Home

"Home" is the sequel to the award winning book Gilead. Hannah gave the novel to me to give to Dad when I was in TX whilst visiting her. The author made an appearance at her school and is an exquisite story teller.
So, did i like Home? hmmmm... I first started reading it in November 2010 but then it got packed away and I got interested in other books. Then in Jan 2011 Russell and I tried to read it together... but did not get far. Almost every time I picked the book up I fell asleep reading it, but I could not stop picking it up again and again. Actually, there is good insight all the way through the book but the last 1/5 of the story is wonderfully well-crafted. I never laughed nor did I cry as I turned the pages, and I was hoping for more closure than what was offered, but I found myself caring deeply for the three man characters (Jack, Glory and their father-Reverend Boughton) and I wanted the best for each of them. I'm not sure if I have encountered the word "flummoxed" before this book, but I read it a few times within the 300 plus pages.  Here are some of the choice quotes, in my opinion, "How oddly holiness situated itself among the things of the word, how endlessly creation wrenched and strained under the burden of its own significance." Then a little further, "Weary or bitter or bewildered as we many be, God is faithful.  He lets us wander so we will know what it means to come home."  Midway through the story Jack and Glory are getting to know each other as adult siblings and they were talking about kindness.   Glory said, "I know a little bit about that," and he nodded, and the lilacs rustled, and the sun shone, and there was quiet between them, a calm that came with being of one mind.  This is just one example of how you can wonderfully feel the place as you read the words. Then their father, at the end of his life, says some very meaningful things about family on page 261.  Home has no fairy-tale bits to it, but is a slow, real life read as life really happens and all the pondering that goes into guarded reflection of what makes a person who they are.

Home
author: Marilynne Robinson
325 pages; paperback
2009

The Gospel of Matthew

The Gospel of Matthew is the first book listed in the New Testament and was written by one of Jesus' disciples who at one time was a tax collector. As we had been studying the book of Daniel in house church the phrase in son of man (a reference to Jesus) stood out to me... Daniel 7:13-14
13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man,[a] coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
i then began to read Matthew looking for other times this title was used for Jesus.  i found over 2 dozen times and each time fills out more of who Jesus is and his love for us.
here are the places in Matthew's gospel where "son of man" are found.
Matthew 8:19-21
Matthew 9:5-7
Matthew 10:22-24
Matthew 11:18-20
Matthew 12:7-9
Matthew 12:31-33
Matthew 12:39-41
Matthew 13:36-38
Matthew 13:40-42
Matthew 16:12-14
Matthew 16:26-28
Matthew 17:8-10
Matthew 19:27-29
Matthew 20:17-19
Matthew 20:27-29
Matthew 24:26-31
Matthew 24:36-38
Matthew 24:38
Matthew 24:43-45
Matt 25:31-31
Matthew 26:23-25
Matthew 26:44-46
Matthew 26:63-65 

The Gospel of Matthew
author: Matthew
46 pages in large leather-bond Bible

The Lightning Thief

The Lightning Thief is a story of a quest. A quest that spans the east to west coasts of the USA as well as includes a visit to Hades across the River Styx. Percy, a young half-blood, discovers who his dad is along the way. What would it be like to have a god for a dad? Greek mythology mixes with modern-day life and the use of teen-age slang keeps the pages turning...or at least that is what happened to Allie my eighth grade niece. I read on facebook that she was excited about a book she was reading so i decided i would check it out from our school library, not knowing anything about it. Well, my anticipation built as the book was on hold for several students before me! here is what Allie has to say,
"its just like a really good book and its one of those books at least for me that i didn't want to put down.. and it was a story i could like put my self into and like see what was happening its just like an over all really good book :)"
Honestly, I would have never chosen this genre on my own, so thanks Allie for stretching me! My favorite quote from the book took place in a diner in Denver when Percy and his friends first met  very mean and arrogant Ares who had a little side-quest for them to do. Percy asked the question, "why does he need us?" and Annabelle answered, "Maybe it's a problem that requires brains. Ares has strength. That's all he has. Even strength has to bow to wisdom sometimes."  That quote later helps Percy toward the end of his quest. If you liked The Lightning Thief, good news...there are at least 4 more books in the series.

The Lightning Thief
author: Rick Riordan
hardback; 375 pages
2005

Eve's Daughters

Here it was several weeks into January and I still had not read a book this year..i was craving a good read.  I remembered a post on facebook from my friend Donna D (our friendship began in our post-married, pre-baby days of living in Dallas) and her status was something like curled up on these cold days with a good book.  when i questioned what she was reading lately, she replied, she loved the historical fictions by Lynn Austin.  Our school's library had one Lynn Austin book on the shelf, so that made the choice easy :) and without even reading the back cover of the book, i delved into the life of Louise, a newly married woman living in pre-world war one Germany.  
pages turned easy as the story took you forward and backward over an eighty plus year span into the life of 4 generations of woman, all with choices to make. The preface was from Exodus 20:5 ...I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me....so that was a clue that not all these choices were easy or good ones.
Getting involved with the lives of Louise, her daughter Emma, her daughter Grace and her daughter Suzanne (who also had two daughters) continues to cause me to ponder who am i in this chain of generational daughters... daughters that go back to the first woman Eve...how did the choices of the daughters before me effect me and what are the effects of my choices on the daughters that come after me....Needless to say, I enjoyed the book and toward the end found myself reading until after 3:00 am (what was I thinking having coffee before bed?). Thank you, Donna, for helping me to start out new year 2011 with good perspective from a well written story.

Eve's Daughters
author: Lynn Austin
paperback;  428 pages
1999