Fifth Friday Flashback: Arthur Trilogy

I had a lot of fun rereading books from my childhood and teen years throughout February, so I decided to take advantage of the fifth Fridays throughout this year and keep revisiting some past favorites. Because you can only flashback on months or days that begin with “f.”

Kevin Crossley-Holland’s Arthur Trilogy has sort of haunted me since I read it as a preteen (I think). It follows the life of a young boy named Arthur who sees the legends of King Arthur played out in a piece of obsidian. Arthur and Arthur-in-the-stone share some parallels in life, but it is up to Arthur to determine how what he’s seen affects how he lives.

The Seeing Stone is the first book in the trilogy, introducing us to Arthur and his family. At 13 years old, Arthur is anxious for his life to begin. His greatest dream is to become a squire, but his father hasn’t committed to that plan and Arthur worries that his dream may never come true. The strange and mysterious Merlin gives Arthur a piece of obsidian and tells Arthur that it’s a precious and secret gift that will reveal power and understanding to Arthur. Not long after, Arthur begins to see things in the stone, legends of Britain of ages past. And though their circumstances are different, he and Arthur-in-the-stone find themselves facing similar challenges and defeats. They are not the same person, but neither are they entirely different.

At the Crossing-Places opens with Arthur finally realizing his dream. He is going away to squire for Lord Stephen, and not only that, they plan to take the cross and join the crusade. But the fulfillment is bittersweet because of all the revelations that have shaken Arthur’s life. With home and family swept from under his feet, Arthur must learn who he is and who he wants to be. The more of life he experiences, the more questions he has about everything he’s been taught and everything he’s told to believe.

King of the Middle March meets Arthur in the waiting. They are prepared to sail on their holy crusade, but things go wrong at every turn. Arthur struggles to reconcile what his heart tells him is right with the hatred and bigotry that drives the crusade forward. Meanwhile in his seeing stone, King Arthur’s knights also struggle with faith on their quest for the holy grail. Slowly but surely King Arthur’s kingdom crumbles, but what will that mean for Arthur’s life?

Crossley-Holland’s Arthur Trilogy explores how history or legends can help to shape and guide a young life. Merlin gives Arthur the stone with no context or guidance for how to use it. At first, Arthur wonders if he is somehow the boy king in the stone. Though he soon realizes he isn’t, in some ways, he still is. The things King Arthur experiences guides Arthur de Caldicot as he navigates the tumultuous years of his youth.

When I read this series as a kid, I didn’t quite grasp just how much Arthur was wrestling with faith and with the teachings of church figures, struggling to reconcile their harshness with the things they say about God. I find it interesting that Crossley-Holland chose to explore this struggle in the context of Arthurian legend and the holy crusades.

Although I generally enjoy anything Arthurian, this series wouldn’t quite be for everyone. At most, it’s about 50 percent Arthurian. But, what Crossley-Holland includes is quite true to the stories. Even down to Mordred being the son of Arthur and his half-sister Morgan le Fay (this is understandably one of the bits that some retellings like to change).

Overall, I enjoyed the series. I remember enjoying it more than I did this second go around, but it was still an engaging story and a bit of a different take on the stories of King Arthur and his Round Table. It’s a coming of age trilogy that reflects many of the challenges and triumphs that each person goes through, even if the details and specifics are a little different for each one.

Wilderness: A stirring celebration of the great outdoors

I don’t know if I’m really allowed to use “conviction” outside of a judicial or religious/spiritual context, but sometimes when I read adventure books about people doing the same kinds of things I love or am interested in, I feel convicted for not pursuing more adventure. Sure, sometimes there are real things that get in the way and keep people (me) from doing things, but a lot of my roadblocks are things that are absolutely in my control to deal with.

Author Scott Stillman manages to walk the line between inviting his readers to experience the wilderness and gently calling out the people like me who get bogged down in excuses.

Wilderness Gateway to the Soul is not like most other books. It’s not fiction. It’s not a biography. It’s not even quite a travel and adventure log. More than anything, Wilderness reads like a kind of printout of Stillman’s mind while he is in the back country. He does talk some about the hikes he is doing, discussing location and nature, but he also waxes philosophical in places, showing city folk how the quiet of nature can stir up deep questions and thoughts that keep you company step after step.

It’s a challenging book to write a synopsis on, because it doesn’t have a plot or a real story. It’s simply Stillman’s journey–or a portion of it–captured as best as it can be in words. If you already love the outdoors, you’ll get it. If you don’t, you’ll either be intrigued or really confused about why someone would want to read this book.

