Adam Shields

Short review: I have been reading a lot on sex in marriage because my wife and I are leading a small group for newly married couples and we have been going through an 8 week discussion on sex. This book was the center of our discussion. It is not a perfect book but has a very good section on the different stages of sex which is better than most other books. When it is focused on either clinical aspects of sex or some aspects of couples working through sexual disfunction, it is a good book. It weakness was the overview of the role of sex in marriage at the beginning and the questions that men and women ask at the end.

Long review on my blog at http://bookwi.se/two-become-one-mccluskey/

I read this close to when it came out, but felt like I needed to mark that I read it because I kept getting it as a recommendation.

Don't get this, get the audiobook.

This is an audio of a video series about the book, which is essentially an abridged form of the book. Instead, get the full audiobook.

I really appriciate how Piper is trying to make sure he accurately reflects what Wright believes, not only by using a very well cited quotes, but also a pretty generous reading. His intent is to make sure that Wright would not have any issues with the way that Piper explains what Wright believes.

All that to say, I really respect Piper for putting together a pretty academic responce to Wright and keeping it pastoral in concern and at least so far, bending over backwards to tell people that Wright is one of us (Christians, and maybe even Evangelical).

But about 1/2 through I got bogged down and distracted and didn't ever get back to it. I want to finish it eventually

Some longer thoughts are at http://bookwi.se/the-future-of-justification-a-response-to-nt-wright-by-john-piper/

Read 25 percent but had to return to the library. I will have to renew later and read the rest

Short Review: I got through about a quarter of it and gave up. Just didn't get into any of the characters. I may try again later, but I was bored.

Summary: A second adventure for Taran and his companions. Taran sees the problems of seeking glory and honor and the weight of leadership. 

I have been in a bit of a reading rut lately. So many books I want to read theoretically, but I have been not finishing much while starting a lot.

I stumbled across The Black Cauldron because there was an update to the Kindle edition, which pushed it to the front of my kindle. Last weekend I read through it in two sittings. These children's books seem so much simpler reading them as an adult compared to my memory of them as a child. They are not simplistic, but the plots are much less detailed than some modern children's books like Harry Potter and certainly less than many adult fantasy books.

What I like most about Lloyd Alexander as an adult and I think what drew me in as a kid was how seriously he takes Taran and Eiloiwy. They are not just some kids, but they are unique individuals, and while they are flawed people, they can grow and change, be self-reflective, and do important things. Unlike some kids books that have the kids do big things because the adults are incapable, Alexander has kids and teens do extraordinary things because there are important things to be done. This isn't a rejection of adults, but part of the maturing process of becoming an adult.

I am about halfway through a book on discernment by Thomas Green (Weeds Among Wheat) that I am reading for my Spiritual Direction class. Green suggests that often when thinking about discernment, we believe God is either the puppet master, who controls all the things, so discernment doesn't matter. Or we think about God in deistic ways with God not being involved in the world at all. Green thinks a better social imaginary is God as parent of adult children. There are times that a parent of an adult will intervene and get involved, but there are times when the parent of adult children will allow their children to make their own decisions and live with the consequences as part of the process of growing up.

The Black Cauldron is filled with these types of discernment lessons, where Taran or other characters are choosing between several options, and theoretically, many of them could be acceptable. The story plays out as the story does, but Taran does not know the end of the story from his position in the middle of it. One of the reasons that I am looking forward to reading these with my children when they get older is that seeing others make decisions (both good and bad) can help kids learn about the importance of their discernment.

I realized last night as my kids were watching Tangled that my six-year-old had not understood that Ryder did not leave Rapunzel voluntarily. She did not know that the Mother Gothel character was setting up Rapunzel and gaslighting her into disbelieving that Ryder loved her. We talked through what was going on, and despite the many times that we have watched the movie, and my adult understanding of the interpersonal dynamics, it was above her head. Similarly, books can introduce children to interpersonal dynamics and concepts that they would not understand except through experience. And I do not want my daughter to be forced to experience gaslighting and false narratives experientially before she is introduced to the concepts theoretically.

