Reformed Books: “Our goal is to honor Christ by equipping Christians in the truth by pointing you to the finest classic and contemporary resources of historical Reformed orthodoxy.”
Puritan Library: More Bible teaching than most of us could read in a lifetime.
David Nilsen reviews Michael Horton’s book, Christless Christianity:
One famous Evangelical pastor has recently made popular the phrase, “deeds, not creeds.” Evangelicals have their doctrine right, this pastor tells us, they just aren’t living it. Against such sentiments, Dr. Horton argues that many Evangelicals actually do not have their doctrine right, or at least they aren’t preaching it correctly. Evangelicals have confused the important categories of Law and Gospel, turning the Gospel message (which is supposed to be the good news of something that Christ has already done for us), into the Gospel program. If you’ll only live out the Gospel (by reading your Bible every day, joining a certain group at church, and learning how to be a Christ-like example to others), you’ll be healthy, wealthy and wise. The question to be answered is, “What would Jesus do?” rather than, “What has Jesus done?”
According to my editor, West Oversea has gone to press.
There’s a book in the works from Gov. Sarah Palin to describe her life in Alaska and her experiences in presidential politics. She will be writing the book herself, working with a more experienced co-author. As far as I know, the co-author will not be Franklin Graham, pictured with Mrs. Palin below.
I went through a Ross Thomas phrase quite a few years ago, and once I’d gotten a little ways into The Porkchoppers, I realized I’d already read this one. But that was OK. I’d forgotten who did what—not that that was the chief delight of the book anyway.
Ross Thomas (he passed away, much regretted, in 1995) specialized in quirky, cynical crime novels featuring low-life characters who nevertheless were recognizably human and, to one degree or another, sympathetic. He could also be very funny. He wrote political novels too, and the way Thomas portrayed it, politics wasn’t much different from crime.
The world of labor union politics would seem custom made for Thomas’ method, and the master does not disappoint. The Porkchoppers (“porkchopper” is union slang for an officer primarily concerned with his own personal benefits), first published 1972, centers on Donald Cubbin, long-time head of a major union. Cubbin is almost the walking definition of an “empty suit”—he never really cared much about the job, and is mostly operating on autopilot nowadays, his alcoholism having become acute. His real dream in life was to be a Hollywood actor, and he nearly got the chance once—a missed opportunity that still haunts him. He has a personal handler who keeps his booze level topped up, and his much younger wife is sleeping with someone else.
He’s largely a sympathetic character.
His election opponent is Sammy Hanks, a hard-driving, ugly little scrapper who seems like a better candidate in many ways—except that he’s slightly psychotic, and occasionally goes into uncontrollable, spitting tantrums.
Very powerful, very wealthy men are highly interested in the results of this election. The very opening of the novel informs us that a murder contract has been taken out on Cubbin.
But it’s not as simple as that.
The most sympathetic character in the book is Cubbin’s son Kelly, a failed policeman. He’s kind and honest, and (thus far) untouched by the corruption all around him, though he also takes it for granted. He supplies his dad with drinks without qualms.
Thomas has the rare gift of empathizing with his characters without sentimentality. He shows his reader the wheels within wheels of power, and it’s a fascinating tour.
If there’s a lesson or a moral, I have no idea what it is. But I enjoyed the trip.
If there were no buyers, there would be no sellers and no victims. I’m told that the demand for young girls is increasing, and the buyer is an average American man. This is evil. I’m know I’m being vague, but hard to talk about sex trafficking in any context.
It was what I think of as a successful weekend—one in which I get several things done.
(That reads as if I were a Type A, obsessive, can’t-sit-down-because-civilization-as-we-know-it-depends-on-my-output Achiever. This is not the case. Pretty much any weekend of mine will include large stretches of lying on the couch with a book. That’s why accomplishing a few things matters to me. It means I haven’t succeeded in frittering the whole talent away.) Continue reading That zincing feeling
How is that celebrities, even relatively sane ones (there are a few) who don’t usually air their politics in public, so frequently come out with praise for Fidel Castro and his totalitarian Cuban government?
Newsbusters passes on a report from the Canada Free Press, which provides a simple answer. They were blackmailed.
“When the celebrity visitors arrived at the hotels Nacional, Melia Habana and Melia Cohiba,” says Fernandez, “we already had their rooms completely bugged with sophisticated taping equipment. But not just the rooms, we’d also follow the visitors around. Sometimes we covered them 24 hours a day. They had no idea we were tailing them.”
Say what you like about old Fidel, but he always knew how to speak a language they understand in Hollywood.
Tip: Conservative Grapevine.
Here’s a Goodreads discussion site for West Oversea.
Thanks to Dale Nelson for bringing to it my attention.
I just bought two copies of Lars’ latest on the Nordskog Publishing page. Order your copies there too and take a look at those reader blurb to see some names we’ve seen here.
Next stop, a campaign to get West Oversea chosen for many city-wide reading programs throughout the country. (I’m kidding actually, but I wonder how something like that could be done.)