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Sunday Salon: Books Read in July, 2010

Aug8

Nonfiction:
River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard. Semicolon review and thoughts about TR here.

Adult fiction:
The Big Steal by Emyl Jenkins.

Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus by Orson Scott Card. Recommended by Seth Heasley at Collateral Bloggage. Semicolon review here.

Young adult and children’s fiction:
Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George. This Cinderella story, published in May 2010, is also a sequel/companion to Princess of the Midnight Ball. I liked it, but I found that after reading and enjoying the book, I didn’t really have much to say about it. Here’s a full review from Charlotte’s Library if you’re interested in re-imagined fairy tales.

They Never Came Back by Caroline B. Cooney.

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter. Great book in the Gallagher Girls series.

Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins. Semicolon review here.

Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper. Semicolon review here.

Started, but unfinished:
Good Behavior: A Memoir by Nathan L. Henry. Wa-a-a-a-y to much information about the dark recesses of the mind and violent human behavior.

Run With the Horseman by Ferrol Sams. God writing, somewhat tiresome and crude subject matter.

Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love and the Search for Home by Kim Sunee. More thoughts on these three unfinished books here.

The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt. I actually spent quite a bit of time on this one and read more than half of the book, probably three-fourths. However, I finally realized that I didn’t like anyone in the book, and I didn’t believe that that many unsympathetic and unsavory characters could inhabit one small community. Possession was much better.

I’m also slowly reading through Edmund Morris’s Theodore Rex, a biography of the adult Theodore Roosevelt. I will finish it, but it may take a while.

Books About Teddy

Jul24

Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough.

River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard.

Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris.

Theodore Roosevelt is one of my fascinations. I read McCullough’s Mornings on Horseback back in March, but I never got around to reviewing it. It was a lovely narrative biography of the young Teddy Roosevelt and a good attempt to bring to light some of the influences and experiences in his childhood and youth that made Teddy Roosevelt the man he became. However, the book stops rather abruptly just as young Theodore is on the brink of his national political career. I was primed and eager for more “Teedy” after reading Mornings.

A few Teddy-isms:

“For unflagging interest and enjoyment, a household of children, if things go reasonably well, certainly makes all other forms of success and achievement lose their importance by comparison.”

“There are two things that I want you to make up your minds to: first, that you are going to have a good time as long as you live – I have no use for the sour-faced man – and next, that you are going to do something worthwhile, that you are going to work hard and do the things you set out to do.”

“Don’t hit at all if you can help it; don’t hit a man if you can possibly avoid it; but if you do hit him, put him to sleep.”

“A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.”

“In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”

“I can be President of the United States, or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly do both.” Teddy’s response to a request to better control the behavior of his eldest daughter, Alice Roosevelt.

“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”

“I don’t think any President ever enjoyed himself more than I did. Moreover, I don’t think any ex-President ever enjoyed himself more.”

“If I’m to go, it’s all right. You see that the others don’t stop for me . . . I’ve the shortest span of life ahead of any in the party. If anyone is to die here, I must be the one.”

That last statement was made to a member of Roosevelt’s expedition through the Amazon when Roosevelt was so seriously ill with fever and infection that he was not expected to survive to complete the journey of exploration. On this expedition Theodore Roosevelt was 55 years old, and until his leg became infected he could keep up with or outlast any man in the group.

Theodore Roosevelt became president at forty-two, when William McKinley was assassinated. Although he wasn’t the youngest man ever elected president (that was Kennedy, age 43), Teddy was the youngest to become president. When TR’s second term was over, he was still only fifty years old, making him the youngest ex-president, too.

T.R., b. 1858, is my favorite of all the presidents. I don’t say he was the best or the wisest or the one I would most agree with politically, but he would definitely be the most interesting dinner guest of all the presidents. He was a talented politician and statesman, but he was also real and straightforward and ingenuous. That’s an amazing combination.

What people said about Teddy Roosevelt:

“Look out for Theodore. He’s not strong, but he’s all grit. He’ll kill himself before he’ll even say he’s tired.” ~A doctor who knew young Teddy Roosevelt.

