2025 Book Reviews
Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten, Memoir, 2024
Ina Garten, food entrepreneur, shares her story of how a young woman with little self-worth grew a successful business in the food world. I highly recommend the audiobook, which Ina narrates. It’s like sitting across from Ina at a Parisian café and listening to tell her story.
The Great Divide by Cristina Henriqez, Historical Fiction, 2024
Henriquez tells the story of the building of the Panama Canal by bringing together individual stories.
Dreamland by Nicholas Sparks, Fiction, 2023
The story alternates between a single mother, Beverly, and a single farmer, Colby. Beverly has relocated, running away from an abusive husband. In the way only Nicholas Sparks can do, he brings all the stories together in an unexpected twist. Worth the read just to find out how he does it.
The Trackers by Charles Frazier, Fiction, 2023
Val takes a New Deal job painting a post office mural in Dawes, Wisconsin, he meets John and Eve Long. and, Val’s life is swept up in their dysfunction. When John's wife, Eve disappears, John pays Val to “track” her. It is a journey of mystery, danger, and secret love.
Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Christian Classic, 1939
In 1935 Dietrich Bonhoeffer accepted a position as head of an underground Seminary to train pastors in Nazi-permeated Germany. There Bonhoeffer wrote and taught the basics of Christian community. His words read like Paul’s epistles, unswervingly dedicated to Christ’s call to be Light in any darkness through community.
The Orphan’s Tale by Pam Jenoff, Historical Fiction, 2017
Sixteen-year-old Noe gives birth to a baby by a German soldier. Even when the Germans keep the baby, her family disowns her. When she finds a Jewish baby left on the railway car she cleans, she takes one and runs away, The rest of the story involves a traveling German circus where she meets Astrid and adds suspense, healing, and friendship in unexpected. ways.
Being Elisabeth Elliot by Ellen Vaughn, 2023, Biography
This book chronicles Elizabeth’s early life and return to the U.S after her husband, Jim, is brutally killed by Auca Indians in Ecuador. Vaughn skillfully, without sugar coating, shares this inspiring, but sometimes sad story of a woman’s spiritual and intellectual journey to understand and obey God’s will at any cost.
The Henna Artist by Alki Joshi, Fiction, 2020.
Fifteen-year-old Lakshmi runs away from a brutal marriage and rebuilds her life in post-British Jaipur as a henna artist, painting pictures on women's hands, torsos or feet for special celebrations. When her teenage sister whom she did not know about enters her life, Lakshmi's carefully constructed life is threatened before it is restored.
Last Twilight in Paris by Pam Jenoff, Historical Fiction, 2025
Helaine and Gabriel marry despite her Jewish parent's objections because Gabriel is not Jewish. Cellist Gabriel plays for German troops while collecting crucial information for allies. When Helaine is arrested as a Jew, a parallel develops that Red Cross worker, Louise. Then, the story becomes a mystery to solve and begs the question, "What would I have done?"
Sisters in Science by Olivia Campbell, Nonfiction, 2024
Campbell relates the stories of four Jewish female scientists from Germany as Hitler begins his “cleansing” of Germany. Each woman had significant contributions to make to science, but only but only if they could find a country to employ them. This is a story I am glad I know about.
Eat This Book: A Conversation on the Art of Spiritual Reading by Eugene Peterson, Spiritual Formation, 2009
Eugene Peterson, responsible for The Message version of the Bible, writes about the importance of reading the Bible for spiritual transformation. His understanding of language, spiritual reading, and the history of translation adds to my gratitude for his work.
The Black Tulip by Alexander Dumas, originally published in 1850, Historical Fiction
This Dumas story shares the desperate plight of Cornelius von Baerle, who was falsely accused of murder and caught in the political maneuvering that resulted. His life pursuit of developing the black tulip is lost unless Rosa, the jailor’s daughter, can help him. A story of love, obsession, jealousy results and demonstrates and reminds us that when money is involved, even a flower can change lives.
Churchill’s Secret Messenger by Alan Hlad, Historical Fiction, 2021
Rose Teasedale is a typist working in Churchill’s underground cabinet rooms. When she loses her whole family in the war, Churchill discovers her fluency in French and recommends her for espionage training. With the codename Dragonfly, she enters a new world of danger and intrigue. While Rose is a fictional character, the events she participates in are not.
How to Read a Book by Monica Wood, Fiction, 2024
When Young adult Violet is serving a prison sentence for a car accident that killed a woman., she meets Harriet, who leads a Book Club for women. How their lives intertwine after her release is the rest of the story. With mesmerizing prose is mesmerizing and unexpected turns, this is a very satisfying read.
Mrs. Lincoln’s Sisters by Jennifer Chiaverini. Historical Fiction, 2020
Mary Todd Lincoln had four sisters: The Civil War separated them, but the President’s death, and Mary's paranoia afterwards brings them back into her life, but not always in helpful ways. I recommend it as a window to a time and a political family it is easy to stereotype.
Abraham: One Nomad’s Amazing Journey of Faith by Charles Swindoll, 2015, Biblical Biography
With Swindoll’s meticulous research and ability to connect life lessons along the way, we take a journey alongside Abraham from his first encounter with God through all the ups and downs of his life, culminating in his death and burial.
