Christless Christianity, by Michael Horton

Michael Horton has a simple thesis: American Christianity has lost sight of Christ, and is selling a product that bears little resemblance to historic, Christ-centred Christianity. 
It’s a thesis a lot of people, from many corners of the Christian world, would agree with.  He argues that most of American Christianity has been colonized by American culture, [...]

Dahveed, by Terri Fivash

OK, I write Biblical historical fiction.  And in fact, Terri Fivash and I have the same publisher.  But Terri Fivash makes me feel like an absolute amateur in our common field. Dahveed is my favourite of her three books so far.
Fivash does the kind of hard-core historical research that makes you feel like she has a time machine [...]

Fashionably Late, by Nadine Dajani

This book looked so promising. A young Lebanese-Canadian girl, Aline, is living the life her parents have always dreamed of for her – a successful college graduate with a job in a big accounting firm, in a steady relationship with a nice, reliable fellow accountant. 
Sure, Aline is a little rebellious on the side – [...]

The White Queen, by Philippa Gregory

Philippa Gregory strikes again.  This time, the wildly successful historical novelist has moved away from the tried-and-true Tudors and stepped a little back in time to the messy situation that brought the first Tudor to power – the Wars of the Roses.
 Possibly the nastiest family feud of the last millenium, the Wars of Roses involved [...]

Shanghai Girls, by Lisa See

I’ve never had that fascination with China that a lot of people have, but Lisa See — first in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, now in this novel — has managed to awaken my interest in that country and made the hidden lives of Chinese women come alive for me in a way no [...]

The King’s Daughter, by Barbara Kyle

My first thought on this book is that the title is misleading, because although the book is set in the reign of Mary Tudor, it’s not really about Mary Tudor at all.  It’s the second in a series (I didn’t know that until after I read it, but I can see where there’s a lot [...]

Dedication, by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

I know authors hate it when readers say this (I would too, had I written a fabulously successful first novel), but there’s no getting around the fact that anything Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus write (together or separately) is going to be compared to The Nanny Diaries.  And no, I didn’t find Dedication as good [...]

Angry Conversations with God, by Susan Isaacs

You know how, if you watch a lot of TV, you see certain character actors show up over and over as guest stars in different shows? When I see that, it reminds me of the fact that for every big star in TV- and movie-land, there are hundreds of working actors, making a living booking [...]

Diana Lively is Falling Down, by Sheila Curran

Another in the collection of “light summer reads” I brought along for my vacation, this one features an English heroine, wife of an Oxford don, who is unwillingly transplanted to Phoenix, Arizona when a wealthy American businessman hires her scholar-husband, Ted, as a consultant for the “King Arthur Theme Park” he’s planning to build.
Diana is [...]

Julie and Julia, by Julie Powell

Yet another of the “set yourself a year-long challenge, blog it, and get a book contract” genre — and I’m not even blaming A.J. Jacobs for this one.  In fact, when Julie Powell was casting about for something  to give meaning to her dead-end life as a New York City secretary, her husband suggested she [...]