Bad Girls of the Bible by Liz Curtis Higgs

Well although only two of us managed to read this book we can enthuse suitably about it to you all. Ms Higgs is very witty and readable in this interesting journey through some of the less heralded ladies in the Bible. The book's chapters are laid out with a fictional retelling of the woman in the chapter, an analysis of her story and then some application points in summary with an additional optional bible study bit at the end. This makes this book an enjoyable and thought provoking read and it has the potential for a very interesting bible study group.
I was impressed with the fictional stories about the woman in question at the beginning of each chapter. Ms Higgs uses a more modern day setting to relate the lesons from the Bible through her story telling. Two of the most evocative for me were the retelling of Lot's Wife and of Jezebel. The stories conveyed so much more than the 'well known' story, unpicking the motivation behind the mistakes. The book was particularly good at picking up relevant points from these tales and applying them to us twenty first century women. I was surprised and shocked at times to see elements of myself in many of these women.
As British readers we did wince at some of the writing, particularly being called 'girlfriend' on occasion by the writer, however this is a picky point. In general we would highly recommend this book as a readable and at times challenging book for any woman (or man for that matter) to enjoy. There are sequels to this book and I for one am inclined to explore reading more of this series as it proved really encouraging and challenging to read, while also giving me laugh out loud moments and a range of well written short stories.

Oriels Diary by Rob Harrison

Well this book proved to be more controversial than I thought when I suggested it!
The premise for the book is that it is the book of Luke retold through the eyes of an Archangel - i.e.the life of Christ seen through the eyes of heaven. Oriel is a fictional archangel and the book is written as a diary of the events of Luke. It is a fictionalised account, so the machinations of the angelic world are a premise of fiction as are the additional characters and discussions added into the basic storyline told in Luke. At times there are humorous comments such as Oriel's rebuke of Gabriel for always frightening humans when he appears to them, just prior to his appearance to Mary, having rendered the father of John the Baptist dumb. The panicked actions of the angels, trying to get the birthplace of Jesus sorted is quite interesting ,as it is clear that what they saw as an administrative failure on their part, was the planned work of their Lord. The descriptions of the crucifixion and resurrection were quite moving and very interesting for me personally as part of my review of this book. However the general feeling for the book was that it was quite lightweight and at times even considered a little irreverent. It seemed that a fictionalised account of the life of Christ did not sit comfortably with some of our group, largely due to the fact that it was Jesus as the subject matter. Mr Harrison has continued the series following Oriel's diary of Paul and the early church and the life of Moses. It is possible as these men were not the Son of God, fictionalising around the truth of their life stories may be less controversial.
I would encourage anyone to have a go with Oriel's Diary and draw their own thoughts and conclusions about what you may think of whether this idea works or not.

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

This was the very first book of our new book club and it was quite a substantial one to get through. The book is set in ninteenth century America and focuses on the character of Angel, a woman sold into prostitution as a child, who develops a hard attitude towards men to survive. Into her life walks Michael Hosea who has heard God tell him that Angel is the one he should marry. The story tracks the gradual development of a relationship between Michael and Angel, despite her every attempts to hurt, reject and run from his love.

This book parallels the story of the prophet Hosea in the Old Testament, which is a picture of Israel's constant unfaithfulness to God and also of his loving and forgiving nature, in spite of its rebellion. For Christians, Hosea is a powerful picture of Christ's redeeming love at the cross, so this book was an interesting and relevant concept.

Only a few of us met to discuss this book due to folk going away over the Easter break, however there was a wide range of opinions about it. Some have really loved this book and have praised its uplifting and encouraging picture of God's love for us a rebels. One lady commented that it had helped her to understand the message of Hosea more clearly for the first time. We all agreed that it made us want to go and read Hosea again!

Our pastor commented that it looked like a 'girly' book from the cover and he was rebuked for judging a book by its cover. However having read the book the general view was that it was quite a 'girly' book in as much as it was not a book most of us thought our husbands would enjoy.

At times it was a little repetitive, although that is the structure of the book of Hosea. The character of Michael Hosea would have made any man feel inadequate, and therefore at times some of us felt he was really quite unbelievable as a character, and yet the other side to that is that he represented the love of God in action, even when faced with hard nosed and often cruel rejection.

The subject matter was not an easy one at times, and one or two of our group almost gave up after the first few chapters due to the content.

Some of us were keen to read more of Francine Rivers work, as she has written so much, however those of us who met felt it was unlikely that we would read more of her books as she was simply 'not our type.'

In summary, Redeeming Love has many redeeming qualities. it is a lovely picture of the book of Hosea and therefore of God's love for us as rebellious and defiant sinners. It has encouraged and blessed a number of the group and some have passed it on to other people they know who have enjoyed it. It is fair to say that it is quite a girly book, not a work of great literary fiction and at times a bit repetitive and simplistic, however in these criticisms may lie its strengths and appeal. It was a great book to start this new group as it promoted fantastic discussions, a variety of views and confirmed that the discussion of any book is dictated as much by the reader's preferences as by the author's style and subject.