"Rowan Farm" by Margot Benary-Isbert

Rowan Farm is the sequel to The Ark and continues the story of the Lechow family as they attempt to build new lives and a new home in post-war West Germany.  Informed on the author's own knowledge and experiences after WWII, these two books show the chaos and ruin of Germany after WWII, but also the courage and hope of the people who work together to make the country fit for life and love once more.  

The youngsters from The Ark all live at Rowan Farm by this point, and have acquired some new friends.  Margret and Matthias, the two oldest Lechows, both have some romantic misadventures, though one of them does find love and start making plans for a future marriage by the end of the book.  This book is a little less funny than the first one, but instead feels more poignant and contemplative.  That feels very natural, because most of the Lechow children are pretty well grown up by the end of it.

As you might expect from a book about life in post-World War II West Germany, many struggles are portrayed here.  A new schoolmaster comes to town, a veteran who lost an arm in the war.  He and his pupils try to build a home for displaced veterans out of an old farmhouse and meet with a lot of opposition.  Other war veterans come through the story, all weary and burdened with doubt and dread and remorse.  Some new characters are escapees from Communist East Germany.  

The book never discusses Nazis or the cause for the war, only the helpfulness of American occupation troops in getting Germany back to being good and productive again.  Benary-Isbert was German herself, and wrote the first draft of The Ark while sharing an apartment with two other families in West Germany after WWII.  Both it and Rowan Farm were completed in the USA after she moved there with her husband in the 1950s.

I read Rowan Farm out loud to my kids over the past couple of months, and it marks a first for us -- we started reading it immediately after finishing The Ark.  Usually, I read a different book in between books in a series, but none of us wanted to wait to get to this book.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG-10 for discussions of death, loss, and suicide.  That all happens off-page, but is discussed by the characters.  No cussing, smut, or on-page violence.

This has been my 38th book read and reviewed for my 4th Classics Club list.

"Forget Me Knot" by B. R. Goodwin

Sometimes, when I have a very busy and stressful week or so, I want to read something short, bright, and perky.  This past week was overstuffed, and so I read Forget Me Knot because I knew it would make me smile and keep me interested, but not stress me out by being really suspenseful or anything.  It delivered everything I wanted: nice characters I'd like to be friends with, a cute little town I'd like to live in, and a sweet-but-not-sappy romance.  

There aren't a lot of authors that can get me really invested in a book that has a romance-driven plot, simply because I prefer plot-driven romances, on a whole.  B. R. Goodwin pulls it off handily, and I totally trust her to strike the right balance between romantic and realistic.

Forget Me Knot is about a young woman named Dinah who moves to a small Georgia town to be closer to her widowed sister and niece.  Dinah opens a pretzel shop and starts to fall for Jack, the guy who owns and operates a flower shop next door.  But Jack has a very complicated life because he has (SPOILER ALERT!!!) a split personality thanks to a traumatic head injury.  B. R. Goodwin doesn't offer any simplistic or unrealistic solutions to the inherent difficulties that presents, and I really appreciated her balanced and open-eyed look at that.

Particularly Good Bits:

Sometimes, when someone grieves, just allowing them to talk about their loved ones in their own time is the best offering (p. 61).

"No, Dinah, it sucks.  It's okay to say it sucks.  Grief isn't measured with time.  There aren't rules for how long you're permitted to miss someone, and pretending that you don't will only hurt more in the end" (p. 170).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-16 for a LOT of gushing about how attractive a man is, women talking about their ovaries reacting to a man, some kissing and caressing, and just generally being more romantic than a younger teen is going to enjoy anyway.  Nothing smutty -- you can't even call it "closed-door" because Dinah and Jacks are both committed to waiting for marriage before having sex.  But I also wouldn't hand this to my young teen daughters.

"Pictures by J. R. R. Tolkien" ed. by Christopher Tolkien

My husband got me this book for my birthday, and it is a visual treat!  Oodles and oodles of drawings and paintings by Tolkien, mainly related to Middle-earth, but not entirely.  And each one has a note from his son Christopher explaining what the picture is, when it was done, where it was published before, and so on.  

