Tag Archives: book reviews

Review: Mohamed’s Moon, by Keith Clemons

Mohamed’s Moon, by Keith Clemons (Realms, 2009)

Imagine coming face to face with your body double, who’s your opposite in nearly every way: finances, style, faith. You’d have to admit your evil twin is good looking though, and you have some similarities: you’re both university students who love soccer—and the same woman.

For Matthew Mulberry and Mohamed el Taher, it’s definitely not love at first sight. They don’t want to believe they’re brothers, identical twins separated at birth. Matthew is a Christian, Mohamed a Muslim extremist up to his eyeballs in a terrorist plot. Add in Layla, another Christian, who’s torn by feelings for both brothers.

A plot like this could come across as contrived, propaganda even, with cardboard hero and villain. Instead, award-winning author Keith Clemons gives us two vibrant, fundamentally opposite young men who are each seriously committed to their own understanding of God and His dealings with humanity. Each one’s reasoning makes sense to himself, while he sees the other man as clearly deceived.

If anything, Mohamed’s faith seems the stronger of the two, but I think that’s because we see him spend more time thinking about it. And he has a lot to think about. As well as wrestling with the ethics of mass murder, he’s drawn to compare the harsh Allah who calls him slave with the Christians’ Jesus, who claims God is love and who offers to call him son.

The action divides between California and Egypt, present and past. The flashbacks weave in smoothly, and the author uses just enough lyrical language to evoke the scene without slowing the pace. For example, here’s the California coast: “Waves crashed with a thunderous roar, only to be sucked back with a whoosh, leaving the shoreline bejewelled with fingernail shells sparkling in the crimson light of the dying sun.” (p.215)

Keith Clemons’ taut writing style pulls the reader into the story and keeps the pages turning. This isn’t a novel designed to paint all Muslims as terrorists, or all Christians as ideal. In each camp we see examples of devout behaviour and human failing. While Mohamed and his friends are extremists, other peripheral characters are Muslims living peaceful and caring lives.

If all power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, then the excesses and evils of the extremist leaders say far more about human depravity than about the deity they claim to serve.

The author’s Christianity is a clue to which side he’s on in comparing the two faiths, but he treats both fairly. He acknowledges the help of former Muslims in understanding Mohamed’s mindset.

Through twists, turns and surprises, Keith Clemons delivers us to a satisfying ending. Nothing is pat or easy, and none of the three main characters will ever be the same again.

The novel’s key characters are all of Egyptian origin, and it was an interesting experience for me as the fly-on-the-wall Caucasian reader to belong in the story world’s ethnic minority.

Canadian author Keith Clemons writes issue-related fiction. His previous novels, Angel in the Alley, These Little Ones, Above the Stars and If I Should Die, are all award-winners, and I have no doubt Mohamed’s Moon will follow suit.

You can read an interview with Keith at Interviews and Reviews and the Hot Apple Cider site. To read other reviews of Mohamed’s Moon, visit Promptings, Writer-lee, Writing Right, Interviews and Reviews and Deborah Gyapong’s blog.

Review: Whispers that Delight, non-fiction by Andrew T. Hawkins

Whispers That Delight: Building a Listening-Centered Prayer Life, by Andrew T. Hawkins (Word Alive Press, 2008)

“Does your prayer life seem like a one-way conversation? Do you have difficulty quieting yourself to listen to God?”

These questions from the back cover of Whispers That Delight may evoke quiet “yes” responses from many Christians. Andrew Hawkins knows better than to offer an instant fix. Instead, his PARE approach is a framework within which we can deepen our prayer like. And it can be used whether you have ten minutes or an hour.

It seems paradoxical to suggest the way to more intimate communion with God could come through a structured format, although the Old Testament Israelites wouldn’t have found it so. In Whispers That Delight the format is simply the means to a desirable end, and the author makes it clear that the Holy Spirit’s prompting must take precedence over externally-imposed structure.

The acronym PARE describes Rev. Hawkins’ pattern for prayer, and he reminds us that to pare is to cut or shave away thin layers. As we pare off “the superficial things which occupy our minds,” (p. viii) he promises we’ll discover more of God.

P is for preparation, when we refocus from ourselves to the goodness of God in praise and thanksgiving. This is also where we confess anything that’s inhibiting our communion with God and receive His forgiveness and restoration.

A is attentiveness, with our spirits fixed on God’s presence to hear what He may have to say. One person may “hear” words, another impressions or images, another through reading and meditating on Scripture.

