The Signature of All Things

by Elizabeth Gilbert

Ah, the pleasure of having a nice, thick book to look forward to. And the disappointment of finding out you can't read it through because it's not clean.

Do yourself a favor and avoid this one. It goes along pretty well under the guise of an interesting story for a little bit, but suddenly becomes highly sexualized.

Not Recommended.

Tenth of December

by George Saunders
Not Recommended

This is a book of short stories. Based on the stories I read, which admittedly was not all of them, it seems like George Saunders is a very talented writer. Unfortunately, he is a talented writer who uses a lot of curse words and has a strong sexual component to at least one of his stories. For these reasons, I cannot recommend this book as a clean read.

Where Things Come Back

by John Corey Whaley
Not Recommended

I'm afraid I can't share very much about this particular book. The book jacket says, "Maybe when you read this story, you'll find that even in a small Arkansas town where everything familiar can disappear, there is wonder in the ordinary and the hope for a second chance."  Whether this book is as hopeful as this implies, I cannot say. All I can say is that the gratuitous and excessive use of curse words made me put this book down after 5 pages. This book is not recommended as a clean read.

Olive Kitteridge

This collection of short stories, by Elizabeth Strout, has won numerous awards, but after reading a few pages and skimming over a few more, I just can't recommend it, due to language and a recurring theme of adultery.

Pass on this one!

Beastly

by Alex Flinn

I cannot recommend this book for several reasons, the most critical of which is that the protagonist is a sexually promiscuous 9th grader. This author will have to be evaluated on a book-by-book basis as apparently not all of his are as clean as Cloaked.

The Three Weissmanns of Westport

by Cathleen Schine

Not Recommended


This book is getting quite a bit of buzz, but I had to put it down due to language and adult situations. 

Drought

by Pam Bachorz

Rated PG-13; Not Recommended

Enslaved to Darwin West and his cruel Overseers for 200 years, the Congregation has been gathering the precious Water from leaves to keep Darwin in luxury. And in all that time, only 6 have died. Only Ruby, her mother, and the Congregation's Elders know the real power behind the Water that provides their longevity - Otto's blood. But Otto has been gone for almost 200 years and while waiting faithfully for him to come save them, the Water relies on its power from another source . . . his daughter, Ruby. 200 years of enslavement is a long time, though, and Ruby - who only appears to be 17 - is sick of slavery and cruelty and longs for freedom. When a new Overseer arrives, his kindness is viewed with suspicion by Ruby. Does she dare trust his promise of help and escape? And how can she think of leaving when without her blood, the Congregation is doomed to die?

The Congregation is a religious group but instead of God, they worship Otto - the man whose blood gives them life. They pray to Otto, they count on him to rescue them from slavery and await his coming while suffering beatings and starvation. Their chant while being oppressed is "Otto will come, Otto will come". If you're noticing parallels you should - they are clear. However, this book does not praise or glorify God through the parallels. Instead, it feels like praise of a false prophet. It reminds me of when Saul turned to a witch for answers instead of God.

The book had occasional cursing. There are also some kisses, scenes of whipping and torture, and claims of a sadistic love from Darwin towards a slave. I rated this book PG-13 but I do not recommend it. It is not uplifting.

If you want a good book that has Christ parallels in a way that glorifies and uplifts, I recommend instead the Chronicles of Narnia for all ages. You can't go wrong with a little C.S. Lewis!

The Cinderella Society

By Kay Cassidy

Rated: PG-13; Not Recommended

16-year old Jess Parker is a bit of a social pariah at high school . . . one of the downsides of being the new girl. And nobody makes her feel more like an outcast than Lexy, who seems to take special delight in tormenting Jess. On the last day of school, Jess receives a mysterious note in her bag. Following the directions in the note, Jess discretely wears the accompanying pin to a popular coffee shop that night, hoping that this isn't another setup for humiliation by Lexy. Turns out - it's definitely not. Instead, Jess is inducted into a secret society that encourages girls to be comfortable with who they are. As Jess learns through trial and error to be true to herself, she finds her ability to help others is strengthened. And she'll need all this newfound strength as her work in the Cinderella Society puts her in direct conflict with her archenemy, Lexy.

There were a few moments where a good point was raised in this book, such as being true to yourself (the ones not focused on outward appearance) and helping others. I didn't like the emphasis on beauty, popularity or the exclusionism of the society. As I was reading, I constantly felt like the book had a facade of morality underlaid by quite the opposite. Superficially, the book made some good points but never in a way which I felt was quite right or with which I was quite comfortable.

Jess gets a boyfriend in the book and there are a several make-out sessions, thus the PG-13 rating. There was also occasional mild profanity. This book is definitely geared towards teens. Adults would find little to interest them. Although the rating is PG-13, the conflict between the message the book purports to send and the inner turmoil I felt reading it leads me to not recommend this book.