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A Rhythm of Prayer: A Collection of Meditations for Renewal by Sarah Bessey My rating: 5 of 5 stars Prayer is complicated. We pray, we hope God is listening. If our prayers are answered, meaning we feel comforted or what we ask for comes to pass, we may wonder if the prayer made a difference. If our prayer is not answered--or the answer is no, not yet, later--we may wonder why or why pray next time. Reading through this collection of prayers reminds me of the Psalms, a collection of prayers that celebrates, whines, and bemoans the same issues. Is God listening? Why is all this stuff happening to me? To the people I love? Thank you, Sarah Bessey, for collecting these prayers and publishing them to pull me beyond my questions about prayer and into the presence of God. I was sad to end the book, and I will read it again. View all my reviews

Barefoot Ways by Stephen Cherry My rating: 5 of 5 stars View all my reviews

The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews

What Sam Knew by Steve Higgs My rating: 3 of 5 stars Yawn. Patricia Fisher's husband cheats on her, she goes on a world cruise and solves a few crimes, and then a Maharajah gives her the use of his estate in her home town and ail of his luxury cars and his staff for perpetuity, so she goes home, starts a detective agency, and lives like a rich woman even though she isn't. She also doesn't actually seem like a very good detective since she ignored major clues that were obvious to readers but hidden to her, and she talks about that cruise incessantly. Apparently there is a whole series about the cruise, and so she is just talking about it in case we didn't read that series. I did not. She also talks about her cars and the size of her house. She also doesn't know what a booty call is and doesn't take the time to Google it, but mentions several times that she doesn't know what it is despite the fact that people keep saying tha...

Rediscipling the White Church: From Cheap Diversity to True Solidarity by David W. Swanson My rating: 5 of 5 stars The more I read about the white American church's complicity with racism, the more I recognize my own complicity with racism. The more I read about whiteness and white privilege, the more I recognize the many ways I benefit from my whiteness--and the more I recognize the cost of this privilege. And it's hard to write these things. It's uncomfortable. And I need to make peace with discomfort and seek justice, whatever the cost. Last February, I attended the Cultivate conference and participated in a breakout session focused on how to talk about race. Leroy Barber, the facilitator, asserted that the problem in the white church was a lack of discipleship, training, understanding what the Bible says, understanding history, understanding justice. And that word discipleship resonated with me. How do we begin to see the world beyond...

The Girl from Vichy by Andie Newton My rating: 3 of 5 stars I've read a lot of novels about espionage during World War 2 and the role of female agents, and this was one of them. I liked the storyline, and I appreciate Newton's moves to illustrate complexity of human beings as they try to navigate difficult times. Why do people support their leaders despite the evidence that the leader is taking the people down a dangerous path? Why do some people collaborate with enemies? Why do some people risk everything to change the course of history? How does war change us? Unfortunately, this story and the simplistic character and plot development never quite achieve what I believe Newton wanted to achieve. For example, the protagonist's recruitment into the resistance was based on the fact that she wasn't a spy for the opposite side and because she fled marriage to a collaborator. She was actually a bit flighty. The resistance members shared na...

The Last of the Stanfields by Marc Levy My rating: 5 of 5 stars Her name is Eleanor Rigby, and she is from England. Her mother passed away suddenly. His name is George Harrison, and he is from Canada. His mother is suffering from early-onset dementia. They have never met, but they are drawn together and pulled to Baltimore by anonymous letters claiming that their mothers committed unspeakable crimes, which seems unfathomable to mid-20-something young people who could not be more different. Although each is suspicious of the other, they ultimately work together to uncover the mystery. Once again, Marc Levy draws rich, complex characters that make me smile and make me want to read more. We know them through their words, their responses, their interactions, and not just from surface descriptive details. We root for them and their mothers. We learn that no one is all good or all bad, that our actions have consequences, but those consequences don't ha...