The Scent of Rain

Daphne Sweeten is a "nose."  That means she has been trained to distinguish 5,000 different scents.  Her sense of smell is her livelihood.  When she loses that ability after being dumped at the altar, it jeopardizes not only her career, but also her life.

Three locations are mentioned in this book - San Francisco, Paris, and Dayton, OH.  Many of author Kristin Billerbeck's books are set in the San Francisco area and it seems to be the setting she does best and in this book it is Daphne's hometown.  Paris is only mentioned as the place where Daphne trained and worked prior to her ill-fated wedding and where she wants to return.  The main setting is Dayton, which isn't described much and came across to me as a bleak place to live.

Author Kristin Billerbeck has written many books that I have enjoyed.  I would place The Scent of Rain somewhere in the middle if I were to line them up in order of preference.   The story is good, but the pacing seemed hurried at the end.

Books by Kristin Billerbeck that I would recommend are Split Ends, The Spa Girls series, and What a Girl Wants series. 

44 Scotland Street 

Alexander McCall Smith, author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, wrote in the introduction to 44 Scotland Street that the book was written in a serial format for newspaper publication.  Therefore, the chapters are short and there are plenty of them.  

44 Scotland Street is about the residents who live at that address in Edinburgh, Scotland, and the people with whom they come in contact. 

I have no strong feelings about this book.  The characters were okay, but they weren't very deep.  As this is the first book in a series of eight, I hope the characters will be fleshed out more in future books.  I doubt I will be reading those books, though.  Too many other books in the pipeline.

A knowledge of Scotland and Edinburgh in particular would have enhanced my enjoyment of the book.  Locations and Scottish notables were mentioned which were unfamiliar to me.  If you do read this book, I would recommend a bit of research into Edinburgh to pave the way.

As a side note, if you have not seen the television series based on the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books, you are missing a real treat.  Unfortunately, only one season has been made so far, but it is excellent.

Violet Incredible, Authoress

Recently I read Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell. In case you don't know, Sarah was the voice of Violet in The Incredibles. Assassination Vacation is Sarah's account of travelling around to sites associated with three U.S. presidents who were assassinated - Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley. Interestingly, Robert Todd Lincoln, Abe's son, had some sort of connection with each assassination. I must say I learned a lot from this book. Not just about the presidents, but about our country and its policies and politics. It might surprise you to discover what people will actually place in a museum to commemorate a person or occasion. Although Sarah Vowell and I differ in some of the beliefs we hold dear, I find her to be an entertaining and informative writer.

A Simple Gift

What would you do if you found out that your grandfather had done something noble while at the same time perpetrating a lie about his background? If you are Ted Gup, you write a book entitled A Simple Gift.

In December 1933, during the Depression, a man calling himself A. Virdot put an ad in a Canton, OH newspaper offering to send $10 to 75 people who would write and tell him their stories. The response was so great that he decided to halve the amount given and double the number of people helped.

In 2008, through the gift of an old black suitcase filled with papers, Ted Gup discovered that A. Virdot was his grandfather, Samuel J. Stone. He eventually began a journey to discover the stories behind the recipients of the gifts and the true history of his grandfather. A Simple Gift is the result of that journey.

This book gives insight into what it was like living through the Depression and what is was like to be an immigrant to the United States, just to name two themes included.

My thoughts after finishing the book are these. Even though my family experienced some lean times when I was a child, we experienced NOTHING like those in the Depression era. As a WASP (White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant), I have not experienced the prejudice or distrust of others because of my heritage, faith, or skin color. I have not had to live in fear that I would be persecuted or thrown out of the country because they no longer wanted people of "my kind" living here.

After reading this book, how can I not feel thankful for the relatively easy life I have had. I have done nothing to deserve all the blessings that have come to me and my family. It's all grace.

The Typist and The Girl in the Gatehouse

For different reasons, I find I am not reading as much lately. I have read a couple of books, so I'll give my opinion of them.


Julie Klassen has written historical books that I have really enjoyed - Lady of Milkweed Manor, The Apothecary's Daughter, and The Silent Governess. Her latest, The Girl in the Gatehouse, is another success.

Mariah Aubrey, for reasons that are not immediately divulged, has been banished from her family home by her father. She and her companion are sent to live on the estate of an aunt she has not seen in some time, where they take up residence in the abandoned gatehouse. As the story plays out, we discover why Mariah was banished and the secrets that abound in the lives of the characters of the story.

