Literature – Abigail Rehmert

More Thoughts After Bookends

Published on September 20, 2023 by Abigail Rehmert1 Comment

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

Light, amusing, well-written glance into America in the 1960s. The Wednesday Wars is about the mishaps and misfortunes of a young teenager who loves Shakespeare and goes to high school in Long Island, New York. The author ushers the reader into the story so well, that eventually, I couldn’t wait for the book to be over because I didn’t feel like going to middle school any longer. 😀 The wording gets repetitive after a while, which was a little tiring. Also, his parents’ lack of involvement makes me sad.
Even though I’m not a middle-grader, I might check out the author’s other books.

A Hobbit, A Wardrobe, and a Great War: How J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis Rediscovered Faith, Friendship, and Heroism in the Cataclysm of 1914-18 by Joseph Loconte

Continue reading →

Thoughts after Bookends

Published on September 19, 2023September 20, 2023 by Abigail Rehmert3 Comments

Gilead by Marilynn Robinson

I heard big things about this author (Gilead won a Pulitzer), but the story just didn’t captivate me. It’s a memoir — a pastor writing letters to his son on his death bead, but he’s not actually bedridden. His son is still young at the time of his writing, and I wanted them to be out making memories together, rather than him just reminiscing days gone-by. I found it hard to follow the plot line, since there was little action. There were some thought-provoking faith statements here and there, and maybe someone else would really enjoy. Am I missing something? Because it sure wouldn’t be the first time I’ve missed something poignant in my first read through.

True Grit by Charles Portis

I’m not typically one for Westerns (wait, had I ever read one?), but True Grit is now a personal classic — both witty and brilliant. The main character, a 14-year-old girl, seeks vengeance on an outlaw responsible for her father’s death. Despite all the big shots, SHE is the one with the true grit. My husband and I listened together, and he wrote some fun thoughts on the book.

The narrator I found on Scribd (Donna Tartt) makes the experience, along with driving across the high desert plains and canyons as you listen (seriously, just start wandering around barren backcountry for the full western effect). The 2010 movie follows the book quite cleverly!

Anne Frank Remembered by Miep Gies

After reading Anne’s Frank diary, this book deepens the layers of the harrowing account of hidden Jews in Amsterdam. Miep and her husband made it possible for the Frank family to go into hiding. Her bravery shines through even though she forcibly shifts the spotlight off of herself in this detailed account. She said she just did what had to be done — even when it meant standing toe-to-toe with the Nazis. I recommend this book if you’re interested in true, home-front WWII courage.

How to Thrive as a Pastor’s Wife by Christine Hoover

Encouraging, convicting, and a blessing to read. Christine warns against comparison and bitterness, and highlights safeguards and boundaries for your marriage and children amidst ministry.

Millie Keith based on the series by Martha Finley

This purple-covered, eight-book series is really for teen girls, but reading them is like coming home to me. Something I cherished this summer. I wrote a post dedicated to the characters, The Company We Keep and also interviewed the adapter/author here.

This Tender Land by Kent Krueger

This Tender Land was a page-turner for me, and I enjoyed the quality description and the history nestled in the 1930s setting.

This story about kids, is certainly not FOR kids. The children meet a constant string of unsavory adults. This makes the storyline a bit depressing, though, unfortunately, realistic.

*SPOILERS — This Tender Land doesn’t detail anything explicit, but alludes to all manner of everything sinful. I found it sad that the orphans were, in a way, pursuing the one true God, but never found Him — never once did they find the Word of God. Lots of spiritual references and a theme of forgiveness, but no solid theology landed upon. All the “spiritual” adults in the story were plagued with phoniness and hypocrisy (like faked healings).

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

Only my second novel by her, I’d love to read some more. We found the overwhelming amount of characters to be tedious and difficult to keep track of, as trekked along our cross-country roadtrip. I googled the lengthy list of characters. However, her writing is so vivid; it’s amazing how each character truly owns their own backstory and voice.

