Month: October 2021 Page 1 of 5

The Trinity and the Bible: On Theological Interpretation by Scott R. Swain: A Demanding and Rewarding Look at a Fundamental Doctrine

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On October 31, 2021

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

The Trinity and the Bible

The Trinity and the Bible:
On Theological Interpretation

by Scott R. Swain

Hardcover, 131 pg.
Lexham Press, 2021

Read: October 17-24, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

Scriptural Trinitarianism is not unformed, inchoate Trinitarianism. As the self-revelation of the Triune God through his authorized and anointed prophets and apostles, scriptural Trinitarianism is the primary discourse of Trinitarian theology: normative, fluent, and eloquent. Ecclesiastical Trinitarianism, the Trinitarian theology of the churchs sermons, hymns, confessions, and creeds, is the secondary discourse of Trinitarian theology. Ecclesiastical Trinitarianism, at its best, is the attempt to represent the “grammar” of Scripture’s primary Trinitarian discourse in new settings and on new occasions, not to refine or develop what would otherwise be unrefined and undeveloped without it but to promote the church’s greater fluency in reading Scripture’s primary Trinitarian discourse and in responding to that discourse in its own eloquent expressions of prayer, proclamation, and praise of the Triune God.

What’s The Trinity and the Bible About?

I’m going to keep this short, because I’m sure that if I try to really get into the material, I’m only going to show how ill-equipped I am to discuss it in a meaningful fashion.

Rather than one overarching topic, this is a collection of papers that seek to show both how the Bible reveals the Trinity and how the Trinity shapes our reading of the Bible.

Swain describes the book in his introductory chapter:

Some of [the chapters] began as formal academic lectures; all of them have been published previously in various books and journals, The first and second chapters address the broader hermeneutical framework of Trinitarian biblical exegesis as well as the reception of one particular instance of such exegesis in North American Reformed and evangelical theology. The final three chapters address different aspects of Trinitarian theology by means of exegetical attention to different forms of New Testament literature, including Gospel, Epistle, and apocalyptic.

The Table of Contents, to match up with Swain’s description, is:

1. (Re)turning to the Subject: Trinity and Biblical Interpretation
2. The Bible and the Trinity in Recent Thought: Review, Analysis, and Constructive Proposal
3. B. B. Warfield and the Biblical Doctrine of the Trinity: A Historical Experiment
4. God’s Lordly Son: Mark 12:35–37 and Trinitarian Christology
5. Heirs through God: Galatians 4:4–7 and the Doctrine of the Trinity
6. To Him Who Sits on the Throne and to the Lamb: Hymning God’s Triune Name in Revelation 4–5
7. Seven Axioms: On the Trinity, the Bible, and Theological Interpretation

So, what did I think about The Trinity and the Bible?

Theological interpretation of Scripture prepares us for the vision of the Triune God by cultivating our capacities for spiritual perception and by attuning our affections to the intelligible and adorable good that the Triune God is. But theological interpretation of Scripture is more than mere preparation for this happy vision. Like the Israelite spies who tasted the grapes of Eschol before entering the Promised Land, theological interpretation of Scripture enables us to participate in this happy vision in advance by helping us perceive traces of God’s Triune glory in God’s good creation and by serving faith’s grasp of God’s Triune glory in the mediate adumbrations and attestations of that glory in the prophetic and apostolic scriptures (2 Cor 4:6).

This is not an easy read, even at 131 pages, it took several hours for me to get through it (honestly, after reading the first chapter, I wondered if I should limit myself to one chapter a week).

But it was worth the effort, every bit of it. Like a lot of the more scholarly theological books I read, I was reminded frequently while reading that I’m not an academic and this is above my weight class. But it wasn’t inaccessible, just difficult and required a little commitment.

But like the best academic theology, there were moments of the most doxological writing—or doxology-inspiring writing (or a mix). There are paragraphs and paragraphs that I wish I could commit to memory, so I could use them at the drop of my hat in conversation and in prayer.

The “Seven Axioms: On the Trinity, the Bible, and Theological Interpretation” (Chapter 7), in particular, are the kinds of things that everyone needs to learn and I think I’m going to read a few times over the next few weeks/months and really internalize.

