August books

[sonneta.livejournal.com]

Velma Still Cooks in Leeway by Vinita Hampton Wright- Christian fiction about a woman who sees the best and worst of her small town. I wanted to like this book, because for one thing, it takes place in (a fictional town in) Kansas, my home state. But I found it hard to keep track of when things were taking place due to use of flashbacks (and flashbacks within flashbacks). I also disliked how Velma would state something as fact that was really just in her experience. One of the main plot threads was pretty heavy-handed, and I predicted one of the big twists. Also, not that it matters, but have you ever gotten a picture of a character in your head, and then you can't get it out, even when the author's description contradicts it? Yeah, that happened to me with this book. In my defense, the author didn't describe the main character's appearance until later on in the book.

Purity Makes the Heart Grow Stronger by Julia Duin- Non-fiction about single (and celibate) Christian living. What I liked about this book: A lot of it rang true for me, and I did get at least one good idea for the future from it. What I disliked about the book: A lot of it seemed to be anecdotal evidence, and the chapters didn't really hang together-- jumping from one thought to the next with little or no transition. Also, the book was written in the 1980's, so clearly all of the statistics and such are outdated now.