I wasn't quite sure what to share today and then it hit me- last night I finished a book that I ended up being pleasantly surprised with, so I decided to share that with you!
A while back my hubby and I were out and about (Ok, we were on one of the many Hobby Lobby trips that I make throughout the week trying to keep my boutique afloat, lol). Now, we live in a city which has a Mardel Bookstore right next to HL. My husband LOVES Mardel... I was seeking to be a peacemaker this particular day and we hit both stores :-). While he perused the aisles I ended up in the "Super saver" book section and bam- I found this little goodie for about $2! I'll be honest, I was a little "leery" about it- Many "mainstream" Christian Authors get a little...forgive me for this...cheesy. Many Christian authors, I have found, try so hard to weave "Christian" themes into their novels that they end up with disjointed story-lines and a lack of discernible plot or character development. (Again, MY opinion).
Now, to THIS book, lol. I was drawn by the premise, which is always a good sign. However, I quickly realized a few chapters in that I was kind of flying through it- I had a few late nights and finished the book in 2-3 days! "The Chair", by: James Rubart is very well written and draws you in. Yes, he is a Christian author, yet he managed to make his plot very REAL to actual life and centers the story around the theme of RESTORATION. I'm not sure if it is the raw-ness of the characters and their pasts and struggles or if it is perhaps the adventure aspect of the prospect he presents- but I ended up LOVING this book. Not only for entertainment value, but also for the thought-provoking aspect it gave me. It spoke to me about my own life, my own struggles and actually had me in tears near the end.
The book is about a man named Corin and his failing antique store. The main "premise" is that one day an anonymous woman shows up in his store and gives him a chair that seems to be VERY old. She leaves him only with the idea that "a master craftsman" constructed it long, long ago. A few days later a mother and her young son (who has severe asthma) are in the store and the boy has an extreme asthma attack. To calm him, they sit the boy in "the chair". Later, Corin finds a newspaper article with that very mother and son claiming that he was healed overnight after sitting "in a chair". The idea has already come to Corin that the chair was built by JESUS in His years as a carpenter. After cutting a piece of the chair and submitting it for "date" testing, the results come back impossible and amazing, deepening the mystery.
Add very real-to-life characters in Corin's own life, multiple people who "catch wind" of the item and will do anything to get it, and the "legend" of the enigmatic woman who gave him the chair and you get a surprisingly wonderful story which is faith-based. I definitely recommend it! I plan on looking for the other 2 novels that the author has written.
If you can't find it at your local Christian bookstore, you can get it here: http://www.amazon.com/The-Chair-James-L-Rubart/dp/1433671522/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393623372&sr=8-1&keywords=The+chair
If you read it, let me know what you think of it!
I will leave you with a quote from the book that really spoke to me about my own life. Haven't we all felt this way at some point in our lives? I think this is why the book was so good, in my opinion. It is very REAL to the REAL lives of Christians. This quote happens when Corin is speaking to his brother (who is paralyzed from the neck down) about sitting in the chair and seeing what happens:
"Hope is better left dead. Each time it's resurrected, its subsequent death is a little harder to take. So I've killed it for good. Or I've tried. But you and I know, and the whole human race knows, you can't kill hope entirely because there's always one little bubble willing to rise with the slightest encouragement. And that would happen if I let you put me in that chair. I would hope once more, I would let it sweep me into your little shop, and I would sit in your ancient artifact and nothing would happen."
I hope you will check out "The Chair"!
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