November 22, 2009

Between Wyomings by Ken Mansfield (My God and an iPod on the Open Road)

This book has been on my shelf to review for the Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers since May. I cannot believe I left it there that long.

Ken Mansfield is a Grammy winning producer and author of multiple books about his experiences. Between Wyomings is his newest book. It follows him and his wife through a 3-month road trip down memory lane. As they drive across the country visiting the places important to his life and listening to his iPod, he relates stories from his experience in the music industry. From stories about Ringo Starr coming over for Thanksgiving to helping Don Ho produce his best album, and working with the Beatles for years, Mansfield provides personal insights into the lives of the musicians and their somewhat famous producer. Intertwined with these musical insights are meditations and reflections on Mansfield's relationship with God, all written with musical terms.

I was fascinated by the writing in this book and its stories. I'm a music person, and I loved reading about the small details of how a particular song or album came together. And about how a certain song playing on Mansfield's iPod made him remember a certain experience because I'm the same way. I feel like almost every song is tied to a memory in some way and love to relive them through the music. I also loved the intermingling of personal reflections and explanations of Mansfield's journey in finding God with the help of his wife Connie. His writing throughout the book, whether talking about God or music, is written with musically eloquent terms that read like a piece of great music is played.

I couldn't put the book down because I wanted to learn more about his life and adventures. Thankfully the book is broken into small sections with stories laced into the individual sections so I could pick the book up, read a section, and do something else. Overall I loved this book and will probably pick up his other books if given the chance. I recommend this book to anyone that likes music and well written stories. 4 stars.


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Reviewed by Britni at 7:49 PM 0 comments
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November 18, 2009

Marriage 101 by Jewell R. Powell

Not only do I have a good book to tell you about, but I get the chance to participate in a great giveaway. After reading through this post, if you leave a comment with one way that you can continue "dating" your spouse (like you did when you were actually dating), you will be entered in a giveaway for a $30 gift certificate to Red Lobster, Chili's or Applebees and a gift pack of books. For some good ideas, check out this article by the author of Marriage 101.

And now on to the review.

Jewell Powell and her husband are marriage coaches. They teach people how to have successful marriages through living faithful lives. In Marriage 101, I was supposed to "discover God’s purpose for marriage, how to develop godly character, how to communicate effectively, and much more." And you know what, on a high level I did. I found a number of things that were eye-opening and just needed to be said about how I do and should treat my husband and my marriage. Things like women are taught to be independent so it becomes hard to let go of that independence when you get married. But this book could be used for any relationship really, not just marriage - although it probably makes the most sense for a marriage.

The main theme of the book for me was that God needs to be at the center of your marriage. With scriptures (and places to write notes) to study and questions to reflect on, this book really could be a great way to improve your marriage. I did however find that it was lacking the practical application (e.g., ways to keep dating your spouse or to show that you care) in most cases though. While they were there, I kind of felt like they got lost in all of the religious speak. At the end of each section there was a link to a website (I believe her website most of the time) that included lists and practical applications, but I wanted them in the book and not somewhere else.

Overall for me this book had some good moments but didn't really give me a whole lot to take home other than that by becoming closer to God, I can also become closer to my husband, which in turn will strengthen our marriage. But that's something I already knew so this book really served as a reminder of things rather than teaching me anything new. I would recommend it to anyone that is looking for a way to stregthen their marriage but that does not yet have a strong faith in God and the purpose of marriage. 3 out of 5 stars.
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Reviewed by Britni at 9:26 AM 7 comments
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November 17, 2009

Tirissa and the Necklace of Nulidor by Willow

Tirissa and the Necklace of Nulidor is the first book I think I've ever read by an author with no last name (or maybe that is her last name). It's a fantasy novel about Tirissa, a wood fairy, as she tries to save her family and friends from an evil wizard along with the help of a massive troll and a short and plump guard. They travel through many magical lands and meet many magical friends (and foes) along the way and always come up with some way to continue.

I really enjoyed the first half of this book; it was exciting and new and the idea of a perilous adventure among these three characters put together in such a random way seemed intriguing but by about two chapters into their journey I got bored and just kept hoping they would make it already. I felt like the second half of the book was the same thing over and over again. The group meets one dangerous opponent and figures out how to get past them. The group meets another dangerous opponent and so on. By the time they finally met the really dangerous opponent (the evil wizard) I was just skimming pages to see how they would beat him and save her family.
But I did enjoy this book and thought that the basic story line was good and a creative idea. The characters were developed enough that you could predict how they would act based on your knowledge of their character. So overall an okay read but not something I would pick up again.

3 out of 5 stars.


