183. NOTES from the TILT-AWHIRL by N.D. Wilson Book Review
When one picks up such a title as I did in selecting to review this book, among many others, I had no idea what to expect, except that being a Thomas Nelson imprint it had to have some kind of value somewhere. However, there was a clue, I found it in the sub-title “Wide-Eyed Wonder in God’s Spoken World.”
No, it is not something that preaches at you- remember the words “Wide-Eyed Wonder” were part of the sub-title and even though you get the Greek Mythology explained to you in 21st century language, it is not pedantic. But that’s not all that is explained to you, you are taken back to your origins and not only but that of the world, the universe and even further back to where there was nothingness, like “a few billion solar systems ago” and “even though I am tiny, I am placed on a stage so vast.” Sheer poetry that stills the voracious ache one has in being torn away from the only Light that brings warmth and reassurance to our inattentive soul.
N.D. Wilson does something I revel in, he uses concepts that soar above our humanity and clothes them with everyday language- Next to the “infinite” you will find he keeps “a shovel for when the haiku falls, a bag of salt to fend off the whispering storms.” This magical blending of our “insignificant” life of daily living, with the Mysterious, that which we cannot grasp within our hands, becomes a natural spontaneous amalgamation of which we are almost unaware.
Even though the book ends with Autumn, it has no beginning because it has no end, yet there is that impalpable life, both past, present and future as in an uninterrupted circular thread that binds the book into a whole entity. Pick it up anywhere, read it at any point, you will remain refreshed, perplexed and charmed by its probing, clarification and wide-eye wonder poetry... you will find life ends where it began and I'm not just
talking about the book.
Barnes & Noble - get a copy
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