Category: Book Review

A new author for me.  Occasionally I will pick up a few light ready through ChristianBooks.com.  The book prices through them are fantastic.

This book was labeled as a Christian Fiction book and I was surprised as I read through the book that God was not mentioned once.  I found this to be a bit different and was curious to find out why and how this book received the genre of Christian…

At the very back of the book the author explains that she loved the way Jesus told stories.  The parables Jesus used made the listeners think for themselves and draw their own conclusions.  In His story of the prodigal son, Jesus never said, “Listen up folks – the father in the story is God and the prodigal son is you…”.  The son never had a “come to Jesus” moment; he simply returned to his Father and was welcomed home.  The author felt this book allowed us to see the familiar in a fresh and powerful way.

I have to disagree.  While I enjoyed the book (it actually reminded me a lot of the fiction book I just finished), – daughter comes back to a home town to an inheritance and a fixer upper home, family secrets, and meets someone…  Same story line.   And while I do love a good fiction read…. when I read a Christian book I like it to be a Christian book.  In this case I did not find that.

While our characters are likable, I actually liked the role of Landon ( the back up character) over the main character of Samantha.  I found Samantha to be an annoying pain that wore her past on her shoulder like a badge and played that card so often it was worn out.  Samantha’s repeated act of running to a bar or to another mans arms whenever things got to close was enough to make me scream.   She was the queen of excuses and hurt many people with her actions.

If there is a Christian message in the book it must have been about forgiveness.  I struggle when the act that is forgiven is repeated and repeated…

Anyway, in the end, it seams that alls well that ends well but it left me wondering if a person can really change that fast.  I’d love to hear other opinions on this book.

A 2 rating out of 5.

Any one that has followed my readings through the years knows that I was once apon a time a huge Koontz fan.  When the kids were growing up – Dean was the author I would read.  I owned every book he had ever written and couldn’t wait for the next book to come out.

Now – after 7 years of book club I read so much more – different authors, all styles of books…that Dean has gone to the way side…. yet, once in awhile, I like to check in to see if what he is up too….

So this book has sat on my shelf for many months.  I can not even remember how it got here, but over the last week I picked it up and dove in.

I loved the story line on the golden retrievers.  Dean owned one himself and apparently by the dedication in the front of the book, their dog Trixie, had passed on.  I believe this is where his story stemmed from.

The dog part of the book – extremely well written, I like the main character Amy, her faith, and her heart.  I like all the facts about the dogs, their manners, and even learning about the dog mills – which is horrifying, yet I know it is true.

I didn’t like Moongirl and Harlow and found this part of the book as these two characters slowly intertwine with Amy – creapy.  Dean pushed the envelope a bit far this time and the whole story line about what they did to the little girl was a bit much for me.

I finished the book because I knew all would end well – and I had to know how it all became that way.  The ending that we lead up to for so long – is complete in a matter of a couple paragraphs.  That surprised me.  Not pleasantly.

Overall – not a good read.  Sorry Dean – but next time, don’t try so hard.  Your writing was fine just the way it was.  Not all of us like crude and creepy.

Continuing on my journey through the book series of The Chronicles of Narnia, I sat down to enjoy the book with the title that most of the population has heard of – The Lion , The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

By this book, I am now used to C.S. Lewis’s talk as he writes this book in his manner of ‘grandfatherlyism’ (“Why yes, Edmond was surprised- just like we left him in the last chapter!” and “Oh, boys and girls, what would you do if this happened to you?”)  I actually am starting to enjoy this style of writing and imagine him as a loving grandfather excited to share his stories with children eager to listen.

This book so closely follows the movie that I applaud Disneys producers for respecting the family of C.S. Lewis and holding on to the truth that made this book the remarkable legend it is today.  There were times in the book where things that were said by the children or by the talking animals that I was sure that was the exact wording that they used in the movie.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to moving on to book 3, The Horse and His Boy.

Brilliant.

An enthralling portrait of one family in the aftermath of a daughter’s disappearance

“It was the summer of her Chevette, of J.P. and letting her hair grow.” It was also the summer when, without warning, popular high school student Kim Larsen disappeared from her small Midwestern town. Her loving parents, her introverted sister, her friends and boyfriend, must now do everything they can to find her. As desperate search parties give way to pleading television appearances, and private investigations yield to personal revelations, we see one town’s intimate struggle to maintain hope, and finally, to live with the unknown.

This book has kind of a cool story to go with it…. while searching on Barnes and Noble (yes, the Mother Ship) I stumbled across a book group they call First Look. First Look lets people from all around the world request to receive an advanced copy of a book that an author wants reviewed and discussed before the release date. Fun? I know!!!

I read about the book that was coming up and it sounded interesting so in January of this year I requested a copy. I heard nothing on it but in May, I received a package from Barnes and Noble with the advanced copy and a letter from the author. S W E E T !!!

The job of the selected readers is to read the book in sections and then discuss it on line through a private discuss only open to those who were given the book. I was so excited to be holding this beautiful book that on the back says a publication date of November 2008. I feel like I am in a secret club and like I own a secret decoder ring!

