BookSneeze review - Simple Secrets to a Happy Life, by Luci Swindoll

In this book, Luci Swindoll takes inspiration from her Mother; who would speak to her children in simple five word sentences, beginning with a verb. Growing up, this might often be something along the lines of "Go look for the boys", followed with "Tell 'em to quit it." Not sure how to tackle a mammoth project? "Start with what you know." Bored? "Make something with your hands."

Each chapter in this book is a short essay based around one of these five word sentences (Although not, "Go look for the boys" or "Tell 'em to quit it"). I felt this worked well, although some titles were necessarily a little clunky, in order to fit into the required format.

Does this book contain startling new insights which are going to turn my life around? No; but it has reminded me that my life doesn't necessarily need turning around. That the little things in life really do make a difference, and that it is worth making the effort to do something special from time to time.

There is plenty of food for thought in this book, and it is definitely comfort food. Warm, satisfying, and not overpowering. Reading it makes me want to curl up in a cosy corner with a good Book and a cup of hot chocolate, shutting the world out and enjoying my own company. But it also makes me want to throw my house open to all my friends, clear out the deepest darkest must cluttered and chaotic cupboards, visit my Grandmother, and finish up that lurking craft project. Lucy reminds me to Be Present wherever I am; to take notice of the world around me - the people in it, the beauty of the heavens, and the presence of the Maker.


Tia


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

BookSneeze Review - Daily Gifts of Grace

I'll admit, it's taken me longer than it should to review this. I've had it since January; sorry folks. This is a daily dip-in kind of a book; I'm not sure what I was expecting but it's certainly much briefer than other bible notes I've used before. One verse, and a page written by one of several different women.

On the plus side, it's a beautiful book. It has a really satisfying magnetic snappetty snap fastening cover; very satisfying. It's very easy to read, and although each entry is dated, there is no sense of progression, meaning that if a few days get missed, you can dip back in wherever you are, rather than feeling obliged to catch up.

On the less positive side; it is very brief. There isn't a sense of continuity between readings, and I have struggled to find the relevance of the writing to the bible verse selected on occasion. It also seems to have been put together without much thought for the dates assigned to each reading; I'm not convinced for example that the suggestion to take a nice picnic out for a gentle walk was best placed in January!

Daily Gifts of Grace hasn't grabbed me as the other books I've reviewed here have. It will be useful; I did find it helpful in hospital when my concentration levels were minimal, and I do find pause for thought in most readings. But it does not have the meat I like to find in a daily devotional. Daily Droplets might be a better title; content worth musing on for a few minutes rather than something to chew on for a full day. I will keep dipping into it; and I can see that I will not be throwing it out at the end of the year. It will stay in my shelves for more five minute moments. But I wouldn't be ordering next year's as a sole set of Bible reading notes.  That said, I might give it as a gift to someone I knew didn't have a lot of time, and did want plenty of encouragement.

 

Tia

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

BookSneeze Review - Stumbling Into Grace, by Lisa Harper

Stumbling into Grace: confessions of a Sometimes Spiritually Clumsy Woman is a book I knew I'd be able to identify with as soon as I read the title. I manage to open my mouth only to change feet far too often, and I had a feeling this might be the story of someone similar. With chapter titles like "The Very Real Problem With Pantyhose", I was expecting this to be a good read.

What I was not expecting was for this to take me a month. Not because it was a difficult read, certainly not because it was boring, but because this is less "Confessions" and more "Bible Study and Life Application Guide." Every chapter comes with a series of questions for group discussion or personal study, Bible passages to read through, and the suggestion to make a journal entry starting with for example "So Jesus, today I've been thinking about , and..." Meatier spiritual food than I was expecting, but good nevertheless.

From the beginning "God doesn't just see us; He gazes adoringly at us. He doesn't simply notice us; He moves heaven and earth on our behalf" via quotes collected from others - Mark Twain's "Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it." and Anne Lamott's "You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do," to the vindictively absurd "I think people who peddle pornography for a living should be forced to share cramped, windowless apartments with camels who have irritable bowel syndrome." This is a book full of one liners and longer passages I shall be re-reading.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Tia

BookSneeze Review - Thunder Dog, by Michael Hingson

The True Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog, and the Triumph of Trust at Ground Zero.

I requested this book for review mainly because my friend's son had just received his first Guide Dog, and since I'm not going to get to see them for a while, reading felt like the next best thing.

One man and his dog, and a long walk downstairs on one of the most terrifying days of their lives. It's a story in itself, but this story is woven into the background of Michael's relationship with all his Guide Dogs, with his life before and after the events of September 11th, and with the story of his own childhood growing up blind living in a sighted world.

It did surprise me how much of this book was about events unconnected with the Twin Towers; that was not what I had expected from the title. But this did not detract from my enjoyment of the book; instead I found this to be a fascinating insight into Michael's life, and into the relationship he has developed with his dogs over the years. It has helped me to think about particular challenges my friend's son may be facing at this time, and I hope his own dog gives him as much independence as Michael has had himself. I also sincerely hope he never faces the battles Michael's family had to fight in order for the dog to be allowed on school transport!