The Watchmaker’s Daughter by Larry Loftis

A biography about Corrie ten Boom, told in chronological order. If you’ve never read The Hiding Place, there’s no match for it, and I highly recommend reading it before any other biographies about the Ten Booms. You just can’t replace the soul-stirring, first-person, unfolding drama of The Hiding Place. However, The Watchmaker’s Daughter tells their story well, and includes some information and historical context that The Hiding Place does not.

Honey for a Child’s Heart by Gladys Hunt

I loved this book! It’s about the importance of children’s literature, laced with reasons and references from great fiction. It’s delightful and compelling. Her nods to Winnie the Pooh, Little House on the Prairie, etc. is like a little visit to the wonderment of childhood and provided fresh and practical inspiration for making my own son’s childhood sweet with honey. “Pleasant words are a honeycomb, Sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” Proverbs 16:24

She includes lengthy recommended booklists in the back.

Transforming Power of the Gospel by Jerry Bridges

Transforming Power of the Gospel changed my life years ago when my dad gave me a copy, in response to a lot of wrestling with questions.

How do I be sanctified? God is sovereign, so how do I depend on Him but also walk forward in responsibility with the right motives? And why is not working? Why do I do the thing that I hate?

If you have questions like this, know the gospel is for every day. Jerry Bridges discusses the MOTIVATION for our day-to-day good works. Guilt that meets GRACE that outpours into gratitude. He beautifully illustrates this from the life of Isaiah.

MORE TOMORROW

Thank you for reading by book reviews. I always enjoy and welcome your recommendations and discussion on any of the ones you’ve also read! Isn’t it interesting how our perspective of a book can be shaped as we exchange ideas and takeaways with others?

Check back on the blog TOMORROW, because I have more recent book reviews, including Jill Duggar’s new book, and some of my favorites of all time!

The Company You Keep

Published on July 31, 2023July 31, 2023 by Abigail Rehmert2 Comments

I met her many years ago, when I was 13.

Her name is Millie Keith, and she remained a great friend to me through all my life’s seasons. She also was 13, the oldest of eight children, and a fairly new Christian, desiring to follow Jesus’s footsteps. The biggest difference between us is that she lived in the early 1800s. She wasn’t even real at all.

The Millie Keith series captured me with humor and dynamic characters and plot, and showed me how wrestling with doubts as you learn to trust God is normal. Millie moved to the frontier from Ohio, leaving everything familiar. The Keith family shares the gospel with whoever they can, on steamboat or stagecoach. Later, due to a chronic sickness, Millie would visit the deep South to try to heal her lungs. While there, she stood up against slavery and . . . lost her heart. Finally, in her 20s, she would answer the call to a foreign nation to share Christ with a place far different than anything in America.

Many Christian fiction books mention “God,” “faith,” and “prayer” a few times and that’s it. That’s fine. Not all art must spell out truth, some just reflects it. Christians have also written stunning analogies (like Pilgrim’s Progress and the Narnia books). They’re desperately needed. But as a young person, I was most encouraged when reading about believers who apply God’s Word to their every day scenarios, like loving a little brother when he is annoying or giving grace for a legalistic religious friend. Millie prays in an ongoing conversation to God throughout her day, lifting up her worries and praise at His goodness. While the Keith family’s lives are bright, humorous, and full of good things — they also encounter difficult questions, suffering, and the hardships of the frontier. Fiction is good, because it reminds us “both what the world is, and what it should be” (said by a fellow writer friend).

Millie’s Aunt Wealthy, an eccentric mentor character, says, “Life is not a tea-party my dear, but a wild adventure.” She inspires us to search for “divine appointments,” opportunities God brings to minister to a variety of different people who cross our paths.

I wanted to be like Millie. I wanted a Bible with hot chocolate stains on it.

