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Feb 20, 2012
Talking with God by Henry J. BaronMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Henry Baron has gathered together a collection of his powerful and poetic writings on topics we deal with throughout the year. Follow the book through the seasons, holidays, and trials of life. This is not a book to sit down and read straight through. It's a book to dawdle over, sip on, and savor. The language is lyrical in a way that even a non-poetic person (such as myself) can understand and appreciate. Every entry is a gateway to deepening our understand of our world and our Lord. I highly recommend this book!
View all my reviews
Feb 17, 2012
Jewel of Persia by Roseanna WhiteMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I stayed up reading way too late last night to finish this book. Wow! What a wonderful job of storytelling. It started a little slow, but picked up steam and never looked back. Roseanna White did a masterful job of weaving fact and fiction into a believable, engaging tale that was too good to put down. I started recommending it to others when I was less than half was into it!
This is the story of Queen Esther's fictional best friend, Kasia. Through her eyes we experience the royal court of Xerxes, with all its intrigue and dangers. We watch young Esther become a woman, we come to know and love Mordecai, and we witness the downfall of Amestris, known by her Hebrew name, Vashti, in the Book of Esther. We see the underside of lift at court, grittiness under the glory.
I highly recommend this book for older teens and up. It deals tastefully with the issues of infidelity, immorality, and harem life. It is historically accurate with issues such as executions and warfare without being overly gruesome.
Feb 14, 2012
Before the Scarlet Dawn by Rita GerlachMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
***SPOILER ALERT***
This book is hard for me to review and I've let it set for a week thinking about it. I loved it for the first 80% of the book. The characters were real, interesting, they struggled, stumbled and found their footing again. It was shaping up to be a story I might have read a second time. But for me, it fell apart in the end.
If you like a happily-ever-after story, this is certainly not your book. If you like more realistic, hard-life stories, this may be your book. I do actually like a hard-life story, but this one stripped everything from the leading lady. She loses it all and I felt, at the end, she lost herself. That is why it fell apart for me.
I can understand losing the rest, life happens, people disappoint, etc. But to lose the essence of self, to stop striving to reach your goals, to lay down and accept defeat? Not my idea of a good ending. Even Scarlett still had Tara! All the build up, all the time invested rooting for this woman to succeed at some level, only to have her land flat... meh.
Feb 11, 2012
Daisy crowded to the back of the flock, her wooly rump smashed against the hay feeder. The banging and scraping gave way to brilliant beams of sunlight as the barn door slid open. Joy scuttled through the flock like clouds on a windy day. The storm had passed and unmarked snow lay beyond the door.
EweNika, the flock matriarch, snorted and stamped a front hoof. The shepherd moved to the side, one hand still on the door. EweNika lowered her head and charged. A shovel fell sideways across the open doorway but the large ewe leaped over it with ease. Dance and Mingle followed a half-step behind, leaping the shovel handle just before the shepherd pulled it back out of the way.
Queen and Lilly skidded to a halt, eyes wide, ears pitched forward. Lily cast one nervous glance at the shepherd before the lure of sunshine overrode her fear. She leaped through the doorway with Queen on her heels.
Daisy rolled her eyes at the doorway. The other young ewes crowded behind her, pushing her into the unwelcome lead position. A gust of sweet air blew into the stale barn and she couldn’t hold back any longer. Head high and hooves scarcely touching the ground, she bolted for the opening, leaping through and wheeling around as soon as she was clear of the doorway.
“What a bunch of loonies!” Tam, the black and white Border Collie, snickered outside the door. “What did you think you were leaping over?”
“Everyone leaped through the door.”
“The first three leaped over the shovel handle, but it was gone long before you came through. You leaped for nothing!”
Daisy watched the shepherd open the gate, shovel in one hand, and whistle for Tam to follow. The dog slipped through the gate and then sat with her nose pressed between with fence wires.
“Didn’t your mother ever tell you to look before you leap?”
“My mother leaped and so did I.”
“If you had a brain, you’d be dangerous.” The dog snorted and trotted off behind the shepherd.
Daisy took a step back, her ears swiveling back and forth. She pawed through the snow to find some dried grass beneath. The dog’s silent laughter rang in her sheepish ears.
This post is part of Christian Writers’ February Blog Chain on the topic, “Leap.” Check out the other Blog Chain posts by clicking the links right.
EweNika, the flock matriarch, snorted and stamped a front hoof. The shepherd moved to the side, one hand still on the door. EweNika lowered her head and charged. A shovel fell sideways across the open doorway but the large ewe leaped over it with ease. Dance and Mingle followed a half-step behind, leaping the shovel handle just before the shepherd pulled it back out of the way.
Queen and Lilly skidded to a halt, eyes wide, ears pitched forward. Lily cast one nervous glance at the shepherd before the lure of sunshine overrode her fear. She leaped through the doorway with Queen on her heels.
