A significant sign that you are truly invested in a book is when you prioritize reading amidst your busy work week and other commitments, consistently devouring 10 pages here, 15 pages there, and 20-30 pages whenever you can. A novel that entices and captivates your...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 139: Culture Care by Makoto Fujimara
by MHill | Apr 21, 2024 | 2024 Book Reviews, Makoto Fujimara, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Nonfiction, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
"Culture care emphasizes that God cares for the whole of the creation (as his own artwork) and for history (as God's own story lived through our fallen reality), and that there is not one hair of our head or one moment of our journey that God does not pay close...
Marion’s Eight All-Time Favorite Short Stories (Part One)
by MHill | Dec 15, 2023 | Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Short Story Review, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
Over the past couple of years, I have read more short stories. Short stories have added an extra dimension to my reading life and diversified my reading. I have become a bona fide short story reader and these eight stories are my all-time favorites. I've divided my...
Marion’s Sixteen All-Time Favorite Novels (Part Two)
by MHill | Nov 27, 2023 | Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
The number 16 symbolizes trust, intuition, balance, and leaning into your own wisdom. In addition, it’s a number that isn’t commonly seen on all-time lists, but I thought it was the right choice for my list of favorite novels. I just posted part one of my all-time...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 132: Cure For The Common Life by Max Lucado
by MHill | Nov 22, 2023 | 2023 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Nonfiction, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
"God made one version of you. He custom designed you for a one-of-a-kind-assignment. Your life has a plot; your years have a theme. You can do something in a manner that no one else can." Max Lucado writes those words in the opening chapter of Cure for the Common...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 130: The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint
by MHill | Oct 29, 2023 | 2023 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Charles De Lint, Marion's Favorite Books, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
"I suppose the other thing too many forget is that we were all stories once, each and every one of us. And we remain stories." This sentence written near the end of The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint brings home an important point in human development. We are all...
Wisdom From Kammbia Review 129: Forests of the Heart by Charles de Lint
by MHill | Sep 24, 2023 | 2023 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Charles De Lint, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
In all my years reading (and writing), if someone asked me who is your favorite novelist, what would I write? I have to write that it is Charles de Lint. Over the past three decades, I have kept de Lint novels on my shelf more than any other author. Two of my...
Happy Birthday Bill Withers!
by MHill | Jul 4, 2023 | Marion's Favorites, Music Reviews
Happy 85th Birthday to Bill Withers! Bill left us five years ago but his musical legacy as one of America's greatest singer-songwriters is permanent. He is one of my all-time favorite singers and his soulful, storytelling style of music carved out a unique career....
Best Book Ever Podcast 149
by MHill | Jun 26, 2023 | Best Book Ever Podcast, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Rereading Series, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
I was invited back to one of my favorite book podcasts, The Best Book Ever Podcast, hosted by Julie Strauss. This was my third appearance on the podcast and we discussed one of my all-time favorite novels, The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber. Faber's...
Rereading The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
by MHill | Jun 20, 2023 | 2023 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Rereading Series, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
"The rhetoric of a sermon was one thing; his wife's grim reality was another. Civilizations did not vanish smoothly and easefully; empires did not set like suns: empires collapsed in chaos and violence. Real people got pushed around, beaten up, robbed, made destitute....