The Fireside Grown-Up Guide to the Husband, by Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris

The Fireside Grown-Up Guide to the Husband is very funny, but I didn't find it to be to be as funny as the Fireside Grown-Up Guide to the Mom.  Maybe I took it too personally.  I don't know if Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris are dads themselves, but they hit the mark frequently.  Like the Guide to the Mom, they have a couple of simple sentences describing a husband, accompanied by pictures in a nostalgic, old-fashioned style.  Some of my favorites:

• "The husband has a very big memory.  He can remember football scores, all his old car license plate numbers, and most of Caddyshack.  But he cannot remember what his wife asked him to bring back from the store."  (Guilty.)
• "The husband finds some things very difficult.  Being wrong is one of these things." (Hmmm.)
• "Jimbo works hard all week and has only a few hours on the weekend to spend with his family.  He spends these hours watching sports." (Ouch.  This one hits close to home.)
• "Jim and Rebecca have been husband and wife for thirty-one years and he still does not know what she likes." (Can every man relate to this?)

And there's more, including multiple references to husbands having a wandering eye and, of course, being unwilling to stop and ask for directions.  This is funny stuff, but much of it is unoriginal, getting laughs out of tired stereotypes.  Still funny.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

The Fireside Grown-Up Guide to the Mom, by Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris

The Fireside Grown-Up Guide to the Mom cracked me up on just about every page.  Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris have written what looks like a nostalgic children's book from the 1950s.  With a couple of sentences per page and pictures that hilariously describe the life of a mom.  Some examples:

• "This is a mom.  A mom has two very important jobs to do.  One is to look after her children.  The other is to do everything else as well."  
• "Being a new mom is full of wonder.  [Pictured: a nursing mother.]  Sally wonders if her left shoulder will ever stop smelling of puke."
• "Bella's mother [who has not had time to do laundry] wonders what the record is for the number of days someone has worn the same bra."
• "When she was single, Debbie had nightmares about being left alone and unwanted.  For the last three years, someone has called for her every two minutes and watched her every time she has taken a bath or sat on the toilet.  Debbie now dreams of being left along and unwanted, even for just a few minutes." 

It's silly humor, but the kind of humor that will have mothers nodding and laughing in recognition of themselves, or at least of "other" moms.

Looking after the kids' pets.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

My Face Is Black Is True, by Mary Frances Berry

Born a slave in the latter years of slavery, Callie House deserves to be remembered for her work on behalf of former slaves.  In My Face is Black is True, historian Mary Frances Berry tells the story House's efforts seeking reparations for former slaves.  Even while working as a washerwoman, supporting her large family, House travelled about to enlist other former slaves in the National Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty, and Pension Association.  It was, in part, a mutual aid society, providing for burial and health care for its members.  In a larger sense, it was a lobbying movement, seeking to obtain pensions for ex-slaves, much like soldiers' pensions.

The military pension comparison was apt, since many slaves were recruited to serve the Union army as laborers, but received little if any pay.  For funding, House targeted a large pool of proceeds from the sale of confiscated cotton.  It was logical: the cotton was cultivated, harvested, and processed with the coerced labor of slaves.  The proceeds from the sale of the cotton should reasonably be returned to those responsible for its production.  Would that life were so simple. . . .

As you might expect, House and her colleagues faced opposition in the South.  More surprising to me was the repression she faced from the federal government.  Using laws against mail fraud, the postal service restricted her use of the mail to promote membership in her organization and to collect dues.  They claimed, falsely, that she was promising pensions when, in fact, she spoke about the efforts to persuade congress to enact a pension.

It's not clear to me that House accomplished anything tangible.  She was a role model, an inspiration, a pioneer seeking equal rights long before the equal rights movement, to be sure.  Unfortunately for her, the opposition was simply too strong.  Later leaders took up her mantel, but I think the reparations movement should be put to bed.  There are no living slaves or slave owners.  (I know there is modern slavery around the world.  I'm talking about U.S. slavery-era slaves.)  Determining who is eligible for reparations and who should pay is impractical.  Many blacks and whites in the U.S. are descendants of immigrants who arrived after the Civil War, thus would have no connection to slavery.  Some blacks perhaps should pay reparations, like Barack Obama, who is likely descended from slave traders in Africa and slave owners in the U.S.  I appreciate House's campaign, and am sickened by the treatment ex-slaves received after emancipation.  But the reparations movement has no place in the 21st century.

Berry does a wonderful job of telling House's story and placing her in context.  My Face is Black is True is a rich resource for both a personal and a political history of the decades after the end of the Civil War.  I especially enjoyed Berry's personalization of the story.  She grew up in the same area of Nashville where House raised her family.  The citizens and the government of the United States did not uphold the ideals of our nation in the post-Civil War era.  Reading about House and her co-laborers for justice should inspire us to look forward, seeking to leave our world more just and free tomorrow than it was yesterday, every day.


