Literature & Fiction Books - Page 6

Mark of the Lion : A Voice in the Wind, An Echo in the Darkness, As Sure As the Dawn (Vol 1-3)

Francine Rivers

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 263 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Improved my faith. A MUST READ! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I was steered towards this series when I mentioned to a friend that I hadn't read a truly "life-changing" book in a while. Boy was she right! I found myself with a renewed fire for the Lord after reading each one of these books. Even through some graphically violent scenes, the peace of the message shone through. I wish I had read slower because now they're over. Maybe I'll pick them up again in a few years and find something new to love!

Editorial Review:

This classic series has inspired over half a million readers. Both loyal fans and new readers will want the 10th anniversary editions of this beloved series. These editions include a new foreword from the publisher, a new preface from Francine Rivers, and discussion questions suitable for personal and group use.

#1 A Voice in the Wind: Torn by her love for a handsome aristocrat, a young slave girl clings to her faith in the living God for deliverance from the forces of decadent Rome.

#2 An Echo in the Darkness: Turning away from the opulence of Rome, Marcus is led by a whispering voice from the past into a journey that could set him free from the darkness of his soul.

#3 As Sure As the Dawn: Atretes. German warrior. Revered gladiator. He won his freedom through his fierceness . . . but his life is about to change forever.

House

Frank Peretti, Ted Dekker

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 282 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Extremely Dissapointed 1 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I like to find Christian authors for enlightenment combined with entertainment. I have not read any of Ted Dekker other books; however, I have read almost all of Peretti and was disappointed from this book to the point where I would actually write a review. Finished the book like a bad movie just to get it over with.

Editorial Review:

Two couples vacationing in Alabama are pursued by a maniac killer. They flee deep into the woods and take refuge in an old house that has been vacated for years, or so they think. They soon discover that they are not alone and that the killer has purposely lured them to this house. It seems that the killer and the house are somehow working in concert. They try to leave, but the house won’t let them.

After receiving a message in which the killer claims to have killed God and now demands more dead bodies, the couples come to understand that the seeming malevolence of the house mirrors the evil within their own hearts and souls, and that they can only defeat the evil in the house by defeating the evil within themselves.

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.

Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith

Anne Lamott

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 305 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

3 cassettes / 4 hours
Read by the Author

"Eloquent, detailed, emotionally honest . . . Lamott deserves a prize for telling it like it is." - People

From the bestselling author of Operating Instructions and Bird by Bird comes a chronicle of faith and spirituality that is at once tough, personal, affectionate, wise, and very funny.

With an exuberant mix of passion, insight, and humor, Anne Lamott takes us on a journey through her often troubled past to illuminate her devout but quirky walk of faith.  In a narrative spiced with stories and scripture, with diatribes, laughter, and tears, Lamott tells how, against all odds, she came to believe in God and them, even more miraculously, in herself.  She shows us the myriad ways n which this sustains and guides her, shining the light of faith on the darkest part of ordinary life an exposing surprising pockets of meaning and hope

Whether talking about her family or her dreadlocks, sick children or old friends, the most religious women of her church of the men she's dated, Lamott reveals the hard-won wisdom gathered along her path to connectedness and liberation.

"Anne Lamott is a cause for celebration.  [Her] real genius lies in capturing the ineffable, describing not perfect moments, but imperfect ones . . .  perfectly. She is nothing short of miraculous." - The New Yorker

The Forbidden (The Courtship of Nellie Fisher, Book 2)

Beverly Lewis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Not much is new 2 out of 5 stars.
2 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Please understand, I've read all of Ms. Lewis' books and enjoyed greatly her peek into Amish life, however, this one (as well as THE PARTING), is crawling at a pace that is painful. I was over half way through and nothing had happened! Just a retelling of the same information over and over. Now I realize that a factor in Amish life is the pace, but when writing fiction, the author has an obligation to keep his or her reader awake. I'm beginning to wonder if she has said all there is to say about Amish life and as a result, the repetition in succeeding books is just inevitable. I realize the splits in the church are a factor she hasn't touched on before but at this point the subject is just not engaging my interest and I feel like I've read it all before. I will concede that she must be going somewhere with all this but right now, this series is wearing me out and I'm not sure I'm motivated to read the rest of the Nellie Fisher books.

Editorial Review:

The Church Split Has Not Extinguished Their Love,

Caleb Yoder's father has forbidden him to court Nellie Mae Fisher, but words alone cannot stop Caleb's devotion. Yet if he continues to pursue Nellie, he risks losing everything.

Nellie, too, is torn. She longs to marry her Old Order beau but cannot ignore the gentle pull she feels toward the faith of her New Order family. Can she and her beloved satisfy the expectations of the People while remaining true to their hearts?

The Christmas Box Collection: The Christmas Box Timepiece The Letter

Richard Paul Evans

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Total reviews: 48 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Richard Paul Evans' #1 New York Times bestseller The Christmas Box has become a holiday classic, a tale so touching that it continues to "tug families' heartstrings" (USA Today). His exquisite prequel, Timepiece, and The Letter completed the glorious trilogy of the Parkin family. Now all three magical stories are compiled in one extraordinary treasury that -reaches into that place where all broken hearts will forever be made whole" (The Star, Chicago).

The Christmas Box

A Christmas story unlike any other, The Christmas Box is the poignant tale of a widow and the young family who moves in with her. Together, they discover the first gift of Christmas -- and what the holiday is really all about.

