Author: Gracia Burnham

Summary: From Amazon.com

In this remarkably honest and unaffected memoir, Burnham tells the story of her captivity at the hands of Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim extremist group in the Philippines. For just over a year, she and her husband Martin, a missionary pilot, lived with their captors and a variety of other hostages in the Philippine jungle. In a botched rescue attempt, the Philippine army shot and killed Martin Burnham and Ediborah Yap, a nurse who was the other remaining hostage. Gracia Burnham was also shot, but rescued and treated for a leg wound. Burnham hauntingly depicts the alchemical reaction of deep Christian faith, Stockholm Syndrome and the unremitting terror of hostage life. The odd intimacy among the hostages and captors comes across in surprisingly frank conversations. At one point, Martin boldly refers to all the bad things the captors have done to the hostages, only to have one of them look at him quizzically and claim he has never done any harm to the hostages. The captors, in fact, do unspeakable things, such as beheading hostages or taking them as unwilling “wives.” Impressively, Burnham makes no attempt to dramatize these events for shock value, nor does she use this book as an occasion for Christian triumphalism. Instead, she chronicles both her high and low moments as a Christian during that year, and shows tremendous respect and love for members of other faiths with whom she lived. While some of the book is written for a Christian audience, a much wider audience will appreciate Burnham’s brave, artless account of these horrific events.

Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Positive Elements: I just have to say “WOW”! Ms. Burnham told her story in a way that made me feel like I was there with her. I found myself looking at the dates in her story and thinking about what I was doing then, while she was sitting in the jungle. Her honest and open dialogue about her thoughts and feelings, really grabbed at my heart. I have to agree with the summary review in that Ms. Burnham did not give graphic details of certain events. She could of done so and that would of added some shock value to the story. I respect the fact that she chose not to do so. A book that you will not want to put down!

Sexual Content: There is some talk of the captors taking some of the hostages as their “wives”. There is not any vivid descriptions, but I thought I would point this out.

Violent Content: This is a story of a kidnapping and hostage situation. There are accounts of the kidnapping, the time in capivity and a beheading which could disturb some.

Profanity: None that I can recall.

Drug Content: None.

Conclusion: I enjoyed reading this story. Not because I like reading stories about kidnapping, but because I like reading stories about faith and hope. Ms. Burnham lives her life during this year as a Christian woman who has her highs and lows with God. Much like all of us in our own lives. An inspirational story by and amazing woman of God. A must read!

Author: William P. Young

Summary: From Amazon.com

Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack’s world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant “The Shack” wrestles with the timeless question, “Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?” The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You’ll want everyone you know to read this book!

Positive Elements: This is a wonderfully descriptive and vivid story of the relationship between one man and his heavenly father. Mack endures through one of the most horrific tragedies imaginable to a parent: the loss of a child. During his grieving he has given up on God, church and all things associated with religion. In the story God reveals himself to Mack in many ways on many different levels. Simply, He shares in Mack’s pain and then brings him comfort.  This story is a reminder that God does not like it when bad things happen to us but that he can purpose good out of it for those who love him. (Romans 8:28).  With God’s restoration, Mack was even able to do something unimaginable to many of us; forgiving his daughter’s perpetrator. The burden of bitterness was lifted and Mack was able to have a life fulfilled. I am reminded of the verse in Isaiah 40:31 which says, But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not be weary; they will walk and not faint.  Even in the midst of our suffering we can make a choice. We can flee and let bitterness, anger and doubt seep in, as it did in Mack prior to his meeting at the shack. Or we can embrace it and put our hope in the Lord that he will work it out for His will and purpose.

Sexual Content: None

Violent Content: The premise of the story revolves around the kidnapping and subsequent murder of a young girl. While not graphic in detail, the topic itself can be uncomfortable for many.

