Review: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Title: Never Let Me Go
Author: Kazuo Ishiguro
Publisher: Vintage Books
Publication Date: August 31, 2010 (first published March 2005)
Edition: Paperback (288 pages)
Genres:

• Fiction
• Dystopia
• Science Fiction

Literary Awards:

• James Tait Black Memorial Prize Nominee for Fiction (2005)
• Man Booker Prize Nominee (2005)
• National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee for Fiction (2005)
• ALA Alex Award (2006)
• Arthur C. Clarke Award Nominee (2006)
• Corine Internationaler Buchpreis for Belletristik (2006)
• International DUBLIN Literary Award Nominee (2007)

My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro is a first of a kind read for me. It takes place in modern times in the United Kingdom. It is a first person narrative of Kathy H., a student at what one might describe as a normal boarding school called Hailsham. The scenery is beautiful. The students take classes in art, literature, and other subjects. They play sports. But, from the first there is something rather striking about these students. They never leave the school for vacations, and never mention brothers, sisters, parents or family. They are always together. Yet, they aren't particularly bothered by it. They also rarely see people from the outside. There are no visiting days. The why of these things is a mystery which is subtly revealed to the reader. To say more would reveal too much.

Suffice it to say, this book is a mystery which touches on science, morality, truth and lies. It raises questions about a population marginalized, and those who have power to control nearly every aspect of life and death.

In some ways, I found this book disturbing, yet compelling in the extreme. It forced me to think about the reality of modern times and the host of complicated issues advancement brings. This book is also a love story with beginnings and endings. I found it fascinating, and I will likely revisit it again from time-to-time. I have been changed by it, and I expect everyone who reads it will not fail to escape being changed also.

Lynn's List (July 27, 2018)

Each Friday I publish a list of titles I have come across, during the past week, that I find interesting. Happy reading!

• The Troubled Air: A Novel by Irwin Shaw
• Ode to Billy Joe by Herman Raucher
• Kill Fee (Dover Mystery Classics) by Barbara Paul
• Whisper in the Dark by Joseph Bruchac
• The Black Echo: A Novel (A Harry Bosch Novel #1) by Michael Connelly
• Still Christian: Following Jesus Out Of American Evangelicalism by David P. Gushee
• Searching for Grace Kelly: A Novel by Michael Callahan
• The Night She Won Miss America by Michael Callahan
• God's Sparrows by Michael Gnarowski
• Pressure Drop by Peter Abrahams
• Hard Rain by Peter Abrahams
• Mary Stewart: Four Complete Novels by Mary Stewart
• Rose Cottage by Mary Stewart
• Wagon Train Sisters (Women of the West #2) by Shirley Kennedy
• The Harvest of American Racism: The Political Meaning of Violence in the Summer of 1967 by Robert Shellow
• Imperfect Justice by Cara C. Putman
• Beyond Justice by Cara C. Putman
• Killing Floor (Jack Reacher Ser. #No. 1) by Lee Child
• Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity (Fifth Edition) by Ronald Sider

Review: Changing Our Mind: Definitive 3rd Edition of the Landmark Call for Inclusion of LGBTQ Christians with Response to Critics by David P. Gushee

Title: Changing Our Mind: Definitive 3rd Edition of the Landmark Call for Inclusion of LGBTQ Christians with Response to Critics
Author: David P. Gushee
Publisher: Read the Spirit Books
Publication Date: May 30, 2017
Edition: Kindle (248 pages)
Genres:

• Nonfiction
• Religion
• Spirituality
• Sexuality

My Rating: 5 of 5 stars

David P. Gushee is a well known and well respected educator in the field of Christian ethics. He is the author of several books, that span more than two decades. This book is a compilation that chronicles his change of mind about the matter of full inclusion of persons who are LGBTQ in the Church as members and also as leaders.

My purpose here is not to summarize his conclusions. I highly recommend you prayerfully read this book and see if it doesn't broaden your faith journey. From my earliest childhood, long before I accepted Jesus as my savior and the Lord of my life, I believed God loves all people who seek after him. When I came to know the Lord, after reading through the Bible--Old and New Testaments--I approached the Scriptures, in totality, as a mirror of what Jesus said, what he did, and how he lived. On a much higher theological level, this is how I see the author's view. He presents the inclusion of LGBTQ people in the Church from a theological and Scriptural perspective far beyond my ability to write.

The book is informative, written in plain language, and with an eye toward bringing Christians with different points of view together in a way to promote understanding and acceptance, in an effort to begin to heal the hurt experienced by many people who are LGBTQ.

Review: Still Christian: Surviving the Radical Changes in American Christianity by David P. Gushee

Title: Still Christian: Surviving the Radical Changes in American Christianity
Author: David P. Gushee
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
Publication Date: August 1, 2017
Edition: ebook
Genres:

• Nonfiction
• Memoir
• Religion
• Spirituality
• Theology

My Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Dr. David P. Gushee is an expert in Christian ethics, and the author and/or editor of over twenty books. He gave his heart to Jesus in 1978. In "Still Christian: Surviving the Radical Changes in American Christianity," he chronicles his journey as a follower of Jesus from childhood to present day, as he navigates the frictions and schisms of evangelical Christianity.

