Narnia Reading Challenge | The Silver Chair

The Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge has concluded. I read The Silver Chair but decided not to read any books about Narnia. I'm thinking I need at least a good once or twice through the series before reading something that discusses the entire series.

The Silver Chair was an interesting change after The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, as most of it takes place in underground Narnia where Jill and Eustace must find Prince Rilian and escape from the Emerald Witch. Some characters from the past remain, like Eustace Scrubb, a very old Caspian, and near-deaf Dwarf Trumpkin. The new characters are most interesting: Jill Pole, Caspian's son Rilian, Puddleglum the Marsh-wiggle, talking owls, the Emerald Witch (anyone remember the White Witch?), and gnomes in Underland.

I have to admit that Puddleglum is my favorite character in this book. He's rather pessimistic, but it adds some much-needed humor to the book. His first encounter with Jill and Eustace is especially amusing.

"I'm trying to catch a few eels to make an eel stew for dinner," said Puddleglum. "Though I shouldn't wonder if I didn't get any. And you won't like them much if I do."

     "Why not?" asked Scrubb.

     "Why, it's not in reason that you should like our sort of victuals, though I've no doubt you'll put a bold face on it. All the same, while I am a catching of them, if you two could try to light the fire—no harm trying—! The wood's behind the wigwam. It may be wet. You could light it inside the wigwam, and then we'd get all the smoke in our eyes. Or you could light it outside, and then the rain would come and put it out. Here's my tinder box. You wouldn't know how to use if I expect?"

Of course I'm always happy to read about Aslan, and The Silver Chair has some great scenes with him. I love this part:

     "Son of Adam," said Aslan, "Go into that thicket and pluck the thorn that you will find there, and bring it to me."

     Eustace obeyed. The thorn was a foot long and sharp as a rapier.

     "Drive it into my paw, Son of Adam," said Aslan. . . .

     Then Eustace set his teeth and drove the thorn into the Lion's pad. And there came out a great drop of blood, redder than all redness that you have ever seen or imagined. And it splashed into the stream. . . .

I really wonder if this one is going to be made into a movie. I worry about the whole plot line and all being changed, especially the really good parts with Aslan. I hope not! 

Every time I read a Narnia book I end up sighing a lot, thinking about my not-so-long-ago days of childhood and wishing that I could really go to Narnia and see Aslan. I hope someday I can have a few kiddos to read these stories to because they are just so imaginative and fun.

If you haven't entered Narnia yet . . . what are you waiting for?

Book Beginnings | July 29, 2011

I just finished The First Gardener by Denise Hildreth Jones. I really enjoyed it. (Click the title to read my review.) Here are the first couple of lines:

The sides a my bologna gone and curled up in that cast-iron skillet when a pop a grease splattered out. Landed smack-dab on the mornin' paper I done set on the counter.

The first chapter is from character Jeremiah Williams's perspective, and every few chapters in the book he has one wholly devoted to him. I love this beginning because it says a lot about Jeremiah. Of course, I didn't really know who he was when I started reading it, but this beginning definitely makes a person wonder. What is this? Who is this about? It's a great book.

Fiction | The First Gardener

Jeremiah Williams has been tending the gardens of the Tennessee governor's mansion for over twenty-five years. And like most first families who have come and gone, this one has stolen his heart.

Mackenzie and her husband, Governor Gray London, have struggled for ten years to have a child and are now enjoying a sweet season of life—anticipating the coming reelection and sending their precious daughter, Maddie, off to kindergarten—when a tragedy tears their world apart. As the entire state mourns, Mackenzie falls into a grief that threatens to swallow her whole.

Though his heart is also broken, Jeremiah realizes that his gift of gardening is about far more than pulling weeds and planting flowers. It's about tending hearts as well. As he uses the tools that have been placed in his hands, he gently begins to cultivate the hard soil of Mackenzie's heart, hoping to help her realize what it took him years to discover.

In The First Gardener, Denise Hildreth Jones brings the South to life as she explores the lives of her characters, most notably Governor London, his wife Mackenzie, gardener Jeremiah, and Mackenzie's mother Eugenia. Though I have not read any of Jones's other books, her strong suit seems to be character development. Each character in The First Gardener came alive in the roughly four hundred page book, and I felt attached to each one as the story progressed. (Jeremiah is my favorite, however.)

Mackenzie London, wife to Tennessee's governor, is a woman with many pent-up emotions about her difficulty in bearing children. After years of trying, her and her husband Gray were finally blessed with a precious daughter named Maddie. Now the couple are hoping for another baby, and the attempt is wearing on Mackenzie emotionally. It's an interesting aspect of the story, and key as the plot progresses. (This part of the story also makes for a few interesting passages as husband and wife discuss their trying to get pregnant. Nothing graphic, of course, but not for younger audiences, either.)

Eugenia Quinn, Mackenzie's mother, is a delightfully sarcastic woman who enjoys speaking her mind. Her group of friends—comprising of Berlyn, Dimples, and Sandra—reminded me of "Steel Magnolias" characters. They're quirky and sometimes too blunt, but they're love for each other runs deep. Eugenia's disdain for Jeremiah's gardening is especially humorous.

