shades down, with the door locked, in the sealed privacy of her room…”

Once Quentin solves all the clues he realizes he has two days to meet Margo before she moves on again. So after graduation, all his friends help in driving non stop so he can meet her once more.

I really enjoyed this book for many reasons, but I guess the reason I liked it most was the not knowing of how it would turn out, as well as the process Quentin goes through realizing he never really new Margo. Something that makes me remember that there is a lot more to people than the small pieces we see everyday in our interactions with them.

A LIFE OF ONE'S OWN by Hilda Bernstein

A LIFE OF ONE’S OWN by Hilda Bernstein

This human interest story, contextualized by political and historical influences in Russia, reveals the hardships and tragedies experienced by Hilda’s father and her sister. 

Hilda was one of three sisters, born in England to non-practicing Jewish immigrants from Russia.  When she was only 10 years old, her father – a committed Bolshevik – returned to Russia, leaving his wife to raise the three girls alone.  Hilda would never see him again. 

A decade later, for entirely different reasons, Hilda’s sister would follow in her father’s footsteps and visit Russia.  Unforeseen circumstances and events beyond her sister’s control meant it would be 12 years before she returned home.

Through her father’s many letters she writes an account of his deep political convictions and his longing to see his family.  Hilda pieces together her sister’s account through the numerous essays she wrote while in “exile”. 

In hindsight everyone has clear vision, but for this family, while the events unfolded, lives were being changed and time together was lost forever. 

Against the backdrop of the First and Second World War the book captures the pain of loss and suffering, years of separation, the anguish of not knowing, trapped in a political regime where one has no control.  Despite the adversities experienced by her father and sister, it is also the story of determination and the survival of the human spirit against all odds.

First copyright dates: 2002

ISBN: 1-919931-08-02

White Fang

White Fang by Jack London

White Fang by Jack London

Originally published 1906

Airmont, 1st printing, 1964

192 pages

Genre: adventure, literature

Two men travel through the frozen Northland, intent on delivering their cargo-a fallen compatriot—to Fort McHenry. Death stalks them through the Wild in the form of a wolfpack, starving and implacable. One particularly cunning member is a she-wolf, who lures the pair’s sled dogs away from the safety of the fire into the pack’s ravening maw. One by one the dogs disappear, and one of the men succumbs. At the last moment, as the pack closes in on the last man, rescue comes.

From there the novel follows the she-wolf, running with the pack’s leader, One-Eye. When she whelps, he hunts for their family, until he is caught and killed by a lynx. After that, the she-wolf raises the puppies alone, through a famine that takes all but one of her cubs. The two are caught one day by the brother of the she-wolf’s former owner, Grey Beaver, and so the she-wolf—Kiche—and her cub leave the Wild to live with Man. In the Indian camp, the cub—named White Fang by Grey Beaver—learns the rules of Man, but is shunned by the other dogs, who view him as a wolf. White Fang learns to defend himself, becoming more savage and implacable than the other dogs who band against him. White Fang grows into a ferocious creature and  makes a name for himself as a killer of other dogs when Grey Beaver takes him on trading journeys along the Mackenzie River. When Grey Beaver heads to Fort Yukon for trade, White Fang accompanies him, becoming famous among the white men of the Gold Rush, too. It is here that White Fang catches the eye of Beauty Smith, a man ugly in both body and spirit. Coveting White Fang, Beauty offers Grey Beaver a trade, but is summarily refused. Cunningly, Beauty offers Grey Beaver alcohol, and when the Indian has exhausted all his resources buying and drinking more, Beauty returns; in his desperation, Grey Beaver trades White Fang for a bottle of liquor. Thriving on pain, Beauty torments White Fang, whipping him into an ever-greater frenzy of hatred, pain, and savagery. Fighting for Beauty, White Fang is reduced to his most primal state before the intervention of one Weedon Scott, who sets out to salvage him.

Due to their animal protagonists, London’s White Fang and The Call of the Wild are often viewed as juvenalia; indeed, I first read them in elementary school. However, London vividly depicts an unrelentingly savage world in both the wild and in man’s cities. Violence is common, whether it is the hunt for survival or cruelty as an exercise of power, but London does not moralize. Both White Fang and Beauty Smith are products of their environments; neither could have turned out any other way, and London condemns neither of them for behaving as such. A stark, largely unsentimental view of nature and civilization, White Fang exhibits the indomitable will to survive that London saw as essential and laudable, but survival is not the sole theme. When rescued by Scott, White Fang learns to temper loyalty with love, and is effectively civilized by Scott in California, just as Buck was de-civilized in the North. White Fang offers redemption, demonstrating that though circumstances shape us, as they change, so can we.

Cover: A totally bitchin’ painting depicts Kiche taunting the sled dogs she would later devour. Yeah! Fuck yeah!

Dark spruce forest frowned on either side the frozen waterway. The trees had been stripped by a recent wind of their white covering of frost, and they seemed to lean towards each other, black and ominous, in the fading light. A vast silence reigned over the land. The land itself was a desolation, lifeless, without movement, so lone and cold that the spirit of it was not even that of sadness. There was a hint in it of laughter, but of a laughter more terrible than any sadness–a laughter that was mirthless as the smile of the sphinx, a laughter cold as the frost and partaking of the grimness of infallibility. It was the masterful and incommunicable wisdom of eternity laughing at the futility of life and the effort of life. It was the Wild, the savage, frozen-hearted Northland Wild.

