In 2005 (at my little sister’s bridal shower) my mother rebuked me for purchasing my own “trashy lingerie†for my honeymoon instead of using the beautiful and elegant nightgowns she’d given me for the occasion. “You didn’t know I knew about that, did you?†she asked with a resentful edge…
Category: Book Review
One size does not fit all: Johnny Townsend’s “Marginal Mormons”
Big, bright smiles and perfectly-matched Sunday outfits as a row of beautiful children pile out of their mini-van — followed by the proud mom and dad — on their way to perform a string ensemble at the front of the chapel. Every Mormon can aspire to have a family like…
Seeing the box you’re in: “The Collapse of Belief” by Kurt and Barbara Hanks
Think outside the box! It’s easy to say, but hard to do. The trouble is that it’s difficult to identify the beliefs and assumptions that box you in. Our view of the world is built on so many assumptions that it’s impossible to be aware of (let alone question) all…
What would you do to get into BYU? Donna Banta’s “The Girls from Fourth Ward”
What if your bishop is a petty tyrant who loves nothing so much as the power he has over other people’s lives. You can’t simply switch to another ward. So, well… Somebody has to off him. But who? That’s the premise of Donna Banta’s delightfully entertaining and totally Mormon murder…
Book Review: Could I Vote for a Mormon for President?
Review of Could I Vote for a Mormon for President? An Election Year Guide to Mitt Romneys Religion, by Ryan T. Cragun and Rick Phillips, July 2012, Strange Violin Editions (strangeviolineditions.com). Could I Vote for a Mormon for President? is a well-written, thoughtful, fair, and balanced appraisal of the Mormon…
The Contradiction of God: Brett Cottrell’s “The Valley of Fire”
Theology can be confusing and contradictory. If God’s omnipotence and omnibenevolence can be reconciled with the existence of evil, it kinds makes you wonder what’s going on in God’s head. Even if it doesn’t make sense, it makes a great premise for a fantasy-adventure novel!! In The Valley of Fire…
A road-trip out of crazy: “Hippie Boy,” by Ingrid Ricks
Dad was a master salesman who could talk anyone into anything, and life on the road with him was the wildest adventure any kid could possibly imagine. Unfortunately, since he was often unreliable and occasionally violent, it wasn’t always the good kind of adventure — but it was a great…
The Armpit of the Mission Field: “Heaven Up Here” by John K. Williams
When John got his mission call to Bolivia, it was like a joke come true. Before the letter came, he and his friends had a running gag that he’d be sent there — because it’s the clich worst-possible foreign mission (see here for a coincidental example). Then he really got…
Struggling in the depths of Mormon faith: Stephen Carter’s “What of the Night?”
I also learned that the great stories of the world have second acts. This may seem like a silly thing to say, but so many stories set up the problem (the job of the first act) and then resolve it (the job of the third act) with little to no…
My place in Mormon history
A lot of people — upon leaving the CoJCoL-dS — are amazed to discover how fascinating LDS church history really is. It’s not just that the whitewashed history in Sunday School is incomplete and inaccurate. It’s that you’re force-fed this watery-porridge version of church history that inoculates many people from…