8/28/14 - Book review - Surviving Henry by Erin Taylor Young

Surviving Henry is one of the cutest books I've read in a long time. The book follows the antics of a boxer named Henry and his family. It is a beautiful love story of perseverance, sorrow and folly. Henry literally takes this family, and especially his human Erin, on a ride. He gets into everything, and I mean everything. This dog busts through windows, yards and your heart. This dog is near to my heart as neither of us can sit still for very long, and we know it. I can express my feelings of chaos in my body but poor Henry can’t. His family loves him through a lot of danger, vet visits and finally “normal” doggie behavior. You will LOL (laugh out loud) at times and times be prayerful with Erin.
Love this book, not only is it for dog lovers but it is a great story of perseverance through troubling, chaotic times. I received this book free from NetGalley.

8/28/14 - Book review - NIV God's Word for Gardeners Bible Grow Your Faith While Growing Your Garden by Shelley Cramm

This wonderful NIV Bible is for anyone with a green thumb, or those who wish they had a green thumb.

This Bible brings us to the garden with God.  Throughout the scriptures there are references to gardens like the Garden of Eden and also the Garden of Gethsemane.  God planted a heaven on earth garden just for us in the Garden of Eden.  This Bible will take you there with 52 weekly readings or 260 daily readings.  You can have a daily garden inspiration with a devotional and quotes from garden writers.  The 52 weekly readings will take you near the garden with scriptures to read, prayers and devotionals.  It will reveal that it was Father God, not mother earth that brought you too this great garden we live in.  You can also read this Bible and look up scriptures as you would any other Bible. 

Awesome NIV Bible for anyone, especially the gardener in you.

I received this Bible free from the BookLookBloggers.

8/28/14 - Book review - Supreme Sandwich Recipes: 52 amazing sandwiches you can make with a sandwich maker by Felicia D. Rollamo

Supreme Sandwich Recipes gives you one new recipe to try each week in your sandwich maker.  And guess what…you don’t need a sandwich maker to try these recipes.

In this book you will get a short history of the sandwich, real or imagined.  Whole meals can be created from these recipes; from mouthwatering egg and chorizo for breakfast, Hawaiian bacon for brunch, Italian Cuban for lunch, Tuna melt for dinner and then Jalapeno Popper Melt for snack. There are even healthy specialty sandwiches for Vegetarians and those on a Gluten-free diet.  These recipes are just for starters, you can change ingredients and make any variation you want.  The sandwiches are only limited by your imagination.

For anyone on the go, small family or single; this sandwich recipe book is for you.

I won this book in a LibraryThing giveaway.

8/25/14 - Kind of Paleo: The Caveman Diet for Normal People By Kelly D. Williams

Kind of Paleo by Kelly D. Williams is a breakdown of the Paleo diet in layman’s terms.

The book is a beginner’s guide to the diet sweeping the nation.  It gives an introductory from both sides of the fence from true believers of the diet to true skeptics of the diet.  You will see success stories and promoters and moderate to hard-core haters.  I was surprised that there were no recipes in the book, taught me to read the description better.  Even though, I learned a lot about the diet and realize that I’m neither a hunter-gatherer, nor a caveman.  I do, however, grow some of my own food.   

If you don’t know anything about the Paleo diet you will after you read this book.

I received this ebook from LibraryThing for review.

8/24/14 - The B.T.C. Old-Fashioned Grocery Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from a Southern Revival By Alexe van Beuren with recipes by Dixie Grimes

This cookbook is a wonderful addition to my collection.  The writing by Alexe van Beuren is wonderful.  The recipes by Dixie Grimes are mouthwatering.

I want to move to Water Valley, Mississippi just to go to their store.  I’ll leave the meaning behind B.T.C. to you, the new reader of this cookbook.  Small town wonder with all the stories about the townspeople and lives of the writers is so enjoyable just to read.  Then you start reading the recipes and trying them, that’s the heart of the story. I can’t wait for fall to try some of the soups. The pictures in the book go along with the slow, small-town rhythm.  They talk about licking the plates; I want to lick the pages of the book. Needless to say I loved the cookbook.  I was remembering my old cookbooks and how there wasn’t a story behind the recipes; I love the new way of publishing.  There are stories behind our recipes and Alexe tells them with the southern vernacular that is easy on my minds ears.