“(Millie) had been in the habit of reading her Bible at least once a day since she had become a Christian two years before. Papa had knelt with her when she prayed to accept Jesus as her Lord, and then he had given her his own Bible… Millie had carried the book with her not only to church and to school but up trees and under hedges — all of her favorite reading places.”
Millie’s Unsettled Season

“The pages had been stained with tears, shaken with laughter, and endured at least one cup of hot chocolate spilt in the book of Lamentations, but Millie’s fingers knew each and every book, and many verses, by feel.”
Millie’s Remarkable Journey

Keep Good Company

Have you been influenced by fictional people? Paxton Hood said, “Be as careful of the books you read, as of the company you keep; for your habits and character will be as much influenced by the former as the latter.”

In my experience, not all “Christian” fiction is wholesome. And not all wholesome fiction is “Christian.” So be watchful in your reading, and consume only the best. “Be wise to what is good, and innocent as to what is evil” (Romans 16:19).

I love to spur others to read all things excellent and pure! “One must always be careful of books and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us.” –Cassandra Clare

Christians certainly could only read the Bible, biographies and commentaries . . . but oh what they would miss in the world of fiction.

There are dozens of reasons to read quality fiction, and many have said it better than I can. I believe it gives us a beautiful gift of common grace — creativity and imagination realized. It teaches us to think outside ourselves. Ann Voskamp wrote in an article about audiobooks, “When reading is your favorite pastime – you enter into other lives and gain more time.”

Fiction helps shape us to see who we want to be and understand who we shouldn’t be. It provides a healthy way to pick apart a character (without the sin of gossip and unkind criticism).

Stories can give us aspects of the gospel in new lights and personify truth. The very elements of a story — plot twists, beginnings, happy endings, — mirror our Maker’s great redemption story for us. And the ending will be oh so good and happy.

Create the Company

Not only consume good fiction, but please create it! If you are nurturing the draft of story, don’t give up on it. Etch all the excellence you can muster into the paragraphs. We need more God-honoring word-art in our world.

“Stories are verbal acts of hospitality.”
Eugene H. Peterson

Be like Kersten Hamilton, and pour your soul into your craft. She was tasked with adapting Martha Finely’s work into the Millie Keith series I talk about so much. She bravely enhanced the plot and characters, added much biblical truth, and brought history to life. These books are out of print unfortunately, so they may cost a bit more (they’re worth it, though). You can read my interview with Kersten here where she shares about the fascinating process of adapting this series. Her word arrangements sing, so I value her advice to young writers.

C.S. Lewis said, “Since it is so likely that (children) will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.”

Let’s aim to keep (and create) fictional company that will inspire brighter destinies and wild adventures — all for Christ’s glory.

Young America, a wooden doll, and The Loveliest Place

Published on May 25, 2022May 25, 2022 by Abigail Rehmert1 Comment

Book review time!

I read only one of these following books (my thrifted copy of Hitty) in tangible form. Because I sure love my audiobooks. Since I can’t be Belle — in a castle with a giant library and dishes that wash themselves — at least I can wash the dishes while someone reads aloud to me. Still a princess-like luxury, if you think about it.

Here are some brief notes on each of these books. I’d love to know your thoughts if you’ve read any of them, or if you plan to give them a try.

Addy: An American Girl by Connie Porter
I just listened to all 5 of the books in the Addy series (takes about 5 hours). I remember loving them as a young teen, and I still think they are a treasure. I appreciate the glimpse into Civil War era history, the exciting plot and characters, and the emphasis on kindness and forgiveness.
She was always my favorite American girl (but sadly, I never had the Addy doll).

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The first time I read Jane Eyre I didn’t really care for it, and I didn’t like Mr. Rochester even to the end. I still don’t. But this time through, I better understood the thread of redemption and enjoyed the deep emotion and drama of the storyline. Still not my favorite, but I have a feeling I’ll like it even a little bit better next time I read it.

