Books

Categories What's on Your Nightstand?

Nightstand (March 2017)

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This March has felt like what Almanzo describes springtime to be like in Farmer Boy: busy from dawn until dusk with no time to sit except to race down some food. I had 10 cubic yards of compost delivered earlier this month and it’s been busy shoveling and building and planting. An herb bed built and filled with compost (thanks to my mother-in-law for the help!), extra compost added to one of my raised beds, eleven trees planted. Raking the old dead grass off the “pasture” (actually the septic field).

When I have had opportunity to sit down, I have done some reading – but it’s almost entirely been children’s picture books read to Tirzah Mae and Louis. So I’ve got another spare list this month (lots of in-progress books, only two finished).

Books for Loving:

  • Church History in Plain Language by Bruce L. Shelley (In Progress)
    I’ve gotten a few more chapters read in my church history studies – and am SO thankful that I scheduled myself a “catch up” month every fourth month. I’m going to need it (especially since every section gets longer!) I’m currently looking at the period between Constantine and the Middle Ages, a time ripe with creeds and controversies.
  • Getting to Know the Church Fathers by Bryan Litfin (In Progress)
    I’m clearly abusing my church library’s lack of fines for not returning books on time – I’ve checked this one out several times, and currently have it out over a month longer than the three week lending period. But as far as readable mini-biographies of the church fathers go, this is excellent. I’ve resolved to read the last three chapters this week so I can return it next Sunday. (End the abuse!)

Books for Growing:

  • Your Time-Starved Marriage by Les and Leslie Parrott (In Progress)
    The Doctors Parrott make good on their promise of short, readable chapters. I can read a chapter in just 7 minutes (while doing something else, because I rarely simply read these days.) In some ways I think I started reading this just a moment too late, since Daniel and I had already come up with some action steps to deal with the “now that we have two kids, neither of whom sleep predictably, it feels like we never spend any time together-together” problem. But what they’ve said already has resonated with me – and I’m about to get into the nitty-gritty part, so I’m hopeful they’ll have some useful tips for making intentional time together.
  • Success as a Foster Parent by the National Foster Parent Association with Rachel Greene Baldino (In Progress)
    Reading this has slowed to a crawl thanks to all the reading and homework we have for our foster care class – but I’m glad for the start I had on this before our class, which has meant that our classwork is more familiar. This is a great introduction to the process for someone who’s interested in fostering but who wants to learn a little about it before they start juggling schedules to actually get certified.
  • Growing Family Fruit and Nut Trees by Marian Van Atta with Shirley Wagner (In Progress)
    We planted five apple trees this month and are hoping to have a plan for the rest of the orchard by fall so we can put everything else in first thing next spring. So I’m reading up on fruit trees. This particular book is somewhat dated but ended up being my first pick to read right through because it doesn’t attempt to be comprehensive, which means that it’s quite easy to read. I read the first hundred pages in moments snatched here and there the day we planted our apple trees (read: when going to the bathroom or taking a break to breastfeed Louis). The remaining 20 pages are waiting for…someday soon, probably. One of the most interesting features of this book is that the author writes from Florida, so she discusses plenty of trees I’d never thought of planting. I spent my early teen years reading homestead memoirs from back-to-the-land folks in Maine and envied their ability to grow their own maple syrup. Now I’ve had a chance to envy Ms. Van Atta’s ability to grown her own oranges and grapefruits!

Books for Knowing:

  • The Almost Nearly Perfect People by Michael Booth (In Progress)
    You’ve heard of how the Scandinavian countries are some sort of utopia, right? (Unless you read conservatives, then you might be pretty skeptical of that claim.) Anyhow, Booth writes about Scandinavia (where he’s lived for some time, having married a Dane) in this semi-journalistic, semi-memoirish book. In general, I’m enjoying reading this, although Booth jumps here and there and everywhere without any obvious thesis or point even to the individual chapters, much less to the entire book.
  • The Place Where Hell Bubbled Up: A history of the First National Park by David A. Clary
    A short (64 page) little book filled with old-timey black and white photos from the first days of Yellowstone National Park along with the tale of its discovery and early status as a national park (approximately until the introduction of automobiles.) I enjoyed reading this in preparation for our family trip to Yellowstone this summer.