16 May

Review-The Gathering, by Anne Enright

A Twist of the Grave

Anne Enright’s narrator in The Gathering, Veronica Hegarty, initially seems to be a petty, bitter woman, a woman who’s lost her way in a gaggle of siblings. She vibrates with anger over past hurts, and it seems she’s embarking on a journey to wallow in those hurts.  She doesn’t seem to know her true north, and her musings come across like gropes in the dark.  She is obviously grieving over her brother, Liam’s, suicide, and she reveals that she is not “properly alive” (80); that, like her former lover, Michael Weiss, she merely exists.  The difference between them, she says, is that he chose “just to exist [to] see what came his way” (81).   Most striking is her rage at her mother for bearing so many children, which the reader may, at first, interpret to actually be anger that her mother doesn’t know her name.   This notion is dispelled when Veronica inwardly erupts after dealing with the undertaker.  She considers her “child-battered body [and is] proud of it…for the people that came out of it, feeding the grave.  Feeding the grave!” (79)  A-ha, says the reader.  This, then, is a story about grief.  But no—and yes.   Yes; Veronica moves through the stages of grieving; she speaks of her memories and current experiences as though she is remembering them right now, going back and retracing the memory if she realizes she doesn’t have it right, or if she is lying to herself and the reader, and Enright presents the story as though it were a dialogue between two close friends.  However, Veronica is also on a quest for the truth of her past, for the truth, period, for, as she says, the dead require it.  Her quest begins in a haze of denial, not just regarding the fact of Liam’s death, but regarding their shared past; it begins with feeding the grave and ends with cam reilige, a twist of the grave that unexpectedly and ironically offers hope.

After Veronica breaks the news of Liam’s death to her mother, she muses about her grandmother’s romance with Lambert Nugent.  Here, she says, is where the seeds of Liam’s death were strewn.   She concocts a story about Ada’s and Nugent’s first encounter, and it isn’t until she’s moved through this short tale to the end that the reader realizes that she’s invented it, and then the reader wonders why.  It seems odd, and it creates a surreal sense that the narrator is about to lead us on a labyrinthine path to nowhere.  Can Veronica be trusted to tell us the truth about anything?   This surreal quality is embedded throughout the entire narrative, and for good reason:  this is how the mind works when working through the grieving process, and we are there with Veronica each step of the way.

Veronica brings us home to her husband, whom she alternately despises and loves.  She’s almost apologetic about this, but defiantly honest.  Her mind jumps to other childhood experiences, then it’s back in the present, dealing with everyday minutiae and funeral arrangements, then it’s back in the past again.  And she ruefully acknowledges that she sucks:  “If someone sucks, then they are the worst possible type,” she says, then she ends up “sitting still while the loud world passes by, with a long coffee spoon in my mouth, sucking” (83).

Veronica’s persistence in rooting out old memories is a means to survive.  “This is how we all survive,” she says.  “We default to the oldest scar” (97).   But as it turns out, Veronica’s oldest scar does not lie in Ada’s past but in her own, although she believes it is Liam’s wound:  at first she remembers seeing Liam molested by Nugent, but later on the memory turns out to be her own.  Again, there is a surreal quality to the memory, and neither the reader nor Veronica is certain whose memory it is.  Perhaps the memory belongs to Veronica, Liam, and Kitty, since all three of them lived in the house where the abuse occurred.  Perhaps, in fact, it belonged to all of the children.  This is left to the reader to decide.

In the beginning, Veronica is railing against her mother’s incessant breeding, and it seems this is her wild grief talking.  She’s just lost her brother, and is now faced with both her own mortality and that of her siblings.  In the end, however, Enright tantalizes the reader with the possibility that Veronica may either be pregnant or would welcome it.  This is ironic because of Veronica’s refusal to attend the funeral of another relative when she was pregnant with her first-born, Rebecca; she was afraid of cam reilige, the twist of the grave, because it could have a decidedly negative effect on her baby.  That Veronica is now “falling into [her] life” after dealing with Liam’s death is indeed, a twist of the grave.

Does the Dog Die? A Brief Review of Gumbo Tales, by Sara Roahen

I have never been to Louisiana (as well as Oklahoma, Minnesota, the two Dakotas, Alaska, and Hawaii). But I love food writing, I love spicy food, and some of my more interesting ancestors lived in Louisiana back in the 1700’s and 1800’s. So, after Gumbo Tales received rave reviews, I put it on my list to read once it was a paperback.

Having read it now, my feelings are mixed. Roahen, formerly a reporter for a New Orleans weekly newspaper, sometimes writes with a strong sense of place. Her chapters focus on particular dishes, their origins and evolution, the different ways they’re served and, ultimately, her favorite restaurants. The timeframe for the book includes the year just after New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. As she notes the changes in the community and expresses concern and relief about various neighbhors, Roahen frets over whether her favorite eateries will return and rejoices when she sees signs of life inside their walls.

However … sometimes she rubbed me the wrong way. This didn’t happen often, but I will confess that when she was preparing her first crawfish boil, I was rooting for the crawfish. She also violated my rule of allowing food animals that escape to stay free. Still, her focus on particular food and drink, from sno-balls to po-boys, from pho to red beans and rice, gave the book a nice structure and is a model I’d like to see more food writers adopt. This framework gave Roahen an opportunity to weave in stories about the communities that make up New Orleans, including long-established Italian families and relatively recent Vietnamese enclaves. If you enjoy food writing, read this book.

This blog exists primarily to review books for readers with animals, and with that in mind, I will call the book SAFE despite the fact that Roahen retrieved the escaped crawfish.  She tells of parrots in trees, there’s a brief mention of chickens and turkeys prepared for slaughter, a half sentence about a hermit crab that died in her childhood, and those crawfish, but nothing extensive.

Review and Giveaway: Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos

Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos starts out like this: 

“My fall from suburban grace, or, more accurately, my failure to achieve the merest molehill of suburban grace from which to fall, began with a dinner party and a perfectly innocent, modestly clever, and only faintly quirky remark about Armand Assante.” 

It begins as a fish out of water story about Cornelia Brown, a character from de los Santos’ debut novel, Love Walked In, which I did not read.  No matter.  I didn’t even realize this was a continuation of another book until after I’d read it.  It was great all by itself!

Cornelia and her handsome doctor hubby, Teo, move to suburbia from the city, and pretty soon they are getting to know people.  Teo, by the way, is Handsome with a capital H.  The frequent reminders of his hotness made me think of the way Stephenie Meyers described Edward in Twilight.  He’s attractive; very, very attractive, and doesn’t seem to know it.  Mr. Modest.  