Buy this book!!  You won’t be sorry.  I’d recommend this to everyone, yes, even men.  Alexe’s husband makes pickles, so can you.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Crown Publishing Group
B.T.C. Facebook page
Random House
Excerpt from Scribd

Amazon
Goodreads
Shelfari

8/21/14 - Revangelical by Lance Ford

Revangelical by Lance Ford

Lance Ford, in Revangelical, calls Christians to be re-evangelized.  To get back to how Jesus called us to live the Good News.  He has pointed out that “Evangelical Christians” have not been the Good News the World should be seeing.  When people look at Evangelicals, are they seeing Jesus?  This book will show you, in his opinion, how that should come to pass.

My toes were stepped on, that’s for sure; maybe not so much in a good, critical learning way, but sometimes in an offended way.  Ford, you can tell, doesn’t like conservative radio show hosts, TV hosts or I believe conservatives in general.  Most of the conservatives that he talks about don’t publicly profess Christianity.  I was disappointed in this aspect of the book.  I agree with him that we, as Christians, should be taking care of the poor and those looked down upon, like the homeless.  He wrote often of people that he knew that had started communities or moved into communities to help the underprivileged.  These “revangelicals” are living the gospel of Jesus.

 

His politics and mine may be different but when it all boils down we agree, we should have a heart like Jesus.

Should you become a Revangelical?  Absolutely! 

Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.

Goodreads
Shelfari

8/20/14 Book review of: Thou Shall: Freedom to strip away the “nots” and discover what God wants by Jamie Snyder for NetGallery

Thou Shall: Freedom to strip away the “nots” and discover what God wants by Jamie Snyder

This book has caused a paradigm shift in my thinking.  I want to strive to be a sheep and not a goat.  God has called us in The Great Commission to go and do, not sit and watch.

The author, Jamie Snyder, is lead pastor of Lakeside Christian Church in Kentucky.  He holds many more titles; husband, father and most importantly child of God

In this book Pastor Snyder reminds us that our God is not just a Thou Shall Not God but a God of love who loved us so much that he gave his only Son to die for our sins.  We are to see The Ten Commandments as a guardrail and that we shouldn't live in sin avoidance but to live as Jesus would have.  We should, as he says, “put on your fire suit and crash helmet” to be on the move as God wants us.  We should care for people, love our neighbors, that doesn't mean to sit and think about it but actively do something.  We all have someone in our lives that need help in some way, help them.  James calls us to look after orphans and widows in their distress.  Pastor Snyder believes, at this time, that we should include single parents.  One thing I particularly liked, “There is great danger when we begin to feel superior to others because of something as shallow as what we wear or when we look down on others because of what they choose to put on.”

I would recommend this book to everyone!!  This book will change your life, it did mine.

NetGallery
Goodreads
Shelfari

8/16/14 Book review of The Good Suicides by Antonio Hill

The Good Suicides by Antonio Hill #antoniohill #thegoodsuicides #edelweissbookreview

This is the second book by Antonio Hill that features Inspector Hector Salgado.  I haven’t read the first but will put it on my list to review.  The story is set in Barcelona Spain and had a few terms I was unfamiliar with.  With that being said, the book was good after the initial introduction and description of characters.  This thriller is a who done it right to the end

.

The employees of Alemany Cosmetics are committing suicide one by one, or are they.  A group from the company has been sent on a weekend of team building in the country.  What happens there and between them is doled out in tiny pieces throughout the book.   A picture of three dogs that were hung and two words, “Never Forget” has been emailed to each of the participants, which leaves you wondering for a long time.  Inspector Salgado, Agent Fort, Sgt. Andreau and Agent Castro each have a part in solving these cases of suicides/murders.  Hill has built a good character base and each were interesting unto themselves; lace them together and you have a wonderful thriller.

I’d recommend this book to anyone that isn't offended by strong language, diverse sexual lifestyles or dark suicides.  The Good Suicides was very intriguing, very strange and also a very good page turner.

8/11/14 - A book review of Not Without Laughter by Langston Hughes

This is the first by Langston Hughes that I’ve read.  I haven’t read any of his poetry but this book is full of poetic prose.  The story is about a young black boy, Sandy, that grows up through the pages.  Sandy is raised by his grandmother Aunt Hager until she passes away.  His education in life is then taken over by his Aunt and finally his mother.

