Tag: Literature

Yearend “Thoughts After Bookends”

Published on by Abigail RehmertLeave a comment

It seemed the consistent thing to do to share the last of my 2023 book reviews. This year I’m hopeful to read more NEW-to-me books. But how I love the old favorites! Do let me know if you have any must-reads you think I’d enjoy. My favorite time period for fiction is early 1900s, but I’d love to broaden my horizons in this as well.

Virgil Wander

(Leif Enger)

Virgil owns a movie house in a small, sleepy midwest town. He loses his memory in an accident so he must uncover his own personal history. Quirky, small-town ups and downs unfold. I enjoy Enger’s vivid writing style, but this storyline didn’t have the same depth as Peace like a River in my humble opinion. Not much plot, and sometimes a modern setting can just feel cheesy to me. I gave it three out of five stars on Goodreads.

Betsy and the Great World

(Maud Hart Lovelace)

Betsy decides college is not for her, and she goes off to tour Europe, hoping to broaden the scope of her imagination to fuel her writing. She soaks in the foreign cities, street cafes, and cultural traditions, and even witnesses the first dawn of WWI. When an author plucks a beloved character out of her endearing setting, I always feel homesick right along with them.

Betsy’s Wedding

(Maud Hart Lovelace)

I enjoyed this book more than the other times I’ve read it, perhaps because I’m married now too! Young couple in young America makes me smile and enjoy the authentic history of fashion/economics/etc. woven into the setting. How I wish young couples today could buy their first charming homes besides the lake with only $600 down. I think married Tacy and married Betsy are the best versions of themselves, and I’m relieved Betsy doesn’t chase another immaturity that leads to more heartbreak. Joe brings out the best in Betsy, and Harry brings out the best in Tacy. The young wives turn their energies toward homemaking, hospitality, writing, and babies . . . and trying to marry off the third in their trio, Tib!

Surprised by Oxford

(Carolyn Weber)

Carolyn sets out to study at Oxford as an agnostic, and through the kindness of a Christian, she begins to wrestle with the truth about the universe and her. A clever and honest book, making you really think about how we interact with those who are yet to meet God. Are we able to patiently endure when others ask us tough questions? A beautiful memoir!

Quote: “I’m very particular about mugs: I can taste how it influences my drink. I liked this one right away.”
Carolyn Weber//Surprised by Oxford

Carney’s House Party

(Maud Hart Lovelace)

I had a little trouble getting into this one, but stuck with it until the suspense of Larry’s visit took over. Carney hosts a “house party” for her friends in a hot, Minnesota summer. It includes Betsy! It’s a slow but sweet unfolding romance with some surprises at the end.

Memorizing Scripture: The Basics, Blessings, and Benefits of Meditating on God’s Word (Glenna Marshall)

Simple nourishment for a heart that longs to know His Word better. Thank you for writing this book, Glenna! We can also use compelling reasons to memorize and meditate on Scripture. I enjoyed her personal stories throughout this book, and it was inspiring to see how her different memorized passages encouraged her in various seasons of her life.

Quote by author: “Meditating on God’s Word–thinking deeply about it as we work to memorize–helps us to remember what the world would like us to forget: Christ has died. Christ is coming. Christ will come again!” –Glenna Marshall

         Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva *spoiler*

                  (Samantha Silva)

I wanted a cozy, Chirstmasy book for December. At first, it reminded me of the movie The Man Who Invented Christmas. I begun this book with great enjoyment; the style of it felt true to Dickens, easy to follow, and cast promise of the good feels of A Christmas Carol. I wish I had actually read A Christmas Carol instead for my December read. Mr. Dickens was primarily about his obsession with chasing down a couple different women, while his wife and children fended for themselves to enjoy Christmas. After looking it up, I understand historical evidence lends itself to perhaps make this a believable plot about Charles Dickens. But I didn’t want to read about it.

The Lord God Made Them All

(James Herriot)

More endearing stories from a country vet, with some war stories mixed in. Of course, I wanted more about Tristen, but we do get to meet Herriot’s kids.

More Thoughts After Bookends

Published on 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 “More Thoughts After Bookends” →

Thoughts after Bookends

Published on 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 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.

Either Way, We’ll Be All Right

Published on by Abigail Rehmert1 Comment

I went back to some timeless favorites of mine! Life’s too short not to read the best.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Every time this story just grips me, and I can’t put it down. It’s just a profoundly layered and thought-proving story. The intrigue mixed with the heavy topics are lensed with the wit and bluntness of a child… an excellent novel.

