What is the Best Novel You Have Read?
I would love to hear about the best novel you have read. Tell us why you think it is so wonderful. I look forward to your answers!
The Moving Word
Sharing my life as a writer, bookworm, & Fibromyalgia sufferer
Archive for the month “November, 2010”
Character Study 11/12/10
Each week for Character Study I plan to post a photo of a person to help us develop our writing skills and character development. Look at the photo and tell us about the person. What can we tell about them? What is their name? Age? Where do they live? Hobbies? What are they thinking? What else can you tell? The more we know about our characters, the better we will be.
Pick either the daughter or the Mother and speculate on them.
Soaring On Words
- Learning takes us to places we could never see on our own & gives us a better seat to view the world.
- Writing inspires the Walter Mitty in all of us.
- “Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the most. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out the window.” –William Faulkner
Interview with Novelist Douglas Kashorek
In Churches of Christ, I had never heard of a man who had a novel published. I am working on one, and didn’t expect I was the only one. I was happy to be led to Douglas Kashorek, who has his first novel coming out soon.
I contacted him and I am honored to have the opportunity to interview him. For a biography and to purchase his book, I direct you to his website. Thanks, Douglas for your cooperation!
1. How did you get started as a writer?
Even as a child, I would write little stories. It wasn’t until I was an exchange student in Japan at seventeen that I began to write seriously. After graduation from high school, I got a B.A. in English/Education 7-12 and was exposed to great works and teachers who helped shape my writing. I especially grew in my Biblical literature class.
2. What is your mission as a writer?
Glorifying God through showing how He can work in people’s lives if only they would choose Him has been my Colossians 3:17 mission. Kin of Cain, which is book one of The Chronicles of Nod, East of Eden, has an anti-heroine everywoman who struggles against a life seemingly laid out for her and chooses sin and death though she could have chosen life all along.
3. How important is writing to you?
Writing is life; it reaches into the deepest places of who we are and reveals that which God only knows. Through writing we even can surprise ourselves.
4. Did you have storytellers when you were growing up that influenced you?
In an airport bookstore when I was thirteen and not yet a Christian, I picked up a copy of Terry Brooks’ Sword of Shannara and was hooked on fantasy from then on. Stephen R. Lawhead’s Pendragon Cycle introduced me to the power of historical fiction. And, John Gardener’s Grendel fascinated me with the perspective of Beowulf’s monster.
Character Study 11/5/10
Each week for Character Study I plan to post a photo of a person to help us develop our writing skills and character development. Look at the photo and tell us about the person. What can we tell about them? What is their name? Age? Where do they live? Hobbies? What are they thinking? What else can you tell? The more we know about our characters, the better we will be.
Review of “Seeds of Turmoil” by Bryant Wright
The Middle East crisis is a perpetual problem. Around the world, people struggle to understand the roots of the problems in the Holy Land. Bryant Wright directs us to Scripture for the foundations of the ancient struggles. We would do well to follow suit.
In his book, Seeds of Turmoil: The Biblical Roots of the Inevitable Crisis in the Middle East we dig deeply into Jewish history to see the beginning of the long struggles between Jews and Muslims.
Wright does a capable job of walking us through the original conflict in the hearts of Abraham and Sarah. God gives Abraham a land promise in Genesis 12 and guarantees him that he would produce an heir that would bless the world. Yet, time passes and nothing happens.
Sarah becomes impatient and gives Hagar, her handmaid, to Abraham and they produce Ishmael, bringing strife into their home. Later, God does give Abraham and Sarah an heir named Isaac. The jealousies and struggles over their sin are still with us today and these two boys are in the headlines daily through their subsequent generations.
Readers that do not believe that Jesus will return to the earth to reign from Jerusalem for one thousand years will find much to disagree with in Wright’s book.
Wright also pulls the reader from the story with his attempts at hip humor. He says that Abraham probably was excited to go to bed with Hagar. Wright says, “And no doubt he liked the idea of sleeping with that young honey.” On the next page, Wright says that Abraham was “in the doghouse, big time.” Later, he calls Esau a “redheaded wooly bugger.” It is embarrassing that Wright would use such vulgar terms in such a solemn book.
Because of these shortcomings, I am unable to recommend this book. However, the history lessons at the beginning of the work are worthwhile.
Review of “Bloody Crimes” by James L. Swanson
I recently listened to the audio version of James L. Swanson’s excellent book, Bloody Crimes: The Chase for Jefferson Davis and the Death Pageant for Lincoln’s Corpse. His previous Lincoln study, Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer was a fascinating study of John Wilkes Booth’s crime and the subsequent investigation.
Richard Thomas narrated Bloody Crimes and his smooth reading seemed appropriate for the Civil War era. Swanson examined the lives of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis through the voices of the day.
I appreciated the portrayal of the President of the Confederacy because, as Swanson says, Jefferson Davis is largely a forgotten man in American history. Rarely ever does Davis appear in studies of the period in more than a brief mention. I appreciate Swanson’s discussion.
I enjoyed the description of Lincoln’s transport to the house across from Ford’s Theater and the treatments performed by a series of doctors. There were so many details that I had never heard before in these scenes.
Lincoln’s pageant was a macabre event. After Lincoln’s death and embalming, Lincoln’s body traveled by train to a series of cities so the public could say goodbye and view the body. It is astounding that Lincoln’s body remained as it was for eighteen days without refrigeration. Swanson paints a vivid portrait of the pageant.
I think students of the American Civil War will enjoy Swanson’s two books. I heartily recommend them.
The Moving Word- Overcoming Disabilities May 21, 2013
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- Praying for Fibromyalgia Cure May 11, 2013
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