Many of the pictures have the original black-and-white artwork by Tolkien and then a version that had color added for a calendar or some book edition.  I found those especially fascinating, maybe because I'm very drawn to black-and-white artwork.  And I'm fascinated by the process of someone else trying to stay true to the original artist's idea while adding color to the artwork.

This book doesn't take long to enjoy, but it's one I'll pull out and savor again and again.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.  Nothing objectionable here.

"Sinister Spring" by Agatha Christie

Like Autumn Chills and Midwinter Murder, this is a collection of short mysteries by Agatha Christie that all take place in a particular season.

Hands down, my favorite short story in here was "The Girl in the Train," which was funny, quirky, and exciting all at the same time.  It made me think alternately of P. G. Wodehouse and F. Scott Fitzgerald, which is no mean feat!

I also very much enjoyed "Have You Got Everything You Want?" (I'm becoming a Parker Pyne fan) and "The Soul of the Croupier" (I'm also becoming a Mr. Quin fan).  

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for various crimes such as murder and theft, and attendant mild violence.

This is my 37th book read and reviewed for my fourth Classics Club list.

"Before the King" by Heather Kaufman

Like in Heather Kaufman's previous book, Up from Dust, the main character of Before the King is a woman from the New Testament.  Joanna is only mentioned a couple of times in the Bible, so we don't know very much about her.  We know she was one of the women who discovered that Jesus's tomb was empty on the first Easter Sunday (Luke 24:10).  We know she was wealthy and helping to support Jesus's ministry, and that she was married to Chuza, "the manager of Herod's household" (Luke 8:3).  That's about it.

From those clues, Kaufman has built a fictional heroine of uncommon beauty and deep faith.  In this book, Joanna grows up the daughter of a prominent Sadducee, moving in important Judean circles.  She has a sister who suffers from seizures, and tragedy strikes them both more than once.  Eventually, Joanna enters into a marriage of convenience with Chuza, a proselyte (non-Jewish believer in the coming Messiah) who has a high position in King Herod's government.  

When Joanna meets Jesus of Nazareth, her life is transformed inside and out.  Repeatedly, she goes to listen to this new Rabbi, supporting His ministry with her own money and growing to believe He is the promised Savior.  Because her husband is an important part of Herod's government, we get to see some of the events of Holy Week up close, both before Christ's crucifixion and after His resurrection.  Which made this the perfect book to read around Easter!

Kaufman's writing continues to delight me.  Her characters are nuanced, complex, and believable.  Her meticulous research makes the place and time she writes about come to life in the most engrossing way!

Although I didn't love this book quite as much as Up from Dust, it's still going to end up one of my top new reads for the year, I'm sure.  And the only reason I didn't love it quite as much is that I didn't feel as much of a personal connection with Joanna as a did with Martha -- I promise that is a personal thing, not a reflection on this amazing book.

Particularly Good Bits:

I am an ordinary woman whom God chose to put in extraordinary places.  Any strength to be found in my story is His alone (p. 9).

"Remember this, Joanna.  What people think changes all the time.  What is true never changes" (p. 56).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG-16 for tasteful discussions of a woman desiring her husband.  Chuza proposes a celibate marriage to Joanna; she accepts, but later grows to love him and desires a consummated marriage.  Mentions of longing and desire are all tasteful, all within the context of a marriage, but may make younger readers confused or uncomfortable.

"Holy Hygge: Creating a Place for People to Gather and the Gospel to Grow" by Jamie Erickson

I read this book in little snacks and nibbles over the past month or so.  I liked it a lot, and am adopting a few ideas from it into my own home life and hospitality outlook.  

Every now and then, I read or flip through a book about hygge and discover I'm already filled with an innate desire for a hygge home.  But I still often find a new idea or way to finetune the cozy comfort of my house.  This book had more such new insights than most because it showcased how creating a comfortable home environment that fosters belonging is a way to share God's love with others, and I appreciated that new angle.