Books for Enjoying:

  • The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander
    Daniel and I have been trying to complete the “Light Reader” level for the 2017 Christian Reading Challenge put out by Tim Challies. One of the book categories is “a book for children or teens” and I’ve been intending to read the Chronicles of Prydain since Amy’s husband Mike recommended it when I asked for advice finding a completed series that would be similar to Brandon Sanderson’s work (Daniel is a fan of Sanderson, but neither Daniel and I are super fond of reading series that haven’t been completed – and Sanderson has LOTS of those.) Anyway, we read this first book in the series and I certainly enjoyed it enough to continue on with the series. It’s a relatively lighthearted children’s fantasy with plenty of adventure and not-too-heavy-handed-learning-opportunities.

Don’t forget to drop by 5 Minutes 4 Books to see what others are reading this month!

What's on Your Nightstand?

Categories Book Reviews

Reading board books from 100 Best Books for Children by Anita Silvey

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Anita Silvey has selected what she considers the 100 best books for children, from birth to teenage years. The first five books Silvey selected for her collection are board books. We’ve checked them out of the library and enjoyed reading them through together – although we enjoyed some significantly more than others :-)

Goodnight Moon written by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd
I know people love this book. But I just can’t bring myself to even like it. I read this to myself to say that I did, but elected to not read it to my children (lest they like it and I end up stuck reading it aloud ad nauseum.

Board books

Mr. Gumpy’s Outing written and illustrated by John Burningham
Not long after reading about this title in Silvey’s book, I chanced upon a paperback copy at a library book sale and snapped it up. I enjoyed the gentle story of the children and the various animals that joined Mr. Gumpy on his outing (after having been warned not to horse around) – but I thought the illustrations were rather lacking. Then I happened upon the board book version at the library and picked it up to read to Louis – and the illustrations were much better. Once I compared the two, I realized that the colors do in fact show up a little differently, but the main difference was that I had been reading our copy to Tirzah Mae at naptime under a dim lamp in her room – and was reading the board book to Louis in the quite bright library!

Louis reads "Freight Train"

The Very Hungry Caterpillar written and illustrated by Eric Carle
I expected Tirzah Mae to enjoy this more than she did, but I’m wondering if maybe it’s a timing issue. I enjoy The Very Hungry Caterpillar and think we’ll probably pull out the copy we own later on when Tirzah Mae is showing interest in numbers, or when it’s monarch time and we’re inundated with caterpillars feasting on our milkweed.

Tirzah Mae plays with her "Freight Train" activity

Freight Train written and illustrated by Donald Crews
This was already a favorite of Tirzah Mae’s and mine – and we were thrilled to check it out of the library again. We’ve been reading it and doing activities with it and reading it again. It’s one of a selection of books Tirzah Mae has memorized and “reads” to herself frequently. This definitely deserves a place on any such list.

Carrot Seed

The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss, illustrated by Crockett Johnson
When I first read this book’s spare text, I wasn’t sure what to think or whether I liked it. Silvey describes this book as having a “believe in yourself” message – a message I happen to despise. But that isn’t really the message. The message is about the benefits of hard work and patience even when others doubt there will be any outcome. That’s a message I can get behind. Besides, I had to learn to like this book since Tirzah Mae likes it rather a lot. She loves the simplicity of the text and illustrations – and it can’t hurt that all the illustrations are orange, her favorite color.

Categories Books

My First Little House Books

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HarperCollins’s “My First Little House Books” are picture book adaptations of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “Little House books.” Renee Graef illustrates the collection, with an aesthetic intentionally mirroring Garth Williams’s illustrations for the chapter book series.

I read all the “My First Little House Books” I could get my hands on this February in celebration of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s 150th birthday and Barbara’s Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge. I was joined in this challenge by my two-year-old daughter Tirzah Mae, who ate up every word.

Based on Little House in the Big Woods:

Winter Days in the Big Woods, based on the chapters “Little House” and “Winter Days and Winter Nights”

This introduction to Little House in the Big Woods skips right past the messy business of butchering and jumps into the coziness of winter life in the little log house. Mary and Laura playing in the attic. Making “pictures” on the frosty windowpanes. Doing the proper work for each day. Dressing up paper dolls. And pa coming home and playing the fiddle and telling stories. This particular book condenses 44 pages of Laura’s writing into 35 sentences. I couldn’t tell whether I disliked that it skipped so many details or that it said just enough that I could draw up those missing details in my mind. For Tirzah Mae’s part, she adored this particular book, especially the sing-song list of each day’s tasks.

Based on "Little House in the Big Woods"

Christmas in the Big Woods, based on the chapter “Christmas”

I’ve always loved the Christmas stories from each of the Little House books, modeling my own planned “St. Nicholas Day” stockings after Laura and Mary’s (from Little House on the Prairie) with a candy cane, (chocolate) coins, a small toy, and something useful inside. Reading this, I am reminded of even simpler pleasures: pancake men. I plan to include this title in next year’s Christmas basket – and maybe we’ll make some pancake men of our own after reading it.

