Posts tagged ‘Book’

May 4

Historical fiction reviews

I’ve always loved reading fiction and having a Kindle has meant being able to read in a place where books are scarce to find, expensive to buy and bulky to transport. When it comes to historical fiction, I prefer stories which are about ordinary people against the backdrop of great figures, over fictional accounts of famous historical figures. I’m disappointed when I come to the end of a good book, so long is better than short, and series are excellent. Here are three I’ve been reading this year. Read more

Jan 17

The Gospel-Centered Woman

The Gospel-Centered Woman is Wendy Alsup’s third book (first, second) and a return to practical theology. How does theology get behind the polite smiles and Conservative Christian Values to hurt, brokenness and depravity? Wendy’s contention is that it is the gospel alone that equips us to bridge this gap. The truths of the gospel are a comfort to men as well but ‘there is also a particular balm to women that meets us in the woundings tied specifically to our gender.’ Read more

Apr 19

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Why we need ‘The Hunger Games’ 2

In my last post, I argued that The Hunger Games is nothing new – but that’s a good thing! Young adults need texts like this and they ought not to be censored for early high school readers. In this post, I want to address some specific concerns about the novel. There are a number of articles floating around on the internet. Most of the objections are picked up in this one.

As far as I can tell, there are three main complaints against The Hunger Games and I want to address each in turn and why I think each is actually a reason to engage with the novel. Read more

Apr 17

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Why we need ‘The Hunger Games’ 1

I admit it. I’m a late-comer to The Hunger Games. I first found out about it on Jenny’s blog in 2010 and the feminist blogosphere has been discussing it for ages. But I only read it this weekend. You, like me have probably seen the hype around the movie; I’ll restrict myself to the book here, as I’ve only read the first one so far and haven’t seen the film. Here’s my main reflection: this has been done before.

I’m not saying I didn’t like The Hunger Games. Actually, I loved it. I thought Katniss was a sympathetic and complex protagonist; I enjoyed the issues it raised; the writing was easy and pleasurable. Saying it’s been done before isn’t negative, then. It’s the observation that this book felt to me like Z for Zachariah meets Tomorrow When the War Began, both classic Year 8-9 English texts which I used in my days as a middle school teacher. Read more

Mar 25

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A praying life: book review

In A Praying Life Paul Miller uses two images to talk about prayer: holding hands and scrubbing floors. The first highlights the relational aspect of prayer, what it means to come to God like a little child. The second asks how we pray when it doesn’t feel easy. However, the first time he mentions the latter, or its complementarity to the former, is over 3/4 of the way through. Read more

Mar 7

Grumpy Day: book review

Grumpy Day is a picture book from Matthias Media which I agreed to review as part of their Free-For-Bloggers promo. It begins ‘It wasn’t a very happy day for anyone’ and we’re introduced to three kids: Ben who can’t get his blocks to stack; Emily who can’t get her toys to sit straight on her train (no gender stereotyping in this story!); and Luke who can’t kick his ball outside because it’s raining. Ben and Emily’s problems are easily solved by Mum and then the focus turns to Luke. It’s really his story. Read more