The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan

A friend gave me this book to read, and I'm glad she did.

The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan is a fun, quick read. It's reminiscent of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. 

The book is set in Britain during World War II and the Chilbury Choir has lost its men to the war. In an astonishing feat of pluck, they rebrand themselves The Chilbury Ladies Choir and go on to compete with other local choirs. 

Of course the book involves a variety of characters, each bringing her (usually) own spice to the mix. A love interest is unavoidable and obviously messy. 

All ends well with lessons learned. 

The most interesting part of the book is its epistolary style. Going back and forth as characters either write to those outside the story or in their own diaries, makes for an interesting read. The story is told from multiple points of view, causing it to unfold in way significantly differently than it would have from the point of view of an omniscient narrator. 

The story includes the characters we love, the ones we love to hate, and the ones we hate to love. 

Definitely worth a look.

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

Not being a Hemingway fan, this book would have never crossed my path had it not been for my book club. I don't know why A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway was chosen; I wasn't there for that part. 

I missed the book club meeting, so I am stuck with my own thoughts. 

The book felt to me the way Twitter did when I only went on it occasionally: never quite sure who exactly anyone was and what exactly the poster was referring to. 

I don't know Hemingway at all, I don't know Paris at all (in the 1920s or today for that matter), and I don't know the other authors he refers to (with the exception of F. Scott Fitzgerald, whom I only know because of The Great Gatsby).

Therefore it was a struggle. 

It doesn't help that Hemingway is intentionally writing in a way so as to preclude our ability to intuit whether he's telling the truth or not.

It's a fun look at quintessential period of time. I think Hemingway wrote the series of vignettes towards the end of his life to capture a magical, perhaps not exactly-the-way-it-happened, moment in his life. I imagine that if I wrote unconnected stories from my high school days, without explanation and without a overarching point, it would sound the same. It might return to me some rose-colored memories, but to everyone outside my small circle, it would be a hazy collection of "inside baseball" glimpses into someone else's life. 

I think I missed a lot of the point of the book. 

But it was beautifully written. That's worth a read right there. 

A Fiery Gospel by Richard M. Gamble

If I'm being honest, I wanted to read this book because it was written by a Hillsdale professor and the cover is beautiful! After reading A Fiery Gospel by Richard M. Gamble, I will never look at The Battle Hymn of the Republic the same way again!

Gamble tells a deeply researched story of the writing of the song by Julia Ward Howe. She was an eccentric woman convinced the she was on a mission from God. After visiting a Civil War Union encampment, she claims the poem the song is based on came to her fully-formed in a dream/vision. 

The real significance of the song, however, lies in the ways it was used after she penned it. The song has become a national anthem of sorts used by multiple causes to rally the faithful. With its apocalyptic and religious language, it appeals to those most fervent supporters of The Cause. 

All can claim the Lord is on their side. 

I have to say, the book now causes me to cringe when I hear the song. It really is pure propaganda. It's possible it's well-suited for the Civil War and the biblically epic narrative that war embodies, but today it has been used by anyone willing to appropriate it. 

Beautiful book. Interesting story. I'm glad I got to enter into this esoteric piece of history. 

It's too bad humans are what they are.