The Queen by Steven James

The Queen is the fifth Patrick Bowers thriller by best selling author Steven James.  Patrick Bowers is an FBI agent who is trying to catch a serial killer who tortures his victims before he kills them.  Patrick has recently lost a wife to cancer (if I remember correctly from the first book) to whom he was married only a short time.  Now, in addition to his duties as an FBI agent, he is also learning to be a single parent to his teenage stepdaughter who has some emotional issues to work through.  

If you like ax murder movies you would probably consider this book (and the whole series) rather tame.  If, however, you like a "thriller" to focus more on the detective work and the "profile" of the criminal with just enough details of the violence to bring a touch of reality to the story, this will be a good choice for you.  

At the beginning of the series I thought Bowers was supposed to be a Christian.  Now I'm not so sure.  Certainly, he is a bit confused about some  things if he is.  The stories aren't filled with people quoting scripture or demonstrating a serious and mature relationship with Christ.  Instead, they are filled with people who are leading messed up and/or painful lives but who are searching for a way to a better life and to relieve themselves of guilt they carry from past experiences.  The books are not filled with people "sleeping around" or cursing or taking God's name in vain.  This is something I appreciate.  Life is messy.  For Christians as well as non-Christians.  Everyone experiences unpleasant situations in life.  But not everyone chooses to sink to the lowest standards in every situation.  

Well, before I start getting too philosophical I'd better stop writing.  I enjoyed The Queen as I have all the other books in the series.  I recommend it; though not late at night if you tend to have nightmares.  

Happy reading. :D

Water's Edge by Robert Whitlow

It is always fun for me, as a south Alabamian transplanted north to Kentucky, to read books with "southernisms" that are realistic.  In this book is a character who likes okra and knows that collard greens are improved by the addition of vinegar; another character is named "Junior Jackson" and even the people who work with him every day don't know his "real" name.  This only happens in the REAL south. These go beyond the typical "ya'll" that some authors throw into a story to give it what they think is a good southern flavor.  

Water's Edge is about a young attorney, Tom Crane, who went from Atlanta to his small town home town to close down his father's law practice shortly after the father's unexpected death.  What should be a fairly simple, though tedious, task turns into a plunge down a slippery slope of questions that don't seem to have answers.  Why is there an empty file folder for the client who was drowned at the same time as his father?  Was that man, in fact, a client or just a fishing buddy?  If he was a client why was there no written record of an agreement between them or of any sort of payment made?  Was this "client" involved in illegal activities?  Was he trying to involve Tom's father?  Or, could there possibly be any truth to the "hints" of the District Attorney who seems to indicate that he believes Tom's father may have murdered the "client" before he, himself, drowned?  This, of course, was absolutely impossible considering the kind of man Tom knew his father to have been.  But, was he really that man?

Add into the mix the following:  Tom losing his job during the meeting when he thought he would be offered a partnership in the firm,  Tom's girlfriend "dumping" him unexpectedly AND taking his cat with her, an aged uncle who has a study that is off limits to Tom, a former girlfriend who wishes she had married Tom instead of his best friend, a near death experience during a rafting excursion, and apparent rope burns on the neck of one of the drowned men, and you have puzzles enough to keep Tom's head spinning as he tries to find answers to the many questions that keep him searching when what he really wants to do is just close everything up and go back to Atlanta.  Then there is the day Tom spends the morning reading his father's Bible and taking notes; and he comes away with a different perspective than he ever expected to have.  What difference will that make on the issues?

I've enjoyed every Robert Whitlow book I've read and this one didn't disappoint me either.  Just released two weeks ago, Water's Edge is a pleasant addition to his other books.  There are mystery and intrigue, and a plot   with enough twists and turns that I didn't have it figured out by the end of the second chapter.  :-)  It was written in such a way that, although I guessed and wondered about a couple of things,  the ending was kept unknown until almost the very end.  I like that.

If you enjoy a good murder mystery with more mystery than murder you'll enjoy Water's Edge.  The plot is believable (if "professional" people really do sometimes kill other people in cold blood in order to hide a crime they have committed).  The characters are realistic.  The "good guys" demonstrate a high standard of morality, integrity, and ethics in their personal as well as professional lives.  They struggle with some issues, including sin sometimes. but they  do struggle instead of making excuses to do anything they can think to do.  The Christians in the story demonstrate walking with Christ and making godly decision without being preachy; and they show that there is more to the Christian life than just tacking a Bible verse onto whatever we do or say.

So, if you want murder without gore, mystery without terror, Christians without hypocrisy, integrity winning over deception, a little romance, a plot with various legal ramifications all thrown into a story that honors Jesus' name and demonstrates a life that is dependent on His leading, you have found just what you want.  Robert Whitlow is one of four authors whose books I grab the minute they hit the shelf.  Water's Edge is, as I said, his latest.  It is a well written, engaging story that kept my attention from the first page to the last.  I hope you'll read it and enjoy it as much as I did.

Happy Reading  :-)

Embracing Your Second Calling

Have you reached that "certain age" in life?  The age when your children are grown, or nearly so.  Are you looking at your life and asking questions such as:  "Is this all GOD has planned for me?"  "What am I going to do with the rest of my life?" "What can I do that is meaningful and will be of value long after I have left this earth?"  If you are a woman who is asking herself these or similar questions, Embracing Your Second Calling by Dale Hanson Bourke may offer the motivation and inspiration you are seeking.

