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“The Women,” the War, the Wall
When someone said to Frances McGrath, “Women can be heroes,” those words set her trajectory, landing her on the other side of the world. The main character “Frankie” McGrath joined the Army as an Army Corps nurse because she wanted to follow her brother Finley to Vietnam. From the beginning of Kristin Hannah’s new book, The Women, readers discover how fiction can tell the story of a war that the media and America’s leadership during that war worked to suppress. In her author acknowledgement, Kristin includes an impressive list of research sources. She also wrote this: “In writing this novel, I have tried to be as historically accurate as possible.…
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Every Human Being Bleeds Red
The Covenant of Water, this may be the most majestical book I have ever read. Stop. Best book I have ever listened to, all 31 hours and 16 minutes. Read by the author, hearing him tell this story prepared me to read the book, which I plan to read word by word this summer, all 715 pages. The Covenant of Water is a novel written by Abraham Verghese, currently a professor and Vice chair of the Department of Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine. This leaves out a string of other recognitions and achievements, credentials that hint at his background, that contribute to the authority he demonstrates throughout…
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Do You Know What You’re Doing When You Read?
“You need to know what you’re doing if you’re doing it.” This wisdom came from the mouth of a babe, my then 6-year old grandson. I wish you could hear the way he said it. Like so much of the fast-paced life today, people try to squeeze in (or squeeze out) as much as possible in a 24-hour day, and half the time, do we even know what we’re doing while doing it? Ironically, switching tasks costs time rather than saves it. Like checking email while talking on the phone, one or the other will claim our focus, and when the other intrudes, the brain switches tracks. Imagine a drone-view…
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Did I Read 23 Books in 2023?
Stephen King refers to books as “portable magic.” Books enable readers to engage with the world beyond our own limitations and experiences. In early December, someone asked me how many books I had read this year. I had no idea. Beginning last year, I did start keeping track in the NOTES app on my phone, so later I checked and discovered I have read 23 in ’23. I am not a fast reader, nor do I compete with other readers or attempt to break records. I am a careful reader. I write in books and I work to remember at least some of what I read. I welcome book recommendations…
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The Life Is in the Book: Characters Have a Life of Their Own
Last week, I closed the book Tom Lake, at the part where the character Peter Drake is introduced. I already know what happens because I listened to the book on Audible, read by Meryl Streep. Fantastic reader, by the way. After turning out the light, I went from sleepy to wide awake as I started trying to “cast” the characters in this book for a movie. Who could play Peter Drake? Tom Cruise is too short and Tom Hanks isn’t handsome (though he has throughout his career portrayed endearing characters). I thought of them first because they both have dark hair, yet knowing they are too old now to portray…
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Do You Like This Book?
A close friend began our conversation by saying she did not like a book I had recommended. Though I often repeat, “A book is only as good as it is timely,” in this case, her comments led me to rethink how different readers respond to the same books. Quite incidentally, after that conversation, a blog I read linked to “Fabled Bookshop” in Waco, TX. [1] It’s an independent bookshop and cafe, one that my daughter and granddaughter have visited and had told me about. Online, this bookstore offers what they call “THE STORY BOUND SOCIETY––A Book Subscription for Every Character.” Here, you choose your character for a monthly subscription that…
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Thinking Big Thoughts
When my 7-year-old grandson captured my Queen in five chess moves, I admitted again that I am not a strategist. Or a manager. Or a calculator of wins and losses. Soon after that match, while cleaning my office and clearing out a ton of stuff that no longer serves my purposes, I came across notes from a chapel message by Dr. Larry Crabb [1], notes taken while I was in seminary. Chess Players vs. Poets Comparing chess players and poets, Dr. Crabb argued that chess players maneuver and manipulate in ways that make God subject to their moves. Poets hear the music of heaven, step onto the dance floor to…
