Book Reviews

No Turning Back: My Summer with Daddy King by Gurdon Brewster

"And so we sing:
I have decided to march for justice...
I have decided to work for freedom...
I have decided to live in hope...
No turning back. No turning back."

It was an eye-opener for a white Episcopalian seminary student who spent a summer at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta where Martin Luther King Sr. and Jr. were pastors. It is a totally different style of worship and a first hand experience of racial injustices in 1961. He is out of his comfort zone, but attempts to help make changes between whites and blacks in their Christian communities. This experience profoundly changes Brewster as he forms close relationships with the King family. He has a taste of what it means to be deprived of freedom and learns the principles of the nonviolent resistance movement led by Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.
(Review written 10/02/2010)


Holy Stuff of Life by Heather Murray Elkins

"A thing is a thing is a thing. But add a story, and it is transformed in front of our eyes. ...We tell stories about things as a means of remembering who we were, and are, and will be in the future."

The author is professor of worship and preaching at Drew Theological School. I don't even know how to describe this book, but these are my impressions. Much of it doesn't make any sense to me, and yet it grows on me the more I read. Some pages stir me to tears, some make me laugh, lots of it leaves me murmuring "Huh?" and shaking my head because I just don't get it. I found myself going to the internet often to look up things I knew nothing about. Most of the book is not memorable content for me, and yet the parts that I will remember are outstanding. I do understand that our stories define who we are. Like Jesus, the author is telling stories of the stuff in life and relating it to holiness. There is just enough interesting stuff in these pages to make it a worthwhile read.
(Review written 9/16/2010)


A Single Thread by Marie Bostwick

"The need for friendship is the single thread that we all have running through us."

Evelyn and Abigail, very different from one another, begin telling their own stories. For a while it's like two parallel narratives, until Abigail's niece brings them together in a quilt-making endeavor. Chapter headings bear the name of whichever one is narrating, and it goes back and forth between these two main characters. The women are strong-willed, feisty and independent individuals who learn they need others to support and care for them as events unfold. The thread of faith which is present in their growing relationships is an openly expressed part of this book, but not overdone. The book deals with ways in which breast cancer touches each of their lives and how they handle the emotions evoked by the results. It is a strong statement for what the power of friendship and forgiveness can do.
(Review written 9/8/2010)


Something to Sing About by C. C. Payne

The author based this story on an actual event in Beatrice, Nebraska. A church exploded on a night when the choir would have normally been there, but all were late in arriving. Jamie Jo is a 10-year old girl who is deathly afraid of bees, and also a few other things we find out as she tells about her life. The outcome of a blooming romance was obvious to me right away, but was still enjoyable to see it develop. This family faces typical disappointments and struggles with relationships. Along the way there are lessons of forgiveness and love of neighbors as Jesus has taught. It is written for Young Readers and has larger than average print, so I was able to read it quickly and easily. I found myself laughing out loud at some of the antics, and thoroughly enjoyed this book.
(Review written 7/3/2010)