Timepiece

Tracing the lives of a young couple as they discover love, loyalty, and the power of forgiveness, Timepiece is a tale of wisdom and of hope -- and a gentle reminder that the connections from one generation to the next are indelible.

The Letter

A mysterious letter is found at the grave of a couple's only child in this unforgettable conclusion to the collection. As they face love's greatest challenge, they find its truest meaning and learn the lessons that are echoed throughout.

Bit of a Blur: The Autobiography

Alex James

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Total reviews: 60 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

For Alex James, music had always been a door to a more exciting life—a way to travel, meet new people, and, hopefully, pick up girls. But as bass player of Blur—one of the most successful British bands of all time—his journey was more exciting and extreme than he could ever have predicted. Success catapulted him from a slug-infested squat in Camberwell to a world of private jets and world-class restaurants. As "the second drunkest member of the world’s drunkest band" Alex James's life was always chaotic, but he retained a boundless enthusiasm and curiosity at odds with his hedonistic lifestyle. From nights in the Groucho with Damien Hirst, to dancing to Sister Sledge with Björk, to being bitten on the nose by the lead singer of Iron Maiden, he offers a fascinating and hilarious insight into the world of celebrity. At its heart, however, this is the picaresque tale of one man’s search to find meaning and happiness in an increasingly surreal world. Pleasingly unrepentant but nonetheless a reformed man, Alex James is the perfect chronicler of his generation—witty, frank and brimming with joie de vivre. A Bit of a Blur is as charming, funny, and deliciously disreputable as its author.

The Four Loves

C.S. Lewis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 72 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Wonderful Overview 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This is in my opinion C.S. Lewis's best nonfiction work. The premise has been done before, but rarely with the sort of insight given here. His overviews of Affection and Friendship are much too often overlooked and glossed over as unimportant, but here they're given a status they really deserve.

The section on friendship, and the idea that people are bonded through mutual passions, and his grim statement that people who are just looking for a friend will never find one, was spot on. Friendships are formed as an extension of a passion for something bigger than the individual. A mutual cause drives people, whether they be sports fanatics, a tribe pining for survival, or art critics.

The pitfalls he explains for the loves such as lust, bigotry, elitism, etc. are self explanatory, but it's also practical. Friendships are exclusive by their very nature, and there's nothing intrinsically wrong with such a thing. Eros is most certainly exclusive. He emphasizes that we can't be friends with everyone, love everyone with Eros, but we can love everyone with Charity, the final section of the book.

One could write a book three times longer and not come close to the depth portrayed in this little book. Strongly recommended.

Editorial Review:

A candid, wise, and warmly personal book in which Lewis explores the possibilities and problems of the four basic kinds of human love- affection, friendship, erotic love, and the love of God. “Immensely worthwhile for its simplicity...a rare and memorable book” (Sydney J. Harris).

The Autobiography of Santa Claus

Jeff Guinn

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 49 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Pretentiously un-Christmas-like 1 out of 5 stars.
4 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I was intrigued by the title when I saw this in Borders last yeear, and pondered for a while whether or not to purchase it. After some consideration, and the thought that this could be a really good read, I spent my money on it, and in short order became quite disappointed.

The book seems more like a roll call of mysterious historical figures mashed together haphazardly with Santa from Atilla the Hun (who swears off a lifetime of warfare to make kiddy toys) to King Arthur, Leonardo daVinci St Francis, and a few others...

Over the course of the novel, Santa became quite whiny about his mission and how it would succeed and the public's portrayal of him. The author also had Santa swear off giving gifts to children in war-torn countries becase war weakened their powers.

This is my largest annoyance with this book. Why would a self-less man refuse to give gifts to those who need them most? According to this book, Santa only gave gifts to children who lived in peaceful countries, because it was easy for him. But those children who needed gifts the most, who suffered the most, were left with nothing. Absolutely absurd. That is tantamount to refusing medical treatment to those with cancer and severed limbs so that those who need bandaids and advil can be helped.

As the book progressed I felt less and less like I was reading a story about Santa Claus, and more and more like I was reading a cheap history book...

There was no charm, no mystique, none of that Christmas magic. Just a whiny old man and a bunch of historical figures who refused to help those in greatest need.

And am I to believe that it was Atilla the Hun who delivered gifts to me as a child? Or King Arthur? Or Amelia Earhart? I cringe at the absurd pretentiousness of Guinn's pen.

Do not waste your money. Go rent or buy "Santa Claus: The Movie" with John Lithgow in a supporting role, and see a proper origin of the right jolly old elf.

Editorial Review:

This enchanting holiday treasure combines historical fact with glorious legend as Saint Nicholas himself reveals the definitive story of Santa Claus. For anyone who has ever wondered...you're right to believe in him! In The Autobiography of Santa Claus, Santa shares his story with readers for the first time.

Nicholas (his real name) was born in the Middle Eastern Country of Lycia to wealthy parents who died while he was young. The kind people of Lycia taught him the lessons of goodness and generosity, which he began to practice as a child by sharing his wealth with those in need. As a young man, Nicholas realized that his generosity had bestowed upon him special abilities to distribute his presents to deserving children everywhere. For example, he had stopped aging and could travel very, very rapidly.

And so it was that Santa broadened his gift-giving and spread his message to many others, who shared his belief in the goodness of giving.