I strongly recommend this to anyone who wants to solidify their understanding of the Trinity and wrestle with Scriptural texts, theology, and history for that.

5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Saturday Miscellany—10/30/21

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On October 30, 2021

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

Odds n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
bullet The most brilliant bookshops in the world—Also known as “a bunch of places I’ll never step foot in (and Powell’s).” But the pics make me want to be a world-traveler.
bullet 5 Things You Didn’t Know About People Who Are Passionate About Books—The statistic in the first paragraph is hard to swallow, so I’m not sure about the facts, but it’s interesting anyway.
bullet Is Amazon Changing the Novel?
bullet 1-Star Reviews of My Favorite Novels—Matthew Norman looks at some reviews his favorites have received—which helps him put negative revews he’s received in perspective.
bullet Shop Talk: Michael Koryta Writes 1500 Words and Gets to Ring the Bell—I really love this series by Cranor, and this look at Koryta’s process is just great.
bullet I haven’t watched Ted Lasso (though I want to), but still dug this thread by Scott Lynch about a character’s reading choices (not just for the fantastic description of The Da Vinci Code.
bullet A Bookworm’s WORST NIGHTMARES!!—don’t read this post late at night if you want to sleep.
bullet The Things I’ve Heard: Confessions of an Audiobook Narrator

A Book-ish Related Podcast Episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
bullet Author Stories Podcast Episode 1179: Lee Child And Andrew Child Talk Jack Reacher—the Jack Reacher authors talk about the process behind the first two collaborations and more

This Week's New Releases That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Gated Prey by Lee Goldberg—the third Eve Ronin novel continues to impress. I had a little to say about it earlier this week.
bullet Better Off Dead by Lee Child and Andrew Child—Reacher in the Southwest—that’s all I know, more than I need to know to pick it up.
bullet Grave Reservations by Cherie Priest—Priest’s new series featues travel agent who’s an “inconsistent psychic” and a Police Detective working on a cold case.
bullet Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan—Riordan leaves his mythology-based work for a contemporary 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Color me curious.

The Friday 56 for 10/29/21: See Her Die by Melinda Leigh

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On October 29, 2021

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
The Friday 56 Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
The Friday 56 Find a snippet, short and sweet.
The Friday 56 Post it

from Page 56 of:
See Her Die

See Her Die by Melinda Leigh

(a rare, lighter moment in the middle of a murder investigation)

“I’ll be right in. Give me two minutes to check in with Marge.” Rounding her desk, she planted her butt in her chair.

Todd all but bounced out of the room.

Marge walked in with a vat-size mug of coffee in her hand.

Bree waved a hand toward the doorway. “Is he always this obnoxiously bright-eyed this early in the morning?”

“Yes, but you’re also unusually grumpy.” Marge set the coffee on the desk. “You look like you need this.”

“Bless you, Marge.” Bree inhaled the steam, then took a long swallow. “I need a bigger mug.”

“That would be the whole pot.”

Abandon All Hope by Scott Spires: A Cynic and an Idealist Stumble Through Life

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On October 29, 2021

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature

When I scheduled the A Few Quick Questions with…Scott Spires post and said, I’d get this post up “in a little bit”, I didn’t realize that a transformer was about to blow a couple of blocks away from me, making it pretty difficult to finish/proofread/schedule this post. At least it was the same day. 🙂

Abandon All Hope

Abandon All Hope

by Scott Spires

eARC, 214 pg.
Auctus Publishers, 2021

Read: October 13-15, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s Abandon All Hope About?

Set in the 1990s, this novel follows Evan—a cynical writer for an educational software company, Eldritch EduWare (a name that must’ve been the cause of problems for the marketing team—while being fairly apt). He actually commutes to the suburbs to work there, which is a nice twist. Evan doesn’t have a lot of drive or ambition, but he seems to like his life—maybe he could be happier, but he’s comfortable.

One day he encounters Eric, a college dropout. Convinced of his own insight, Eric eschews fiction, music, and the history of philosophy—he doesn’t want anyone else’s ideas. His are pure, new, and will enrich the lives of any who read his book—as soon as he finishes it. To pay the bills, Eric works a succession of temporary jobs, each disastrous in their own way.