These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
I enjoyed the relaxing listen to this book, and it was fun seeing Laura as a young woman. It makes sense — her independence streak! It’s also interesting to see Pa and Ma parent a grown-up daughter. This book renewed my interest in the Ingalls family and inspired me to research their journeys. I used to live on that same prairie, after all!

Persuasion by Jane Austen
I had forgotten about the plot twists in this story and also enjoyed watching the movie after. The ending is just so satisfying! Gotta love Captain Wentworth.

Laddie: A True Blue Story by Gene Stratton-Porter
I reaffirmed Laddie as one of my top favorite books (find the one narrated by Laurie Klein). In this book, “Little Sister” commentates all of her large family’s affairs, through her shrewd and wholesome lens of childhood. She sweetly carries her older siblings’ burdens personally, but gets into plenty of mischief of her own. She is a little problem solver and isn’t afraid to tell the truth, even though she hasn’t learned when it’s best to keep quiet and when it’s helpful to speak up. This book is sweet, humorous, romantic, with very lovable characters. I always loved stories about the dynamics of big families and even wished for more details about more of the siblings. But Laddie truly does deserve the center stage and the title, as he’s the best older brother “Little Sister” could ask for.
Bonus observation of the family’s worldview: They are pious and moral people, who work hard, and put a huge emphasis on physical appearance. Both in their affirmation of good looks, and how circumstances will appear to their neighbors. I love the parents’ heart for the least and the lowly; their generosity and care for the outcast is indeed admirable. However, their motivation seems to be a “good work mentality,” trying to earn their salvation.
One of the children, referring to their mother’s constant hospitality, asks:
“‘Mother, have you ever figured out how many hundred sheets you’ve washed?”
Mother said: ‘No, but I just hope it will make a stack high enough for me to climb from into Heaven.” Laddie, Gene Stratton-Porter
This quote illustrates that the outward show of good deeds that Laddie’s family tries to achieve, misses the true heart of God’s grace and gospel. We’re saved for good works, not by them (Titus 3:5).
That being said, I do highly recommend this true, blue early American story as a great family read aloud.

Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace
Sometimes children’s books are too simple, no matter their nostalgia, to hold my interest. I often shelf them for later, to read aloud to my future kids someday.
But this one — is truly a timeless delight. Betsy and Tacy, friends from age five, have endearing imaginations, reminiscent of me and my sisters.
Lovelace wrote off her own early 1900s childhood, weaving history and beauty and humor with each chapter.
In fact, I’m savoring my way through the entire series, and I’ll likely write more on these soon. In the meantime, find a copy of Betsy-Tacy to read to your little girl! Or for your own delightful amusement (if you love beautiful, true-to-life, historical, darling fictional adventures!)

Hitty: Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field
Hitty is a doll fashioned from mountain-ash wood for a little girl in early America, the state of Maine. Through many daring adventures, Hitty maintains her dignity and charm as she is passed frown owner to owner through uncanny events, seeing the country and century pass by. It’s such a charming and witty story, with a rich vocabulary. I think children and adults alike can enjoy the world travels of a doll who becomes an antique, with a memoir of gold to prove it.

The Loveliest Place by Dustin Benge
We all need a refresher on who the church is and why she exists.
We often forget that the church is the Bride of Christ, and she is beautiful and precious. I love how this author dives to the heart of Scripture to draw out the aspects of the Body of Christ. This book helped renew my appreciation for the church and look forward to the day when we’ll forever be with the King. He always keeps His promises to us, and every word He uses to describe His bride will reign true.

The Liebster Award

Published on April 23, 2021April 24, 2021 by Abigail Rehmert3 Comments

Back in December, Laurel nominated me for the “Liebster Award.” She writes at Laurel Jean. Thank you for the nomination, friend!

Here’s how the award business works, which I understand is a way for you to meet new bloggers and have some fun, too!

First, thank the person who nominated you, include a link to their blog, and add the Liebster Award badge to your blog and/or post.
Answer the eleven questions from the person who nominated you.
Give eleven random facts about yourself.
Nominate 5-11 fellow bloggers.
Notify your nominees that you nominated them for the Liebster Award.
Last, but certainly not least, ask your nominees eleven questions.