From "Winter Days in the Big Woods"

Sugar Snow, based on the chapter of the same name

While some of the “My First Little House Books” mention that Pa told stories, few share any of Pa’s stories (maybe because most of them are a little dark?). Sugar Snow is an exception. After Pa brings home some maple sugar for Mary and Laura, he takes them on his knee and tells them how Grandpa made the sugar. This particular story has a nice structure since it (mostly) begins and ends with a day – from Laura’s wakening to her going to sleep.

Studying the upside-down cover rather intently

Dance at Grandpa’s, based on the chapter of the same name

Each book adapted from Little House in the Big Woods begins with the same words: “Once upon a time, a little girl named Laura lived in the Big Woods of Wisconsin in a little house made of logs. Laura lived in the little house with her Pa, her Ma, her big sister Mary, her little sister Carrie, and their good old bulldog Jack.” For the adult reader, this repeated introduction might get old (does get old), but toddlers like Tirzah Mae lap it up. This reminds her that this story is about the same family the last story was about. From there, the stories only introduce a limited additional cast of characters. So, in this particular tale, we learn about the dance at Grandpa’s without any mention to the aunts by name, without wild Uncle George, and without the other Laura. Also, since this is NOT the book about sugar snow, there is no mention of the maple sugar. Does this ruin Laura’s delightful narrative? I’ve puzzled it over multiple times and decided that, no, it does not. Instead, it gives a taste to entice a child into Laura’s world – and leaves enough detail unspoken to make exploring the whole thing desirable.

Tirzah Mae turns the pages of the songbook

Going to Town, based on the chapter of the same name
Summertime in the Big Woods, based on the chapter “Summertime”
The Deer in the Wood, based on the chapter of the same name

Tirzah Mae loved all these books based on Little House in the Big Woods, so much so that whenever I read one, she brought me another and another and another. After spending more than a half hour reading through these books, I thought maybe I had been premature in assuming Tirzah Mae couldn’t pay attention to the real thing. I brought up my copy of Little House in the Big Woods from the basement, and began reading it to her the next day. I learned that all those people who say it’s not a great first chapter book read-aloud are right. Even though Tirzah Mae has plenty of attention for prolonged reading of the picture book versions, the “real deal” simply moves too slowly for her toddler mind. Which is just fine. I enjoyed introducing her to the world of Little House using these books and look forward to exploring the “real deal” with her when she’s a little more mature.

We also read a more limited selection of picture books adapted from Little House on the Prairie and Farmer Boy. It seemed to me that Tirzah Mae wasn’t as interested in these, perhaps because she enjoyed the continuity of place so much from the many books based on Little House in the Big Woods. The other books we read were Going West, Prairie Day, A Little Prairie House, Winter on the Farm, A Farmer Boy Birthday, and County Fair.

Based on "Little House on the Prairie" and "Farmer Boy"

While the majority of what we read were abridgments of chapters from the first three Little House books, we also read some even simpler topical titles in the “My First Little House Books” series: My Little House ABC, My Little House 123, My Little House Book of Family, and My Little House Book of Animals. These were effectively labeling books, with text like “Brother” in a large typeface with a smaller quote from one of the Little House books underneath (“Nellie and her little brother, Willie, came bouncing in.”) Neither Tirzah Mae and I were big fans of these books, which had no narrative arc and whose characters were often unfamiliar to Tirzah Mae since they hadn’t been included in the narrative storybooks we read.

"My First Little" Concept Books

The one exception to our dislike of the topical titles was My Little House Songbook, which included several of the songs Laura mentions in her books. Tirzah Mae insisted that Papa and I read and re-read this book over and over (preferably skipping the text and going straight to the singing part.) :-)

Tirzah Mae and her favorite "My First Little House Book"

I am so glad that Tirzah Mae and I opted to explore the Little House books together this month. While these picture book abridgments can’t possibly measure up to the works they’re based on, they are delightful in their own right and I’m thrilled to be able to use them to introduce my daughter to one of my old friends a little earlier than I otherwise might have been able to. Don’t forget to run over to Barbara’s wrap up post to read about what others have read and done for this year’s Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge.

Categories What's on Your Nightstand?