The author was a corporate "player" who thought nothing of zipping from one coast to the other for an early morning meeting and then zipping back for a family event that evening.  She was high energy and lived a fast paced life juggling work, husband, children, home, church in order to be successful in all things.  Until one day when she woke up and asked herself why she was living that way and was that all there was to life.  So she took an early retirement and from there she began the search for meaning in life, as it were.   She took other jobs and a couple more retirements over the next few years, always going toward a slower pace of life.  Sort of.  LOL  Frankly, her slowest day would probably make me dizzy.

Maybe you, as I did, are thinking this book won't have anything to offer you because you have never been a high power anything and if you slow your pace of life anymore someone may call the funeral home.  I admit that it took me a while, and a couple of re-starts, to finish this book; mostly because I thought it would be wasting my time since I'd never been "success" oriented in the way she was.  But I like to finish what I start so I finally buckled down and did it.  I'm glad I did.  What Ms. Bourke has to say is good for anyone; young or old, high energy or lethargic, success oriented or content to just get by.

Some of the things Ms. Bourke focuses on in Embracing Your Second Calling include prayer, relationships, and getting beyond the "titles" by which you've been identified to this point in life.  She looks at the life of Naomi and contrasts her worldly failures and spiritual successes with what we value in our lives today, bringing a number of things into better focus than they seem to be when see them through our smudged "world view".  She talks about the importance of prayer being the foundation of everything we do.  But she presents a picture of prayer that is more practical, I think, than we usually see because it doesn't involve setting aside hours each week to bring our "shopping list" (my words, not hers) to GOD.  She discusses the importance of relationship, both friendships and mentoring, in the lives of older women.  She also talks about dropping old "baggage" from the past and being willing to accept a new "identity" for the future in order to let GOD make us who He intended all along that we should become.

Ms. Bourke's writing style is simple, almost conversational.  She looks at the facts of Naomi's life and considers possible motives but does so without going into a deep study of Biblical languages, etc.  She tries to look at life and our choices in life based on an eternal value system.  But she does this without being preachy or critical about the things she has left behind.  I am amazed that she could accomplish this.  :-)   Reading this book felt almost like talking with an old friend whose heart was knit to my own.

Embracing Your Second Calling isn't a book to tell you that one life style is right and another is wrong.  Her focus is on priorities but without focusing on a list.  For Ms. Bourke this meant simplifying her life; although, as I indicated earlier, her "simplified" life still looks pretty hectic to me.  Rather than saying, "Do this" or "Don't do that" she focuses more on values.  Without criticizing anyone's choices, past or present, she gently encourages those eternal values I mentioned earlier.  Most of the women she talked about in the book lead lives that are much closer to the corporate executive end of the spectrum than the stay at home mom end where I have lived.  This is the main thing that almost kept me from finishing the book.  However, she did such a good job of presenting the principles she was sharing that such differences didn't really matter and were hardly noticeable.

So, I said this book is good for women in any walk of life; and that is true because those principles are valid in all our lives.  However, it is really written for the woman who is in a place to make changes in her life or who is having changes thrust upon her, for whatever reason.  Ms. Bourke suggests that there are things more important than "success" or "winning" and that we should be making our life decisions based on those more important principles.  If you are a young woman with children to care for and think you aren't in a place to make changes in your life, you can still find inspiration in this book.  It won't encourage you to put your children in day care and go into the workforce; what it will do is encourage you to begin to build those important activities into your life NOW so you don't have so many changes to make when you hit those middle years.  If you are already in the middle years, as I am, it doesn't criticize what you've done or are doing.  The books isn't really activity focused so much as it is attitude, heart, and eternity focused.  It encourages us to stretch ourselves to the point where we find ourselves outside our natural comfort zones.  That will look different for each of us.

Are you ready to give GOD control of what you do and where you go?  Are you ready to be stretched to places you never thought you would be?  Are you ready to look at life from a perspective that doesn't value success more than being who GOD made you to be?  Are you ready to be the woman that GOD made you to be, the woman He has been shaping through all your life this far?  I heartily recommend Embracing Your Second Calling.

Happy Reading :-)

...by Baroness Emmuska Orczy

The Scarlet Pimpernel is one of eighteen books written by the baroness about an "elusive" character of the same name.  Sir Percival Blakeney is an English lord who is a close friend of the Prince of Wales; he is known as a dandy, a fop.  I just love that word in connection to this character.  Anyway, Sir Percy uses his lazy, drawling, foppish lifestyle as a blind to deflect attention from himself and assure that he will not be suspected of being the Scarlet Pimpernel.  

I read The Scarlet Pimpernel many years ago and loved the book and the character.  There is a movie by the same title which combines aspects of this book and the one called Eldorado by the same author.  Lately, I have been going down the list of books, reading them on my Kindle. They are also available for reading online, in their entirety.  To find them, and information about the Baroness, check out www.blakeneymanor.com.  

The Scarlet Pimpernel is an English gentleman who, with help from his personal friends, rescues people from the guillotine during the French Revolution.  Blakeney uses many disguises and often works right under the noses of members of the revolutionary government.  The character is strong, daring, brave, and, of course, handsome and rich.  Everything a hero should be.  :-)

If you like historical fiction with a daring plot, swashbuckling adventure, and exciting heroism you'll enjoy Baroness Orczy's books.  Her full name, in case you are interested, was:  Baroness Emma Magdalena Rosalia Maria Josefa Barbara Orczy.  She was born in Hungary in 1865.