For The Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

This book (written by Frances and Edith Schaeffer’s daughter) was my first exposure to Charlotte Mason. I certainly agree with the author in that we should cherish, nurture, and enrich children in their education. Our culture will press anything the opposite of good, and we must be intentional to feed children’s minds and souls with goodness and truth. It’s nothing short of a war to do so.

The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery

I’ve reviewed this book on the blog before, so I’ll just say, this is an easy read with mystery and beautiful writing.

Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan

This based-on-a-true-story takes place in a little Norwegian town during the winter of 1940. Nazi troops captivated Peter’s village. No one wanted the Nazis to get ahold of the country’s hidden nine million dollars in gold, knowing they would only use it to progress the killing of innocent lives. The Norwegian children would play a part in smuggling it to safety one sled-load at a time…before the spring would melt the snow.

Becoming Free Indeed by Jinger Duggar Vuolo

I’m grateful Jinger told her story. She is one of the Duggar kids closest to my age, and I used to wish I could know her better. Her testimony magnifies the importance of Scripture and the understanding of its context, application, and study. Jinger articulates (with grace) the difference between fear and true faith in the gospel of Christ. Disentangling the truth from the lies rather than “deconstructing.” I would recommend this book to anyone, even if you have no idea who Bill Gothard is. More Bill Gothards will come — they always do. “Be wise as a serpent and as innocent as a dove.” May this book help point people to Christ and His Word!

Either Way, We’ll Be All Right by Eric Tonjes

Eric Tonjes writes “an honest exploration of grief” and eternity in the midst of his wife’s terminal cancer. It’s a serious, thought-provoking read, one that made me grateful for the joys to come. I had the privilege of meeting his wife at a family wedding, and she was resigned that she was dying but wanted to “steward the cancer well.” I think she and her husband both used it to bring glory to God. I love the phrase of strength “either way, we’ll be all right” and want to make it part of my thinking.

Cheaper By the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr., Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

This books is rich with vintage humor, fascinating history, and the detailed inner lives of a family with an eccentric Motion Study Expert for a father, and a calm, capable, intelligent mother. (YES, it’s a true story, told by two of the children themselves). Every chapter is a masterpiece. If you’re planning to read out loud to little ears, you’ll want to edit out the language and some subtle references. PS. The movie is not the same thing as the book.

Belles on Their Toes by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr., Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

The sequel to Cheaper by the Dozen, it holds an equal wit and charm. This book features the mother after her husband passes away. She was a remarkable woman.

Teaching to Change Lives by Dr. Howard Hendricks

Some friends and I went through this book chapter by chapter, discussing its principles or “laws of teaching.” It’s a memorable, practical book on impacting others on a heart level. A great read!

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

If you follow me on Instagram, you might have noticed I’ve been camping out on this subject! Some friends and I just held a delightful discussion on the layers of this story. HOW FUN. I’ve also been reading a biography on Louisa May Alcott which brings out a whole different dynamic to the author’s behind the scenes (I know more than I ever wanted to know about the Alcotts now). The characters in Little Women are so likable and so appropriately flawed. FIVE STARS times a hundred. I’ll post the character quote quiz I made for the discussion here on the blog — one of my favorite parts of the book is the witty, realistic dialogue.

Time Saving Mom by Crystal Paine

This book is simple and plain, but Crystal claims the principles work, and she would know! I especially liked her reminder to write things down and “habit stack.” She has a great way of organizing her priorities, too.

This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence by John Piper

John Piper has some great thoughts in his book, not just about marriage but — about hospitality, about roles, about singleness, about children and about the church. I appreciated Piper’s words on this aspect of purpose in marriage: “The meaning of marriage in relation to children is not mainly ‘Make them,’ but ‘Make them disciples.‘ … Marriage is not absolutely for making children. But it is absolutely for making children followers of Jesus.”

The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank

I’ll never forget the first time I read this when I was about Anne’s age . . . the diary just stops. I didn’t know what happened to her until that point. This account is harrowing, but her writing is beautiful. This diary makes me all the more grateful for God’s grace, and that I’ll never have to go through anything like WWII without His presence. It also reminds me of the hopelessness of striving to be good without Christ. A heavy and fascinating read.

And now I’m ready for something light and humurous again. Ideas?