books

Book: Fresh-Brewed Life
Author: Nicole Johnson
Published: 1999
Genre: Women | Christian Living
Finished: January 22, 2008

This was a great book. Nicole Johnson speaks with a lot of candor about some of the real life challenges we as women face and challenges us to wake up, smell the coffee, and life a fresh life. The nine chapters and nine points in this book were; 1. Surrender to God, 2. Encounter Your Journal, 3. Listen to Your Longings, 4. Embrace Your Beauty, 5. Interview Your Anger, 6. Savor Your Sexuality, 7. Celebrate Your Friendships, 8. Change Your World, and 9. Enrich Your Friendships. Some of those points I thought that I could check off as yes I do that. But Nicole challenges you to take each one of those steps farther than you are. Each point deserves its own time to let it sink in. And of course to apply it. This is a book that will stay on my shelf and be read again sometime in the future.

Book: The Sword of Truth
Author: Gilbert Morris
Published: 1994
Genre: Historical Fiction
Finished: January 15, 2008

I have read a lot of Gilbert Morris books and have really liked all of them. His stories are always interesting and I read some where that most of the love stories are based off of real love stories of people he has known. This book I had read before, I’ve read the whole series before, but when I got it for our church library from paperback swap I decided to pick it up and read it again as fun read. The book is a little long however for a typical fun read. I ended up getting most of the way through it and then setting it aside for a while. It doesn’t help that it is broken up into parts which make it convenient to stop at the end of a part. LOL.

I did enjoy the book though. It is set in the time of King Henry VIII and William Tyndale. I find that time of history particularly fascinating. A couple themes in the book that I like was Myles coming to realize that infatuation does not equal true love, and the strong faith of the women in his life. Here is a quote about Lady Jane, Myles’ step mother towards the end of the book, “She had always seen her walk with God as a great adventure that was not only spiritual but also a tangible, visible, exciting daily experience. She was totally confident that, no matter how dark the day, God’s sunshine lay just beyond, and waiting until the day came was of no consequence, for God was in the shadows as well.” Being able to see God in the shadows of life as well as in the sunshine. Wow. Challenging isn’t it?

Book: Mere Christianity
Author: C.S. Lewis
Published: 1952
Genre: Religion
Finished: January 13, 2008

Clive Staples Lewis. One of the great writers of Christianity. Did you know he set out to disprove Christianity? So did Lee Strobel and Josh McDowell. And those stories are so encouraging to me in my faith because it proves to me that you can be the strongest atheist and set out to disprove God, God in his infinite grace will reveal himself to you even though you did not want to find him.

The book Mere Christianity was a great read. It starts with Human Nature in a broad sense and ends with New Man in a Christian sense and covers many many topics relating to religion and Christianity in between. I underlined so many things! If you read this book I recommend getting your own copy. There are so many gems hidden in this book.

This quote at the end challenged me and made me look at my own life and who I am pursuing, myself or Christ? “Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.”

Book: Trickster’s Choice
Author: Tamora Pierce
Published: 2003
Genre: Youth Fantasy
Finished: January 3, 2008

I finished Trickster’s Choice by Tamora Pierce today. I love all of the books written by Tamora Pierce and have read all of them at least twice. I love to read books again if I like them the first time. It is like visiting good friends you have not talked to for a while, getting reacquainted over a cup of coffee.

One of the things I like about Trickster’s Choice is that the main character - Aly - is trying to find her place in the world, where she fits. Aren’t we all looking for that? I know that my identity is complete in Christ but I am still looking for how He will use me in this world. I think that as long as we are on the earth we will be struggling to find where we “fit”, because this world is not our home.

The other thing I liked was Aly coming to see her mother as a person. Parents are not perfect but hopefully they are doing the best that they know how. Part of growing up is realizing that your parents have feeling too, that they don’t know everything and yet they have the wisdom of experiences and maturity that you don’t have. My parents are deserving of my love and respect just for the fact that they are my parents.

I’ve been told my friends that coming to our house is like coming to a library. Which is true. We love books. Especially my mom and I. Every where you go there are books. Above are two shelves of books found in my room alone. The first shelf is books I’ve collected and have available for swap at Paperback Swap. The second is a shelf full of books that I plan on reading or have read once and would love to read again sometime. Rereading books to me is like visiting with old friends you haven’t seen in a while but love to hang out with.

Another thing about books as far as posting about books I’ve read. I listen to a lot of audio books but won’t post a book review on those because I don’t feel like I really get as much out of listening to something as I do out of reading it. I get the gist of the story but feel as if I’ve lost something by not reading it and concentrating fully on the book. The other books that I won’t post a review of are Love Inspired paperbacks that I will read. Those books I read for fun and the quick lighthearted enjoyment I receive from them. But besides audio books and Love Inspired paperbacks I will post reviews for all of the other books I read, which hasn’t been many lately unfortunately.