I continue to read voraciously, and
am always in the middle of some novel. Again, the date 2017 refers to books I
read during the year, not to a publication date.
Fiction
Jamie Ford, Hotel
on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (2009): This is one of my two favorite
books read this year. It focuses on Japanese citizens in Seattle during the
outbreak of World War II and the internment camps that grew up in the northwest.
It’s about the relationship between a young white boy and a Japanese girl, how
their friendship is affected, and about how they come back together as friends
years later. It also shows how relationships within a family can be more
complicated and dysfunctional that some cross-cultural relationships. Well
written.
David Boling, Guernica
(2010): Another contender for the best book I’ve read this year, this is
fictional story based on the history of the people of Guernica, the Basque
village that was bombed and destroyed by Germans cooperating with Spanish
fascists under Franco. It portrays well the Basque culture and its passion to
be self-governing. The story circles around three brothers, their relationships
and loves, their children and how the atrocities affected them and the rest of
the village. The novel even inserts cameo portrayals of Picasso painting the
destruction. It also shows how the life of a people cannot be destroyed as
rebuilding slowly begins. Good writing, compelling characters, good story. It
has an almost fairy-tale-like ending, but I tolerated it because I was ready
for something really good to happen to these people.
Ivan Doig, Dancing
at the Rascal Fair (1987) and Prairie Nocturn (2003): I love Doig’s
historically based books on the settling of Montana and its subsequent
development through the civil war years. Great writing. A fascinating
historical background, made real by good characterization and development.
Charles
Williams, War in Heaven (1930) and The Place of the Lion (1933):
One of the tests for a good book is the number of times we re-read it. These
are two re-reads of my favorite writer of theological thrillers. Williams is a
serious theologian, but also a marvelous spinner of fantasy worlds. The result,
for an intuitive thinker like myself, is insight and a gripping good adventure.
Williams was an intimate friend of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.
Elizabeth
Goudge, Green Dolphin Street (1944), Pilgrim’s Inn (1948), and The
Heart of the Family (1953): I went on a sort of Elizabeth Goudge binge. Her
old-fashioned books present virtuous people bringing redemption to difficult
situations. This is not as bad as it sounds, due to Goudge’s wisdom and skill
in writing. The plots and characters are nuanced and realistic. I always end up
being encouraged by the greater Reality than lies beneath the messy stuff I
have to live through.
Ruta Sepetys, Salt
to the Sea (2016): Historical fiction from World War II about the transfer
of orphans to a ship with a destination in Germany. The ship was overcrowded
and went down with losses in the thousands, mostly children. This event was
definitely under-reported and is a story that needs to be told. This novel
follows the fate of one little orphan girl and is told from her point-of-view.
Well written.
Fredrik
Backman, A Man Called Ove (2012): This Swedish novel is about a grumpy
old man who is grieving his wife and unsuccessfully (and comically) trying to
commit suicide. Meanwhile he relates with his neighbors in unorthodox and
obnoxious ways. But something profound and human happens in all these
relationships with all these uniquely abnormal people. Love happens, along with
acceptance and kindness in unexpected places. Ove never stops being grumpy and
obnoxious. But we end up loving him and seeing in him something of what his
deceased wife probably saw. Well written. With lots of humor and insight into
what it means to be human.
Tracy
Chevalier, Girl with a Pearl Earring (1999): Fascinating fictional
account of J. Vermeer’s famous painting, with the girl being represented as a
lower-class maid. The complicated family relationships in the Vermeer family
are possibly based on fact. It also details class relationships and
expectations, with all the injustice these entailed. An interesting look at
life in the Netherlands in the 1600s.
Ken Follett, The
Pillars of the Earth (1989): The epic novel of the creation of a cathedral
in Medieval England. Not great literature but a good story that kept my
interest. Most interesting were the details of Medieval life, politics,
marriage, social injustices, as well as, of course, architecture.
Jane
Kirkpatrick, A Sweetness to the Soul (1995): Story of a pioneer woman in
Oregon, her positive relationship to the Indians, the tragedies of her
childhood, her good marriage to an older man and their adventures. The
background is the real-life story of Jane and Joseph Sherar and the building of
Sherar House, 1893, as a hotel for travelers who crossed the Deschutes River. I
love Oregon stories.
Molly Gloss, Jump-Off
Creek (1989) and The Hearts of Horses (2007): By another good Oregon
writer, Gloss’ books certainly don’t present a romantic look at the taming of
the West, but the characters are real, as are the hardships they faced. Based
on solid research and well written.
Margaret
Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale (1986): Terrifying, horrifying futuristic
tale of life in a dreary time when women are valued only for their reproductive
assets, and men are monstrous masters. Seems hopeless, but the human spirit
seeps through, demands justice. At the end, a further future audience of
scholars is reading the handmaid’s journal, trying to determine the reality of
this long-gone culture. This could never really happen. Could it?
Nafisi Haji, The
Sweetness of Tears (2011): A good story about cross cultural understanding
(and misunderstanding), the rights of women (or lack of these) in Islamic
cultures, the importance of family, and the devastation of war.
Non-Fiction
Trevor Noah, Born
a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (2016): Memoir by a South
African comedian, and another of the best books I’ve read this year. He handles
the hardships and challenges of poverty with humor, often hilarity, yet without
belittling the difficulties of life on the margins.
Annette
Gordon-Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello (2008): A view of the family of
Thomas Jefferson’s slave mistress, Sally Hemings. While Jefferson treated
members of this family with kindness (and may have loved Sally), they were
still slaves. A fascinating inside view of slavery at the end of the 18th
and beginning of the 19th centuries, documenting the hypocrisy and
inhumaneness at the heart of it all.
Rachel Held
Evans, Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving and Finding the Church (2015):
The honest yet compassionate story of Held Evans’ disillusionment with the
institutional church, and the search that led her back to a commitment to being
part of the people of God. I got a little tired of her theological comments and
tended to scan these, but the narrative part of the book, its heart, is
fascinating, containing much I could identify with.
Eugene H.
Peterson, As Kingfishers Catch Fire: A Conversation on the Ways of God
Formed by the Words of God (2017): I usually love Peterson’s books, and
this latest one did not disappoint me. It’s actually a collection of sermons he
preached years ago as pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air,
Maryland. The insights from Scripture are rich and I find many new perspectives
to think about and to live out. This is a book I plan to periodically re-visit.