Happy Reading  :-)

'Reshaping It All' by Candace Cameron Bure

Again, my skepticism reared its head in relation to this book. A book written by a Christian from Hollywood?  It caught my attention because it was about weight loss.  Based on the way she looks I figured she should know something about weight loss, or at least weight control.

She was, in fact, 20 pounds overweight at one time when she was younger.  She lost that weight and an additional 5 pounds.  In addition to being overweight she also dealt with bulimia at one time.  She gives many suggestions for losing weight; including exercising, controlling portion sizes, and eating nutritious foods and skipping the "empty calorie foods", and others.  She also includes a number of recipes that she considers simple and balanced.

I don't personally agree totally with her evaluation of what is a healthy diet.  Also, it is not the best written book I've ever read.  It had too many grammatical errors and such to receive an 'excellent' rating from me; though it was certainly written well enough to be worth reading.  :-) Those were my negative thoughts as I read it; otherwise, I liked the book.

It was written in a personable, down to earth sort of way that made for enjoyable reading.  She talked a little about how she got to be overweight and a bit about her bulimic stage.  She talked some about her childhood and how she became a child "star" and a little of what that life was like for her.  She talked some about her relationship with her husband and her children.  She relates all of this to her weight gain/loss, exercise, or the way she views food.  I really like that aspect of the book because I do believe that everything is related to virtually everything else in a person's life.

She gave a lot of good advice about weight loss, eating habits, attitude toward food, exercising, etc.  Many "diet" books focus almost completely on what to eat or not eat and when to eat or not eat.  Candace goes well beyond that.  She talks a lot about our attitude toward food and how that attitude needs to change.  She sounds like an energetic and enthusiastic person but her book isn't a "rah-rah" book.  She speaks as one who understands the thought processes of an overweight person as well as one who can sympathize with the negative attitudes that cause so many people to overeat.

With all the talk of eating, exercising, dieting, losing, gaining, etc. there were two other things Candace talked about that were, I believe, more important than any of the rest of what she said.  For one thing, she talked about our attitude toward food.  Do we eat for comfort?  Because it tastes good?  For the sake of nostalgia?  To be sociable?  As a reward for something challenging we've accomplished?  There are lots of reasons to eat.  Candace looks at many of those reason.  She looks frankly but gently at what can be a painful topic to someone who can't seem to lose weight.

The other issue Candace discusses that I think is often missing in "diet" books is the issue of self control or self discipline.  She looks at this from a distinctly Christian point of view.  She points out, through scripture, that we are called to have self control, to deny ourselves instead of indulging, to discipline ourselves to work toward a goal and keep at it even when it is difficult.  She doesn't over spiritualize the idea of weight loss but she does point out that one of the most important aspects of weight loss and maintenance is self control, the ability to let our decisions be made by our heads instead of our hearts or our "passions" which always crave more pleasure than they have had, even if they were just "filled".

I was pleasantly surprised by this aspect of the book.  I believe it is an important one that is often overlooked; mostly we want to find reasons for being overweight that don't have anything to do with:  I don't want to exercise, I really like this so I'll eat more, I don't want to wait, I am too tired to walk, or any other reason that lays the "blame" where it belongs - namely, on the fact I don't want to do anything that I don't FEEL like doing.

These spiritual "lessons" could be applied to almost any personal goal you may have:  to lose weight, to exercise to meet a certain physical goal, to finish school, to study and make good grades, to plant and maintain a garden, to run for public office, to start a new career, and I could go on all night with the list.  Why do I not accomplish this goal that I have dreamed about for so long?  Mostly, because I haven't come to a place of wanting it badly enough to discipline myself to do what needs to be done in order to make the dream come true.

Ouch.  That is pretty personal and it hurts.  If you are looking for a 'feel good' book to tell you there are lots of good reasons to not accomplish a specific goal, don't read this book.  However, if you are looking for a way to motivate yourself from within to accomplish a goal, you just may find what you need in 'Reshaping It All'.  Candace looks frankly at some of the reasons we don't do what we want to do.  All of that isn't pretty; but she looks at it all kindly, gently, compassionately, with an understanding heart and encouraging words that show no judgement or condemnation.

If there is some goal you have been trying to accomplish and just can't seem to make it happen; or if you have just been dreaming of doing something but haven't found the motivation to get started or to stick with it to the end, here is a book for you that contains a lot of encouragement from Candace's personal life and the Bible.

Happy Reading  :-)

Mixed Blessings by Cathy Marie Hake

On my bookshelf I have seven books by Cathy Marie Hake but this isn't one of them.  All the ones I have were published by Bethany House and are set in a 'western' scene.  All good books, funny and fun to read.  I recommend them all.  Fancy Pants is my favorite.

However, Mixed Blessings is not on my shelf.  Nor is it a western; nor even particularly funny.  Nor was it published by Bethany House.  So, how did I find it.  On my Kindle.  I did a search for Cathy Marie Hake on Kindle and came up with this book which was published in 2004 and I had never heard of before.  I'm so glad I found it.

