Books I Read in 2023, Vol. XVII

 

THE FINAL CUT: Introducing Nicholas Drummond
Catherine Coulter and J. T. Ellison

Scotland Yard's Chief Inspector Nicholas Drummond boards the first flight to New York when he learns that his colleague Inspector Elaine York, the minder of the crown jewels for the Jewel of the Lion exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, has been found murdered. Then the centerpiece of the exhibit, the infamous Koh-i-Noor diamond, is stolen from the Queen Mother's crown. Drummond, American-born but raised in the UK, is tough, dangerous, a fast-rising star in the Yard who never backs down. He's all for crown and country -- but it's York's murder that draws him to the United States.

I stumbled onto the 6th book of the Brit in the FBI series, The Last Second, and liked it so much I decided to back up and start at the beginning. Two "interesting" things to me about this book: 1) It's the first book in a 6-book series, but has the word "final" in its title. 2) What kind of self-confidence and chutzpah does it take to tell the world that you're introducing a character in "the first book in a brilliant new international thriller series"? (And yes, this is on the dust jacket of a hardback edition...not the back-cover blurb of a published-years-later paperback.)

Once again, I am happy to report that, contrary to the norm for a lot of modern "international thrillers," there is an apparently intentional absence of foul language and explicit sex. Color me thankful.

First Line: Saleem drummed his long fingers on the table, giving only a cursory glance out the window to the clear Parisian night, and wondered yet again -- Where is he?

Page 56, Line 5: "I'm sorry you've gone to so much trouble."

Last Line: With a smile, she gathered her bag, walked to the elevator, and disappeared.

Roth Christmas Epistle 2023

 

The Year That Was

January  -  Partly to celebrate Curtis' 36th birthday, he and Abbey spent an extended weekend in Orlando while Grandma Debbie and Grampa Dewey played and laughed with Ivy June and Ezra Ann Leona. We loved it, but also became convinced that God was wise in having humans create babies while in their 20s and 30s. * Loved having an overnight visit from Debbie's niece, Nikki, and her son, Asher, when they were "in the area" to check out a college that wants Asher to play football for them (The college is in Moorehead, but they flew into the Twin Cities).

February  -  Curtis and Abbey announced that a third Roth child should arrive in September. * Dewey booked a helicopter tour and a NaPali Coast sunset dinner cruise for our May/June Hawaii trip. * A surprise visit from Bill & Lisa Miller (from Dewey's first ministry in Indiana) made Valentine's Eve very special. * Thomas "MisterSquishy" Stanley turned 9. * On the 23rd, Shonda turned 40 and Kelly Jo turned 34. * Spent a lovely couple hours in a Saint Paul coffeehouse listening to our friend (and Dakota Chautauqua music director) Eric Peltoniemi play and sing.

March  -  Our dear friends, Bobby & Connie, said, "Hey, you should come down to our house in Florida and spend a week with us on the Gulf Coast. It'll be fun!" So we did, and it was! * Sorry that we missed Ivy June "WonderWoman" Roth's 3rd birthday party, though. * Work began on re-siding the house.

April  -  Anawynn "SweetCheeks" Haug turned 10. * Attended The Well Conference for Christian Creatives in Michigan. * Debbie led a one-day ladies' retreat and then spoke and sang for the hosting congregation's Sunday service in Syracuse, Indiana (thanks to the healing of her bronchitis and sinus infection). * House siding completed.

May  -  Having been the highest bidder for a week at a Marriot resort (and a supporter of Amnion Pregnancy Center at the same time), we took off for 7 days and 7 nights in Kauai, the oldest of the Hawaiian islands and home to "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific."

June  -  Celebration of our 44th anniversary included a weekend Up North officiating a wedding. * All of the interior and exterior house remodeling was finally completed (including the last-minute addition of fixing some cracks in our front room and redoing its ceiling, walls, and carpet).

July  -  Okay, okay...the carpet didn't get done until THIS month! * Debbie went with a group from Valley Christian Church (VCC) to help prepare Emmanuel Mexico Mission to once again care for children at Casa De Ninos in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. * Mini-adventure of a leaking toilet in the upstairs bathroom ruining the ceiling of the downstairs bathroom and it all getting fixed for free by our upstairs remodel contractor.

August  -  Debbie spent 9 days visiting her brother and a niece in Wyoming. * Dewey sermonized about the Good Samaritan at Valley Christian Church and also attended a youth group reunion for his home church in Markle, IN, in honor of the youth minister from his high school days.

September  -  Ezra "FuzzyWuzzy" Roth turned 2. * Clarence (Clay) Emmanuel Roth was born at 10:06 PM on the 11th. 8 lbs 11 oz * Debbie spoke and sang for a ladies' retreat at White Mills Christian Camp in Kentucky. Part of the joy of it was that the female half of the couple who manages the camp was in Dewey's first youth group in Northeast Indiana and Dewey had officiated their wedding. * Debbie also had a gig doing a ladies' retreat in Hackensack, MN. * Maverick "Maggot" Hall turned 7 * Angel turned 43??!!