“Now look–that d— cowboy is President of the United States!” ~Senator Mark Hanna after hearing of McKinley’s assassination.”

“You must always remember that the President (TR) is about six.” ~Cecil Spring RIce

“One subject I do know, and ought to know, is the birds. It has been one of the main studies of a long life He (TR) knew the subject as well as I did, while he knew with the same thoroughness scores of other subjects of which I am entirely ignorant.” ~Naturalist John Burroughs.

“Mr. Roosevelt is the Tom Sawyer of the political world of the twentieth century; always showing off; always hunting for a chance to show off; in his frenzied imagination the Great Republic is a vast Barnum circus with him for a clown and the whole world for audience; he would go to Halifax for half a chance to show off and he would go to hell for a whole one.” ~Mark Twain

“And talk! I never saw a man who talked so much. He would talk all the time he was in swimming, all of the time during meals, traveling in the canoe and at night around the camp fire. He talked endlessly and on all conceivable subjects.” ~Brazilian Colonel Candido Rondon who led with TR an expedition down the previously unexplored River of Doubt in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest.

“The truth is, he believes in war and wishes to be a Napoleon and to die on the battle field. He has the spirit of the old berserkers.” ~William Howard Taft.

Teddy Roosevelt “read so rapidly that he had to plan very carefully in order to have enough books to last him through a trip.” ~Roosevelt’s son, Kermit.

“Death had to take him in his sleep, for if he was awake there’d have been a fight.” ~Thomas R. Marshall, Vice-president of the U.S.

“Never before has it been so hard for me to accept the death of any man as it has been for me to accept the death of Theodore Roosevelt. A pall seems to settle upon the very sky. The world is bleaker and colder for his absence from it. We shall not look upon his like again.” ~John Burroughs

I saw River of Doubt at a bookstore in South Dakota, and I had to buy it. After viewing Teddy’s unmistakeable visage on Mount Rushmore and then seeing the Badlands Teddy’s old stomping grounds, I had to read about this Amazonian journey of exploration undertaken after Roosevelt’s disappointing loss in a bid for a third term as president. Teddy Roosevelt was intrepid and courageous to a fault, and he lived for adventure. At the age of 55 a trip down an unexplored South American river in canoes passing through the territory of savage and violent native tribal peoples who had never seen a white man before should have been out of the question. And the fact that the trip almost ended Roosevelt’s life makes it all the more fascinating.

I’m still reading the my third book about Theodore Roosevelt, a biography that begins with TR’s sudden elevation to the presidency. I’m finding it just as interesting and inspiring as the other two were. I’m not tempted to undertake any physical feats of daring and bravery, but I do want to live as passionately as Teddy Roosevelt. Don’t you know that heaven itself is a more lively and passion-filled place because God created Theodore Roosevelt and took him to explore the universe of God’s creation?

Scratch Beginnings by Adam Shepard

Jun22

Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream by Adam Shepard.

I’m going to buy a copy of this book for a young man I know, who in addition to making what I consider very foolish decisions about his spiritual life, is also stuck in a dead end job and not at all sure how to move on and begin doing more than living from paycheck to paycheck. My friend wants to go back to college, but he can barely afford to pay the rent and his car payment each month. He feels trapped. The book won’t change his spiritual condition, but it might inspire him to change his economic and physical status.

Adam Shepard started out lower on the economic scale than my friend is now. He decided, after graduating from college, to try an experiment. He would take twenty-five dollars, a sleeping bag, and the clothes on his back, and go to a randomly chosen city to start life with no friends, no credit rating, and no safety net. He chose Charleston, South Carolina out of a hat and took the train to that fair city. Once he got there, he headed for the nearest homeless shelter (which didn’t turn out to be too nearby). His goal was, by the end of a year, to have a car, a furnished apartment, and $2500 in the bank.