Mixed Blessings is about two families and their struggles as they try to integrate for the sake of the children.  Marie Cadant is a widow with a 3 year old son, Ricky.  During a routine medical procedure a discovery was made that would change their lives forever.  Peter Hallock, a widower with a 3 year old son named Luke, is not impressed when Marie shows up at his house saying she has his son.  It seems that Marie and Peter's wife gave birth at the same hospital on the same night and, due to extenuating circumstances around both births, the babies were switched.

Both parents want every minute they can get with their newly discovered biological child, but neither is willing to give up any time with the child of the heart that he/she has been loving for 3 years.  They live in the same state but more than a two hour drive away from each other, making visiting a challenge.  Furthermore, both parents are somewhat wounded emotionally, making it difficult for either of them to trust the motives of others.  This is especially true of Marie who has suffered several emotional bumps over the past couple of years.  Both parents would like to have full access to both boys, but neither of them ever entertains the idea of trying to take a son from the other parent.  The question is how to allow both parents to love and care for both boys and how to do it with the minimal disruption to the lives and schedules of both families.

I found this book to be fun, interesting, different, yet serious and thought provoking.  It was well written and interesting enough that I finished it in just a couple of days -- working days, that is.  :-)  It varied from the typical "romance" story in that the "problem" to be solved was believable and a bit more true to life than a female doctor in the 1800s who fights to "prove" herself equal to a male doctor all the while she is falling crazy in love with the first cowboy who walks into her office.  I admit the conflicts were smoothed considerably by the fact that neither parent had a living spouse and one of them had enough money to make any workable solution seem affordable. :-)   In spite of these little contrivances, I enjoyed the book very much and wish I could find more stories as well written with plots that don't make me laugh at the thought of them.

Happy Reading.  :-)

Stuff Christians Like by Jonathan Acuff

Do you want a laugh?  Pick up this book and read a little of it.  I did that in the store one day and decided to bring it home with me.  I am always glad for a good laugh.  After I got home with it, before I had a chance to read it, Stephen picked it up and disappeared with it into another room.  He finished it that night.  :-)

If you like sarcasm, cynicism, laughing at yourself or your friends, you'll enjoy this book.  Don't do what I did.  I read it pretty much straight through and, at the end, asked myself why I bothered to read it.  LOL  A little sarcasm goes a long way.

Anyway, the author 'pokes' fun at many of our Christian inconsistencies, idiosyncrasies, and idiocies.  Virtually nothing is too holy to come under his cynical pen.  I really wish I hadn't read it all at once because it left a bad taste in my mouth.  I did enjoy many of the entries and laughed quite a bit.  So, I truly think the problem wasn't what he wrote but simply that I read too many of them too close together.  Sort of like eating too many sweets because they taste good but realizing afterwards that you really regret it because it makes you feel sick.  A little would have been great; the whole package was yuck.  LOL  In the same way, this book is quite fun and funny when taken a little at a time.  So, get the book and put it in a conspicuous place and pick it up every day or so and read an entry or two for a good laugh.

Happy Reading.  And laughing.  :-)

Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo

The full title of this book is Heaven is for Real:  a Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back.   In it Todd Burpo tells of the near death experience of his 3 year old son, Colton.

I will spare you all the reasons I came to this book with a heavy degree of skepticism and just state that I did so. Yet, I read it.  I was curious.  And, as I work in a bookstore, I like to be able to give a personal opinion about some of the books.  Most of the current best sellers don't interest me.  This one did, a bit, so I decided to read it.  I'm glad I did.

Being near death, Colton Burpo was taken to surgery as the last effort to save his life after a short illness that had been misdiagnosed.  I'm intentionally being a bit vague so as to not spoil the story for you.  His parents knew this was serious and he might not live; especially when the hospital staff didn't give them any reassurances that he would be fine as they took him to surgery.

After his release from the hospital Colton began occasionally making comments about seeing Jesus and other obscure references to heaven.  His parents pretty much ignored these comments until a time about 4 months after the surgery when some things Colton said could no longer be easily brushed off.  Not only did he claim to have sat on Jesus' lap, he also told them that he saw his parents (while he was in surgery) and told them what they were doing.  During part of that time they had been in separate rooms and they had never talked to him about what they did while he was in surgery, yet he could tell them.

Over the next couple of years he told them other things also.  He described Jesus and talked about Him and His 'Dad' as if they were personal acquaintances.  He told them he had met his 'other sister' -- the one his mother lost through a miscarriage before he was born and that he had never heard mentioned.  He talked about spending time with his father's grandfather, a man who died decades before Colton was born.  Furthermore, when he saw a picture of that grandfather that had been taken when he was a young man, he immediately identified him as the "Pop" with whom he had talked in Heaven.  At the same time, he had no idea who the young woman in the picture was -- the great grandmother, still living, with whom he has a personal acquaintance.

The Burpo family didn't begin to speak publicly about Colton's experience for several years in order to protect his privacy.  He was about 7 or 8 when they began to speak in churches about what had happened to him and what he told them as a result.  Only now, when he is around 11 years old, have they written a book in order to spread the story to a broader audience.  As a result of one such public talk, Mr. Burpo became aware of a certain painting of 'the Prince of Peace' of which Colton says "Dad, that one's right." when asked if it looks like Jesus.  You will have to read the book to find out more about that.  :-)

As I read this book I kept thinking what a great fiction story this would be.  And wondering if it WAS fiction. I had a hard time believing this was all real and true.  Why?  Honestly, from the book I have not one reason to doubt its truthfulness.  The story is told in a way that is both straight forward and credible.  I didn't catch anything in it that I believe to be in conflict with scripture or with the Spirit of our holy Savior.  On the other hand, I have heard and read so many "near death experience" stories that seem to me to be so incredibly unreal (as in, false) that I just can't quite bring myself to put my full confidence in any of them.