Profanity: None

Drug Content: None

Conclusion: I believe that this story provided an amazing insight into the restoration God provides us in our suffering. His hand is always at work in our lives. One of the verses that comes to mind is James 1:2-4 which says, Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trial of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. Mack certainly did not find joy in his suffering but God was faithful to him and joy came to him as he persevered through his trial.  I do have some issues with some of the theology presented in the book. Particularly with respect to the trinity. At one point Mack notices nail prints in God’s hand. I don’t believe there is biblical evidence for this to be possible. In one scene, Jesus tells Mack with regards to his followers that he had no desire to make them Christians. Christian by definition means follower of Christ and his teachings. I would urge every reader of The Shack to keep your Bible handy while reading as to reference any theological discrepancies.

Author: Harry Bernstein

Summary: From Amazon.com

“There are places that I have never forgotten. A little cobbled street in a smoky mill town in the North of England has haunted me for the greater part of my life. It was inevitable that I should write about it and the people who lived on both sides of its ‘Invisible Wall.’ ”
The narrow street where Harry Bernstein grew up, in a small English mill town, was seemingly unremarkable. It was identical to countless other streets in countless other working-class neighborhoods of the early 1900s, except for the “invisible wall” that ran down its center, dividing Jewish families on one side from Christian families on the other. Only a few feet of cobblestones separated Jews from Gentiles, but socially, it they were miles apart.
On the eve of World War I, Harry’s family struggles to make ends meet. His father earns little money at the Jewish tailoring shop and brings home even less, preferring to spend his wages drinking and gambling. Harry’s mother, devoted to her children and fiercely resilient, survives on her dreams: new shoes that might secure Harry’s admission to a fancy school; that her daughter might marry the local rabbi; that the entire family might one day be whisked off to the paradise of America.
Then Harry’s older sister, Lily, does the unthinkable: She falls in love with Arthur, a Christian boy from across the street.
When Harry unwittingly discovers their secret affair, he must choose between the morals he’s been taught all his life, his loyalty to his selfless mother, and what he knows to be true in his own heart.
A wonderfully charming memoir written when the author was ninety-three, The Invisible Wall vibrantly brings to life an all-but-forgotten time and place. It is a moving tale of working-class life, and of the boundaries that can be overcome by love.

Positive Elements: This book is a beautifully written memoir of world many of us know nothing about. The story begins with the author recalling his childhood from age 4. The details and landscape of his everyday life are vivid and engrossing. On the surface it would appear that Harry Bernstein did not have a happy childhood. His father was emotionally and most of the time physically absent. He was often teased and harrassed walking to and from school because of his Jewish faith. Harry’s mother was perhaps the most memorable character in the book. What an amazing woman. She sacrificed her self in every way for her children. She truly is an inspiration to everyone. This memoir is a testament to the resiliency of children. It was also a real look into the divisive world of Jews and Christians. Bernstein realizes that whether Jew or Christian, underneath we are all have the same emotions and hope and dream of the same things. It took a tragedy then a celebration to bring the two cultures together.

Sexual Content: None

Violent Content:There are several situations of domestic violence in the story. However these situations are not too graphic. There are also several instances of children fighting.

Profanity: Some negative connotations and slurs referring to Jews and Christians

Drug Content: None

Conclusion: I loved reading this book. Bernstein faced so much adversity in his childhood. History has always informed of us of the tension and bitterness between Jews and Christians. I have never read a book that brought it to a reader from such a personal persepective. The lively characters from Bernstein’s childhood will make you laugh, want to cry and smile at the small victories. What a triumph for him to pen his first book at 93. I am looking forward to reading the sequel The Dream.

Author: Denise Jackson

Summary: From Christian Book Distributors

Take an inspiring behind-the-scenes glimpse at one of country music’s most famous couples. Learn about Alan and Denise’s struggles and success, their love story and the near-failure of their marriage—and how rediscovering their faith dramatically shaped their lives. Includes an exclusive CD featuring their wedding song and Alan’s new composition about their shared journey. 256 pages, hardcover from Nelson.