11 random facts about me

My favorite story genre is books set in America’s 1900-1960s.
I always appreciate a well-timed quote woven into a conversation.
I have 7 younger siblings that I’m quite proud of.
I’m a bit of a foodie but only recently discovered my love of cooking. I finally realized the kitchen is a place for creativity — for example, I’m enjoying the freedom to not measure exactly or always obey the recipe. This turns a chore into something exciting, though it does come with risks! I’m glad my husband is an easy food reviewer.
I love a good garage sale and feel disappointed when I drive past a sign and can’t stop. You never know when you could find a good deal or a great treasure. However, I tried to host one last summer, and though parts of it were fun, it was kind of a flop.
I hope to find timber this summer (translation: I intend to go to the mountain forests and smell the pine trees).
I am studying the book of James with the ladies in my church. I’m blown away by all I’m learning by emphasizing the book’s context.
I always choose my giraffe mug whenever possible.
Whenever my sisters and I use the Marco Polo app to talk, we often use the squeaky voice filter, and none of our husbands understand the hilarity of it.
One of my favorite things is driving back roads with sunny, window-down weather, perhaps to a coffee shop or friend’s house.
And for my 11th fact, here’s a pic of my cute baby.

Here are the questions Laurel asked me:

How did you choose the name for your blog? I wanted to weave together a theme for my blog. As I looked at my own writing, I noticed I tend to write about trusting God, with a side of my favorite literature. So I grabbed the theme of courage and plot twists.
If you could work any job for one week, what job would it be, and why? I’m loving my SAHM job! I do like to vicariously explore other careers through book characters.
What is the biggest thing you’ve learned from blogging? You must be filled up to share with others.
What does your ideal weekend look like? It would involve a clean house, hospitality, coffee, a musical, chocolatey dessert, volleyball, a hike, and my favorite people.
Do you set goals for the New Year? Yep! They’re usually a variance of the same things.
What is the best book (aside from the Bible) that you’ve read, and why do you think so? One book I have enjoyed greatly is The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. It shows the beauty of faith in God and courage in the midst of the worst circumstances. I just love the hope in her story. God truly is a Hiding Place.
What was the best thing that happened to you in 2020? In June we found out we were expecting our first!
Which historical figure do you most admire, and why? In school I enjoyed learning about Clara Barton because of her bravery and strength.
Where do you hope to see yourself in 10 years? Teaching my children and discipling others! And, hopefully we’ll have our dream home.
If you knew that today was your last day on earth, how would you spend it? What I hope to be doing every day: sharing Christ and His truth.
What is your favorite Bible verse, and why? I’ve always loved Psalm 16:11, “You will show me the path of life. In Your presence is fullness of joy. At Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.”

My Nomiations for the Liebster Award

Shelli Rehmert — My mother-in-law blogs with both wisdom and wit (one of my favorite combos!)

Bethany J. Melton — Bethany has a gift for gracing simple life with lovely words.

Madelyn Canada — Madelyn is similar to me, in that she taps into writing encouragement from both theology and stories, too.

Kristin Couch — Kristin’s stories on “The Palest Ink” are a delight to read.

And my questions for my nominees:

Where do you source ideas for your blog?
What is a favorite CHAPTER from one of your favorite books?
What’s your ideal weekend?
Favorite recipe right now?
What’s one of your favorite blog posts you’ve written?
What is your favorite book of the Bible that you’ve studied and why?
What is a life hack you have enjoyed recently?
What’s your dream vacation?
How do you choose the books you want to read?
What’s a book recommendation?
Describe a favorite piece of art you own:

Dear readers, would you like to answer any of these questions? Please do so in the comments or message me! Are you also a blogger? I’d love to know! Thank you following me and letting me take up treasured space in your inbox.