Evan is intrigued by Eric, and makes an effort to check in on him from time to time (even trying to hire him for Eldritch at one point), but their storylines are fairly divergent. But common elements are there—we see them socialize (a little bit), muse on art and life, interact with family, colleagues, and supervisors, and so on.

He’s Making a List…

A technique that Spires falls back on often while describing things is the list. For example:

The basic building unit of the bad suburbs was the box. Boxes of various sizes and colors, of concrete, glass, steel and brick, big and small boxes arranged upright and sideways, black, white, gray, brown and transparent boxes, boxes stuck together like Legos or separated by swathes of asphalt, boxes with yards of grass or yards of concrete, could be seen everywhere as you looked out the train window.

Strip malls, mini-malls, and shopping centers alternated with identikit housing developments that bore fanciful names, like Avalon Estates, Balmoral-on-the-Lake, Provence-in-the-Woods, and Renaissance Acres: names that inadvertently highlighted their aesthetic failings.

That’s a lot of dense text that doesn’t say a whole lot—it’s frequently an effective technique. But I think Spires could’ve used a few less and been better for it—a list transitioning to a list transitioning to a list gets a bit mind-numbing. I largely enjoyed the writing, but this was a drawback.

A Scrambled Don Quixote

I typically make a point of not reading anything an author says in our Q&A before I write my post about their book. I’m not sure why I did this time, but if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have seen his remark about this being a

Don Quixote in reverse – that is, with the somewhat cynical Sancho Panza character being the lead, and the idealistic Don Quixote figure being the secondary protagonist.

There’s part of me that kicked myself for not picking up on that—Spires wasn’t being subtle. At one point, Eric actually equates Evan to Quixote (I was too busy rolling my eyes at the conversation the two characters were having to pick up on it).

Now that I’ve chewed on it a bit now, I can see it to a degree. It’s not one of those insights that opens a fount of meaning to the text—nor is not having it a barrier to understanding the novel*. But it adds some dimension and depth to your understanding.

* He says with only a slightly defensive tone.

So, what did I think about Abandon All Hope?

In the mid-90s, there was a trend of indie movies in the Richard Linklater vein featuring characters who would unburden themselves to each other of their respective philosophical/aesthetic/political takes. This felt a whole lot like those to me. That’s not an evaluation, it’s just an observation.

This novel featured a large cast of unsympathetic and unlikeable characters acting in pretty unsympathetic and unlikeable ways, I’m not sure that there was any growth or development in the primary characters—their circumstances changed, but I think they remained the same (although there are signs that Eric and Evan might be on the verge of growth at the end). But that pretty much describes everyone I know. It might not be what we expect (want?) out of fictional characters, but it’s a pretty solid description of humanity.

This is one of those cases where I think the whole is less than the sum of its parts. A lot of the moments in this book were great–amusing, insightful, interesting—and the same goes for most of the characters. But Spires didn’t combine these moments and characters into a successful overall narrative.

I think overall he might have tried to accomplish too much. If say, Spires cut Evan out entirely (or significantly—just give us his interactions with Eric), in order to spend more time at Eric’s work (maybe requiring more characters there), and I can see my enjoyment of this increasing. Then write another novel about Evan trying to make his way in the world while writing his treatise, I should add. The strength of this book lies in the depictions of these two characters and their career/employment/lack thereof, as the US seems to be in a cultural shift regarding these things at the moment, it’s particularly thought-provoking and relevant on these matters.

Your results may vary, of course. I can think of a couple of people who’d likely disagree (possibly pretty strongly) with me if they picked up the book. I do recommend it for an intriguing experience, and hopefully, in your case something more.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the author in exchange for this post and my honest opinion. I thank him for it.

3 Stars
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

A Few Quick Questions with…Scott Spires

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On October 29, 2021

In A Few Quick Questions With..., Fiction, General Fiction/Literature

In a little bit here, I’ll be giving my take on Abandon All Hope, but before I do that, I thought I’d post this Q&A that Spires was kind enough to participate in with me.

Before we dive in, you might want to read a blog post he wrote about the book, too: Behind ABANDON ALL HOPE.