My Friends by Fredrik Backman, 2025, Fiction
The main character in the story is a painting of three friends sitting on the pier in a seaside town and how Louisa, a hopeful artist becomes its owner. Louisa begins a journey with a friend of the painting’s creator, who has just died. On the long train ride, she hears the stories of the threesome , their unloved pasts, rebellion, and fierce friendship.
Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green, Nonfiction, 2025
This story it told is shocking, sensitive, well-researched, and captivating. From the horrors of the sanitoriums to the push for a cure, Green kept my attention as he humanized it with the story of Henry Reider. Sobering read.
Harry’s Trees by Jon Cohen, Fiction, 2018
Part fairy tale, fantasy, and romance, this book features Harry, a government Forest Service employee whose wife died in a freak accident that sends Harry into a self-imposed prison. Life changes when he meets Amanda and her daughter, Oriana, also on a grief journey after their husband and father died. A tree house, bags of gold, and a mysterious give-away prompted by a fairy tale weave these shattered lives together in a way that brings healing and hope back.
Tunnel 29 by The True Story of an Extraordinary Escape Beneath the Berlin Wall, by Helena Merriman, Nonfiction, 2021
This is the true story of how Joachim he and a group of students hand-dug, shoveled, drained, and fortified a tunnel that provided a way of escape for 29 people after the Berlin Wall went up. It is a gripping story of what desperate people will do for freedom.
I Just Wish I Had a Bigger Kitchen and other lies I think will make me happy.by Kate Strickler, Non-fiction, 2025
Kate is a breath of fresh air to those who can always find something they don't have that keeps them from the life they want. Kate reminds us that more than “things,” change our life.
Westering Women by Sandra Dallas, Historical Fiction, 2020
Sandra Dallas creates a fictional story of women who made the arduous trek across the Overland Trail, using real stories from several sources. Forty-seven joined an all-female wagon train headed to gold-rich but female-poor Goosetown California in 1852. A captivating read, as Dallas’ books usually are.
Home Front by Kristin Austin, Historical Fiction, 2012
When Jolene is deployed as a helicopter pilot, she leaves her two daughters in the care of her lawyer husband, with whom she is separated. But war changes everything. She returns physically and emotionally broken. What happens gives us a peek into many real-life stories and
immerses us in emotional trauma so that we can celebrate the ways each family member finds a way back to home and family.
Son of Laughter by Frederick Buechner, Novel, 1994
This book is infused with historical, archaeological, and theological details that push this story into the epic retelling it deserves. Jacob, son of Isaac. carries his years in his white hair and diminished eyesight. He revisits the stories of his family, including his sister wives Leah and Rachel, the animosity with his brother Esau, his wrestling with God, and his special love for Joseph and Benjamin,. What a brilliant and immersive story!
The Story She Left Behind by Patty Callahan Henry, 2025
A sequel to The Secret Book of Flora Lee, and loosely based on a true story, this book takes you on an absorbing journey. Clara is the adult daughter of Bronwyn who mysteriously disappeared in South Carolina after a house fire. When Clara receives an mysterious dictionary to unlock her mother’s book written in an invented language, her world takes a seismic turn. This book pulls you into mystery, a love story, and the importance of finding home.
Embracing Exile by Scott Daniels, Christian Nonfiction, 2017
Daniels reminds us that Christians have are “exiles” in our culture and that the expectations and practices of our culture don’t help us live the l as Christians. With a fresh voice dedicated to an old message, this small book will expose expectations, desires, and presuppositions to reconnect more us to God’s desire that we be His best advertisement for the life that offers hope and joy found nowhere else.
The Book of Forgiving by Desmond Tutu, Christian Nonfiction, 2014
Desmond Tutu and his daughter wrote this as they dealt with South African people who had been victims of various atrocities. With great compassion, they share reasonable ways to find the healing that rejects the enslavement of unforgiveness. They use real illustrations, meditations, object lessons and prayer based on their four-fold process: Telling the story, naming the hurt, granting forgiveness, renewing or releasing the relationship.
The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christi Lefteri, Historical Fiction, 2020
Nuri, a beekeeper in Aleppo, and his wife, Afra, are trying to escape the savagery of Aleppo. While it is an invented story, it represents the composite stories that author, Christi Lefteri, heard as a relief worker in Athens. While It is a sad story of loss and obstacles, it is told as a story on quiet hope even when you have to leave everything you have known to find it.
The Songs of Jesus: A Year of Daily Devotions in the Psalms by Time Keller with Kathy Keller, Devotional, 2015.
Keller's meaningful insights always connect to some human struggle or question and ends with a rich affirmation about the character and unfailing love of God through Jesus. Titled The Songs of Jesus because Jesus quoted Psalms often and fulfilled their prophecies.
First Advent in Palestine by Kelley Nikondeha, 2022, Nonfiction
Kelley Nikondeha writes with passion about the birth of Christ in the middle of the political chaos and oppression that existed under Roman rule. I have a new appreciation for the way God does not wait for “good times” to do His best work. Her detailed research, eyewitness accounts, and interaction with present-day Palestinians share a more complete picture of the “First Advent in Palestine,” one that bears similarities to our world today.