Art? Or graphic design?

Google's doodle this morning recognizes the 102nd birthday of Agnes Martin.

I'm interested in the visual arts, so I clicked the link to learn more about her. She was an abstract painter who called herself an abstract expressionist, but others called her minimalist. I think the others nailed it. Here's a sample of her canvases from a Google images search:

How you can examine that body of work and not come up with "minimalist," I don't know.

I also don't know why artists like Martin win critical acclaim, and artists who produce work like this don't:

Young Sailors by Clyde Kirkpatrick

OK, full disclosure, that was a blatant plug for my uncle. But this really goes to the heart of what art is. I don't see any value in minimalist abstraction. Looking at Agnes Martin's work, I'm just not left with any sort of feeling at all. She's got some nice color combinations, but so do interior decorators and web designers.

Despite having written a novel about an artist, I have barely begun to study the topic. But one thing I am sure of. Art is not only the skillful execution of the steps necessary to produce a product: that's craft. Art evokes an emotional response. Not just "that's an interesting arrangement of _____" (words, sounds, colors). But "Wow, that really makes me feel _____" (peaceful, sad, joyous).

If art were just the pleasant arrangement of colors, then a lot more people would deserve the kind of recognition Martin got.

A must read for new writers

Writing in Obedience - A Primer for Christian Fiction Writers by Terry Burns

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is a truly wonderful book that will help Christian writers, especially novelists, clarify their place in the market. It helps us sort out whether our writing is a calling or an offering by describing the difference. It also examines the different types of audiences we may write for and how to tailor your writing for each audience.

The detailed breakdowns of how different stories need to be structured for these different audiences are alone worth the cover price. I have never seen that information anywhere else.

This book is a primer, so the second and third parts of the book contain a lot of information that will be very familiar to anyone who’s been around the writing block a few times. But then, this book is meant for the new writer, so that's OK.

The book is divided into three parts. Part One is packed with unique insights. Parts Two and Three contain a lot of the familiar material, but Burns's really excellent advice about how to keep readers turning pages is explained more clearly than I have ever seen elsewhere. Part Three is about how to get published, with an emphasis on the importance of perseverance.

The book is written in a casual, conversational style, as if you happened to wind up at a dinner table with Burns and Yezak at a conference and got to pick their brains awhile.

Even for those of us who already have a roomful of writing books, this book is a great refresher, and the inspirational angle is invaluable.

For a new writer, this book is a must read.

Disclosure: I received an advance e-copy of this book for review purposes.

This post originally appeared at kristenstieffel.com

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Heartfelt devotional for women with eating disorders

Hope for the Hollow: A Thirty-Day Inside-Out Makeover for Women Recovering from Eating Disorders by Jena Morrow

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This devotional is written for women with full-on, life-threatening eating disorders like anorexia and bullimia. I happened to pick it up while it was on a Kindle free promo, even though my dysfunctional relationship with food isn’t that severe.

This is a well-written, heartfelt devotional. It doesn't contain a lot of heady theological material, which for me is a downside. I realize for some, that’s a benefit.

The author uses the Message translation a lot, which bugs me because I feel Peterson takes a few too many liberties with the text. Nevertheless, the devo is packed with bedrock spiritual truth that can help anyone develop a right view of themselves and restore a right relationship with God and with the food he has given us to richly enjoy.



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Masterful storytelling and a thrilling ride

Prophetess by Keven Newsome

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I can’t believe I waited so long to read the sequel to Winter, a book I love dearly. Prophetess is one of the most amazing pieces of fiction artistry I have ever read. Can I give it six stars?

The book starts out with a puzzle to solve, and it rolls along, picking up speed until by the time you pass the halfway point, you are barreling at breakneck speed to an inevitable ending that is gripping, chilling, and jaw-dropping.

Newsome has mastered pacing. As in book one of this series, he tells two parallel stories set four years apart. This technique is hard to pull off, but he does it brilliantly. Every time he breaks from one story to return to the other, it’s at a moment when you cry “no!” because you want to know what happens next, but you also want to return to the other story, so you carom back and forth between them like a pinball, as the story bats you first one way and then the other full-tilt to the astounding climax.

Phew.

When book three comes out, it goes to the top of my reading list. Immediately.





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Helpful new perspective on sleeplessness

Surrendered Sleep: A Biblical Perspective by Charles W. Page

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


When I first saw this book, I was curious about how there could be a biblical approach to insomnia. The Bible doesn’t say a lot on this subject specifically, but it turns out to have a lot more to say about sleep generally than you might think.

If you’ve already read a lot of “sleep hygiene” literature, some of this book will sound familiar. But Dr. Page takes the approach to healthful sleep to a whole new level.

Whereas most sleep literature focuses on behaviors, Dr. Page understands that there’s more to sleeplessness than the temperature of your room or what time you turn in. He gets it. The things that keep us awake aren’t really our outward habits. The things that keep us awake are our inward anxieties and troubles.

That’s why this book has chapters on relationships, work, and finances—often tops on my list of late-night rumination. He also examines how a closer walk with God, while it might not put us to sleep, will make the sleeplessness easier to cope with.

Plenty of sleep researchers have said something like, if you can’t sleep after half an hour, get up and do something else until you’re sleepy. Which if you’re like me could mean you’re up until 2 or 3 a.m. reading or knitting. Or reading and knitting.

Dr. Page is the first writer I’ve seen suggest that if you’re still awake in the middle of the night, you should probably be praying about whatever is keeping you up.

The book contains a lot of thoughtful questions to probe what is troubling you and where you stand with God. My copy is now thoroughly highlighted and Post-It noted.

