Here’s a review of Donald Miller’s latest book, “To Own A Dragon.” As I understand it, the subject matter deals heavily with the fact that Miller grew up without a father. My Sunday School class is just finishing Miller’s “Blue Like Jazz.” Our next book will be something different, but I need to tell them about “To Own A Dragon” in case someone wants to read it on their own.

My weekend guest blogging has kept me from getting any further in “A Private Family Matter,” the memoir by Victor Rivas Rivers. I’ve wanted to review this one for the Times-Gazette because Rivers is the husband of Mim Eichler Rivas, whose book “Beautiful Jim Key” is about Shelbyville history. I thought a review of Victor’s book would be a perfect companion piece to my update about Mim’s book. (Both books came out in hardback last year and are being released in paperback this month.) I know that Victor’s book takes an ultimately-positive approach, telling the story of how friends interceded for him and helped rescue him from a terrible situation. And, from what I’ve seen so far, it’s a very well-written story. But child abuse is always an uncomfortable subject matter.