Because I have Disney+ and I have never watched the Disney Black Cauldron movie, I put it on in the background while I was doing paperwork when the kids were at school. It merges parts of the Book of Three and The Black Cauldron while significantly altering other aspects of the story. I understand why it did not do well in the box office. It did not work well as a cohesive story arc. And it was not a very faithful translation of the book to the screen.

So I don't recommend the movie, and I don't recommend the audiobook. But I can now advocate the kindle edition. There are complaints about the formatting on Amazon, but any formatting problems that existed in prior versions of the Kindle edition have now been fixed.

Checked this out from the library on audiobook. Only the first half was there. So I have to check it out again. Here are my thoughts on the first half.

http://bookwi.se/thoughts-on-three-musketeers-by-alexander-dumas/

Book Review: The Art of Letting Go: Living the Wisdom of St Francis by Richard Rohr - a very helpful series of lectures on spiritual growth. This is not an audiobook as much as it is a collection of six lectures on the different things that we as Christians have a hard time letting go, but when we let them go we are freed up to grow more deeply. This is part of my Catholic Theology reading project. One of the things that I have learned from reading Catholic (and in some cases Anglican) theology is that they have thought more deeply about living as a Christian (and growing spiritually once you are a Christian) I think because their theology assumes salvation. This is a series that really should require multiple listenings.


Full review on my blog at http://bookwi.se/the-art-of-letting-god-living-the-wisdom-of-st-francis/

I also gave this a second listen in 2014 and posted a new review http://bookwi.se/the-art-of-letting-go/

Short Review: You Don't Understand the Bible Because You Are Christian by Richard Gist – Summary: We as modern Christians miss a number of nuances of scripture because we do not understand ancient Hebrew culture. The title of this book is intriguing. But some of the suggestions move outside of Christian orthodoxy, especially when he talks about the New Testament.

Click through for the full review http://bookwi.se/you-dont-understand/

I like the art in this and I like the stories. It is a little old for my daughter but we read through many of these and we will read through them again when she is slightly older (she was barely four when I initially picked it up and read it.)

But I do think it is useful book to have for older kids (5-8) as a jumping off place for additional learning.

I read this as an audio book and think that is the way that you should read all of Shane Claiborne and Rob Bell's works. They are both so conversational that their writing doesn't always flow right if it is not read by the author.

Many people will not like or agree with what Shane says or does, but I think that there are very few that are actually trying to live a radical Christianity like Shane is. I put him in the category of St Francis of Assisi. Many people thought he was nuts too but he did more for the long term health of the church than almost any other human. Shane will not have the kind of impact, but that doesn't keep him from trying.

Also, after reading several other's reviews I think that the main issue that people seem to have is with his economics. People keep charging that he is forcing people to redistribute money to the poor. He is not, he is suggesting that we give it away and by definition, giving it away is not forcing. You may be shamed that you are not giving, so give when you prefer not to, but that is not being forced either. One reviewer actually compared him to Stalin. But I should just ignore that.

read enough to know I want to read more, but it was a library book and I had to give it back before I was all that far in.

Finished the first book. Not as funny as I remember from 20 years ago. Still very enjoyable.

Blog post http://www.mrshields.com/the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-by-douglas-adams/

Second book post is at http://www.mrshields.com/the-restaurant-at-the-end-of-the-universe-by-douglas-adams/

I tried, but gave up about 40 or 50 pages in. I tend to like McCarthy's sparse prose, but this was too sparse and too violent for me.

Here is my second reading review http://bookwi.se/lila-second-reading/

Short Review: I have no doubt that this is the best book I will read this year. Stumbled on the audiobook at the library on release day. Even before I finished I had purchased the Kindle Edition and I am going to re-read it as soon as I get finished with a few obligated reviews.

