Tag: Beth Moore

Book Talk Tuesday: ALL MY KNOTTED UP LIFE

Published on by Live Vi-Carrie-ously

Okay. So anyone who reads my blog posts semi-once-in-a-while, know I’m a big Beth Moore fan. I’ve done most (all?) of her Bible studies. I’ve admired the way her theology understanding has grown and her willingness to say that what she believed when she recorded (insert issue/topic) was before she fully studied the Scripture regarding (same issue/topic)

Long story to say, Beth is someone I respect and someone I look to for teaching.

So it’s disappointing, that we’re currently members of a church that has no official “position” on Beth Moore. But, they closely follow a prominent teacher in the conservative Christian community who has publicly dismissed Ms. Moore, both her ministry and her personal life, not to mention her teachings. I believe God is sovereign and we’re at the church we’re meant to be, and, of course, liking a teacher or author is not a condition for salvation, so I’m okay.

God gave me the Spiritual Gift of Discernment. It’s taken me a long time to understand what that means and entails. Sometimes, I’ll hear a snippet of something, or notice a behavior, and tuck it away to think about later. Many times, something else happens, maybe a year or three after, and I’ll realize that earlier inkling was a red flag to my discernment.

I’ve read a LOT of Beth’s material, including her Bible studies, her non-fiction books, her fiction, (Hey! I even posted a non-4-star review. Because, in my opinion, it didn’t deserve one.)

All that to say, I loved ALL MY KNOTTED-UP LIFE, the memoir Beth released last year.

It’s honest, vulnerable, and transparently authentic. She talks about her past, the abuse she suffered as a child, struggles in her marriage, and some of the issues she and her husband faced together.

After purchasing the book in hardcover (which I rarely do anymore), and reading it, I passed it on to one daughter and gave the other a copy of the audio book. Whatever you’re preferred reading medium is, I highly recommend you grab a copy.

I’d love to know what you think! Feel free to drop me a line at carrie@carriepadgett.com!

Book Talk Tuesday: THE UNDOING OF SAINT SILVANUS

Published on by Live Vi-Carrie-ously

I’m a huge Beth Moore reader. I’ve done many (most?) of her in-depth Bible studies. I’ve read her non-fiction books. I’ve attended several of her live events. If Beth wrote it, more than likely I’ve read it.

unssSo I was super excited to be able to preview her first foray in fiction.

The Undoing of Saint Silvanus.

I expected to love it. I wanted to love it.

I was only given the first four chapters to read, so I’m going to believe I would have loved the whole book.

Jillian Slater is working as a waitress for the man she loves and lives with in San Francisco when she gets a call that the father she hasn’t seen in twenty years is dead. She’s offered a free trip to New Orleans to see her grandmother and help with the arrangements.

Jillian heads to New Orleans and promptly wants to leave.

Her grandmother didn’t know she was coming. Adella, her grandmother’s assistant, arranged Jillian’s passage. As Jillian prepares to leave, more information about her father’s death is shared.

That’s where my excerpt ended.

The opening didn’t grab me. The characters felt like cardboard archetypes rather than fully realized people living on the page. The writing is pretty good. The story has lots of backstory woven into the first pages, a no-no for current writers who are told to get to the current story ASAP and stay there.

I’ve been trying to review only books that I absolutely loved and it pains me horribly to give only three stars to this one, but I can’t give it any more without reading the rest of the novel.

If I had the whole book, I would have finished it. I don’t know if I would have recommended it.

I received a free excerpt of The Undoing of Saint Silvanus from Tyndale House and NetGalley in return for a honest review.