What I Read In August

Due to Hurricane Harvey, I'm a little late posting this past month's reading log.  We are all just trying to catch our breath after spending days on end rushing from the television screen to our windows as we watched flood waters rise all over the Houston area.  Over two weeks later we still hear of friends that need help removing items from homes still surrounded by water.   It will take awhile for Houston to recover...but recover she will.  We are Texas Strong.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
(Fiction)

Sussex, England: A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. He is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet sitting by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean), the unremembered past comes flooding back. Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie - magical, comforting, wise beyond her years - promised to protect him, no matter what.

A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. A stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.

I have heard so much buzz about this author and felt for certain he would be someone I enjoyed reading.  So in April of 2016 I purchased his novel American Gods on Audible.  I finally got around to listening to it in June...and didn't make it far at all before I had to TURN IT OFF! 

It is the only Audible book that I have ever returned for a refund.  I just could not do it!  Since then, American Gods has been turned into a television mini-series on Starz...and my husband was instantly hooked.  It wasn't a Game of Thrones or Westworld for him, but very close.  After the second or third episode that Jim watched, I mentioned that I wasn't able to do the audio version of the book and he knew in an instant where I quit.  But...he would give me PG rated recaps of each episode and I remember thinking how intriguing the storyline was to me and that I wish I could have made it through.  (FYI: He does the same thing for me when it comes to Game of Thrones which I had to give up during the fourth season for its brutality...but I still love the story!)  I decided that maybe it just wasn't the right Neil Gaiman for me.  Enter this book, on my future daughter-in-love's recommendation.

This is a beautifully written book.  Whimsical, yet dark in places.  I was so swept away by this book that it took me only a few days to devour even though we had out of town guests at the time. It's premise comes from a quote in the New Yorker from Maurice Sendak. "I remember my own childhood vividly...I knew terrible things.  But I knew I mustn't let adults know I knew.  It would scare them." I think this should be required reading for later high school or early college aged.  There are only two scenes that would keep me from giving it to a junior high reader.  I am eagerly awaiting Deborah's next Neil Gaiman handoff, Neverwhere. (link to Amazon)

My Favorite Quote:

"I'm going to tell you something important.  Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either.  Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they're doing.  Inside, they look just like they always have.  Like they did when they were your age.  The truth is, there aren't any grown-ups.  Not one, in the whole wide world."

Rating: ★★★★★

Discipling Women by Lori Joiner

(Non-fiction/Christian Living)

A practical guide to helping your women grow. Filled with personal stories, humorous examples and helpful advice, Discipling Women will guide you in how to invest spiritually in other women. Whether you are mentoring a new Christian, reaching out to a neighbor, or in full-time vocational ministry, Discipling Women gives the answers, lift and encouragement you need.

I am a little over halfway through a year long commitment to a discipleship group.  As part of that group, I committed to praying about the possibility of launching a group in 2018.  While I love our group and I see the great advantage of studying and doing life in a group of four, I am not totally sold on the curriculum we are using.  So, I am looking at alternatives as I learn all that I can about small groups and discipleship.  I had ordered a women's curriculum from CRU earlier this summer and, on a whim, added this to my cart.  It was a quick read.  About a third of the book goes into the why and how of discipleship.  The remaining chapters addresses certain issues that may arise in a discipleship relationship and gives some guidance on how to look to Scripture for answers, as well as when to seek professional help.

My favorite quote:

"Do you want to partner with 100 people who are 10 percent committed or 10 people who are 100 percent committed?"

I am not sure where I first read this question, but it is burned onto the hard drive of my mind.  I want to disciple people who are 100 percent committed to growing and helping fulfill the Great Commission.  I would rather disciple a few people who are completely committed than hundreds who are only half-hearted.  I do, though, want to make the distinction that they don't have to be 100 percent perfect - just 100 percent willing.  

Love that thought!

Rating: ★★

Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett
(Fiction), (Audible)

Elvis Babbitt has a head for the facts: she knows science proves yellow is the happiest color, she knows a healthy male giraffe weighs about 3,000 pounds, and she knows that the naked mole rat is the longest living rodent. She knows she should plan to grieve her mother, who has recently drowned while sleepwalking, for exactly eighteen months. But there are things Elvis doesn’t yet know―like how to keep her sister Lizzie from poisoning herself while sleep-eating or why her father has started wearing her mother's silk bathrobe around the house. Elvis investigates the strange circumstances of her mother's death and finds comfort, if not answers, in the people (and animals) of Freedom, Alabama. As hilarious a storyteller as she is heartbreakingly honest, Elvis is a truly original voice in this exploration of grief, family, and the endurance of humor after loss.

This book was highly praised by the staff at The Bookshelf in Thomasville, GA during their From the Front Porch podcast on Summer Reading Recommendations.  I downloaded the audible version and 'ate it up' in less than a week. 

The first line of the book:

“On my tenth birthday, six months before she sleepwalked into the river, Mom burned the rabbit cake.”

Such a witty, yet heartbreaking, look at a family trying to pick up the pieces after personal loss.  From the guilt that we somehow didn't do enough, the withdrawal from those we need the most (and that need us), the search for meaning to an unexplained death,  the laughter of family life with all of its ups and downs...this book does a great job of looking at how, even when we share the same DNA, we grieve so differently. 

I just want to warn you that you might now be able to get out of the car when you arrive home because you do not want to leave Freedom, Alabama just yet.  Or you might find yourself carrying the trash to the curb for your husband because you want to pop in the ear buds and listen to 'just one more chapter.'

You've been warned!

There were a few times while listening that the audio had some dead space...that might have been due to my phone or a faulty download.  But it was just enough of an annoyance to cause me to knock it down to a 4 1/2.

Rating:  ★★★★☆