Describe your path to publication with this.
I actually wrote it in two chunks: the first half all the way back in 2002-03, and the other half in 2019-20 (yes, I set it aside for about 16 years). When I finished it, I knew that as an unagented author I had no chance of being published by one of the major publishing houses, so I concentrated on small presses. I got various laudatory rejections – of the type “we like your book but we’re not going to publish it” – which was frustrating but kept me going due to the positive feedback. Finally Auctus Publishers, a small press based in the Philadelphia area, accepted it in March of this year.

All authors have more ideas running around in their head than they can possibly develop—what was it about this idea that made you commit to it?
I liked the idea of having characters coming from similar backgrounds but having completely different approaches to life. Basically, it’s realism vs. idealism, one of the eternal themes. Also, I was intrigued by the idea of writing Don Quixote in reverse – that is, with the somewhat cynical Sancho Panza character being the lead, and the idealistic Don Quixote figure being the secondary protagonist.

It’s hard to pick just one or two things to focus on to ask about that don’t involve spoiling the whole book…but I want to talk about Vic for a bit. Where did the character come from? He seems to be the only well-adjusted character in the novel (that may not be the best word…he’s the one who has it all together), was that the intent? (did I miss something in him?). Also, post-High Fidelity, record shop owners seems to be more popular in fiction than they are in reality—what’s your pet theory for that?
I agree that Vic is the most “together” character, in the sense that he’s figured out a path in life that suits him, and doesn’t suffer from the feeling of alienation that afflicts most of the other characters. I can’t say that it was my conscious intent to make him that way. To the extent he has some basis in reality, he’s a grad-school dropout who became an entrepreneur, and I’ve known a number of people like that. As for record-shop owners being more popular in fiction than in reality, I don’t quite agree with you on that. Vinyl has been undergoing a big resurgence in the last decade or so, and there have been quite a few physical outlets selling it, although they have to contend with a lot of pressure from online sellers. Vinyl is much more fashionable now than it was in the 1990s, when both High Fidelity and my book are set.

Evan’s tenure as a Temp seemed too specific to be simply the product of someone’s imagination—did you spend a season of life doing this kind of thing, or did you have friends whose lives you plundered for material? How fictionalized were these? Any you decided that you couldn’t use?
Most of the work-related episodes in the book are based on my own personal experience. For example, I had precisely the kind of phone-survey job that Evan does in Chapter 5, and Eric’s office job draws heavily on my own job experience with a fairly well-known company that shall remain nameless. Of course, I modified this material to fit the story I wanted to tell – my own office job wasn’t nearly as deadly or traumatic as the one in the book!

What was the biggest surprise about the writing of Abandon All Hope itself? Either, “I can’t believe X is so easy!” or “If I had known Y was going to be so hard, I’d have skipped this and watched more TV.”
Well, I did watch more TV (so to speak), because I hit a roadblock when I was first writing it, and put aside the manuscript for a short while, which turned into a 16-year break! My basic problem was the lack of a theme, focus, or clear plotline when I started writing it. I had my characters and episodes, but nothing to hold them together. It was only in 2019 when I sat down with this old material and resolved to finish the book that I figured those things out. So I suppose the biggest surprise was that I actually managed to finish writing the book. If you had told me five or ten years ago that I would finish it and get it published, I would have been greatly surprised!

Let’s play “Online Bookstore Algorithm” (a game I made up for these Q&As). What are 3-5 books whose readers may like Abandon All Hope?
Obviously, as already mentioned, High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. Record collecting as a quest for meaning, and as a way to avoid growing up.
The Elementary Particles by Michel Houllebecq. Another 1990s classic, with contrasting, related protagonists trying to make sense of the world in their very different ways.
The Moviegoer by Walker Percy. A fictional excursion into existentialism, with a strong regional flavor (New Orleans in this case).
Finally, this is cheating a bit, but I must mention “Forlesen” by Gene Wolfe. It’s a long short story or novella, not a complete novel, but it’s highly relevant because it’s a poignant, fantastical take on the inanities of office life, which figure so strongly in Abandon All Hope.

What’s next for Scott Spires, author?
I don’t know exactly, but I’m contemplating a couple of projects. One is a “photonovel,” a story that combines text with photographs. The other is a collection of novellas. I think the novella is a great form, but since it’s caught in a kind of limbo between short stories and novels, it’s difficult to publish as a free-standing work. But I think a book of three or four novellas would work very well.