October  -  Attended a concert by Carolyn "Seize the Day" Arends. * Drove to Cabot, Arkansas, and spent a few days with John, Shonda, and Maverick. * Saw the Thunderbirds rehearse their air show at Little Rock Air Force Base. * Won a power washer and a selection of Drooling Moose chocolates at the Amnion Pregnancy Center Fundraising Silent Auction

November  -  Attended a concert by Nancy Honeytree * Debbie signed a contract with her publisher and set in motion the timeline for her 2nd book, a collection of devotional thoughts based on the scores of programs she's done since starting Rest in Him Ministry, to be released in September of 2024. (You can help underwrite the cost by clicking here.) * Dewey made the first two of seven Santa Dewey appearances for this year.

December  -  Debbie celebrated 25 years of being cancer free! * Jesse "SkittleKid" Stanley turned 12. * The whole family (minus the Halls in Arkansas, sigh) were able to enjoy Christmas Eve Day together...we loved being "all" together and can't wait for it to happen again soon!

May the promise of the babe in the manger be fulfilled by the savior on the cross in your heart and in your world.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Books I Read in 2023, Vol. XVI

 

WHY I AM STILL SUPRISED BY THE VOICE OF GOD: How God Speaks Today Through Prophecies, Dreams, and Visions
Jack Deere

At age 27, Jack Deere became a seminary professor at Dallas Theological Seminary where he taught his students to avoid the trap of believing that God still spoke outside the pages of the Bible. But after a trusted friend shared that he believed God still spoke today, Jack began a thorough study of every instance of God speaking supernaturally to someone in the Bible. He became convinced that we should expect God to speak outside the Scriptures, but he didn't have a clue how to hear his voice. This is the story of how Jack Deere learned to hear the voice of God and, in doing so, became a friend of Jesus.

Curtis loaned me this book, and I'm glad. It is full of first- and second-hand testimonies of those who have learned to hear Yahweh speaking to them through dreams, impressions, sensations, visions, and sometimes, an audible voice. I can't say I've clearly experienced any of that...but maybe it's simply because I haven't recognized it for what it was when it happened. I admit to being skeptical of those who make a "show" out of "hearing from the Lord" in the style of televangelists and/or mentalists, and some of the examples given in this book come close to that...but Deere specifically speaks against the traps those folks seem to have fallen into, so that's helpful.

This is not a thorough spelling out of all the Scriptural reasoning for believing that God speaks outside the pages of the Bible today, but there is some helpful information in the appendices. I'm willing to have the Spirit increase my personal experience in this area.

First line: Jesus knew the Bible stone-cold.

Page 56, Line 5: He advised her to prize his company and to keep a linen burial sheet close by, for when she least expected it, her husband would come to a bloody end.

Last line: He gives us a friendship in which he makes himself and us happy when we hear the voice of Jesus.

Books I "Read" in 2023, Vol. XV

 

I MUST SAY: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend
Martin Short

In this engagingly witty, wise, and heartfelt memoir, Martin Short tells the tale of how a showbiz-obsessed kid from Canada transformed himself into one of Hollywood’s favorite funnymen. He takes you on a rich, hilarious, and occasionally heartbreaking ride through his life and times, from his early years in Toronto as a member of the fabled improvisational troupe Second City to the all-American comic big time of Saturday Night Live and memorable roles in movies such as ¡Three Amigos! and Father of the Bride. He reveals how he created his most indelible comedic characters, among them the manic man-child Ed Grimley, the slimy corporate lawyer Nathan Thurm, and the bizarrely insensitive interviewer Jiminy Glick. Throughout, Short freely shares the spotlight with friends, colleagues, and collaborators, including Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, and Paul Shaffer.

But there is another side to Short's life that he has long kept private. He lost his eldest brother and both of his parents by the time he turned 20, and, more recently, he lost his wife of 30 years to cancer. In I Must Say, Short talks for the first time about the pain that these losses inflicted and the upbeat life philosophy that has kept him resilient and carried him through. In the grand tradition of comedy legends, Martin Short offers a show-business memoir densely populated with boldface names and rife with re-tellable tales: a hugely entertaining yet surprisingly moving self-portrait that will keep you laughing - and crying - from the first page to the last.

I can't say that I'm necessarily a big fan of Martin Short's, but the audio version of this book was newly available for Spotify Premium members so I gave it a try and quickly became engrossed as Short read...no...performed his own memoir. I certainly can't imagine enjoying this book half as much if I were reading it as opposed to hearing it. Most heart-lifting discovery: When Mr. Short was in Toronto's original cast of Godspell, he had the same solo ("We Beseech Thee") that I had when Debbie and I were in Fort Wayne's premier production of the show at First Presbyterian Theater. Fair Warning: There are a few...several?...uses of The F Word, so if that bothers you, steer clear.