We don’t get to know Teo that well, although he plays a pivotal role in the story.  Belong to Me is more about women, and their relationships with each other.  Ok, about their relationships with men, too.  But it’s more a book about women.  Piper from across the street is a snooty beyotch (did I spell that right??); a married stay at home mom who is critical of everyone.  Right off the bat, she makes comments about Cornelia’s name, hair, and yard.  Pipe’s BFF Elizabeth, sadly, is battling cancer, which is awful but really brings out the human side of Piper.  Cornelia befriends a waitress named Lake who seems smart and blissfully normal (and nicknames Piper “Viper”- ingratiating herself to Cornelia instantly).  But Lake has a secret- a big one.  She also has a son, 13 year old Dev, with a genius IQ.  And Clare is a frequent guest at Cornelia and Teo’s house, who Dev falls for, hard.  Ah, first love. 

It was interesting to see the transformation that takes place in the characters, especially Piper. All her perfectionism and controlling behaviors mask an inner self doubt and lack of confidence, and when things beyond her control threaten her carefully constructed life, it forces her to take a closer look at the things that truly matter- love, friends, family- not the manicured lawn or the perfect crease in the sleeve of her blouse.  Even Cornelia likes her by the end of the book.  

The story is told from 3 points of view in alternating chapters- Cornelia, Piper, and Dev.  De los Santos did a great job of keeping their voices unique- I could easily tell who was telling the story.  Cornelia had such an interesting vocabulary, Piper was really into appearances and denial, Dev was teenage-awkward and brilliant in the best possible way.  The characters had a depth that made them very realistic to me. 

There’s money, private schools, cancer and death, secrets and lies, inappropriate relationships, affairs, and children- legitimate and otherwise.  Does it sound a bit like a soap opera?  I guess it does, but Santos is able to intertwine these characters and their stories in such a way that the reader truly cares about them.  The book is filled with hope and friends, laughter and tears, and the warm feeling that comes from knowing we belong to the ones who love us.  My emotions were all over the map while reading Belong to Me, and the unexpected ending was a real treat.  De los Santos is a truly gifted writer.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it.  

Please visit Marisa de los Santos at her website, and come back here tomorrow to read the wonderful guest post she wrote for me about balancing family life with writing and working from home.

Oh!  OH!  I almost forgot!  Harper Collins is generously offering copies of Belong to Me to 3 lucky readers!  Leave a comment by Monday, May 25th, for a chance to win!!

“The Last Word: Scripture and the Authority of God – Getting Beyond the Bible Wars” -- N.T. Wright

In this short book, N.T. Wright outlines a visionary model dealing with the term “the authority of Scripture,” and its role within the Church, a role he seems convinced the Bible is not being allowed to properly play.  The implicit claim seems to be that the so-called “Bible wars,” in which conservatives and liberals resort to name-calling and “guilt by association” tactics rather than relying properly on charitable dialogue, unpacking the shorthand “authority of Scripture” to examine what that concept really means, have inhibited a view of the Bible in all its richness.  He writes,

Shorthands…are useful in the same way that suitcases are.  They enable us to pick up lots of complicated things and carry them around all together.  But we should never forget that the point of doing so…is that what has been packed away can then be unpacked and put to use in the new location.  Too much debate about Scriptural authority has had the form of people hitting one another with locked suitcases.  It is time to unpack the shorthand doctrines, to lay them out and inspect them. (pg. 24-25)

The term “locked suitcases” is particularly apt, and plays implicitly on the unwillingness of many Christians to think deeply about what is meant by the “authority of Scripture.”  The threat of liberal Christianity, in the mind of the Evangelical, is so great that the absolute inerrancy of the Bible must be asserted for Christianity to survive in any meaningful capacity.  On the other side of the fence, the parts of the Bible that seem incompatible with postmodern concepts of justice, and the narrow dogmatism that those passages occasionally engender in the more conservative members of the faith lead some to reject the usefulness of the entire Bible in guiding the Christian to a moral life. 

            Wright does not explicitly tackle issues of inerrancy, which seems a wise decision in a book that seeks to transcend the Bible wars: assertions of total inerrancy alienate “non-fundamentalists,” while anything but such assertions makes enemies of conservatives.  Instead he undertakes a detailed “unpacking” of the term “authority of Scripture” and, in a fascinating and gripping chapter, outlines the attitudes towards the Bible of the Church historically, and attempts to point out “where we went wrong.”  For Wright, narrative is the key concept, and the Bible, for him, is predominantly a narrative of human history, God’s role in it, and where we hope to end up.  As a first step, he points out that a proper understanding of the Bible’s authority is as a vessel through which God’s authority is exercised: “scripture itself points – authoritatively…away from itself and to the fact that final and true authority belongs to God himself, now delegated to Jesus Christ.  It is Jesus, according to John 8:39-40, who speaks the truth which he has heard from God” (24).  The Bible, then, is not a list of rules or a reference book of true doctrines (though Wright does not ignore that it contains both), but an authoritative story, which must be understood in its proper historical and cultural context and recognized for the rich narrative that it is before its authority can be properly recognized in the Church.  This is a vast over-simplification of a much richer book that cannot but compel one to agree with the endorsement of it given by Open Source Theology: “anyone interested in the discussion on the authority of Christian Scripture should read and discuss this book.”  Wright’s prose is lively and compelling, and the clarity of insight secures Wright’s place as one of Christianity’s most essential voices.  Here we have a unique diagnosis of the problem, and the most helpful prescription yet for restoring vibrant faith in effective churches, based on a correct understanding of the authority and role of the Bible.  In line with neither John MacArthur nor John Shelby Spong, Wright’s clear vision should strike readers as the most obvious and effective way forward, freeing us of the strict literalist dogmatism of the one, and the “toothless Christianity” of the other.  This is truly an essential book.

Just ASK

These four cute books are jam packed with so much information you will just love them.  They look so cute on my bookshelf and sometimes that’s all I’m after – is anyone else like that?    Trying to recreate an aspirational ‘ideal’ from a magazine? Anyway, I do digress and these little books are filled to the brim with 1000 of the most asked questions about Beauty, Love, Gardening and DIY.

