The Bookshop on the Corner

by Jenny Colgan
Hennepin County Library
(1/2 on audiobook - 4 of 8 CDs - and half hardcover - ch. 14 to page 332)
audio read by Lucy Price-Lewis
genre: romance fiction

I loved Colgan's The Cafe by the Sea, but then barely got through two chapters of Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery (book 3 in a series, so perhaps I should start at book 1). This one was delightful but different than what I expected. Price-Lewis' vocal work was excellent, but I had to return the audiobook because someone was waiting for it and I had already renewed it enough . . . so glad the print edition was on the shelf when I did return it!

Liked:

• the love of books, reading, and libraries
• Nina's growth as a character
• the literary allusions (many of which went over my head! Clearly, I don't read enough.)
• the joy of the Scottish people in their celebrations and in their love of the land
• not being sure who Nina would connect with . . . I initially assumed Alasdair, the innkeeper . . . 

Disliked:
Not much, really. It's a delightful little romance with an actual story and wonderful characters.

Britt-Marie Was Here

by Fredrick Backman
Hennepin County Library hardcover 324
genre: realistic fiction, relationships

Another gem by Backman! Britt-Marie was one of my least-favorite characters in My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry. So naturally, this book starts with Britt-Marie being her usual pain-in-the-behind self. Newly divorced from Kent, she goes to the unemployment office. She ends up in Borg, cleaning the unused recreation center obsessively . . . and connecting with the sad residents of the recession-ravaged small town. It was a delightful book! There was a part that made me cringe, but I won't put any spoilers here. Backman is a master in character study!

The Beekeeper's Ball

by Susan Wiggs
Hennepin County Library audiobook 10 CDs
read by Christina Traister
genre: good question . . . read below

Clearly, this book was "good" enough (so subjective!) for me to "read" the entire thing start to finish. It is a bit bizarre, though, in its identity. I see it as an odd three-part story: bee science (and recipes including honey), traditional romance ("bodice ripper"), and historical fiction (WWII, Nazis, and resistance).

There was some very serious content woven throughout the book - women abused by boyfriends (in one case, causing a miscarriage), war and PTSD, infidelity and unwanted pregnancies, . . . and of course, Nazi Germany and all the atrocities of pogroms, concentration camps, etc.

To have that content alongside the cliched attraction between Isabel and Cormac was odd. Of course, they're finally going to give in to their mutual attraction and have sex. Duh.

The reader did an excellent job with the huge cast of characters - male and female, Danish accents, young and old - it was very good.

Bella Vista sounds heavenly, and I liked the themes of community, family, and acceptance.

I liked learning that "Helsingor" became "Elsinore" and was what Shakespeare referenced in Macbeth.

There are too many characters to even go into it here! I'm not sure how I feel about this author's choice to weave such serious historical content into a romance story . . . or even which I liked better! On the other hand, if I liked the taste of honey, I'd be getting a print copy of the book to try some recipes. The bee information was fascinating.

Send Down the Rain

by Charles Martin
Hennepin County Library hardcover 331 pages
genre: Christian fiction, relationships

Martin is a gripping storyteller! That said, he is very subtle about the faith aspect of his communication. I'm not sure if that's intentional to draw in readers who are not Christians, or if he doesn't see his writing as a platform for sharing his faith.

The blurb on the back would have helped me better understand the opening of this story! (I read it after I read the book.) Main characters are Joseph (Jo-Jo) and Allie, with Bobby, Jake, Suzy, Catalina, and others playing supporting roles.

We'll have a lively discussion on Monday, I'm sure! There are a lot of topics going on in this book - the Vietnam War, broken families, abuse, human trafficking, double lives, illegal immigrants, secrets, . . . he definitely wrote a powerful story.

Page 233 - "Long time ago, a friend gave me a gift I can never repay. The longer I live out the reality of that gift, the more I come to understand the enormity of what I owe and what is required to wipe the slate." (The message of grace . . . )

Page 258 - "Anger, rage . . . they're as real as you and me. They don't have bodies like us, but they live . . . live in us. Take up residence in our soul."