R is our response: to love, to intercede or repent, to act. Rev. Hawkins says, “Although God gives specific guidance and even surprises us with supernatural directives, when we meet him in prayer he primarily empowers us to do what we already know to do.” (p. 95)

E is a fitting end: enjoyment. Instead of rushing off into the day with a “Thanks, God!” we need to take time to linger a few minutes in His presence, just for the experience of being with Him.

Not that we should stop praying then—the concept of prayer without ceasing, practicing His presence, is worth pursuit. But our intimate, one-on-One prayer session has ended for another day.

Whispers That Delight comes with three appendices, one of which I think would serve better at the beginning: “Tips on Reading Whispers That Delight”. Essentially, the tips are “Read with the heart, read small portions at a time, and to go deeper, study the quoted Scriptures.”

Reading in bite-sized chunks is definitely wise. This isn’t at all a hard read, but the subject itself requires careful consideration and prayerful pondering. To breeze through Whispers That Delight would be to “read” the words and miss their effect on our hearts. I’m glad I took it slowly.

Rev. Andrew T. Hawkins is a Canadian author, and pastor to St. Paul’s Congregational Church in Ontario. Whispers That Delight is a book for all denominations and levels of faith, and it received The Word Guild 2009 Writing Award in the Book—Biblical Studies category.

Review: Hot Apple Cider

Hot Apple Cider: Words to Stir the Heart and Warm the Soul is a collection of personal experience articles, short stories and poems by Canadian Christian authors from a variety of denominations.

Edited by N.J. Lindquist and Wendy Elaine Nelles and with a forward by Canadian Christian fiction icon Janette Oke, the anthology features work from 30 professional members of The Word Guild.

Content ranges from the light-hearted and humorous to serious topics such as the death of a loved one, cancer, infertility, loneliness and family conflicts. Unlike some anthologies, there’s no sentimentalizing, no over-dramatization. Just real people writing about real situations, and faith in a real God who makes a difference. Truth presented through articles, poetry and fiction, accented with restful black and white illustrations.

Canadian Christian writers are a vibrant and articulate group, and Hot Apple Cider is a wonderful sample of some of their work. Even though each selection is self-contained, I found myself reading “just one more” when it was time to stop.

The book is available online or through local bookstores. The authors also donated 30,000 copies to World Vision to be given out at FaithLife Financial’s Girls’ Night Out events across Canada in 2008.

Seven entries from the anthology were finalists in The Word Guild 2009 Canadian Christian Writing Awards–and five won awards! More recently, Hot Apple Cider was chosen by the Church Library Association of Ontario for its 2009 One Book/One Conference focus.

It’s great to see Canadian authors who are Christian getting exposure in our country. Hot Apple Cider was a treat to read, and I know I’ll dip into it again and again. I enjoyed it so much, I bought a second copy and gave it away on my blog.

Congratulations to everyone involved in this ground-breaking project. Bring on volume two!

Review: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradley (Doubleday Canada, 2009)

Flavia de Luce is an 11-year-old girl whose approach to her older sisters’ pranks is “letting the soup of revenge simmer to perfection” (p. 4). The girls’ mother died when Flavia was a baby, and their father has never recovered. He’s distant and inattentive, and the girls have the run of their sprawling, centuries-old house in 1950’s England.

Flavia concocts some rather beastly revenges, such as dissolving sister Ophelia’s pearls in acid and adding poison to her lipstick, but it’s with a child’s spitefulness rather than any sense of evil. Although she’s a genius in the house’s private chemistry lab (poison is her passion), she’s a bit short on interpersonal skills. As the novel opens, she’s vaguely fond of her father and would happily embrace never seeing her sisters again. She takes the people in her world for granted, as children do.

Flavia would be a terror to live with, but she makes a charming narrator. Her point of view is never dull and often sprinkled with humour and clever turns of phrase. There are too many wonderful descriptions to quote, but here’s how she describes her home: “[The] two yellow brick annexes, pustulently Victorian, folded back like the pinioned wings of a boneyard angel, which, to my eyes, gave the tall windows and shutters of Buckshaw’s Georgian front the prim and surprised look of an old maid whose bun is too tight” (p.5).

Mr. de Luce loves his stamp collection more than his own daughters. Perhaps he feels it’s safer ground. One day a stamp turns up at the kitchen door—impaled on the beak of a dead bird.

