Review: Young Men in Spats
Young Men in Spats by P.G. Wodehouse
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A collection of stories about the young natives at the Drones. A fun read as always.
Review: Death by Living: Life Is Meant to Be Spent
Death by Living: Life Is Meant to Be Spent by N.D. Wilson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This a book about life and a book about death. This is a book about God and a book about man. This is a book about the world and the other-world. This a book about pain and a book about joy. This a book about loss and a book about rescue. This is a book about the past and a book about the ahead.
Wilson’s main point is that life is an inexplicable gift and fragile. It’s meant to be used up by living. It doesn’t always end when we think it will, or think it should. Death should be the last sputter of energy left from a life that has been all lived out. This is also a book of hope.
Review: A Grief Observed
A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book is not a doctrinal treatise on death. It’s more of a journal of Lewis’s own wrestle with grief after the death of his wife. You will find some things that are not scripturally correct, e.g. praying for the dead, purgatory, etc. It is full of poignant and thoughtful reflections. He writes that sometimes there is nothing to do with suffering but suffer it. Of sorrow he wrote, “I thought I could describe a state; make a map of sorrow. Sorrow, however, turns out to be not a state but a process. It needs not a map but a history…”
Lewis finds himself wrestling with his own heart as much as that that is without him. This book is an opportunity to sit in the house of mourning with one who is wiser than us and Solomon has told us before that this house will do good for your soul. Read it thoughtfully and realize there are some words for the wind here.
Review: Jill the Reckless
Jill the Reckless by P.G. Wodehouse
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed this one. Loads of fun.
Review: Killjoys: The Seven Deadly Sins
Killjoys: The Seven Deadly Sins by Marshall Segal
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This an excellent book on the so-called seven deadly sins. It’s a collaboration where each chapter covers one of the sins and is written by a different author affiliated with Desiring God. The sins covered are pride, envy, anger, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust. While there is overlap with these sins, the authors did a good job of keeping them distinct.
This book is a fresh look at root sins prevalent among mankind from the fall. I high recommend it.