The book would be an inspiration particularly to young people just starting out in life and perhaps to those who are working to bring themselves up out of poverty after bad decisions or bad luck or some combination thereof have put them there. I want to give a copy to my friend because he’s discouraged about his future, and I want him to see what hard work and determination can do. The book is just one guy’s experience. The details of where Mr. Shepard got a job and what he did to save money and to make ends meet won’t work for everyone. But the general principles of working as hard as you can, overcoming setbacks with persistence, and making the most of the opportunities you have are good for anyone, anywhere.

Did Mr Shepard meet his goals? Yes, and he did it in ten months, not twelve. He did it with very little help from the government (food stamps) and with a great deal of self-discipline and stubborn resolve. The language in the book is sometimes crude, the language of the streets where Mr. Shepard found himself, but the message is worth the skimming over language I had to do. I think you’ll find it worthwhile, too.

The Headmistress at The Common Room compares Scratch Beginnings with Nickled and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich.

Voices of the Faithful, Book 2, compiled by Kim P. Davis

Jun3

Inspiring Stories of Courage from Christians Serving Around the World

When I received a copy of this book of daily devotional stories from Thomas Nelson’s Book Sneeze Program, I planned to use it to read aloud to the urchins each day about missionaries and their service. I had hoped to form a habit for our family of praying for others outside of our immediate circle and of caring for God’s people around the world.

It didn’t happen –for lots of reasons, mainly my lack of discipline and my faulty memory.

Nevertheless, I would still like to share this book with my family, and maybe if I can get my act together we’ll start this summer. I did browse through the book and I’d like for my yound students and disciples to hear about:

Danika who at age 90 heard about the gospel of Jesus Christ for the first time—and at 94 years of age, believed in Him.

“Ratko” who came to English club to cause trouble and learned that God’s plan was to make peace with estranged sinners.

Daniel who prays daily for and writes letters to hundreds of missionaries around the world.

Walmiy who patiently endures the hardships of life in a hot, desert climate in order to share Jesus with the the nomadic tribal people living there.

And there are 362 more stories in this encouraging, convicting book. The missionaries who share their stories in the book and who live out the gospel all around the world are Southern Baptist missionaries working under the auspices of the International Mission Board of the SBC, but the stories and the people in them transcend denomination. If you are a Christian and you want to be challenged to live a life of sacrifice and service to the Lord, read these stories. If you want your children to be challenged in the same way, read the stories to them. Then, pray together, like Daniel, that God will continue to work through the missionaries of the International Mission Board and other missionary agencies to reach our lost world with the gospel good news that God is in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.

I’ve talked myself into starting tomorrow.

Disrupting Grace: A Story of Relinquishment and Healing by Kristen Richburg

Jun1

I have my own share of family, well, not secrets, but things that are too painful and raw to talk about or to blog about. I can’t imagine writing a book about my own wounds, even after they someday, God willing, are healed. Nevertheless, that’s what Kristen Richburg has done in this book, and I admire her honesty, even though it’s almost too painful to read.

Disrupting Grace is about attachment disorder and about an adoption that didn’t last. Of course, the operative question going into this true memoir of an adoption gone terribly wrong, is how? How could anyone give away their own child, adopted or not? Why would anyone give up their own child, no matter how damaged or disturbed?

Well, all I can say is, that after reading the book, I understand how a family could come to such a decision, and I believe Ms. Richburg when she says that relinquishment was the most loving decision her family could make in the interest of all concerned. From the book’s preface:

“I have two children. I used to have three. My third child didn’t grow up and leave home; she didn’t die. I relinquished her. I stood before a judge and said that I was no longer able to meet her needs. She is living with another family now and has a new last name. . . .

How did I get here? Were those five years a dream? Aren’t adoption stories supposed to have happy endings? . . . What are families to do when despite all their efforts, their child isn’t thriving, and the rest of the family is coming apart at the seams?

Sometimes I wish I could erase my adoption story. Most of the time I am thankful I can’t. I know there was a purpose for all of it. And my life will never be the same.”

I believe in adoption. I know many, many happy, well-adjusted adoptive families. However, we live in a broken world. And just as I believe in marriage and yet know that sometimes divorce is a last option, I can also see that in some situations the only “solution” might be to place a child, adopted or not, in another family where he or she has a second chance to bond and grow and be loved.

