"Christians have a hard time with nuance, gray areas are not out strong suit." "Discernment is a tricky business, much more complicated than a checklist or matrix of black-and-white criteria. And it begins on the inside, with an awareness that while discernment is a...
Book Review 43: The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith AKA JK Rowling
by MHill | Aug 23, 2013 | 2013 Book Reviews, Book Reviews
I had made it a personal policy to not read and review for this blog the hottest or most publicized novel of the year. However, I did almost break my policy last year with Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. But, I decided against it. Well, my resistance has finally dropped...
Book Review 42: A Mind To Murder by P.D. James
by MHill | Aug 11, 2013 | 2013 Book Reviews, Adam Dalgliesh Novels, Book Reviews
P.D. James has been given the unofficial title, Queen of Crime, and after reading A Mind to Murder showed why she has earned this moniker. A Mind to Murder began with the murder of Enid Bolam, the administrative head at the Steen Psychiatric Clinic in London. She had...
Book Review 41: Middle Passage by Charles Johnson
by MHill | Jul 27, 2013 | 2013 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog
Middle Passage is the story of Rutherford Calhoun, a free black man, living in 1830's New Orleans. Rutherford is a thief, hustler, and womanizer who has lived a nomadic, vagabond life and somehow stayed out being sold into slavery. Well, there's a prim and devout...
Book Review 40: Cold Fire by Dean Koontz
by MHill | Jul 18, 2013 | 2013 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books
A little over a decade ago, I went on a Dean Koontz reading binge. I read at least ten or eleven of his novels and I couldn't get enough of them at that time. However, my reading tastes has changed quite a bit over the years and I really didn't have a desire to go...
Book Review 39: Captives (Safe Lands #1) by Jill Williamson
by MHill | Jun 1, 2013 | 2013 Book Reviews, Book Reviews
What is freedom? That question is the one that kept coming to mind as I read The Captives (Safe Lands Book 1) by Jill Williamson. It is a YA Dystopian novel and not a genre usually read. (However, I did read and review the wonderful Book Thief by Marcus Zusak last...
Book Review 38: A Touch of Death by Charles Williams
by MHill | May 7, 2013 | 2013 Book Reviews, Book Reviews
"He who loves money will not be satisfied with money." {Ecclesiastes 5:10} This verse of scripture from King Solomon in the Book of Ecclesiastes summed up my feelings when I finished reading, A Touch of Death by Charles Williams. The straightforward plot of the novel...
Book Review 37: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
by MHill | Apr 20, 2013 | 2013 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books
"For me writing has always felt like praying." "Adulthood is a wonderful thing, and brief. You must be sure to enjoy it while it lasts." Those touching, powerful quotes are from Minister John Ames, the protagonist of Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. Gilead tells his...
Book Review 36: Pirate Freedom by Gene Wolfe
by MHill | Mar 8, 2013 | 2013 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Gene Wolfe
Gene Wolfe is considered one of science-fiction's greatest living writers. His Solar Cycle Series(Book of the New Sun, Book of the Long Sun, & Book of the Short Sun) are recognized as modern classics and one of the best series ever written in the genre. Also, he...
Book Review 35: The Unspeakable by Tessa Stockton
by MHill | Feb 4, 2013 | 2013 Book Reviews, Book Reviews
My first review of the new year is from a new novelist I had not read before. I enjoy discovering new authors and trying out someone outside of the mainstream of contemporary fiction is one of the great pleasures of reading fiction. The Unspeakable by Tessa Stockton...