read with us: a book published before we were born

We had ... virtually no success this month. Susan and Val finished reading their June books, and Becky and Steph chose the same book to read, but neither of them finished it. Here's hoping for a better August! Even though no one finished a new book for this month's challenge, Susan and Becky have updates on what they did read. (See all of our other updates here.)

Susan says: This month, I finished reading The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas. This is such a terrific book, and the second half was a fantastic finish to the first part of the book that I read last month.

I loved how it described Marcellus' travels seeking the truth about Jesus, the robe, and the increasing numbers of his followers. These people were convinced that Jesus was now alive, despite Marcellus' first-hand knowledge that he was truly dead on the cross. His interactions with people who had witnessed Jesus' miracles during his lifetime eventually convinced him that Jesus is God and indeed living. He became a dedicated Christ-follower who impacted many people living in the sphere of his influence. Many of the characters in this book were mentioned in the Biblical accounts, and it was interesting to see how the author wove these actual historical figures into the story line.
   
The experience of rereading this book after many years have passed was so good! I remember how it moved me so many years ago and was again impacted by it. I highly recommend this book.  5 stars.

Becky says: When Steph and I discovered we both had chosen A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich, we decided to take it along on our road trip to Indiana and Nashville and read it aloud to each other.

A Lantern in Her Hand is the story of prairie wife Abbie Mackenzie Deal. As a child in Iowa, Abbie dreamed of becoming a famous singer. Her dreams changed when she fell in love with childhood friend Will Deal, and they moved to Nebraska to make a life for themselves.

I had always been very hesitant to read this book because of the truly terrible TV film adaptation A Mother's Gift. Steph was completely obsessed with this movie when she was a kid, and I finally hid the video tape and told her it was broken. (Or maybe I told her it was lost. Either way, I hid it and lied about it.)

Anyway, we started our road trip, and I started reading aloud. We were stunned to discover that the book was set in Nebraska! We were also pleasantly surprised by Bess Streeter Aldrich's writing style. The book has so many touches of humor thrown in!

We only made it to Chapter 9, and neither of us read any more after the trip--but I definitely want to finish it, and I know Steph does, too.

If you've read any of these books, we'd love to know your thoughts! Be sure to join us again at the end of the month--we're reading books that intimidate us.