Positive Elements: Mrs. Jackson takes readers inside an honest and poignant journey of the struggles she faces in a celebrity marriage. The Him in the title refers to God and not her famous husband. If you think that you will be getting an inside scoop on Alan Jackson’s personal life you will be dissapointed. Though raised in a Christian home, Denise’s child-like understanding of God failed to comfort her during several major life crisis, including the separation from her husband. When every attempt to console herself during crisis failed, Denise decided to renew her relationship with God. She surrounded herself with Christian women, participated in Bible studies and sought counsel from godly men and women. Matthew 7:7 says, ” Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.” I find that in my own walk with God that when you desire Him and His will doors are opened. I was pleased to see that Mrs. Jackson focused on her self and her own spiritual growth instead of opting to fix her husband’s flaws. She makes comments that she is no scholar of the Bible yet Scripture is referenced throughout the book in an encouraging manner. To me this reinforces the idea that God and His word are open and available to all of us and are applicable to our everyday walk with its struggles and triumphs.

Sexual Content: None

Violent Content: None

Profanity: None

Drug Content: None

Conclusion: Finally a celebrity couple who really gets who God is and what he can do. It seems everywhere these days celebrities are endorsing this faith or that, dabbling in mysticism or some other New Age religion on the path to happiness. The Jacksons have discovered what so many in their industry have not found: that pure happiness and contentmen comes from our Lord. Denise makes it clear how easy it was for her to be enticed by wordly things when she lost sight of God. I admire her honesty in the book. Admitting personal failures is always taking a risk with your readers . I applaud this couple at their desire to restore their marriage and for doing the hard work to keep their family together. Mrs. Jackson does unecessarily include many references to her material possessions and extravagant wealth. I suppose she does this to provide the readers with a complete picture of the lack of fullfillment she felt despite “having it all.”

Author: Jill Smolinski

Summary ( From Publisher’s Weekly):
Smolinski follows up her debut, Flip-Flopped, with an airy, hit and mostly miss novel about one rudderless woman’s accidental journey of self-discovery. After a Weight Watchers meeting, narrator June Parker offers a ride home to newly svelte Marissa Jones, and the two hit it off until Marissa dies in a nasty one-car accident. When June runs into Marissa’s hot brother at the cemetery six months after the crash, she makes a rash promise to carry out the dead girl’s list of 20 things to do before she turned 25 (even though June is 34). The challenges that follow—running a 5K, kissing a stranger, “dare to go braless”—serve less to improve June’s life than to highlight how unfortunate it is that she’s taken up a stranger’s goals instead of her own. Smolinski’s Los Angeles is a well-executed set—June tilts at windmills as a writer for a ride-sharing nonprofit—but the most human characters in it are June’s tyrannical and calculating boss and her secretly sensitive, underused brother. Though completing the list is a transformative experience for June, the leadup fizzles. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Postive Elements: Ms. Smolinski pens a story that all of us can relate to. We have all at some point wanted to accomplish something important. The characters are ordinary people who live their lives just like the reader(s) that the author is targeting. I enjoyed the flow of this story and thought that it “read” very quickly. I found myself wanting to know what was going to happen next.

Sexual Content: There is a teen pregnancy in the story.

June has to complete a task on the list that involves “kissing a total stranger.” There are also several sexual references made to her not having had sex for a long time due not having a boyfriend. Finally, she openly lusts after a man to whom she is attracted.

Violent Content: None

Profanity: I recall a few instances of profanity in this story. They easily could have been left out.

Drug Content: None

Conclusion: This novel is a great summer read. I enjoyed the theme of the story, as well as the characters. I only wish the ending was a little different. This story got me thinking about things. Should I have a list of things that I want to accomplish before I meet God? I decided the answer was no. I was just going to do better about living my life day to day. Taking care of and loving things that are important — family.

