Books Read in February

Linking up with Tanya, Marilyn, Joanne and Jennifer for Share Your Shelf

You Can Run by Rebecca Zanetti- Not a, "you got this girl," pertaining to the exercise known as running... This "run" refers to running from someone. In the book, women's bodies begin to be discovered in the rugged yet beautiful terrain in a fairly desolate area of Washington state. A killer is on the loose! Enter the book's plucky heroine, FBI agent Laurel, to the rescue, along with a hunky, broody fishing and wildlife expert. The book was too salacious for my enjoyment.  I'm kind of surprised that I finished it- I guess the mystery part was pretty good but that was about it. This is a one and done for me with this author!

Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Eliot- Speaking of not finishing, I actually did not finish this book. However, I came very close to finishing and one reason that I didn't is because I know how it ended and I didn't and I kept putting off reading it! It's non fiction and anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of Christian missionaries has likely heard of Elisabeth Eliot and the historical events surrounding her as a young missionary wife. To wit, her husband Jim and four other men were speared to death by natives in South America back in 1956. I read almost to the part when the men died. (And I do plan to finish it- however, I had dawdled with reading it, not looking forward to the death part and then my library loan ended. I need to renew it!) Even though I didn't make it to the end, what struck me was how much work the missionary men and their families had done for villagers- from medical assistance to education, the missionaries gave tirelessly of their time and talents. The men who died were all very well educated young men who loved the Lord and wanted nothing more than to fulfill the Great Commission. 

My Sister's Child by Karen Clark- Enjoyed reading this quite a bit! It takes place in England where a troubled young woman is seemingly killed in the beginning of the book. Most of the book centers around the dead woman's sister who tries to come to grips with the death of her mostly estranged sister as she wonders if the death was accidental or intentional on someone's part. If it was intentional, the person who did the killing was likely someone that the sister knew. I found this book hard to put down- one day at school, I was counting down the minutes until my lunch (half) hour when I could pick the book up again and start reading (I didn't even consider going to the teachers' lounge to eat lunch with others- reading this book superseded any desire to chat with staff!).

Absolution by Alice McDermott- this character driven Vietnam era (it takes place in Vietnam during the first part of the Vietnam War) novel was absolutely delightful to read. It recounts the first person narrative of a now elderly woman who was the wife of a man employed in an industrial war complex position in Vietnam (at first I thought it was a memoir, it is written so personally). It also features a middle age woman (now) who was a child when her family was in Vietnam- whose family was also members of the industrial war complex in Saigon. The two women were linked together by the (now) middle age daughter's mother who was a friend of the (now) elderly woman. The women did what they thought was best to improve the lives of the Vietnamese; how ineffective that was, the reader is able to see, though no one can doubt the goodwill of the American women. My description does not do the book justice- though it is character driven and therefore plot lite, it is beautifully written and I highly recommend it. I will read more from this author for sure!

House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen- In this book, the nanny to a nine year old child, fell (or was pushed...) to her death out of a window in the mansion where she nannied a nine year girl named Rose. The parents were in the process of a divorce and the husband and the nanny had been having an affair. The main character in the book was not tasked with solving the mystery of what happened to the nanny (but naturally, she does discover it!), rather with determining, as a guardian ad litum, which parent she recommends get custody of Rose. A bit far fetched but enjoyable for the genre- I thought the mystery was a good one and it kept me interested. 

Shepherds for Sale by Megan Basham- I heard about this book on Allie Beth Stuckey's podcast, Relatable, and ordered it within five minutes of the podcast ending!  After listening to the author on Relatable, I had no doubt but that this was a book I needed to read. The tagline is, How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda. As someone who has left two churches due to coming to the realization that leaders in both churches seemed more concerned with the current, worldly zeitgeist of finding your own truth and/or not being willing to offend anyone by stating truth as outlined in the Bible, I realized that the subject of this book hit close to home. 

From the inside flap, "In Sheperds for Sale, Basham documents how progressive power brokers- from George Soros to the founder of eBay to former members of the Obama administration- set out to change the American church. Secular foundations and think tanks have deliberately targeted Christian media, universities, megachurches, nonprofits and even entire denominations, not to mention many high- profile pastors and influencers with infiltration and astrofurf campaigns. Their goal: to co-opt the church for political purposes. In exchange for toeing a left-wing line, many of those church leaders and institutions have received cash, career jumps, prestige and praise."

That succinctly sums up what the book is about. Indeed the majority of the book details example after example with regard to various social issues where leftists have persuaded church leaders and Christian institutions to abandon the truth of Scripture and instead preach/advocate for leftist issues. This is being done in a concerted effort to turn historically, conservative evangelical Christians to vote for and advocate for positions that align with leftist and politically Democrat positions. 

The book is well researched and documented by factual, empirical evidence of the thesis. It's a hard read in many ways but it's important for Christians to understand what is happening in many churches today. 

Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent- I had really liked the last book that I read by this author and was excited to read this one. I was disappointed! This one was not nearly as enjoyable to read as her last one. Sally is a middle age woman whose earliest years of her life were trauma filled. She's forgotten those years and yet from the time she was aware of herself, adopted into a loving family, she feels and acts very differently than those around her. She's very socially awkward and she's never had close friendships or really any friendships nor did she ever have a job. Her life is upended when her dad dies and she is forced to interact with others and reconcile with her past. I didn't care for the story line, the darkness or the implausibleness of it all.