Fiction Books - Page 6

Picture Perfect

Jodi Picoult

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 60 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Good Picoult read 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Officer William Flying Horse is new to the Los Angeles Police Department. The job is quite a bit different from his last place of employment, the Indian reservation on which he grew up. As the child of a white mother and Native American father, Will has always had problems fitting in, the white kid on the reservation, the Indian guy to the rest of the world. The night before he starts his new employment, he discovers an amnesiac woman wandering the streets. The two bond immediately, as Will waits with Jane Doe until someone comes forward to claim her - a husband she can't remember, but who ensures her of the fairy tale life they have together. As you might imagine, however, fairy tales are not often as perfect as they seem.

Quote: "Jane closed her eyes and tried to conjure a face, a gesture, even the pitch of a voice. She shook her head. 'I don't feel married.'"

I am overall a Jodi Picoult fan, but I have not been impressed by the last couple of hers books I read. The plot twists seemed too obvious, the back-and-forth between characters too stilted. This book reminded me of why I enjoy her work so much. She looks into complex situations, complicated characters, and makes all of them understandable and relatable, the "good" ones and the "bad" ones. A great reminder of all things good about Jodi Picoult.

Editorial Review:

Cassie Barrett, a world-renowned anthropologist, wakes up in a graveyard and doesn't know who she is. Taken in for a few days by William Flying Horse, a Native American police officer, she waits for her life to re-appear. When Hollywood heartthrob Alex Rivers shows up to claim her as his wife, she is stunned but still doesn't remember anything.

After she returns to her fairytale existence as Alex Rivers' wife, fragments of memory come back but she senses there is a side to her husband that she can't remember. When she finds a positive pregnancy test hidden in her bathroom, dark memories return, allowing her to piece together her past. Frightened, she runs to the only person she trusts to keep her hidden: Will.

Jodi Picoult's story is a tapestry rich in detail and emotion, a beautifully written novel that will deeply reward, and perhaps inspire, its listeners.

Light from Heaven (The Mitford Years, Book 9)

Jan Karon

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 109 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

These books are not required reading! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

As have many of the reviewers here, I've read all of Jan Karon's books. I find them to be comforting, soothing, safe cozy books to read. Sometimes, when life is truly stressful and anxious, that is exactly what I want. I draw a hot bath and read about a kind gentle world where nothing bad ever happens without a solution. People die when they're old, people give up their addictions, people love each other.

So I am pretty mystified by readers who gave these books one star and commented that it was a relief to put these last books down. No one is forcing anyone to read these books! There won't be a test in the morning.

I am not episcopalian, I am in fact an atheist. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy the comfort of these books. If you are so narrow that you buy these books and expect them to be something completely contrary to what they claim to be, what they are designed to be, then whose fault is that? Certainly not Jan Karon's, who it seems to me has been extraordinarily creative and successful at creating this little fantasy world for quiet comforting retreats.

I can't even believe that reviewers here complain for a lack of realism! You are reading these books for realism? You are upset that a book about an episcopal priest has too much prayer in it? You believe that solutions to these problems are too facile? Come on! That is what these books are supposed to be! When I read a Jan karon book, I am hoping for the same kind of escapism that I get from reading a PG Wodehouse book. It has nothing to do with reality. It has everything to do with jsut enjoying the read.

I'd recommend this one highly. I didn't think this last installment was disappointing. I also don't think it will be the last Mitford book. It will probably be the last Father Tim Mitford book, but I suspect that Hope Winchester and her new husband will take the reins. It would allow Jan Karon to write as a woman, and as a woman who spends alot of time in bookstores!

I personally am looking forward to it!

Editorial Review:

Read by John McDonough

Jan Karon saved the best for last - the final novel in the Mitford Years series.

Unabridged CDs - 13 CDs, 15 hours

The Last Days (Political Thrillers Series #2)

Joel C. Rosenberg

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 80 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The Last Days 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Have Not started this one, but after reading the 3 previous works, I feel that this one will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Exciting, fast action good book 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The book was good and a nice sequel to The Last Jihad. The audio version was better than the Last Jihad, but not quite as good as the Copper Scroll. But overall a suspense filled book that will keep you engaged and anxious for each event as they unroll in this, "The Last Days".

Reviewing "The Last Days" by Joel C. Rosenberg 5 out of 5 stars.
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This was a sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat page-turner from beginning to end. I couldn't put it down and finished it in two days. Can't wait to read the others in the series. You won't go wrong reading this!!!! Full of political intrigue and interesting info.

