Francine Rivers - "Unspoken"

     I love Francine Rivers' writing so much!  She is probably my very favorite author of all time, but that's really hard to say so, just to keep from losing sleep over it, I'll rank her in the "Top 3" for now.  I actually got to "meet" her at a Barnes & Noble book-signing this past May.  As embarrassing as it is, I was totally star-struck.  For being such a verbose person, it was very unsettling to not be able to utter a single cohesive sentence.  Hubby to the rescue!  Yes, I did drag my dear sweet, tolerant husband to a Francine Rivers signing.  There were about 200 women, and about 6 very patient men in attendance. 

     When my turn came to put my newly purchased copy of  "Her Mother's Hope" (soon to be read!) on the table, I could not make my brain send words to my mouth.  I just kept thinking, "Oh my goodness, it's REALLY her.  The woman who actually writes down the words to the books that I can't put down!"  I put my copy of "Redeeming Love" down as well, hoping against hope that the B&N event Nazi wouldn't publicly harass me for not obeying orders to only bring the pertinent book to the "Her Mother's Hope" signing.  I was so hoping she'd sign my copy of "Redeeming Love" because that book changed my life.  I have owned about 6 or 7 copies of it throughout the years because I keep lending it out.  All of the people I lend it to end up asking me if I mind if their friend so-and-so reads it.  I answer "Sure! as long as they pass it on as well."  Needless to say, this copy will not get lent out!  Mrs. Rivers did sign both books and even included a scripture reference in each book. 
    
     As I was standing there dumbfounded, my always apropos Hubby strikes up a conversation asking her what her advice to aspiring writers was, and even made the comment, "I hear you like gardening.  I want to start a garden too."  (I had just finished "Leota's Garden" and had told Hubby my little "back of the book trivia" for the day, that she not only writes, but also has a garden.)  She said, "Never give up."  He offered up his little writer's notepad that LIVES in his back pocket for her to sign as well.  A very elegant, gracious, Godly, and ingenious woman!

   Now... on to the good stuff.                                                                              Unspoken: Bathsheba (The Lineage of Grace Series #4)

     "Unspoken" is the novella Mrs. Rivers wrote about Bathsheba, one of the five women mentioned in Matthew's account of the lineage of Christ.  She was the wife of Uriah, one of David's trusted mighty men, and was very beautiful.  David saw her bathing one day, and decided that she should be brought to his personal chambers for some illicit quality time.  They ended up having an affair that produced a son.  In an attempt to cover up their sin, David ends up having Uriah killed.  Double whammy! 

     What is so beautiful about this story is how, despite some very grievous sins (aren't they all?!), God still called David, "A man after God's own heart," and He still honored Bathsheba by giving her a place in the bloodline of Jesus Christ himself.  This is obviously a work of fiction, but it is hemmed in prayer and stems from a heart that desires to please God and honor His Word.  She says from the get-go that there is artistic license taken throughout the work, as there almost has to be in order to round out the story.

     This work does an outstanding job of showing the mercy and grace that God freely extends to us despite our most despicable and deplorable behaviors.  King David fornicated, murdered, tried to bring an honest man into sin to cover his sin, and STILL God calls him a "Man after God's own heart."  Amazing!  As always, Francine Rivers captures your imagination and heart from the beginning of the story, and gives you a vehicle by which to feel as though you are a part of the story.  History comes alive.  I felt my heart race a little when David summons Bathsheba to his room and woos her.  I felt guilt and shame right along with the characters, as well as joy when God blesses them despite it all.  Don't get it wrong, there are still some pretty hairy consequences for their actions that they must face, but that's the nature of the beast, I think.

     It's so easy to empathize with these characters when the writing is so wonderful.  When I finish one of her books, I am always inspired me to want to live my life for God in a more passionate way than before I had read the book.  God has gifted Mrs. Rivers in an awesome way, and I for one am thankful for it.