I have had a strong desire to read this book because it is written by a theologians and scholar--someone who has studied and taught Christian ethics for over two decades. I had no doubt it would be interesting, and I was hoping for some clarification on some key points concerning Jesus' approach to social justice, inclusion, and the importance of honesty and integrity in one's Christian walk with Jesus. I received that and much more. I will be moving on to his book "Changing Our Mind: A call from America's leading evangelical ethics scholar for full acceptance of LGBT Christians in the Church." This book has also prompted me to read more on the subject of Christian ethics.

Review: Cottage by the Sea by Debbie Macomber

Title: Cottage by the Sea
Author: Debbie Macomber
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: July 17, 2018
Edition: Hardcover (352 pages)
My Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Genres:

• Fiction
• Contemporary
• Romance

Unimaginable tragedy. How do you recover from it? Is it even possible? These are the questions Annie Marlow must face, suddenly, and with no time to prepare herself, when her immediate family are all killed. In searching for her "happy place" she returns to a small sea-side town where she and her family vacationed when she was a teenager. And what she finds there will surprise her and readers too.

I enjoyed this book so much. It is filled with emotion from beginning to end. Happiness, sadness, friendships, conflict, love, uncertainty and the stuff of real life. There is plenty of all of these to go around, plus more. I have long felt that Debbie Macomber is one of the best fiction romance writers out there, and this book doesn't disappoint.

Lynn's List (July 20, 2018)

Each Friday I publish a list of titles I have come across, during the past week, that I find interesting. Happy reading!

• Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
• A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi Wa Thiong'O and Abdulrazak Gurnah
• Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela by Nelson Mandela
• Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between by Hisham Matar
• Final Girls: A Novel by Riley Sager
• The Last Time I Lied: A Novel by Riley Sager
• It Ends with Us: A Novel by Colleen Hoover
• Eagle & Crane by Suzanne Rindell
• The Terminal List: A Thriller (Terminal List #1) by Jack Carr
• Then She Was Gone: A Novel by Lisa Jewell
• The Blackbird Season: A Novel by Kate Moretti
• The Vanishing Year: A Novel by Kate Moretti
• Crime Scene: A Novel (Clay Edison #1) by Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman
• Cottage by the Sea: A Novel by Debbie Macomber
• The Witness by Dee Henderson
• The Immortal Gene by Jonas Saul
• The Six (The Gateway Chronicles Book 1) by K. B. Hoyle
• The Oracle (The Gateway Chronicles Book 2) by K. B. Hoyle

Rating: The Witness (Shield of Honor, #1) by Dee Hendersoen

Title: The Witness (Shield of Honor, #1)
Author: Dee Henderson
Publisher: Tyndale House
Publication Date: November 4th 2011 (first published January 1st 2006)
Kindle Edition: (378 pages)
My Rating. 5 of 5 stars

Lynn's List (July 13, 2018)

Each Friday I publish a list of titles I have come across, during the past week, that I find interesting. Happy reading!

• Nothing Short of Dying: A Clyde Barr Novel (A Clyde Barr Novel #1) by Erik Storey
• To Kill The Pope: An Ecclesiastical Thriller by Tad Szulc
• A Season for Martyrs: A Novel by Bina Shah
• Pope John Paul II: The Biography by Tad Szulc
• After the Parade: A Novel by Lori Ostlund
• A Beautiful Place to Die: Martha's Vineyard Mystery #1 by Philip Craig
• Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump by John Fea
• Faith Alone by Terri Ann Johnson
• The Marginalized Majority: Claiming Our Power in a Post-Truth America by Onnesha Roychoudhuri
• Orchid and the Wasp: A Novel by Caoilinn Hughes
• Half Moon Bay: A Novel by Alice LaPlante
• The Good Fight: A Novel by Danielle Steel
• Legacy by Jessica Blank
• Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man by Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic
• Godspeed: A Memoir by Casey Legler
• Clock Dance: A novel by Anne Tyler
• From the Corner of the Oval: A Memoir by Beck Dorey-Stein
• Carpathia: The extraordinary story of the ship that rescued the survivors of the Titanic by Jay Ludowyke
• Somebody's Daughter by David Bell
• Eden by Andrea Kleine

Lynn's List (July 6, 2018)

Each Friday I publish a list of titles I have come across, during the past week, that I find interesting. Happy reading!

• The Protector (O'Malley #4) by Dee Henderson
• Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson by Gordon S. Wood
• The Long Night Moon by Elizabeth Towles
• The People at the Pond by David L. Morris
• Song of the Sound: A Novel by Jeff Gulvin
• Cry of the Panther: A Novel by Jeff Gulvin
• Safe Harbor (Moanna Island Series #1) by Kristen Terrette
• The Address: A Novel by Fiona Davis
• Forged in Crisis: The Making of Five Courageous Leaders by Nancy Koehn
• Look at You Now: How Keeping a Teenage Secret Changed My Life Forever by Liz Pryor
• Black Edge: Inside Information, Dirty Money, and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street by Sheelah Kolhatkar
• The Seven Sisters: Book One (The Seven Sisters #1) by Lucinda Riley
• Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved by Kate Bowler
• All We Ever Wanted: A Novel by Emily Giffin
• Cover of Night: A Novel by Linda Howard
• Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation by John Ehle