Books 25-31
Getting warmer in my 50-book quest. New reads are marked with a dash and rated out of five stars.
-25. Leaving Church, by Barbara Brown Taylor. A tale of heartbreak and burnout, where respected pastor, theologian, and scholar Brown Taylor tells of her experience in ministry and decision to leave. I found that the older generation of clergy women with whom I studied this book resonated with it more than I did. Like the the third wave feminist that I am, I have not had to fight all the battles they have, and I do not feel as burdened and burned out as Brown Taylor was. An okay book with excellent writing, but not as powerful for me as for some. ****
-26. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling. Obviously, I've reviewed it extensively, mostly here and here. ***** and then some.
27. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, oral re-read.
-28. Esperanza Rising, by Pam Munoz Ryan. A cute little Young Adult book about Mexican immigrant migrant workers. Nothing profound, but it was good plane reading to and from Ecuador. ***
-29. Sarah: a novel, by Marek Halter. This is of a genre that I can either love or hate; I call it Biblical Fan Fiction, fiction about the lives of Biblical characters. This is very well-done Biblical Fan Fiction, although I didn't particularly like the Sarah backstory, and it was pretty heartbreaking, in ways I hadn't imagined Sarah's life must have been. And even if it was a bit rough in places, it was worth it as an intro to Halter's trilogy (side note: men shouldn't really write about things they are unable to experience, like the onset of menses. clearly he had *no* idea). ****
-30. Zipporah, wife of Moses, by Marek Halter. This book surpassed Sarah in long strides, and imagined Zipporah to be a fully-drawn and strong woman in ways that were simultaneously more canonical than the Sarah backstory and yet more imaginative and potent. Zipporah's the kind of woman I would like to know be. The take on Moses, while not totally original, was fresh and beautiful in my mind. The ending is a kick in the gut, but it's all there in Exodus. Now I have to lay my hands on Halter's third book. *****
-31. Son of a Witch, by Greg Maguire. Elsewhere I have expressed my disappointment with Maguire's Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Mirror Mirror, and even the ending of the otherwise enchanting Wicked. Color me pleasantly surprised with Son of a Witch. Again, a sort of extra-canonical fiction that creates in Liir a character more rich and interesting than any Oz figure that ever graced the silver screen (while simultaneously revealing the ones that did to be silly, shallow, or strange). And where its predecessor is a marvelous story that flatlines in the end (before Elphie actually flatlines), the sequel has an ending that leaves you wanting to write volumes of fan fiction about what has transpired and will transpire. I won't spoil what was a delightful surprise for me by telling you which pairing I'd like to write about, but any book that leaves you wanting that much more (even though I guessed the last line about 100 pages early), is masterfully done. *****
19 more books in three months. And some of the ones on the stack are deep theology types. I think it might be time to break out the pleasure reading and knock back a few old favorites. otterdance here I come!
-25. Leaving Church, by Barbara Brown Taylor. A tale of heartbreak and burnout, where respected pastor, theologian, and scholar Brown Taylor tells of her experience in ministry and decision to leave. I found that the older generation of clergy women with whom I studied this book resonated with it more than I did. Like the the third wave feminist that I am, I have not had to fight all the battles they have, and I do not feel as burdened and burned out as Brown Taylor was. An okay book with excellent writing, but not as powerful for me as for some. ****
-26. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling. Obviously, I've reviewed it extensively, mostly here and here. ***** and then some.
27. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, oral re-read.
-28. Esperanza Rising, by Pam Munoz Ryan. A cute little Young Adult book about Mexican immigrant migrant workers. Nothing profound, but it was good plane reading to and from Ecuador. ***
-29. Sarah: a novel, by Marek Halter. This is of a genre that I can either love or hate; I call it Biblical Fan Fiction, fiction about the lives of Biblical characters. This is very well-done Biblical Fan Fiction, although I didn't particularly like the Sarah backstory, and it was pretty heartbreaking, in ways I hadn't imagined Sarah's life must have been. And even if it was a bit rough in places, it was worth it as an intro to Halter's trilogy (side note: men shouldn't really write about things they are unable to experience, like the onset of menses. clearly he had *no* idea). ****
-30. Zipporah, wife of Moses, by Marek Halter. This book surpassed Sarah in long strides, and imagined Zipporah to be a fully-drawn and strong woman in ways that were simultaneously more canonical than the Sarah backstory and yet more imaginative and potent. Zipporah's the kind of woman I would like to know be. The take on Moses, while not totally original, was fresh and beautiful in my mind. The ending is a kick in the gut, but it's all there in Exodus. Now I have to lay my hands on Halter's third book. *****
-31. Son of a Witch, by Greg Maguire. Elsewhere I have expressed my disappointment with Maguire's Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Mirror Mirror, and even the ending of the otherwise enchanting Wicked. Color me pleasantly surprised with Son of a Witch. Again, a sort of extra-canonical fiction that creates in Liir a character more rich and interesting than any Oz figure that ever graced the silver screen (while simultaneously revealing the ones that did to be silly, shallow, or strange). And where its predecessor is a marvelous story that flatlines in the end (before Elphie actually flatlines), the sequel has an ending that leaves you wanting to write volumes of fan fiction about what has transpired and will transpire. I won't spoil what was a delightful surprise for me by telling you which pairing I'd like to write about, but any book that leaves you wanting that much more (even though I guessed the last line about 100 pages early), is masterfully done. *****
19 more books in three months. And some of the ones on the stack are deep theology types. I think it might be time to break out the pleasure reading and knock back a few old favorites. otterdance here I come!