TBT Taylor Caldwell

I LOVE Taylor Caldwell novels.  In fact in 1992 I named my daughter Taylor after this author believing I was being unique. (In 2009 my daughter Taylor sat in a biology class of 35 students with 6 yes SIX other Taylor's... sigh, so much for uniqueness)

Janet Miriam Holland Taylor Caldwell (September 7, 1900 – August 30, 1985) was an Anglo-American novelist and prolific author of popular fiction, also known by the pen names Marcus Holland and Max Reiner, and by her married name of J. Miriam Reback. In her fiction, she often used real historical events or persons. 

The first Caldwell I read was when I was 14, it was The Great Lion of God, a fictionalized version of the Apostle Paul.  A little racy for a 14 year old in the 70s but it had the word "God" in the title so no one thought to censor it on my behalf!  I was hooked and read as many as I could get my hands on.  I do remember the librarian asking if my mom would approve of me reading A Prologue to Love. I told her it was for my mom, then went home and couldn't put it down. The Listener and Captain and the Kings are my two favorites.   The Listener is a short book, each chapter telling the tale of a different person who desperately needs someone to listen to them. They all find their way to a building which was erected just for the purpose of refuge to talk to the man behind the curtain who listens to the suffering and stories of people day and night.  The Captain and the Kings seems to be drawn from the lives of the Kennedys, Rockefellers, and perhaps even Howard Hughes.  It's epic and grand and delicious!

A few years ago I read, The Search For A Soul: Taylor Caldwell's Psychic Lives.  A fascinating journey into her "past lives" as she recalls them under hypnosis.  Reincarnation, some think, is why she wrote her historical works with such vivid and accurate detail.  The argument of course would be, having a rich and remarkable imagination, along with much research for novels, might make one invent past lived under hypnosis.  Wherever you stand on the reincarnation theory, it is a really interesting read!

Throwback Thursday- Leon Uris

Leon Uris is one of my favorite authors. Mila 18, and QBVII  were two books on "The List," which Mrs. Dietsch gave us in 10th grade, of the 100 books one should read before college.  (Yes, evidently I'm  a nerd because I read them all)
I fell in love with Leon Uris novels and have read seven of his thirteen books.  His first book, "Battle Cry," was written in 1953, and his last, "O'Hara's Choice,"  was written in 2003.  There are still a few out there I haven't picked up, but the ones I did read pulled me into worlds I never knew existed before reading them.


Knowing about the Holocaust and meeting characters who would draw you into their world are two different things.  Uris drew me into those worlds. The sometimes dark and always gut wrenching stories were also filled with hope and an optimism in the human nature's ability and will to survive.  The same was true about Ireland and Israel in "Trinity" and "The Haj." 

It is thought provoking, to say the least, that a man who never finished high school and flunked English three times could write such heart breakingly beautiful and compelling novels.  Try a Uris novel, I promise you won't be sorry

Killing Jesus: A History by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard

"Killing Jesus" was informative and interesting.  If you have never done any Biblical, historical research, it is a fascinating look into the historical event that was the life and the grisly crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth.  It is not for the faint of heart, as the Romans executed and tortured with authoritative expertise.

The Roman machine was an epic power, which I find endlessly fascinating.  This story tells not only the life of Jesus of Nazareth but how the Roman leadership systematically imploded.

As a Christian it was impossible to read this history book without the tug of emotions that is evoked when you believe that this horrifying event not only took place, but Jesus did it voluntarily as an innocent, to absorb the guilt for all.  I would love to hear reactions from those who could read it as pure history!

Throw Back Thursdays

I was thinking about all the great books which I have read before there was blogging, and thought I should revisit my love of those!
So on Thursdays I am declaring them "Throw-Back -Thursdays, and I will be hopping in the "way back machine" and will  write about some of my favorite books. (Or I suppose least favorite, but memorable)  Here we go...

I've been thinking about Poe lately.
He is one of many authors/poets which I'm happy a teacher forced me to read because I would have never picked one of his works up of my own volition. (See my last blog entry on British Chick-Lit lol) There are thousands of references to his works in TV, movies, comedy, other books etc.  I can't imagine how sad I would feel, if I didn't see the cleverness of "Poet" beer with a raven on the bottle or even the Sponge Bob-Square Pants episode, "Squeaky Boots," which reference "The Tell Tale Heart."  Anyway I do appreciate Poe, with all his angst and tragedy, though I'm not sure I can say I love him. I am happy that I read many of his works, if for no other reason than it makes areas of my life richer (yes...like understanding "Sponge Bob"... who knew it was such a poignant medium?) So when your kids ask why they have to read what the teacher wants them to read, you can tell them, it's so they will understand all the jokes on Sponge Bob!

Paranormal Romance? Say Whaaaat?

So today I was updating my book-bub account. (If you don't have Book-bub and you have an electronic reading device you should open a new tab right now and sign up for it! click here for Book Bub) Anyway I came across a genre called "Paranormal Romance."  My mind immediately went in a million directions, with a million jokes, (super funny jokes if I do say so myself!) trying to figure out what that meant.
Is it romance via ESP (or ESPN as a friend always calls it, which would be a weird, sports romance genre, also fun to contemplate!)

All I could picture was an alien mating ritual, which isn't easy since I don't really know what aliens look like, nor am I familiar with their mating rituals, nor do I care to visualize them mating! (Although Steve Guttenberg seemed to have a lovely experience in "Cocoon," but I digress)  So  as I sat at my computer with the world wide web at my finger tips contemplating what "Paranormal Romance" could mean, I finally had the bright idea of looking it up.

