Recent Books

I haven’t posted any book reviews in a few months, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been reading. Here are a few books I’ve enjoyed lately:

Because They Hate, by Brigitte Gabriel.
Ms. Gabriel describes the terror of living through years of war in her country of Lebanon back in the 1970s, when she was a girl. Palestinians and other militant Muslims attacked the Lebanese, simply because they were Christians. Ms. Gabriel delivers a philippic against militant Islam, together with historic evidence of an Islamic agenda and a warning to Western nations not to view this threat with skepticism or complacency. I was fascinated (and sometimes horrified) by her firsthand account of living through the war. It made me very thankful for the peace and freedom of our culture! In a somewhat abrupt shift, the second half of the book addressed the facts of militant Islam and a call to awareness in America. This part I skimmed over a bit, but she does include a chapter of suggestions on what steps to take in educating oneself in this topic and preventing the erosion of American freedoms and the takeover of Islamic ideology. My impression as I read this book was that Gabriel knew what she was talking about, but I wondered if her urgency was influenced by her personal experience more than known facts.

Surprised by Joy, by C. S. Lewis.
What a fabulous read! This is one of my new favorite books. Lewis’s writing is wonderful, of course, and he has pinned himself down (and the character of humanity he encountered throughout his life) with eloquent and candid accuracy. I enjoyed the journey through his childhood into adolescence, and the look at the culture of the time (who knew about public boarding schools!) in addition to his own philosophical and creative journeys, and ultimately to his faith in Christ. I found a great deal of humor and insight in this book, and though the language is the articulation of an Oxford don, there is much humility as well.

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Infidelities, reunited lovers, lavish parties, unexpected friendships, old wealth, new wealth, murder – it’s all in this short but thought-provoking and entertaining novel. This was my first Fitzgerald novel and I enjoyed this introduction to his writings. He is adroit with language, not wordy yet creating evocative scenes and developing characters through their speech, posture and interactions. Plus, it’s an interesting glimpse into the excess and glitzy shallowness of the lifestyle some people actually lived during the Jazz Age.