Nightstand (February 2017)

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Between a quick weekend trip north to pick up some beef (a 513 lb half!), a teething infant, a toddler who is no longer napping, and beginning our foster-care class, I haven’t had a lot of time for reading this month. But I’ve sneaked in a little here and there :-)

Books for Loving:

  • The Epistles of St. Ignatius
    I appreciated reading through these epistles and learning a little more about Ignatius, a second century Christian bishop. While I had some points of disagreement with Ignatius, his arguments against the docetists and for the Incarnation encouraged me to give praise to the Incarnate God. I wrote a little of what I learned about Ignatius in this blog post.

Books for Growing:

  • Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink
    What can be better than a book subtitled “why we eat more than we think”? The subtitle is a delicious wordplay. We eat more food than we think we eat. We eat mindlessly and therefore spend more physical time eating than we spend thinking about what (or why or how) we’re eating. Wansink’s book talks about the psychology of eating, about our unconscious behaviors related to eating and how to tweak those behaviors. Highly recommended.

Books for Knowing:

  • Getting to Know the Church Fathers by Brian Litfin
    I’ve actually only read half of this so far – I’ll finish the other half next month while studying the church under Constantine (and thereabouts). So far, though, it’s been an excellent introduction into some of the noteworthy people of the first few centuries of the church. Litfin gives a mini-biography of each father (and one mother), reflects on their life and teaching from an evangelical perspective, and then shares an excerpt from that father’s writings. As someone who has virtually no knowledge of these individuals, I’ve found this to be very helpful in my study of church history.

Books for Seeing:

  • The Pearl by John Steinbeck
    It’s only five chapters long (I think), and I’ve only read one of those chapters. Sigh. But I’m looking forward to finishing it up next month.

Books for Enjoying:

  • The Emperor of Nihon-Ja by John Flanagan
    Ever since I finished the ninth book in the Ranger’s Apprentice series, I’ve been checking my local library to see if the final book of the series was available. Finally, after months of weekly peeks at the bookshelf, I checked the computer – and discovered that my branch doesn’t own a copy! Silly me. I requested this from another branch and greatly enjoyed it.

While I haven’t read much as far as grown-up reading goes, I’ve been doing lots of reading aloud to the children. And in celebration of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s 150th birthday this month, Tirzah Mae and I read a whole slew of the “My First Little House” picture book adaptations (which I plan to write about Thursday when I wrap up my participation in Barbara’s Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge.

Don’t forget to drop by 5 Minutes 4 Books to see what others are reading this month!

What's on Your Nightstand?

Categories Reading My Library

Books of Action Rhymes

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Maybe some people grew up knowing dozens of little hand plays – they learned them in preschool or at library story time or whatever.

I am not one of those people.

Furthermore, since my preemies aren’t supposed to spend time with other kids until they’re older, I can’t take my toddler to story time (lest my infant be exposed to kids). So I am stuck with books to learn those action rhymes – which is fine with me. Books are my preferred way of learning anyway.

I’ve checked out a few books of action rhymes, mostly as they come up in my reading of the “nursery rhyme” section – juvenile nonfiction Dewey Decimal 398.8, and am attempting to learn a few to share with Tirzah Mae.

Knock at the Door by Kay Chorao

Knock at the Door

A collection of 20 finger-plays conveniently organized with one or two per double-page spread. Each line of the finger-play is preceded by a small box illustrating the appropriate action. The illustrations are generally clear (or at least I was able to do something with them – whether or not it is correct is another story.) Best of all, the book also includes large illustrations of each rhyme – which means it’ll keep a child’s interest even if mama chooses not to do the finger-play (Guilty as charged – I’m working on it.)

Inside 'Knock at the Door'

Clap Your Hands: Finger Rhymes selected by Sarah Hayes, illustrated by Toni Goffe
A little over 20 finger-rhymes accompanied by illustrations of children performing the finger rhymes. Some of the illustrations make the actions perfectly clear, while others are decidedly less so. There are multiple rhymes to a page, making this less of a favorite for me than Chorao’s Knock at the Door.

Marc Brown’s Playtime Rhymes
Twenty finger plays and other action rhymes accompanied by small-box illustrations of each action and large illustrations depicting the content of the rhyme. While I detest Brown’s Arthur books, his illustrations in these classic rhymes are just fine. Some of these rhymes are more involved than others – but that’s okay. Each rhyme has its own double-page spread, which makes it easy to open up and just do one rhyme (not that I ever want to limit us to just one rhyme. *sarcasm*)

Playtime Rhymes for Little People by Clare Beaton

Playtime Rhymes for Little People

About 40 rhymes including familiar action rhymes (“Incy Wincy Spider” and “Head and Shoulders”) and unfamiliar ones, familiar songs (“The Wheels on the Bus” and “Here we Go round the mulberry bush”) and less familiar ones, and a range of “counting out” songs for selecting who’s “it” during playtime. Unlike several of the other collections I read, this does NOT include figures for how to “act out” the rhyme. Instead, instructions are given in italicized print at the bottom of the page. But, as with other Beaton titles, to focus on the text misses the highest point: Beaton’s lovely applique and embroidery illustrations. Oh how I long to make a collection of pieces in her style for our nursery! (But, time.)