I can tend to be a very visual person, like many humans. Pictures of magnificent scenery is a sure way to get me antsy to get out of the house and find something beautiful and breathtaking to look at. Stillman’s book could have included tons of photos from his many adventures, but instead he trusted his words to do the showing. In discussing the solitude, the quiet, the mindfulness of the back country, I found his words stirring a quiet, adventurous desire in me that is at least equal to the desire stirred by pictures.

Wilderness is a quick and easy read that doesn’t have any pressure or expectations. You can read a bit here, a bit there. You can read whatever chapter catches your fancy. It’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but you should be warned before you begin that it’s likely to leave you just a little bit dissatisfied at being surrounded by the city instead of the wilderness.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January: A beautiful and moving story

This book has been on my list for quite a while. And I bought the book with some birthday money last year, with every intention of reading it very soon. Well, it wasn’t soon but I have now read it and I’m filled with both the feeling of, “I’m so sorry I waited so long!” and, “I wish I still had this story calling to me, so I could experience it for the first time again.”

The Ten Thousand Doors of January follows January Scaller, a young woman who has always been something of an in-between. January hardly knew her mother and her father is always gone on expeditions, hunting for rare and historic artifacts for Mr. W.C. Locke, who acts something like a surrogate father for January. She’s done her best to mold herself to the gilded world of Mr. Locke, but January starts to realize that everything she doesn’t know is everything that she needs to know. The discovery of a small, unobtrusive book turns her world upside down and invites her to literally step into other worlds. Behind every door is a world, and each world has its own kind of magic. January must decide what she is willing to give up in order to find the place where she belongs.

This is the first work I’ve read by Alix Harrow, but I’m definitely going to add some of her other work to my reading list. I didn’t completely know what to expect going into The Ten Thousand Doors of January, but it quickly claimed it’s place as one of the best books I’ve read this year.

Harrow’s storytelling is engaging, fast where it should be fast and slow where the reader ought to linger. It was just a delight to read. It’s full of adventure, friendship, and love, mixed together in that perfect combination that keeps it from being too much of any one thing. Harrow is able to capture longing, loneliness, and the drive to find belonging, because “the place you are born isn’t necessarily the place you belong.”

I can’t say enough good things about this book. It’s yet another one of those books where the best way to know it is to read it. It’s fun. It’ll keep you engaged as you go along with January trying to make sense of everything that is going on and everything she is learning. And you just might find a little something of yourself in the story, too.

Book Club Review: Where the Forest Meets the Stars

I am often hesitant to read books that have any kind of focus on children and trauma. It’s hard enough to read books about adults going through awful things, but it’s worse to read about child trauma and know that it’s the reality for many kids in our world. And, whether traumatized adults or kids, not ever author approaches it well. But Glendy Vanderah managed to write a heartfelt and meaningful story in Where the Forest Meets the Stars that dealt with various kinds of heartache and trauma without glorifying or minimizing it.

Joanna Teale is getting grounded again after losing her mother and waging war against the cancer that attacked her body. She’s enjoying the solitude of an out-of-the-way research site when a young girl appears and turns everything upside down. The girl insists she is an alien, come to earth to witness five miracles and take the knowledge back to her own people. Jo sees a traumatized child who needs help. Ursa runs when Jo tries to call the authorities–who give Jo very mixed signals about reporting her concerns for Ursa’s safety. When Ursa comes back, Jo agrees to let her stay, just until she can figure out who the girl really is. Jo could never imaging the heartbreaking truth, nor could she have imagined how quickly Ursa would worm her way into Jo’s heart.

It’s not a spoiler to say that we obviously know that Ursa isn’t an alien, and yet as you read the book and see the girl sticking to her story, as you see Jo coming up empty in every attempt to identify the girl, you almost start to wonder… is she?

I appreciated how Vanderah worked in several clever and totally kid-like twists. Ursa won’t reveal who she is to Jo, but in the end we find out that she couldn’t quite bring herself to cast off her humanity. Instead, Ursa mixes reality and alien together so that what she says is true, after a fashion, only Jo doesn’t understand.

Where the Forest Meets the Stars is a story about healing. Physically, mentally, emotionally, Vanderah’s characters all have healing to do and they find that it is easier done in relationship with one another. They learn how to let go of the identities built around trauma and illness and instead embrace all the pieces of who they are. Each of them is running from something, but in the end peace only comes through confronting it head on and overcoming.