This story is important for families who are considering adoption, for those are supporting adoptive families in prayer and encouragement, and pastors and counselors who might be confronted with difficult adoptive situations. I found it fascinating, and although I hurt for both the Richburg family and for the little girl they adopted, I was also able to see God’s grace and mercy through the pain of a very difficult journey.

Kristin Richburg’s website gives links to resources for adoptive parents in addition to more information about the author and the book.
Here’s a bibliography of resources about attachment disorder.

Nonfiction Monday: Pythagorus and the Ratios by Julie Ellis

May24

Today is “Nontraditional Nonfiction Monday,” as declared by host Travis at 100 Scope Notes. Problem is, my reviews are always sort of non-traditional (scroll down to read my musings on writing book reviews). So, how does a non-traditional book reviewer write a review that’s nontraditional for her?

I got it: farm out the review to Engineer Husband. Engineer Husband is an expert on math and kids, having helped out in the math education of eight urchins (no math majors yet, but he’s still hoping). The book is part of a series called Math Adventures, and I was sent a copy for review.

Without further ado:

Pythagoras and the Ratios is the story of how young Pythagoras helps his cousins prepare for a musical contest by tuning their musical instruments (pipes and lyres). Hearing the difference between the pleasant sound of his own pipes and the unpleasant sound of his cousin’s leads Pythagoras to make observations about the ratios of length of the six pipes in the instrument. By means of measurement and simple mathematics, Pythagoras makes an important discovery and verifies it by modifying his cousin’s pipes so that they are in tune with his own. He next applies his newly-discovered principle to tune the lyres of his other cousins, also with good results. Beautiful color illustrations compliment the story line that includes the following character-building elements: children’s responsibility to obey their parents in completing assigned chores, the helpful attitude that Pythagoras displays toward his cousins, the thankful spirit that Pythagoras shows toward his cousins for their help with one of his chores, the optimistic attitude that Pythagoras displays in response to disaster when he breaks his own instrument in rushing to the musical contest, and, of course, curiosity coupled with observation and the use of mathematics to see relationships that help us understand and explain nature. The author includes a brief scientific explanation at the end of the book.

And that’s how an engineer writes a book review. Just the facts, m’am.

A Walk With Jane Austen by Lori Smith

Apr21

I’m a Jane Austen fan myself, maybe not quite so much as some others I could name including the author of this book, but I definitely get the attraction. Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy coming out of the water after a swim, check. The whole chemistry between Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy, check. Marianne and Elinor in Sense and Sensibility and the contrast between one sister’s reserve and the other sisters’ romanticism, check. All of Austen’s female protagonists and their struggles with relationships with men in particular, check. Emma and Mr Knightley! Yeah, I get it. And I would absolutely love to take a trip to England and “walk where Jane Austen walked.” (Or where C.S. Lewis walked or JRR Tolkien, Charles Dickens, the Brontes, Shakespeare, etc. I’m an Anglophile.)

So, I enjoyed A Walk With Jane Austen, even as I cringed a little when the author shared with us her innermost feelings and thoughts, her insecurities, and her love life. It was transparent and brave, but also a bit too introspective in some places. Also her season of life is not mine. Ms. Smith is 30-something and single, wanting to love and be loved, often comparing herself to Jane Austen and to Austen’s characters. I’m 52 and married with eight children. I could understand Ms. Smith’s stresses and obsessions but I’m just not there.

That said, I think my daughters, ages 18, 20, and 24, would enjoy this book. The Jane Austen aspect gives it some weight and keeps it from becoming just the emotional ramblings of an evangelical Christian spinster. And Ms. Smith does have some good insight into the single life, courtship among evangelical Christians, and the evangelical culture in general. She writes about things that many of us are afraid to say: why are so many Christian single guys so weird? What is the balance between loading one’s emotions onto other people and being so reserved/repressed that you never share anything? What do you do if you’re “in love” and he’s not? Why do guys so often send such mixed signals? If he’s not willing to commit as soon as you are, do you exercise patience or move on? Are there any Mr. Darcys around anymore? Can any guy live up to Jane Austen’s male leads?