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Reviewed by Britni at 12:54 AM 1 comments
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November 16, 2009

Words @ Work by Lynda McDaniel

Being an English major, I was very excited to be given the opportunity to review Words @ Work by Lynda McDaniel. The back cover says - "Words @ Work not only teaches you how to write in a concise, conversational style that people want to read - it helps you tap into your creativity, and there's no telling where that can lead."

I've taken a number of technical writing courses and this book was nothing like them. While the classes were full of grammatical ideas and formatting ideas, this book was full of practical ideas like starting your writing with a story, question, or an analogy and the less is more principle. Who ever thought that writing in more concise and simple words would actually be better writing? McDaniels explains how it is and how if you try to make your writing sound advanced and professional, you typically end up with something that nobody wants to take the time to read.

I think the best part of the book was that it's made me stop and think about my writing before I submit or send anything. And I'm trying to make my writing more useful and interesting to read. I don't know if it's working but at least it got me thinking.

I would recommend this book to anyone that writes anything. So really I'd recommend this book to anyone. This book can help anyone from the person that works in an office every day to the basic blog writer. Really. 3 out of 5 stars.

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Reviewed by Britni at 9:16 PM 1 comments
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The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran

After reading Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran, I wanted to read Michelle Moran's other two books, Nefertiti and The Heretic Queen. I just finished The Heretic Queen over the weekend and I loved it.

Nefertari is the niece of Nefertiti, Queen of Egypt, who is known in Egypt as a heretic and no one will speak the names of Nefertiti nor her pharoah husband, Amunhotep, fearing a curse would come upon them from speaking of heretics. Because her ancestors were known as heretics and wiped from the history books, Nefertari was shunned by the people of Egypt. She is the only living person of her ancestry after her mother, who was also a queen of Egypt, died in childbirth. However, because Nefertari is still a princess and came from a long line of queens and pharaohs, she is allowed to remain in the pharoah's palace as she grew.

Nefertari was raised in the palace with the pharoah's son Ramesses, who she fell in love with as they grew up. When Ramesses became pharoah, Ramesses and Nefertari wanted to get married but the people refused to accept Nefertari as their queen. Ramesses and Nefertari worked to win the affection of the people of Thebes so that their marriage would be blessed.

The Heretic Queen is an amazing historical novel that draws you in and tells the fascinating story of Nefertari. I highly recommend it and give it 5 stars.

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Reviewed by Kaylyn at 8:52 PM 1 comments
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November 11, 2009

"Coppola: A Pediatric Surgeon in Iraq" by Chris Coppola

(Disclosure: I did receive an Advance Review Copy of this book for the purpose of writing a review. There was no other compensation.)

Ronnica sent out an e-mail several weeks ago offering the book Coppola: A Pediatric Surgeon in Iraq as one that bloggers could get to review. I knew that I wanted this one (thanks, Ronnica!), but I didn’t know how much I’d want it until I started reading.

The book is the first-person account of Major (Dr.) Chris Coppola, an Air Force surgeon who spends two tours in Iraq at the Balad medical facility. While he is there at a military medical facility, Dr. Coppola is himself a pediatric specialist. Of course, most of what he does in Iraq is for troops, who are adults. However, he is the one called when children come into the facility, either from being injured in combat or attacks or other situations.

The book’s cover has an intriguing picture.

Copolla

The picture is explained about halfway through the book. It’s a woman who brings her child to the camp for care, knowing that there is an American doctor there who is reputed to be great with children. She doesn’t know English, but all she has to explain what she needs is a little piece of paper with the name “Coppola” written on it, which she gives to the guards.

This book is a wonderful read. If you want to get the perspective of a person who’s actually been in Iraq, I can’t recommend it highly enough.

The book is not, though, an easy read. More than a few times, I felt like my heart was being clamped in a vice. Maj. Coppola is writing about the experiences of people in a war. He’s writing about the men and women in a hospital, the injured who come in for care, the parents of the children for whom he cares, his own family, and the locals with whom he interacts. This is a powerful set of stories.

If you want a book that comes out as a gung-ho, “stay the course,” pro-war perspective, this isn’t it. If you want a book that comes out and says, “I’ve been there, this is all wrong, let’s leave,” this isn’t that one, either. Rather, this book deals pretty fairly with the questions of whether we should be in Iraq at all, whether the Iraqis in general are better off (and in what ways!), and what it all costs.

Since I’m already over 400 words, I will stop this here for the moment, but I’m coming back to this book in future posts on my own blog. It’s a wonderful and powerful story, and the perspectives that Dr. Coppola shares should be part of the discussion about the present and future of Iraq and US policy there.

A well-deserved four stars.