2016 Reading Challenge: A biography
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Shoot the Moon, Nicolas Dupont-Bloch

I have to admit, the reason I picked up Nicholas Dupont-Bloch's book Shoot the Moon: A Complete Guide to Lunar Imaging is that I wanted to look at pretty pictures of the moon.  There are few of those, but this book is much, much more than that.  If you desire to take pictures of the moon, this is an invaluable resource.

Dupont-Bloch covers a wide array of shooting scenarios.  For the amateur hobbyist on a budget, he has plenty of suggestions for using your smartphone, basic camera, or digital SLR to get interesting pictures.  For photographers with sophisticated equipment (or a budget to get some sophisticated equipment) he has more tips and techniques.  The portions that might be most helpful are his methods to rig equipment and repurpose items for filming or storage of images.

A coffee table book for the casual reader Shoot the Moon is not.  But for the budding photographer who wants to take the time and put forth the effort to capture coffee-table-book-worthy images, Shoot the Moon should be in his or her photographic library.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

The Religious Affections, by Jonathan Edwards

Is there any question that Jonathan Edwards is one of the United States's greatest religious thinkers and writers?  No.  Don't argue with me; it's true.  Now, why don't people read his books all the time, instead of Joel Osteen or Rick Warren or some other popular, megachurch pastor?  Probably because it's a lot harder to read Edwards.  Edwards wrote A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections in 1746, and the verbosity and vocabulary reflect that of a learned 18th century clergyman.  His style doesn't resound with most 21st century readers.

Archaic style and language aside, The Religious Affections is worth the time it takes to wade through (especially for readers who tire of the breezy, superficial books churned out by popular pastors today).  Edwards wants to make the point, still valid 270 years later, that religious "affections," or outward expressions of religion, do not make one a Christian, but should be present in Christians.  In fact, "they who have but little religious affection, have certainly but little religion."

What are the affections or signs that someone is a Christian?  By their fruits you know them.  humility, a changed life, Christ-like attitude, tenderness, an interest in spiritual growth, etc.  Edwards encouraged a spiritual striving and a life devoted to the pursuit of holiness.  He writes: "The more a true saint loves God with a gracious love, the more he desires to love him, and the more uneasy is he at his want of love to him; the more he hates sin, the more he desires to hate it. . . . The more he mourns for sin, the more he longs to mourn for sin. . . . The more he thirsts and longs for God and holiness, the more he longs to love, and breathe out his very should in longings after God."  Archaic or not, passages like this in The Religious Affections ought to stoke Christians' fire and encourage them to pursue the religious affections.

Read The Religious Affections in small chunks.  Like a gourmet meal, it takes longer to eat, and some may be unfamiliar, but it's delicious and worth the price.



2016 Reading Challenge: A book more than 100 years old
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Isabella: Girl in Charge, by Jennifer Fosberry, illustrated by Mike Litwin

Isabella and her family are gearing up for a big trip.  In Jennifer Fosberry's
Isabella: Girl in Charge, precocious Isabella insists she's not Isabella.  She is Susanna, the first female mayor, she is Jeannette, the first female member of congress, she is Nellie, the first female governor.  As they continue their trip, she embodies several more firsts, until her family reaches their destination, Washington, D.C.  It's a big event: the inauguration of the first female president!

Following Isabella's story, Fosberry includes an informative timeline with many more firsts for women in political life.  Isabella is energetic and impassioned.  Mike Litwin's pictures capture her passion and hint at the history behind each of her proclamations.  Someday, Isabella, we'll see a woman president!  I vote for Condolleeza Rice!  (Let's just hope it's not someone who got there simply by hanging onto her philandering husband's coattails, leaving a wake of corruption and scandal behind her as she pursued her self-serving, power-grabbing ambitions.)



Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

How to Talk to Your Cat about Gun Safety, by Zachary Auburn

Imagine a collection of pamphlets covering a number of social and religious issues, published by a right wing political or religious organization.  Now imagine such pamphlets written as a parody featuring cats.  Zachary Auburn has done it.  Under the auspices of the American Association of Patriots, which was formed by Douglas Auburn "in response to an illegal raid by the county sheriff of his home so as to rob him of the thirty-four cats he kept for protection."

Auburn's AAP covers hot to talk to your cat about gun safety, evolution, abstinence, online safety, drugs, puberty, post-apocalyptic survival, and satanism.  I generally have a good sense of humor, and although I am conservative, can get a good laugh at conservatives.  But I didn't find Auburn's book all that funny.  He has a few good lines, like addressing young cats' addiction to catnip, and cats "using their owners' credit cards without their permission, attempting to buy cans of illegally caught bluefin tuna."

I didn't like his completely unsubtle criticism of conservative views, especially his anti-Christian tone.  For this sort of humor to be funny, it should be done with a bit more subtlety and good nature.  Maybe I'm misreading him, but the parody seemed to heavy-handed.  Even more than that, Auburn's feline word plays were cute at first, but got really annoying.  (E.g., impurrative, "pawse for a meowment," "Don't procatstinate," "Purrotestant, Catholic, or a Mewslim," and on ad nauseum.)

It's sort of a funny book, but the jokes get old and the humor was not all that humorous.  It's litter box reading at best.


Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!