“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.” –Charles Schultz
Turn Back the Page Thursday, 6/7/18
Q&A With Stephanie Grace Whitson
Readers, some time ago I sent Christian fiction author Stephanie Grace Whitson an email asking her if she would be willing to answer a few interview questions for my blog, and she generously agreed. Stephanie’s fiction titles have been finalists for the Christy Award (among other honors) and you can find out more about them on her website: www.stephaniewhitson.com. Her most recent book is Messenger by Moonlight (2016). This is my first interview with a published author, and while my questions may be lacking, her answers are lovely, thoughtful, and warm. Please enjoy reading through our Q&A session below!
Your life as a novelist began in the 1990’s when you, your husband, and four kids all moved to an acreage in southeast Nebraska. You mention on your website being pretty sure you provided comic relief for the neighbors because of your lack of understanding about country living. Do any humorous stories or blunders stick out in your mind?
I am from southern Illinois where my parents (born in 1913 and 1915) grew up in poverty, both taking advantage of the free food available via edible berries and greens that grew in the wild. I have very fond memories of picking dandelion greens and pokeweed for salads and roaming the countryside for wild gooseberries, blackberries, etc. in season.
Once we moved to our Nebraska acreage, I followed suit, making wild plum butter, sprinkling mulberries on breakfast cereal, etc. But the climate in Nebraska is different from that of southern Illinois, so there were wild fruits I wasn’t familiar with. One day I knocked on a neighbor’s door with a branch laden with wild fruit. Mrs. Boyce had been a farm wife all her life and she knew everything from “the old days” of hard scrabble life during the depression. Our conversation went like this:
Me: “Will I kill my family if I make jelly with these?”
Mrs. Boyce: “Well, honey, what do you think that is?” Continue reading “Q&A With Stephanie Grace Whitson”
Turn Back the Page Thursday, 5/31/18
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You’ll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don’t take my sunshine away
You make me happy when skies are gray
You’ll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don’t take my sunshine away
***
Such a heartwarming photo circa 1945 taken in New Hope, Connecticut!
Full Review, Sutter’s Cross
But one child, looking up, saw farther and deeper and wider than the others. He saw the glittering bursts and showers but he saw fireflies too, and stars, all of them sparks of hope flung upward like prayers into the night. For in one quiet, unexpected moment, he had looked beyond the stars and caught a glimpse of God.
Sutter’s Cross
By W. Dale Cramer
Bethany Press, ©2003
Cravings usually go hand-in-hand with food, but as I was writing this review back in April I found myself craving something a little bigger: summertime. Summertime colors; the creek bubbling to life again; my porch-style swing—oh, how I missed reading and swaying on that swing on a hot day. Where I live it’s a long wait for summertime. Continue reading “Full Review, Sutter’s Cross”
Turn Back the Page Thursday, 5/24/18
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
Fiction Flop Short Review, May 21st
The Pharaoh’s Daughter—Written by Mesu Andrews
An imagining of the life of Pharaoh’s daughter, fearful that Anubis-the god of the afterlife- may try to take her at any moment. Ties in with 1 Chronicles 4:18, which names a daughter of Pharaoh who marries into the tribe of Judah.
A very intriguing idea for a novel but in my opinion not well executed. I feel some Bible passages are interpreted strangely; for example, in Exodus 2:9-10 Pharaoh’s daughter instructs Jochebed to take Moses (in my Bible the wording is take this child away) but this novel has Jochebed and Moses live with pharaoh’s daughter in her chambers for years. Apart from this, some fictional elements rubbed me the wrong way. At one point a Jew proposes marriage to a woman while his previous wife is still lying dead, not even buried yet, in the house. The timing as written seemed very contrived and unnecessary to me.
Overall the novel treated the Biblical events and characters with reverence, and there were some beautiful messages woven in (my favorite was an overarching arc about one character’s names and how they define her– eventually culminating in her receiving the name Bithiah, which means daughter of God). I still believe this author has promise and I would be interested to see what else she has to offer– with the right plot I think she could go far. –2/5 stars
Thoughts? Disagree? Ready for a full review? Sutter’s Cross, coming up! Thank you so much, friends!
Prelude to Fiction Flops
So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom. ~ Psalm 90:12
In the course of trying to read so many books for this blog, it’s inevitable that I find a few I dislike, or at least don’t enjoy enough to haul them around to all my family members spewing my adoration for the premise or the characters or something else! I’m trying, as best as I am able, to give fair reviews; sometimes I’m not thrilled with a certain genre, for example, but I try to balance that out with the quality of the work so my rating is based more on the merit of the book than my own personal taste.
When I do rate a book less than 3/5 stars, I will be categorizing it under fiction flops, but please do remember that ultimately it is only (however carefully decided) my opinion, and I do not mean offense to anyone who may have read these books and love them. I would be thrilled to hear your input about why I shouldn’t have rated them the way I did!
As far as authors go, I do respect the huge amount of work and heart they may have put into their Christian fiction book, and I’m certainly not “out to get” anyone. One author I’ve been thinking about lately wrote one book I absolutely loved and reread, but also one book I found lacking. A fiction flop (which I use lightheartedly) does not always equal a author flop. My hope is that writers, especially those I ask to interview with me, will be understanding in this regard.
I desire for you to find my reviews fair, reliable, and helpful as you make decisions about what to read. Please remember to pray for guidance and wisdom as you choose how to spend the time our Savior has given you!
All this said, Lord allowing, my next post will be up Monday. Have a wonderful weekend!
Turn Back the Page Thursday, 5/17/18
Romans 8:38-39
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Waiting
Proverbs 4:23
Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life.
There are some very popular, acclaimed books I choose not to read… yet. Sometimes I look at their beautiful covers or hear a friend talking about them, but for now I set them back on their figurative shelf and wonder when I’ll be ready to open them up. Are they bad books? Not as far as I know. Some are highly recommended by Godly women in my life. Still, I know I’m not spiritually or emotionally mature enough yet to read them, because they deal with areas of life in which I am still, as a young single woman, naive. One example I could give is “Redeeming Love” by Francine Rivers. I see rave reviews for this book often, both on its quality of writing and message; it is an allegorical retelling of the Biblical love story of Gomer and Hosea set in the old west. The story’s central theme is God’s redeeming love for sinners, illustrated through the life of Angel, a prostitute. Could this be an excellent premise? Yes. Could this book be a blessing to women coming to Christ from broken backgrounds? Yes! Do I feel ready for it? Not just now, and I am at peace with that. Right now, I am at peace with preserving some of the childhood innocence I still hold onto as an unmarried girl and guarding my heart until I feel more prepared to be discerning about what is real and what is fiction in mature relationships.
Do you ever feel this way? To any of you who are married or older women, are there any Christian fiction books/authors you waited to read—and were you glad you did?
Turn Back the Page Thursday, 5/10/18
The Rainy Day
by
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The day is cold, and dark, and dreary
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the mouldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary.
My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the mouldering Past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,
And the days are dark and dreary.
Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.
a page out of her book 