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I Am Hutterite by Mary-Ann Kirkby is a coming of age memoir by a woman who grew up in an isolated religious community and grew up to become a news anchor. The book begins with a bit of an explanation of why the author decided to take this trip down memory lane, and then leads into how her parents grow up, got married, had children, and eventually reaches the point where her parents decided to take their many children and leave the Hutterite colony in which they had lived, and also how Mary Ann herself reinvented herself to become “English’, and eventually became Mrs. Kirkby and established herself in the news business.

I’m really not a memoir reader. I dislike most non-history non-fiction. For some reason, I keep choosing memoirs from Thomas Nelson’s Booksneeze program, and I’m not sure why (perhaps because there isn’t much fiction in my preferred genres). However, I loved I Am Hutterite. It read like a novel, and had very little of the “but that was to change all too soon” in it.

While I’m pretty familiar with Amish and Mennonites (I grew up in and live in Amish Country in south-central Pennsylvania), I’d never even heard of Hutterites until a few weeks ago. I’d heard them all grouped together and was intrigued, but assumed that it was simply another sect like the Amish. Within days I noticed I Am Hutterite appear on Thomas Nelson’s Booksneeze page and immediately grabbed it. I’m so glad I did. I read the whole thing through on my recent vacation to Walt Disney World (and those who know me know that I rarely have time for reading there), and have just passed it on to my mother for her vacation. I highly recommend it.

Links of interest:Thomas Nelson’s Product Page, Book Preview

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of I Am Hutterite by Mary Ann Kirkby from Thomas Nelson’s BookSneeze program for the purpose of reviewing it.

Well, St Patrick’s day is about to leave on the east coast, but as there are a few hours left for the rest of the country, I figure it’s safe for me to post up my ever-so-appropriate-to-this-holiday review of The Search For God and Guinness by Stephen Mansfield.

Now, I’m not used to reviewing non-fiction books, and so this might be a little shorter, or scattered than usual (and that’s saying something), but when I was offered the chance to review The Search For God and Guinness by BookSneeze, ThomasNelson’s book review blogger program, I jumped at it. Despite the fact that I don’t like most beers, I’ve always been fascinated by them. In fact, when I get a house of my own, I intend to learn how to brew.

I’m also extremely touchy on the subject of Christianity and booze. Look people, drinking is not a sin. It never has been, it never will be. Getting drunk may be a different matter, but yes, you can be a Christian and drink. All the apostles did, most of the church fathers did, Jesus not only did, but said that he would again when we’re all reunited. Ok, I digress.

I’m not a fan of non-fiction in general, but surprisingly, this book is changing that. I enjoyed The Search For God and Guinness: A Biography of the Beer That Changed the World so much that I’ve purchased 5 or 6 non-fiction titles since receiving it. The author, Stephen Mansfield, is the man that wrote The Faith of Barack Obama which was such a hot seller during the election. He’s written several other biographies, and if they’re as good as this one, I may pick up one or two later on.

Despite the title suggesting that the book is solely about the beer, it’s mostly about the Guinness family and how the beer company funded and their faith fueled their philanthropy. Much focus is put on Arthur Guinness (often referred to as “the first Arthur” throughout the book) and then subsequently the line of Guinnesses that ran the company after him. Mansfield does follow several of the Guinnesses who chose not to follow in their fathers’ footsteps, but these excursions are brief though interesting.

Towards the end is an entire section devoted to the Guinnesses For God- the many missionaries and preachers to come from the Guinness line. I found this section, and the section on Arthur Guinness (the first) to be the most interesting to me, possibly because they were the longest sections to have a single focus. Sadly, there was little discussion of the actual beer, but the author did include enough information that a reader who is totally unfamiliar with the process of brewing beer should be able to follow along without difficulty. These snippets were my favorite part, and I wish there had been more of the actual beer in the book.

In all honesty, I felt that there was not enough focus to be a biography of the Guinnesses, nor enough focus to be a biography of the beer. Not that the author wandered from his intent, but that the intent isn’t as clear to me as a reader as I would have liked. I found the story of the Guinnesses to be very interesting to read, but I chose the book because I thought the focus would be on the beer. Nonetheless, I found myself itching to pick it up, and missing it when I’d finished reading.

Please note: if you arrived here by searching for a review of CJ Darlington’s Thicker Than Blood, or were sent here by following a link- in other words, if you’re not a regular reader of this blog, there is a little something that you should know before proceeding.  I am an aspiring author, and most of my readers are also aspiring novelists. We tend to read books differently than the average reader. And, in deference to my readership, I tend to review books from a writer’s point of view. In addition to this, the author has been a good friend of mine for about 15 years. Because of this, I know a lot of backstory, a lot of her personal history, and I also know some of what’s coming in the following books of the series. This does color my review a bit, and since it all factored into how I read the novel, I can’t leave it out entirely. This may or may not give you the information that you are looking for, but if you decide to stick around I certainly hope that you’ll find it helpful.

Thicker Than Blood by C.J. Darlington is a story about a pair of estranged sisters. Their parents died in a car accident when they were just teens. One went to live with an elderly relative, and then grew up to become a rancher, starting off as a field hand and working (and investing) her way into full partnership. The other ran away from her pain, ended up making some hard decisions, some bad decisions, and more or less mucking up her life.