Jeremiah Williams is the loving, wise gardener at the governor's mansion. Some of the chapters are devoted entirely to his perspective on the goings-on at the mansion, and when I read anything he said I could easily picture Hoke from "Driving Miss Daisy." A key part of the story revolves around Jeremiah and his flowers; at different parts in the book he gives Mackenzie flowers that mean something important at that particular time. There's also some unknown part of Jeremiah's past that isn't revealed until the end; for me it was a big shocker. I wouldn't say he's the main character of the book, but, without his role, The First Gardener would miss something huge.

Those aren't the only characters, of course, but they were the ones that stood out to me the most. This is a really charming story with interweaving moments of sadness and joy. It is Christian fiction, and thankfully the Christian aspect isn't thrown in there at the end, or preached rudely; it is a perfect fit and an important part of the story. At the end of the book, Jones says that her prayer "is that in the seasons where you need a Jeremiah, you will find him. And in the seasons where someone needs you to be a Jeremiah, that you will be him." That, in essence, is what The First Gardener is all about.

Visit the Author's Website | Visit the Author's Blog | Read the First Chapter 

The First Gardener is published by Tyndale House Publishers.

Tyndale kindly offered me a complimentary review copy of this book.

What's On My Nightstand | July 2011

It's hard for me to believe that July is almost over and August is almost here. I don't have as many books to list this time around. I decided to slow my reading a bit to so that I could enjoy it more. Reading a book in a day is a lot of fun, but a few weeks later it is difficult to remember what I even read about.

Since last month, I've read

Story Engineering by Larry Brooks. I love, love this book. It is all about how to write a novel/screenplay/memoir, and it has such useful information.

Craving Grace by Lisa Velthouse. This is a memoir by the author of Saving My First Kiss, and in it she discusses her failed attempts at perfection and her rediscovery of the power of God's grace. I really enjoyed it.

The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis. I read this as part of Carrie's Narnia reading challenge. It was so interesting because the majority of the story takes place in underground Narnia. Who knew Narnia even had such a strange underground world? (It's like a world within a world. That's an interesting thought.) I really liked the introduction of Eustace in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, so I was happy to read more about him. I wonder if The Silver Chair is going to be made into a movie. I can just see how most of it would be twisted and condensed to create a more "entertaining" story. They'd probably even add something romantic between Jill and Eustace. Ugh, I can't even think about it. All I say is, "Read the book!"

Life of Pi by Yann Martel. I read this for school and actually enjoyed it. It's the story of a boy from India who ends up lost at sea in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger. It's pretty entertaining, though slow at times. The first part is the most boring because it details Pi's life in India and his interesting attachment to religions of all kinds, but by the time the tiger entered the story, I was hooked.

I don't have anything specific that I want to read in the next month. I'm taking a leisurely approach to reading, as I'll be starting school at the end of August. Soaking up as much "for fun" reading as possible is my only goal!

Happy Summer and Happy Reading!

Memoir | Craving Grace

Craving Grace is the true story of a faith dramatically changed: how in one woman’s life God used the sweetness of honey to break through stale religious practices and hollow goodness, revealing the stunning wonder that is God’s grace.

When Lisa Velthouse felt unsatisfied in her faith, she decided to do more of what she had always done: become better by doing more good and enforcing more discipline on herself. This became the start of the Honey Project, a six-month fast from all things sweet; it became something greater. Lisa realized deeper issues looming inside her, and over the next several months discovered the beauty of God's grace.

Craving Grace appealed to me, someone who does not often read memoirs, because of the author who wrote it. Years ago I read Saving My First Kiss, and the news about Craving Grace mostly circulated around the fact that she didn't save her first kiss as she had promised to. I wanted to know why; not because I was upset about it, but because I wanted to know what changed the girl who had passionately written about saving her first kiss. What had happened in her life to cause a need to discover grace once again?

Lisa Velthouse delves into the details of her life pre kiss book and post kiss book, discussing and dissecting her emotions and feelings and, most importantly, her perception of God. It's an interesting account filled with moments of hilarity, passion, sadness, and confusion. It's real life, and time after time I stopped mid-chapter to sigh and consider how similarly I've felt in my own walk with Christ.

For Lisa,

Fasting brought out a brand-new mirror, I found. It was embarrassing to face my reflection in it, complete with sins I was incapable of ridding myself of. . . . This, for someone who lived life thinking she was very good, was a major blow. . . . Without sweets, my flaws and my spiritual flab and all my inadequacies were bared, and I couldn't find a fig leaf anywhere that would be big enough to cover who I was. (Velthouse 142)

My only hope for a future apart from my sin is to accept the one gift I can never deserve: Christ's sacrifice. (Velthouse 186).

It is only through much heartache and turmoil that Lisa discovers what grace is really about, and what the God who gives it freely is really like. It's a touching, inspiring story, and even if you're not big into memoirs, I'd give this one a shot anyway.

Lisa Velthouse's Bio | More About the Book