Literature

Making These Mountains Come Alive

/ Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

boone_captured1

If asked to list my favorite contemporary authors, Cameron Judd would no doubt rank high.  Judd most notably made a name for himself in Westerns, a genre I am not particularly interested in. But he also has delved deeply into Historical Fiction, which from the time I read my first Michener novel has been a literary style that captures my inaginiation.

My appreciation for Judd is reinforced as I finish up the last pages of his work on Daniel Boone just this afternoon.

Judd has written extensively about the history of Tennessee, his home state, with two trilogies, and a few independent biographies of the pioneers.  

To date I have read:

Tennessee Frontier Trilogy:

     The Overmoutain Men  (1757-1777)

     The Border Men  (1778-1783)

     The Canebrake Men (1785-1800)

Mountain War Trilogy:

   Shadow Warriors  (1860-1863)

   Phantom Legion  (1863)

   Season of Reckoning  (1864-1866)

Biographies:

   Boone

   Crockett of Tennessee

I first read the two trilogies several years ago.  But when we returned to East Tennessee I took them off the shelves to re-read.  The Historical Markers now almost seem to have life as I occasionally explore the region on days off. 

I think the next Judd work I’ll tackle is his historical work, Bridge Burners.

“Shack”-ed

/ Dennis Griffith / 6 Comments

I don’t know where I’ve been, but I’ve missed it.  Apparently there is a self published book out there called The Shack that has become one of the most widely read works in country. It is in the process of becomming a major motion picture.  And it is a book about theology! Well, it is a fictional story aimed at communicating theology, akin to Bunyan’s classic Pilgrim’s Progress. 

The story behind the book’s publishing is… well, quite a story itself. Written by a man to give as a Christmas present to his children, it was never intended to be published beyond a couple copies at Kinko’s.  It has risen to reach the Top 10 List at Amazon, USA Today, and Barnes & Noble. 

But the book is also apparently polarizing.  Some say the theology is questionable. People I appreciate have expressed varying opinions.

As I already stated, I had never even heard of the book, or at the least I never took notice.  I do regularly check out the Best Seller Lists to see if there is anything that might catch my interest, but the Shack apparently slipped by.  But now, in just the past two or three days I’ve heard Steve Brown do an interview with the author and read a review of the book by Tim Challies.  (Click for .pdf the-shack-review)   

I’m not sure what I’m likely to think about it once I read it, but I guess I’ve found at least one book for my Summer Reading List.