One reason I like Julie Klassen's books is that her characters are flawed. She addresses life circumstances that are not confined only to the 1800's, but are worthy of our consideration even now. But for the grace of God, we could find ourselves in situations that cause us shame and social alienation.

Another book I read is The Typist by Michael Knight. I saw a recommendation for it in the Books section of the Kansas City Star and decided to give it a try.

Francis Vancleave is a typist in the U.S. Army assigned to work in Tokyo during the post-war occupation period in Japan. In the course of his work and life there he comes into contact with various people, the most notable being Gen. MacArthur and his family.

Thankfully, this was a very short book. It gave me a small desire to further research the post-war period in Japan. The main character, Van as he is known, was not very interesting in comparison with the other characters in the book. Unfortunately, those characters were not fleshed out to the extent they could have been. This book could have been a lot better than it was.

A Resolution Kept

I am not usually one to make New Year's resolutions.

I have only made two that I kept for the entire year. One year I decided to go to one new restaurant a month, and it couldn't be one of the national chain restaurants. That was the year I discovered Smokehouse Barbeque, which until this year, was my favorite barbeque restaurant.

This year I resolved that I would read one book a month by an author I had not previously read. I work in a library. How hard could it be? Well, as it turns out, it was fairly difficult. Over the years I have seen books by very popular authors on the shelves. Why are they so popular, are they interesting? I was curious.

I am not going to mention every new (to me) author that I read. A few really stood out, and I will mention those later. Of the "popular" authors I did read or started to read, I was not impressed. The story or characters did not interest me, the language was too foul, the subject matter was better left unwritten - for whatever reason, I doubt I will read books by those authors again. Thankfully, there are many more authors out there to sample.

The first book I read that really stood out was The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I had put it on hold at the library and then when it came in, I couldn't remember why I wanted to read it. A friend told me it was on the bestseller list, so I decided to give it a try. It was a good read and caused me to think about a painful and unjust period in our nation's history.

The second book that made an impact was Hunting Eichmann by Neal Bascomb. It is about the hunt for Adolph Eichmann, a Nazi war criminal. What an eye-opener this book was in terms of who helped Nazis escape after the war. And no, the United States is not innocent.

The third book I would recommend is Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas. It is a biography of Deitrich Bonhoeffer, who was a noted theologian. He was also a spy and involved in a plot to kill Hitler. The meatier theological aspects of this book were hard to absorb at times, but it really caused me to think about what part one's nationality can play in how the Christian life is lived.

The last book I want to mention is Faithful by Kim Cash Tate. It is a book about four friends, who each ponder what it means to be faithful. It is written by an African-American woman and that only adds to the take-away value as it is a perspective that I need to acquire that as a follower of Christ.

Now I'm reading Muslims, Christians, and Jesus by Carl Medearis. I've already learned a lot, and I've barely started the book. I think I'll try to make this seeking out new authors a habit rather than just a resolution.

The Pressure to Know What You Want

I was just reading one of my favorite blogs, Stuff Christians Like, when I realized I needed to get something written. The blog was about "I am _______, but_________." Meaning I am doing something with my life now, but it isn't what I really want to be doing. It is not my intention to go into what that means for me. My thoughts actually turned to my son.

My son just started 10th grade about a month ago. He is taking a couple of classes at the high school in the morning and then going to a career center in the afternoons to eventually learn a trade. It had not been our intention prior to this Spring for him to attend the career center, but he was allowed to apply and was accepted. Our intent has been that he will attend college. It still is our intent, but we feel that it can only help him to learn a trade also.

I am learning as the days go by that high school is a high-pressure environment. Get ready to take the ACT. Decide now what course of study you want to pursue and what field you want to work in.

I am feeling stressed.

Years ago my son asked me what he should be when he gets older, and I responded that I wanted him to be whatever God wanted him to be. His response to that was "You want me to be a pastor?!" I laughed then and I still think it is humorous.

The thing is that I found my thinking on that starting to change. I began thinking that we need to really knuckle down and get all those classes in to make him a sterling college candidate. We only have three years to get him ready for life.

Yes, we do need to get him ready for life. But his life is ultimately in the hands of a gracious and loving God. We need to seek His wisdom on how to proceed and help our son develop into the man God wants him to be, not what we want him to be.

It is so easy to get caught up in keeping up with society. Having the wonderful degree, owning the right accessories (iPod, cell phone, big screen TV), going on the foreign vacations, living in the nice houses, etc. That is not what my focus should be, though.

I want to help my son discover who God created him to be. What are his gifts, what is his passion, what energizes him? If he is involved in something that involves those things, he will be on the right path.