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Peace Like a River – Leif Enger

Wow. I came to the end of the book and had to pause a minute to absorb everything I had just read. “Peace Like a River” is the best book I’ve read so far this year. Rueben Land is an eleven-year-old with a horrible case of asthma. Swede is his nine-year-old sister, and they have an older brother, Davy, already in his teens. Their father, Jeremiah, has been single for years, and is an amazing man. Deeply connected to his faith, he has literally performed miracles, and Rueben has seen him do it. The family is poor, but they are … Continue reading →

What Do You Read For?

My mom has been staying with me for the last month recovering from a fall, and with little else to do, has been gobbling up my bookshelves almost faster than I can replenish them. I’m passing along all the books I think she ought to like, but I’m finding something odd. There are some books she just doesn’t like, books I loved. Why is that? After thinking it over for a little while, I came to a very important conclusion. Readers all read for different reasons. Some read to be entertained. Others, to be educated, or uplifted, or distracted, or … Continue reading →

StoryCasting: For the Movie in Your Mind

Have you ever read a book and thought to yourself, “I can really see (insert actor’s name) playing this role if it’s ever made into a movie.” StoryCasting is a new website that lets you share your opinions on which actors should play which book characters. I just spent some time over there, and let me say, it was a lot of fun. First I created my account, by filling in a username and password. Then I chose an avatar to represent me—okay, they didn’t really have one that I felt looked like me, but the one I chose was … Continue reading →

Thale’s Folly – Dorothy Gilman

Dorothy Gilman is most famous for the “Mrs. Polifax” series, but the stand-alone novel “Thale’s Folly” is equally as enjoyable, although it’s a story rather than a mystery. Andrew Oliver Thale is a young man of twenty-six who survived a terrifying plane crash, coming out with a number of broken bones and post-traumatic stress disorder. Once a budding novelist with two books under his belt, he has lost his ability to write fiction and has taken a job writing newsletters for the company where his father holds a place as vice-president. He can’t sleep without having nightmares about the crash, … Continue reading →