Page 270 - At the start of Chapter 39, the first overt mention of any "God-thing" is from Psalm 84:7 "They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion." Frankly, I didn't see how this was particularly fitting for this part of the story . . . but I'll probably be enlightened in our discussion.

Page 299 - The title reference! "'Watch over my boy . . . all the days of his life . . . and let him live to see the rain.' She closed her eyes. 'Send down the rain.'" Again, I'm eager for our discussion of the book. Joseph's mother prayed this for him after their conversation before he left for the war.

Page 312 - "I'd seen what evil could do. Evil never gave itself for anyone. It takes what it doesn't own. Holds your head under the water. Rips your head off your neck and dangles it from the city wall. Evil dominates. Controls. Eradicates. Evil is a sniveling punk, and if you let it inside you then you spew hatred, which is just another name for the poison we drink hoping it'll hurt someone else."

Page 320 - sweet passage. "The place where the tears come from is full again."

Page 325 - Epilogue "As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a spring; the rain also covers it with pools."

Page 329 - "'Thank . . . you.' The words were separated by pain and they were long and hard in coming. The empty tequila bottle bobbed in the distance. Glass reflecting sunlight. A diamond floating on the surface of the world. 'For giving me what I needed.' He swallowed and dug his hand into the package. 'And not what I deserved.'" Yes! This is how God loves us, by giving us what we need instead of what we deserve.

To be honest, a lot of this book was predictable. But it was very well-written and intense in parts. My favorite was Catalina and her children and how Jo-Jo interacted with them.

Wild Rover No More

Bloody Jack #? . . . the last one
by L.A. Meyer
Scott County Library hardcover 355 pages
genre: YA historical fiction, adventure

Meyer spent a lot of this final book in the series recounting adventures from other titles in the series. I liked the governess portion and how Jacky dealt with Edgar and Cathy. I would have liked even more follow-up from this part. The circus section was less engaging, but still some new ground. The life or death parts toward the end . . . just helped bring the bigger story arc to a close. Done!

The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism

by Timothy Keller
Hennepin County Library hardcover 241 pages plus end notes, etc.
genre: non-fiction, Christian apologetics

(At least, I think it's called "apologetics.")
Timothy Keller is amazing to me - calm, rational, firmly fixed on God's Word. This book was not a quick and easy read, but very, very worthwhile. I may buy my own copy. It's one I would definitely recommend for intellectual people who have issues with faith.

Page xii - "The people most passionate about social justice were moral relativists, while the morally upright didn't seem to care about the oppression going on all over the world." Ouch! Keller is writing about his own spiritual journey in the 1960s, but it's a fair criticism. Having grown up in a non-believing but social justice passionate household, I see too many believers who are indifferent to the suffering of others throughout the world.

Page 79 - "The people on the bus from hell in Lewis's parable would rather have their 'freedom,' as they define it, than salvation. Their delusion is that, if they glorified God, they would somehow lose power and freedom, but in a supreme and tragic irony, their choice has ruined their own potential for greatness. Hell is, as Lewis says, 'the greatest monument to human freedom.' As Romans 1:24 says, God 'gave them up to . . . their desires.' All God does in the end with people is give them what they most want, including freedom from himself. What could be more fair than that?" This is from the chapter "How Can a Loving God Send People to Hell?" It reminds me of people who say they would prefer to go to Hell, because it will be a big party of sinners having fun. This "logic" makes me so sad . . . I like how Keller puts forth the answer to this commonly asked question.

Page 94 - "Since Christian believers occupy different positions on both the meaning of Genesis I and on the nature of evolution, those who are considering Christianity as a whole should not allow themselves to be distracted by this intramural debate. The skeptical inquirer does not need to accept any one of these positions in order to embrace the Christian faith." Keller goes on to give a great perspective on keeping focused on the central claims of Christianity.

Page 95 - "Jesus's miracles in particular were never magic tricks, designed only to impress and coerce. You never see him say something like: 'See that tree over there? Watch me make it burst into flames!' Instead, he used miraculous power to heal the sick, feed the hungry, and raise the dead." I love how he talks about Jesus wanting to restore the world to the condition of wholeness and wellness that God intended.

Page 103 - The who section on The Da Vinci Code bugged me . . . how did a work of fiction come to have so much influence on people's beliefs?  This whole section shows the depth of scholarship about what we can know about Scripture and its reliability. Powerful!