Ask Beauty by Bella Blissett – This little beauty (haha) will help answer the countless questions in our everyday lives on our constant pursuit of youth and beauty.  The beauty industry provides a never-ending stream of miracle products, but how do we know which ones really work?  Not only does it cover lotions and potions, it also covers nutrition advice and fashion tricks to flatter your body plus ancient beauty rituals to the latest in anti-aging technology.  Full of home remedies, quick-fixes, sneaky tips and strange myths (do pores really open and close?).  Find out if toothpaste really does help banish spots or or how many hairs on our head we have (and blondes have more, go figure!) and find out Vicky B’s ‘keeping it thin’ secret … seriously is there anyone who wants to be that thin?  But this book is perfect for when you’re experiencing a Sassi Moment of having Nothing to Wear or experiencing a Bad Hair Day!

Ask Love by Jenny Hare – Argh, the art of love, love, love, love, love! The concept of love is so simple but boy it can turn out to be extremely complicated and I myself need all the help I can get in this department!  I love lots of things, but for all matters of the heart I’m in need of some help, boo   Even the author commented when she was asked to write 1000 questions about love in relationships, surely there can’t be that many!  Well she admits she was very wrong.  She advocates that Love is the most important dimension in our lives generally and in any happy relationship.  I was discussing the subject of Love with a friend not so long ago and I think the premise of love is much more challenging these days, we can get caught up in the romance of love, what we think it should be like from the movies, and it’s much easier to walk away than to work through ’stuff’.  Being in a relationship is a ’skill’ and it needs both sides to be committed to it.  This little book really is bursting with loving tips and sometimes that’s all we need as a gentle reminder from being too caught up in the day-to-day busyness of life.

Ask Gardening by Daphne Ledward – Hands up who has a green thumb? Yep me neither, I need all the help I can get in this department too.  I do love my little garden on my balcony that I have created, I have wisely (I like to think so) planted succulents so that when I forget to water them they don’t suffer too much.  I also have two Frangipani trees, a yellow & white one and a pink & white one (of course) and the pink & white one has NEVER flowered much to my constant disappointment.  So this cute little book is broken down into the seasons and although the questions will often remain the same from the era of our grandparents, the answers for the 21st gardener demand to be simple, inexpensive, ergonomic, understandable and ‘green’ and the author hopes this little book will achieve that!  Seeing as we are in Autumn, I decided to jump to that section to see what I should be doing to care for my well behaved succulents.  I learnt that many plants die in wet soil during autumn and winter because the water replaces the air in the soil and so effectively the roots suffocate – makes sense!  I’ve always wanted to buy some tulip bulbs and now is the perfect time to plant them!  So that’s it for me, I’m off to Flower Power to be some bulbs for Spring!

Ask Home by Julian Cassell & Peter Parham – I am so not a DIY person, that’s what my Dad is for (he loves to feel wanted you know and the book’s intro does state that those with clever hands get asked lots of DIY questions and they  do really feel wanted, so there we’re clear).  The book is broken down into easy sections; Maintenance, Renovating, Decorating & tiling, Finishing touches and Outside.  None of those are for me, noooo!  But let’s have a look and see if there’s anything in there that I could do.  Here we go, even I knew the answer to this; My smoke alarm keeps beeping, is it broken? Noooo, it needs a new battery silly!  Okay next one; this is hilarious!  My ceiling light won’t work, why?  Try replacing the bulb, seriously!  They do go onto explain how to figure it out if it’s not the bulb.  Oh wow, they now have digital tape measure, now that is really cool!  Seriously, this book looks like it has great DIY advice, just not for me but I’ll definitely show my Dad

Available now from Hachette Australia; RRP $14.99

Love,

Sassi

Your Pop Culture Gossip Girl

Brooklyn: A Novel

by

Colm Tóibín

rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Colm Tóibín’s Brooklyn gracefully bespelled me. He did it with ease, less prone to showy flair than to subtle intimation. After finishing the novel, letting this Irish immigrant to Brooklyn in the 1950’s perambulate in my thoughts, I realized that her naiveté should have stricken me at some point as annoying or distracting or hand-wringing at the very least. Eilis Lacey never evokes a negative response from me however. Instead Tóibín manages to usher me in as a confidant to Eilis, following her bildungsroman as if learning details from a close friend. However even the best of friends reach a place of frustration at times with each other, but Eilis and I never quarreled. I never found her snappish or irritating or, that teetering abyss of the maturing protagonist, whiny. She has a composure and quietude, not born from confidence, though that she slowly develops, but rather from a simplicity of spirit and purpose. The machinations and hyperactivity around her do not seem to cultivate a similar responsive blossom; her Irish roots continue to send up calmly swaying green shoots even amidst the hustle of burgeoning Brooklyn.

Perhaps to say that her blossom does not hybridize with her surroundings is erroneous; rather, we might say we are altered in the same sun as she, drinking the same newness of place and peoples and earth, moving at such a pace that the changes that actually do unfold – a slight change in petal color and fragrance – are so natural and unhurried that it is not until a return trip to her home of Enniscorthy that the comparative growth can be witnessed.

Mayhap too contributing to this obnubilated sense of change is the knowledge that Eilis did not seek out this uprooting relocation to Brooklyn. Her sense of order and the path of her life never enfolded a replanting in America; indeed, her Enniscorthy roots were quite well grounded, entwined with her mother’s and her friends’, not seeking out new ground like a free-wheeling and voracious nettle. Yet, new ground Eilis was given, and part of the beauty of this book comes at the very end, when her choices are arrayed before her, not so dissimilar in isolation, yet contextually divergent, like a rose graft taken from its home and grown in different terroir.

Behind the friendship with Eilis that Tóibín elicits from me there is also a sense of historicity that nudges me on a deeply personal level. When Eilis meets and begins an affectionate courtship with the boyish Italian-American Tony, I felt recalled to the stories that my grandparents told of their own courtship, as if I was reading a more inclusive narrative from one of them, reliving with them the sensations and joys they would have experienced.

That Tóibín crafts a patient and tender maturation for Eilis, compelling and believable without treading within angst, and the sense of familial remembrance he evokes left me rather awed and with a lingering feeling of peace, like I’d just put my nose in a rose bloom and inhaled deeply, forgetful of the thorns that usually await, but, finding none, return to inhale once more.