Thanks for your time—and thanks for Abandon All Hope</b?, and I hope you have plenty of success with it.

Gated Prey by Lee Goldberg: Starts Off with a Bang and Doesn’t Let Up

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On October 28, 2021

In Fiction, Lee Goldberg, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Gated Prey

Gated Prey

by Lee Goldberg
Series: Eve Ronin, #3

Kindle Edition, 255 pg.
Thomas & Mercer, 2021

Read: October 26-27, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

“The people who live in these places think the gates protect them from all the crime and misery that’s out there, but it doesn’t. It just locks them in with it.”

“You think whatever happened came from within the gates?”

“I don’t know where it came from, that’s your job. But I’m sure there’s as much evil inside these gates as there is outside of them. Maybe more.”

What’s Gated Prey About?

LASD Detectives Eve Ronain and Duncan Pavone are in the midst of a sting operation when the novel opens—to trap a home invasion team, the pair are pretending to be a well-moneyed couple who’d make pretty easy marks to lure the team in. They go out daily to shop a little—making sure to flash a lot of cash—and then go back to their McMansion in a gated community to wait. Duncan’s loving the excuse to sit around all day and watch movies, while it’s driving Eve crazy to not be active.

The LASD has tried traditional investigational methods, but they just haven’t worked—no one can figure out how the team is getting past the security gates, much less who they are, and how they select their targets.

The trap works and the LASD chalks it up as a win. But Eve’s uncomfortable with the number of questions (and possible accomplices) that remain about it. Also, there are indications that Eve still has enemies within the department—and they might have prevented backup that Eve and Duncan needed from acting to keep them safe.

That’s not the only crime Eve and Duncan encounter behind the protective gates—while trying to close the home invasion case, the pair pick up another assignment. It’s not covered in the publisher’s description, and I’m not sure how to talk about it without giving away too much. So let’s just say that it will underscore that “Maybe more” from my opening quotation.

Eve Off-the-Clock

“You’re doing it again,” Duncan said.

“Doing what?”

“Obsessing over your case to the point of exhaustion. You need a life and some sleep. You can’t physically, mentally, or emotionally sustain being relentless.” “

I’m only doing it now because we’ve got a ticking clock on this one.”

“You’ve done it on every case we’ve had.”

“You make it seem like years. We’ve only been working together for a few months. It hasn’t been that long.”

But like Duncan, readers know if the two had been working together longer, she’d be doing the same thing. This is not a good way to live—it’s not healthy, and if Eve doesn’t learn how to take her foot off the gas, she’s going to burn out or make some big mistakes—likely both. But this is the kind of character I love reading about. Yes, I do hope that she learns how to balance things a bit—for the sake of character development, I think it’d be interesting. But until she does? I’m going to love watching her burn herself out.

Eve spends so much time working over the course of the novel that there’s almost no time for anything but her work. We do get to see most of Eve’s family, but very briefly—and the most we see is of her sister, thanks to Lisa’s work in the ER. I’d have liked a bit more time with her, she humanizes Eve, but that’s not always possible in every book.

Conversely, I thought it was good to have a scaled-down presence of Eve’s mom (especially with Eve’s agent being able to carry the water of “supporting character annoyingly-fixated on the superficial”). I find Jen an amusing and important part of the series, but man, a little of her goes a long way.

Duncan “Dunkin’ Donuts” Pavone

I’m not sure if I should use the nickname in that section header, I’m not sure if Goldberg used it this time. But, eh, I like it. I made so many notes while reading that were variations of “love this character.”

While he remains the wise and largely-comic-relief figure he’s been, there’s a darkness to Duncan we haven’t really seen before, expressed in a couple of different ways. There’s a certain invulnerability that his fast-approaching retirement date gives him that allows him to give this side a free rein—Duncan notes repeatedly that his career is over, he has nothing to lose. I really wouldn’t want him as an enemy (not that I want any, I have to say, but really not him).

We also get some insight into his reason for retirement—one of those things I hadn’t questioned. He was introduced to us in Lost Hills as being on the verge of retirement, and that’s just how I’ve thought about him. But now I want to know more about what got him to this point.

