So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Lief Enger

Enger is rapidly becoming a favorite author of mine. He is an amazing storyteller. 

(From https://groveatlantic.com/book/so-brave-young-and-handsome/) 

So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Lief Enger is...a touching, nimble, and rugged story of an aging train robber on a quest to reconcile the claims of love and judgment on his life, and the failed writer who goes with him.
In 1915 Minnesota, Monte Becket—“a man fading, a disappointer of persons”—has lost his sense of purpose. His only success long behind him, Monte lives a simple life with his loving wife and whipsmart son. But when he befriends outlaw Glendon Hale, a new world of opportunity and experience presents itself.

Glendon has spent years in obscurity, but the guilt he harbors for abandoning his wife, Blue, over two decades ago, has finally lured him from hiding. As the modern age marches swiftly forward, Glendon aims to travel back into his past—heading to California to seek Blue’s forgiveness. Beguiled and inspired, Monte soon finds himself leaving behind his own family to embark for the unruly West with his fugitive guide—a journey that will test the depth of his loyalties, the inviolability of his morals, and the strength of his resolve. As they flee from the relentless Charles Siringo, an ex-Pinkerton who’s been hunting Glendon for years, Monte falls ever further from his family and the law, to be tempered by a fiery adventure from which he may never get home.

With its smooth mix of romanticism and gritty reality, So Brave, Young, and Handsome often recalls the Old West’s greatest cowboy stories. But it is also about an ordinary man’s determination as he risks everything in order to understand what it’s all worth, and follows an unlikely dream in the hope it will lead him back home.

From me: Enger has an amazing way of taking you along for the ride. His characters are so well drawn that you can't help but feel that you know these people, or at least that you want to know them. He has an almost innate sense of justice for his characters that permeates his novels. 

Copperhead by Bernard Cornwell

 This book, Copperhead by Bernard Cornwell, is the second in the Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles, telling the story of the son of an abolitionist preacher who decides to fight for the South in the Civil War.

Starbuck is forced out of his beloved Falconer unit by the head of the unit itself, Washington Falconer. After murdering Falconer's future son-in-law for his treatment of Starbuck's love interest, Falconer banishes him.

Neither fish nor fowl, Starbuck has nowhere to go. Meanwhile his best friend, Falconer's son Adam, has decided to spy for the Union. Starbuck, himself, is caught and interrogated as the spy. After realizing that both Adam and Starbuck's brother James are implicated, he must walk a tight line to secure his freedom and the good graces of the South while avoiding betraying those he cares about. 

While seeming to "defect" to the North, he plays the role of double-agent for the ruthless Lieutenant de'Ath. But just as Starbuck returns to the South to betray the North, he learns of de'Ath's death. Who will protect him now?

He blackmails Adam saying he will reveal his duplicity to his father if Adam cannot secure a spot for Starbuck back with the Falconer Legion. Adam concedes, but appears to lose his mind in the end. 

We end our story with Starbuck back where he belongs. 

Crazy Love by Francis Chan

I actually found a copy of Crazy Love by Francis Chan at one of the little neighborhood libraries around. I'm so glad I did. It's one of those, "I really need to read that book someday" kind of book. That day finally arrived!

I've loved Francis Chan for a long time, ever since watching this video. (see 13:01 "If Jesus had a church in Simi Valley, mine would be bigger.") He's like an Old Testament prophet calling us to repentance. Calling the church to repentance. He has amazing insight and he put his money where his mouth is; he gave up his church and rearranged his life to live much more intentionally as a follower of Christ. 

His book definitely challenged me. 

The title and the arrows indicate that God has a crazy love for us, and that that should foster a crazy love for Him from us. He starts off telling the church the ways in which we might be doing it wrong. We seem to have missed the essential picture of who God is as we go about our "normal" Christian lives. 

But it's the fourth chapter, "Profile of the Lukewarm" that really stopped me in my tracks. He states, 

LUKEWARM PEOPLE do not live by faith; their lives are structured so they never have to. They don't have to trust God if something unexpected happens —they have their savings account. They don't need God to help them — they have their retirement plan in place. They don't genuinely seek out what life God would have them live — they have life figured and mapped out. They don't depend on God on a daily basis— their refrigerators are full and, for the most part, they are in good health. The truth is, their lives wouldn't look much different if they suddenly stopped believing in God. (p. 79)

He makes it very clear that lukewarm people are not Christians. Wow! What a claim. But he defends it well. He cites Revelation 3:16, saying that God literally wants to vomit when it comes to the lukewarm. Chan also warns us against assuming we are the good soil in the parable of the sower, or even thinking that the rocky soil is not that bad. Chan says Jesus has called us to "pick up [our] cross" and His version of Christianity is not for the faint of heart. People who are not marked by the fruit of the Spirit, are not Christians; they are deceived. 