Inside 'Playtime Rhymes for Little People'

Of the four collections reviewed here, I recommend either Knock at the Door or Marc Brown’s Playtime Rhymes for the mom seeking to learn new finger plays – and Playtime Rhymes for Little People for people who are interested in beautiful fabric art :-)

Categories Books

Reading Laura

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This is February, which means it’s time to read Laura Ingalls Wilder along with Barbara H’s Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge.

But this February is no ordinary February.

Tomorrow, February 7th, Laura Ingalls Wilder will turn 150 years old!

And this month, I am introducing my daughter to Laura Ingalls Wilder for the very first time.

Tirzah Mae is two, which means she’s not quite ready to sit down for a full chapter of Laura with only minimal illustrations… but she’s at just the right stage for the “My First Little House books”, abridged from Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie, and Farmer Boy and illustrated in the style of Garth Williams.

I intended to read one a day, but we read the first one and Tirzah Mae was hooked. She kept bringing me another and then another and another. Maybe it’s time to try the chapter books after all!

At any rate, the Little House books are the first books I remember binge reading and re-reading – and I’m delighted to be introducing my daughter to my own childhood friends!

Thanks, Barbara, for hosting this challenge – I intend to finish the rest of the “My First Little House Books” that my library offers and to write up my (and Tirzah Mae’s) thoughts at the end of the month.

Categories What's on Your Nightstand?

Nightstand (January 2017)

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It’s not every month that 5 Minutes for Books’s “Nightstand” falls on the last day of the month. It’s also not every month where I complete practically every book I’ve been working on by the end of the month, so as to start fresh for the next month. But since I’m trying to be super-disciplined to read at least one book in each of my five categories each month and since I’ve got to keep on top of my church history goal, I have completed everything I planned to read this month.

Louis and True Community

Books for Loving:

  • Paul: In Fresh Perspective by N.T. Wright
    A look at some of the themes of Paul’s writings (Creation and Covenant, Messiah and Apocalyptic, Gospel and Empire) and how Paul reworked traditional categories of Jewish thought (God, God’s people, and the future of God and His people.) I wrote a very few comments on this book in my post summarizing my first month studying church history.
  • True Community by Jerry Bridges
    A look at koinonia in Scripture and its implications for the Christian church of today. Highly readable, with excellent content. A lot to think about, a lot to grow into.

Louis and Growing Books

Books for Growing:

  • Spiritually Parenting Your Preschooler by C. Hope Flinchbaugh
    A quite readable and occasionally helpful little volume for Christian parents. I wish I could recommend it because it reads so nicely for a busy mom. Unfortunately, Flinchbaugh’s Word-of-Faith style charismatic-ism infuses so much that it’s hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. (Full disclosure: I was raised charismatic and am a continuationist; I had experiences with Word-of-Faith type teachings in my early teen years and find several of that movement’s tenets to be unbiblical and unhelpful.)
  • Honey for a Child’s Heart by Gladys Hunt
    Just about every guest of the Read-Aloud Revival podcast recommends this book. But since it wasn’t at my branch of the local library and since I assumed that it was just another book-list book (albeit from a Christian perspective), I wasn’t in any hurry to get it. But when I saw it on the shelf at my church’s library, I decided I’d at least figure out what the buzz was. What I found was so much more than a booklist. This is a full-figured book about nurturing children through books and poetry. I haven’t started going through the bibliography yet (so I can’t really comment on Hunt’s booklist!), but the book itself is an excellent encouragement for Christian parents to share beautiful books with their children.
  • As They Grow: Your Two-Year-Old by Diane O’Connell
    I didn’t have particularly high expectations of this book “by the editors of Parents magazine” – but I was in for a wonderful surprise. This book gives a fairly comprehensive look at what a child experiences in his twos, along with how parents can support and train their children through the twos. While I have a few points of difference with the authors (for example, they are anti-spanking and are concerned that children might learn gender roles if their mother does the housework while their father does the car maintenance), I generally found the advice to be common sense and helpful. I’m planning on skimming through this again and taking some notes so I can implement some of the strategies found within.

