It's My LIFE

The Next Level: A Parable of Finding Your Place in Life, by David Gregory

How I came to read this book:

This is another WaterBrook Press book. What got my attention on this book was that the author shares the same name as my brother-in-law. The cover art is clean and conveys the content well.

Score Summary

• Content: 9
• Writing Style: 10
• Re-readability: 10
• Busy Mommy Scale: 7

Content (and potential spoilers…)

I just loved this book. One of the most effective ways to get a point across, in my opinion, is a story. Jesus used this method of teaching all the time. Mr. Gregory does this very effectively in The Next Level.

This is a story about a man who gets a job at a large organization – his only job is to visit each of the five levels in the building, observe their methods, processes and report his findings.

The levels of the organization are essentially levels of spiritual development, with the last level being personal commitment solely to the goals of the organization, with no selfish concern.

As with many of Jesus’ parables, this story has many little points tucked in that left me mulling them around in the back of my mind. The last chapter left me with a lot to think about. In fact, I just reread it now and got something new out of it that I hadn’t before. (I love that in a book!)

Writing Style

A parable. A very good parable. Easy to read. A lot to process.

Re-readability

Definitely added to my “regularly re-read” list.

Busy Mommy Scale

Well, it’s short, but due to its content, I do recommend having time to read a full chapter at a time. Reading it in snippets is possible, but you can potentially miss the flow of the short story that way.

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Summary:

Business degree in hand, Logan enters the immense Universal Systems building and is hired as an organizational analyst – a trouble-shooter. His job: evaluate the company’s five divisions, each on a separate level and each operating on startlingly unique principles. Which set of principles is successful? Why is most of the company’s profit generated by one tiny division? What is real profit, anyway? And who is the enigmatic executive that Logan ends up reporting to?

Logan engages in a life-changing pursuit for The Next Level—a fascinating parable that will help readers answer some of life’s most perplexing, vital questions. Joining Logan in evaluating each level’s approach, readers will be inspired to consider the big picture of their own life from an entirely different perspective – one that holds the key to life’s ultimate purpose. No matter where you are now, get ready to embark on your own passionate pursuit of The Next Level.

Author Bio:

David Gregory is the author of the best-selling books Dinner with a Perfect Stranger and A Day with a Perfect Stranger, and coauthor of two nonfiction books. After a ten-year business career, he returned to school to study religion and communications, earning graduate degrees from The University of North Texas and Dallas Theological Seminary. A native Texan, David now lives in Oregon devotes himself to writing full time.

Closer Than Your Skin: Unwrapping the Mystery of Intimacy with God, by Susan D. Hill

How I came to read this book:

It’s a new release from WaterBrook Press that I was given the opportunity to review. The cover art was really good. The full title “Closer Than Your Skin: Unwrapping the Mystery of Intimacy with God” is what really grabbed me – enough to sign up for the review.

Score Summary

• Content: 10
• Writing Style: 7
• Re-readability: 9
• Busy Mommy Scale: 5

Content

This book is a personal testimony. The title and cover led me to believe that it would be more of a self-help/devotional type book, and that had me confused for the first couple of chapters. By the third chapter or so, I had reset my expectations and was often surprised by how much personal impact Ms. Hill’s story had on me.

That being said, her story really demonstrated to me that God really does reach out in impactful ways if we just slow down and listen – and keep listening.  It helped me to see that some of the things that I had just rejected as coincidences very likely were God’s way of letting me know He’s here and with me.   It has really changed my perspective.  The pursuit of God is the only thing that matters.

Writing Style

Memoir style writing. I think I would have been less frustrated with the writing if I had realized this at the time I started the book. There was at least one or two stories that she shared that I kept expecting to have an object lesson or some later significant meaning, but were just events that she felt were impactful in her life. Once I got into the rhythm of her writing, it improved. This also ties in with the lower Busy Mommy Scale – it required a longer attention span than I currently am allowed to have.

Re-readability

I intend to re-read this book at least one more time. Not now. It’s one of those that I have the feeling will find a place and time of importance in my life when I have forgotten how much God wants to talk to me.

Busy Mommy Scale

I have to say that this book isn’t written in “snippets” format. Not that every book should be, of course. On several occasions I tried reading a few paragraphs here and there and all it did was left me frustrated. This book required more concentration than I could give it a lot of the time. I found that I really only could read it during my set morning (with a cup of coffee) devotional time, or right before bed when I could postpone sleep in order to finish a chapter.

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Author Bio:

Susan Hill is an award-winning feature writer, whose work has appeared in The War Cry and Light & Life. A long-time leader of interdenominational women’s groups, she also serves on the board of the Uganda Orphans Fund, a non-profit Christian relief organization. Susan and her husband, Duncan, have three children and live in Montana.

You can read more about this book here: http://closerthanyourskin.com

101 Cups of Water:relief and refreshment for the tired, thirsty soul, by C. D. Baker

How I came to read this book:

I was given the opportunity to participate in the Waterbrook Press Blog Tour for this book – to coincide with the book’s release. I receive a variety of these offers, and when I read the description of the book, it sounded really good. You can never tell for sure whether a book is going to live up to it’s summary, but this one did.

Summary (from Waterbrook Press):

C.D. Baker dips into the flowing stream of God’s love and draws out relief, refreshment, mercy, hope and sustenance for a new generation of Christ-followers. Baker’s clean, simple prose is paired with evocative, black and white photographs that will etch each truth into the reader’s memory.

