Review: The Paris Library

The Paris Library The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



View all my reviews

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: What the Wind Knows

Image
What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon My rating: 5 of 5 stars I'm not really sure why, but I do love a good time travel novel. Maybe it's because I'm always wondering what it might be like to live in a different time, a different place. (How much of who I am is based on me and how much is based on the time I grew up in?) This book draw me in quickly. Anne Gallagher is a novelist whose Irish grandfather raised her, taught her Gaelic, told her the stories her learned in childhood, influenced her more than anyone else. He instructed her to take his ashes and spread them in Ireland after he died. She rents a boat and finds herself in 1921, spending time with her grandfather, who was orphaned in the Rising, a rebellion against the English. She looks like her great grandmother, and everyone assumes she is his mother. And she is falling in love with her great-grandfather's best friend. Harmon tells the story through the eyes of her protagonist, ...
Read more

Review: Agatha Arch Is Afraid of Everything

Image
Agatha Arch Is Afraid of Everything by Kristin Bair O'Keeffe My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews Donovan Woods (and someone else) sings a song called " Iowa ." The first line of the song is "I am waiting for this book to get good."  And that's a really good way to start this review.  It's clear from the first page that Kristin Bair O'Keeffe's prose will be quick moving and humorous as we are introduced to Agatha Arch's reflections on finding her husband in flagrante in the shed. She goes berserk and takes and axe to the shed.  Her husband moves in with the dog walker and begins a new happily ever after, and Agatha's children begin living in both home.  Meanwhile, Agatha's life spirals.  And it is here that I completely lost interest.  This woman is berserk. Does she have any redeeming qualities besides her imagination? She is a stalker, filled with hatred, and seems to des...
Read more

Willard's Divine Conspirarcy: Reflections on Discipleship

Image
When I was a teenager, people who talked about discipleship focused on memorizing Scripture and understanding church doctrines. I did that, and honestly, I knew something was wrong. I was committed to serving in church, attending services, and following the rules, but I didn't love God, and I certainly wasn't interested in reading the Bible. I did it when I had to, but the idea of daily devotions or Bible reading times put me to sleep, literally. I almost quit attending church. Life was busy, and I just didn't see why it mattered all that much, and that's when I got scared. I believed Scripture cognitively, and I was afraid to walk away from that belief system. I talked Duane into attending a small non-traditional church near our home, one that met on Saturday night, one that didn't sing hymns, one where the pastor talked like a regular person, acknowledging his humanity and his need for God. Something inside me shifted, and my faith became less cognitive and...
Read more