Louis and church history

Books for Knowing:

  • Church History in Plain Language by Bruce L. Shelley
    I read the first section (2 chapters long) on the “Age of Jesus and the Apostles” as the spine for my first month’s study of Church History. I’m glad I chose this as a spine. It’s easy to read and has just enough detail to allow me to take tangents for further study, without getting me bogged down as I’m reading.
  • Great People of the Bible and How They Lived by Reader’s Digest
    I read the New Testament section of this volume and found it an excellent resource to understand the stories of the New Testament in their historical context. If you’d like to read more, I wrote some comments on this book and the one above in my post summarizing my first month studying church history.

Louis and my kindle

Books for Seeing:

  • Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
    A re-read for my book club. I thoroughly enjoyed this the first time through (enough that I recommended it for book club!) and enjoyed it even more the second time. I especially enjoyed how preparing to lead discussion encouraged me to ask questions of myself as I read.
  • The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
    The compelling story of a man who seeks to give his sin nature absolute freedom – and discovers that this is not freedom at all. You can read my full review here.

Louis and Georgette Heyer

Books for Enjoying:

  • Friday’s Child by Georgette Heyer
    A bit of an unusual romance (since the main characters get married in the first couple chapters of the book) and a bit predictable from there on out (spoiler alert: they fall in love). But the inevitability of the two characters falling in love didn’t make this story of a completely innocent girl and her frivolous husband any less fun. A good part of the fun is the strong supporting roles the hero’s best friends serve as they attempt to turn his callow bride into a respectable lady.

Tirzah Mae and what

Up Next:

  • Church History in Plain Language by Bruce L. Shelley
    Section 2: “The Age of Catholic Christianity”
  • Getting to Know the Church Fathers by Brian Litfin
  • The Epistles of St. Ignatius
  • The Early Christians in their own words edited by Eberhard Arnold
  • Early Christian Church by J.G. Davies
  • Against Heretics and Against Marcion by Tertullian
  • The Gospel of Thomas
  • Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink
  • Boys in the Boatby Daniel James Brown
  • Success as a Foster Parent by the National Foster Parent Association with Rachel Greene Baldino
  • The Pearl by John Steinbeck
  • The Emperor of Nihon-Ja by John Flanagan

I’m also planning on reading as many “My First Little House” books as I can find at our library to Tirzah Mae in celebration of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s 150th birthday and Barbara H’s Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge.

Don’t forget to drop by 5 Minutes 4 Books to see what others are reading this month!

What's on Your Nightstand?

Categories Book Notes, Church History

Church History: The Age of Jesus and the Apostles

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This year’s main spiritual goal is to “grow theologically through a study of church history”. To that end, I’m using Bruce L. Shelley’s Church History in Plain Language as a spine and reading original sources and biographies to supplement my study. This month’s section was “The Age of Jesus and the Apostles, 6 BC – AD 70.” In other words, the New Testament Age. Because I am already relatively familiar with this stage of church history, this was an easy month. I read Matthew, Acts, and Ephesians as my original sources and selected two books on Paul from my local library (only one of which I finished, as seen below.) I also found one of Shelley’s recommended readings at my library and read that.

Core Reading: Church History in Plain Language
The two chapters on “The Age of Jesus and the Apostles” are easy reading. They summarize the narrative portions of the New Testament, giving some historical details drawn heavily from the below-mentioned Great People of the Bible and How They Lived.

Supplemental Reading:

Great People of the Bible and How They Lived by Reader’s Digest
Bruce included this work in his recommended readings for this section – and I’m glad he did. I’ve only read the New Testament section (so far), but I’ve found this to be a highly readable retelling of the narrative of the New Testament with appropriate historical details added in text and with photographs and illustrations. Given that this is a secular work, I would have expected significant skepticism about the words and works of Christ, as well as how the apostles interpreted said words and works – but this is not a skeptical work. In fact, it is quite the opposite. I especially enjoyed the discussion of temple politics and the divisions between the Pharisees and Sadducees and the discussion of the divisions between the Jerusalem Jews and the Hellenists. Another thing I’d never thought of was how the locus of ministry in the New Testament shifts from Galilee (during Jesus’ early ministry) to Jerusalem (during Jesus’ late ministry and the apostles’ early ministry) to Antioch (from which Paul and Barnabas’s missionary journeys were launched.)

