Month June 2023

What Moves the Dead – Book Review

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Book #13 of 2023 What Moves the Dead
By T. Kingfisher

I picked up the book “What Moves the Dead” solely because of the cover of the book. Very quickly the cliché “don’t judge a book by its cover” had proven true again, and the book was just okay.  The book is solid black with an image of a fungus infested hare. The fungus seems to have taken a life of its own, and seems to have entangled itself upon the helpless animal. The title also has an eerie ring to it, and you are left expecting a little fright. Frankly, the cover was better than the book!

The book is a reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Fall of the House of Usher”. In the book, the year is 1890 and Lt. Alex Easton has received a letter from her friend Madeline who has taken ill. As Easton approaches her friend’s home, there is obvious evidence that something is off with the house where Madeline lives. There is fungus everywhere and it seems like it has taken a life of its own. We later find out that Madeline is also not really herself. She speaks funny. She sleepwalks at night. Her brother who is taking care of her is also a little off. And the lake that sits near the house seems alive somehow.

The book is definitely a Gothic novel. I really think that Ms. Kingfisher is a great writer, but I do have a small bone to pick with her. In the book, Alex Easton is from a country named Gallacia. Gallacia is a made-up country and so is its language Gallacian. In the Gallacian language there are over 7 pronouns (ta, tha, than, var, ka, kan,va, van are some of them) used to describe male, female, their ages, their occupations, God, and even inanimate objects. I just don’t understand why there are so many, since it is made up I would have liked it to be a little easier. The book stops several times to talk and explain about the proper use of Gallacian pronouns. It seems awkward to include this, and I found Lt. Easton’s pronoun mentality very unappealing due to the fact that in the 1890’s, pronoun preferences were really not on anyone’s radar. Personally, I speak 2 other languages other than English, and I understand that pronouns can be tricky, but this made-up language felt needless in such a short book, and destroyed the growing suspense Ms. Kingfisher was building. Here is an excerpt of what I mean: “Of course va did. Va doesn’t mean to. Va slowed the process as much as va could, but va couldn’t help but feed a little.” Va is the pronoun used to identify that you are talking with a child according to Gallacian. So, the person speaking was talking about a child. Why not just say that? All of this pronoun verbiage ruined the flow of a very well written book. I would understand a book that included pronoun preferences if the book was set in the present, but this is the late 1800’s, in Englad. According to the book, the pronoun “ka” is genderless and applies to soldiers, so Lt. Easton kept that pronoun after her service, but this feels a bit too crammed for me. Even if Gallacian is a made up language, this whole pronoun arrangement seemed bias. It felt like Ms. Kingfisher had an agenda she wanted to shove down my throat and I didn’t appreciate it.

I can set all this aside though. The book was creepy and dark. It actually entered into my nightmares! My nightmare actually included digging long tapeworms out of my ear – thanks to the autopsy scene! The book was well written, but Lt. Easton just didn’t seem real. She was too “woke” for a person who lived in the 1890’s. The other characters were also okay, but because there was an imaginary country with its own language, there had to be some world building of its culture in the story. So instead of more story-telling or character development, we have so many more explanations that seem excessive for such a short book.

If you like Gothic books and don’t mind awkward pronoun usage, you will probably like this book.

I give this book 2.5 stars out of 5.
This book is 165 pages long and has a Goodreads rating of 3.96.
What Moves the Dead was published July of 2022.

Other books in this genre that I did enjoy and do recommend are:
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Beloved by Toni Morrison

John Newton – An Amazing Life

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Book #11 of 2023

For a reader, it is hard to judge books sometimes. The writing style may be great, but the content not so much. Sometimes, the book contains a great plot, but the writing fell short. Then there are books or characters who we can’t stomach because they are so cringey, and sometimes grammatical error causes us to wonder “who was their editor?”. Although all of these things may be true, mercifully, once in a while, a book comes along and changes our lives. The book touches our soul and inspires us to be better humans. It’s the kind of book that ends too quickly and then leaves us sad when we finish it. This is what John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace written by Jonathan Aitken was for me. It is a a biography of the man who famously wrote the classical hymn “Amazing Grace”. He was the man who counseled William WIlberforce to stay in politics and not become a preacher so he could to lead the way in the abolition of the British Slave Trade. Ahead of his time, he was a free thinker seeing how Christians not only need to pervade in church, but also in politics, culture and the secular realm.