I would like to take a moment to explain that I usually consider myself a fairly quick study.  The first time my son said that someone "jacked" something from his locker...I was able to translate that to "stole" without too much trouble.  I know what "para" means, beyond-outside of-separate from- and I know what romance means.  But I just couldn't get past thinking of Ghostbuster lines. (Dogs and cats LIVING together...now that's para- normal)

So I "Googled" it, and everything became clear.  I asked my 21 year old daughter what she thought it meant and what she thought was the number one best seller in that category.  She said, Oh probably "Twilight." Which of course it was. Now in my defense I have 2 early 20-something daughters who read a lot, and then buy the movies, so I have come to think of high school aged girls hooking up with werewolves, vampires. wizards and the gang as normal romance, not anything outside of normal.  I blame it on Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers where everyone finds it perfectly normal for King Friday (THE PUPPET!) to have Lady Aberlin (THE HUMAN!) as a neice.  Meow, meow crazy! if you ask me.  But of course now that it has been pointed out to me it all makes sense.  As it turns out, Bill Murray and Sigourney Weaver made a love connection in Ghost Busters so technically that is a paranormal romance and I wasn't so far off now wasI?!

The definition from Wikipedia is as follows:
Paranormal romance is a sub-genre of both romantic fiction  and speculative fiction.  Paranormal romance focuses on romantic love and includes elements beyond the range of scientific explanation, blending together themes from the speculative fiction genres of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Paranormal romance may range from traditional category romances, such as those published by Harlequin, Mills & Boon, with a paranormal setting to stories where the main emphasis is on a science fiction or fantasy based plot with a romantic subplot included. Common hallmarks are romantic relationships between humans and vampires, shapeshifters, ghosts, and other entities of a fantastic or otherworldly nature.

Trisha Ashley, Katie Fforde and the Girls: A Guilty Pleasure

Okay I'm admitting it, British "Chick-Lit" is one of my guilty pleasures. It might be Rom-Com or I have even heard it called Choc-o-lit, but it's not a romance novel.  No judgement it's just romance novels are more about the physical romance and Chick Lit is more about the lifestyle. I love the bright colors, and the whimsey of the pictures chosen for the covers, and how you can actually judge, or at least identify the genre, by the cover.

This all started when I read the highly enjoyable and immensely clever Jasper Fford's "Thursday Next" series.  "The Eyre Affair" is on my top 10 favorite reads of all times!  While Jasper Fforde is NOT a "chick-lit" author his books do sit right next to Katie Fforde in the library and while searching for, and neglecting to find, a Jasper I grabbed a Katie instead. Delightful!

I know, I know, I've heard all the arguments and to you I say, "so!"

Predictable?  Only in the best way.  I would be furious if the main character died because my lovely British friends suddenly decided that they were going to be deep and shadowy.

Light?  Only in the best way.  The characters are real (well you know fictional but real-ish) and deal with all the wonderful mucky stuff of life, but no...these books are not dark, or heavy or whatever the opposite of light is.

Unrealistic?  Only in the best way. Um, hello....that's why I'm reading them, I've got real in spades all day long, who needs more of that!

Besides, I like to figure out the words that are different from our American ones.  For example

• Agas: Some sort of stove which may or may not be quite like our old wood/coal burning stoves 
• Biscuits: Cookies (usually popping out of tins!)
• Jumper: I can never remember if they are a sweater or sweatshirt, but one definitely needs one when it's cold out!
• Wellies: Rain boots
• Bin: Trashcan
• Boot: Trunk of the car
• Plaster: Band-aid
• Tea: Well Okay tea is tea, but they drink it a lot!

Anyway I just finished Good Husband Material by Trisha Ashley.  It was lovely and delightful and fun. Everything one wants in their guilty reading.

I love Katie Fforde's books because I always feel like I learn a new profession when I read them. Thyme Out is one of my favorites. (Can you guess what the profession is?)

Enjoy, and don't feel guilty!

The Well

"The Well" is Stephanie Landsem's debut novel and part of her "Living Water" series.

I like historical fiction, and I love Biblical fiction.  Who doesn't read a Bible story and wonder about the back story, or what else happened.  We are told about an angel visiting Mary to tell her she will carry the Christ child, and we naturally wonder what would her mother say, how was she treated, did she hide?  Or how many people did she tell about the Angel's visit before she gave up?

Ms. Landsem wove a wonderful story surrounding the woman at the well.  We could feel the angst between the Jews and Samaritans, we felt the shame of Nava, the fictional name given to the famous Samaritan woman at the well, and felt the peace and joy which was the result of the encounter with Jesus. This is a wonderfully engaging setting because we know some juicy tidbits about the woman, and because the conversation between Jesus and this woman is the longest one-on-one conversation recorded.

It is impossible for me to read Biblical fiction without the lens of Biblical scholar. (Notice I didn't say expert as I am far from that but I can't get enough of the research) So one is forced to ask, "Are these characters believable," "Is the story and setting true to the era and purpose of the original writing," and "Did the conjecture of the fiction affect my faith or ideas?"

I thought the characters were believable, the research made the setting come alive, and the fictionalized parts of the story  never caused me to question what I believe as truth. What I did learn however is that I read fiction with certain expectations and desires, and those expectations are very much of this world.
Without giving away the ending, let me just say that Jesus remained totally in character as Jesus even as I longed, much like the Jews of the day, for some righteous revenge and maybe a little fire and brimstone to rain down on the characters of my choice!  

That for me was the point of this book, and frankly most Bible studies.  I don't get to pick what happens. Jesus doesn't change his actions to meld with my limited ideas of how a story should end.  My happy endings are so short sighted when compared to the Messiah's. What an enjoyable trip to Samaria!

Check out Stephanie Lansem's web page and see her next book in the Living Water series.