Lori Smith is a good writer, and I did develop an interest in her and in what happened to her after the end of the book, enough so that I looked her up on the web. What I found is a bit disturbing and curious. She had a blog called Jane Austen Quote of the Day, but it hasn’t been updated since November, 2008. And her other blog, Following Jane, also has lain dormant since November 2008. Her twitter feed was last updated November, 2009. I can’t find any more recent information about Ms. Smith on the web, although with such a common name there could be stuff that I missed, and since she had just been diagnosed with a rather serious disease at the end of the book . . . It was enough to make me stop and pray for Lori Smith, even though I don’t know her really. The book was good enough and intimate enough to make me feel as if I do.

Texas Tuesday: Apparent Danger by David R. Stokes

Apr20

Apparent Danger: The Pastor of America’s First Megachurch and the Texas Murder Trial of the Decade in the 1920’s by David R. Stokes.

I get a lot of emails from publicists pitching books that I might want to review here on the blog. Mostly, I don’t respond because a) most of the books just don’t sound that interesting to me, and b) I don’t like being pressured to read a book and write a review on someone else’s time schedule. However, when I received an email about Apparent Danger, I took the bait because I am interested in Texas history, particularly Southern Baptist history in Texas, and the book was about the notorious J. Frank Norris, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Fort Worth from 1909 until Norris’s death in 1952.

What I knew about Norris before I read the book: He was the pastor of FBC, Fort Worth. He got thrown out of or left the Southern Baptist Convention with his church. He was a real, live “fundamentalist.” He was involved in some kind of scandal or something?

What I learned from the book: J. Frank Norris was much more than just a run-of-the-mill pastor of a large church. He was a celebrity with aspirations to become the religious and political leader of the fundamentalist movement after the death of orator and politician William Jennings Bryan. The “scandal” I vaguely associated with Norris was really more than one scandal, but the biggest one was that he shot and killed an unarmed man in his church office —and was subsequently indicted and tried for first-degree murder. (And we think we have outrageous behavior among the clergy nowadays!) Of course, the book goes into much more detail about Norris, the murder, the trial, Norris’s relationships with Fort Worth’s finest, almost everything you’d ever want to know about Fort Worth and its politics and culture in 1926.

And I ate up every word. The picture that Mr. Stokes paints of this larger-than-life preacher and his strange reaction to criticism and controversy is fascinating. I kept trying to figure out what made J. Frank Norris tick and why so many people were so devoted to him and to his church for so long. That I never completely understood or got answers to those questions was not the fault of the author so much as the subject. Pastor J. Frank Norris didn’t seem to want to be understood so much as feared and followed and obeyed and admired. He was virulently anti-Catholic, associated with the Ku Klux Klan if not a member, and yet he spent a lot of time visiting in the homes of his six thousand church members and and seemed to see himself as a crusader against the evils of alcohol, gambling, and immorality in general. But he didn’t see anything immoral or even questionable about his shooting of Mr. D.E. Chipps in cold blood in the church building on July 17, 1926.

I thought the book, again, was wonderful in its detailed and comprehensive view of the time period and of the particular circumstances of Chipp’s death and the subsequent trial of J. Frank Norris. At the same time I very much wanted to know who Norris was and why he did what he did. Did he really believe what he preached? Was he a charlatan out to make a buck and enjoy his power over the masses? Was he ever sorry for the events of July 17th? What did his children think of him? Or his grandchildren? If he didn’t really believe the Bible, how did he sustain such a ministry for a lifetime? If he did, how did he square his actions with Jesus’s commands to practice peace and humility and lovingkindness? How could a Christian man ever feel justified in killing another human being, even in self-defense? (Oddly enough, George W. Truett, pastor of FBC, Dallas, during the same time that Norris was in Fort Worth, accidentally shot and killed a friend in a hunting accident, and it nearly ended his ministry. Truett was deeply depressed by the accident and only recovered after much prayer and encouragement from his congregation and family.)

