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A Book Review
Some books pass through your mind without provoking much thought, or reflection. 
Others do just the opposite. They are meant to be savored. I place Lament for Spilt Porter in this latter category.
At its heart this is a book about nostalgia. The subtitle is Longing for Family and Home. Larry J. McCloskey explores that longing by reflecting on his own family growing up in the 1950s and 60s in Ottawa, Canada’s capital.
Maybe the book appealed to me because I grew up during the same timeframe. Maybe it appealed to me because for the last 30 years Ottawa has been my home. But I suspect that this book has a more universal appeal, because it addresses the deep longing for home that is in all our hearts, regardless of age or geography.
A Meaningful Read
McCloskey not only laments the loss of his parents, he also laments the loss of their values—values that are rooted in family, church and an unflinching faith in God. Above all else, McCloskey wrestles with the very idea of God—the God that modern society has turned its back on. His is a restless faith, racked with doubt, but seeking God nonetheless. That pursuit is an underlying theme throughout.
If all this seems rather heavy and dour, breathe easy. There’s plenty of humor in these pages, and some unforgettable characters too. But be forewarned: McCloskey packs more meaning into a single sentence than many authors capture in an entire chapter. There’s very little fluff, and plenty of mental nutrition that a reader can draw from every chapter.
If you are still longing for home, this is a most meaningful read.
humankind through the prophetic prayer, praise and poetry of the biblical Psalms. Come follow David, the shepherd king, the man after God’s own heart, as we begin a journey to intimacy with God. Discover for yourself what a soul-bonding relationship with God looks like.
speechless, but I must speak.
surrounding the death, burial, and resurrection of my Lord Jesus Christ. The fictional details of the ”what ifs” concerning not only the centurion, but also the many bystanders held me captivated. Those scenes were like coloring outside the lines. They gave the reader an additional piece of art without tampering with the original.
I have no idea whether there will be a movie, but the book is written in a way easily suited to the transition. This first person storytelling, by the centurion who initially saw Jesus during the commotion of His triumphal donkey-riding Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem and was days later ordered to drive the spikes into Christ’s outstretched palms, effortlessly created in my mind’s eye, images of Marcus Longinus, his family and both friends and foes encountered in this particularly demanding week of his Roman military service in the Judean outpost of Jerusalem. Kitz’s vibrant words breathed life into fictional and non-fictional names in this re-telling of the Holy Week story.