He then moves onto the devastating 1 John 2:3-4: "We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, 'I know him,' but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him." Holy cow! How many of us claim the title of "Christian," but commit frivolous sins thinking, "It's no big deal." If so, we make Christ's death by torture "no big deal." Obviously I must turn the mirror on myself here, but I couldn't help thinking of my students. So many of them cheat and it's no big deal to them. They make zero connection between professing Christ and using AI to write a paper. But Scripture says that student "is a liar, and the truth is not in him." He is NOT a Christian! Another bold and frightening claim. Ouch!

Finally, Chan reminds us that 

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matt. 7:21-23)

Who is this talking to if not those who call themselves Christians, but are not?!?  I definitely want to address all of this when I talk to my students about cheating. I think they will be shocked. 

Chan then describes the ways in which genuine Christians live: they are "obsessed." This means, they "love those who hate them and who can never love them back." (p. 130) They "care more about God's kingdom coming to this earth than their own lives being shielded from pain or distress." (p. 131) They "live lives that connect them with the poor in some way or another" believing it was "really important to" Jesus. (p. 133 They "will do things that don't always make sense in therms of success or wealth on this earth." (p. 134) They "know that you can never be humble enough." (p. 136) They "take joy in loving God by loving His people." (p. 136) They "genuinely think that others matter as much as they do." (p. 1328) They "orient their lives around eternity." (p. 139) They are "characterized by committed, settled, passionate love for God, and above and before every other thing and every other being." (p. 140) They "do not attempt to mask the ugliness of their sins or their failures." (p. 141 They "are nourished by God's Word throughout the day." (p. 142 They "know that true joy doesn't depend on circumstances or environment; it is a gift that must be chosen and cultivated, a gift that ultimately comes from God." (p. 143) The revel "in [their] role as child and friend of God." (p. 144)

He finishes up with stories of saints living the committed life. He asks us to pray and seek discernment for what exactly God is asking of us (not necessarily "calling"). Then we must respond or it's all for naught. He gives an update of the ways he is personally living this out. (He left his megachurch to become a missionary to the outcasts of San Francisco.) 

Finally, he discusses some resources he is developing to help Christians fulfill the Great Commission and make disciples: multiplymovement.com. I'll have to check it out! This is exciting, but sobering.

The Age of Mirth by Edith Wharton

I have been wanting to read The Age of Mirth by Edith Wharton for forever. But I could never seem to get my hands on it. Finally, I got a copy from the Wake County Library. Hallelujah! It's fantastic!

Wharton tells the story of Lily Bart, a beautiful, yet poor, member of New York's upper crust in the late 19th century. Her father died, leaving she and her mother in debt. Before she died, her mother impressed upon Lily the absolute necessity of  using her looks to cement a place in society. Realizing she has just one shot to use her only currency, Lily lets a few opportunities slip away as she watches much plainer women marry into comfort. 

The book opens in her 29th year. Time is getting short. She has confided in her friend Lawrence Selden that she has set her sights on Percy Gryce. His obsession with "Americana" and his puritanical instincts notwithstanding, he is rich enough and Lily feels confident she can snag him. Selden, who is only middle class himself, but manages to live an "amphibious" existence in both worlds, chides Lily for her materialistic attitude. She makes it clear to Lawrence that men have far more options than women do. She must parlay her looks into a suitable marriage if she wants any kind of stable life. It's clear that Lawrence would marry her, but she leaves him no hope as he simply cannot cement her place in high society. 

Unfortunately, Percy is not so easily caught and the games Lily plays to pique his interest backfire. Eventually he announces his engagement to another wealthy socialite. 

Despite her very limited funds, Lily has insisted on keeping up appearances. But after Percy's departure, she takes a hard look at her finances. The husband of her best friend, Gus Tenor, offers to "invest" her meager savings, saying he gets "tips" from the barely tolerated, rich, Jewish banker Sim Rosedale. He quickly turns her mere hundreds of dollars into thousands. Lily, feeling confident that she has found the secret to economic freedom, carelessly spends almost all the money immediately. Once the money is gone, her source, Trenor, makes clear that the money was his and she "owes" him for his trouble. Aghast, she races off with a "frenemy" on a months-long cruise of the Mediterranean. Meanwhile, rumors swirl about her involvment with Trenor.