She’s Still Learning

Eve’s only been a homicide detective for a few months, and she still has a lot to learn. Not just the lessons that Duncan’s trying to teach her about overworking and getting along with colleagues.

But she’s still learning how to be a detective—she doesn’t know basic routines and procedures. She embarrasses herself in front of a morgue attendant and in an autopsy—nothing horrible, just the kind of stumbling people make when they’re new at something. Some of what she does within the Sheriff’s department is a little more than embarrassing—and will likely come back to haunt her, but again, that’s realistic growing pains.

It’s not often that we get to see this kind of thing in police procedurals—especially with the central/titular character. And this approach is a treat.

So, what did I think about Gated Prey?

“…I just got lucky.”

Duncan leaned against the wall and looked at her. “It isn’t luck, Eve. It’s instinct. You’re a natural at this. What you haven’t learned yet is how to do it without making enemies.”

I’ve gone on too long at this point—and there’s so much that I still wanted to talk about: the ongoing role of the media (both news and entertainment) in Eve’s life and career—not to mention at least one fellow detective; the politics within and outside the LASD and how that impacts their investigation; personnel changes within the Department; and racial and economic prejudices that the security gates seem to magnify.

Also, while Duncan (especially) and Eve have always seemed to have some fun meals—there are three references to food that almost induced a between-meal DoorDash order on my part. Don’t read this on an empty stomach, folks.

Great characters all around, a couple of gripping cases, and a breakneck pace—all par for the course for this series. If you haven’t jumped on the Eve Ronin train—now’s the time. I literally organized my reading schedule the last couple of weeks so that I could start this as soon as it was delivered to my Kindle, and it was worth it. You want to get your hands—and eyes*—on this, readers.

* Or ears, come to think of it, Nicol Zanzarella does a great job with the audiobook narrations for these books.

4 1/2 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Daughter of the Morning Star by Craig Johnson: A Cheyenne boogeyman, A Recalcitrant Teen Sports Star, and a Wyoming Sheriff

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On October 27, 2021

In Craig Johnson, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Walt Longmire

Daughter of the Morning Star

Daughter of the Morning Star

by Craig Johnson
Series: Walt Longmire, #17

Hardcover, 322 pg.
Viking, 2021

Read: September 28-29, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

“Everybody thinks the dead of the night is the scary time, but it’s not. The time of danger for the living is the time of change, from day into night or night into day, when the world isn’t sure what it is or what it wants to be.”

What’s Daughter of the Morning Star About?

Midway through the last novel, Next to Last Stand, Walt and Henry stop by a High School Girl’s Basketball game to watch Lolo Long’s niece, Jaya “Longshot” Long, do what she does best. But they don’t stop by to enjoy the game, really, they’re there because Lolo wants help. Jaya’s been receiving death threats and there’s only so much an aunt can do (even if that aunt is a Tribal Police Chief).

This is where we pick up now—the threats are real, repeated, and don’t seem to be a prank. Adding to the danger is the fact that Jaya’s older sister disappeared the prior year under suspicious circumstances. There’s no need to think the two are linked, but Walt has to consider the possibility.

If nothing else, Lolo hopes that bringing Walt into the investigation(s) will draw attention to him—he tends to get people watching and talking about his escapades, and hopefully, his involvement will get enough people interested in what’s going on to generate some leads.

There are plenty of suspects—on the reservation and off—for both the threats and the disappearance, so Walt and Henry have their hands full.

A Recurring Question

“I’m sorry, but I don’t believe in the things you believe in, Henry.”

He nodded. “I know that, but I respect your belief in humanity, if for only one reason.”

“What’s that?”

“It makes you very resolute.”

“Is that a compliment?”

“Sometimes.”

There is a strong possible supernatural thread running through this novel. I’m not going to do justice to explaining the particular spirits that are suspected to be at work in this book, but there’s a real sense of hazard around them. And a lot of what Walt encounters during these events cannot be easily explained by something other than a spiritual force.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that this concept has been explored in the Longmire books. I don’t have hard numbers on it (I expect someone on the Internet does), but I’d guess that it’s a little less than one-half of them that feature this in a significant way.