Editorial Review:

With over 400,000 copies in print, this New York Times best-seller opens with White House advisors Jon Bennett and Erin McCoy heading into Gaza when their convoy is attacked by a massive explosion. Soon, Yassir Arafat is dead, Islamic radicals are trying to take over the West Bank and Gaza, Iraqi terrorists are targeting Americans, and Bennett begins to wonder if he is witnessing signs of the last days before the return of Christ. Since The Last Days was first published, Arafat has died and Hamas has taken over the Palestinian Authority.

A Grief Observed

C. S. Lewis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 135 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Raw and true 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

CS Lewis looks death into the face; he does not flinch and does not console himself with platitudes. He had lost the love of his life and his pain is palpable to the reader. This is a raw and honest book but it is not at all depressing: At the end of the book, Lewis begins to recover: his wish is simply that, on his own death bed, his lover will come back to him and give him the consolation of seeing her face again.

Rather surpisingly, I was diagnosed with terminal cancer myself three weeks after doing this review. The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord! If you read this, say a prayer for me that I may die with courage and joy!

Editorial Review:

Written after his wife's tragic death as a way of surviving the "mad midnight moment," A Grief Observed is C.S. Lewis's honest reflection on the fundamental issues of life, death, and faith in the midst of loss. This work contains his concise, genuine reflections on that period: "Nothing will shake a man -- or at any rate a man like me -- out of his merely verbal thinking and his merely notional beliefs. He has to be knocked silly before he comes to his senses. Only torture will bring out the truth. Only under torture does he discover it himself." This is a beautiful and unflinchingly homest record of how even a stalwart believer can lose all sense of meaning in the universe, and how he can gradually regain his bearings.

Siddhartha

Hermann Hesse

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 463 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A must read for any spiritual seeker 5 out of 5 stars.
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A journey through the life of a man with a single purpose: to find his own truth.

Knowing that the only way to discover life's greatest mysteries is to go through the heart of them alone, he finds himself living one extreme after another until he finally rests in the balance.

The ending will either leave you glowing or pondering, but either way you will not regret taking the time to read this remarkable tale.

A rambling spiritual adventure... 4 out of 5 stars.
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On a whim I picked this one up, knowing of it and recognizing the book title. I knew nothing of what the book was about, except what I could surmise from the cover.

I was a little put off initially with the way Hesse wrote, kind of flighty with nothing too concrete or definite. Is it a spiritual quest, a personal quest and so on. Then as Siddhartha grows older within the book we begin to see the natural progression from one mental/spiritual situation to the next. We see him go from spiritual, to rich, gambling, to being poor to a heightened spiritual state and so on.

All in all, after I worked my way into the flesh of Hesse's writing, I began to enjoy Siddhartha. You feel as though you are on the spiritual voyage with him and can understand where he is coming from. I am glad that there were only 150 pages and it was a fast read, because I most certainly would not want to read this style of writing for very long. I would recommend.

4 stars.

Editorial Review:

With parallels to the enlightenment of the Buddha, Hesse's Siddhartha is the story of a young Brahmin's quest for the ultimate reality. Steeped in the tenets of both psychoanalysis and Eastern mysticism, Siddhartha presents an original view of man and culture, and the arduous process of self-discovery that leads to reconciliation, harmony, and peace.

All the Pretty Horses

Cormac McCarthy

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 301 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

This is volume one of the "Border" triology. John Grady Cole is the last bewildered survivor of long generations of Texas ranchers. Finding himself cut off from the only life he has ever wanted, he sets out for Mexico with his friend Lacey Rawlins. Befriending a third boy on the way, they find a country beyond their imagining: barren and beautiful, rugged yet cruelly civilized; a place where dreams are paid for in blood. "All The Pretty Horses" is an acknowledged masterpiece and a grand love story: a novel about childhood passing, along with innocence and a vanished American age. Steeped in the wisdom that comes only from loss, it is a magnificent parable of responsibility, revenge and survival. 'A darkly shining work ...executed with consummate skill and much subtlety the effect is magnificent' - John Banville, "Observer". 'A uniquely brilliant book ...told in language as subtly beautiful as its desert setting. One of the most important pieces of American writing of our time' - Stephen Amidon, "Sunday Times".

