Saturday Review of Books: August 3, 2013

“Two questions I can’t really answer about fiction are (1) where it comes from, and (2) why we need it. But that we do create it and also crave it is beyond dispute.” ~Marilynne Robinson

Where it comes from is certainly beyond my ken. Ultimately, the true stories come from God himself, I suppose. But why do you read fiction? Why do you crave stories, if you do? For me, stories clothe and make sense of bare facts. Don’t tell me that five plus four equals nine. Tell me a story about five apples and four oranges, chopped into bite-sized pieces and combined to make a lovely fruit salad. I prefer the story of the salad, even if it doesn’t equate to good arithmetic.

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Welcome to the Saturday Review of Books at Semicolon. Here’s how it usually works. Find a book review on your blog posted sometime during the previous week. The review doesn’t have to be a formal sort of thing. You can link to your thoughts on a particular book, a few ideas inspired by reading the book, your evaluation, quotations, whatever.

Then on Friday night/Saturday, you post a link here at Semicolon in Mr. Linky to the specific post where you’ve written your book review. Don’t link to your main blog page because this kind of link makes it hard to find the book review, especially when people drop in later after you’ve added new content to your blog. In parentheses after your name, add the title of the book you’re reviewing. This addition will help people to find the reviews they’re most interested in reading.

After linking to your own reviews, you can spend as long as you want reading the reviews of other bloggers for the week and adding to your wishlist of books to read. That’s how my own TBR list has become completely unmanageable and the reason I can’t join any reading challenges. I have my own personal challenge that never ends.

1. SuziQoregon @ Whimpulsive (Secondhand Spirits)
2. the Ink Slinger (A Princess of Mars)
3. Barbara H. (The Last Battle, C. S. Lewis)
4. Barbara H. (The Wedding Dress)
5. Carol in Oregon (5 Great Endings)
6. Amy @ Hope is the Word (The Fields of Home)
7. Seth@Collateral Bloggage (Hell is Real But I Hate to Admit It)
8. Beth@Weavings (Hannah Coulter)
9. Beth@Weavings (Whose Body?)
10. Thoughts of Joy (The Silent Wife)
11. Hope (Books read in July)
12. Hope (Do you Keep a Book Log?)
13. Lazygal (Heartbeat)
14. Lazygal (The Lavender Garden)
15. Lazygal (My Favorite Mistake)
16. Lazygal (Chocolates for Breakfast)
17. Lazygal (Chimera)
18. Lazygal (A Dual Inheritance)
19. Lazygal (The Whatnot)
20. Lazygal (The White Princess)
21. Glynn Young (Rapture’s Rain)
22. Glynn Young (Olde Mysterium)
23. Aloi @ Guiltless Reading (This is Pradise)
24. Becky (Anomaly)
25. Aloi @ Guiltless Reading (Godiva)
26. Aloi @ Guiltless Reading (Return to Cardamom)
27. Becky (The Quiet Gentleman)
28. Aloi @ Guiltless Reading (Persephone’s Torch)
29. Becky (The Borgia Bride)
30. Aloi @ Guiltless Reading (The Mirrored World)
31. Becky (The Shade of the Moon)
32. Becky (Wool Omnibus)
33. Becky (The Grand Sophy)
34. Becky (The Magic Pudding)
35. SmallWorld Reads (And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini)
36. Beckie (The White Princess)
37. Chris (Gospel Call and True Conversion)
38. Joseph R. @ Zombie Parents Guide (Eifelheim by Mike Flynn)
39. Girl Detective (World Made by Hand)
40. Anna @ Diary of an Eccentric (The Language of the Fan)
41. Anna @ Diary of an Eccentric (Winter in Wartime)
42. Harvee (Tahoe Chase)

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2 thoughts on “Saturday Review of Books: August 3, 2013

  1. For me, I understand, comprehend, and remember things better in story form than through explanation. Besides just enjoying it. 🙂

  2. Thanks for hosting this, Sherry. It’s always fascinating to see what others are reading. (And I haven’t read “A Princess of Mars” since I was in high school!)

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