The twist comes when Christy (the messed up sister) tries to rectify one of those old bad decisions and it puts her life in danger. She ends up escaping into the loving arms of her sister, though the reunion is anything but hugs and kisses.

Thicker Than Blood by CJ Darlington is a book about relationships. Relationships between sisters, between close family friends, between those of us who are totally messed up and God.

Now, it’s a common misperception that is founded in truth  that Christian books are nothing but sermons in thin polyester disguise. This is very true of many older Christian fiction books, and even currently of some particular genres and publishing companies. This is certainly not true of all of them, and most of the Christian fiction I read certainly doesn’t fit that category.  It’s also a hard line for truly talented Christian writers to walk. Many feel that it would be a betrayal of their faith to NOT put in a sermon or two, and others fear that allowing any shred of their personal beliefs to shine through might spoil the story or limit their market. For many others it’s simply a part of the story since it’s a part of them.  I bring this up, because there is a bit of overt Christianity in Thicker Than Blood. I can’t call it preaching, because it’s not. It’s something that’s kind of hard to explain, but in my opinion it was handled very well- not detracting from the story but adding to it. Your opinion may differ.

A common complaint that I heard about Thicker Than Blood by CJ Darlington is that there wasn’t enough romance. And this is true, in my opinion, but since I actually know CJ, I was personally surprised to find as much in it as I did!  Of course, I know who the main character ends up with in the next book, but honestly, I couldn’t help pulling for a certain different character. *sigh*

There are a few sensitive spots for a some people. If you’re vehemently Pro Choice, this book will probably irk you. There is also a physically abusive man in the book (the one that the main character-Christy- is running away from). This might be a little sensitive for some, although if you can handle it, CJ wrote that character really well. I mean really, really well. I’m not sure if it’s a compliment or not, but I actually think the abusive ex-boyfriend (Vince) was the best fleshed out character in the whole book. I’ve told her before that she should be a suspense writer (Thicker Than Blood is simply labeled as “Contemporary”), and his character just proves it. Although, maybe that would be more suited to a thriller. Not sure.  What I do know is that if you struggle with writing genuine, realistic baddies, you’ll want to pick up a copy of this book as a study guide. If you’re anti-Christian, just ignore the parts that irritate you and study his character.

I echo the sentiments of the many other reviews and comments that I’ve seen on my friend’s book- it’s really, really good. Maybe I’m biased, but with so many others saying the same thing, I think it probably doesn’t matter.  I noticed a missed opportunity to add a little more suspense to a section of the novel- a rare first edition Ernest Hemmingway plays a large part in the plot- if a part of the reveal had been left out till later, the suspense would have been raised for the next chapter or two. It’s not a big deal, but it could have made a big difference in the pacing of the book.

Also, I noticed, as did another reviewer, that most of the internal thought scenes were basically digesting the action that had happened in the previous scenes. No new information seemed to come out of those, and as a result, I felt as though the space was being wasted. I didn’t get to know the characters any better than I had through watching them act. I would have enjoyed a little more time spent learning about the secondary characters instead in the same space.

As far as I’m concerned, CJ’s debut novel is really strong, with a great story, no cardboard characters, and some really great insider info on the rare book trade (it’s her day job). Even though it’s not in the genres that I normally read (chick lit and fantasy), I did find it rather hard to put down at night. My mother said the same, and even told me that at one point she had to put it down over night before continuing because she found a Vince scene too intense to read before trying to sleep. She also told me that she’s planning to buy a copy for a friend of hers because she’s afraid that if she lends it, she won’t get it back.  She also found it amusing that Christy’s drug of choice was sherry.  Very amusing. I think she spent about 10 minutes giggling about Christy drinking sherry to me.  Yeah, mom’s cute.

I suspect that the fact that her book has just gone into its third printing (remember, it was only released at the end of December), and the fact that Amazon has actually raised its listed price by almost $1 means that other people quite like it too! Check out some more reviews of Thicker than Blood, then buy a copy, or come back here and leave a comment. If you’d like to win an autographed copy, put in your comment that you’d like to win a copy (Travis can’t enter because he already won a copy when I posted about TTB before- though it hasn’t been sent because I haven’t had a chance to get CJ to autograph it yet- but I should have that on Saturday- sorry it took so long Travis!). To win, you must leave a comment stating that you want it, have a blog or website where you will mention the book (you don’t have to review it, but you do have to at least say “Hey, I won this book over at Vixen’s blog!” though a review would be appreciated. You also have to live in the continental USA cuz I’m cheap, and leave a valid email address (the one you use to leave a comment is fine) so that I can contact you and get your mailing address if you win. Entries end some time around 11:59pm Thursday, March 11, 2010, give or take a few minutes either way. I’ll try to announce the winner that Friday, but I tend to be lazy and sometimes things happen to prevent me from actually doing anything that I should be doing. But, I’ll still notify the winner so I can get their mailing addy.

Aaaaaaand, I think that’s it! I really wish I could write a better review than that, but my writing brain just hasn’t been functioning lately.