The Review Revolution: Improving Culture through Kvetching

Good-Bye, Lisbeth Salander: A Review of Stieg Larsson's "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest"

Apparently in Sweden, everyone who works in counter-intelligence drives a neutral-colored Volvo. Even when you're engaged in international espionage, it's vital to stay safe.

That's one of a number of important lessons I learned from reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, the third in Stieg Larsson's trilogy of potboilers. Potboilers are important to publish in Sweden because apparently it gets quite cold there.

Those of you who have read my personal book review blog know that I was not crazy about the second book in this series, which was a testament to the importance of good editors. The first hundred pages had absolutely no relevance to the rest of the book. They should have been cut. Or better yet, put into a separate novella about "Salander's lost months" so that the publisher could rake in a kajillion more kronor. But where was the editor? AWOL.

Thankfully, the third book is much better, even though the injured Lisbeth Salander doesn't really get her mojo back until nearly halfway through the novel. . . .

Read more of this review at my Flunking Sainthood blog on Beliefnet.

Kate Gosselin Gets Religion: A New Book from "Kate Plus Eight" Star on Family and Faith

I blame my mother for introducing me to the Gosselin family. During one of her visits last year, TLC was running a marathon of Jon & Kate Plus 8, and Mom was glued to the screen. I watched several episodes with her and was surprised to find that she knew each child's history and personality. Watching the show for the first time gave me more than a few schadenfreude moments. I saw one episode where Jon and Kate take the kids to Disney World. I couldn't imagine the stress of keeping track of them all, or scheduling their naps, or dealing with Mouse-induced meltdowns times eight. Those parents deserve a medal, I thought.

And yet the family has come under intense media scrutiny for, well, allowing the media to intensely scrutinize their lives. Americans just can't get enough of the Gosselins. As our own families get smaller, we're endlessly fascinated by ones that are supersized. We watch the Gosselins' show in part because we know that although our lives might seem crazy, we'll never be potty-training six toddlers simultaneously, on tiny toilets all lined up in a row. We'll never have to hold back some of our trash from one week to the next just because our allotted bins are already full of diapers. We'll never have half a dozen kids with fevers all at once. Thanks, benevolent universe!

If we haven't gotten enough of the Gosselins yet (even with Jon's well-publicized adultery and Kate's disastrous recent turn on Dancing with the Stars), the Zondervan book I Just Want You to Know promises the dish on Kate's kids, religious beliefs, and supersized life. I was prepared to cynically hate this book. And you know what? It's actually not bad, and there's a surprising amount of material on religion

Read more of this review on my Flunking Sainthood blog at Beliefnet.

Donna Freitas Hearts the Twible

This morning I logged into my email to find a whole host of messages announcing new followers on Twitter. The source of all this largesse? Blogger/novelist/religion scholar Donna Freitas has written a lovely entry called "Oh, the Bible Bores Me So" for Religion Dispatches. She talks about how she is bored to tears by the Bible but is loving the daily Twible. Thanks, Donna, for helping to spread the word!

And speaking of blogging, I've been AWOL from this personal blog partly because I am gearing up to blog for Beliefnet at least five times a week starting June 15. The blog is called "Flunking Sainthood," which is the title of my next book. It  will explore spirituality and culture in a broad-ranging way, with an emphasis on ordinary people trying to live out their faith and sometimes -- OK, often -- falling short. It's about the lighter side of spiritual failure, and will feature interviews, book reviews, commentary on films & television, updates on the Twible project, and a weekly column about Mormon life. Hope to see you there! The new blog will happen here. I'll be sure to cross-post any reviews here on The Review Revolution.