read Archives

Dr. Thorne

Matters of the Heart Author: Anthony Trollope When you think of Anothony Trollope, you think of a good old drawing room drama. Ladies in pluming skirts, hiding behand fans, talking scandal as piano forte plays delicately in the background and the butler shuffles around, taking in all that aristocratic gossip. And what makes a better scandal than rejecting the status quo and marrying for love, not money! Frank Gresham will be the heir to the Greshamsbury estate – a foundering money pit effectively ruined by Frank’s well-meaning father and extravagant mother. To save the estate, Frank HAS to marry money. The [...]

Frances Carden2023-11-04T09:50:39-07:00November 4th, 2023|Tags: book review, classic, read, reading|

Beginnings: Understanding How We Experience the New Birth

Conversion as a Process Author: Stephen Smallman As part of the C.S. Lewis Institute’s Fellowship program, the month of July was dedicated to understanding true conversion and what it is. One of our assigned readings was Stephen Smallman’s Beginnings: Understanding How We Experience the New Birth. Throughout Beginnings, Smallman examines the misnomer of conversion as a singular event: a once and done experience. Traditionally, in Christian culture, conversion is seen as a literal come-to-Jesus moment, usually a grand event, brought on by some sort of action, such as saying a prayer. But, Smallman argues, this is selling conversion short. Conversion is [...]

Frances Carden2023-11-01T15:44:01-07:00November 1st, 2023|Tags: book review, Christian, conversion, nonfiction, read, reading|

Vessel, The

Pagan Rituals, Creepy Old Ladies, and Toxic Relationships Author: Adam Nevill Jess McMachen is attempting to move on with her life, to escape her abusive ex-husband, Tony, and to raise her daughter, Izzy, in a safe environment. It’s nearly impossible. Between the demands of a new job – her last chance job – caring for a strange old woman (Flo) who has violent fits, attempting to keep Tony away from their impressionable daughter, and finding a new place to live, Jess is overwhelmed. She’s also having disturbing dreams lately, surrounded as she is by Flo’s decaying house with its dusty relics [...]

Frances Carden2023-10-31T16:13:06-07:00October 31st, 2023|Tags: book review, horror, read, reading|