( V ) Books

Ghosts Among Us: Uncovering the Truth About the Other Side

James Van Praagh

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 113 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Everyone loves a good ghost story. Perhaps the human fascination with the supernatural stems from the fact that most of us, at some point in our lives, have experienced something we couldn't quite explain. From a very young age James Van Praagh was aware of a dimension that most of us cannot see, and he has dedicated his life to explaining it to the rest of us. Ghosts Among Us takes us on an incredible journey into the spirit world that brings to light one of our greatest mysteries—what happens to us after we die?

Van Praagh, the New York Times bestselling author and co-executive producer of the CBS series The Ghost Whisperer, shares his knowledge and life experience about ghosts, a subject that can seem to many of us both bizarre and terrifying. But when the world beyond is explained fully by an experienced guide, dismissal and apprehension can be turned into knowledge and inspiration. With incredible true ghost stories and surprising details about how ghosts actively participate in our lives, Van Praagh challenges us to question our perceptions and shows us how we can live more fully through understanding the world of spirits. Including eerily accurate readings, the author's development as a medium, and detailed how-to information, Ghosts Among Us is an all-encompassing guide to the supernatural.

In the Meantime: Finding Yourself and the Love You Want

Iyanla Vanzant

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 188 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Band aid for the soul 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book got me through a rough time in my life. Made me realize I surrounded myself with people that cant seem to get out of "Basement" mentality,making me unable to pull mylife forward.If you have ever felt "stuck" I suggest you read,and re-read this book.... you will be able to let go of the people that are afraid to go forward with there own lives and pull you down with them......and finally move on to a loving,happy,life of your own.

Editorial Review:

Many listeners will recognize relationship fairy-godmother Iyanla Vanzant's positively charged style from her frequent appearances on Oprah®. She infuses this reading of her own book with the cadences of a revival preacher on a Sunday morning. (It's no surprise, then, to find "ordained minister" listed in her biography.) Using housecleaning as her central analogy, she urges listeners to clean out their heads and souls if they want to be prepared for real love. Using anecdotes from her own life and those of others, she outlines how personal responsibility and respect for oneself can clean the attic, clearing the way for long, healthy relationships. (Running time: 2 hours, 2 cassettes) --Kimberly Heinrichs

Talking to Heaven: A Medium's Message of Life After Death

James Van Praagh

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Total reviews: 218 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

As in the case of James Redfield's The Celestine Prophecy, once in a while a book comes along that unexpectedly soars to the bestseller lists simply because it feeds a specific spiritual hunger. Talking to Heaven is one such book. Based on the personal insights and memories of highly acclaimed medium James Van Praagh, Talking to Heaven offers comforting and startling stories about his contact with the deceased. Van Praagh could have used this text to prove that his gifts as a medium are authentic--the story about the deceased teenager who led his parents to his murderer is impressive (the result was a murder conviction)--but instead, Van Praagh offers spiritual and psychological comfort to those grappling with the loss of a loved one. He also helps readers develop their own means of talking to heaven. Even those who aren't aching for contact with the deceased will find Van Praagh's down-to-earth discussions of karma, the afterlife, and spiritual guides fascinating.

A Severe Mercy

Sheldon Vanauken

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 76 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken, is a heart-rending love story described by its author as "the spiritual autobiography of a love rather than of the lovers." Vanauken chronicles the birth of a powerful pagan love borne out of the relationship he shares with his wife, Davy, and describes the growth of their relationship and the dreams that they share. As a symbol of their love, they name their dream schooner the Grey Goose, "for the grey goose, if its mate is killed flies on alone and never takes another."

While studying at Oxford, Sheldon and Davy develop a friendship with C.S. Lewis, under whose influence and with much intellectual scrutiny they accept the Christian doctrine. As their devotion to God intensifies, Sheldon realizes that he is no longer Davy's primary love--God is. Within this discovery begins a brewing jealousy.

Shortly after, Davy acquires a fatal illness. After her death Sheldon embarks on an intense experience of grief, "to find the meaning of it, taste the whole of it ... to learn from sorrow whatever it had to teach." Through painstaking reveries, he comes to discover the meaning of "a mercy as severe as death, a severity as merciful as love." He learns that her death "had these results: It brought me as nothing else could do to know and end my jealously of God. It saved her faith from assault. ...And it saved our love from perishing."

Replete with 18 letters from C.S. Lewis, A Severe Mercy addresses some of the universal questions that surround faith--the existence of God and the reasons behind tragedy. --Jacque Holthusen

Until Today! : Daily Devotions for Spiritual Growth and Peace of Mind

Iyanla Vanzant

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 33 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

This book of 365 daily devotionals supports the time-honored adage, "Why put off until tomorrow what you can do today?" The charismatic spiritual leader Iyanla Vanzant knows how easy it is to stay stuck in "old sentiments, resentments, beliefs, decisions, agreements, judgments, and ideas that may have become habitual." Through these devotions Vanzant hopes to show readers that the easiest way to create change is to simply shift your attitude--today. "We often work so hard to get the things we want that we miss the fact that it is the landscape of the inner world that stands between us and true happiness."

