Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

The Weekly Read

What you can learn from chickens: Review of Chicken Scratch by Kelly Chripczuk

Sometimes I have myself convinced I could take care of goats or chickens, especially when the price of eggs spikes or I’m enjoying some delicious goat cheese.

14725505_1313635401989049_6036972711710161119_nBut the reality of taking care of such animals doesn’t factor into these daydreams. Which is one of the reasons I absolutely loved reading this short book by Kelly Chripczuk, Chicken Scratch: Stories of Love, Risk and Poultry. The book follows Kelly and her family for their first few weeks of proud ownership of a flock of 10 laying hens. It’s funny and inspiring and challenging, even to those of us who might never keep a chicken anywhere except in the freezer.

Life with chickens, it turns out, is messy, and Chripczuk realizes that the mess–chicken poop and all–is proof of life.

If we spend all of our time and energy trying to avoid a mess, we may well end up avoiding life as well. (40)

Though the book is short (only 76 pages), it is full of these nuggets of wisdom. Here’s another one:

Graphic by Kelly Chripczuk

Graphic by Kelly Chripczuk

Pick up a copy of the book here for the chicken lover in your life or for yourself as a quick, light read that also challenges with spiritual truth without being preachy.

Chicken Scratch made me want to head over to the author’s farm and watch these birds in action.

(Disclaimer: I received a free digital copy of the book from the author. Review reflects my honest opinion. This post also contains an affiliate link, which means I receive a portion of any purchase made through that link.)

A ticket to another world: Review of Forest Child by Heather Day Gilbert

When I can’t travel the world, I pick up a book, and good fiction is a ticket to another world. Heather Day Gilbert’s series of Viking stories is guaranteed transportation to another time and place.

The first book, God’s Daughter, was mesmerizing. I had high hopes for the second one, Forest Child, and it didn’t disappoint. (Disclaimer: I received a free digital copy of the book from the author but my opinions are entirely my own.)

forest-childGilbert’s Viking stories are some of my favorite stories to read.

In-depth, flawed characters telling the stories in their own voices set me right into the middle of the action and I cannot get out. I am captive to these tales.

In this one, Freydis, the illegitimate child of Erik the Red, sets out to prove her place in the family by plundering Vinland (northern North America). But the reality she faces in the New World is horrific and her own actions will haunt her all the way back to Greenland and the family farm.

Hers is a story that is at times heartbreaking and difficult to read, but her journey is a beautiful picture of redemption. I especially enjoyed the way married life is illustrated in this story (and the previous one). Gilbert has a talent for depicting the realities of marriage without demeaning the relationship. It is one of my favorite things about her stories.

Gilbert gives us a gift in retelling these little-known Viking sagas. More than simply entertaining, they lead us to truths about marriage, forgiveness, love, and community. The Viking era is not one I am overly familiar with beyond the famous names like Erik the Red and Leif Ericsson (both who play roles in these stories and whose names are spelled differently, reflecting their heritage) but Gilbert’s books make me want to read more about them and hop a plane to Iceland.

Book 2 lives up to the high standard set in book 1. Truly, these are remarkable stories.