Title: The Other Mother

Author: Gwendolen Cross

Summary (from Publishers Weekly):
Gross’s third novel (following Getting Out) documents the front lines of the Mommy Wars, but its real strength lies in exposing the complex inner battlefields motherhood can open up. Eight months pregnant Amanda, a successful children’s book editor and dedicated New Yorker, picks up with her lawyer husband and moves to suburban Teaneck, N.J. Her new neighbor, Thea Caldwell, is a full-time mother of three who still lives in her childhood home and who arrives bearing brownies. When the newcomers take extended shelter in the Caldwells’ basement following a damaging storm and, later, when Amanda hires Thea as her newborn’s nanny, the growing intimacy between the two breeds resentment, bitterness and misunderstandings. The series of external crises designed to create tension and suspense are, in the end, less compelling than the women’s own inner demons, revealed through alternating, and overlapping, first-person narration. Jersey resident Gross shows the strife between SAHMs (Stay at Home Moms) and WOTHs (moms who Work Outside the Home) to be a lot more nuanced than it’s often portrayed. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Positive Elements: The author takes the reader into the well defined lives of a stay-at-home mom and a work-outside-the-home mom. Many books on the subject tend to favor one position over the other. This story presents both sides of the story with a compassion and understanding. Each mom faces complex and challenging situations unique to her chosen walk of life. However, the author also links together the common bonds all moms have regardless of work and home status — the love of our children. This book is an easy read and a good story. The chapters are told from the point of view of the main characters alternately. This enables the readers to understand the opposing viewpoints of both moms, while never really favoring one over the other.

Sexual Content: None

Violent Content: None

Profanity: There were a few instances of strong language. Unfortunately, it wasn’t essential to the story of the book.

Drug Content: None

Conclusion: This is not just another book about the so-called mommy wars. I enjoyed this book in part because it explores the issues we moms face on a daily basis ( guilt, vulnerablity, time for ourselves, parenting mistakes, family choices). Women are always comparing ourselves to each other. We do it with husbands, houses, dinners, etc.. It gets worse when we have children. Amanda and Thea both take on judgemental attitudes to each other and in turn take moments to question their own respective positions as as working mom and a stay at home mom. One particular moment in the book turned me off. During an emotional and heated moment between the two women, they kiss. Its hard to determine the author’s intent with that scene. It is not described as coming from anything sexual but more from need of being comforted. It was a strange scene and should have been left out. This book would be very good for dicsussion in a book club.

Author: Barbara Delinsky

Summary: (from Publishers Weekly) Relationships are brought to the limit in Delinsky’s splendid latest exploration of family dynamics. On a rainy night, Deborah Monroe and her teenage daughter, Grace, are driving home when their car hits a man. The victim, who turns out to be Grace’s history teacher, is unconscious but alive. Although Grace was driving, Deborah sends her home and takes responsibility for the accident when the cops show up. Deborah is juggling a lot: as a family doctor, she is in private practice with her über-demanding widower father, who is trying to hide a drinking problem; her son, Dylan, is vision impaired; her mother’s death continues to affect the family; Deborah is still dealing with her ex-husband’s new, separate life; and her unmarried sister, Jill, has just announced she’s pregnant. Grace’s guilt about not taking responsibility for the accident makes her withdraw from friends and family, and the accident victim turns out to have a more complex private life than anyone imagined. The author seamlessly resolves relationship issues without sentiment, throws in a promising romance for Deborah and offers a redemptive scene between Grace and her grandfather. Delinsky combines her understanding of human nature with absorbing, unpredictable storytelling—a winning combination.

Author: Leif Enger

Summary:
To the list of great American child narrators that includes Huck Finn and Scout Finch, let us now add Reuben “Rube” Land, the asthmatic 11-year-old boy at the center of Leif Enger’s remarkable first novel, Peace Like a River. Rube recalls the events of his childhood, in small-town Minnesota circa 1962, in a voice that perfectly captures the poetic, verbal stoicism of the northern Great Plains. “Here’s what I saw,” Rube warns his readers. “Here’s how it went. Make of it what you will.” And Rube sees plenty.

