We Were the Lucky Ones

By Georgia Hunter

This is the remarkable story, based on true events, of a Polish family that survived the holocaust.  There were two parents and five siblings.  Despite the fact that almost all Polish Jews were killed during World War II, here is one family that survived.  The author is a great granddaughter, living in America, who discovers this story in her late teens.  Her grandfather simply did not talk much about what he experienced. 

She began researching the story and tells the story in a riveting novel.  All of the big events occurred, but she imagines conversations and many details.  One sibling escapes to France and then Brazil.  One sibling and his wife end up in a concentration camp in Siberia.  Several survive the war in Poland.  It is a moving account of the horrors of the Holocaust and one family’s survival.  I highly recommend it.

Alaska

By James Michener (Audio)

Michener is a superb storyteller.  This is his sweeping epic novel of the history of Alaska.  The only problem with Michener is he simply begins too early.  For example, he begins this novel in past geological ages.  But after a chapter or two he reaches the human element where he is so good.

He outlines the broad sweep of history under Russian control, including appearances by Peter the Great and other historical figures, mixed with the fictional characters. We learn all about various Eskimo and Indian tribes, as well as Russian settlers and others.  Then beginning with the U.S. purchase of Alaska in the 1800s, we get the history of Alaska as an American territory and then as an American state.

When you read Michener, you have a good understanding of the history of the region.

Guard the Gospel

By John Stott 

John Stott is my favorite New Testament commentator, and he does a superb job on 2 Timothy.  If Stott writes a commentary on a New Testament book, then that is the first commentary that I want to read.

Dorothy and Jack: The Transforming Friendship of Dorothy L Sayers and C.S. Lewis

By Gina Dalfonzo

This is a brief book on the relationship between Dorothy Sayers and C.S. Lewis.  They were both scholars and writers who lived about the same time in England.  They were fans of each other’s writings and became friends through correspondence.  At first their discussions were about literary and academic matters, but over time, much time, they became friends who wrote about personal matters.

The book is underwhelming.  The author includes excerpts from a lot of letters, with some comments, along with biographical information.  She seems preoccupied with how Lewis viewed women rather than with how each viewed Christ and the Christian life and literature.

A Burning in My Bones: The Authorized Biography of Eugene H. Peterson

By Winn Collier

Eugene Peterson, pastor, writer, translator of The Message, is an interesting soul.  Not in a bad sense, as if he was trying to be deceptive.  He was just unique.  He marched to his own drumbeat.  He felt no need to conform to culture, either in society or in the church.  He was raised amidst the beauty of Montana, in a Pentecostal family, with a fiery preacher for a mother and a butcher for a dad.

After college in Seattle, where he ran track and was quite good, he traveled to New York City for seminary.  There he found an aptitude for Hebrew and Greek, and later studied under the famed biblical archeologist and Hebrew scholar, William F. Albright.  However, he ended up, not as a scholar, not as an academician, but as a pastor. 

Over time, he began writing books, books that had impact. And then he ends up translating the Bible into contemporary language, from the Hebrew and Greek.  The result, The Message translation, has had worldwide impact.

Peterson always struggled to some extent as a pastor with the rhythms of pastoral life and work, but he had the heart of a pastor.

Before age 60, he retired from pastoring his congregation in Maryland, ending up teaching five years at Regent University in Vancouver B.C. 

He spent his remaining  years back in the land where he grew up, in the Flathead Valley of Montana.  There he continued to write, and along with his wife Jan, host friends and family.  After reading the book I jotted down words that described Peterson.  This is my list:  Humility.  Prayer.  Scholar.  Marriage.  Writer.  Montana.  Nature.  Reader.  Poet.  Pastor.  Gracious.  Unhurried.  His own person.

The man had depth.  The man walked with God.

He was not perfect.  At times he and his wife of 60+ years could struggle in marriage.  He felt he battled with drinking too much in the evenings, but no one regarded him as an alcoholic. 

But he was a man of prayer.A man who walked with God.A man that God used greatly.