View all my verbose reviews.

It's OK, I'm Wearing Really Big Knickers - Rating 5

It's Ok I'm Wearing Really Big Knickers

Title: It’s OK, I’m Wearing Really Big Knickers (US Version is called: On the Bright Side, I Am Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God)

Author: Louise Rennison

AR Quiz No. 50413 EN

ATOS Book Level: 4.7 Interest Level: Upper Grades (UG 9-12) AR Points: 6.0 Word Count: 40727 Fiction/Nonfiction Fiction Topic – Subtopic: Award Winners-ABA Kids’ Pick of the Lists; Family Life-Growing Up; Humor/Funny-Funny; Interpersonal Relationships-Dating; Recommended Reading-YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant YA; Series: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson

Description: (Excerpt: From Amazon)

5:35 p.m.

Oh yippee.

This is my gorgeous life:

1. I haven’t been kissed for a month; my snogging skills will be gone soon.
2. I have a HUGE nose that means I have to live for ever in the Ugly Home. Address: Georgia Nicolson,Ugly Home, Ugly Kingdom, Ugly Universe
3. My Red Herring plan has failed.
4. I am the Bummer Twins’ armchair.

Georgia Nicolson is back! The irrepressible heroine of Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging has just started dating the Sex God ( aka Robbie). So life should be perfect …. except in Georgia’s life, nothing is ever perfect. Readers will be laughing ( and groaning!) out loud all through this “fabbity-fab-fab” sequel!

Librarian’s Review:

This series continues to make me laugh! The second book picks right up where the first book left off and Georgia is as usual being quite meladramatic. What’s funny is that even though I think Georgia is very juvenile and immature at times I can completely relate to her and can think of many grown women who exhibit similar behavior. Your friends will wonder what is WRONG with you for using all the British slang in everyday conversion.  Funny, funny, funny!

Three Global Temptations

Three Global Temptations (May 8, 2009)

 

            At this junction of human development, the global problems we have to face attest to the successes and accomplishments of man, his mental scientic genius, his legitimate ambitions for acquiring what he can afford to, his quest for liberty and the reward for a comfortable life after a hard day work.  The global problems we have to resolve attest to man ethical and moral failures to catching up to his mental agility.  Man has proven his individual instinct capability for survival in a sustainable earth; man has now to prove that he developed enough collective instinct to survive an earth on the way to depletion.

            It is appropriate to consider the example of a team of rock climbers.  The team has the appropriate equipments tested scientifically and the proper training physically.  There are three main risks for the team to fail in his mission of reaching the top.

            The first temptation is that a member of the team to go bereck and take a dive and thus carries the rest of the team with him. A few people have this urgent temptation to dive, and when available, they would try dangerous acrobacies.  Luckily, the two populous nations of China and India have taken off; they have the tools, the technology, and the means to care for their over 2 billion citizens if they don’t try to catch up in a few decades what took centuries for the USA, Europe, and Japan to reach in stable governments, and legitimate desires for comfort.  There are many more millions who have been humiliated for centuries and robbed of their basic dignity; they are not going beserck because of pauverty and means for survival as individual; they are dangerous because of a collective sense of insignificance and desperation toward the policies of the colonial powers of resuming this process of humiliation and denying them even diplomatic respect as recognized States.  Not all Moslem States feel this desperation: Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Turkey have taken their destinies in their hand.  What the European Union and the USA have to focus on, right now, is to salvage the remnant of dignity among the Arab populations.

            The second temptation facing the team of climbers is the wall, the rock face. Most team members might have the techniques of sheltering from falling rocks, slippery sections, brittled portions, and blowing winds.  Human kind has learned to take shelter until the danger passes over.  Most of us have developed the instinct of prudence, not interference, and keeping low levels. We are at a junction where danger is not to pass over on its own volition and no sheltering behavior can protect us for survival. Human kind has to move as a team of bold activists and turn out heavily to put their words and opinions at work.  We may hold to our tribal customs, our illusory identities, our comfortable life styles, our chimerical convictions and all is lost.  The team has to support the weakest member as difficulties surge and be confronted collectively.

            The third temptation braving the team is deciding on the target of the mission and it has to be a collective goal. There are no tops to reach in human progress but there are defining phases.  We are at the dawn of Prehistory and a new kind of history has to be achieved and written. Tribal history has done its function but it is of use for our current global problems. National wars, religious wars disguised as ethical values, ideological wars, cultural wars, or war of “civilization” have been tried and they all failed to bring reprieve and salvation. A new adventure for human kind is facing us boldly and we have to invent a new kind of history more appropriate to our survival. The new history should be focused on resuming our medical successes, eliminating pain and diseases, eradicadin weapons of mass destruction, keeping us functional in old age, overcoming illiteracy, investing on continuing education, creating opportunities for various skills, desires, and achievements, preserving dieing languages and literature, managing human rights, and salvaging the dignity of every human being.

 

            Frankly, The European Union is actually the main laboratory for confirming that “Tribal History” is exhaling its last breath; that human dignity is not measured by fictitious apartheid scales based on color, religious affiliation or ethnic origins; that humiliating man is not a point of view or can generate any temporary benefit. If God has been angry for milennia then He has an opportunity to feel proud of his Creation.

the joy of reading 3: anybody out there

After my disappointment with Lipstick Jungle, I looked through my library for the books I still hadn’t read and saw the Marian Keyes I had recently bought calling out to me. I thought, ’she’s a light read, funny and usually a good story teller’ so I took the title ‘Anybody Out There’ to bed with me a couple of nights.

Good story, good plot. ‘Anybody Out There’ takes you in and you think that you may be able to predict what will happen then halfway through it you get  surprised by a twist in the plot that’s highly unlikely.

The book reminds me of a warm, slice of life, independent film production that keeps it real while at the same time telling a story with a lesson to learn. Life does go on. No matter how down you get, our souls have the ability to restore, to heal and smile once again. And the best thing about a relationship is the memories that you create together – that can never be taken away from you.

A lovely book with moments of laughter as expected of Marian Keyes and some moments of pure sadness. If I were the crying type, I probably would have drenched my pillow.