Having said all that, I recommend this book as a good read.  It is well written in a friendly style.  If it isn't true, it certainly seems believable.  Reading it as it is presented, as fact, will bring hope and comfort to anyone who is wondering about heaven.

Happy  Reading.  :-)

The Imam's Daughter

In Germany in the 1930s, most people, including many Christians, looked the other way and said and did nothing  while Jews were being mistreated, abused, shipped off to death camps, and killed.  Because nobody said anything or did anything to stop the terrible things that were being done, they continued and the seriousness escalated.

Today, in the name of religious freedom, people, including Christians, are looking the other way while Muslim women are being treated abominably.  We don't want anyone to tell us how to "practice" our religion and so we tread very lightly on any subject that looks as if it is religion-based.

The Imam's Daughter  by Hannah Shah is very aptly subtitled My Desperate Flight to Freedom.  In this book the author tells how her father's practice of his "religion" led to her own emotional, physical, and sexual abuse.  They lived in a tight community where appearances were more important than truth, where honor (of the family, the community, the religion) was more important than the life, to say nothing of the safety, of an individual.

Hannah tells a heart-breaking story of ten years of abuse.  She tells of her desire to please and earn the love and approval of her father.  She tells of the beatings and other "punishment" she received instead of the love she desired.  She tells of the ignorance, prejudice, and hatred that fueled the abuse she received.  She tells how her father's anger seeped into the rest of the family.  She tells of the isolation she experienced and the disbelief she felt during the rare times when she visited the homes of her non-Muslim friends and saw there kindness, gentleness, laughter, and openness that were completely foreign to her because she had never seen them in her own home.

As a bright young girl she began to see inconsistencies between what her father told her the outside world was like and what she saw for herself when she ventured out into it.  Hannah wanted to have lives like her friends but she could not.  So she developed a dream world where she could go in her mind to get away from the drudgery of her home life.  She also spent as much time as possible at school, dreading going home in the evenings and wishing there was no such thing as a school holiday.

Then came the evening when she overheard her father talking on the phone about taking her to Pakistan and forcing her to marry a cousin.  Hannah was determined this would not be her fate.  She put a few extra things in her backpack the next day when she was going to school, determined to run away and never return to her parents' home.

Hannah tells of the efforts of her family to shame her into coming home.  She tells of the threats they made when she refused.  She tells of her time of frequent moves and hiding in order to be safe.  She tells how she came to know a loving GOD who is as different as night and day from the angry, hate-filled god of her father.

This book tells a simple (though horrible), straight forward story of one girl and how she escaped the abuse of Islam.  It is an eye-opening story; a true story that should open our eyes to the abuse that takes place in the name of religion.  Have you been wondering if we should interfere in the lives of Islamic families or if they should be left to practice their religion as they see fit?  Read The Imam's Daughter for an inside look at what some Islamic homes are like.

We must not close our eyes, for the sake of religious freedom, to the abuse that is happening daily in the name of religious freedom.  We must be willing to take a stand and say "You cannot do this and call it 'religion'; not in this country."  Otherwise, we may find ourselves with as much to account for as the Germans who turned their eyes and hearts and voices in the 1930s, to all that happened to their neighbors, the Jews.

Somehow, Happy Reading just doesn't seem to apply here.  So, this time I'll end with ...
Blessings to you  :-)

The Legend of the Three Trees

I spent countless hours reading to my children when they were little; and even when they were not so little.  Consequently, I know a few children's books.  I thought I'd share one of those books with you.  And, with Easter just around the corner I know just the one.   This is a beautiful story to read to a child, if you happen to have one handy.  If not, then I recommend you read it to yourself.  It's worth it, even if it is a "children's" book.  


The Legend of the Three Trees was written by Angela Elwell Hunt.  It is a story simple enough for a child to enjoy but with meaning enough to touch the heart of an adult.  It is the story of three trees growing on a hill, their life dreams, and what became of them.

As all youth do, the three trees had dreams of what they wanted to be when they matured and were cut down.  Over time a woodsman came  and cut down each tree, awakening in its heart the thrill of seeing its dream come true.  However, each tree found disappointment in the object for which it was destined.  Each tree was made into an object of its dream; but not in the way it had dreamed.  Instead of lives of beauty and honor, each tree found itself being made into a mundane object of drudge and even torture.

The death of a vision is when you see your dreams die.  You see the road of life taking you in a direction that lies opposite of your dream and you know that dream can never be fulfilled; that is the death of a vision.  The end of your dreams.  That is what happened to each of those trees from the hill.

But, after many years of hardship and disappointment, the trees began to see a new life.  Suddenly, their lives were changed.  The first tree was changed when the cattle trough he was made into became the bed for a special Baby.  Years later, the fishing boat that was the second tree was honored when a special Man fell asleep in him during a storm.  Not long after that, the third tree realized his dream of standing tall and straight and making people think of GOD and being so special that people everywhere would always remember him.

