These are two of my favorite things I received for Christmas. Thought I would give a review of them in case you were interested. The CD is wonderful! Chris Tomlin wrote or co-wrote all the songs. As always, the songs are directed towards God and are full of praise and worship. His heart is to exalt the greatness of God...and this CD does just that!Now, the book. Hmmm......how do I say this? Well, I still love Jan Karon, but this was not ( Sara and Kim agree with me!) one of her best. It is set in Ireland and there is a lot of Irish dialect to read and decipher. Also, lots of characters to keep straight and long excerpts from an old Irish journal that Father Tim and his wife, Cynthia, are reading. At times, I felt like I was trudging through the rocky landscape of Ireland that she describes in the book. However, as in all of JK's books, Christ was exalted and He used Father Tim to demonstrate His love to the unlovely. The ending was good.....it just took a long time to get there! :-) I'm glad I read it, because if there is another "Father Tim" book, she will refer to events or people in this one and it is more meaningful if you have been there with the characters. On the book jacket, the author says, "of all the novels I have written, this is my favorite." It would be interesting to know why. So? In my opinion.... buy the CD......borrow the book! ha! ha!
I am so glad you wrote a review. I read it a little bit today. I made it to the journal and could not make heads or tails of it and as I had already read a few chapters I just didn't have the heart to go on. I just can't figure this one out. I am glad you wrote that Christ is glorified so I will stick it out just for that. I have read all of Charles Dickens, dialog doesn't bother me, but this one is so different and I wonder why, I will maybe ponder this until the end of the book. :)
ReplyDeleteI am glad you shared your gifts. So glad I have
this book to talk to someone about. I would think I was nuts. :)
Oh how concise - "buy the CD, borrow the book!"
ReplyDeleteI haven't read many of Jan Karon's more recent books but I do love her first series.
I know what you mean by not having time to be as creative as you like. This past year we've moved and are renovating and our youngest daughter was married in September. Those things take a tremendous amount of time and energy, don't they?
Here's to a creative 2011!
Oops! I gave my Mom that book for Christmas. She had one Father Tim book prior to this one, and I liked it a lot. The dialect thing would probably get to me while reading it. I like just plain old english. My Mom may not enjoy it. Oh well. As for the CD I almost bought it the other day, and just wasn't sure. May have to give it a try. Thanks for the review, and will be so excited to have things back together over here. Have a blessed week. Jackie
ReplyDeleteSeveral years ago, my sister and I were shopping together and she picked up the latest "Mitford" book to read the jacket. She groaned and moaned, "I didn't want to know that!" She was only a couple of books into the series, and the blurb she read referred to Cynthia as Father Tim's wife. NOT something she wanted to know was going to happen! ;)
ReplyDeleteI, too, like your advice to buy the CD and borrow the book.
Oh, I have to say I am disappointed. JK's books are my absolute favorite and with a gift card for a local Christian book store that I received as a gift - I thought I was set. But, I think I will borrow the book:)
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed looking through your past posts - trying to catch up a bit - and loved your post about your friend for life! We cannot always say that about lots of our friends, but when we find one....what a blessing!! Are you two still working together??
Hope you are enjoying a good start to the week? Snow (or ice) in your forecast? Oh my. Keep warm, friend. And thanks for stopping by my blog so often and your sweet comments - they encourage me!