Recommendation from Kim

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Young Mandela

David Smith introduces Nelson Mandela with the news of his arrest in 1952, and spends the first chapter describing the ensuing trial. He then jumps back to Mandela's birth and childhood, and from there he generally proceeds in an approximately linear order. His prose is very pleasant to read. He writes in short, clear sentences that smooth the flow of ideas and events. However, the overall order of events can seem jumbled and unsettled as the linearity is muddled by apparent digressions. Smith has escaped the biographer's trap of writing a hagiography, and he seems to deal fairly with the mystery and denial surrounding Mandela's love life. He provides an insightful picture of Mandela's ideological and pragmatic assessments. Overall, I would recommend this book to historically minded readers.

Rain Song (and How Sweet It Is)

Alice Wisler is one of the few living authors I know as a real, human person. She introduced me to her novel How Sweet It Is a couple years ago, and I've been meaning to get a copy of Rain Song ever since. How Sweet It Is was lovely, light reading free of the cloying soppiness that generally engulfs books in the Christian romance genre. Maybe it was a little bit saccharine, but then the title is honest.

Rain Song, similarly, was easy to read. Wisler's amusing surprises and quirky characters kept me laughing. I kept wishing I knew Alice better, because the character-development-through-periodic-revelations kept me wondering how Alice fit this all together. Perhaps this is the challenge of knowing an author: one wants to see her reflected in her work, however inappropriate that may be. Take the wonderful Monet the Terror, a wee lassie whose antics prompt persistent (and probably unnecessary) medical evaluation. Was Monet based on an actual acquaintance or an active imagination? Either way, Monet contributes to the story and the protagonist's character development. She also features in the subtle introduction of "food for thought" material, given that her behavioral pathologies could be explained more easily by circumstances than by medical causes. Wisler's plot and character development grow steadily through the book. The end is almost anti-climactic, but Wisler draws a satisfying conclusion by answering questions raised earlier.

Overall, this is a lovely book. It's a great read for relaxation on a rainy day or a beach trip. I would recommend snapping it up before it goes out of print in the midst of the new ebook revolution. I have to catch my copy of Hatteras Girl before it disappears into electronic land.

The Furious Longing of God

My book club recommended this book. I pulled up the introduction to The Ragamuffin Gospel and was intrigued. Then I started The Furious Longing of God and was surprised by the choppy, disorienting prose. Manning can write with incredible, soaring prose so rich as to be almost indigestible. He chooses to alternate voices -- overexpressive, simple, brief. His zig-zag switches cause slight queasiness. I want to think that Manning is trying to shock and unbalance the reader into a a realization of the depth and breadth of God's love, but I have to fight past his excesses to grasp for the meaning. I'm listening to Patched Together with the hope that hearing Manning write the same thing in another context (most of his books seem to say the same thing) will help me appreciate his breadth, style and content. And I'll read The Ragamuffin Gospel when I get a chance.

Slugger

This is a lovely little book. It's written in a simple style that describes the protagonist's struggles with the physical and psychological challenges of cerebral palsy -- and, better yet, her triumph and growth through partnering with a very special helper dog named Slugger. Leigh Brill manages to convey a lot of teaching and information about helper dogs without ever sounding preachy. This was a really pleasant read.

Lawhead's Albion

Amazon kindly put this book on its free Kindle list briefly, and I had a chance to snag it. It was a good read, but my opinion is conflicted.

Lawhead gives us an unlikely hero in a weak, procrastinating Graduate student in Celtic studies at Oxford named Lew. This American-in-Oxford has a rich, spoiled upper-crust Brit as his roomate and foil. Both characters enter the Celtic Otherworld, and the adventure truly embarks. Lawhead uses Lew's development to drive the story and reveal his cosmic plot. While the story and plot are compelling, the lengthy descriptions of the Otherworld and Celtic mythology bog down the story. Despite these informative interludes, the character development hits some severe Lamarckian gaps. Lew grows in fits and spurts, but years pass so fast in the Otherworld that his growth requires awkward retrospective explanations. Lew's perspective on his roommate is similarly disjointed. At the beginning of the book, Simon is presented as an adventurous, carefree chap who is somewhat spoiled. By the end, Lew's perspective (which initially had included some resentment) has shifted to see Simon as an arrogant, conniving plotter. The two are not mutually exclusive, but Lew's resentment is the only clear connection between them.

The first chapter of the book is more promising than the rest, and I can't quite decide whether I should pick up the next two books for light, relaxing reading or whether the plot weave is too thin to hold my interest. Perhaps the library is the best option if I have a hankering for more rewoven Celtic mythology.