A novel must meet certain criteria to become one of my all-time favorites. I must reread it, and the rereading must feel similar to my first experience reading the novel. I will write upfront that The Opposite of Art by Athol Dickson passed my criteria for an all-time...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 149: Art For God’s Sake by Philip Graham Ryken
The tenuous relationship between art (in all its forms) and Christianity has always fascinated me. Especially American Evangelical Christianity. I’m someone who is a believer in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and have attempted my entire adult life as a Christian...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 138: Art + Faith by Makoto Fujimara
I have always had a fascination with the intersection of art and faith, particularly from the perspective of American Christianity. Throughout most of my life as an adult (currently in my early fifties), and even prior to that, it seems like these two things have been...
Book Review 59: The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
Can a marriage be saved even if you are doing God's will and serving him to the best of your ability? That is the main question I took from reading The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber. It's an interesting question that the novel tries to answer. I'm glad...
Book Review 54: Stone of Fire by JF Penn
What happens you read a novel that combines an Indiana Jones style of adventure with a well-detailed and chronicled history of early Christianity and mixed with a female protagonist that is a combination of Lara...
Book Review 52: Numb by John W. Otte
What if you are numb to pain and feelings for a good portion of your life? And all of sudden you begin to feel again and are not numb anymore? Those two questions were answered in Numb by John W. Otte. Numb is the story of Crusader, an assassin trained by the...
Book Review 45: All God’s Children & Blue Suede Shoes by Ken Myers
What is pop culture? That's the one question I've always wanted to get a definitive answer to in all of my adult life. Well, I believe I have found a book that attempts to give me that answer. All God's Children & Blue Suede Shoes by Ken Myers explores the...
Book Review 44: Gray Matters by Brett McCracken
"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 39: Captives (Safe Lands #1) by Jill Williamson
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 37: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
"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...