Worthwhile Books

I recently finished Russ Ramsey's fascinating Rembrandt is in the Wind. I enjoyed his good writing and his deft weaving together of biography, art history and devotional thoughts. Here is one of the many quotes I underlined.
Story is a trojan horse for truth. It can sneak truth past the gates of our defenses and prepare our hearts to hear things we might have resisited if they had come as mere declaration. (p. 14)...

I am slowly re-reading the first eight novels in the Mitford series to refresh my memory before tackling the later novels (which I somehow missed). It's a joy to be revisiting these dear literary acquaintances after almost two decades.
Every time I review a Jan Karon book, I reiterate that I don't know of another author of light novels who so deftly weaves together stories of joys mingled with suffering. She manages to write about the Christian life in a way that puts most Christian...

I often say I prefer Catholic authors to modern Christian fiction writers because they address human suffering without giving overly simplistic answers. The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni is a perfect example.
The novel take place in Italy in the 17th century, and covers actual historical events of that time, particularly the plague of 1630. Renzo and Lucia are pledged to be married to one another, but serious impediments arise that keep them apart for several...

We arrived back in Brazil in January which is summer vacation month. Hence we were able to ease back into our ministry responsibilities and I had loads of time for reading. I read (or finished up) nine books in January and eight in February.
J.K. Rowling's The Christmas Pig was my favorite January read (reviewed here) and the quirky movie "Esio Trot" with Judi Dench and Dustin Hoffman was my favorite movie. (I purposedly did not post a trailer because they all give the story away!)...