reading Archives

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

A Moving Memoir Author: Maya Angelou I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a powerful memoir about survival, about finding beauty and a voice even in the most desperate circumstances. It’s a story about self-definition, one that starts with five-year-old Maya watching her grandmother, a respected, educated Black woman who owned a shop, being mistreated by jealous white people. From the opening lines, then, we see that Maya’s growing up will be interspersed by moments of connection and cataclysmic disruption, unfairness both inside and outside of the family. Maya doesn’t belong anywhere: not with the white community and not with [...]

Frances Carden2024-06-29T20:24:49-07:00June 29th, 2024|Tags: book review, classic, memoir, read, reading|

All You’ll See Is Sky

A Memoir of Tragedy and Redemption in Africa Author: Janet A. Wilson Janet Wilson has had enough of her staid existence – of coloring within the lines, of abdicating her dreams, of the mundanity of daily life and an unexciting marriage. With or without her husband, she is determined to make a 25,000-mile drive across Africa, from Cape Town to Cairo. This time, she’ll answer the call to adventure, the struggle and strife of truly being alive, regardless of what’s smart, what’s responsible, what other people think she can and should do as a woman, a wife, a mother. Along the way, she [...]

Frances Carden2024-07-01T07:36:25-07:00June 29th, 2024|Tags: adventure, book review, journey, memoir, read, reading, reviews, travel|

Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions

How to Defend Your Convictions Author: Gregory Koukl Have you ever known the answer to something, but frozen when someone asked you? Real conversations don’t invite preaching. They’re often fleeting, relationship defining moments, and your audience may not be nice enough (or interested enough) to let you work through your twenty-minute, ten-step spiel. They may interrupt. They may expect a summary, not a discourse. They may be hostile or friendly or somewhere in between. In this evolving world of complicated moments between people, how do you defend your convictions without someone walking away mad? Does every question have to devolve into [...]

Frances Carden2024-06-25T13:56:37-07:00June 25th, 2024|Tags: Christian, nonfiction, read, reading, tactics|