September reads
Oct. 4th, 2013 12:09 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
birdienl.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
christianreaderBy the light of the silvery moon by Tricia Goyer 4/5
Amalia travels with the Titanic with her aunt to start a new life in America. A life perhaps, with the man she has been corresponding with and who is waiting for her on the other side of the ocean. But when boarding, Amalia sees a stowaway being dragged from board. Kindhearted, she offers him her spare ticket. During the trip she gets to know the man, Quentin Wallpole and finds out there's much more to him than meets the eye.
After two disappointing Tricia Goyer reads, I decided to give her another try. No disappointment this time around, I really liked By the light of the silvery moon. It's a retelling of the Prodigal Son parable from the Bible which gives you new appreciation and understanding of this well-known story. Plus it plays against the fascinating background of the Titanic's doomed maiden voyage.
Felix Holt the radical by George Eliot 4/5
Set around the Reform Act of 1832, the story details an election in which a local landowner, Harold Transome, takes part for the Radical course instead of his family's Tory tradition. In reality, he is hardly sincere in his Radical views, unlike the opinionated clock-maker Felix Holt.
An interesting social commentary and I think my second favourite Eliot novel (after Middlemarch). For some reason, this book reminded me more of Elizabeth Gaskell's writing then Eliot's other works I've read. At times the meticulously described political business was a bit boring, but luckily it was interspersed with the story of the minister's daughter Esther and her relationship with Felix, which was unexpectedly sweet and tender.
Unending devotion by Jody Hedlund 3,5/5
Orphan Lily Young is looking for her younger sister, who left to work in the logging camps. The only work in these camps for a young woman is prostitution however so Lily fearlessly visits brothels. She runs into Connell McCormick, a good and honest man, who turns a blind eye to the prostitution issue, because he wants to add to the fortunes of his lumber baron father.
This is only my second Jody Hedlund novel, but I've read reviews of the others and I love how she inserts real historical events into her works of fiction. In this case it's the background of the novel, the logging towns and the less than wholesome things going on there, which was described realistically and interestingly. Unfortunately, I wasn't too fond of Lily and Connell's relationship, which descended into the overused Christian fiction trope of independent-female-who-needs-a-man-to-rescue-her-after-all.
Made to last by Melissa Tagg 3/5
Miranda Woodruff is the host of a well-known homebuilding television show who has been living a lie. For years, she's talked on her show about her husband, but she's not really married! When the network begins to talk about cutting her program, her producers think it's time to let her husband appear and a fake husband is soon found. At the same time, Matthew Knox, disgraced journalist, takes on a last-chance assignment to write and in-depth story about Miranda. All his digging around brings him soon close to the truth, but also to the woman herself.
I don't know why, but while I love historical Christian fiction, contemporary Christian novels hardly ever click with me. Unfortunately, it was the same with Made to Last. I felt as if the book was trying too hard to be funny and cute and everything a romantic comedy should be. I was also annoyed at the 'cutesy' language. I really don't think people talk to each other like that! Still, it was an enjoyable read with some genuinely sweet moments.
Promise to return by Elizabeth Byler Younts 3,5/5
The young Amish couple Henry Mast and Miriam Coblentz are torn apart by World War II, when Henry is drafted into a conscientious objector camp. Things spiral out of control even more when Henry comes home on leave and tells Miriam he has decided to join the army. Miriam is firm in her love for Henry, but this gets her into trouble with her church, her friends and her family.
An Amish novel taking place and dealing with WWII, I'd never heard of that before and thought it a fascinating story idea. It was, in a way. Unfortunately the whole novel is written from Miriam's point of few, so details more her issues with her disapproving church and relatives, compared to really the happenings of WWII. I do applaud the author for writing less sugar-coated and more honest Amish fiction then what I've read before.
Cinder by Marissa Meyer 5/5
A retelling of the well-known fairytale of Cinderella in a futuristic Asia.
Cinder is the doormat of her family. Her stepmother and eldest stepsister despise and barely acknowledge her, even though she makes most of the family's money as New Beijing's best mechanic. Cinder doesn't like herself much either. After all, is she even human, with her cyborg leg, hand and many other parts? Unexpectedly, Cinder befriends crown prince Kai of the Eastern Empire, who is desperately seeking for a cure against the plague, which makes many casualties in the empire.
Isn't it funny how quite a lot of our group have read this book in the past few months? I'm not a big YA or sci-fi fan, but I am a fan of fairytale retellings, so decided to give this book a try. I'm so glad I did! I thought it was wonderfully clever, creative and fresh. Cinder was a great main character, strong, but also with her doubts and fears. I also loved the world building, both with familiar and strange aspects. The next part, Scarlett is already on my nightstand!