     And now, for something completely different...

Randy Alcorn - "Lord Foulgrin's Letters"

     Ok, so I admit, I bought this book not, because of a desire to grow my spiritual life, but merely because I shared his last name for 26 years of my life.  For all of 30 seconds, I felt famous.  Shallow?  Maybe, but it was still worth reading...

Lord Foulgrin's Letters

     This book was written in the same vein as C.S. Lewis's, "Screwtape Letters," which I do own, and DO intend to read; I've just not quite gotten there yet.  This is the story of Jordan Fletcher and his family.  Each everyday vignette is followed by a letter from Lord Foulgrin to his subordinate Squaltaint instructing him to destroy, confuse, deceive, and distract Jordan and his family at every opportunity.  Squaltaint is specifically assigned to Jordan to keep him from learning the truth about God, to distract Mr. Fletcher from doing anything that would honor the Lord, as well as to do anything to destroy "the maggot-feeder" in all areas of life.

     The author writes in the Afterward that he has spent much time in prayer and Biblical study regarding fallen angels, their abilities, their motivations, as well as their realm.  He also   As with anything in the spiritual realm, it's hard to translate it into words.  As Mr. Alcorn states, he does his absolute best to present his work truthfully, but he is human and thus prone to error, so don't take this work of fiction as truth.  He also quotes G.C. Berkouwer saying, "There can be no sound theology without a sound demonology."  I think there is something to that; one must understand their enemy in order to oppose him. 

     I think that while this isn't totally an original idea for a book, it is very creative.  I personally had a little bit of a hard time with some of the book, not too much with the content, but with his style of writing.  It was a little cliche' for my taste.  There were a very few ideas/statements that I thought were a little on the "overly conservative" side of the spectrum, but there's nothing wrong with that at all, it's merely my humble opinion of things.  Overall I think it's worth reading just to give you a different perspective on the battle in which we are entrenched, but from which we will one day emerge victoriously. 

     Amen and let it be so!

       

   

Flavia Bujor - "The Prophecy of the Stones"

The Prophecy of the Stones: A Novel


     Flavia Bujor is a young french writer who had this book published by the age of fifteen.  I've never had anything published with the exception of this "self-published" blog and an essay or two (if you call Mom's refrigerator "published").  So I may be a really awful, hypocritical human for saying this, but this book is terribly overrated!  I literally had to force myself to finish it so I would be able to: 1. say that I finished it, and 2. give my readership a review on the entirety of the book.

     I would be horrendously wrong to not give her credit for writing a very creative story, and have it published all before she even finished high school.  I give her "mad props" for that.  This is a story with two main plot lines, and a very few subplot lines.  Story one is about three, fourteen-year-old girls named Jade, Opal, and Amber.  It's set in what appears to be medieval Europe, but resembles something more like "Middle Earth" replete with Tolkien-esque creatures.  Story two is about another fourteen-year-old girl nicknamed "Joa" (Jade, Opal, Amber - a creative acronym if you ask me) who lives in modern day Paris and is dying of a horrible sickness.  She has dreams of another world which is the one where Jade, Opal, and Amber reside.

     The three girls are given three stones on the occasion of their fourteenth birthdays and find that when they all hold their stones, close their eyes, and think about the same thing, stuff happens.  I enjoy some fantasy fiction, for sure, but this particular one is not my cup of espresso.  The reason being that the characters were underdeveloped as were their dialogue and motivations for taking the actions they did, the story was lacking sufficient descriptions leaving giant plot holes everywhere, and there was no real conclusion.  Ms. Bujor made an excellent attempt at trying to build a complex set of story lines, but didn't quite pull it off,  nor did she really tie the ones she had going together very will.  As I said before, I'm impressed that it was written by so young an author, but I think it could have really been a lot better with some editorial guidance.  Better luck next book, Missy!

     My advice to survive the summer, stay inside and read!  It works, I promise...