Flashback: My 2004 review of The Poisonwood Bible

"...as far as Christian missionaries go, I've had a great deal of experience with them. The vast majority are gentle, sacrificing souls who have devoted their lives to bringing Christ's love to others. They have done an immeasurable amount of good, much of which will endure for eternity, and they are true heroes of the faith, in my opinion." --from my review of The Poisonwood Bible

I rarely publicly review secular books, although I read plenty of them. However, The Poisonwood Bible struck a nerve with me, and I felt a strong urge to respond to the book.

It had already been out for quite some time by the time a read the book by Barbara Kingsolver, and while I found it fascinating and Kingsolver a truly gifted writer, I had serious problems with the book.

You can read my review of the book here, and read reactions to the review here.

Tagged: 15 Authors in 15 Minutes

My friend Linda tagged me on Facebook with something titled "15 Authors in 15 Minutes." I'm assuming this is supposed to be a list of 15 of my favorite authors, so here goes!

By the way, I'm going to be doing this completely off the top of my head, in no prticular order...

1. Charlotte Bronte--Jane Eyre is my second favorite book of all time, after the Bible.


This is the cover of the paperback of Jane Eyre that I wore out in high school and college

2. Emily Bronte--for Wuthering Heights, of course.

3. Jane Austen--mainly for Pride and Prejudice, but I've read most, if not all, of her other books. (Interestingly, Charlotte Bronte couldn't stand Jane Austen's writing!)


A scene from the 2005 film version of Pride and Prejudice

4. Charles Dickens--mainly for Great Expectations, but he's pretty much incomparable.

5. C.S. Lewis--first fell in love with the Chronicles of Narnia, but love everything else I've read by him.



6. Rosamunde Pilcher--she just has a way of making you completely at home in her stories.

7. Maeve Binchy--ditto.

8. Mary Stewart--for everything she ever wrote, except for her Merlin books, which I never read.


One of my favorite Mary Stewart books, which deftly combined suspense and romance in breathtaking settings

9. Victoria Holt--AKA Elinor Hibbert, Jean Plaidy, Philippa Carr--yep, I'm not real sophisticated. I loved these books as a teen, and they were romantic and suspenseful without being offensive.

10. Francine Rivers--for everything she's written, and I've read all of it.

11. Jane Kirkpatrick--her beautiful writing transcends the limits of Christian fiction.

12. Liz Curtis Higgs--ditto.

13. Madeleine Brent--I devoured "her" books as a teen, not realizing that Madeleine Brent was a pen-name for an author who was actually--a dude!

14. Agatha Christie--I went on a spree of reading her books several years ago, and now I don't remember which ones I have and haven't read...bummer.

15. B. J. Hoff--especially for her Emerald Ballad series, which made Irish history come alive for me.

Resurrecting my book blog!

Hi everyone!

This blog, Cindy's Book Club, used to be attached to an actual book club. For a few months, a few years ago, I hosted a book club as part of my radio job with 101QFL.

The book club was eventually discontinued, but this blog site remains...and I've decided to do something with it. This will be a site where I put my book reviews, book discussions, and pretty much anything to do with books.

Initially, I think I'll bring some of my older author interviews (which are transcribed--not in audio form) to this blog.

These books are no longer new--in some cases they go back as far as 2003, when my other blog, Notes in the Key of Life, began--but they are certainly worthy of some new publicity!

I'll also use this blog to link to reviews on other blogs and sites.

Happy reading!