In the winter of his 11th year, two schoolyard bullies break into the Lands’ house, and Rube’s big brother Davy guns them down with a Winchester. Shortly after his arrest, Davy breaks out of jail and goes on the lam. Swede is Rube’s younger sister, a precocious writer who crafts rhymed epics of romantic Western outlawry. Shortly after Davy’s escape, Rube, Swede, and their father, a widowed school custodian, hit the road too, swerving this way and that across Minnesota and North Dakota, determined to find their lost outlaw Davy. In the end it’s not Rube who haunts the reader’s imagination, it’s his father, torn between love for his outlaw son and the duty to do the right, honest thing. Enger finds something quietly heroic in the bred-in-the-bone Minnesota decency of America’s heartland. Peace Like a River opens up a new chapter in Midwestern literature. –Claire Dederer (taken from Amazon.com)

Positive Elements: This book is has an original plot and unique characters. What a change from the standard novels you find in bookstores today. The author uses rich and descriptive language that enable the reader to actually believe a sometimes unbelievable story. Though not classified as Christian fiction, themes of religion, faith and prayer play an integral part of the story. There are many allusions to the miracles of Jesus Christ. The book reads like the author’s memoir and its hard to believe otherwise.

Sexual Content: None

Violent Content: In the beginning of the book there is a brief scene of violence between the older brother and a pair of intruders in the house. It is not particularly graphic.

Profanity: None I recall

Drug Content: None

Conclusion: I loved this book. I applaud the author for being willing to include Biblical themes in a secular book. There are many references to Biblical stories and miracles. For instance at one time the family is feeding some guests in the home and there doesn’t seem to be enough food to feed everyone. Everytime the daughter, Swede returns to the stove the pot of soup seems to be full. Faith is a major underlying theme throughout the book. Jeremiah Land, the father, appears to be a strong Christian man who makes decisions based on his own faith in God. His children, although sometimes with blind faith, follow him on their journey. They are never sure of what lies ahead. The story is similar to the way we follow Christ. Never knowing whats ahead but trusting the He knows the best way for us. The only negative I could give this this book is that the author’s descripive language draws out the story a little longer than needed.

Author: Elizabeth Gilbert

Summary

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Gilbert (The Last American Man) grafts the structure of romantic fiction upon the inquiries of reporting in this sprawling yet methodical travelogue of soul-searching and self-discovery. Plagued with despair after a nasty divorce, the author, in her early 30s, divides a year equally among three dissimilar countries, exploring her competing urges for earthly delights and divine transcendence. First, pleasure: savoring Italy’s buffet of delights–the world’s best pizza, free-flowing wine and dashing conversation partners–Gilbert consumes la dolce vita as spiritual succor. “I came to Italy pinched and thin,” she writes, but soon fills out in waist and soul. Then, prayer and ascetic rigor: seeking communion with the divine at a sacred ashram in India, Gilbert emulates the ways of yogis in grueling hours of meditation, struggling to still her churning mind. Finally, a balancing act in Bali, where Gilbert tries for equipoise “betwixt and between” realms, studies with a merry medicine man and plunges into a charged love affair. Sustaining a chatty, conspiratorial tone, Gilbert fully engages readers in the year’s cultural and emotional tapestry–conveying rapture with infectious brio, recalling anguish with touching candor–as she details her exotic tableau with history, anecdote and impression.

Positive Elements

Gilbert is particularly gifted in writing her descriptive narratives. Her description of the gourmet, geography and people of Italy peaked my interest as a potential place to visit. This part of the book will have you craving Italian food. In addition to her narratives, Ms. Gilbert also provides with readers with lots of factual and historical information about the places she visits.

Sexual Content

There is a sex scene in the end of the book between Ms. Gilbert and her “friend.” Its not particularly graphic though.

Violent Content

None

Profanity

A few words but not enough that I found it too offensive.

