Pitch Uncertain: A Mid-Century Middle Daughter Finds Her Voice is a memoir of a fairly average woman. I don’t mean that as a diss, just that this memoir is not of the sensational sort telling of an unusual childhood.

It’s merely the verbal working out of coming of age, in the most beautiful language. I had a hard time putting it down, but I couldn’t really tell you why. As an example of the beautiful writing, here’s the first sentence:

“I was born in 1940, a bad time for the world, but I never did anything bad until the day I cut off my hair and left it on the floor for my mother to find, a bright, hot pool of yellow curls.”

I suppose it reads  more like a novel, than a memoir (which is ironic, because as I read Pitch Uncertain, I was also listening to Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld, which is a novel that reads like a memoir). There were occasional jumping around chronology that threw me off, but other than that, it was well done.

I haven’t read many books written about this time period (1940s and 1950s)–apart from WWII books, of course–so it was interesting to read about what it would be like to live in those uncertain times.

I liked that Houghton didn’t merely report the events of her childhood, but that she added the reflection of age. If it had been a mere story, it wouldn’t have held my attention. It was the all the added extras: the language, the reflection, that drew me in.

If you’re a fan of memoirs, you’ll enjoy Pitch Uncertain.

I received a copy of Pitch Uncertain for review, but no other compensation for this review.

The subtitle of this book, “Where Life and Scripture Meet,” succinctly sums up what this book is all about. Michael Emlet shows how it’s possible–and necessary–to apply all of Scripture to every situation.

Emlet uses a handy metaphor to explain that some biblical passages are easier to relate to a modern-day problem or situation than others. The ones that are easy to relate are “ditch” passages while the more difficult passages to apply are “canyon” passages. Emlet’s argument is that we shouldn’t just use ditch passages because they gap is easy to cross…we need to add to our Scripture toolkit through study and practice enabling us to use a wider variety of passages in our lives and the lives of others.

But CrossTalk isn’t just an academic argument…Emlet puts his words into action, demonstrating how he’d counsel two different individuals using seemingly unrelated Old Testament and New Testament narrative passages.

I recommend this book not only to those in formal ministry, but to those who want to better speak truth into the lives of those around them. All believers have the opportunity to counsel others. It’s important that we’re using the Bible and not just our own wisdom to do so. This is something that I definitely want to keep working on!