Books I Read in 2022, Vol. XII

 

PRIBBLE DIVES IN: A Professor Pribble Mystery
Sarah Hume

A sleepy college town. A brutal murder. A passel of peculiar witnesses. Meet the people of Muscatatuck, Indiana, and follow the adventures of an unlikely crime-solving duo. Detective Jackson Reed digs through conflicting evidence and contends with the town's oddball residents to uncover the truth. Professor Peregrine Pribble deploys his natural nosiness to help solve the crime. And the outcome is not what you'd expect in this hometown whodunit.

It's not every day a person can say they just finished reading a novel written by a high school classmate who also happens to be the daughter of their former minister. But today is that day for me. Sarah worked for decades at a small college in Huntington, Indiana, and has set this mystery in a similar place, full of what I am sure are personal references to the kind of folks she spent years working alongside. I love the way Sarah plays with words and says totally honest things in absolutely humorous ways. Take her bio, for instance: "Sarah Hume lives a long way from anywhere you have visited in the rural Midwest. She has been on a diet since 1995 and feeds any stray cats that wander up. Sarah is currently working on her second novel in the Pribble series. At least, that's what she tells her publisher." TWO THUMBS UP!

First Line: In the chill of early morning on Sunday, February 25, Almeda Bishop lay awake.

Page 56, 5th sentence: Services will be held there at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Last Line: And that the instant her body was discovered, the clock in the tower of College Hall stopped dead.

Books I Read in 2022, Vol. XI

 

THE SONGS OF ROLAND: Not to be Confused with a Certain Epic 12th-Century Book-Length French Poem
Roland Trenary

Here you will find lyrics to 99 songs of humor, longing, love, despair, lament, joy, wonder, life & death, and so on and so forth, etc. The honesty will catch you, the rhymes entrance you, and the rhythms should pretty much take care of the rests. Please, fasten your safety belts as you are treated to stories of Arizona night skies, small-town revenge, joyous artistic creation, depression-era heatwaves, a dancehall Lothario, a child astronomer lost in the desert, ghosts of lost loves, and fickle fingers of fate that tickle ribcages.

Off and on for two decades, Roland and I played together on the stage of the Dakota Chautauqua as part of the Dakota County (MN) Fair. We sang. He played mandolin and guitar and banjolin. My character tried to convince his character that electricity is a good thing. A splendid time was guaranteed for all. When it comes to this book, Roland is still playing. He has words bouncing off each other and creating funhouse mirror effects that make the reading of these song lyrics a journey of delightful discovery. (Feel free to get one yourself by going to Amazon.)

First Line: We gather as a plethora, sing a single song.

Page 56/Line 5: A hawk swooped down my street.

Last Line: From my small apartment where I write, I hear birds compare the sunrise to the night.

What Abortion Is Not

 

The current hateful yelling...on both sides of the abortion issue...grieves me. I'm pretty sure no minds have been changed or hearts moved as a result of chanting slogans or screaming insults. I am convinced that very few convictions have been modified from reading a "discussion" thread on Twitter or Facebook.

And yet, here I am, wanting to make a particular point that seems to be getting missed.

It concerns me that folks seem to be labeling the argument against abortion as a religious stance...that the main reason to be against abortion is "because God says so."

Let me be perfectly clear.

Abortion is not a religious issue.

Really...it's not.

We need to set aside all the stereotypes of Bible-thumpers and Planned Parenthood money-makers and calmly consider the basics of whether the pre-born entity is human. That's the only question that needs to be answered because if it's human, then killing it is murder. If it's not human, then treat it like a malignant tumor, I suppose.

Now, I clearly have a researched answer to that question. And if you want to read more about all that, let me direct you to my inspirational blog, Truth Is..., and its several posts about abortion. (Click those links.)

But THIS particular post is about this one particular point: Don't brush off the life-and-death issue of abortion as being a matter of religious opinion. The things that matter in the discussion are scientific facts.

That being said, we must avoid living up to the stereotype of caring only about the pre-born entity. The fathers and mothers and children must be treated with compassion, empathy, and respect, or all our "pro-life" rhetoric rings untrue.

For the record, that's why I so appreciate the work done by Amnion Pregnancy Center, which cares for EVERYONE affected by an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy.

No yelling. No Bible-thumping. No slogan chanting. (Hmm...that would look good on a banner being marched down a sidewalk. Just kidding!)

Books I Read in 2022, Vol. X

 

JIMMY STEWART: The Truth Behind the Legend
Michael Munn

Many stars of the silver screen in twentieth-century Hollywood became national icons, larger-than-life figures held up as paragons of American virtues. However, the private lives of actors such as John Wayne, Henry Fonda, and Errol Flynn rarely lived up to the idealistic roles they portrayed. James Stewart was known as the underdog fighter in many of his films and in real life. He was highly decorated for his bravery as a bomber pilot during World War II and was adored for his earnest and kindly persona. But there was much more to the man. In this New York Times bestseller, the many sides of Stewart are revealed: his explosive temper, his complex love affairs and his longstanding marriage, his service as an [unofficial] FBI agent, his innate shyness, and his passionate patriotism. Munn’s personal touch shines through his writing, as he was a friend of Stewart and his wife, Gloria, and interviewed them as well as their colleagues and friends.