The book is about Kim, an 18 year old who is out one afternoon with her friends and while on her way to work that day, disappears. The author is well written and his focus is mainly on the ones that were left behind – a mother who becomes an advocate for her missing daughter as everything else falls to the way side, a father – who searches the country side with volunteers at first and then alone – a sister who has always played second fiddle anyway and now secludes herself even deeper – the boyfriend who carries his own guilt – the girlfriends who go between trying to move on and being overrun by memories…

I like the layout of the book as each chapter is told froma different persons perspective. However at the end the book feels rushed to close like the author has become bored with the story. The “hints” early on in the book that give you the impression that the friends know something about Kim’s dissapearance is a false lead, and **Spoiler Alert when Kim finally is found it never explains where or the circumstances and it all turns out to be random.

I belive the best part of reading this book – was being chosen to read it and review it with others from all over. I will watch the site for future books but as for this one – I have to rate it 2.9 (was holding a strong 4 in the begining but the ending really dissapointed me).

With the newly released Prince Caspian movie and my appreciation for all things Narnia – I found myself wondering why I, the reader that I claim to be, had not read any of the books in this series yet.  This very thought said out loud, led to the series showing up on my desk within hours of my uttering the desire to read them.  (YAY!)

So- over the holiday weekend I curled up with my cup of tea, my favorite blanket and the first book in this series, The Magicians Nephew (interestingly enough as I thought for sure book one would be The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe).

Right away I noticed with a tinge of dissapointment that C.S. is writing to children and in a very grandfatherish tone.  Things are written such as, “and wasn’t that a wonderful surprise boys and girls?”  Discouraged, even though I have nothing against reading a children’s book (I have read every Harry Potter book through twice) I wanted a bit more to the book.  I read on and something happened….

I found it quite interesting to find similarities to this book and to J.K. Rowlings books on Harry Potter.  For one thing – characters in many cases have similar names, such as in this book Digory the little boy, is also the name of a boy in the Potter books.  The magic and going to other worlds is also similar.  I have not researched this yet, but I had read an article in Christianity today a while ago that talked of some of J.K.’s influences.  I remember one was Tolkien as she loved The Lord of The Rings.

The biblical references in this book are profound and I always find myself amazed at C.S. Lewis’s style of writing for the times.  He did not have the influence of tv shows and the movie technology there is today to create such vidid and profound characters all at the same time.  The meaning in his books are so great and the fact that he aimed for his audience to be children is also wonderful because the books are such learning tools while at the same time fun and interesting.  (I think as I continued reading I may have become younger…)

Digory is tempted to take the apple for himself

Uncle Andrew is unable to understand Aslan and only hears roars

In this book there is the creation story in Narnia and how Aslan created all

and so much more…..

A couple things I want to point out that I enjoyed were that this first book explains how the lamp post came to Narnia as well as how the wardrobe was created and why it was magical….

If you haven’t read this book – I recommend it!

This book, Eat Pray Love arrived on my door step as an error on a book swap I was doing.  Reading the back of the book I had decided that I did not want to read this book….  a book written as the author travels through Italy, India, and Indonesia in search of fullfillment….  no thank you….

Then as it sat on my desk top I decided I was interested enough in the traveling side of the book to take a peak….  and so I did.

I really enjoyed the first part of the book on eating and Italy.  As Elizabeth travels through Italy I love the picture she paints of the beauty of the area, you can almost taste the incredible foods she encounters and her experiences are wonderful….

The prayer section in India was…. interesting.  This is a “procede with caution” book.  While I found some of her writing in this section to be beautiful (the act of praying in the New Year as it came across the skies like a large heavy bag carrying the unknown – births and deaths, great happiness, and sorrow…) she experienced an Indian Guru who acted as her swami and at that point – the culture was interesting, but she never seemed to quite get the Christianity part down and throughout the book continues to search for self fullfillment.

The final section was on love and at this point she is in Indonesia where she spends time with a medicine man who also had odd beliefs yet she continues her learning of deep prayer.

So – I was not even sure I was going to review this book because of the turns it takes.  It is about 80% great – she has an amazing sence of humor (I laughed out loud at a couple of her thoughts like when the medicine man forgets who she is and calls her Sharon…) and her writing at times made me really stop and think…

…”One should search for God as a man who’s head is on fire searches for water…”

I enjoyed reading about how other cultures see God.  Reading of some of their customs was really interesting and I did learn a few cultural things.  However – I again caution the reader who chooses to read this book to do so lightly and realize that the author has no strong faith base and her searching is taking her all over the board.

Again – about 80% interesting and educational – about 20% I skimmed and found totally off the mark.

Bill Hybels is an amazing speaker and author.  Without mixing words, Bill Hybels lays it on the line that evangelism – is everyones duty.  We are all to be like Jesus and approach people – build disciples for HIm… and Bill gives us a few tools as to how.

I enjoyed reading about Bill’s approach and love how the first step is always just talking, getting to know one another – because hey, I can do that!  Building relationships and doing it consistently is the theme of this well written book.

We used this book as a guide for our 401 class and it was a great discussion book.  Highly recommend this read.  Bill has a few stories and activities that I would like to implement in my own life.