Sunday Salon ~ books and boys

BOOKS ~ coincidences?

Body Surfing ~ by Anita Shreve, 2007, fiction (New Hampshire)

At the age of 29, Sydney has already been once divorced and once widowed.  Trying to regain her footing, she has signed on to tutor the teenage daughter of a well-to-do couple as they spend a sultry summer in their oceanfront New Hampshire cottage.  But when the Edwardses' two grown sons arrive at the beach house, Sydney finds herself caught up in a destructive web of old tensions and bitter divisions.  As the brothers vie for her affections, the fragile existence Sydney has rebuilt is threatened.

Having found another bookstore here in the St. Louis area this afternoon, I came home with this novel.  It's a used book, and tucked inside was the original receipt for the books.  On May 3, 2007 — exactly eight years ago today — someone bought this copy of the novel in Louisville, Kentucky.  I love "coincidences" like this, that I bring home the same book on the same day, years later.  What are the odds?

I've read several of Anita Shreve's books, so I didn't hesitate to pick up this one as soon as I saw it.  I'm reading some nonfiction books right now, but this is likely be the next fiction for me.  Other recently acquired books include another "used" book.  I wonder how much I'll actually learn from this one, since I went to seminary, have a Master's degree in theology, and taught religions of the world (as an adjunct) for over a decade.  But I was curious, and the price was right.

Don't Know Much About the Bible: Everything You Need to Know About the Good Book but Never Learned ~ by Kenneth C. Davis, 1998, religion

With wit, wisdom, and an extraordinary talent for turning dry, difficult reading into colorful and realistic accounts, the creator of the bestselling Don't Know Much About®, series brings the world of the Old and New testaments to life as no one else can in the bestseller Don't Know Much About® The Bible.  Relying on new research [it was new back in 1998] and improved translations, Davis uncovers some amazing questions and contradictions about what the Bible really says.  Jericho's walls may have tumbled down because the city lies on a fault line.  Moses never parted the Red Sea.  There was a Jesus, but he wasn't born on Christmas and he probably wasn't an only child.  Davis brings readers up-to-date on findings gleaned from the Dead Sea Scrolls and Gnostic Gospels that prompt serious scholars to ask such serious questions as:  Who wrote the Bible?  Did Jesus say everything we were taught he did?  Did he say more?  By examining the Bible historically, Davis entertains and amazes, provides a much better understanding of the subject, and offers much more fun learning about it.

BOYS ~ my great-grandsons

Bloggers gather in the Sunday Salon — at separate computers in different time zones — to talk about our lives and our reading.