third book review

I just finished book number three of this summer. I know, it's so out of character, I can hardly believe it myself. I think I might be getting the hang of this reading thing though...sneaking in a few minutes while dinner cooks, or taking a huge chunk out on an evening that Allen is away. I have even managed to get a few chapters read while the kids swim - though today I was startled from my page by Marissa yelling, "Momma! Ray-Ray is in the pool without her arm floaties!" Thankfully she was just sitting on the steps - and had she fallen in, I was just an arm length from her rescue - but its probably not in the cards for me to be partaking in any more poolside reading.

At the suggestion of at least five, unrelated, dissociated, not mutual friends, I read Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. I borrowed it from my friend, Des. She said it was the best book she has ever read - and was excited to lend it to me. She talked it up like crazy, and gave some ominous qualifiers for it too. The forward was a letter from the editor that also suggested there would be some disturbing imagery...

...I don't know if I am just hard hearted, or immune to media expressions, or what, but I was not offended, nor did I find the writers details explicit - well, certainly not to the point of necessitating a warning.

It took me just a week to read this novel based on the Old Testament book of Hosea. I recently studied Hosea in CBS, so it was great to think about it a little more through a fictional tale that boasted many of the same biblical truths - God's redeeming love, continual forgiveness, and amazing grace.

Des checked in with me almost daily to see how the reading was coming along. I could tell she was surprised one day when I answered that it was starting to drag a little. I felt bad to say anything negative about this piece of literature that she is so endeared to - but it is like this...

...you know how when you are watching a movie - and it is good - but it would be a whole lot better if they cut out just a few minutes here, and a few minutes there, and it went from being 2 hours and 15 minutes long to just an hour and 45 minutes? That's kind of how I felt about this book.

It was certainly good, but if it somehow could have been cut from 464 pages down to 385, it would have graduated from a "good book" to a "great book" on my stocked shelf of finished reads. Oh man, that was dripping with sarcasm...the stocked shelf part, not the good/great book part.

Though I give a little criticism regarding the delivery, I would never deny the impact of the story or the truth of the message represented in Redeeming Love. I certainly would, will, and already have, recommend it to others - even trying to convince my husband to gander it. That was good for a laugh. It is definitely a book that I will remember, and it helped solidify the biblical Hosea's message and meaning in my heart.

As I have completed another work of literature, I am refreshed and kinda excited to pick up another - weird, I know. I do not know if this new found reading fetish will turn into anything more than a summer fling, but I am riding the wave of desire while it lasts. So, if you have any suggestions, I would be happy to entertain them - and I promise to pay attention to my kids while they swim.