I found this article, A Tale of Two Preachers, by author David Stokes linked at his website, and it added some to the story. But still I came away from the book wishing I knew more about this man, Doctor J. Frank Norris. (He received an honorary doctorate from Simmons College, as my alma mater, Hardin-Simmons University, was called back in those days.) How could he continue on for twenty-five more years in the ministry at the same church without ever revealing his heart? Did he have a heart? Did he preach the gospel, or just so much legalistic, racist, anti-Catholic nonsense? Was it all so mixed-up that you couldn’t sort it out? What really sustained Norris, besides Kipling’s poem If, a poem he had posted on his study wall and could quote by heart?

Apparent Danger is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of fundamentalist Christianity, of Fort Worth, of Texas Baptists, or of religion in the 1920’s. It reads like a fresh news story and seems to be well-researched and sourced without having the story itself get bogged down in footnotes and minutia. Recommended history.

Semicolon Book Club for March

Mar1

The theme for the Semicolon Book Club for March is biography/autobiography, and the particular selelction for this month is David McCullough’s Mornings on Horseback, a biography of Teddy Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States. The subtitle is “the story of an extraordinary family, a vanished way of life, and the unique child who became Theodore Roosevelt.”

I very much enjoyed reading McCullough’s biography of John Adams last March, and I expect to enjoy this book just as much. TR is one of my favorite historical characters.

Come back to Semicolon after Easter (April 5th) for discussion of this most excellent biography.

President’s Day for Kids

Feb12

Monday, February 15th is Presidents’ Day, so I thought I’d re-run this list with a few additions. Have a happy holiday!

Leetla Giorgio Washeenton by Thomas Augustine Daly.

More Washington Poetry.

O Captain My Captain by Walt Whitman.

White House site with mini-biographies of all 44 U.S. Presidents.

More information on the Presidents for President’s Day.

Recommended Children’s Books about the Presidents:

The Buck Stops Here by Alice Provensen.

So You Want to be President? by Judith St. George and David Small.

Lives of the Presidents: Fame, Shame (and What the Neighbors Thought) by Kathleen Krull.

A Book of Americans by Rosemary Carr and Stephen Vincent Benet.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the White House: Foolhardiness, Folly, and Fraud in the Presidential Elections, from Andrew Jackson to George W. Bush by David E. Johnson.

George Washington and the Founding of a Nation by Albert Marrin.

George Washington’s World by Genevieve Foster.

George Washington’s Breakfast by Jean Fritz.

Dangerous Crossing: The Revolutionary Voyage of John and John Quincy Adams by Stephen Krensky.

John Adams: Young Revolutionary by Jan Adkins. (Childhood of Famous Americans series)

Abigail Adams: Girl of Colonial Days by Jean Brown Wagoner. (Childhood of Famous Americans series)

A Picture Book of Thomas Jefferson by David A. Adler.

The Great Little Madison by Jean Fritz.

Young John Quincy by Cheryl Harness.

Old Hickory: Andrew Jackson and the American People by Albert Marrin.

William Henry Harrison, Young Tippecanoe by Howard Peckham. (Young Patriots series)


Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman

Lincoln Shot: A President’s Life Remembered
 by Barry Denenberg.

Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James Swanson.

Abraham Lincoln for Kids: His Life and Times with 21 Activities by Janis Herbert.

If You Grew Up With Abraham Lincoln by Ann McGovern.

Unconditional Surrender: U. S. Grant and the Civil War by Albert Marrin.

Bully For You, Teddy Roosevelt by Jean Fritz

The Great Adventure: Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of Modern America by Albert Marrin.

Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery by Russell Freedman.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt by Russell Freedman.

Dwight D. Eisenhower: Young Military Leader by George E. Stanley.(Childhood of Famous Americans series)

Kennedy Assassinated! The World Mourns: A Reporter’s Story by Wilborn Hampton.

Ronald Reagan: Young Leader by Montrew Dunham. (Childhood of Famous Americans series)