Page 122 - In the section Keller calls "The Intermission," I love this observation! "Which account of the world has the most 'explanatory power' to make sense of what we see in the world and in ourselves? We have a sense that the world is not the way it ought to be. We have a sense that we are very flawed and yet very great. We have a longing for love and beauty that nothing in this world can fulfill. We have a deep need to know meaning and purpose. Which worldview best accounts for these things?"

Page 168-9 In "The Problem of Sin," Keller writes about something that sneaks in to my attitude sometimes! Ouch again! "If we get our identity from our ethnicity or socioeconomic status, then we have to feel superior to those of other classes and races. If you are profoundly proud of being an open-minded, tolerant soul, you will be extremely indignant toward people you think are bigots. If you are a very moral person, you will feel very superior to people you think are licentious. And so on." Wow! Help me to keep my eyes on You, Jesus! Humble my heart.

Page 170 - "The Hebrew word for this perfect, harmonious interdependence among all parts of creation is called shalom. We translate it as 'peace,' but the English word is basically negative, referring to the absence of trouble or hostility. The Hebrew word means much more than that. It means absolute wholeness - full, harmonious, joyful, flourishing life." I love this! I've always thought of "shalom" as just meaning "peace." This definition is so much richer!

Page 188 - In the section about forgiveness, Keller writes a powerful observation. "But when you try to get payment through revenge the evil does not disappear. Instead it spreads, and it spreads most tragically of all into you and your own character." Wow! So very true.

Page 236 - Another ouch! Examine your heart . . . "I will grant that, on the whole, churchgoers may be weaker psychologically and morally than non-churchgoers. That should be no more surprising than the fact that people sitting in a doctor's office are on the whole sicker than those who are not there. Churches rightly draw a higher proportion of needy people. They also have a great number of people whose lives have been completely turned around and filled by the joy of Christ." I like the analogy to the doctor's office, but still . . . that's a tough statement!

So much good in this book! Keller is incredible. I'm so glad he loves the Lord and strives to get people into relationship with Him!

Folds in the Map: Stories of Life's Unlikely Intersections

by Jeff Bauer
Ann's book paperback 147 pages
genre: memoir, essays

Ann loaned this to me ages ago! Bauer was someone she worked with at The Family Partnership. I wasn't super excited about reading it, but I'm so glad I did. Some of the essays didn't connect for me, but others were thought-provoking and powerful. My favorites were "Secret Wars" and "Beauty and Bread."

In "Living in the Middle," there was a passage I marked. "Children, with all of their curiosity and vulnerability, learning to become themselves while, at the same time, absorbing everything from the world around them. Scared, joyful, insecure, needing of unconditional love and protection. Just children." He is writing about seeing the fear and need in people's faces that reflects a child's need. He writes about the powerful impact of having his consciousness altered . . . but then notes that the intense awareness faded with time and returning home.

This is a lovely book. Kudos to Bauer for writing it and getting it published!

The Five Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me About Life and Wealth

by Richard Paul Evans
Hennepin County Library audiobook 2 CDs
read by the author
genre: non-fiction, self-help, finance

I took lots of notes on this, but won't include them all here. Louie and I listened to this together on our way to and from Leech Lake a few weeks ago. The first notes I wrote were, "Live frugally" and "Decide to be wealthy."

Briefly, the five things are
1. The Power of Commitment (choose)
2. Take Responsibility for Your Money
3. Keep a Portion of Everything You Earn
4. Win in the Margins
5. Give Back

Like I said, I have a LOT of detailed notes. I still struggle with some of the financial "stuff" I've been reading about . . . because I don't really care that much about money. But I want to be a responsible spouse and citizen . . . and I want to bless others. That's part of why I keep reading stuff like this.

Evans makes some great points, and I believe he's a Christian. Even though wealth is not my goal, he has some very helpful points.

Link to my GoogleDoc with my detailed notes is here. There are lots of other people who have posted info online (that is better organized and/or more concise than my jabbering).

Time Is Too Precious

This isn't the title of a book I read . . . rather it's acknowledgement of the fact that I do not need to complete a book just because I start it!

