The Multiverse and Theology

 

    Space Between the Worlds by Micaiah Johnson does sci-fi well. It embodies several elements of well-crafted sci-fi: speculation--what if we could move between multiverses; social commentary--the divide between the haves and the have-nots, what keeps tyrants in power, nature versus nurture; and psychology--what is our responsibility towards others, are we the same person in every world, and why not? However, the story isn't bogged down by these considerations because it's fast-paced and keeps you guessing. Good stuff. 

    I have read other books by N. T. Wright and find him consistently annoying. I get a subtext in his writing that no one but Wright correctly interprets scripture. He alone can see things clearly. However, he is a brilliant man and thoughtful theologian. How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels by N. T. Wright is thought-provoking in a good way. He challenges western Christianity in several ways. First, recognize there is a unity between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Second, as Christians, we serve a Suffering Savior and are called to suffer as we build God's kingdom on earth. Third, as Christians, our purpose is to live and serve God as a church, not merely waiting to be called to heaven. Finally, and, I'm not sure I fully agree with or understand this, Jesus became king surplanting Caesar.

In writing this review, I drew on these resources:

nt-wrights-how-god-became-king

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDWcvGOBOhU

    Reading theology is an excellent challenge to my critical thinking and spiritual development, but it ain't easy!

Mystery, Firefighters, and Time-travel

    The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley is an absorbing, suspenseful mystery. Its storyline felt familiar, and it is, but turned on its head. Instead of a girl missing under a suspicious circumstance that needs to be rescued or avenged: eight-great-books-about-women-who-disappear, it is a missing, older half-brother. Foley writes a scrappy, down-on-her-luck half-sister as the dogged pursuer of truth. The book features a luxury apartment with dubious tenants with dark, twisting backstories. So good!

 

    I was looking for something bright and breezy, and Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center delivered. Cassie Hanwell is an Austin firefighter who has to relocate to an all-male firehouse in the suburbs of Boston. She reluctantly lives with her estranged mother, who left her dad and Cassie on Cassie's sixteenth birthday. Romance is at the center of this book, but it also vibrates around forgiveness and the life of firefighters. It's caused me to spend time thinking about forgiveness: how and why we do it. I love surprises like this: romance novels that have more to them than girl meets boy.

    A couple of weeks ago, I read The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel and didn't like it. At All. A former bookstore colleague recommended I read Sea of Tranquility by the same author. With great reluctance, I did. It was mind-bending in the best way. Characters from the TGH appeared in SOT in meaningful, intriguing ways. The two books together tell a strange, time-traveling, alternate universe story. Each book stands separately, but together they resonate beautifully. I find Mandel's characters emotionally distant from the reader even when they are the main character, which is a weakness. Still, the themes she wrestles with are masterfully handled. 

Turtles, Samarais, and Nuns

 

      Bomb Shelter: Love, Time, and Other Explosives by Mary Laura Philpott is a book of essays that are vulnerable, funny, and timely. Philpott explores life's difficulties--middle of the night 911 calls, Covid--but instead of sinking under the weight of capricious disasters, I came away feeling hopeful. 

  The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama is the historical fiction pick for my book club. It tells the story of a Chinese young man, Stephen, who contracts tuberculosis and is sent by his family to their summer home on the beach in Japan. It is 1938, and Japan has invaded China. Stephen spends a year with the aloof master gardener and caretaker, Matsu, who has always intimidated him. The plot has many unexpected turns making it a quick read. It describes a time in history I don't know much about. I think because Europe and World War II overshadow what happened in China prewar. Stephen grows in many ways as he faces living in his enemy's country and his friendship with Matsu. I liked the exotic, non-western feel of the book. 

  I did not like Matrix by Lauren Groff. The title refers to the Latin form of the word mother. It is a clever title because the main character, Marie's, is a reluctant abbess over an English nunnery, but also alludes to the power of mother figures. My dislike of the book is rooted in its morally superior tone and the avant-garde writing style. It didn't work for me.

the life of man [and woman] [is], solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short--Thomas Hobbs

  Emily St. John Mandel is the author of one of my favorite books Station Eleven, so I'm trying to read her backlist. The Glass Hotel is a bleak story of two step-siblings and the far-reaching consequences of poor choices. One review said the book was about how we search for meaning in our lives, but I didn't see it that way. It was more how we try to escape from responsibility for our actions. Mandel is a gifted writer and tells the story on a non-linear fashion shifting in time and perspective and employing magical realism. 

  I found the book difficult to get into because I didn't connect with the main characters (they were unlikable--greedy, and selfish) but was drawn into the well-told story.

  I listened to the Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead. It is considered historical, literary fiction. It has a contemporary message or sensibility regarding LGBTQ and reminded me of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reed. The primary character is Marian Graves, and the main story thread is her life from conception to death to beyond death. Hadley Baxter is an actress who portrays Graves in a movie. Her story weaves in and out of the Grave's narrative--a contemporary contrast of lost parents, neglectful upbringing, and a desire for connection. Shipstead creates a life so genuine that I was surprised to find Marian Graves wasn't an actual person. Great Circle is vibrant with realism and is deeply researched. The writing make me feel I'm experiencing Marian and Hadley's lives as they do. 

I enjoyed the book--it is impressive in its scope and power, but at its core, I found nihilism--the rejection of all moral and religious principles, in the belief that life is meaningless. Marian's struggle to fly and to find freedom felt pointless to me because her solitary life brought nothing to her or others. The star of the book is the writing and not the story.

  Both of the books I read this week are a product of our time in that their main characters are rootless drifters who are incapable of finding or giving hope. They have surrounded me in a miasma of depression. I need a spritely rom-com to clear the air.

There Will Be Gushing

    I think Maggie Shipstead is a sharp writer. She incisively describes characters that pierced me as a reader--not with sadness, but with observations that caused me to examine my own self-centered brokenness. Ouch. You Have a Friend in 10A is the book that follows her best-selling book, Great Circle. I'm on the waitlist for it and am slightly afraid to read it. Will it wreck me?  Shipstead is masterful in her short stories. Of the eight in the book, "The Great Central Pacific Guano Company" and "You Have A Friend In 10A" will roll around my head for a while, not only because of the terrible situations her characters find themselves in, but also because of their responses. It slays the dream that my best self shows up when life is tough.  

    I'll Have What She's Having: How Nora Ephron's Three Iconic Films Saved the Romantic Comedy by Erin Carlson was a delightful book. I admire Nora Ephron's achievements as a writer and director and her larger-than-life persona. The three romcoms--When Harry Met Sally, You've Got Mail, and Sleepless in Seatle--are some of my favorite movies. Carlson's book shows how the sausage was made. I thought it would be about Nora Ephron, and it was, but it was also about the production and the actors. I try to be a person who isn't caught up in celebrity culture, but this was a delicious book about movies and actors influential in my life. The hopefulness I possess about love and romance has roots in these movies.  Carlson portrayed the events and people authentically. I enjoyed it a lot.

    The Penderwicks at Last by Jeanne Birdsall concludes the five-book series. I love this series so much. It makes me wish my daughters were younger or my granddaughters older so I could enjoy it with them. Each book centers on a different sister going from oldest to youngest. It describes them at eleven or twelve at a momentous--to them--time in their lives. As the final book of the series, it is responsible for giving me, the reader, a window into how their lives develop when the series ends. This is not an easy task, but Birdsall does a masterful job. I had feelings of satisfaction and sadness at the end. I will miss the sisters, but I know they are living fulfilling and vibrant lives in the land of fiction. 

    I'm hoping a streaming service will make it into a series!