Review of Kreis Beall’s The Great Blue Hills of God, February 2020

A Selection of Book Reviews

I’ve often said, “Literature is my first religion.” I was a “Christmas and Easter Episcopalian” as a child. Books were my solace and the model for meaning-making. When I was on bedrest for three months, sequestered in a 500 sq. foot apartment, my neighbor who worked in publishing brought me a stack of books weekly. Those narratives held enough complexity and compassion to keep my hope alive.

Books are a balm for the weary soul.

Bright pink daisies with mustard yellow centers on burnt orange stems over a gray bricked background. Purple font of book title, "Inciting Joy: Essays" by best-selling author of The Book of Delights, Ross Gay.

My latest review for The Christian Century in May 2023.

Click on image to read the review.

To read other book reviews of mine, click on the covers below.

Tear drop shapes of pink and blue over black background with white text. Book cover for "A Hole in the World: Finding Hope in Rituals of Grief and Healing" by Amanda Held Opelt — June 2023, chapter16.org

Manilla background with lilac text and female profiles for book cover of "Someone Other than a Mother" by Erin S. Lane — May 2022, The Christian Century

Pink sunset with leaves and trees. Book cover for "Valediction poems and prose" by Linda Parsons — June 2023, chapter16.org

“The Bread of Life”

Tallu Schuyler Quinn's memoir — April 2022 for chapter16.org (in print for Nashville Scene)

“This Land is Our Land”

Image of Book Jacket for Songs of America by Jon Meacham and Tim McGraw — June 2019, For chapter16.org (in print for Nashville Scene)

“Made from Angels & Dirt”

Rev. Becca Stevens , Founder of Thistle Farms and Magdalene House, ninth book — November 2021, for chapter16.org

“Designing an Interior Life”

Book Jacket Image of Great Blue Hills of God — February 2020, For chapter16.org./ (in print for Knoxville News Sentinel)

“A Faith Observed”

Book cover for Rachel Held Evans Wholehearted Faith — November 2022, for chapter16.org (in print for the Chattanooga Free Press)

“Original Story”

Image of Book Jacket for Spoken into Being by Michael Williams — July 2017, for Chapter16.org / (in print for Nashville Scene)

“Streams of Consciousness”

Cover of Jedidiah Jenkins second book — February 2021, for chapter16.org (in print for Nashville Scene)

“Platforms of Contempt”

March 2019, for Chapter16.org

“Staring into the Abyss”

Image of Book Jacket for My Bright Abyss by Christian Wiman — April 2014, for Chapter16.org

“Beyond the Blank Page”

Image of Book Cover for Writing the Sacred Art by Rabbi Rami Shapiro and Ari Shapiro — January 2013, For chapter16.org

“What’s Measured in Time”

Image of Book Jacket for Virginia ReevesWork Like Any Other by Virginia — October 2016, for Chapter16.org (in print for Memphis Commercial Appeal)

“Running Out of Truth”

Image of Book Jacket for What Comes Next and How to Like It by Abigail Thomas — April 2015, for Chapter16.org

Copyright © 2025 — Beth Waltemath • All rights reserved. • Website by Beth WaltemathReview of Kreis Beall’s The Great Blue Hills of God, February 2020