Les Misérables (Candlewick Press)

Marcia Williams is an author/illustrator known for her comic book style. Using this recognizable style and an approachable storytelling method, Ms. Williams has brought both classics and mythology to a young audience. One of her latest books is Les Misérables, the most famous work by Victor Hugo. I was first exposed to Les Misérables by my wife in the monumental movie that starred Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, and Russell Crowe. Having seeing that very lengthy movie, I questioned how Ms. Williams was going to make some of the stickier points in the story kid-friendly (primarily Fantine turning into a lady of the night and Javert's suicide). Thankfully, she chose to gloss over these details.

I have to admit that I am not a huge Les Misérables fan, and I only requested this book because I know my wife is a fan. However, this book made the story very approachable, and I enjoyed Ms. Williams illustration style. The text felt a little dry at times and felt more like summary than actual story. My wife also somewhat enjoyed the book, which is saying something, because she usually doesn't enjoy classics in the graphic novel format. She too has never read the original book, so she told me that reading through this version, she realized how much the musical/movie whitewashed some characters, particularly Marius. If you are a fan of Les Misérables and want to share that love with your 8 to 12 year old, then you might want to pick up a copy of this book.

This book was provided to me for free by Candlewick Press in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

C.S. Lewis and his Circle (Oxford University Press)

The Oxford University of C. S. Lewis Society is a group founded to discuss the works of C. S. Lewis, including his theology, fiction, and poetry. It is inspired by the Inklings and adopted a lot of their traditions, like retiring to the "Eagle and Child" after most meetings. Members include C. S. Lewis's friends, family, former students, and even his editor/biographer. To make a small sample of this meetings available to the public, Oxford University Press combed through the more than 200 talks given and published a book entitled C. S. Lewis and his Circle.

The book is divided into two parts - Essays and Memoirs. The essays focus on philosophy, theology, and literature with the memoirs focusing on memories of both C. S. Lewis and the Inklings. There are some pretty big name contributors in this book including Owen Barfield; Alister McGrath; Rowan Williams; and a personal hero of mine, Metropolitan Kallistos Ware. However, not all the selections were of equal interest to me. Some I had to force myself to get through, but others kept me so engaged that I was sad when they were finished. This is all a matter of personal preference, though. What I find interesting you might find a bore and vice versa.

Anyone who has read my other reviews knows I am a sucker for anything Narnia, so of course I found Chapter Ten: "It All Began with a Picture: The Making of C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia" to be the most fascinating. In this essay, Lewis's biographer Walter Hooper references a Lewis quote which goes, "At every tick of the clock, in every inhabited part of the world, an unimaginable richness and variety of 'history' falls off the world into total oblivion." This is the basis for Hooper's essay in which he talks about how so little of Lewis's work on Narnia survived because Lewis destroyed most of it. Thankfully, some of it did escape the trash bin, and Hooper shares with us how the stories came into being, grew, and evolved into the series we know and love.

Overall, this was a worthwhile read and one that will be of interest to C. S. Lewis fans and to a lesser degree, Inklings fans. I have read many books which offer opinions on Lewis and the Inklings, but few of them had contributions from people who actually knew the man. Therefore, it was refreshing to glean some first hand knowledge of the man. As I said earlier, not everything that captured or even kept my attention, but the essays and memories that did made the book worthwhile to me. If you are a serious fan of C. S. Lewis, like me, then you'll definitely want to check this book out.

This book was provided to me for free by Oxford University Press in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

Seven Last Words (HarperOne)

The seven last words of Jesus are some of the most well-known and well-reflected on phrases in Christianity. In them, both Jesus' divinity and humanity are on full display as we see a range of emotions, including pain, concern, and sympathy. Many sermons have been about these seven phrases and several books have been written as well. One of the most recent books on this topic is by Fr. James Martin, and is appropriately titled Seven Last Words: An Invitation to a Deeper Friendship with Jesus.

Seven Last Words was preached by Fr. James Martin at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. The book is seven chapters long and focuses on Jesus' understanding of forgiveness, doubt about the afterlife, parental love, feelings of abandonment, physical pain, disappointment, and self-offering. The grand theme of these reflections is that "Jesus's sufferings help him to understand us." What Fr. Martin means by this is because Jesus lived a fully human life, he went through things that we do and experienced things that we experience and thus understands us. This is hardly a novel concept, as it is discussed in the Epistle to the Hebrews that Jesus is able to sympathize with us, because he was tested as we were with the only difference being that He did not sin.

Each chapter/reflection begins with the Scripture passage on where that particular "last word" took place. Thankfully, it provides the Scripture surrounding the passage, and not just the "last word," as this is useful for context. The reflection, which is about ten pages, then follows. 10 pages might sound like a lot, but this is a pocket-sized book, so it reads very quickly. The reflection that spoke to me the most was the first one, which touched on forgiveness. In this reflection, Fr. Martin discusses the concept of radical forgiveness. We are called on to forgive, and that in and of itself is hard, but it is all the harder when the person you are forgiving expresses no remorse. Fr. Martin then recounts personal stories of others and one of his own on forgiveness. He even shares some sage advice that he received. "The only thing to do is forgive. Because it's the only thing that can free both parties." This kind of wisdom is sprinkled throughout the book. Overall, I found the book to be a quick read, and while it's very appropriate to read on Good Friday, you can benefit from it anytime during the year.

This book was provided to me for free by HarperOne in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!