Share Your Shelf-August

It's the first Thursday of the month, which means it's time to share what we read the month prior. If you want to add your own list link, or read what others are reading visit Tanya, Marilyn, Joanne, or Jenn who host this monthly book party. Here's what I read in August-

I had a lot of company this month and as a result did less reading than I normally would. I had two wins and two that were something less than a win. Actually one was a DNF (did not finish) which rarely happens for me. Here we go...

1. Among Friends by Hal Ebbot

Amos and Emerson have been friends for decades, since they were college students. Close friends who lean on one another for emotional support, advice, and camaraderie, and their long friendship seems to have stood the test of time. Emerson comes from a privileged background, Amos does not although he has become a successful adult. Their wives are friends and they each have a sixteen year old daughter. The families have spent a lot of time together through the years and the men are especially close. 

The story is set around the weekend gathering of both families to celebrate Emerson's 52nd birthday. A very serious and traumatic event occurs during the weekend, and the aftermath of that event makes up the remainder of the book. There are some flashbacks in the story which aren't always clear as flashbacks. 

As the weekend unravels deep seated resentments are revealed, and class tensions come to the surface. The men are forced to confront the choices they must make about friendship, loyalty, and truth. 

In my mind, there was no choice to be made, the right way forward was abundantly clear, yet somehow it was agonized over and considered from absolutely every conceivable angle. And as to 'why' the event occurred the reader is left to mostly figure that out for him/herself. 

I'm not sure how this ended up on my to-read list, but it wasn't worth the time I spent reading. I gave it two stars because I did read all the way to the end waiting for some big revelation, which sadly did not materialize. 

2. Holiness by J. C. Ryle

I absolutely loved this book. In my top ten. I was reading it on the beach and hubs asked me if I was studying for an exam lol. I had highlighter in hand and was furiously underlining what felt like every other sentence. So full of wisdom and insightful commentary. 

Ryle was an evangelical Anglican bishop who came to faith while attending Oxford. His book was first published in 1877, but feels like it could have been written today. I found myself reading and nodding my head and then would suddenly remember it was written more than a hundred years ago. 

Each chapter is a separate paper, some of which were sermons, all focused on scriptural holiness and what that means. Without overstating things this book felt life changing to me. I wanted to take my time with it, and I did. I will go back to what I've highlighted and read again from time to time. It's challenging, convicting, encouraging, and easy to read in spite of the date of publication. 

If you're a Christian and haven't read this one I highly highly recommend. If you're not a Christian I still recommend. Five stars for me. 

3. Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Gray 

This might seem an odd choice, but I really enjoyed this one. Hubs wanted to read it so I downloaded on Audible and we tried listening on our drive to Hilton Head. He found it too slow moving with a lot of description initially, but I stuck with it and was glad I did. We have to be in the right frame of mind to read certain books and classics for sure fall into that category. They tend to be more descriptive, so you have to be patient and get the rhythm the author is going for. The pace on this one definitely picked up. 

Riders of the Purple Sage is considered the first novel in the western genre. Not my normal pick, although I did love Lonesome Dove and all the Tony Hillerman mysteries set on the Navajo reservation. 

I didn't know anything about the plot of Riders before hitting play, but in a nutshell it's the story of a devout Mormon woman named Jane Withersteen who has inherited a sprawling ranch from her father. Jane is under pressure from the church to marry an elder and add her land, herd, and particularly her water/spring to the Mormon settlement there. When she resists the elder resorts to threats, intimidation, and more. A mysterious gunman named Lassiter, and another prominent character by the name of Vetners, have both been on the receiving end of persecution by the Mormons in the fictional town of Cottonwood in southern Utah, and they strive to come to the aid of Jane.  

I have to wonder what the Mormon reaction was to this book when it first came out? I read that during WW2 it was rejected for publication as an Armed Services Edition because of it's perceived bias towards Mormons. The fictional community in this story are fundamentalists with multiple wives. 

Also, this hit me as more of a romance with a western setting as opposed to a real western, but then maybe the best westerns have a little romance in them too? 4 stars for me. 

4. So Far Gone by Jess Walter

I was all over the map this month it seems. This one was a DNF. Ugh. It starts with the main character Kinnick, a former journalist, reluctantly having Thanksgiving dinner at his daughter's home where he ends up punching her 'Trumper' husband before taking off to live off the grid. All the cliches are unleased here. Not for me. I don't mind reading a book that reflects current culture, but I hate the sterotyping that so often goes along with it.