In the closing paragraph of each one-page devotional Vanzant names an old way of thinking and offers readers a new attitude to try on "just for today." For example, Vanzant writes, "Until today, you may have believed that you had to stay in the painful hole of hurt caused by the loss of a loved one. Just for today, make a conscious effort and choice to cover the hole and move on." Some might consider these devotions a fancy term for affirmations. Vanzant scoffs at the notion. Time spent in devotion is not a "New Age trick through which you can impose your will on God, the universe, or those around you," she writes. "Devotion is the reverent, personal act of surrendering your will to the Divine will." --Gail Hudson

One Day My Soul Just Opened Up: 40 Days and 40 Nights Toward Spiritual Strength and Personal Growth

Iyanla Vanzant

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 122 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Ordained minister and "spiritual life counselor" Iyanla Vanzant doesn't know the exact moment when her soul opened up "and the spirit of the divine entered [her] body." But she will always remember the key insight that opened the door to her soul and simultaneously locked the door to her insanity: "If you know who walks beside you, you can never be afraid." This is the premise from which Vanzant has launched her enormously successful 40-day, spiritual self-help program. One Day My Soul Just Opened Up is designed as day-by-day journal/workbook to help readers believe in a divine presence while pondering daily spiritual lessons such as simplicity, peace, compassion, and nonjudgement.

The charismatic Vanzant (whom Oprah Winfrey considers to be one of the world's most admirable spiritual leaders) has a gift for humble, tell-it-like-it-is talk. She is also a wise and warm soul, eager to help others trust in love and find a relationship with God in order to get on with their lives. Readers especially like her daily list of inspirations titled "Let Me Remember." For example, under day 23, "When You Feel Angry," she uses the list to remind readers: "All things work to bring me healing"; "Forgiveness will provide relief and release"; and "Love will heal anything that is not an expression of love." --Gail Hudson

Don't Give It Away! : A Workbook of Self-Awareness and Self-Affirmations for Young Women

Iyanla Vanzant

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

WOW 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

This book changed the way I viewed myself in this world. It really helped me change from a depressed teen to someone who sees themself as a smart, beautiful and loving person. I did a presentation of this book and the presentation actually changed lives. A must for teen girls!!!

Editorial Review:

You are special.

You are precious.

You are It!

Today, Iyanla Vanzant is a bestselling author with her own business and a loving family. But it wasn't so long ago that she was a teenager -- a sixteen-year-old mother and high school dropout on welfare. Iyanla knows that a young woman's journey can be lonely and hard. She remembers how difficult it is to put into words the way you feel, how it feels to want to be loved.

In Don't Give It Away!, Iyanla presents a workbook in which you can write your feelings and express your thoughts about the things that matter to you -- your family, your friends, your body, and your love life. Problems at home and at school are a natural part of every young woman's life, but understanding what to do with how you feel about your problems is the key to growing up. Iyanla Vanzant shows you that the love you seek is the love that you are.

FAITH IN THE VALLEY : Lessons for Women on the Journey to Peace

Iyanla Vanzant

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A great book for daily reflection 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 9 people found this review helpful.

I can not express how insightful and helpful this book is! It really makes you look deep into the reason(s) why you thought you needed a book of affirmations in the first place. This book is perfect for those "why me" and "I really can't take any more" moments when you feel like life, and everything in it, needs to give you a break. If you're a woman experiencing a lot of change in your life and it seems like you just can't handle another crisis (or is it a crisis afterall?), this is the book for you. I carry it in my purse!

GET THIS and GIVE THIS to your favorite women:) 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

This is my FAVORITE book by Iyanla Vanzant because of: It's size(small enough for your tiny purse), its lack of preach-i-ness and how the index is organized by subject. I feel its a synopsis of all the subjects covered in her other books. I also feel the book is applicable to women of ALL cultures. You can use it as a daily guide or you can use the index to find a subject for which you could use guidance.

Editorial Review:

A companion volume to "Acts of Faith" by the same author, this book aims to inspire black women to examine their lives seriously, and to determine how their own behaviour may be causing avoidable problems.

Acts Of Faith

Iyanla Vanzant

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 33 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Inspirational 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

This book has inspired me. I have found several meditations that apply whole heartedly to my life. I have retyped and copied several of the quotes and taped them to my refrigerator or put them on my bulletin board at work. This is a book I needed years ago.

This book has given me insight and inspiration on several different topics. Since I bought it a few years ago, I have yet to put it down. I'm always reading this. I have become more pleasant in certain circumstance because of something I've read here.

For anybody facing lifes highs and lows or debating whether or not to start meditating this book is one you should have. It's so nice to have a book that focuses on the daily ins and outs of being a person of color.

Uplifting 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Excellent collection of opinions and advise for inspiration and reflection for all aspects of life.

Editorial Review:

Acts of Faith is a thoughtful and inspirational book that explores the unique pressures on people of color today with great insight and sensitivity. This book is the minimum daily requirement for people of color in search of inspiration and support.

Living Through the Meantime : Learning to Break the Patterns of the Past and Begin the Healing Process

Iyanla Vanzant

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The "meantime," according to best-selling author and inspirational speaker Iyanla Vanzant, is that in-between stage of life when you're gathering up strength, evaluating past mishaps, and preparing for the next chapter. Using the metaphor of psyche as house, Vanzant believes that the meantime offers a perfect opportunity for tackling a rigorous cleaning. "We are going to go through every inch of your emotional and spiritual house and clean up the mess, clear out the debris, fix the leaks, stop the squeaks, and reveal and repair any damage we can find," she promises in this workbook. Readers who felt soothed and inspired by Vanzant's In the Meantime will probably appreciate this floor-by-floor companion workbook. Every chapter of Living Through the Meantime contains an assortment of "Caring Exercises," ranging from affirmations, such as "I now place my faith in the power and presence of God's love" to quasi-therapeutic fill-in-the-blanks statements. (For example, "My earliest experience of feeling betrayed was ___.") Vanzant is not the most eloquent or sophisticated of writers, but she does seem to touch people's hearts and crack them open. Her main agendas are self-reflection and trust in God. Fans who are ready to tackle a hefty self-improvement project will not be disappointed with this workbook. Newcomers should check out her earlier book before committing to this one. -- Gail Hudson