First line: It's May 1977 and I'm having an argument with the woman who will become my wife.

Somewhere approximating page 56/line 5: "Of all the people I have a fake show-business friendship with," I said in my remarks, "Steve is the star I'm fake closest to." 

Final line: As for the grander questions, their answers will surely reveal themselves, someday, in a fleeting moment.

Books I Read in 2023, Vol. XIV

 

ANY OTHER NAME: A Longmire Mystery
Craig Johnson

Walt Longmire is sinking into a high-plains winter discontent when his former boss, Lucian Conally, asks him to take on a mercy case in an adjacent county. Detective Gerald Holman is dead and Lucian wants to know what drove his old friend to take his own life. With the clock ticking on the birth of his first grandchild, Walt learns that the by-the-book detective might have suppressed evidence concerning three missing women. Digging deeper, Walt uncovers an incriminating secret so dark that it threatens to claim other lives even before the sheriff can serve justice—Wyoming style.

Johnson seems to have an affinity for putting his fictional sheriff into jeopardy during blizzard winds and bitter cold. Maybe that's why I tend to heat up a nice cup of Dr Pepper before sitting down with him. This being the umpteenth Longmire novel I've read, it's like hearing a story from an old friend...and the name of the place is I like it like that.

First line: Joseph Conrad said that if you wanted to know the age of the earth, look upon the sea in a storm; if you want to know the age of the Powder River country, just be on the wrong side of a coal train.

Page 56 / Line 5: I cut off from the parking lot and waded my way toward the trailers and was about to reach the first one when a voice called out from the back of the brown steel building.

Last line: I slipped my hat over my face and smiled, looking forward to seeing all my old friends  -  and a new one.

The Good Doctor: A Good Show

 

Beloved and I are currently watching The Good Doctor on Hulu. We just started Season 4 and are enjoying it enough that I want to write a prescription for my friends to give it a try.

IMDB describes the show as follows: "Shaun Murphy, a young surgeon with autism and savant syndrome, relocates from a quiet country life to join a prestigious hospital surgical unit. Alone in the world and unable to personally connect with those around him, Shaun uses his extraordinary medical gifts to save lives and challenge the skepticism of his colleagues."

That's an accurate enough description of the starting point of this series, but it didn't take long for us to get just as interested in the lives of the other doctors and administrators at the hospital as we were initially in Dr. Murphy. (Our initial interest in the show was fueled by Debbie's 24 years as a paraprofessional in the school system, working with young adults on the autism spectrum.)

Freddie Highmore stars as Dr. Murphy and also produces the show. You may remember him as Charlie in the Johnny Depp version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or as the guitar-playing title character in August Rush. He completely disappears into this role.

The show really has it all:

• Diagnostic mystery
• Medical emergency
• Romantic awakening
• Interpersonal respect AND snark
• Deep truth disguised as both humor and pathos

I have forgotten whether I rate things on a 4- or 5-star system, but just to be sure you understand how much we like this show, let's give it a 6.

Books I Read in 2023, Vol. XIII

 

SHE'S MY DAD: A Father's Transition and a Son's Redemption
Jonathan S. Williams with Paula Stone Williams

Jonathan S. Williams was three months into pastoring an evangelical church plant when his father confessed a secret: he was transgender. His father, Paul, a prominent evangelical pastor, soon became Paula, and Jonathan's life and ministry went into a tailspin. Feeling betrayed by his mentor and confidante and scared that his church would lose funding and support if Paula's secret was exposed, Jonathan sunk into depression and alcoholism. [This book] explores Jonathan's long and winding journey toward reconciliation, forgiveness, and acceptance of his father as well as his church's journey to become one of the few fully LGBTQ-inclusive, evangelical churches in America.

Those of us who are elders at Valley Christian Church are currently having a long-form discussion and study about marriage and homosexuality and gender fluidity. We know many people searching for a church home want to know "how we stand" on these issues and we want to be clear on what Scripture has to say and also have a clear understanding of the LGBTQ community. It was that search for understanding that led me to read this book...that, and the fact that I had enjoyed many a sermon by Paula Williams back when she was Paul.

I must say that I still don't understand how someone born "male" can reject that and just feel more like a "female", though the book DID include some mention of neural pathways and brain stuff. What the book helped me see more clearly is that when you start with an attitude of the Bible maybe not meaning what it clearly says, the path gets very slippery very fast. The author goes so far as to say "My friends and mentors were right about the fact that I no longer believed in sin and separation."

Having heard him say that, it should have come as no surprise to me that  -  even though Jesus said if we want to follow him we must deny ourselves  -  the author says he doesn't "believe in forsaking our one, wild life here for whatever was above."

First line: There was a moment I thought my father might be a woman.

Page 56, Line 5: I pursued a new narrative that let me keep my dad.

Last line: It was really, really good.