I do believe in having Christian schools, Christian music, Christian literature, Christian art is important, but what John Newton’s philosophy was that Christians should teach well, make music well, write well and basically create well; and to do such a good job at what we do that the world notices our music, our art, our books. Culture shapes us, and I believe that the Church is not leading when it comes to contributing to it. We – to our chagrin – have let the culture permeate ours. Whatever you do, do it as if you would the Lord, unfortunately I think we have not done that.

If you are a jeweler, make great jewelry. If you are an author, write amazing stories. If you are an educator, teach your students and ignite their passions. Sometimes, I feel that we just want to create and because it has a “Christian” label, we say it is good. Or we wish to seperate ourselves so much from the world that we become obsolete. May this not be. We were made not only to share the Gospel and sanctify ourselves, but also we are to be like our Creator and create good things . Here is what Martin Luther says about this subject:

“The Christian shoemaker does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.”

This book has gone on my shelves – and I am very picky about what goes into my shelf because these are the books I hope to pass on to my children or grandchildren. The book is now full of highlighted quotes and scribbles of thoughts and wondering.

Reading about the life of Mr. Newton before he came to salvation was shocking at time

He was a wretch of the worst kind, but Jesus saved him. “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I am found. Was blind, but now I see.” Mr. Newton along with his friend William Cowper wrote beautiful hymns about their love for God. Mr. William Cowper is another biography that I can’t wait to read. He struggled with depression and mental health problems and unfortunately took his own life. John Newton, several times intervened from Mr. Cowper’s suicidal attempts. Also, William Wilberforce, in a time when it was not popular, advocated for not only against the slave trade, but also the rights of animals and their proper treatement. Hannah Moore, another friend of Mr. Newton, was a proponent of teaching all children to read and write – another unpopular idea. Their faith is what moved them to then eventually move the culture. What minds surrounded such a man! I want to be like him! I want all kinds of minds and opinions around me – not just an echo chamber! I want to let the Word of God move me in such a way that it moves the culture around me. I want all that I touch to be the best and to honor God.

Christian, if you have a talent, use it for God’s glory! Be the best at it and let that talent shine on into the darkness that this world produces ad nauseum.

I highly recommend this book if you like biographies or if you want to be inspired by such a tumultous and simultaneously beautiul life as was the life of John Newton. The book is 328 pages long. This book is 5 stars out of 5!


The Pale Horseman

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Book #10 of 2023
I will not stop talking about how much I have enjoyed this series so far Uhtred is a piece of crap sometimes, but he knows it and doesn’t care. I sometimes love his character and sometimes hate it. In this book, Uhtred continues to try and fight for his land. He still struggles between being a Saxon or a Dane. Three of the four kingdoms have fallen to the Danish Vikings. King Alfred and his small family are exiled to a small marsh land. There are not many soldiers supporting Alfred, but the few he has have to come up with a plan to keep the last bit of their kingdom alive. Will Uhtred be able to stay loyal to Alfred? We are also introduced to two new intriguing characters – Iseult and Svein the White Horse. Iseult is a sorceress who steals the heart of Uhtred and is hated by Alfred’s wife Aelswith. She is very important in this book and I really loved how her character developed. And then we have the “villain” and the nemesis of ALfred – Svein. He is a Danish Viking warrior who is raising havok along the Northern lands and is finally met with Uhtred and Alfred’s army. What insues is amazing and I felt that I was a shield maiden along with these warriors. Mr. Bernanrd Cornwell does an incredible job making the reader feel like they are there in all of the action. I was shocked several times at what happend!

This is the second book in the series and it may be better than the first one! One of my reading goals is to finish the series this year. I have 11 more books to go!

If you enjoyed the Last Kingdom series on Netflix and like historical fiction, I highly recommend this book series. So far, the Netflix series has been closely following the book series – to its credit. I’m so happy that they did, but even knowing how the Netflix series ends, I still felt the tension that grows within the book and was surprised several times with who survived, got injured, and who died.

This book is 433 pages long.
It has a Goodreads rating of 4.3