There were a few places I disagreed with Erickson's theology, but I expected there to be, and they weren't enough to detract from this book's usefulness.

Particularly Good Bits:

Reshaping an atmosphere can never permanently reshape a heart.  But it can help, especially when paired with the hope of Jesus (p. 17).

Hospitality, thriving relationships, well-being, a welcoming atmosphere, comfort, contentment, and rest--these are the markers of hygge.  But they're also qualities seen in the first Garden home and exhibited by Jesus (p. 17).

Dinner time has been a conduit for sharing celebrations, service, and sorrow.  None of the meals started as interventions or "sharing circles."  They were just meals.  But intentional hospitality around the table provided the pause necessary to allow others to share in ways they otherwise wouldn't have (p. 35).

Hyggelig hospitality doesn't preclude tidying up or putting your best foot forward.  It just means you don't have to feel the need to sterilize your life and wipe out every evidence of brokenness from your home.  It means you don't have to secret your real self and your real messes away.  It encourages you to share your whole self so your guests feel comfortable enough to do the same (p. 49).

We no longer begrudge the monotony of a routine life because hygge compels us to find the extra of each ordinary moment (p. 79).

...knowing and caring are two different things.  You can know about a lot of issues, but you cannot care about them all equally.  No one's shoulders are wide enough for that.  If you do attempt to carry it all, you'll end up physically, emotionally, and financially unable to carry any of it (p. 101).

For those who are in Christ, well-being will be fully restored.  Until that time, may you and I follow His example by caring for ourselves, not selfishly or indulgently, but in a way that enables us to care for others (p. 103).

Hygge is comfort in moderation.  It is a rational voice that declares, "If you choose not to find joy in the snow, you will have less joy in your life but still have the same amount of snow" (p. 132).

Through our Western eyes, we're quick to call the dirt of this life filthy or ruin, forgetting that it was by dirt that the Master Potter made us in the Garden all those years ago.  It is by dirt and snow that life continues to renew and grow.  In praying that God takes away the struggles of this world -- the dirt and snow--we're also unwittingly disregarding the comfort that lies on the other side of every discomfort we face (p. 133).

Hygge favors the ordinary and familiar.  It is unpretentious and imperfect and encourages satisfaction in everydayness (p. 154).

We are rest-avoidant because, at some point, some well-meaning someone had us all believing that the central aim of our lives is to be useful to God, but it's not.  We're meant to glorify God.  That's our purpose.  The end (p. 176).

Every time we invite others into our house, we have an opportunity to make them feel right at home.  We help heal those whose home lives are anything but homey and make room for those who don't know where they belong (p. 197).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.  Totally appropriate for all ages.

"Crack the Stone" by Emily Golus

Prepare yourself for something very shocking.

I like this retelling of Les Miserables better than the original book by Victor Hugo.

Don't get me wrong -- I LOVE the story of Jean Valjean.  But, you may recall, Hugo's book wearied me when I reread it a couple years ago.  The endless digressions, specifically.  

So I loved how Emily Golus kept her book's focus on the main character in this retelling.  Valshara was a condemned goblin who makes a miraculous escape from her captors and ends up caring for a human child and learning what love, kindness, sacrifice, and truth mean during her ensuing adventures.  And we don't wander off to make sarcastic jokes about famous rich people no one knows about, or rhapsodize on the true meaning of loyalty, etc. 

And I loved the giant elephant.  Very much.

Particularly Good Bits:

For the first time since I could remember, I could rest.  But I didn't remember how (p. 14).

Such is the power of love.  It's that small, trivial thing that the powerful sneer at and the selfish keep at bay.  But allowed its course it will topple evil, transform cities, melt stone hearts, and bring the dead -- like me -- back to life.  No water can quench love, and no river can sweep it away.  For does not the universe itself run on Love? (p. 229).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for violence, scenes of peril, and child abandonment.