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This is a wonderful book. (Granted, I'm a bit biased, because it was written by one of my favorite professors at college..) I was able to be in a class called 'Sociology of Sexuality' in which we read this book, many related articles, and had honest, challenging discussions. Dr. McMinn is willing to address private issues without flinching, but with care, both in the classroom and in her published works. In addressing issues that hit so close to our souls, she still treats sexuality and all that goes with it as something sacred which needs to be respected.

God created us to be 'embodied and embedded' – this phrase is used throughout her book to mean sexuality is both genetic and environmental or learned. McMinn titles her chapters: rites of passage; adolescence; sleeping alone; birthing babies; mysteries of marriage; and sexuality and culture. mcminn connects academic ideas, Biblical values, and experience to make chapters which flow and make sense. Christians so often try not to be sexual – but God made us to be sexual, to be gendered, to be in physical bodies. This is a book worth reading – and ideas worth digesting and seeking to live out.

Title:	Sexuality and Holy Longing: Embracing Intimacy in a Broken World
Author:	Lisa Graham McMinn
Date published:	2005
Genre:	Sexuality / Spiritual
Number of pages:	182
Notes:	Read for class

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I remember being told once that Treebeard and the Ents are one of Tolkien's most original creations. Well, the corollary unique creation for the world of Narnia has to be the Marshwiggle. You never meet or hear about any of them in any of the other Narnia books (as far as I'm aware), but Puddleglum gets to take center stage here, and he is one of the most delightful and hilarious characters in the entire Narnia series. Jill & Scrub are always calling him a "wet blanket", and he's always glum, and sure the children won't enjoy his cooking-- but at the same time, we're told that he's far too upbeat and adventurous (hmm, rather like Bilbo?) for the rest of the Marshwiggles.

One of the most interesting & encouraging things about The Silver Chair is how many mistakes the heroes make. Because of an argument, Jill & Pole get separated and things start going wrong from the very beginning. They mess up and forget almost all of the signs that Aslan told Jill to memorize, and come quite close to failing in their mission more than once. Yet in spite of all their mistakes and failures, things somehow come through all right. It is encouraging to see people succeed in spite of their own failures and mistakes, and to be reminded that Aslan can use faulty, error-prone, flawed humans in his grand plans.

Title:	The Silver Chair
Author:	C. S. Lewis
Date published:	1953
Genre:	Fantasy / Young Adult
Series:	Chronicles of Narnia
Number of pages:	217
Notes:	Read this book aloud over several weeks with G. This is a repeat reading.

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It seems a telling fact about this book that I got my copy from someone who was getting rid of several books, and when I was cleaning recently and trying to find places for some books, decided to pass it on to someone else. It doesn't seem to be a book worth holding onto or re-reading.

The book itself was okay - fairly enjoyable; but there were things about it that bothered me. At first, there was always some kind of connection for the stories about Vivi that we get, where Siddalee only gets a hint or a taste of what might have happened. She'd be looking at or touching some artifact, and then we get the full background. This felt kind of gimmicky, although it was kind of fun, too-- I wondered if Wells could keep up the "gimmick" for the whole book, especially without it becoming artificial or too repetitive. As it turns out, she couldn't-- fairly soon the gimmick disappears and Wells just fills out the stories for us without excuse (although the "gimmick" does return near the end, for the touching elephant story).

The other thing that bothered me was the use & presentation of female sexuality. It wasn't just that it was there, but the way that it was presented-- it seemed unrealistic in places, and sometimes sensationalized, or even just that the author is using it, maybe because she thinks it will make the book more popular.

The only other major flaw with the book is that I got the point fairly early on-- that mothers and daguthers are allw omen who've had their share of struggles and suffering, and that they need to learn to communicate. But this point is hammered home repeatedly in what seems an unnecessary fashion.

As a picture of a particular region and specific point in time, I enjoyed it-- I glimpsed some bits of 'history' (if I can call it that) which I might not otherwise ever see.

Title:	Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Author:	Rebecca Wells
Date published:	1997
Genre:	Fiction
Number of pages:	356

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