I can be rather compulsive. I am also curious and I love reading. That said, sometimes I need to recognize the fact that if I'm not enjoying a book or learning from it, I can just be done with it. I started to listen to an audiobook that I had already renewed at least once . . . I had even made notes about it to blog. But then I realized that the book was just bugging me. It was like a trashy romance book that aspired to something higher and better. Back to the library.

Then I started to listen to another audiobook that seemed like a higher-quality type of book. Again, I made some notes. A 75-year-old with a brain tumor, contemplating her life. But whether it was the text or the reader's strident voice, I just wasn't getting into it. Back to the library. Two in a row! That's almost unheard of for me.

The Veritas Conflict

by Shunti Feldhahn
loaned to me by Julie Abbott, paperback, 446 pages
genre: Christian fiction, spiritual warfare

This is going to be another very long post! Julie loaned this to me in March 2013. It sat for a long time on my book shelf! (Partly because 2013 was a rough time in my life and partly because I kept procrastinating on reading it. Spiritual warfare - like in Peretti's This Present Darkness - is not my favorite topic.) This book blew me away! I almost want to buy my own copy to re-read it. My overwhelming take-away is that believers absolutely must be in prayer. We cannot slack off on bringing our own lives and our loved ones' lives (and our neighbors, co-workers, etc.) before the Lord!

"A heavenly battle is raging for the heart and mind of a young co-ed, a college, and a nation. In this work of fiction, Harvard University is a centuries-old battleground in the struggle between good and evil, and one student has no idea she's about to be thrust onto the front lines. Claire Rivers arrives at Harvard an enthusiastic freshman but is ill prepared for the challenges she encounters to her Christian faith. Students and professors who proclaim 'tolerance' and revel in alternative lifestyles greet her beliefs with disdain - even hostility." (from the cover blurb)

This book was not at all what I expected and I loved the nuance and love that flowed throughout the story. Feldhahn went to Harvard and dealt with some of the challenges she gave to Claire in her story. Here are some of the many passages I post-it noted:

Page 23 - From a letter written by Cleon Grindley in the olden days after the school shield was changed to just "Veritas" (truth) from "Veritas pro Christo et Ecclesiae"  (Truth for Christ and Church) - "We can already see a change - subtle, but real. Those who do not know Christ feel much more comfortable with the university now, and those who are devout are beginning to feel as if they are somehow keeping their fingers in the hole of a dam." This sense of how confident, strong, or comfortable we are interests me. I completely understand the Bible's command that we GO and SHARE the Good News (as opposed to just hanging out in our churches with other believers), but there are times it is so very nice to share and celebrate with people who also love the Lord! The idea that when we dis-invite God from our lives, He obliges . . . and then we are bereft of His power, presence, and love as we try to make progress without Him . . . this passage just really caught my attention.

Page 51 - Claire's dad talking to friends - "We've always said that we were raising the kids to be salt and light in a decaying world, right? Well, at some point we have to let them go out into the darkness and trust God to care for them. After all, He's had the harder job trusting us with them all these years. Us trusting Him should be a piece of cake." This makes me laugh at myself! As I deal with the challenges of parenting adult children (who don't necessarily want any parenting from me), I realize that I need to trust God to guide them. I can't go back in the past and give them a more firm  foundation of faith. I need to trust God, love my kids, and pray for them.

Page 62 - I like how Mansfield communicates with Sharon, even when she's hostile. "Sharon took a big swig of her coffee and set the cup down. 'I have a hard time being friends with people like you.' 'Well, at least you're honest about it.' Mansfield raised his glass to her." There were so many really challenging concepts in this book. I love how Feldhahn handled them all!

Page 81 - "Harvard makes such a thing about tolerance and the freedom to express all viewpoints. Gays, communists, humanists, Buddhists - all are invited to participate in the 'marketplace of ideas.' But get some conservative Christian in here, and the marketplace of ideas is curiously closed." This is another truism in the current age and push for diversity. Too often, a Christian worldview is rejected as "hateful" or "narrow-minded" and not even listened to or respected.