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Reviewed by WKen at 11:45 AM 4 comments
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November 10, 2009

The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter

I was given The Financial Lives of the Poets to review by TLC Book Tours. From the back cover, I was intrigued.

Meet Matt Prior. He's losing his job, his wife, and his house. And he's about to lose his mind- until, at the last moment, he discovers a way he might just possibly manage to save it all...and have a pretty [word deleted] great time doing it.

While I may not have loved the plot or subject of this novel, I was fascinated by the writing. This book follows Matt as he triees to make money by becoming a drug dealer who knows nothing about the streets. Of course he gets caught immediately making matters even worse. And while I didn't quite agree with some of the language and storyline, I loved how Walter's writing made me feel like I was inside Matt's mind (that he was losing). This book reminded me of the contemporary literature that I love with the oddball writing styles like pieces of poetry thrown into the middle of the storyline.

If you can handle the F word almost every page, I'd recommend this book to most adults. It really does give you a good glimpse (in a fictional way of course) into the mind of a man falling apart in the dying economy as he tries to hold onto a mansion-like house and $1200 tree fort. 3 out of 5 stars.

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Reviewed by Britni at 9:33 AM 1 comments
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November 9, 2009

White Picket Fences by Susan Meissner


I'm in Turkey this week, so this review was pre-written!

I received Susan Meissner's White Picket Fences from Multnomah Books for review. From what I had read, I assumed that it'd be your typical hardened-teenager-who-finally-sees-the-truth-thanks-to-caring-adults story.

Really, White Picket Fences is nothing like that. First of all, the story really isn't about the teenager abandoned teenager, Tally, who is left to live with her grandma who passes away after a few days. No, the story is about her cousin and his parents who she goes to live with.

Tally's aunt and uncle and their two children live in a typical modern-day uburban home and have the idyllic family life. Or at least, that's what it looks like. Really, a secret from 17yo Chase's childhood is splintering the relationships in the family, even while Chase and Tally discover more of their family's history, a history they discover from talking to a couple Holocaust survivors.

I feel like I'm doing a poor job describing this book, but really, what I liked about it was that it made me feel. The pain and the healing that this family experiences seemed incredibly real as Meissner beautifully paints the story for her readers.

I've been reading a lot of fiction books lately, and this one would definitely is one of the best. I definitely recommend you check it out if you enjoy books on family issues or the Holocaust.

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Reviewed by Ronnica at 2:23 PM 0 comments
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November 5, 2009

Green by Ted Dekker


Dekker's back at it...he added a fourth novel, Book 0, to what was the Circle Trilogy (which now makes it the Circle Series, I guess).

To be honest, I wasn't sure what I'd think. I really like the Circle Trilogy having read all 3 books twice, but I felt like they were pretty complete.

Well, I was wrong. Not only does Green answer a lot of questions you have after reading Black, Red, and White, it provides it's own intrigue, new characters, and, as promised by the idea of a circle, brings you back to page 1 of Black.

What made Green unique for me was the way that it speaks to current day Christianity in it's fractured state. The things that broke up the Circle are the very things we see today splitting churches and dividing denominations.

Green was written as either a completion or the beginning of the series, and it functions as either. Personally, I think it makes more sense to read them in the order they were written, so if you're new to the series, I'd definitely recommend starting with Black. In a way, though, Green provides the clarity and depth to Black just as Lewis's The Magician's Nephew does for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Basically, either way works.

As long as you read them. I can't speak any more highly of the series. See my review of Black for more on this suspense/fantasy series.

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Reviewed by Ronnica at 2:12 PM 1 comments
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November 2, 2009

A Twilight Review by a Non-Twilighter


I know that I might be stepping into something here. Still, I read Twilight by Stephenie Meyer for the first time and can't help but share my thoughts.

First, I have to admit my bias. I knew that I'd likely not like this book since I don't like vampire-books/movies/shows and I don't like (cheesy) romance, either. Perhaps it's like hypnotism...you can't fall to it if you don't believe in it.

Still, I didn't fall under Twilight's spell, which is what everyone said would happen if I just took the time to read it. Though the book moved along at a decent pace and I didn't dislike reading it, I didn't find it to be anything special. Like I told a friend, I feel like Meyer's writing is about on the level of mine...nothing spectacular. Though I want to try my hand at writing fiction, I believe that at heart I'm more of a reader. Meyer might be the same way. Her writing was adequate, but nothing literary...there were no sentences that evoked anything within me (except for a gag a couple of times, but that's more an issue of plot), no evidence of the laboring until she found the just-right word.

So, I now can say what I've thought all along. I see nothing wrong with reading the Twilight series, but to those who read them I want to be perfectly clear:

There are better things out there.

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Reviewed by Ronnica at 1:55 PM 5 comments
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