Tia

Booksneeze Review - The Waiting Place, by Eileen Burton

Learning to appreciate life's little delays is the subtitle of this book, and the reason why I chose it. I am waiting, waiting for life to slow down, waiting for my girls' health to stabilise, waiting for there to be 30 hours in every day, so that I can take some time for myself as well as scrambling around caring, cleaning, nursing, chauffering, PA-ing, entertaining. Waiting to have time to make plans.

All of which sounds fine, except that I am waiting for all this to stop, getting caught up in the "What I could do if only...?" rather than concentrating on the "What can I do right now?" Dreaming is good; if Martin Luther hadn't had a dream, how would life look now? But where dreaming interferes with living, it's less helpful.

It took me a few chapters to get into this book. Taking trips down someone else's Memory Lane wasn't what I was expecting from an author who claims "The Waiting Place is for people like me who get stuck in their precious, mundane, gorgeous, absurd lives. It is for those who work hard at the 'business of living' only to find that they seem to be caught in one long, boring meeting." But I persevered, taking my own side trip back into my own childhood home (much easier, since it's just around the corner, and my parents still live there), and found some treasures I know I will want to reread.

I can utterly identify with Eileen as she remembers waiting for her son to take another breath. The relief of knowing that there is actually something wrong, that what you are living is not, in fact, normal, and that the doctors are concerned too.

And then this "There are times when we are left only with what feels like the wrong ending. When we listen closely enough, we think we hear the angels cry." Beautiful.

This is a book to dip into rather than necessarily to read as a whole. With essays on childhood, family life, difficult times, and stepping out of the safety zone (and giving your car to a stranger because God told you to), I know that I will be revisiting different chapters at different times.

I'm not a Pastor's wife (or anybody's wife), I've not ever had to queue to qualify for WIC support (not something we have over here), my mother has never tried to buy me a wig. But whilst these experiences are what Eileen uses to demonstrate her points, I'm a woman in a busy and less than perfect world, and I can certainly identify her Waiting Places in my own life.

I received a copy of this book free from BookSneeze in exchange for writing a review. I was not obliged to write a good review.

Tia

BookSneeze Review - A Reluctant Queen, by Joan Wolf

Having read and enjoyed Francine River's Lineage of Grace, I was interested to see how Esther's story could be re-told. Just how did a Jewish girl end up in a harem auditioning for the role of Queen, and what did the King see in her? How did Esther come to save the Jewish nation, and what did she feel about it all?

Joan Wolf brings the Persian Court vividly to life, and uses it as a backdrop to tell the compelling story of one girl's obedience to God and to her elders. A love story, and a lesson in trusting God no matter where He leads.

I'll admit, when this book arrived, I put it aside for a while. It didn't feel like the light reading I thought I needed at the time. But, I ran out of other reading matter and I opened it up. And I fell into a world painted so beautifully that two weeks later, I am still at home in the Palace and in the market place, with the young Esther giggling with her friends, and with Queen Esther, taking her life in her hands to plead for her uncle and her nation. I'm pleased I had respite that day, because Esther's world was far more gripping than my own, even though I already knew how the story would play out.

Joan Wolf has written a compelling book, and I can't wait to see whose story she chooses to tell next.

Tia


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

BookSneeze Review - The Promise of an Angel

It probably doesn't come as much of a surprise to those of you who know me that I like reading. I read when I can't sleep, I read when I'm waiting for appointments, I read when when I'm eating, and I read when I'm sitting quietly waiting for small children to fall asleep. So when I read about BookSneeze, I thought I'd give them a go. BookSneeze send free copies of books to bloggers, in exchange for bloggers reviewing them. Sounds good to me. I like free books!

I signed up with BookSneeze, and chose to request an e-book first because I was impatient and didn't want to wait for a hard copy to be posted from the US. The book downloaded, and I would have been reading it within seconds if I hadn't also had to work out how to download software to read the thing - this however I'd say was definitely user idiocy error, not BookSneeze's fault. I'm now the proud owner of a free Kindle for Mac programme and a Kindle for iPhone app. And one day I'll work out how to get them to talk to each other.

So, for my first book I decided to try "The Promise of an Angel" by Ruth Reid. I read to escape, and an Amish existence is probably about as far away from this life I can get to whilst still enjoying huge amounts of (admittedly imaginary) good food. And I found myself crouched over my computer, long after I should have gone to bed, clicking forwards and forwards until I had devoured the story in a couple of sittings.

What's so compelling? Judith Fischer's little brother has an accident whilst under her supervision. He loses the use of his legs, and the family and community accept this as God's will. Judith meanwhile believes that she has met with an angel, who promises her brother will walk again.

Is she deluded? Is she giving him false hope? Should she bow to the pressure of church and community and stay silent, or should she continue to speak what she believes to be the truth, even to the point of losing her chances of marriage and being sent away from everyone she knows and loves?

This is more than a nice story about life in a fictional Amish community. This is a story about what happens to faith under fire. About how integrity and submission can look like defiance and even insanity.

Does Judith's brother walk again? Will she marry the man who has been marked out as hers for years? Will her sister leave the community?

I'd answer, but I think it's worth reading for yourself. Escapism, light reading, but with thought, and with a handy study guide at the end for anyone who wants to look deeper. It's probably going to appeal more to women than men. And I'm looking forwards to the next in the series.