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David Wheaton is a man who is passionate about life. He is an actor who has been quite successful, but in life he has been a bit less successful. Turns out that he has had a number of wives .. 9, actually. And 11 children, although a number of them have already died when the reader joins the story. David is closest with his daughter Emma, who married a playwright, Nik. Nik's dream is to write a play about the Biblical King David and have his father-in-law play the main character, and has worked quite a bit on the script and ideas. David is dying, and is being cared for by his current wife, Alice, and Emma is present with them on a boat in Alaska enjoying this last time with her father. he wants to revisit memories, to apologize, to remember the beauty, to confess, and to prepare himself for a peaceful death. this means that Emma (and Alice & her brother Ben) must also revisit the past with him.

L'Engle carefully weaves together Biblical truth with this story of a man and those connected with his family. I often have a hard time with novels that refer to the Bible because I rarely agree with them. But L'Engle is careful about what she uses and how she uses it. Her characters often quote directly from the Word and make interesting connections. When one reviews the story of David, it is amazing that such a sinful and human man could have been used so strongly by God. The modern character, David, is also quite human and sinful .. and yet has brought much good to his family. He made his share of mistakes and ignored things he shouldn't have ignored .. but there has also been grace and care in his family. L'Engle is careful to leave the reader with hope .. even though some awful events come to light in the course of the story, the end feels like an inhaling and preparing to move forward. For both the characters and possibly for the reader as well, if one has identified with the characters in helpful ways.

Title:	Certain Women
Author:	Madeleine L'Engle
Date published:	1992
Genre:	Fiction
Number of pages:	352
Notes:	first non ya fiction of hers I've read

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Jaxom has the 'privilege' of being both a Lord Holder and a Dragonrider in the land of Pern. In his mind, this means he can do neither fully - he must live in the hold, so he cannot do all the activities Dragonriders are allowed to do .. and yet because of his dragon he cannot fully participate in training to become Lord Holder of Ruatha. This book is about his coming of age .. learning to trust himself, to take care of those he loves, to provide solutions to tricky problems (even though he might have helped to cause the problem :), to know what he wants and how to get it. Jaxom is a character who truly cares about others, which makes him very enjoyable to read about and follow.

Ruth is one of the best characters in the book! He is a dragon .. white, which is unusual .. and also much smaller than any other dragon. Some tease Jaxom that Ruth is an overgrown fire-lizard instead of a real dragon. But Ruth has all the capabilities of a dragon and is more sensitive to other things as well. In part because of his size, fire-lizards always congregate around him, so he hears more stories and sees more pictures than most dragons. And actually pays attention to them! This turns out to make it possible for Jaxom and Ruth to save Pern in regards to a stolen egg. Also .. because Ruth is so small, he is fast and accurate and highly capable when it comes to fighting thread (sorta like rain, except it's longer and burns anything it touches). Ruth seems to be humble in the best sense .. knows what he can do and admits it without making little of others, and if he can help those he loves he jumps at the chance. A sweet character .. too bad it's not quite possible to go for a ride with him! One theme which runs throughout is that of discovery. Jaxom is discovering who he is and what he values and how he wants to live. Robinton, the Masterharper, is discovering that he must take care of himself and his heart, even though he longs to participate in adventures. Wansor, the Starsmith, is in the process of discovering how to tell time based on stars and their patterns (and thus discovering that the three dawn sisters are not normal stars..). The southern continent is being discovered to be much, much larger than they imagined. Through the memories of fire-lizards, they are able to discover the place their ancestors lived and even find important pieces of their history (can you say spacecraft?!). Exciting to be along on the journey, discovering with the characters and wondering along with them.

Title:	The White Dragon
Author:	Anne McCaffrey
Date published:	1978
Genre:	Fantasy
Series:	Dragonriders of Pern
Number of pages:	445
Notes:	repeat reading

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