Paul: In Fresh Perspective by N.T. Wright

This is a small but dense work edited from some lectures Wright gave at Cambridge University. I found it difficult to find time to read it because it required my full attention (something in short supply!) to get Wright’s points. Nevertheless, I am glad I read this. Some points I found useful:

  • Wright points out Paul’s consistent use of the word “Christ”, which we tend to think of as little more than Jesus’ surname, but which conveyed quite a bit more in Paul’s Jewish context. Specifically, Paul was consistently pointing to Jesus’ messianic role – what Wright calls an “apocalyptic” context. Wright discusses some of the expectations the Jews of Paul’s time would have had surrounding the term “Christ” and what that would have meant to them. To remind myself of this context, I’ve been mentally substituting “The Promised Messiah and Savior” whenever I read “Christ” in the New Testament.
  • Occasionally, I hear the cross in the Roman world compared to an electric chair – “You’d never hang an electric chair around your neck.” But Wright points out that the cross was not simply a means by which Rome carried out executions. It was a symbol of Rome’s might, particularly its power over conquered peoples. The cross represented the power of Rome to kill those who oppose. Yet the subversive nature of the gospel stated that the cross represents the power, not of Rome but of God, not to kill but to save.

Paul: The Mind of the Apostle by A.N. Wilson

I gave this book up after 50 pages, having grown tired of passages like this:

“If readers of the New Testament choose to believe that Paul never set eyes on Jesus and that he had no psychological interest or compulsion to inspire him throughout the thirty years in which he preached Jesus Christ Crucified other than the testimony of the friends of Jesus, whom he had barely met, then that reader is entitled to his or her point of view.”

I understand that not all biographers of Biblical persons consider the Bible to be the authoritative word of God – but I’d prefer not to represented by a straw man. Only a reader of the New Testament who is determined to disbelieve it will assume Paul’s reason for believing was “the testimony of the friends of Jesus whom he had barely met.” Scripture plainly states in Acts 9 and 22 that Paul’s reason for his “obsession” with Jesus was a personal encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. Call the Damascus road experience a hallucination if you like, but don’t pretend that the Bible gives no explanation for Paul’s zeal.

Categories Book Reviews

Book Review: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

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Theology tells us that man is depraved (Definition: “morally corrupt, wicked”). Every human is born with original sin. Yet despite man’s depravity from birth, the world is not wholly evil – it does not, has not degenerated into utter chaos and anarchy. Why is this?

Theology has an explanation for that as well. Common Grace is the grace of God that is present for all men, whether they believe the gospel or not. Common grace is responsible for all the good that unregenerate sinners do, and for the restraint of evil through means such as conscience or societal constraints.

But what if man’s innate evil were NOT constrained? What if it had free will to do whatever it chooses without fear of conscience or law?

If this were true of the whole world, surely the world would not last long – everyone would murder everyone and, after a brief period of chaos, all humanity would be obliterated (and that’s just speaking of the natural course of unrestrained sin, without discussing God’s judgment upon sin.)

But what if it was just one man who was evil without constraint? What if, indeed, one were able to split himself into two, with one half unrestrained evil and the other half still the restrained recipient of common grace?

This is the premise of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (even if Stevenson chooses not to couch it in such explicitly theological terms.)

Does this surprise you?

It certainly surprised me.

The names “Dr. Jekyll” and “Mr. Hyde” are so well-known, so frequently thrown around to mean simply two separate personalities that I believed this book to be about multiple personality disorder. In fact, I’m almost certain I read something once that described J.R.R. Tolkien’s Smeagol/Gollum character a continuation of the literary fascination with multiple personality disorder typified by The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Yet this book is quite emphatically NOT about multiple personality disorder. It’s about unrestrained sin and trying to find a way to avoid the struggle Paul describes in Romans 7:21 “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.” Except that Dr. Jekyll wants to find a wholly natural solution to this problem (apart from the supernatural answer God gives to the problem of sin at work in our bodies: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Romans 7:24-25a ESV)

Discovering that this book was not what I’d expected was an altogether pleasant surprise. Also a pleasant surprise, this is a short book, coming in right around 100 pages, and quite readable. As a result, I highly recommend it to people such as myself – people who are pressed for time but who want to think deeply about the human condition and who desire to be “well-read”.

Rating: 5 stars
Category: Classic fiction
Synopsis: Dr. Jekyll tries to separate his “evil” side from his “good” side, with unexpected results.
Recommendation: Highly recommended

Categories Book Reviews, Homemaking

Cookbook Review: Classic Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals

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While I enjoy complicated techniques and fancy ingredients on the occasion, I generally have three priorities in cooking. I like my recipes cheap, quick, and tasty.

Which is why I’ve been selecting cookbooks from the “quick” section at my local library.

Rachael Ray features prominently in this section, and I chose Classic Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals for my first foray into the world of Ray.