Although she is a hit in Europe, it becomes apparent that she was only invited to distract her friend's husband while she pursues an affair with another guest. Once she is discovered, she turns the tables and accuses Lily of having an affair with her husband. Since Lily will not accept the husband should he leave his wife, he feels he must return to his wife and accept the libel on Lily. This new tawdry rumor, combined with the prior allegations, make it back to the aunt who has supported Lily since her mother's death. The news apparently kills her, but not before she disinherits Lily. 

Lily returns from Europe, having lost all her friends due to the rumors and all her expectations due to being written out of the will. All she can expect is enough to pay back her original debt to Trenor. But that will take a year to go through probate. In the meantime, she relies on Lawrence and his poor relation, Gertie for survival. She finds work (barely) and moves to a boarding house. But her health suffers and she experiences night after night of sleeplessness. 

She has one opportunity in which to recapture it all, but it involves an act she considers immoral; she can blackmail her "frenemy" and mary Sim Rosedale. In a final display of determination, she destroys the incriminating evidence. She visits Lawrence, convinced that she has thrown away all hope of his love. And she goes home. 

I'll end the summary here. It's too sad. I hate that it ended the way it did. 

It seems that Wharton considered, and then abandoned, the idea that people can live lives of contentment far from the spotlight of "society." We do it everyday. But the book is not about how to live a contented life, it's about the false temptation of a "life worth living." She demolishes that, kind of. Although Lily won't resurrect her former life using immoral (or that immoral) means, we sense she would welcome it back if it was handed to her. She never quite seems to get it. Lawrence has been preaching it (sort of), and she seems to realize that, but in the end, she is incapable of "settling" for a merely happy life. She is stuck. She is an ornamental creature created for one purpose: to look good and attract a man to establish her in society. Maybe that is Wharton's point. Wharton gets it. It's just that Lily (nor anyone else in the story) never quite does. What a tragedy.

Rebel by Bernard Cornwell

One of my favorite historical fiction authors is Bernard Cornwell, so I decided to jump into his Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles with Rebel, which takes place during the Civil War.

It's an easy read about an unlikely confederate: Nathaniel Starbuck is the son of a Northern abolitionist preacher. Although he was destined for the ministry himself, Starbuck makes a series of bad choices that land him desperate and destitute in Virginia just as Fort Sumter is fired upon. 

He must choose a side. 

And as so often happens, that choice depends on a girl. 

Once he has chosen to abandon his family and his family's values, he leads a ragtag, amateur bunch of hopped up Virginians in the Battle of Bull Run... where they flee in defeat. But that battle is just beginning and Starbuck will live to see the Southeventually defeat the North soundly in that first major battle. 

Now I have to read the next one!

At first, I was a bit disappointed that Starbuck saw his religious family and its values as worthy of rejection. Obviously, I heartily disagree. I also don't love that he's fighting for slavery and the right to own people. 

But it's Cornwell. I think he relishes making religion, specifically Christianity, look hypocritical and soul-crushing. It's more fun to rebel against the True, Good, and Beautiful. I should have expected nothing less. In Cornwell's world up is down and good is bad and morality is how you define it. I guess that works in fiction, but I know enough to know it's a fools errand. 

But it is awfully fun to read and to relive history that way!

 

George Washington's Secret Six by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger

A good friend saw this book at a thrift store and thought of me: George Washington's Secret Six by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger. I'm glad she did. 

I was familiar with story, especially after watching the show Turn, but reading about it was fun.

It tells the harrowing story of six people, centered around Abraham Woodhull (aka Samuel Culper), who smuggle information about New York city to Washington. It's obviously a dangerous job as Nathan Hale had already been hung after being caught as a spy. 

The ring involves Woodhull, a neighbor and tavern owner Austin Roe, printer and coffee shop owner, James Rivington, river boat pilot, Caleb Brewster, shopkeeper Robert Townsend, and the mysterious female agent, 355. All would collect information and add whatever they could as the correspondence made its way to Washington. 

They specifically noticed troop movements and the location and type of military equipment located in and around Manhattan. They were instrumental in diverting attention when the French entered the war on the American side, as well as alerting Washington to the British plans in regards to the French. 