Some parts of the story will make you laugh. Other will make you hurt, maybe even cry. But the whole will leave you feeling warm and hopeful.

New Release Tuesday: 12 Notes On Life and Creativity

I’m a little embarrassed to admit that when I saw the advance copy of this book available, I was really interested but didn’t know a thing about its author, Quincy Jones. In my defense, I don’t know a whole lot about the inner workings of the music and entertainment world, and it still throws me for a loop when I realize artists don’t always write the songs they sing and record. So, there’s that.

12 Notes is a little bit biography and a little bit personal growth. Jones takes his readers on a journey through the 12 musical notes, each one highlighting a different lesson he has learned throughout his life. He covers a variety of topics, including putting pain to work for you, being prepared to take every opportunity, and pouring into the lives of others. Starting out with a hard lot in life, by all rights Jones should have been simply another statistic. But through passion, hard work, and willingness to learn, he capitalized on the opportunities that came his way and built a successful career as a musician, producer, arranger, composer, songwriter, and more. If it deals with music, Jones has probably done it.

Once I accepted the fact that Quincy Jones was a name I probably should have known (and contextualized it. I own at least one record that he produced..), I was quickly pulled in to his story. Despite his fame and success, Jones doesn’t present his story in a way that is self-glorifying. He gives credit to all the people around him who gave him grace and a hand up, and he mentions several people he’s paid it forward to.

Jones’ story truly is one of the American Dream, wholeheartedly pursuing a goal and achieving above and beyond. And though we can be very cynical and say that he was lucky or that times are different now (and maybe both are true, to a degree), the lessons Jones presents are lessons that apply to any goal, big or small. Whether you want to be an astronaut or an author, a comedian or a chef. Putting in the work and showing kindness and grace to the people around you is what sets apart the materially successful from the truly successful.

12 Notes is a quick little read, but also perfect to thumb through in little bites. Whether you need an encouragement to keep going today or you just want something uplifting to read over the course of a day or two, 12 Notes can definitely fit the bill.

Freeing Jesus: A contemplation on who Jesus is and how to find Him

Honestly, Christianity often feels like a paradox. On the surface, it’s a very simple faith. We get to know God and, in so doing, we learn how to reflect His heart and His love toward the world around us and we’re motivated to live differently than the everyone else, in accordance to God’s word. In practice, however, things often feel a lot more complicated. Some pieces we have to accept that we won’t really understand in this life. Most things are open to interpretation–or maybe not open, necessarily, but humanity interprets things differently according to perspectives. It’s easy to say we just live according to the Bible, but when people disagree over what it says or what it means, how do we know what is right? These are some of the questions Diana Butler Bass wrestles with in Freeing Jesus.

Having grown up in the Methodist Church, Bass knew Jesus from a young age. But throughout her years of exploring and seeking, she found that her understanding and perspective changed. She learned some of the different roles Jesus played in her life and how different churches and different people interact with those roles in different ways. The Christian walk means some beliefs will be challenged, some will be confirmed, and some will leave you questioning. She ends at what would probably be classified as a more liberal approach to her faith, but one that is open to how understanding it will change, and one that frees Jesus from the confines of church buildings and limited labels.

Sometimes reading books by scholars leaves me feeling like I need at least a intro to Christianity class so that I can distinguish all the different denominations and remember which famous scholars go with which groups. That alone makes it overwhelming to go confidently forward. But the point of Bass’s book, I think, is to highlight that Jesus is free from denominations and theological differences (at least the secondary issues). Jesus is first and foremost experience and relationship. All the knowledge, while good and important, can very easily become a distraction and a hindrance.

Bass points out an interesting thought–that when men experience God they write about it as theology, whereas when women (and other less or un-privileged individuals) experience God it’s just considered memoirs. But when Jesus is freed from our preconceived notions, we’re free to experience Him on His own terms, digging in for ourselves and seeing what He has to say just for us.

Freeing Jesus is definitely a book I plan to reread, taking time to really consider Bass’s words (I already read it fairly slowly, but I’ve got to match the slow pace with consistent reading so that I don’t lose the overall themes between reading sessions). While I may not agree with everything she says or even believes, I think there’s a lot to be gained from considering the experiences of others. I don’t have to look for right, necessarily, I just need to look for Jesus.