It is a beautiful story.  It is a simple story.  It is a touching story.  It is a story of hope.  It is a story of victory.  I hope you will make it a point to enjoy this story this Easter season.

Happy Reading  :-)

A Life to Rescue

A Life to Rescue is written by Karen Michelle Graham.  It is a true story; a story of a mother who refused to lose her son to autism.

Karen tells of the fear, guilt, and frustration she felt when, at age two her son began to regress socially rather than continuing to progress.  She gives a sense of the endless doctor visits required before finally receiving a diagnosis, and then the greater number of them after, as she searched for a way to hold onto the son she seemed to be losing.  Karen opens her heart and tells us what she felt and what she experienced; both the good and the bad.

I had never known anyone, personally and up close, who had autism so I had only vague ideas of exactly what it meant to have a child with autism.  Reading this book opened my eyes and my heart.  I hurt and grieved for Karen.  I rejoiced for her when she found a treatment and "pulled" for her during times of discouragement, when someone would try to tell her there was no "cure", that she should just accept this.Even with no prior knowledge of autism I was able to understand Karen's explanations.  She did an excellent job of clarifying for the "layman" what she was experiencing and what she was facing.

I learned to admire Karen in a special way, as a woman of spiritual strength and character, when I read of the sacrifices she chose to make for the sake of her son.  Most parents say they sacrifice for their children.  Karen really did.  She believed in her son and she believed in the GOD who created that son.  She believed that GOD wanted her son to be whole.  And she sacrificed in order to get him the treatment he needed.  That son graduated from high school not too long ago and is now attending college.  Doctors thought it impossible.

The book is well written in a "lets discuss it over tea" way.  The subject matter is specific but Karen's openness makes you care even if you aren't touched by the specifics.  In short, it was readable, touching, and enjoyable.  It is a good book, a good read, a good story.

I like success stories.  Especially when they are true.  This is one that I'm sure you will love.  It will touch your heart and bring you tears of joy.

Happy reading.  :-)

The Terminator

So, how about a quick review of a movie that has been bothering me lately?   For years I had heard of this movie but never watched it; nor did I have any desire to do so.  Everything I had heard about it gave me reason to not want to see it.  And, honestly, I rarely watch "R" rated movies.  More about that another time.  Anyway, I'm not going to tell you too many details about this movie but I will tell you my opinion of it.

I believe it is the second worst movie I have ever actually seen.  It was completely stupid and dumb.  Yes, both.  Why did I watch it?  Stephen and I occasionally watch a movie together.  Because it is less painful for me to watch his kind than it is for him to watch my kind, we usually watch movies of his choice.  Having heard all the male-hype about this movie, he thought it was a likely choice.

Well, just so you know, Stephen's opinion of it was something like this, "The good thing about this movie is that it is a perfect example of the kind of movie NOT to watch."  He put it in the trash when it was over.  He got up and walked out of the room during the completely unnecessary but obligatory "sex" scene and I fast forwarded; there are some things I just really don't want to see other people do.  Know what I mean?

Some of the he-man, futuristic movies are, in my feminine opinion, not worth seeing.  But at least they have some sort of stimulating or intriguing plot line to go along with the violence that seems to appeal to many men these days.  Not this one.  The supposed plot line was illogical.  If the guy came back from the future to be the father of her child, and that child later (in the future) had sent him back in time to save her ... (see what I mean?) how could that possibly happen if he (the father) died while he was "back in time"?  Crazy.  And dumb.  And stupid.  So was the part where the half machine/half man came back to life, larger than ever only this time as a machine only, after his head fell off as a result of his body being completely incinerated.

If you've been wondering what you missed by not seeing The Terminator, take my advice and take a nap.
Thanks for reading.  :-)

An Administrative Issue

This, my third blog post, is not going to be a book review.  Instead, I am going to try to clarify something for everyone who is kind enough to come read my blog and try to write a comment.  I really WANT those comments.  REALLY.  I do.  So, if you are inclined to make one, I hope you will.

Here is the problem.  There is this thing called a profile.  Initially, I had the blog set so that only people with a profile could make comments.  I did it this way because I wanted to guard against spam.  Then my son, who has had his own blog for somewhere around three years, told me he has NEVER once been spammed.  So, I decided that maybe I could lighten up.  I came to the blog and changed the setting so that ANYONE can write a comment.  I don't mind that.  As long as we all are courteous, the more the merrier.  Right?

However, apparently the blog is still asking you to make a profile.  I believe this is a part of the way the website filters out spam.  Please understand two things.  First, most of what I "see" in the blog is what I am hearing from someone like you.  As the writer of the blog, I don't know if what I see is what you see or only what I, as the writer, see.  Do you see?  :-)  The second thing is that I know what a blog is; that is about the extent of my knowledge of how to "manage" one.  I am learning as I go.  I'm trying really hard to make everything easy and "nice" for you.  However, there are some things I just cannot do.  Maybe someone can; but I can't.  And what I cannot do is make it any easier to make comments than it is right now.

So, what does that mean?  What do you have to do?  I spoke with an "independent evaluator" earlier this evening and this is what I got from that conversation.  (Any errors are completely my own and not to be attributed on anyone's ignorance but mine.)  She came to the blog and left a comment.  She did NOT set up a profile.  She DID have to reproduce one of those security word puzzles.  (At least, most of them look like puzzles to me.)  The reason for that is to make sure it is a real person about to write a comment, and to prevent computer generated spam.  She did not have to give her name or any other personal information in order to comment.  She did put her name at the bottom of the text so I could know which was her comment.  However, the website recognized her as "Anonymous" and put that at the top of her comment.  If it absolutely required (which isn't completely clear to me) her to choose a "profile" she simply typed in her first name.

