Book 5 of 2021 China

 

As vacation time approached I was wanting a light mindless read. As I often do, I went looking in the historical fiction genre. I have appreciated Edward Rutherfurd's other books so I decided I would get this one as well.  

It was an engaging read.  2500 "pages" on my Kobo settings and just over a week to read it. Despite what the synopsis on the page linked above says, the book really only covers a brief part of the LONG history of China. It starts as the First Opium War is looming and closes with a brief notation about the fall of the Qing Dynasty in the early 20th century. 

It is a good read. And just what I needed to start vacation.

Book 4 of 2021 Queer Virtue

 

One of the members of our congregational Affirming Team led a book study on this one back in April/May. I managed to get to about half of the sessions....

I appreciated what Edman had to say, and how she said it. Over the last 20 years I have become more aware that we in the mainline churches especially have to pay attention to what people at the margins are saying. WE have to listen not only to hear what their experience of the church is/has been but also we have to listen to hear the wisdom they have to share about what the church could be. This book does just that with a queer lens.

One of the things I liked about the book was that there is a mirroring in the structure.  A chapter in Part 1 has a counterpart in Part 2.  In fact the study guide had us reading those pairs together rather than simply going through the book from front to back.

This is a book I need to re-read.