That evening Mr. de Luce has a secret visitor, and the next morning Flavia finds the man’s body in the cucumber patch. Fearing that her father or the family’s gardener might be involved, and irritated with the police Inspector for excluding her from the crime scene, Flavia determines to solve the mystery herself.

She reminds me a bit of Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl, minus the fairies and criminal tendencies. Like Artemis, the dangers she faces help her begin to understand her family and her heart. I think that’s where the novel’s title fits in. It refers to a quote from William King’s The Art of Cookery, “Unless some sweetness at the bottom lie, who cares for all the crinkling of the pie?”

As with her human relationships, Flavia doesn’t give much thought to faith. It’s there in the background, another part of her life’s framework. Author Alan Bradley treats it with care, something I rarely find but always appreciate in a mainstream-audience book.

I must also say, as a Canadian, I thoroughly enjoyed reading a book with Canadian spellings. That too is a rare experience these days.

I read the novel once to see what happened, and a second time to enjoy the language. Flavia may be 11 years old, but this isn’t a book for children. It’s rich in nuance, vocabulary and detail, clearly designed for adults’ experienced palates.

I’d love to share the best lines with my husband but I’ve resisted—for the most part. I don’t want to spoil it for him.

Canadian author Alan Bradley has created a fascinating character in Flavia de Luce, and I’m glad to see two more novels to follow this one: The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag [or Tied Up With Strings] (2010) and Dance, Gypsy! Hang, Gypsy! (2011). Flavia certainly seems to be capturing the imaginations of readers the world over. There’s even a Flavia de Luce fan club—for adults.

Mr. Bradley is co-author (with Dr. William A.S. Sarjeant) of the non-fiction Ms. Holmes of Baker Street and author of The Shoebox Bible. Before being internationally-published, his first novel The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie received the (British) Crime Writers’ Association’s Debut Dagger Award in 2007.

Review: Let Go, by Sheila Walsh

Let Go: live free of the burdens all women know, by Sheila Walsh (Thomas Nelson, 2008)

We all need deliverance in one area or another. To receive it, we need to let go: of self-effort, legalism, past hurts or actions, unforgiveness, shame, lack of self-worth, fear, loneliness… the list could go on.

Men need this freedom too, but Let Go is a woman-to-woman book. Each chapter opens with brief quotes and a contemporary parable. Sheila Walsh shares her personal experiences as well as teaching from Scripture. Chapters end with a few questions for discussion or private contemplation, and with a prayer.

Initially I feared this would be a lightweight overview of complex issues, but I needn’t have worried. Sheila introduces each element with a gentle touch and goes deeper in successive chapters. This is a good way to approach touchy subjects like hurt and shame that we may have to chew on a while.

Sheila’s music has blessed me for maybe 30 years now, and a recurring theme is that God loves each of us—more than we can imagine—no matter who we are or what we’ve done.

This is the message at the heart of Let Go. Sheila writes, “God’s love for us is based on who he is. This truth can change our lives if we are able to receive it.” (p. 172)

Sheila Walsh’s transparency and her heart for God make her a woman He can use to touch others. Let Go is an encouraging book that’s well worth reading. To find out more about book and author, you can read the opening chapter of Let Go or visit Sheila Walsh’s website.

Review: Northern Lights: An Anthology

Northern Lights: An Anthology of Contemporary Christian Writing in Canada, Byron Rempel-Burkholder, Dora Dueck, Doug Koop, eds. (John Wiley & Sons, 2008)

What does it mean to be a Christian living in Canada? Does our national identity affect our spiritual one?

The Northern Lights anthology came together as an exploration of “the many faces of being Christian in Canada” (p. 1). In essays and poetry, the selections attempt to trace out our “spiritual geography.”

Northern Lights is filled with beautiful and often thought-provoking writing. When I picked it up, I was glad to see some authors whose work I always enjoy, like Mark Buchanan, Susan Fish, and Linda Hall, and to “meet” many new-to-me authors. The best-known contributors are Bruce Cockburn, Michael Coren, Preston Manning, and Rudy Wiebe.

These are stories to savour slowly, not to rush. Some you may want to chew on for a bit, maybe mull over and discuss with a friend. I liked the ones in the first section, “Dance to Creation,” best.

The anthology is more an exploration of the significance of ideas and events than a simple telling of tales. It feels to me like a literary journal, or perhaps a university-level discussion—not hard to follow, but treading some deep water in places.