This is the story of Lila, John Ames' wife (from Gilead). She has had a hard life, neglected as an infant, later stolen to protect her from her parents, then raised on the run by a poor woman in the early dust bowl era where they worked as migrant workers. Later bounced around trying to find steady work on her own, she happens upon the town of Gilead and the elderly widower pastor John Ames. They fall in love and work through what it means to love when you have such a hard time understanding what it means to trust.

This is a novel of grace. There are hints of Gomer's story (Hosea's wife) and sharp witty dialogue between John and Lila as they discuss the problems of evil and how God can allow pain and suffering.

Robinson can write beautiful lyrical prose while still talking about deep heady subjects and make it readable. This is a book that should be picked up my many and read as soon as you can.

It can be read without Gilead, although it might make sense to read Gilead first. I have not read the third of this loosely connected trilogy, Home. But I plan on reading it relatively soon.

My full initial review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/lila-novel-marilynne-robinson/

This is probably my favorite fiction book. I am glad that there is finally an unabridged version of it. The narration is this is very good. The chapters alternate from beging told from the male and female protagonists point of view. And the audiobook as two good narrators, male and female to do that voice. This is a science fiction book wrapped up in a tragic romance. Hard sci fi fans may not like it, but it hits the science fiction ideas of time travel paradoxes and determinism similar to the ideas of Asimov. If you are a tragic romance fan (think Nicholas Sparks) don't let the science fiction throw you off the book. Its science fiction is held lightly and the romance of the story comes through.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/time-travelers-wife/

I started this book because it was recommended as funny. I also knew it was a bit raunchy. But within the first 10 minutes of reading it was clear this was way past a bit raunchy. It may be funny. I haven't gotten to that part yet. But it is past my level raunchiness.

I read this a number of times before Christmas with my daughter to talk about representation. She is a bit young for the idea, but that is the main point of this book. Representation matters. The reason that Black Panther was such an important movie is that representation matters.

Part of the backlash against books like this is that Whites do not understand how much representation matters to them until they start seeing things that are non-representational. I remember reading a review against Wonder Woman last year that was complaining about Wonder Woman being the primary hero and leaving the guys out of the action. But there was no sense of irony in the review. The author of it literally did not see how he was writing about how most women are portrayed in almost every other superhero movie.

Full review of the first three books at http://www.mrshields.com/?p=929

Short review. Good young adult books. Tries to take the kids seriously as readers. Love the use of vocabulary. Got a little bored by the end of the third. Not sure if I will read more. Think they would be good for a lot of kids.

Full review of the first three books at http://www.mrshields.com/?p=929

Short review. Good young adult books. Tries to take the kids seriously as readers. Love the use of vocabulary. Got a little bored by the end of the third. Not sure if I will read more. Think they would be good for a lot of kids.

Many people really love this book but I did not. It was a mix of Alice and Wonderland, Gulliver's Travels and Pilgrim's Progress. But as a fantasy books that felt like the author was on acid. I just couldn't get into it.

I read about a third before it was due back at my library. I was not nearly as engaged as with Second Coming. But I still want to read more Percy. I am going to pick up another of his books sometime soon and probably come back to this one eventually.

I originally read this just over a year ago. James Martin originally put this together as a lecture to honor Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen.

On the second reading, Martin's insights are still as hard to internalize, but as still important.

God has created each of us as unique individuals. Working toward becoming the self that God created is a lifetime process. And at least part of that process is rejecting the roles that are placed upon you but not a part of you.

The second reading I was struck by how we become who we are, not by focusing on our own selves, but by serving others.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/becoming/

Short Review: This is one of the classic books on prayer. If you are interested in learning more about different forms of prayer, this is a great place to start. This is formatted as a survey of prayer, similar to Foster's book Celebration of Discipline. I do not think it is the best book to be your first book on prayer because it can be a bit intimidating to read about so many types of prayer. But as long as you start it with the attitude of doing what you can and not attempting perfection (the attitude of the book) then it is very helpful.

Long review on my blog at http://bookwi.se/prayer-foster/