Daniel Ragsdale

Everyone at Villanova University (students, staff, and faculty) is reading this great book this year.

It is an extremely well written and, ultimately, uplifting non-fictional story. Despite its lack of a significant Irish influence, the story reminded me of both Frank McCourt's “Angela's Ashes” and a “Tree Grows in Brooklyn” (two of my favorites).

The mother and father figures in the story, despite their obvious character flaws and self-centeredness, had some endearing qualities that made them, somehow, very likable. Their folksy love of art (mom) and knowledge (dad) clearly had a positive influence on not just the author but also their other children. Each of their kids appeared to have developed a great passion for the both left-brain and right-brain activities and these passions helped them to overcome the challenges that their less-than-desirable upbringing provided them. Given their circumstances, the fact that all of them struggled, at least at times, in their relationships with significant others is not at all surprising.

Liked this one, too. I wanted to learn more about Asperger's syndrome and I thought this was fictional account was better, in some ways, than Robison's memoir “Look me in the Eye”. Picoult has a good sense of “pacing” so the, at times, highly implausible plot moves quickly to an interesting, if not entirely surprising, conclusion.

Very interesting read.

This is the second of Ehrman's books I have read - I plan to read many more. My first exposure to his work was his book God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question-Why We Suffer in which he addressed the thorny topic of human suffering in the context of a loving God. I found it to be both intellectually honest and it provided comprehensive coverage the many ways, throughout history, that theologians and philosophers have attempted to explain this apparent contradiction. I found this book, “Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible & Why” to be similarly honest, though not as comprehensive. Nonetheless, it was both very accessible and thoroughly enlightening.

Best book of the year for me!