And for all his protesting (see above), I’m not so sure that Walt doesn’t believe most of what Henry does. If your actions are an expression of your beliefs, he sure seems to. Not simply his actions over the course of this novel, there’s just about every other novel in the series—look at everything involving Virgil White Buffalo, for example (but there are several other pieces of evidence). Given both his background, what his wife believed, and his lack of knowledge about the details of Cheyenne beliefs, I can believe that Walt’s hesitant to claim that belief, but he sure does walk the walk.

Of course, there’s this observation Walt makes:

Funny how your attitude about spirituality could change when the chips were down.

A Sobering Beginning And Unfortunate Coincidence

In the midst of all the media coverage surrounding the search for Gabby Petito this summer, one of the things I frequently saw was people listing the statistics surrounding the numbers of missing Native American women every year.

The Acknowledgements in the front of this book listed similar statistics regarding missing and murdered Native American women, which are partially where Johnson drew the idea for this novel from. These numbers are repeated in the text itself, too.

This isn’t the first time that Johnson has used Walt’s case to comment on something in the news (or something that should be), but an accident of timing made this novel particularly germane.

Missing Friends

The downside to a Longmire book that takes place outside of Absaroka County is that most of the Sheriff’s department and the residents of Durant aren’t in the book. We didn’t get Sancho, Ruby, or Lucian (for example). And Vic was largely absent as well—but was well used for little time she was around.

I get the need to have Walt do things outside of Durant/Absaroka County to prevent Durant from becoming Murder Central, U.S.A. (it’s likely the most murder-filled town/county in Wyoming), but I really wish it didn’t involve leaving so many of the characters out of the books.

Here’s hoping that #18 brings them all back.

So, what did I think about Daughter of the Morning Star?

I thought some of the basketball material in the book (particularly the further in the novel we got) was a little eye-roll-inducing. It was just too much for a cynical guy like me. But somehow Johnson made it work.

There’s a lot said about hope in Daughter of the Morning Star–mostly about its absence. But, as hope tends to do, it shows up in the unlikeliest of places and in the midst of the darkest times. When this book is finished, there’s no happily ever afters promised (as usual for this series), but there’ve been moments of triumph, and maybe a dawning of hope for some.

This is really the most entertaining Longmire book in quite a while. When Johnson is on his game, he’s great. And that’s what we got here. Readers new and old will find a lot to be satisfied with here.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

WWW Wednesday, October 27, 2021

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On October 27, 2021

In Books, Currently Reading, News/Misc., WWW Wednesday

The wheels have really come off of my plans for the week–boh in terms of writing and reading. Real Life can be such a drag, you know? But we’re at the mid-point, and hopefully, I can recover a bit. And if not? At least I’m spending some time with these good books that I’m about to talk about in this WWW Wednesday.

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Easy enough, right?

What are you currently reading?

I’m reading the third DetectiveEve Ronin thriller, Gated Prey by Lee Goldberg, and am listening to book about a woman on the other side of the law, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano, Angela Dawe (Narrator) on audiobook.

Gated PreyBlank SpaceFinlay Donovan Is Killing It

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Stephan Pastis’s Squirrel Do Bad, a MG Graphic Novel, and Dark Arts and a Daiquiri by Annette Marie, Cris Dukehart (Narrator), another adventure for Tori and her mystik pals on audio.

Squirrel Do BadBlank SpaceDark Arts and a Daiquiri

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be Dust & Grim by Chuck Wendig—which might be a bit too much MG in one week for me, but library due dates are calling the shots, you know? My next audiobook should be Fallen by Benedict Jacka, Gildart Jackson (Narrator), as I get close to wrapping up this re-read through the series.

Dust & GrimBlank SpaceFallen

How are you spending the last week of October?

Squirrel Do Bad by Stephen Pastis: The Misadventures of Butterfly Girl

By

On October 26, 2021

In Comics, Fiction, YA/MG/Children's Books

Squirrel Do Bad

Squirrel Do Bad

by Stephan Pastis
Series: Trubble Town, #1

Paperback, 287 pg.
Aladdin, 2021

Read: October 25-26, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

Always remember—even the smallest thing you do can have big consequences.

What’s Squirrel Do Bad About?