The Ultimate Gift (The Ultimate Series #1)

Jim Stovall

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 141 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

What would you do to inherit a million dollars? Would you be willing to change your life? Jason Stevens is about to find out in Jim Stovall's The Ultimate Gift. Red Stevens has died, and the older members of his family receive their millions with greedy anticipation. But a different fate awaits young Jason, whom Stevens, his great-uncle, believes may be the last vestige of hope in the family. "Although to date your life seems to be a sorry excuse for anything I would call promising, there does seem to be a spark of something in you that I hope we can fan into a flame. For that reason, I am not making you an instant millionaire." What Stevens does give Jason leads to The Ultimate Gift. Young and old will take this timeless tale to heart.

Features and Benefits

• This award-winning book inspired a major motion picture that released in March 2007, starring key Hollywood actors Brian Dennehy, James Garner and Lee Meriweather.
• Jim Stovall's books have sold more than 3 million copies and have been translated into more than 15 languages.
• Challenges readers to consider "what do we do with our gifts?"

Black/Red/White (The Circle Trilogy 1-3)

Ted Dekker

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Three novels. Two worlds. One Story.

Enter an adrenaline-laced epic where dreams and reality collide.

Black - An incredible story of evil and rescue, betrayal and love, and a terrorist threat unlike anything the human race has ever known. A virulent evil has been unleashed upon the people of Earth. The only man who can stop it is Thomas Hunter, an unlikely hero whose life is stretched between two worlds. Every time he falls asleep in one reality, he awakes in the other. Soon Thomas no longer knows which reality is real. Yet it quickly becomes apparent that his choices in each world impact the other--and that the fates of both rest in his hands.

Red - In one world, Thomas Hunter is a battle-scarred general commanding an army of primitive warriors. In the other, he's racing to outwit sadistic terrorists intent on creating global chaos through an unstoppable virus. Thomas must find a way to change history--or face the destruction of two worlds.

White - Thomas Hunter has only days to survive two separate realms of danger, deceit, and destruction. The fates of both worlds now rest on his unique ability to shift realities through his dreams. Thomas and The Circle must quickly decide who they can trust--both with their own lives and the fate of millions. And neither the terror of Black nor the treachery of Red can prepare Thomas for the forces aligned against The Circle in White.

You Are Special: A Story for Everyone (Max Lucado's Wemmicks)

Max Lucado

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 173 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Touching story, not just for children. 5 out of 5 stars.
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Max Lucado has an touched a nerve with his delightful stories. This book reaches the heart of all of us.
We all want to know our worth. This beautifully written and illustrated story reminds us that we are all of infinite worth, in the eyes of our creator.

great story 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I love this story and was planning on getting it for my daughter at some point- when I saw it as a board book I decided to get it right away! The book seems well made and has nice bold, vibrant illustrations. The only negative thing I noticed about it- and I noticed it right away when I received it- is the fact that it has pointy edges. Most board books are rounded at the corners. It's not a huge deal, but for young kids/babies who are clumsy and put everything in their mouths, it seems like a poor design.

Editorial Review:

Every now and then there is a story that touches the hearts of all who hear it. A story that speaks to your soul and says, "This is true!"

This is one of those stories. It is about the Punchinello in each of us--the part of you that struggles to believe that someone treasures you. Someone who doesn't judge you by what you look like, what you have, or what you do. Someone who loves you just because you are you.

It's a vital message we all need to hear. A message we need to share with others: You are special, no matter what.

Bonhoeffer's Cost of Discipleship (Shepherd's Notes. Christian Classics)

Greg Ligon

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 89 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Christianity without cost doesn't exist! 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

A Christian classic, The Cost of Discipleship is filled with countless gems of wisdom that run counter to the prevailing winds today that market the Christian life as one of ease and comfort. The book is not an easy read, but it is an encouraging and is probably more valuable for Christians today than even during Bonhoeffer's own time. The book is more than a call to costly discipleship, Bonhoeffer also dives into the Sermon on the Mount giving incredible insight in to the teachings of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew and also various aspects of the Christian life and the role of the Church. But the first couple of chapters of the book are worth the entire read. Bonhoeffer's radical discipleship can probably best be summarized in his famous line, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." We see far too little of Bonhoeffer's commitment and dedication to the denial of self, taking up one's cross and following Christ...The Cost of Discipleship reminds those who follow Christ that sharing in His sufferings is the mark of a believer!

Editorial Review:

Before his arrest by the Nazis in 1943, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was head of a seminary of the German Confessing Church. In "The Cost of Discipleship", he focuses on the most treasured part of Christ's teaching, the Sermon on the Mount.