Tag Archives: Understanding God

Real Sex by Lauren Winner

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Synopsis:
An exploration of the meaning of chastity in the 21st century.

Review:
Real Sex is an excellent companion piece to Anna Broadway’s Sexless in the City. Winner offers a larger cultural and historical context for Broadway’s desire to live chastely, and has some ideas about why Broadway expresses some disappointment in the way she has been taught by the church to think about sex.

Winner’s analysis is thoughtful and well-researched, and is worth reading even by those who don’t hold the same beliefs in the importance of chastity as Winner.

The Shaming of the Strong by Sarah Williams

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Synopsis:
Told their unborn child has birth defects that will likely lead to stillbirth, a couple decide to see the pregnancy through to term.

Review:
I am a sucker for stories like those found in The Shaming of the Strong. When I was pregnant with Superfast Baby I thought a lot about what I would do if I found out that something was wrong, and I hoped that I would be strong enough to make the choice that Sarah Williams made, however painful it might be. I decided not to have any testing done during pregnancy so that I wouldn’t be faced with that decision. Having suffered a miscarriage before getting pregnant with Superfast Baby, my heart goes out to all mothers whose pregnancies take a painful turn.

I actually found it hard to read this book. What Sarah Williams experienced as she carried her child to term and delivered a stillborn baby was so painful to me as a mother that I just didn’t want to get too close. It is just too easy to put myself in her shoes, and I found that I did not want to go there with her. The book was given to me by a dear friend who also had a miscarriage, and she found it very healing. I can definitely see why, and I am sure that I will return to this book in the future.

Sexless in the City by Anna Broadway

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Synopsis:
The misadventures of a hapless twenty-something woman whose greatest fear is that she will die a virgin, and whose second greatest fear is that she’ll have sex before marriage.

Review:
I’ll let you know up front that there’s no way that I can be objective about Sexless in the City, because Anna Broadway met the woman who bought her book in my very living room. (Yes, I am Blogyenta, formerly known as Girlfriend #6.)

Reading Anna’s book was like sitting down to have a good long talk. We used to do this all the time, but then she decided that she could no longer resist the call to California, and off she went. Thankfully she’s great about keeping in touch, and made sure to come and meet Superfast Baby when she was in town a few months ago. Anna’d also honored me be asking my opinion on many a key section of the book, so there wasn’t much that was unfamiliar to me. Knowing how hard she fought to tell the truth, even when it painted her in a less than flattering light, I’m pleased to see that the end result is something of which she can be truly proud.

So congratulations, Anna! We miss you *kiss*

Alas, and did my Savior bleed

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Today is Good Friday. Our church doesn’t own its building, so we won’t be going to a service tonight. Instead, we’ll be watching Acts 3&4 of When the Levees Broke. While watching the first half last night I had to keep my eyes on my knitting to keep from dissolving in tears every five minutes. It’s shocking to see so many people suffering so greatly, under a baking hot sun with help so frustratingly unavailable. Why those people couldn’t have gotten food and water dropped to them is unfathomable to me. Continue reading →

The Wife (Kristin Lavransdatter II) by Sigrid Undset

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Synopsis:
Now married to her beloved Erlend Niklausson, Kristin takes up her new life as the mistress of Husaby, fearful that the child that grows inside her will expose her secret shame and cause her father to reject her.

Review:
I didn’t think it was going to be possible for Undset to outdo her achievement The Wreath, book I of her Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy set in Norway in the 14th century. I feared that marriage wouldn’t suit Kristin, that her vitality and inner fire would be quenched by the mundane tasks of childrearing and household economy. But Undset is a wickedly enticing storyteller, and the Kristin that she gives us in The Wife rages with life, and her struggles are even more accessible today than those that young Kristin endured. Continue reading →

Harold Bloom’s Five Books vs. Mine

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In Newsweek this week, literary critic Harold Bloom offers his list of the five books he’d take to the desert island with him. Touchstone Magazine’s blog has some intriguing commentary, and some fun lists in the comments.

I will not be bringing the 2nd of 3 books I read tonight for work, because it was by-the-numbers chick lit. The five books I’d bring to the stupid desert island are: Continue reading →

Glittering Images by Susan Howatch

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Synopsis:
When the Archbishop of Canterbury sends a canon to uncover evidence of sexual misconduct in the home of one of his bishops, a mare’s nest of scandal erupts and the canon must face hard truths about the hypocrisies in his life. Continue reading →