Page 125 -"She has become wrapped in confusion and fear. But she must gain the knowledge to win the fight for her mind. She must develop the courage to take a public stand. God has not given His people a spirit of timidity or fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind! God has given her all those things, but she must learn how to walk in them and how to stand on them." One of the angels watching over Claire . . . and 2 Timothy 1:7 is one of my absolute favorite verses! Even though this is in reference to a young woman (less than half my current age), I too feel as though I need to learn how to "walk in" the things God has given me in the spirit.

Page 157 - "Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life, John 17:3, and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning." - from Harvard's College Laws dated six years after the founding in 1636! I didn't know that Harvard was founded as a Christian college!

Page 200 - This passage made me think of Financial Peace University and Dave Ramsey! "See, my dad had gotten hooked on credit cards. It sounds stupid, but it seems a lot like Teresa's mom and her gambling addiction. These credit card companies were throwing themselves at him, sending preapproved cards with limits of thousands of dollars. He started using the cards for convenience but ended up spending way more than we made. I don't know all the details, you know, but it became a stretch just to pay the minimums each month, and eventually we couldn't even afford those. And the more he got himself in debt, the more the card companies seemed to like him." Claire is confiding in Brad. The friendship and trust between these two characters was another part of the book I really liked.

Page 247 - '"How do you react when you're busy with your daily life and come across someone's urgent, now-or-never sort of need? Do you tell the oppressed prisoner of the dark world that you're busy now but you'll come back to your underground espionage job at two o'clock next Tuesday? Or do you prayerfully rearrange your daily life to fit the calling of your true job? I have news for you, dear saints." He leaned forward on the podium. "Ministry is always inconvenient."' The pastor in a church Claire was visiting . . . so very true! I loved the sermon he gave.

Page 253 - " . . . have the courage to speak the truth in love. It takes guts, Claire. Guts to publicly defend an unpopular position, especially when you're defending yourself to a professor. But 'always be prepared to give an answer for the hope that is within you.' And when you speak for the Truth, pray for those you're talking with and trust the Holy Spirit to give you the words to say. But always, always speak in love. If they're abusive - and trust me, Claire, they sometimes will be - -respond with the grace that Christ showed, and you will be blameless before God and man." Ian giving advice to Claire. There were so many passages that resonated for me in this book.

Page 282-3 - This letter to Claire from Miss Gana from Nigeria who had been her camp counselor. What a powerful impact godly believers can have on the people in their lives!

I especially like where she wrote "You must cling to Him. If in your future there is a fight against what GOd has for you, you must cling even more strongly to Him. Psalm 91 says that He will send His angels to protect you, but it also says that protection is for 'he who dwells in the shadow of the Most High.' So dwell there."

Page 325 - A conversation between Claire and Bethany:
"You know how you thought Christianity was so exclusive and intolerant? Well, I just realized . . . it's actually the most inclusive religion in the world!"
"How's that?" Bethany's voice was flat.
"Every other belief system requires you to meet some standard in order to go to heaven, or achieve nirvana, or whatever their equivalent is. But with Christ --" she leaned toward Bethany, her eyes intent -- "anyone can go to heaven. Not just the good people! Every other faith is so much more exclusive that it is actually mean. They say you have to be good to go to heaven, but who knows how good you really have to be? What they're saying is that you might die and find out, 'Oh, sorry! You're only allowed two hundred lies in a lifetime, and you told two hundred and one. Too bad.'" She jerked her thumb downward.
"Do you see? In Christianity there is one -- only one -- step, and everyone knows what it is: Give your life to Jesus. The good, the bad, the rich, the poor -- they're all God's children. He knows that none of us is going to be as good as He requires -- which is perfect -- so He made a way for anyone to be saved!"
I loved the interactions between Claire and Bethany and the love of Christ that Claire was able to share, even when Bethany was hostile.

Page 448 - I found the author's notes very interesting and worth reading. "One reason I wrote this book is that when I was at Harvard, I had no idea how to defend what I believed, and I got hammered in my classes, as did many of my friends. My prayer is that the 'relationship apologetics' in this book will help others learn how to defend their faith in a welcome and effective manner, while still building relationships with those they actively disagree with."

Wow! It has taken me about two weeks to get this entry done! What an amazing book. I love how Feldhahn has written an interesting story filled with spiritual lessons.