Wendy the Wanderer is a little girl who desperately wants to travel the world, but her over-protective father has other ideas. He’s so focused on safety and caution, he carries an umbrella at all times (for example). But when Dad has to leave town for a while on business, Wendy just might get to do a little exploring, if she can get around her babysitter.

This isn’t a challenge, as the sitter is too focused on her phone to notice pretty much anything. So, Wendy heads out to explore her hometown, Trubble Town. A fitting name, for her at least.

She tries to befriend a squirrel, Squirrely McSquirrel, but is out of nuts. So gives him a little bit of a Mooshy. A Mooshy is a dangerous concoction for a human, much less a squirrel, it’s a “steaming cup o’hot chocolate shoved chock-full with forty marshmallows.” The levels of hyperactivity that this induces in Squirrely can’t really be described, it can only be depicted in graphic terms, really. He also becomes pretty addicted to them—but the destruction wreaked was so great that no one is permitted to give him any.

It’s at this point that things get out of control. The chaos that ensues features a police officer driven by hatred of squirrels, a mayor who refuses to work, a strange town obsession with statues, a would-be nut-themed superhero, a vegetarian squid, civic-minded moles, a lot of dynamite, and too many other things to enumerate. It’s the kind of mad-cap pandemonium that appeals to the little kid in us all (especially the middle-grade target audience).

The big questions addressed are: will Squirrely stay out of trouble? Will Wendy be able to keep all this from her father? Will anyone learn anything?

Pearls Before Swine-Verse

On page 56, Larry the Crocodile appears as Squirrely’s lawyer. Planting this firmly in the same world as Pastis’s comic strip, Pearls Before Swine. But Larry’s the only character that I recognized, it’s not Pearls. The humor’s different than the comic—it’s suited for kids, with a different tone, and a different aim.

Art Style

If you’ve read Pearls, you’ll have noticed the slightly sloppier style, with bolder lines that Pastis uses when one of his characters is drawing—the art’s a lot like that (except for a panel or two at the end). But essentially, it looks a lot like Pearls without Pig and Rat, etc.

So, what did I think about Squirrel Do Bad?

Wendy learns a little about chaos theory and begins to see herself as the butterfly that starts the storm. Which is helpful and maybe a little unhealthy, too. Still, she learns the meaning of her father’s words before he left (see the opening quotation).

The storytelling reminds me of the kind of stories my kids would write/tell when they were little—something that starts off kind of fun and then gets stranger and stranger and stranger. This is both an observation and a warning for people who want structure and logic to their stories—that’s not going to be around.

It’s silly. There is some real sweetness to it. It’s weird. It’s a lot of fun. Pretty much what you’d expect. Give it a shot, or let your kid give it a shot.

3 Stars

2021 Library Love Challenge

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

The Warm Glow of Acceptance…

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On October 25, 2021

In News/Misc.

As usually happens when I have a solid–maybe ambitious–plan for a week’s worth of posts, something came up this weekend that was far more important than this blog. So that plan is shattered (can’t wait to see what I’m able to recover). But something that happened this morning that gave me enough material to put something up today.

Last week, a friend sent me a Facebook Message: “Achievement unlocked! 😊” She’d been identified as a “Top Fan” of the blog’s Facebook page. And you know the competition is fierce. 🙄 It is kind of cool that the algorithm took a break from warping minds, selling things, and stoking division in the country to recognize that a friend of mine was supportive. It is a little strange to think that anyone could be considered a “fan” of me (excepting the two canines who live here).

Then, the next day, I saw that meme I used in the last Saturday Miscellany post. Two days in a row of unexpected positive feedback. I’d planned on making a jokey post about this last week, but got hung up on looking for a meme or gif of Mabel Mora asking, “We have fans?”. So I never got around to it.

This brings us to this morning. Sure, it was fun that my friend got a badge declaring her my fan. It warmed my heart and made me laugh to see Slaywood’s pic. But this morning, someone left a comment on a five-month old post that made my heart soar. This guy, John, really looked down deep into the recesses of my soul and took a look around. And, he gets me. He really, really gets me.

Egotistical and irrelevant…as the youths say:* I feel seen.

* …or did not that long ago, right?

I do this for my own sense of fun, but feedback like this really makes it all worthwhile…

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