Unfortunately, by its very nature, the spies were accorded little affirmation after the war was won. Some, like James Rivington suffered harm. Being thought of as a staunch loyalist, his cultivated persona, his newspaper suffered and he ended up in debtors prison. Others simply disappeared into the sands of time until discovered years later. We still don't know, and probably never will, who Agent 355 is. She probably died in, or at least was captured and sent to, a hellish prison ship. 

We certainly owe these patriots a debt of honor.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Our book club chose to read Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. We had previously read The Remains of the Day, a Downton Abbey-type book, and I expected this to be no different. I was wrong.

This book is slightly dystopian, I suppose. It seems to be set in the near future where children are "lifted" -- that is genetically improved -- and seem to have lost interpersonal skills in the process. AI and robots have been melded into Artificial Friends (AF) to fill this void. 

Klara is an AF and the narrator of the tale. As such, she's an obviously unreliable narrator. She is learning and discovering the world for herself throughout, and so we discover it with her. 

Klara's story begins in the store where she lives with other AFs and Manager, who is "raising" her. Eventually she is bought by Josie's mother and brought to their home. All thoughts of prior friends and even Manager fade into the background as Klara adjusts to her new life. 

It become clear relatively early that Josie has a medical condition that may very well prove fatal. It is through Klara's limited understanding that we seem to find out the condition is the result of the lifting, but that Josie's mom would have chosen to lift her regardless. Strange. In fact, we eventually discover that Klara is being groomed to replace Josie should she die.

And this seems to be a real possibility. 

But... Klara fervently wishes to avoid this outcome, not for her own sake, but because she (alone, maybe?) seems to realize that Josie cannot be simply duplicated. She wants the real Josie to live and to experience a full life. So Klara, who seems to be solar powered, turns to the Sun to make a bargain: heal Josie and Klara will destroy a pollution-generating machine. Of course, once Klara destroys the machine and realizes that it was only one of many such machines, she believes she has failed. In desperation, she asks the Sun to heal Josie because of the great love Josie and her boyfriend, Rick, have for each other. 

For a while, Klara's prayers(?) do not appear to be answered as she would like, but eventually the Sun and his healing rays, shine brilliantly on Josie. She is healed and her life moves on as hoped, even as Rick fades from importance to her. Klara seems to come to believe that the Sun healed Josie, not because of a bargain or even because of her love for Rick, but simply because the Sun chose to do so out of goodness. 

Once Josie heads off to college, her need for an AF seems to disappear. So Klara is forgotten in a closet and eventually shipped off to the dump. Here she will quietly "fade" while reliving her memories. 

I told my book club, "I need you to tell me what I think about this book." I felt lost. The book club helped clear up some confusion, but I guess I still didn't "get it." The books own jacket says that it seeks to "explore a fundamental question: what does it mean to love?" I guess. I mean the mom loved both her daughters -- Josie and her older sister, Sal, who had already died as a result of the lifting -- yet made the same choice for Josie. Dad loves Josie and isn't convinced that an AF can actually replace her, but he's willing to give it a shot. Rick loves Josie and Josie loves Rick, but it turns out that it's just garden-variety teenage infatuation. Klara seems to genuinely love Josie and even sacrifices a great deal to destroy the pollution-inducing machine. In fact, only the robot seems capable of genuine, sacrificial love. But it is not returned. At all. 

Maybe the point is that as we become more technologically advanced, we become less human and the machines become more human? Maybe. Perhaps Ishiguro is warning us that we are losing our humanity, but humanity will out, somewhere, somehow? I don't know. 

And what's the deal with the Sun? Is it a fill in for God? No one else prays except for Klara. And her prayers are answered in a magnificent way. Are we being reminded that we need God and if humans lose that connection, robots, in sheer desperation, will reestablish it? I don't know. 

And why is Klara simply allowed to fade? She is literally a member of the family and then...garbage. It's kind of a reverse Velveteen Rabbit. Again, is this an indictment on humanity? Or is it Ishiguro's way of reminding us that Klara is not actually human and is in fact simply a piece of technology, so it's ok? I don't know. 

Ishiguro raises a lot of interesting questions in our age of heightened technological feats. Genetic engineering? Good or bad? AI? Good or bad? Urban infrastructure? Good or bad? Human souls? Real or imagined? Love? Sacrificial or transactional? God? Present or not? But I'm not sure if he answers the questions. He leaves a lot of ambiguity, and not in a good way. 

It is a somewhat easy read, although the ignorance of the narrator can make it tough at times to understand what is going on. Klara is delightful, but I also know that the way of Artificial Friends leads to death!