Drug Content

None

Conclusion

I had heard so many good things about this book. It had been on my reading list of a few months based on the positive reccomendations of others. However, I have never been more disappointed with a book than I was with Eat, Pray, Love. I disliked this book for so many reasons. Ms. Gilbert’s attitude toward life is much like the atttitude of the world today. She comes across as self-absorbed, narcisstic and childish in her pursuit of so called “enlightenment.” It is worthwhile to note that she recieved an advance on this book before the trip. So I wonder how much of the experiences and drama in the book were created and contrived by Ms. Gilbert for a better read. There were many statements and stories that Christians will find offensive. In the beginning of the book Ms. Gilbert states “Let me explain why I use the word God, when I could easily use the words Jehovah, Allah, Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu or Zeus. Alternatively I could call God “that”. …………..God is the name that feels the most warm to me, so thats what I use (page 13). As Christians we know God is not any of those others. The God she references to in the rest of the book is not our Heavenly Father, although her so-called meditations and prayers would have you think otherwise.

In the second part of the book, Ms.Gilbert travels to India to study in an ashram under the teachings of a famous Indian guru. An ashram is a compound of like-minded people coming together to study and meditate. It is similar to a retreat. During one meditative session Gilbert describes it (p. 199) as ” being pulled through a wormhole of the Absolute , and in a rush I suddenly understood the working of the universe. I entered the void ……. The void was God , which means I was inside God.” Gilbert also quotes and Indian book that says ” People follow different paths, straight or crooked according to their temperment, depending on which one they consider best or most appropriate and all reach YOU (God).” This cherry picking of religion is advocated through out the book. We as Christians know that Jesus has said ” I am the way, the truth and the life. No one gets to the father but through me.” John 14:6. I have found that most of the world is always on the search for something beyond ourselves. People are willing to look everywhere but to God to fill that empty void. I am willing to bet the Ms. Gilbert’s new found happiness is temporary and that without knowledge of the on true God she will always have an empty void.

Author: Audrey Niffeneger

Summary:

From Publishers Weekly:

This clever and inventive tale works on three levels: as an intriguing science fiction concept, a realistic character study and a touching love story. Henry De Tamble is a Chicago librarian with “Chrono Displacement” disorder; at random times, he suddenly disappears without warning and finds himself in the past or future, usually at a time or place of importance in his life. This leads to some wonderful paradoxes. From his point of view, he first met his wife, Clare, when he was 28 and she was 20. She ran up to him exclaiming that she’d known him all her life. He, however, had never seen her before. But when he reaches his 40s, already married to Clare, he suddenly finds himself time traveling to Clare’s childhood and meeting her as a 6-year-old. The book alternates between Henry and Clare’s points of view, and so does the narration. Reed ably expresses the longing of the one always left behind, the frustrations of their unusual lifestyle, and above all, her overriding love for Henry. Likewise, Burns evokes the fear of a man who never knows where or when he’ll turn up, and his gratitude at having Clare, whose love is his anchor. The expressive, evocative performances of both actors convey the protagonists’ intense relationship, their personal quirks and their reminiscences, making this a fascinating audio. (Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.)

Positive Elements

The Time Traveler’s Wife is an intriguing story about a love that two people share — a love that goes through the strange and unimaginable. I loved both of the central characters in the story. The author developed them well and you had a sense of really knowing them by the end of the story. I liked the way the author followed the lives of both characters at the same time, although it was a little challenging to follow at the beginning.

Sexual Content

This story has a few scenes that are sexual in nature. There was a particular scene that occurred with Clare when she was in high school. She was “attacked” by a male classmate. This may be disturbing to some. Also, adultery occurs in this novel. The other sexual scenes that occur are not graphic in nature and have suitable place in this novel.

Violent Content

There was not any major violence in the book. There was the above mentioned attack as well as Henry beating someone up after time traveling, but it was not graphic.

Profanity

There is profanity throughout this story. Some of the profanity was in the character’s general conversation in relation to sex.

Drug Content

There is little drug content in this book. The drugs that are talked about are related to Henry’s condition and they are medicinal in nature.

Conclusion:

I thought that this story was somewhat confusing at the beginning. It was challenging to follow the time lines of both of the characters. Once you get “into” the book, it becomes easier to follow and understand. I enjoyed reading this novel and all its complexities. Be prepared to spend some time reading this book, though. It is about 500 pages.