There are a few problems with the book; some awkward sentences and typos. The interior page design is striking, but kind of odd and distracting, diced up by dark horizontal and vertical bars. The exploration questions are placed in the margins over a dark gray background, so get a good dark pen if you choose to use the book as a workbook; otherwise your responses will be hard to read. But these are quibbles.

The writing is solid, and the book is well-thought-out and thought-provoking. It may not cure your insomnia outright, but it may lessen the symptoms. It will certainly make insomnia easier to live with.

Disclosure: The author provided me with a free copy of this book for review purposes.





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This book should be called 'Millionaire Mindset'

The Millionaire Map: Your Ultimate Guide to Creating, Enjoying, and Sharing Wealth by Jim Stovall

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The thing I appreciate most about this book is that the author early on emphasizes that "millionaire" means different things to different people. For some it literally means a net worth of a million dollars. For others it means not having to worry about money. Stovall allows you to pick your own definition.

The premise of this book is that it will help you devise a "map" that will lead you to a destination of financial contentment, but really it's more like an outline of principles than a step-by-step set of directions. It's more like Google Earth than Google Maps.

The advice is sound, but if you've read more than a few financial planning books, it will all sound hauntingly familiar. Understand your income. Control your spending. Invest prudently.

This is a good book. There's just not a lot in it to separate it from other good financial planning and investment books. The prose is flabby in places, with lots of repetition, and the author spends a lot of time talking about himself.

Still, the overall takeaway is that becoming a millionaire is more about your mindset and your relationship with money than it is about what you do for a living or where you invest. If you're looking to develop that mindset—a healthy relationship with money instead of a codependent one—then this book is for you.

I received a free copy of this book from Story Cartel for review purposes.



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NET Bible: New English Translation good but not great

The NET Bible: New English Translation by Biblical Studies Press

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I got this Bible free in the Olive Tree Bible Study app on my iPad. (Love that app, by the way.)

The translation was crowdsourced, which explains why it's inconsistent in places.

The editors show a propensity toward cliches, e.g., Isaiah 64:11, "all our prized possessions have been destroyed," where a note indicates the alternate translation as "all that we valued has become a ruin." Given the choice between the two, why would an editor prefer the hackneyed old set phrase "prized possessions" over something plain, simple, and more literal?


Other times, though, the translators appear to be needlessly striving for originality. In Habakkuk 2:14, for example, they write: "For recognition of the Lord s sovereign majesty will fill the earth just as the waters fill up the sea."

The footnote shows the literal translation: Heb. "for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, just as the waters cover over the sea." The poetic meter of the original has been eradicated in the translation, and for no good reason I can discern.


The translators have a journalist-like aversion to metaphor. Deuteronomy 26:8 reads, "Therefore the LORD brought us out of Egypt with tremendous strength and power(a), as well as with great awe-inspiring signs and wonders." Note (a) then says, "Heb. 'by a powerful hand and an extended arm.' These are anthropomorphisms designed to convey God's tremendously great power…They are preserved literally in many English versions (cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV). Well, yeah. I suppose that's why those translations are among the most widely used. I'd rather have the literal translation with an explanatory footnote than the other way around.



Diction choices are very odd indeed. There seems to be an excessive concern about helping "modern" readers understand the text, which results in pointless things like Jeremiah 13:1 describing his "linen shorts." I trust that modern readers are not so dense as to be unaware of what a loincloth is. Elsewhere, the plans for the temple are called "blueprints," a whopping anachronism.



The translators' notes are copious, almost overwhelmingly so. But I do like seeing the thought process.


The notes often highlight occasions when the translators have taken liberties with sentence structure. The notes will cite a verse or verses and then note that they are "one long sentence in Hebrew. The translation divides this into two sentences for stylistic reasons."


In one place, they have left what they consider a "long" sentence, with this explanation: "The length of this sentence runs contrary to the normal policy followed in the translation of breaking up long sentences. However, there does not seem any way to break it up here without losing the connections." The sentence in question is Jer. 15:4 -- "I will make all the people in all the kingdoms of the world horrified at what has happened to them because of what Hezekiah's son Manasseh, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.” Now, is that really so long? It's not unwieldy.

This aversion to long sentences and the anachronistic diction choices lead me to believe that this translation is aimed at readers with lower skill levels, e.g., young people and those for whom English is a second language. Yet the notes are highly scholarly, often delving deep into fine points of Hebrew and Greek grammar.


For example, here's the note on Jer. 31:19 -- "For this meaning of the verb see HAL 374 s. v. ידע Nif 5 or W. L. Holladay, Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon, 129. REB translates "Now that I am submissive" relating the verb to a second root meaning "be submissive." (See HALOT 375 s. v. II ידע and J. Barr, Comparative Philology and the Text of the Old Testament, 19- 21, for evidence for this verb. Other passages cited with this nuance are Judg 8:16; Prov 10:9; Job 20:20.)"

I have no idea what half of that even means, and I'm a pretty skilled reader. But not in Hebrew.

The notes are sometimes written so much for those with a seminary education that they are out of reach of ordinary laypersons. For example, on Mark 1:31, "...the fever left her and she began to serve (a) them," where note (a) says, "The imperfect verb is taken ingressively here." Not knowing Greek, either, I have no idea what an ingressive verb is or why it matters.

So I'm not quite sure what to make of the NET. As a Bible study leader, I find the scholarly notes helpful, albeit over my head at times. But because of the tendency of the text toward oversimplification and paraphrase, I'm not likely to use it in class.



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