Books read in September: 6
Books read in 2013: 50
Amalia travels with the Titanic with her aunt to start a new life in America. A life perhaps, with the man she has been corresponding with and who is waiting for her on the other side of the ocean. But when boarding, Amalia sees a stowaway being dragged from board. Kindhearted, she offers him her spare ticket. During the trip she gets to know the man, Quentin Wallpole and finds out there's much more to him than meets the eye.
After two disappointing Tricia Goyer reads, I decided to give her another try. No disappointment this time around, I really liked By the light of the silvery moon. It's a retelling of the Prodigal Son parable from the Bible which gives you new appreciation and understanding of this well-known story. Plus it plays against the fascinating background of the Titanic's doomed maiden voyage.
Felix Holt the radical by George Eliot 4/5
Set around the Reform Act of 1832, the story details an election in which a local landowner, Harold Transome, takes part for the Radical course instead of his family's Tory tradition. In reality, he is hardly sincere in his Radical views, unlike the opinionated clock-maker Felix Holt.
An interesting social commentary and I think my second favourite Eliot novel (after Middlemarch). For some reason, this book reminded me more of Elizabeth Gaskell's writing then Eliot's other works I've read. At times the meticulously described political business was a bit boring, but luckily it was interspersed with the story of the minister's daughter Esther and her relationship with Felix, which was unexpectedly sweet and tender.
Unending devotion by Jody Hedlund 3,5/5
Orphan Lily Young is looking for her younger sister, who left to work in the logging camps. The only work in these camps for a young woman is prostitution however so Lily fearlessly visits brothels. She runs into Connell McCormick, a good and honest man, who turns a blind eye to the prostitution issue, because he wants to add to the fortunes of his lumber baron father.
This is only my second Jody Hedlund novel, but I've read reviews of the others and I love how she inserts real historical events into her works of fiction. In this case it's the background of the novel, the logging towns and the less than wholesome things going on there, which was described realistically and interestingly. Unfortunately, I wasn't too fond of Lily and Connell's relationship, which descended into the overused Christian fiction trope of independent-female-who-needs-a-man-to-rescue-her-after-all.
Made to last by Melissa Tagg 3/5
Miranda Woodruff is the host of a well-known homebuilding television show who has been living a lie. For years, she's talked on her show about her husband, but she's not really married! When the network begins to talk about cutting her program, her producers think it's time to let her husband appear and a fake husband is soon found. At the same time, Matthew Knox, disgraced journalist, takes on a last-chance assignment to write and in-depth story about Miranda. All his digging around brings him soon close to the truth, but also to the woman herself.
I don't know why, but while I love historical Christian fiction, contemporary Christian novels hardly ever click with me. Unfortunately, it was the same with Made to Last. I felt as if the book was trying too hard to be funny and cute and everything a romantic comedy should be. I was also annoyed at the 'cutesy' language. I really don't think people talk to each other like that! Still, it was an enjoyable read with some genuinely sweet moments.
Promise to return by Elizabeth Byler Younts 3,5/5
The young Amish couple Henry Mast and Miriam Coblentz are torn apart by World War II, when Henry is drafted into a conscientious objector camp. Things spiral out of control even more when Henry comes home on leave and tells Miriam he has decided to join the army. Miriam is firm in her love for Henry, but this gets her into trouble with her church, her friends and her family.
An Amish novel taking place and dealing with WWII, I'd never heard of that before and thought it a fascinating story idea. It was, in a way. Unfortunately the whole novel is written from Miriam's point of few, so details more her issues with her disapproving church and relatives, compared to really the happenings of WWII. I do applaud the author for writing less sugar-coated and more honest Amish fiction then what I've read before.
Cinder by Marissa Meyer 5/5
A retelling of the well-known fairytale of Cinderella in a futuristic Asia.
Cinder is the doormat of her family. Her stepmother and eldest stepsister despise and barely acknowledge her, even though she makes most of the family's money as New Beijing's best mechanic. Cinder doesn't like herself much either. After all, is she even human, with her cyborg leg, hand and many other parts? Unexpectedly, Cinder befriends crown prince Kai of the Eastern Empire, who is desperately seeking for a cure against the plague, which makes many casualties in the empire.
Isn't it funny how quite a lot of our group have read this book in the past few months? I'm not a big YA or sci-fi fan, but I am a fan of fairytale retellings, so decided to give this book a try. I'm so glad I did! I thought it was wonderfully clever, creative and fresh. Cinder was a great main character, strong, but also with her doubts and fears. I also loved the world building, both with familiar and strange aspects. The next part, Scarlett is already on my nightstand!
Books read in September: 6
Books read in 2013: 50
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}