Recently Read

Before I became a quilter, I spent almost all of my expendable free time reading. When I got involved with a rotary cutter, that changed. I read a bit less. Then the mini iPad came into my life with a series of addictive games. Reading took a bit of a back seat. Recently, though, I've read a handful of really good books.

The Dearly Beloved reminded me of Wallace Stegner's Crossing to Safety. It is about two couples journeying through life together. The husbands share a call to serve a large church in New York City. The wives . . . well . . . don't really get along all that well. And, of course, faith -- in varying degrees -- is part of the mix, as is fertility. Their story is so well-told.

Elkins Park isn't far at all from Near Philadelphia. It has some winding streets, in particular one Ashbourne Road, that are more than a little bit intimidating to  those who lack a sense of direction. The author of The Dutch House spent her college vacations with her roommate's family in Elkins Park; hence her decision to set a novel there. Reading this book, with all of the local references (yes, I know exactly where Immaculate Conception church is) was a treat. The story is about an enmeshed brother-and-sister relationship. Some of my local friends thought the book was good; I thought it was very good. After reading it, I wanted to go over to Elkins Park and drive around, looking for the Dutch house.

Sometimes I like a Barbara Kingsolver book; sometimes I don't. This one  definitely falls into the former category. Set in the same location in two different time periods, the stories intersect and bounce off one another. In the more present day family, the story is told from the woman's viewpoint and in the older story it is from the man's. The spouses are pretty much minor characters. There are other familial patterns. Each story involves academia and  in each one, really, the main character is the house that is failing its inhabitants. This was one of those books where I was conflicted between wanting to see what happens and not wanting it to end. Highest recommendation.

Alice Hoffman's books always have something -- oh, what's the word? Occult? Magical? -- otherworldly about them. I read all of her works and like some more than others. This one, set in Nazi-threatened Europe, involves two young Jewish girls who flee Germany for a safer place. I won't be giving anything away by sharing that they are accompanied by a golem. I've read about golem before and dismissed the idea of the creatures without too much thought. This time, the creation of the golem is explained so thoroughly, and the depiction of the creature in the months following its creation is so clear that I was almost ready to know it was real. The World that We Knew is purportedly a story about Lea and Ettie and what happens to them. But I know it is Ava's story.

This last book isn't fiction and reading it took me back to my nights as a hospital chaplain. The author is an intensive care physician in Ireland. She shares memories of experiences and lessons learned from her work, grouping them under the emotions we all have: fear, grief, joy, distraction, anger, disgust, and hope, paralleling the seven characteristics of being alive. She doesn't hesitate to share her own foibles and makes her patients come alive for the reader.