Praise for Evermore by Alyson Noel, Blue Moon sequel releases July 7

 

Praise for Evermore by Alyson Noel:  Pre-Order from Amazon

“Evermore is addictive.  When I wasn’t reading, I was thinking about how I could sneak away to read some more.  I couldn’t put it down.  I dreamt abuot this book.  And when I was finished, I couldn’t get it out of my head.  This book was simply breathtaking.” –Teens Read Too

“Teen angst and the paranormal make a combustible mix as Noel utilizes typical themes and gives them a dangerous and eerie twist. Getting hooked on this new series, The Immortals, is guaranteed.”–4 stars!  Romantic Times Magazine

“Readers who enjoy the works of PC Cast and Stephenie Meyer will love this outstanding paranormal teen-lit thriller.” –Midwest Book Review

“Get ready for a wild ride that is filled with twisting paths and mystery, love and fantasy. . . The writing style, story, and characters are a bit like Meyer and Marr’s popular books, but written with a new twist and voice. And after reading the book, you too will probably want your own Damen, even if it means making the ultimate sacrifice.”  –5/5 stars! The Book Queen

“I found myself unwilling to put the book down, even though I had to at some points, because I wanted to know what was going to happen…Ever was so real and her emotions were so believable that it was a little creepy. It’s like Alyson Noël is actually a grieving, lovestruck teenager. She got Ever completely perfect. And by perfect, I mean delightfully flawed and deep.” –The Frenetic Reader

“Evermore is a wonderful book that I believe would be a lovely addition to any library . . .Definitely a book that fans of Stephenie Meyer and Melissa Marr should add to their collections. Definitely engaging and will catch your attention the minute you open to the first page!” - Mind of a Bibliophile

“Alyson Noel creates a great picture of each and every character in the book. I am a fan of the Twlight series and I recommend this book to those who like the series as well. It is a very quick read, with all the interesting twist and turns.” –Flamingnet Book Reviews

“I loved this book. It really keeps your attention though out the story, because the puzzle gets pieced together bit by bit, but you don’t know exactly what happened until the end. The only thing that disappoints me is that the second book won’t be published for a while. I would definitely recommend this to my friends.” –Portsmouth Teen Book Review

“This is the first installment of The Immortals series. Ms. Noël pens a well-detailed story that makes it easy for the reader to visualize both the characters and the world around them. Evermore has a familiar theme that attracts readers, but inside this book you’ll find that the author has added some unique details that sets it apart.” –Darque Reviews

“Evermore’s suspense, eerie mystery, and strange magic were interestingly entertaining…I found Ever to be a character I could really respect…Recommended.” –The Bookworm

“Beautiful main characters, tense budding romance, a dark secret, mysterious immortals—what more could you ask from this modern gothic romance?” –Justine Magazine

“Evermore was a great way to lighten my reading load this winter and provided me with a creative, magical story that I really enjoyed. This is the first in a series for Noel and I think she may have a hit on her hands . . . Evermore has good and evil, likable characters, vivid descriptions and a good story.”- Planet Books

“I fell into it easily, and loved the world Noel created . . . The fact that Ever had psychic powers was truly interesting. They flowed neatly through the book and I felt Ever’s pain . .trust me, this book was really good. I couldn’t put it down. Alyson Noel created an amazing new world, and after this book I am so curious to see where it heads because honestly, I have no idea.” – Reading Keeps You Sane

“Ever is an easy character to like. I really felt for her because of all she lost and what she struggled with daily…Evermore was a really fast, engaging read with some great characters. It is the first in a series, so I’m eager to see if we will learn more about Ever, Damen and friends in the next one…it’s sure to be a great read.”- Ninja reviews“The writing here is clear, the story well-defined and narrator Ever has an engaging voice that teens should enjoy.”- January Magazine

“Alyson Noël created a well-detailed story that makes it easy for the reader to visualize both the characters and the world around them. Evermore has a familiar theme that attracts readers, but inside this book you’ll find that the author has added some unique details that sets it apart and will surprise you.”- The Ravenous Reader

Product Description

     Eager to learn everything she can about her new abilities as an Immortal, Ever turns to her beloved Damen to show her the way. But just as her powers are increasing, Damen’s are waning.

     In an attempt to save him, Ever travels to the magical dimension of Summerland, where she learns the secrets of Damen’s tortured past; a past which he has always kept hidden from her. But in her quest to cure Damen, Ever discovers an ancient text that details the workings of time. Now Ever must chose between turning back the past and saving her family from the accident that claimed their lives—or staying in the present and saving Damen, who grows sicker every day…

Book Review: The Yorkshire Pudding Club by Milly Johnson

The Yorkshire Pudding Club is the debut novel by Milly Johnson, and what a stonker of a debut it is too. Elizabeth, Helen and Janey are all in their late thirties, and happily settled in their careers and in their relationships.

However, their lives are thrown into madness when after a visit to an ancient fertility symbol, all 3 women find themselves ‘with child’!

Helen is thrilled to be pregnant after trying for a while, Janey is in shock as the baby will reck all plans of furthering her career, and Elizabeth is completely thrown, scared she won’t love her baby and scared of being alone.

What I enjoyed most abut the novel was the easy way in which the author has weaved the stories of the three women with that of the other women. It reads so easily and wonderfully, you just can just lose yourself in the story, it is so absorbing and a simple joy to read! Throughout the book, the story switches regularly from focussing on one of the women then to another, and often with chapters containing them all together. This is a great technique in the book and makes it veryenjoyable for the reader.

Each of the characters are well written and you feel as if you know all of the women. You are given a history on all of them, and we fully go into their lives and feelings about being pregnant, from discovering they are expecting right up to the birth of one of the children. Helen’s character started as being the one I disliked the most, but by the end I had the most respect for her and was willing it all to work out for her! Elizabeth was a very hard character to like, a woman who didn’t like anyone getting close to her, and this is how the author has written her as well. And finally Janey is the comic relief throughout the book, and probably my favourite character. Each of the women are very different, yet all are fundamentally the same, experiencing everything together, and have a wonderful friendship which is lovely to read.