I just can't make it any easier than that.  I hope you will be brave and take the challenge and write a comment.  Or write several.  :-)  Here is the thing.  I want you to read the blog.  And I hope you will enjoy it.  But I need to know what people think and what responses are happening as a result of the reading.  :-)  So I need for readers to write comments when they have something to say.  Tell me if you like something or if you don't.  Ask questions if you want to.  Let's be nice; but open.  But that means you are going to have to get over the concern about the profile.  For now you don't have to set one up but you do have to do the security word.

Do you want to know a secret?  In time (maybe a few weeks) I will probably change it back so that you have to have a profile to comment.  Now, don't worry.  If I am not mistaken, one of the simplest ways you can have a profile is to have a Yahoo or Gmail e-mail account.  There are others; Wordpress and I don't know what else.  If you already have an account with any of several online "companies" your profile from there will be recognized here.  Just click on it when you're asked for your profile.  Then enter that profile.  Simple.

Another possibility, I believe, is to set up an unnamed profile.  Make your profile something like "Twinkle Toes" or "Pinky".  I'm pretty sure you don't have to give your name.  This blog isn't trying to gather personal info about you; it is just trying to identify who you are.  And the main reason for that is probably so I can know if you are writing 15 comments a day.  LOL  Seriously, if you write a comment anonymously I will have no idea who wrote it.  Anyone can write a comment and sign another person's name if the website recognizes them both as "anonymous" and I'll have no way to identify the real writer.  Once you have a profile you will simply click on it every time and the website itself will sign your "profile" signature.  No one else can write under your profile.  

It may not matter who writes the comments most of the time.  However, if someone should come in and write something nasty I would want to be able to bar the person from commenting again.  Am I in favor of censorship?  Yes; partially.  :-)  I won't bar someone because they criticize something I say.  I want to hear constructive negative comments as well as positive ones.  However, I do want this to be a place where we all enjoy coming to read about something we enjoy.  I want every visit to this blog to be a pleasant experience.  I certainly cannot guarantee that for everyone but I can try by maintaining a standard of Christ-like respect and courtesy toward and from everyone.

So, to recap.  For now anyone can comment.  No profile is necessary but some sort of sign-in is, to verify that the comment is written by a person.  However, that is probably going to change.  For two reasons:  I really like having some sort of identity to associate with the comments.  If you don't want me to know who you are choose a profile that won't identify your person but will identify your comments - or at least distinguish them from those of other people.  The second reason I am inclined to require a profile is to prevent spam.  I know Stephen hasn't had to deal with it, and I'm glad.  However, his blog is pretty private and I hope this one will end up being much more public than his.  The more "traffic" it receives, the more likely it will also receive spam.  So, I'd rather require a profile than deal with spam.  Please go ahead and comment now, while it is easy.  But also consider setting up a simple profile so that you will be ready when the time comes for me to change the setting back to the more secure one.

One last comment and I'm done.  I tend to have lots of words to use.  LOL  So my posts will probably tend toward the long side, as this one did in spite of my intention to make it as short as possible.  However, I want you to know that my goal is not to be long; nor to be short.  Some books can be reviewed in a few words; others are going to need more.  The same is true when there are "housekeeping" issues such as this post addresses.  Some may be short while others may require more for the sake of clarity.  If you feel that my reviews are too long and give away too much about the book, tell me so; if you feel they are too short to give an adequate idea of what the book is about, tell me so.  My goals are to communicate and share with you something that I love, to be clear in what I am trying to convey, to have a good time, and to do what I can to entertain you.  And, as always, my first and last goal is to please the Lord Jesus.  Beyond that, well ... the sky is the limit.  :-)  Thanks for reading.
-Dianne  :-)

A Book to Stay Up All Night to Read

One of the dangers and joys of my life is that I work in a Christian bookstore.  The danger is that I will spend too much money on books.  The joy is that I usually know when good books are released.  That happened a couple of months ago when I spotted a new book on the shelf at our store.  I was innocently walking by the fiction section on my way to do something (I hope you don't expect that much detail) when I noticed a book that wasn't there the day before.  I grabbed it and put it someplace so I would remember to pay for it when I was leaving.  I knew I would read a good portion of it before I went to bed that very night.

The book was The Girl in the Gatehouse by Julie Klassen.  I could hardly wait to read it because I had been so pleased with the author's previous books.  I was right.  This book is so good that I ended up staying up all night in order to finish it.  I just couldn't put it down.

The story begins in September of 1813 and finishes up just over a year later.  Mariah Aubrey has been sent from her home to live in an abandoned    gatehouse on the estate of an older relative.  When she and her companion, her former nanny, arrive her aunt refuses to see her.  The hurt and mystified Mariah begins to settle in at the gatehouse which isn't situated by the "real" gate but by an old gate that is no longer used, putting her residence in a somewhat secluded situation.  The closest lodging to her is the village poor house which is practically across the lawn from the gatehouse.

Not long after Mariah moves in her aunt dies, but not before she gives Mariah a locked chest and tells her she may open it after the aunt dies and she is to take it with her if she is forced to leave the estate after the aunt's death.  What could be in the mysterious chest that the aunt's stepson is so anxious to find?