It’s almost inevitable to compare Northern Lights with Hot Apple Cider, since both anthologies of Canadian Christian writing released in the same year. They’re both fine books, and I’m glad to see them raising awareness that, yes, there are plenty of talented Canadian Christians who write. I hope many people will read these books and discover new favourite authors.

Mark Twain is quoted as saying, “My books are water; those of the great geniuses are wine—everybody drinks water.” Northern Lights may be a fine wine. Hot Apple Cider may be more of an “everyman” drink. We need both.

Northern Lights is a book well worth reading, and you’ll probably want to look for more works by the authors you like best. You can get it through your local bookstore or online through John Wiley and Sons, Chapters-Indigo or Amazon.ca.

Review: Double Minds by Terri Blackstock

Double Minds, by Terri Blackstock (Zondervan, 2009)

Parker James is a Christian songwriter who performs when she can and works reception at a recording studio in Nashville. When another receptionist is murdered on the job, her brother is one of the detectives called to the scene. Trouble is, Parker helped him study for his exams and she seems to remember better than he what needs doing.

As well as dealing with the emotional fallout of her co-worker’s death, Parker faces pressure to rewrite her latest worship songs as love songs. Long-time friend Serene has gained so much attention singing Parker’s songs that she’s been approached by a mainstream recording executive.

I like how author Terri Blackstock shows Parker’s conflict over this issue. While on the one hand it’s fine for Parker to be a songwriter who’s Christian—even if she writes mainstream lyrics—on the other hand, the songs she’s been asked to “tone down” were written as acts of worship. Would changing them be selling out?

Theft and a second murder raise the suspense even higher, until it comes to a satisfying and unexpected conclusion. Parker also finds perspective on her song-writing and performance abilities, although I was disappointed not to see an epilogue of where the future would take her.

Double Minds gives readers an interesting insider view of the Nashville music industry. Parker is a genuinely likeable young woman. She and the other characters feel like real people, with interesting quirks and backgrounds.

One of the things I always appreciate about Terri Blackstock’s writing is her honesty about Christians. Double Minds is no exception. Within this fictional Christian recording community, we see believers like Parker who do their best to live as they think Jesus wants them to live. We see characters like Serene and Pete who each know Jesus at some level but are still in bondage (anorexia and alcoholism). And we see others who fall under the “Christian” banner but may have little or no interest in living to please God.

Instead of setting them up for judgement, Terri Blackstock presents them as they are and lets them fall or grow according to their own choices. She treats each character with truth and compassion.

The book’s final pages offer discussion questions about Double Minds, as well as the opening chapter of the author’s next novel, Intervention, releasing September 2009. Looks like another good one!

Review: Exposure, a novel by Brandilyn Collins

Exposure, by Brandilyn Collins (Zondervan, 2009)

Exposure is the sixth Brandilyn Collins novel I’ve read, and I think it’s time to officially call myself a fan. After reading Dark Pursuit, I started asking “when’s the next one coming out?” and picked up Exposure and Always Watching (co-written with daughter Amberly Collins) as soon as they released.

Always Watching is a fast-paced young adult read, and it’s now circulating among my nieces.

In Exposure, Kaycee Raye’s syndicated column on fighting fears helps a lot of people. But the realization that a person’s worst fears can come true has turned her private world into a terrifying place. A fearful woman… doesn’t sound like an ideal protagonist for us to bond with, but Brandilyn Collins pulls it off in her usual “seatbelt suspense”® style.

As terrified as Kaycee is, she’s determined to fight this inner battle because something more important is on the line. Her best friend’s young daughter disappeared on the way to Kaycee’s house. Hannah is nine years old—the same age as Kaycee when she realized she’d absorbed all of her mother’s fears.

But Kaycee’s mother never saw things that weren’t there—someone watching, a camera, images. Is Kaycee cracking up, or is the old joke true: “Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean there isn’t someone out to get me”?

Kind police officer Mark says he believes her, but he’s also the one who accused her of making money from other people’s fear. And she can’t offer proof of what she’s seen. Even her trusted friend suggests it’s a product of her own mind.

As these scares pile up, the search for Hannah intensifies. And there’s another plot thread running through the novel, complete with stolen money, mobsters, and a mother and child on the run.

Brandilyn Collins brings everything together for a tense and satisfying conclusion that I did not see coming. I was so pleased with myself for deciphering some of her clues… and completely missed the twist at the end.