I also liked the human aspect of the story, watching each woman cope with the pregnancy and reading about how their feelings changed towards the baby by the end of the book. As well as the main 3 characters, there are several supporting characters too. John is the one Elizabeth let go, but he’s moved back to town and befriends her once more. George is Janey’s husband, a man so desperate to be a father he’d do anything to have a baby with his wife. Simon is Helen’s slime-ball of a husband, and someone I absolutely detested. I found the scenes between these 2 particularly hard to read. There were also the work colleagues of the characters but they don’t really need a mention! The male characters in the book were also well written and their feelings weren’t left out which is a sign of a great writer.

For a debut novel, I think this one is amazing. I was hooked right from the start and just couldn’t put it down. The story is a wonderful one to read and just reads so incredibly well. You are taken right into the lives of these women and so many emotions and secrets are revealed throughout the book, you are left guessing about certain things right up until the end. The author has a wonderful writing style which makes for easy and simple reading, yet managing to keep you hooked as well. The book is written in the third person which allows for easy switching between the characters. Simply superb, I would thoroughly recommend this to anyone. A pure joy to read.

Rating: 5/5

Read an exclusive interview with the author Milly Johnson here.

Europe: A Force for the New Century or Decaying Superpower?

One of the favourite hobbies of modern political scientists  is predicting the future of the world balance of power.  Often, they focus on the United States-China competition that is beginning to come into view.  What, however, do political scientists predict for Europe?  In the two recent books, The Last Days of Europe: Epitaph for an Old Continent, by Walter Laqueur and Why Europe Will Run the 21st Century, by Mark Leonard, two starkly contrasting predictions of the future of Europe are portrayed.

There is little disagreement that Europe is no longer the economic or political force that it once was, in the period of colonial empires that spanned whole continents.  With the end of the Second World War, and the subsequent Cold War, Europe has entered into a period of relative calm, a so-called “Pax Europaea”.  The countries of Europe are co-operating on a level never before seen in history.  Rather than engaging in bloody skirmishes against each other, they are blazing a new trail of close integration.  Their co-operative monetary policy through the European Central Bank, shared agricultural policy, new shared military initiatives (such as EUFOR) are all examples of a dissolution of traditional continental conflicts.  However, the future of the European Community is a hotly debated topic.  In these two previously mentioned books, authors debate the domestic and international pressures that will dictate the future of the continent.

In Laqueur’s book, he makes very bleak predictions for Europe.  He argues that a combination of factors relating to demographics will permanently alter the face of Western Europe.  Through lax immigration policies, and the relatively low birth rate of ethnic Europeans, Laqueur argues, the racial background of the continent will change.  According to Laqueur, recent immigrants to Germany, France, and the United Kingdom are not assimilating into society, which leads to clashes between the ethnic groups.  He points to the murder of Theo van Gogh in the Netherlands, a controversial filmmaker and critic of Islam.  Van Gogh’s gruesome murder sent shock waves through the Netherlands, inciting an increase in anti-Islamic violence.  This sort of conflict and tension, he believes, will significantly weaken Europe, in part due to the accepting nature of European society.  It is evident, Laqueur believes, that the politics of Europe, both domestically and internationally, will change with the shift in demographics.

On the other hand, Mark Leonard’s book is more focused on the foreign policy of the EU and member states, and the nature of European “soft power”.  Leonard primarily addresses the belief that unilateralist American foreign policy will continue to dominate the world stage.  On the contrary, he argues; the multilateralist nature of the governance of the European Union will serve as an example for future international co-operation.  Due to the confrontational nature of American foreign policy, under the previous administration, the United States’ image abroad has become tarnished, and is not capable of executing complex diplomatic maneuvers that may be required of it.  With the Obama administration, this is changing, though it can be argued that U.S. policy is, in fact, taking some cues from Europe.  With President Obama saying that he is willing to meet with leaders of states that were considered opponents of the United States, it is clear that a new page is being turned at the State Department.

Whether either of these predictions will be true is unknown at the current stage.  One is particularly pessimistic, and the other very optimistic.  For certain, however, is that the world’s largest economy and second largest military spender, the European Union, will continue to be a force in global politics for decades to come.  No matter the change in balance of power between the United States and China, it is unlikely that the most dire predictions of Laqueur’s creation will ring true.  Neither will the old continent be able to overcome the demographic, environmental, and economic issues that face it in the future.  All will rely upon the ability of the European multilateral approach to succeed, and upon the fragile system of governance that resides in Brussels.

Inventing new References for Values

“Instantaneous Expediencies” (April 30, 2009)

 

            We are experiencing a form of policies in the developed nations that is emulating the urges of its citizens for Instantaneous Expediencies related to desires, wishes, demands, acquisition, communication, gathering of intelligence, information, orders, and delivery around the world.  Our current development is characterized by accelerated paces in sciences, technologies, and communication, and delivery of our wishes either through the net, the phone, or airplanes within days if not seconds. If we understand that human history progressed in major three phases of change and dissemination of intelligence of the changes in science, technologies, social and political organization, traditions, and cultures then we might grasp our current problems and how to find common denominators for resolutions.

 

            There was a time when dissemination of information among the tribes was very slow and the changes taking place among tribes were even slower so that the world was at peace of rivalries and greed.  The next phase of settled communities in urban and agricultural regions experienced accelerated changes in many ways of progress but the dissemination of this intelligence was very slow and the identities of each region developed through traditions, customs, and myths.  By the 16th century and as the Portuguese and Spanish circumnavigated the oceans and discovered many maritime routes for trade and exploitation and met with various ethic groups then the third phase of human development occurred.  This third phase was characterized by the dissemination of ideas, sciences, and know-how progressed at a higher pace than the actual social and political changes in the European nations and thus, the world communities exhibited some kind of generalized uniformity in dwelling designs and forms of political and social organizations and structure.