Rachael Ray book cover

The Recipes

With 500 or so recipes, this book doesn’t skimp like some do. The recipes are divided into 4 broad categories: Everyday, Parties, Date Nights, and Kid Chefs. Each recipe contains a side-bar “menu” that includes the entree and suggested sides (recipes for sides may or may not be included depending on their complexity: “Green salad and Crusty Bread” does not have a recipe.) Some recipes include a little blurb with recipe descriptions or personal stories, but not all recipes do.

I tagged quite a few recipes in the “everyday” section as interesting (most of the party recipes were a bit too fancy for me, see above) – and I tried three recipes altogether.

Our family loves curry, so I was eager to try Ray’s “Curry in a Hurry”, which used golden raisins and mango chutney for sweetness (rather than the coconut milk we often use in our curries). I tried it with green curry paste and added extra vegetables (green peppers and sweet potatoes if I remember correctly.) We found that it was INCREDIBLY mild and quite sweet. I suppose we shouldn’t have been terribly surprised – green curry paste is much milder than red curry paste, so we’ve often felt the need to add more green curry to recipes (especially those written for the generic American). Also, both sweet potatoes and bell peppers tend to be sweet vegetables, so… Even so, while the idea was interesting, the reality wasn’t even compelling enough for me to try modifying it for future use.

The second recipe we tried was “Mamma’s Broccolini and Ricotta Pasta”, which was very easy to put together, but lacked something in oomph. Perhaps it was because I used frozen brocccoli instead of broccolini (does broccolini have a stronger flavor?), but we ended up loading this with Parmesan cheese (not in the recipe at all) to give it a bit more flavor – and still found it pretty bland. Sad day.

The third recipe we tried was much more successful. “Chili for ‘Veg-Heads'” is a vegetarian chili recipe with three different types of beans (black, red kidney, and refried beans) as well as peppers and onions. I love me a vegetarian chili, but Daniel likes to have meat in his meals, so I added a pound of ground beef but otherwise made this as written. Daniel conceded that it was good enough to use as a base for developing our own recipe (hooray! I’ve tried a half dozen or so chili recipes over the course of our marriage, none of which merited such high praise – the most common complaint Daniel has had is that my veggie-loaded chilies are too sweet.) As written, the chili is VERY mild (do I sense a theme?) – so most of our modifications have involved adding heat by mixing up the pepper types and/or quantities. I’ve included our favorite rendition below.

Overall thoughts

From the recipes we tried, it appears that Ray really does deliver on the 30 minute promise. Even with cutting up vegetables, I was able to complete the recipes we tried in half an hour. So that’s good. As far as my other two priorities: cheap and tasty? Eh. Many of the recipes call for unusual ingredients, which are generally more expensive (both because they’re harder to find and because you’re more likely to have ingredients left over that you can’t figure out how to use.) As far as taste goes, the three recipes we tried all ended up on the bland side. Then again, we tend to like highly seasoned dishes – so your results may vary.

As far as health goes, I was not tremendously impressed with the suggested menus, which were starch-heavy and vegetable-poor. Skip one of her starches and add an extra vegetable side (or two) if you want a balanced meal. Also, Ray apparently has no idea what constitutes “healthy”, so just ignore anything she says about health (thankfully, she mostly avoids discussing it.)

How is this book for browsing? As mentioned above, some recipes have little blurbs, others don’t – which means you often have to read through a recipe in order to get a sense of what it’s like. You may or may not enjoy that. There are full-page photographs every 5-6 pages (or so, I didn’t actually count), and smaller photos more frequently than that – but a fair number of the photos are of Ray rather than the food, which I find HIGHLY disappointing.

Overall, I am not impressed with Rachael Ray (based solely on this cookbook – I don’t have any other knowledge of her or experience with her.) She fails at two of my primary criteria for recipes (cheap and tasty) – and provided a sub-par recipe reading experience. Again, your results may vary.

Sample Recipe: Chili for Veg-Heads
Liberally adapted by Rebekah Garcia :-)

  • 1 lb ground beef or pork
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 medium bell pepper, seeded and chopped
  • 3 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced (or 4 tsp pre-potted minced garlic)
  • 1 tsp beef base
  • 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 quart diced tomatoes
  • 2 cups black beans (drain and rinse if using canned)
  • 2 cups kidney beans (drain and rinse if using canned)
  • 1.5 Tbsp ground cumin
  • 1.5 Tbsp chili powder
  • 0.5 Tbsp Frank’s Red Hot Sauce
  • 2 cups refried beans
  1. Brown ground beef or pork. Add onions, peppers, and garlic and saute until onions are translucent.
  2. Add rest of ingredients and heat through. Serve with your choice of chili toppings.