Exposure is a fast-paced read that I didn’t want to put down. Yes, it’s intense, thanks in part to the author’s masterful use of deep point of view to pull readers into Kaycee’s heart and head, but it’s not the traumatic type of scary.

Brandilyn Collins is a multi-published, best-selling author. For information on her other books, visit her website. Click here to read an excerpt from Exposure. Better still, grab a copy of the novel, buckle your seatbelt, and as Brandilyn Collins’ tagline warns, “Don’t forget to b-r-e-a-t-h-e!”®

Review: If Only You Knew, by Mags Storey

If Only You Knew by Mags Storey (Kregel Publications, 2009)

If Only You Knew is a perfect summer read: light, straightforward, non-threatening – and yet with plenty of depth and complexity to chew on.

Recent high school grad Jo Mackenzie is spending the summer with her cousin in a small Ontario town called Silverpoint. With no plans for the future and no great sense of self-worth, she has two pressing goals: find a job and find a boyfriend, not necessarily in that order.

Jo isn’t shallow, she’s just not aware of her own potential – or that life is just as imperfect and complicated for her new friends as it is for her.

She’s a fun character to read about, particularly with Canadian author Mags Storey’s vibrant, candid writing style. We’re in Jo’s head and we can love her vulnerability and honesty. Along with the relationship angst, Jo has a bigger problem: two creepy guys are stalking her, but only one of her friends believes it.

If Only You Knew is the story of a young woman’s search for friendship, love and significance. Mags Storey presents faith from the outside (through Jo and Sam, who don’t feel perfect enough to belong) and the inside (through Kevin, Nate and Lisa the pastor’s daughter, who aren’t perfect either).

The message of Jesus comes through fresh and clear, as do non-Christians’ reactions to things church-goers can take for granted. If Only You Knew would be a good read for a teen who’s not sure about faith as well as for one who believes. It was a good read for me, a Christian at the mid-life mark.

These days it feels like a US-based setting is a requirement for a Christian novel, and it’s great to see that Kregel Publications has given us one set in Canada. Great stories can happen anywhere, and visiting new places is part of the fun of reading. For the record, Silverpoint is a fictional town in Ontario’s cottage country.

Mags Storey is a Canadian writer and editor who has lived in the United States and the Middle East. At present she’s a correspondent for ChristianWeek. You can read some of her articles here. You can also read chapter one of If Only You Knew. If Only You Knew is Mags Storey’s first novel.

Review: The Vanishing Sculptor, by Donita K. Paul

The Vanishing Sculptor, by Donita K. Paul (WaterBrook Press, 2009)

In the land of Chiril, a young woman named Tipper tries to keep the dwindling family estate together. Her father, famed sculptor Verrin Schope, disappeared a long time ago. Her mother claims he talks to her at night, but Lady Peg is scattered at best. Tipper is reduced to selling household furnishings and her father’s beloved statues to meet expenses. It doesn’t help that Lady Peg will buy back everything she sees in the market because it’s “just what I’ve always wanted.”

Verrin Schope reappears—out of thin air—with two companions who will bring smiles of recognition to readers of the author’s DragonKeeper series: wizard Fenworth and his librarian, Librettowit. Tipper, her trusted guardian Sir Beccaroon (a talking Great Parrot), a struggling artist and four minor dragons join them on a dangerous quest.

It seems three of the statues Tipper sold must be reunited… to save her father’s life and the land itself. The questing party is completed by a dragon keeper and four riding dragons.

The novel isn’t all swashbuckling adventure, although these moments do come in satisfying fashion. As with a true quest, it begins with preparation, travel and searching. In the process, it binds this group of diverse characters into a team.

The Vanishing Sculptor is described as “a fantastic journey of discovery for all ages.” It’s rich in language and setting, yet presented in a straightforward young adult style. Wizard Fenworth’s robes shed small creatures whenever he moves, and there are enough bugs to please the young and young at heart.

The tale is also woven with threads of spirituality, truth and character. It’s not a fast read, but very pleasing.

My 12-year-old son and I both enjoyed it. My only complaint is that I took a liking to Hue, the purple singing dragon. Dragons are never pets, but I’d very much like for him to come live with us. My son says this will not happen.

Perhaps I’ll see Hue in a sequel to The Vanishing Sculptor. Donita K. Paul’s first series, DragonKeeper, spanned five books. You can read the first chapter of The Vanishing Sculptor here.

Janet Sketchley

Writing Christian Mysteries & Suspense