 

            The world is faced with a bunch of catastrophic problems from financial and economical difficulties, to environmental disasters that will not spare the next generation, to the emergence of potential superpowers with larger middle classes that can afford and demand all the consumer goods that the west has enjoyed for over a century, and to extremism in religions and nationalism to name just a few.  All these cataclysmic problems require global resolutions but solutions and decisions are done on national basis as Amine Maluf stated in “A World Adrift”

 

            After the disintegration of the communist Soviet Union in 1989 Europe and particularly the US realized that they could dominate the World economically and militarily.  By 2001, the US Bush Junior administration of neo-conservatives could no longer resist to test the notion of Instantaneous Expediencies.  The US administration had the urge to put in practice its power of perceived world police force.  In no times, the administration delivered its summons to the European Union and the UN to adhere to the US plans of invading Iraq.  The material potentials were there but the moral value and culture of the US administration were fidgeted in another era of staunch nationalism and religious zealotry.

 

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) wrote “Man has survived because he was too ignorant to know how to realize his wishes (desires).  Now that he can realize his wishes, then he must either change them or perish”.

Book Review: The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster

“I was looking for a quiet place to die.”

So starts Paul Auster’s latest commentary on our ironic lives. The Brooklyn Follies follows the unlikely protagonist Nathan Glass, an undistinguished man of 59 years who has recently separated from his wife and wants nothing more than to return to his place of birth to fade into the vast canvas of a complex city. This dream is short lived, as he soon becomes involved in the tragically misguided lives around him, including his resigned nephew Tom, a desperate book dealing art forger, Harry, and a stubbornly silent little girl with a strange and mysterious past, Lucy.

These odd characters commence to bring color, light, and life to Nathan’s previously dreary existence. In turn, they also flood his simple life with their problems. Unifying (and titling) the book is the main character’s latest endeavor, a project to document every peculiarity, idiocy, and anecdote that he encounters in his genuinely unique life. The novel dances effortlessly from one tale to another, less concerned with a central point than with maintaining the clever and humorous tone of a middle aged fool.

While the novel is sometimes lacking in direction, it still plows forwards, savoring the inspiring moments and escaping the painfully awkward. Most importantly, its never a difficult read, as it retains its humorous narration. The false authenticity of the stories that Nathan/Auster chooses to share with his audience are clear evidence of his earlier work on the NPR story corps project; he’s read enough stories from real people to effectively fake them.

Ultimately, it’s an excellent read. The novel is poignant; hilarious at times and painfully honest at others, and never fails to remind the reader of the rare curiosity that is their own life.

• Read (some of) it at Google Books.
• Borrow it from Montgomery County Public Libraries.
• Buy it on Amazon.

Read it.  It’ll make you laugh.

David A. DeSilva: An Introduction to the New Testament

David A. DeSilva

An Introduction to the New Testament: Contexts, Methods, & Ministry Formation.  Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2004.  975 pgs. 

Over the past year, I have had the opportunity to read a great deal of David DeSilva’s introduction to the New Testament.  In this book DeSilva seeks to equip Christian leaders to

(1) more fully engage the critical and prayerful study of the New Testament, and (2) more reliably discern the direction the Spirit would give through these texts for nurturing disciples and building communities of faith that reflect the heart and character of their Lord [20].

DeSilva seeks to achieve these two goals through by (1) taking a text-centered approach (as opposed to primarily pursuing early church history and Christian origins), (2) presenting numerous interpretative strategies that cut across ideological boundaries, and (3) by reflecting on the spiritual and pastoral implications of each book of the New Testament [20-21].

Each chapter begins with the standard questions of New Testament scholarship, attending to matters of authorship, date, genre and the like.  DeSilva usually does an admirable  job of  giving the reader an ample survey of the salient points without getting bogged down in the finer minutiae that consumes the professional scholar.  Further, the language of this section is understandable for the beginner. 

Following this, DeSilva begins to expound the message and theology of the NT book in question.  What makes this section invaluable is that you can never quite “label” or pin him down: as soon as you think he is simply a theological conservative, he will write something that would make many conservatives bristle, and visa-versa.  At times DeSilva’s most impassioned arguments will be for a view he rejects.  Sometimes you end a chapter not completely sure what he thinks about certain features of a NT book.  Much like his subject matter, DeSilva’s views cannot be fit into one mold, and that makes for more engaging reading.

As DeSilva builds his case for his interpretation, there are occasional inserts that allow eager readers to receive fuller treatments of certain themes or issues surrounding the NT [eg "The New Perspective on Paul and Early Judaism (500-1)," "Wisdom Christology in Colossians 1:15-20 (695)," and "Sources and Stages in the Composition of Revelation (892)," to name a few].  These sidebars, while giving more detail, do not depart from the overall readability of the volume for the novice.

Usually near the end of the chapter, DeSilva includes at least one section focused on exegetical techniques [20].  This “Exegetical Skill” section introduces the reader to a wide array of exegetical techniques, and like the sidebars mentioned above contains its own bibliography.  These sections are usually between 5-10 pages, include practical exercises to begin applying the technique, and are usually placed within a study of a book where the technique is especially relevant (ex: Feminist Criticism in the chapter on the Pastoral Epistles).  These techniques span across the theological and idealogical spectrum, and there will be likely a section or two in DeSilva’s work that will make the reader uneasy, to his/her benefit [767].  While it is clear that DeSilva favors some techniques over others (Rhetorical Criticism receives treatment at least four separate times), each technique is explicated with charity, extolling the value of it for if nothing else the questions it raises (see 757-70).

At the conclusion of each chapter is a “Ministry Formation” section, similar in length and format to the “Exegetical Skill” section.  Here DeSilva attempts to tie the exegetical work done in the chapter to the life of ministry.  At times i was convicted reading this section, as it challenged me to wrestle with all the information i had just gathered in relationship to my concrete life as a minister. 

In this ambitious introduction DeSilva has attempted combine the disciplines of hermeneutics, exegesis, and spiritual and ministry formation.  It is little wonder that at nearly 1000 pages DeSilva readily admits that “the study of the New Testament is a broad field with many questions” and that he ”does not pretend to write as an expert on every topic [21].”   Nevertheless, each chapter in essence is a “mini-commentary,” a great place to begin one’s research of a given book and text.  In my humble opinion, DeSilva has, as much as it is possible in one book, achieved his goal of providing an invaluable resource for thoughtful and prayerful study of the NT with the furtherance of the Gospel firmly in view.