As I prep to attendthe biennial Calvin Festival of Faith and Writing, I have enjoyed reading someterrific books. Lately I've focused on those by the keynote speakers.
American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang
Gene Luen Yang's book, American Born Chinese, was a finalistfor the 2006 National Book Award. And I have to tell you—it's freakingbrilliant. Picture a graphic novel, or a comic book thick enough to become abook, and you get the format. Yang's plot involves three separate story linesthat ultimately tie together. The first is a contemporary retelling of the KungFu-practicing Monkey King and his journey west. The Monkey King is unhappy with himself as amonkey and continually tries to become something different, but Tze-Yo-Tzuh, the creator, helps him embrace his true form. The second story follows anAmerican-born Chinese boy who moves to a suburb and rejects his own identitywhen he meets a new Asian student. The third story follows an all-American kidwho has a Chinese cousin that embarrasses him. In the end we discover that the identity of this cousin is a character from one of the other story lines. Takenas a whole, the narrative—which comes to a satisfying conclusion—focuses on ourtrue identity and loving others as God made them.
A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband "Master," by Rachel Held Evans
I confess—the title was a turn-off. I expected the author to mock ancient texts that require some understanding of culturalhermeneutics to apply them appropriately today. But she pleasantly surprisedme. I found myself laughing out loud and weeping, sometimes while reading thesame paragraph. And I came away mostly respecting her analysis.
Rachel Held Evans is a self-described strong-willed, independentwoman. And before she embarked on her year of applying some hyper-literalism toverses about and directed to women in the Bible, she had no idea how to sew adress or cook a turkey. Actually, she didn’t even know how to sew on a button.So she gave it a try, each month pursuing a different virtue.
During her year, she slept outside in a tent when she “flowed.”She held a sign at the highway entrance to her town that announced her husbandrocked. She literally sat on a rooftop, grew out her, hair, and remained totallysilent in church. She embraced her domestic side, cozying up to some MarthaStewart guidebooks. And she corresponded with an Orthodox Jewish woman to gleaninsight about more ancient views of our ancient texts. She also interviewed a polygamist wife. And shewrestled honestly with biblical portrayals of misogyny and violence againstwomen.
A lot of folks have criticized her book without reading it. I’mguessing they assume that yet another femi-Nazi has taken aim at the Scriptures as well as the values of those whoconsider homemaking an occupation worthy of respect. But to my pleasantsurprise, she did nothing of the sort.
Her work is full of humor, humility, intelligence, irony, compassion, andcontemplation. And she made me proud of our heritage, both of our biblicalforemothers, if you will, and the mothers of the church. She celebrates thebest of womanhood, and she left me doing the same. Woman of valor!
Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon
I took a break from the Calvin authors while on spring break with my family. At night I'd sit with my face to the ocean and plow through Diana Gabaldon's 800+-page Outlander, the first novel in the series by the same title (and yes, the same one slated for a TV drama debuting this year). How to categorize it? Um…historical-romance-speculative fiction?
Right after WWI, an Englishwoman visiting the Scottish highlands with her husband walks through a circle of standing stones (think Stonehenge) and ends up in 1743. To keep from being turned over to a perverted military freak, she must marry one of the young clansmen—with whom she ends up falling in love. Lots of sex. Sheesh. But it's my favorite way to learn history: as told through the point of view of someone who's there. The woman can spin a yarn. Seriously.
Now I'm back to Calvin stuff. I read AnneLamott's Traveling Mercies and most of Plan B long ago. So I downloaded to my KindleJames McBride's book, The Good Lord Bird‚ which was the 2013 National BookAward Winner in the fiction category. Here's what NPR said about it: "Youmay know the story of John Brown's unsuccessful raid on Harpers Ferry, butauthor James McBride's retelling of the events leading up to it is soimaginative, you'll race to the finish."
And we're off!