If you’ve read Gone with the Wind you will understand the vernacular of how these poor black folk speak.  At first it may be hard to understand but after a while you fo’ shor’ will get it.  I kept thinking throughout the book why it was titled the way it was because there wasn’t much laughter.  Finally I realized that life is what it is; you must keep going, no matter what comes your way.  There is love and hate, Christian and sinner, family and friends and such music and dancing that you feel like you are right on the porch.  The book grew on me as did all the characters.  Don’t expect a climatic ending, there is none.  It’s one of those books that you would like to see more of.  I would like to see where Sandy’s life takes him.  Will he follow in the footsteps of his almost non-existent father or will he remain with this mother and tend to her.

Overall I would recommend this book.  It’s a bit of history of poor black folks in a small Kansas town.  I think I must read some of his poetry.

8/4/14 - Book review of Extremely loud and Incredibly close by Jonathan Safran Foer

I think after reading this book I’ll stick to non-fiction.  I have heavy boots.  There were times I couldn’t figure out who was writing to whom as there are a lot of letters in this.  I’m not sure after finishing this book I’ll read any more of Foer’s works.

I wanted to finish the book as it was between other books I wanted to either start or finish.  I feel guilty for starting a book and not completing it.  The young lad in the book lost his father in the 9/11 tragedy.  The kid is a genius and even Stephen Hawking agrees.  At nine years old I could hardly finish good sentences let alone invent the things, in his mind, that this guy does.  I’ll give Foer that; he does have a good imagination.  Oskar, the young boy in the story goes on a journey throughout NYC to find all the “Black’s” that could help him with the last link of his father’s existence.  I found that the story was more in depth about his grandparents than his father.  We hardly know this father that was killed except that he read to Oskar and let him join him in the quest to find all the imperfections of the New York Times.  There are a lot of photos in the book…doorknobs, really?  I did finish the book even though the “birdseed shirt” was never really explained; maybe that was the cliffhanger.

I’m sure other more artsy, fartsy critics will have enjoyed the book.  Read all the reviews before buying.  This one is a dud for me.

Reviews:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1015092666
http://www.shelfari.com/books/48169/Extremely-Loud-and-Incredibly-Close/reviews/4572144
http://www.amazon.com/review/R3040HPKOWPDAX/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

8/3/14 - Book review for BookLook Bloggers The Jesus Code by O.S. Hawkins

52 Scripture questions every believer should answer.  The Jesus Code provides a whole year of personal devotion, small group study, couple(s) ministry and questions we should answer.  Out of hundreds of questions in the Bible O.S. Hawkins chooses 52 for this book (one for every week of the year).  They all were thought provoking with questions from both the Old Testament and New Testament.

He begins with the serpent putting doubt in Eve’s mind by asking “Has God indeed said?” from week one.  We see in week nine Solomon about to be crowned as King asking God to give him wisdom.  Week 15 we get the question “Will we live again?” and the answer an emphatic “Yes!”.  All through the pages are questions, answers and scriptures.   We learn about the virtuous wife, resentment, tithing, worry, fear, neighbors and how Jesus fed thousands with a few loaves of bread and a couple fish.  Peter boasted that he would never betray Jesus however, he did so three times.  Then the risen Jesus posed a question to him and to us, “Do you love Me more than these?”.  O.S. Hawkins finalizes the book with the way of salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

You will be probed and prodded when reading this book.  I would recommend this to anyone that may be questioning their faith, their existence or their way.  This is a tool to use in any devotional or Bible study.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers <http://booklookbloggers.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.”

7/23/14 - Book review for BookLook Bloggers

Third Thursday Community Potluck Cookbook by Nancy Vienneau

This is one extraordinary southern-recipe cookbook.   This is not only a cookbook but a wonderful idea of getting community together to celebrate the bounty of the season.  Nancy and Gigi have formed a community potluck every third Thursday of the year, with exception of December.   The cookbook flows cohesively into a wonderful story of friends gathering around a table made with love.

My mouth watered the whole time I read!  I have made so many bookmarks for the recipes that I should just try them all.  And the idea!  What a wonderful way to gather folks from the community, no matter who they know, to enjoy a good meal with friends.  This is the first time I “read” a cookbook but it is well worth the read.  Rhonda, one of the potluckers says, “What happens here is not your usual potluck.”  The recipes found in this cookbook are anything but usual.   I have learned many new techniques like boiling potatoes with garlic and bay leaves for a subtle hint of flavor. 

Nancy Vienneau is a “recovered” caterer turned food writer and activist.  I would recommend this book to anyone loving southern recipes and loving a slow walk through the garden with the potluckers.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers <http://booklookbloggers.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.”

+Nancy Vienneau