I judged this book by its cover and it paid off. Before picking up this memoir all I had was a recommendation from a colleague and the beautiful cover to go by. I knew that Miller had written a famous Christian fantasy trilogy, but I have never got around to reading it.

Miller hooked me from the first page. This is the sort of prose you’ll encounter:

Memory arrives sometime after we get here, and generally abandons us long before we leave here. So the umbilical trot that squirts us into the world is unremembered, and the EKG we need to keep it all going is likely to abandon us too suddenly to allow us to write it all down before our passing. (xiii)

Miller wrote his life story with the pen of a poet through the eyes of a story-teller. He discovers meaning in each chapter of his life.

I do wish he spent less time writing about his childhood and more about his life as a pastor, but that’s a selfish wish. In the end, each chapter is well worth reading and reflecting upon.

The final chapter is particularly fruitful for reflection. He asked himself what he would do differently if he had his life to live over again. His conclusions near the end of his life have certainly given me cause to think during the middle of mine.

Miller, Calvin. Life is Mostly Edges: A Memoir. Thomas Nelson, 2008.