Proclaiming God's Grace and Glory: Mission Stories for Today

by H. Claude Young, Jr.

personal paperback 111 pages

published: 1979

genre: non-fiction Christian short stories

 

This is one of my read it and get rid of it books, but I only made it to page 14. The author was a superintendent in the United Methodist Church and I wish he were writing to a more general audience!

 

Some of the stories had really good pieces in them, but I stopped reading because it felt as though he were writing for other UMC "in the know" people. So many irrelevant and uninteresting names of people I've never heard of and truly don't care about. It's time to move this book along!

 

In his story Language of the Heart, he wrote: "All Christians who have worshiped in unfamiliar cultures can testify to this heart language. God speaks to worshipers in their hearts regardless of the particular tongue being used . . . " I love this idea that we can praise and worship together even if we don't speak the same language (English, French, etc.) 

In his story Mission Is Where You Find It, I love love love that after an initial hesitation about his position, people who were flagrantly sinning turned to him for prayer and compassion. I love that he chose to stay in a tourist home and show the other people living there that "being a minister does not take all the fun out of life, and that the Christian faith might offer them ways to 'the good life' that they were never going to find otherwise."

Yes! Too many people view Christians negatively - uptight, judgmental, etc. (Not without good reasons, sometimes.) It's a challenge to live out our faith joyfully and unapologetically. 

Although there were pieces of stories that I liked, I find I just cannot finish reading this little book of short stories. On to another book living on my shelf!

To Me, He Was Just Dad: Stories of Growing Up with Famous Fathers

by Joshua David Stein and the editors of Fatherly

Scott County Library hardcover 202 pages

Published: 2020

Genre: short story memoirs

 

I really enjoyed most of these stories, even though I'd never heard of some of the dads (like  clown Glen "Frosty" Little). Some made me sad ("My Father the Murderer George Hodel"). I love storytelling and these stories are well told.

I wanted Louie to read the one about Evel Knievel, but he wasn't interested. Kneivel was such a big deal in my childhood! I think it's funny that he tried to steer his son away from that line of work, but Robert also became a dare devil.

I wanted to share "My Father the Dungeon Master Gary Gygax" by Lucion Gygax with Alex, but I don't see him very often. And he'd probably react like his dad - no, thanks.

I don't know much about the Black Dahlia murder, but reading Steve Hodel's story about his dad was shocking. As a police investigator, to learn that all evidence pointed to his father's guilt . . . "Two decades have passed since I established my father's guilt. I wrote a book about it and have, since then, discovered twenty-four other likely victims of my father's reign of terror. During those two decades, I have been through every conceivable emotion. Disbelief gave way to depression, followed by anger, hatred, and rage. Now those emotions have all melded together into sadness."

The childhood memory of going to the beach was such a vivid and personal story. His resolution after his father's death is painful and yet strong. Wow.

I loved the story about Cesar Chavez! ". . . you only lose when you stop fighting - you only lose when you quit." What great advice to a son!

Many of the dads in these stories were more focused on their work than on their families, yet their time with their children left indelible memories. Dads are important!

Magpie Murders

by Anthony Horowitz

Libby audiobook 16 hours

Read by: Samantha Bond and Allan Corduner

Published: 2016 (this version 2017)

Genre: murder mystery

I've long enjoyed Horowitz' YA books, especially the Alex Rider series. But I didn't realize until recently that he had mystery books written for adults. What fun!

This is a story-within-a-story, which got a bit confusing for me. But it is so very reminiscent of Agatha Christie mysteries and yet very self-aware! I really enjoyed this and the vocal work was excellent, but I kind of wished I were reading it in print. I would have made quite a character map!

Editor Susan Ryeland gets a manuscript and starts to read. It is the story of a village and a curious death. Detective Atticus Pünd is called in to investigate, but he is dealing with serious end-of-life news from his doctor. There are so many characters and clues! Sir Magnus Pye and his wife, Johnny Whitehead, the vicar and his wife, the doctor and her artist husband, . . . 

When Susan finds the final chapters missing and then the author dies in mysterious circumstances, she plays detective. I didn't figure out either the "novel" mystery nor the overarching mystery of who killed the author. It definitely kept my attention!

Oh, there were also loads of anagrams and other word games. That's another reason I would have enjoyed seeing the text rather than listening. 

I'm going to get another of these books now that I know they exist!

I had initially read an article in the Costco Connection recommending this book. The article was fascinating and I learned a lot about this author. 

<Above posted 3.14.23. Below added 6.7.24.>

I decided to re-listen to this book before reading book #2, which recently showed up on my "ready" list. Even having "read" it before, I didn't remember the ending of Alan Conway's "novel" - who killed Magnus? And why? I DID remember what happened to Susan at the end, but again hadn't remembered the why. 

The "novel" is set in 1955. Everyone seems a legit suspect! I love Joy (Josie) the best of all the characters. The ending of the novel - "A Secret Never to Be Told" - is the culmination of the story!

Anthony Horowitz is an extremely talented author. Since Alan Conway dies in this book, I know that the next one will focus on Susan .  . . she is the protagonist, after all. Will it be about her going to Crete with Andreas?

It fascinates me that this book refers to Atticus Pünd's many cases. The eight books "written" by Alan Conway before Magpie Murders seem so real . . . as though I could look in the library catalog and request them!

***Warning! Spoilers below! (Because I forgot some of this over the last year.)***

Spoilers:

• Tom's dog Bella killed by Robert (but if he was psycho enough for his mom to want to keep him under her thumb, how did a lovely person like Joy fall in love with him and want to spend her life with him?)
  
• Tom killed by Robert (in a fit of jealous rage - 12yo brother found pyrite before 14yo . . . how did Brent not suspect? Why did Mary protect her violent son?)
  
• Mary died by accident when her husband called (upstairs phone not working; ran to get downstairs phone and tripped over the cord)
• Robert murdered Magnus because of letter Mary had left in case of her untoward death
• Charles killed Alan because he was going to kill off Atticus Pund and tell a radio show that the character name was an anagram for "a stupid cunt" . . .