I truly enjoyed this book as it described one of my favorite old-time actors. There was plenty between these covers that I had never heard before and it's all backed up with words from Stewart himself. In his earlier movies, it often seemed like Mr. Stewart was just portraying a version of himself, even though he worked very hard to appear so nonchalant. Still, the author tells the story of an incident that happened at a party that totally seemed like a scene from some romantic comedy that had perfectly cast Stewart as the leading man:

"One night a guy tried to punch Jimmy because his girl had dumped him for Jim. The guy was squaring up to him, and Jimmy just stood there, all innocent, saying, 'Look, I didn't mean to steal your girl. Look, here she is. If she wants to go with you, that's fine. But if she decides she wants to stay with me, what can I do about it?' And this guy tried to land a right punch, but Jimmy just side-stepped to the left, kept his right foot where it was, and tripped the guy up. Then Jimmy helped him up with, 'Golly, are you all right? Didn't hurt yourself, did ya?' And he seemed like he hadn't done a thing, and everyone felt it was the other guy who deserved what he got. And Jimmy got the girl."

First Line: "It's kinda hard to believe, but when I was a baby I was a good round shape," James Stewart once told me.

Page 56, Line 5: Around that time, Jim managed to get himself an audition for the key role of Sergeant O'Hara in Sidney Howard's Yellow Jack, the story of how soldiers were used as guinea pigs to test the origins of yellow fever.

Last Line: Jimmy Stewart gave us all a whole lot of little pieces of time.

Books I Read in 2022, Vol. IX

 

THE RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL SON
Henri J. M. Nouwen

In seizing the inspiration that came to him through Rembrandt's depiction of the powerful Gospel story "The Return of the Prodigal Son," Henri Nouwen probes several movements of the parable: the younger son's return, the elder son's vengefulness, and the father's compassion. In his reflection on Rembrandt in light of his own life's journey, Nouwen evokes a powerful drama of the parable in a rich, captivating way that is sure to reverberate in the hearts of seekers from all walks of life. The themes of homecoming, affirmation, and reconciliation will be newly discovered by all who have known loneliness, dejection, jealousy, or anger.

I'm pretty sure I've read one other work by Nouwen, though I can't remember what, but he has a great reputation and when I saw this book while browsing the library shelves it almost jumped into my hands. A testimony to its effect on my thought process is the fact that not one, but two Truth Is... posts have been born from it. Give this one a chance to seep into you a bit and it just might make the world a better place.

First Line: A seemingly insignificant encounter with a poster presenting a detail of Rembrandt's Return of the Prodigal Son set in motion a long spiritual adventure that brought me to a new understanding of my vocation and offered me new strength to live it.

Page 56/ Line 5: And so he says to himself: "How many of my father's hired men have all the food they want and more, and here am I dying of hunger!"

Final Line: As I look at my own aging hands, I know that they have been given to me to stretch out toward all who suffer, to rest upon the shoulders of all who come, and to offer the blessing that emerges from the immensity of God's love.

#ReElectNoOne

 

Yes, I am saddened by the most recent loss of school-aged lives.

Yes, I am grieved on behalf of the disrupted families.

But you know what? Posting about it on social media platforms won't change anything.

Raising a ruckus with our elected officials won't change anything. At least it hasn't during the last two decades since Columbine.

TWO DECADES!

It's time to hold those elected officials responsible for their lack of action.

While I am convinced that the ultimate solution will only take place when more and more people give up on worshipping their rights and start worshipping Jesus, I do have a suggestion that just might make an impact.

Don't re-elect anyone.

"But MY guy is in favor of my stand on issues."
     -  Your guy is also part of the partisan division that refuses to cooperate and compromise and accomplish any real change. As long as WE continue to stand in the muck of our own hatred and selfishness, the politicians will, too.

Part of what makes Jesus the ultimate solution is that he specializes in creating clean slates. This suggestion of mine is a non-religious shadow of that.

#ReElectNoOne

This is not a joke. This is the only language Washington understands.

Books I Read in 2022, Vol. VIII

THE GOSPEL: A Chronological Narrative of the Life of Jesus
Kermit Zarley

This story of Jesus is like no other. It includes all details of events found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the four Gospels of the New Testament...in the words of the leading Bible translation, the New International Version...told in a single narrative...readable, fast-moving., and in chronological sequence. It's truly the authentic, complete story of the greatest person who ever lived.

I would have sworn I bought this book while in Bible college, but its copyright is 1987, and I had been out of college three years by then. So I have no idea how long I've had this, but I know I'd read it before. This past weekend, I was on a silence and solitude retreat at the Pacem in Terris Hermitage Retreat Center in Isanti, Minnesota. This book, which weaves together all four Gospels into a single storyline, was my main input and it was amazing to be able to grasp the flow of Jesus' ministry and words and the building tension between him and the Jewish ruling council. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND SUCH A JOURNEY.

First Line: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Page 56/Line 5: Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.

Last Line: But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.