Daisy rolled her eyes at the doorway. The other young ewes crowded behind her, pushing her into the unwelcome lead position. A gust of sweet air blew into the stale barn and she couldn’t hold back any longer. Head high and hooves scarcely touching the ground, she bolted for the opening, leaping through and wheeling around as soon as she was clear of the doorway.
“What a bunch of loonies!” Tam, the black and white Border Collie, snickered outside the door. “What did you think you were leaping over?”“Everyone leaped through the door.”
“The first three leaped over the shovel handle, but it was gone long before you came through. You leaped for nothing!”
Daisy watched the shepherd open the gate, shovel in one hand, and whistle for Tam to follow. The dog slipped through the gate and then sat with her nose pressed between with fence wires.
“Didn’t your mother ever tell you to look before you leap?”
“My mother leaped and so did I.”
“If you had a brain, you’d be dangerous.” The dog snorted and trotted off behind the shepherd.
Daisy took a step back, her ears swiveling back and forth. She pawed through the snow to find some dried grass beneath. The dog’s silent laughter rang in her sheepish ears.
This post is part of Christian Writers’ February Blog Chain on the topic, “Leap.” Check out the other Blog Chain posts by clicking the links right.
Feb 8, 2012
The Vengeance Squad by Sidney W. FrostMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Chris McCowan's fiancee is murdered right in front of him and he swears off of God and on to vengeance. With his unlikely trio of helpers, he sets out to find her killers.
I had a hard time getting into this story. The first person narrative and more action than emotion made it hard for me to connect with Chris, the main character. I'm glad I stuck with it because the plot unfolds in several nice twists and turns. The second half of the book picks up nicely and the story plays out to a very satisfying ending. No spoilers here - you'll have to read it yourself! Sidney Frost left the door open for a sequel, I think, and I'll gladly read it if he comes through.
Feb 5, 2012
The amount of disgusting material a human body can contain is amazing. You know this is true if you’ve ever had a sinus infection or prepped for a colonoscopy. These things are not for the faint of heart!I recently suffered three weeks under the mother-of-all sinus infections. It finally broke up amid hot compresses, antibiotics the size of suppositories, and enough hot tea to hose down a fleet of UPS trucks. As the bacteria withered under this onslaught, I began to blow snot like rodeo bull. I found the storage capacity of my sinuses alarming. If they made industrial strength Kleenex, I would have bought a case.
Another disgusting material our bodies contain isn’t as readily visible, yet sin permeates the very fabric of our being. No hot compress will ease its pressure. No antibiotic will kill it off. No hot tea will wash it away. No amount of Kleenex will wipe it up. The only cure for sin is Jesus Christ and His cleansing blood.
I can mop up the results of one sneeze and stay clean until the next snot-rocketing blow, but this only works until the Kleenex runs out. Thankfully, Christ’s love and forgiveness never runs out! When sin blows through our spiritual Kleenex, Christ is there to wipe us clean when we repent and ask His forgiveness. Dealing with our sin without Christ is like cleaning up after a sinus infection without Kleenex – only messier.
Feb 2, 2012
Wow. This one rivals his father's book, "The Killer Angels". If you like Civil War history at all, if you enjoy historical fiction at all, if you just like a good book... read this one!
The story centers around four main characters; Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, and Winfield Hancock. I've read several biographies of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson and I believe Jeff Shaara did a fantastic job of capturing the personalities of these men. While fiction (because we don't know their exact conversations and emotions during these times), this book presents the reader with a very credible look into the experiences leading up to the Battle of Gettysburg. The places, the timelines, the people, are all real history.
"Gods and Generals" starts before the Civil War and explores the reasons why individuals chose one side or the other to support. The pain of those decisions, the uncertainty, the repercussions are all well presented. Old friendships broken apart, families separated, local allegiances tested and tried, all good grist for the story and all the more heartbreaking because it was true.
It's easy to read this book and get sucked into the characters to the point of forgetting that these were real people, faced with real situations that we cannot honestly imagine in this day and age. I will read this book again, and read the other novels in order to complete the series. I read them out of order the first time but still enjoyed each one.
The story centers around four main characters; Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, and Winfield Hancock. I've read several biographies of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson and I believe Jeff Shaara did a fantastic job of capturing the personalities of these men. While fiction (because we don't know their exact conversations and emotions during these times), this book presents the reader with a very credible look into the experiences leading up to the Battle of Gettysburg. The places, the timelines, the people, are all real history.
"Gods and Generals" starts before the Civil War and explores the reasons why individuals chose one side or the other to support. The pain of those decisions, the uncertainty, the repercussions are all well presented. Old friendships broken apart, families separated, local allegiances tested and tried, all good grist for the story and all the more heartbreaking because it was true.
It's easy to read this book and get sucked into the characters to the point of forgetting that these were real people, faced with real situations that we cannot honestly imagine in this day and age. I will read this book again, and read the other novels in order to complete the series. I read them out of order the first time but still enjoyed each one.
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