Reading Round-Up

The Lone Wolf by Piccolt.  Piccolt had interested me this year in the way she tells the story; first person, with each main character is given their own voice, chapters and type setting. It’s simplistic but very effective. Plus, though she used dues ex machine way too much, I’m fascinated by the social issues she tackles. In Lone Wolf, Luke, a national hero for his work among wolves, is the narrator, sharing with the reader the vast similarities and differences between wolves and humans. Luke spent 2 years in the wild observing and living with a wolf pack. Lots of issues resulted, including a divorce and the dis- affectation of his son. Piccolt doesn’t drum the specie-est drum too loudly, and for that I am grateful, though at the end of the book I was left wondering just what point she was trying to make. More beach reading, especially if you want to know about wolf behavior.

Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore.  I ordered this book by serendipity (meaning it’s not the book I wanted but I’m so glad that I read it). It’s a touching testimony of 2 profoundly different men.  Ron is a Christian white boy who’s made it to the big leagues dealing art. Denver is a black man, who grew up in the south, share cropping for the Man, living in social, political, financial and emotional poverty. He finally breaks out and ends up living the streets as a way to escape the extreme prison he was born in to. A view into modern day slavery, culturally satisfied Christianity and the profound healing and changing life vision that a vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ can affect.

The Upper Zoo, a YA, coming of age novel by Michael Wolf. The protagonist is a Jewish boy who befriends an autistic Christian. During the course of the story he confronts infidelity, sexual abuse, bullying, social shunning, physical abuse, divorce and trauma. Not light reading, but a slice of what it was like growing up Jewish in the 1960’s. This is not a book I would give to my YA. It’s too dark and really rates as a tragedy.  The redemptive value is definitely present but somewhat lost in the cesspool of ungodly living.