How is Mariah to support herself?  Her father sent her away with some money but barely enough to get them established in the gatehouse.  With funds  depleted Mariah decides to try her hand as an authoress.  She has a story she wrote as a girl; she edits it and, with the help of her brother, is able to get it published, thus securing their situation for a few more months.

In the meantime, Hugh Prin-Hallsey, the new owner leases the estate to Captain Matthew Bryant, a naval officer who has recently been "paid off".  Mariah finds the captain very attractive but he has declared himself in love with and determined to win another woman, one who refused him once already.  Mariah is confused by his apparent attraction to her but reminds herself that his heart lies elsewhere.  She also constantly reminds herself that because of her unhappy past she must be very careful in her relationships with men.  She must not trust too easily and be led astray.  Again.

Mariah's companion, Miss Dixon, has never had a romance.  Now, it seems she may have two.  Who will win her heart?  The widowed gardener who brings her flowers and bulbs?  Or the manservant who was "left" to Mariah when her aunt passed away?  It seems unlikely Martin will be able to secure Dixon's affection because he begins with certain things against him:  a strange, herbal smell about his person, the fact he has a hook instead of one hand, and he dares to ask for salt for the food she cooks because he is accustomed to his food having a bit of "flavor".

Then there is the nearby poorhouse.  Mariah becomes acquainted with and quite attached to several of the inmates.  There are brother and sister, George and Lizzy Barnes.  Lizzy is too old to stay in the poorhouse but has been put "on staff" so she can be near her young brother.  There are the two aged twin sisters, Amy and Agnes.  One of them was sold into a "bawdy house" by her father when she was young.  Which one?  The cheerful, positive Amy?  Or the critical, discouraging Agnes?  And, how did they come here?  There is the little Maggie who sings like an angel but is very shy and runs away from Mariah when she sees her.  And, who in the world is the old man who goes up on the roof of the poorhouse but whom the other inmates have been instructed to know nothing about if asked?

The Girl in the Gatehouse has many questions that need to be answered.  The characters are believable.  Their stories show real human nature.  One of the things I loved about this book is that while reading it I kept discovering more and more.  I didn't have to read through pages and pages of descriptions (which I don't like) but rather, each page was filled with action or conversation that moved the story along at a good clip.  Julie did a really good job of clarifying jumps in time from one scene to the next.  I don't have much patience with books whose ending I know before I get there.  This book, more than any I've read in a long time, kept me on the edge of my seat and wondering what this or that outcome would be.  There were some things that it was pretty obvious would happen but such stumbling blocks got in the way that I didn't know how the problems would be resolved.  I LOVED this.  LOL

If you like Jane Austen's books you will absolutely love this book.  I do not make such bold statements easily.  The Girl in the Gatehouse is filled with Jane Austen quotes, Jane Austen illusions, Jane Austen references.  The book has characters who "shadow" characters in Jane's books.  There are names names from Jane's books:  Mariah, Henry, Crawford, and Lizzy, of course.  The book is sprinkled with quotes from Jane's books as well as from her personal letters, as well as from other writers of the time.

I will leave you with one quote from the book. This is, as far as I can remember, Julie's thought, not Jane's. But it sounds so Jane Austen-ish that I laughed out loud when I first read it.  And did so again when I re-read it today.  I love the quote.  Captain Bryant and his friend, Mr. Hart have taken a picnic outside and are sitting under a tree, reading two of the latest novels from London.  When Mariah approaches them Mr. Hart says:  "Miss Aubrey, come and have pity on us.  We are reading novels and feel our manliness diminishing by the moment.  Come restore our vanity, do, and tell use we look the dashing officers we once were."

Happy reading

Welcome :-)

It has taken much longer to get this blog up and going than I thought it would.  How little I underestimated my technical ignorance.  LOL
As far as I can tell, the blog is complete and ready to be published and wait for the hoards of people who will be checking in to see what I have to say about books.  And movies.  Because, no one should be fooled into thinking I won't be talking about movies here too; though I plan to try to go heavy on books.  Please feel free to tell me if you think I'm doing too many movies for a "book nook".  
I have decided to make the comments public, at least for now.  So, anything you post should be open for all readers to see.  I reserve the prerogative to change this if I feel the need to do so at any time.  
I have used a template and lots of settings to make the blog look as it does now.  I am not under the misconception that I haven't made mistakes.  :-)  No doubt, I will be making changes as I learn more about how things work.  For the next week or so, feel free to make comments about what you think would be improvements to the basics I have set here.  If you want to, that is.  If you don't, that's fine because there is a good chance I wouldn't know how to do whatever you suggest anyway.  :-)
I do not have a picture of me currently but hope to get one up in the fairly near future.
Thank you to everyone who helped me name my blog.  The first two names I tried were not available.  This was very frustrating.  How dare anyone use a blog with my name in it? LOL  The winning name was suggested by Linda Henson.  Thank you, Linda.  Brooks Book Nook may have too many "ooks" but I just couldn't resist.  I hope you all will like it and find it to be a comfortable place to come and discuss books (and movies).
I am going to stop writing for now and go publish this post and take a look at the blog and see what needs to be done next.  So, this is the end of my first blog post.  Thanks for reading.  


Dianne  :-)