January Book Review

One of my New Year's resolutions is to read a book a week. I did well the first two weeks of January, but then got a little off-track later in the month. (More on that later.)

Grendel by John Gardner
I love Beowulf, so I was excited to read this retelling from Grendel's point of view. Gardner captures the sense of the Old English language (which I love), but he also uses the postmodern techniques of stream of consciousness and multi-genre writing to good effect. At times, the language and story are revoltingly jarring and Grendel exemplifies anti-Christian, existential philosophy. Grendel spends much of the book raging against God and against the society that has rejected him.
Grade: C

Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye? Trusting God with a Hope Deferred by Carolyn McCulley
Excellent book. A well-written, encouraging book for Christian single women. I especially appreciated her discussions of the Proverbs 31 woman and the single woman's role in the church.
Grade: A


I almost never read more than one book at a time because I get distracted when I do that, but for some reason I started three books at once at the end of January. Therefore, I still haven't finished any of them. (I'm pretty close with a couple, though.) I'll review the books in my "February Book Review" when I finish them.

Books I started reading in January:
Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
Because this book came highly recommended by my brother who recently followed Ramsey's advice and got out of debt exceedingly quickly, I bumped this book up on my reading list and tackled his "baby steps" plan immediately.


Culture Warrior by Bill O'Reilly
Very interesting read, but sometimes O'Reilly rants self-righteously and defensively and excessively.







The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within by Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry is an excellent non-fiction, fiction, and poetry writer. Just the foreword and "How to Read this Book" sections had me in stitches and pleased me with the pleasant phrasing.