What Have You Read Recently?
Last month on bed rest I did a lot of reading. I indulged in several Christian fiction novels (a nice change for me). I discovered books by author Angela Hunt (best known for The Tale of Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale
Set in the rain forest in Peru, this was a fast moving, page-turner. Alexandra Pace and her team search determinedly for a cure for deadly diseases. One strain of the disease has already begun the process of ravaging Alexandra’s own mind and body. Finding a cure is the only hope for her and for her daughter, who has almost certainly inherited the same disease.
Michael Kenway, a British doctor who lost his wife when “mad cow disease” ravaged Britain in the 1990′s, presents her with an incredible story–a patient suffering from the disease was cured by a mythical “healing tribe” living deep in the Amazon jungle. Reluctantly placing her faith in Michael, who is entirely too religious for her comfort, Alexandra and her team seek out an unreached indigenous group who may hold the cure not only for Alex, but also for the world.
The Note (Women of Faith Fiction #2)
PanWorld Flight 848, en route from New York to Tampa, bursts into flame and crashes in Tampa Bay. All 261 people aboard are killed. Newspaper columnist Peyton MacGruder is approached by a woman with a plastic bag that washed up behind her house. It contains a note, almost certainly from the doomed flight, with a simple message– “T–I love you. All is forgiven. Dad.” Peyton now has the perfect story to attract readers . . . and a tool to uncover lessons about love, forgiveness, and about herself.
The special allegory woven through this novel is about three different fathers’ relationships with their children and our relationship with God.
The Debt (Women of Faith Fiction #8)
Emma Rose Howard left a life of unhappiness behind when she married Bible student Abel Howard. After twenty-four years of working together, they are leaders of a mega-church in Kentucky. But when Emma Rose receives a phone call from a living, breathing reminder of her dark past, she finds herself drawn to the world she has left behind . . . and increasingly uncomfortable with the world she and her husband have made.
The Novelist I’m now in the middle of this book I got from our church library. Jordan Casey, grandmother and author of a bestselling adventure series, agrees to teach a college writing class. Her book The Ambassador is intended as a classroom model, but Jordan also hopes it may help her get through to her troubled son Zack.
But Zack’s behavior grows increasingly erratic as the novel takes shape. When his suicide attempt drives Jordan to the point of panic, she finds herself somehow walking through the pages of her own novel, reaching out to embrace the character she’s created but also receiving comfort and strength for her own painful circumstances.
The two stories–Jordan’s and The Ambassador–unfold together in an exploration of fiction and faith, creation and the Creator, God’s sovereignty and man’s free will.
Books I’ve Read by Angela Hunt
NonFiction
About the time I was hospitalized, the FLDS Texas polygamous cult was in the news. I read two true-story accounts by woman who lived through the brainwashing experience.
Five years ago this mother escaped the FLSD cult with her 8 children. This is a perfect example of the submissive wife Scripture being twisted to create slaves for men. It shows how easily people can be brainwashed, abused, betrayed yet faithfully devoted to a cause they believe honors God.
The author was raised believing she was honoring God by being a Sister Wife while through the entire marriage she saw the opposite of the fruits of God’s Spirit. No matter how many Bible verses were memorized or songs sung to God, the fruit of this family was control, discouragement, abuse, anger, and dysfunctional relationships. It helped me understand why many who are brainwashed don’t want to be un-brainwashed.
Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs
This page-turner is another moving and disturbing eye opener on effective brainwashing and harsh life in an insidious cult. The author tells the child’s perspective on life in the FLDS–the abuse, survival, escape, and finally freedom. She also goes into the difficult months on the outside working with prosecutors against Warren Jeffs so that other girls still inside the church might be spared her cruel fate. It is a story of hope as the victim reclaims her life.
Share Your Favorite Reads in the Comments
So what have you read recently? Find a new author this year? What is your favorite novel? Who is your favorite author? Lurkers come out and share. I have a several doctor appointments coming up and need reading material for the long waits. 
