Bekah's Bookshelf: My 2023 Reads...So Far

 

I made a goal to read more fiction starting this month. So many of my recent books have been for work or just on the weightier side of nonfiction, and I needed to escape into the pages of a story for a little bit.

            And of course, for the first round, I chose a 460 page book. Ryan about had to sit down when I walked in the door with it. As you might remember from way back at the beginning of the year, I picked some titles to fit in a book challenge. I am so far behind on completing this challenge in a year’s time (which was truly never my intention anyway) but I have appreciated its presence in my life, pushing me to try new titles. This pick came from the challenge and completes half the “fiction/nonfiction pairing” category. The creator of the challenge said the fiction and nonfiction pairing could take place any way that made sense to me. I wasn’t sure how I would go about fulfilling it, but then I discovered that Beth Moore has a novel called The Undoing of Saint Silvanus and a companion book called Undoing What Has You Undone that is nonfiction. YES!

            Beth published her novel back in 2016, so I am definitely behind in getting to this one. I knew about it, but I hadn’t read it. If you’ve read here for many years, you know I’ve done several of Beth’s Bible studies, like Breaking Free, Believing God, Daniel, and Children of the Day, and I’ve read many of her nonfiction books, like Audacious, Believing God, So Long Insecurity, Get Out of that Pit, Jesus the One and Only…and more. Her nonfiction writing skills are inspiring, and I was so curious to see if she could do just as well with fiction.

            (I learned the hard way in college that writing fiction and nonfiction are two wildly different crafts and I did not have the talent for fiction that I always hoped to have.)

            I was thrilled to find that I love Beth just as much as a novelist as I do as a Bible study writer. I could hear her voice as I read (so yes, I read the entire book in a southern accent) and loved her word choice from start to end. I was actually sad I’d borrowed the book from the library, because I wanted to underline phrases on almost every page.

            The novel tells the story of Jillian Slater, a young adult who has lived most of her life on the west coast with her mother. She receives word that her estranged father has died in his hometown of New Orleans. Jillian returns for his burial, mostly because she’s offered a free trip.

            Jillian’s grandmother, who isn’t the friendliest lady in the world, owns and lives in an old church converted into an apartment house. Jillian discovers that she has no idea she’s been invited to the burial and isn’t warm toward her presence at all. And the apartment house seems to have stories and secrets that both beg to be discovered and to remain hidden. And then her father’s death turns out to not be natural after all. Jillian’s previously common and uneventful life suddenly spins with events – some dark and spiritual and some physically dangerous.

            Even thought the book is long, I sped through it, captivated by the storyline and the characters. I loved how even in a work of fiction, Beth incorporated a clear Gospel message.

            And I loved reading at the end of the book about Beth’s journey as a novelist.  She said, “I have zero interest in wasting time on something of little eternal value. I asked God over and over to please dry up the story if it wasn’t something He could bless.” She also said, “The story line is fictional, but the Savior is not. I have experienced no greater reality in all of life than Jesus Christ.”

            I am so glad I read the book and would happily read more novels if Beth ever writes any. (I am also looking forward to reading her memoir.) Now to find the companion book to finish out this category.