A once-a-month review of the books I read. I'll share quotes when I remember to copy them down.
The rating is the same as Goodreads--5 stars means "it was amazing," 4 is "really liked it," 3 is "liked it," 2 is "it was okay," and 1 is "didn't like it."
Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl by N.D. Wilson (5 stars)
It is a rare book that compels me to flip from the final page right back to the first and start reading again--but this book did it. Wilson is the brother I never had, and he's just enough older than me to put my thoughts into words in ways I couldn't yet. As he examines life and God and art there is nothing safe and nothing untouchable. Wilson looks at philosophers throughout history and offers up his take on the world. His writing is beautiful, funny, witty, and just plain wonderful.
I have some quotes that I loved (well, the whole book!) but they are too long to put here.
Haunted Ground by Erin Hart (3 stars)
An intriguing story with great characters--this novel introduces us to Nora Gavin, a pathologist who is in Ireland trying to put her life back together after her sister's mysterious death. There, she meets archaeologist Cormac Maguire. They team up when the head of a young woman is discovered in the peat bog.
The Dark Foundations by Chris Wally (3 stars)
The third in the series, there isn’t a lot to make this one stand out. I finally figured out the biggest issue—Wally’s world pretty much negates free will, and therefore is not true to God’s creation (God being the one who gave us free will). He’s lucky that there are one or two good characters or I’d have stopped reading.
Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok (4 stars)
This may be the best fiction book I've read this year--a very well put-together story about a young girl who moves from Hong Kong to NYC. She struggles to find her place in this new country, the family who is supposed to care for her and her mother, teachers who don't understand her, kids who don't make life any easier, and then there's the factory. A very touching story about a girl finding her place in world. The author does a great job of making the reader feel the frustration of not understanding language by writing what the girl would hear, leaving you to try to figure out what is going on along with the character.
The Infinite Day by Chris Wally (2 stars)
The final book in the series, and it was a good thing. This one was very dissatisfying, the ending being overly predictable and a total cop-out. I’m glad to be done with this series.
There was another one or two that I tried to read but put down after the first two or three pages—and I don’t even remember the titles now. Such is life!