What I didn’t expect was a journey into my soul. I know that sounds dramatic, but this book…it could have been written about me. All of my struggles with legalism, pride, frustration, anger. It’s all in here. And it’s ok. I’m ok. I’m not crazy, and I’m not alone.

If you are a Christian who struggles with the exhaustion of perfectionism and find yourself inexplicably angry with God – especially when you’ve been working so hard to please Him…well…this book is for you.

Score Summary

• Content: 10
• Writing Style: 10
• Re-readability: 10
• Busy Mommy Scale: 10

Content

Each page is a self-contained topic. There are 101 separate small and powerful points. Just a few pages in, I was so strongly impacted by one entry that I decided to fold the corner (*gasp*) to mark it for later review. The further I got in, I realized that more pages were folded than not, so I stopped. It was that good.

Writing Style

This has been SO easy to read. Not because it’s simple, but because it’s personal. Mr. Baker writes with such soul-baring honesty that it disarmed me. I just could not stop reading. Over the past week or two, it has become the book that I carry around everywhere to sneak a page or two in when I am able.

Re-readability

I plan to re-read this book right away. It will be a permanent member of my personal collection and will probably become one of my “every couple of years” books.

Busy Mommy Scale

Can’t beat it. Each page contains only a few short paragraphs, and is self contained. It could very easily make it as a devotional book.

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And for your listening pleasure, here is an excerpt of the author reading the first “cup” – A Cup of Grace:
[audio:A_Cup_of_Grace.mp3]

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ETA: Here are two other blogs that review this book. There are many blogs in the blog tour, but these two had personal reviews in addition to the listing. Enjoy!

• His Reading List
• Window To My World

The Glass Castle: A Memoir, by Jeannette Wells

How I came to read this book:

My mom loaned it to me after having read it for her book club.

Score Summary

• Content: 9
• Writing Style: 10
• Re-readability: 7
• Busy Mommy Scale: 9

Content

The story told in Ms. Wells’ memoirs are still with me. I finished reading this book a couple of days ago, but it’s still in my head. I’m having a hard time finding the words to write this. It’s a story of a life. A really rough childhood. One of the reviews on the inside cover really summed it up by saying that if anyone had reason to whine about their early life, it is this woman, but she doesn’t.

It’s certainly not a “feel-good” book, but wow.

“Bonanza!” Brian shouted.
“Feast time!” I said to him
He looked at the dishes, I knew what he was thinking, what he thought every time he saw a spread like this one. He shook his head and said, “You know, it’s not really that hard to put food on the table if that’s what you decide to do.”

She was not spiteful or attacking in her judgment of her parents, but with the simple telling, made it clear she was hurt and bewildered at how the people she loved could make such self-centered choices.

Writing Style

The whole time I was reading, I was amazed at how matter-of-fact the author was about some pretty rough times. She excels at storytelling. You can just see her surroundings and feel the tension with every incident she remembers.

Re-readability

Hm. This one is hard. I almost want to read it again to stay in the story. However, it’s not really a happy one. It’s just real. And it’s powerful.

Busy Mommy Scale

This book started, as most do, unfortunately, as a bathroom book for me. If a particular story was a little longer and engrossing, it made its way to my nightstand and my desk. Once I got to about the middle, I got so wrapped up in it that it took over and I had to finish it at every spare moment. It got carried around the house.

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I have to say, I would love to meet Jeannette Wells. I would love to know if she’s really as pragmatic about her life. She really is an example of how though you may come from underprivileged roots, you can truly make responsible choices that change your surroundings.

“Are you saying homeless people want to live on the street?” Professor Fuch asked, “Are you saying they don’t want warm beds and roofs over their heads?”

“Not exactly,” I said. I was fumbling for words. “They do. But if some of them were willing to work hard and make compromises, they might not have ideal lives, but they could make ends meet.”

She is speaking from experience and a victim she is not.

Mosaic, by Amy Grant

I was given the opportunity by the really nice people at WaterBrook Press to read, share and review Amy Grant’s new book, Mosaic. When I got the email, I wasn’t quite sure what I should do. You see, Amy Grant was my idol when I was in grade school. I had 3 of her albums on tape that I memorized. Every single nuance. I knew she had gotten her start when she was young, and that she started with singing in church, so I thought maybe someday I could grow up and do the same.

Of course, then life happened. Her music changed – and I changed right along with it. The fun pop-rock style in the 80s. It was awesome. But then I graduated from High School. Early college life really sucked. My music tastes flowed along with my school friends. Then, when I did consider catching up with Amy’s music, I heard she divorced her husband and was involved with Vince.

I am ashamed to say that I judged her pretty hard. Her divorce came around the time that I had a wedding planned and ended up calling it off due to the infidelity of my fiance. So, that was when my idol-worship days of her were cut harshly short.

Her music still had it’s place. Her two Christmas albums are so ingrained in my family’s celebrations, that she still was part of my life. But I stopped caring about her personal life. She’d married Vince Gill and to me it felt like she crossed over into “Hollywood” and stopped being real.

So, when Kelly at WaterBrook sent me an email offering me this opportunity to read Mosaic (for free!) I figured it would be nice to see what Amy had to say. I had no idea what to expect.

I have not yet finished the book. The timeframe given to read and review the book was painfully short for those of us who are WAHMs with toddlers. Time to sit and read is scarce. And as a mom, when I actually DO have time to sit quietly (naps and after bedtime) I work, so I hate to say it, this book has been relegated to the only other semi-alone time I have. It has become a bathroom book!

The wonderful thing? It’s PERFECT for that. The structure of the book is set up so that Amy tells a story about a significant memory, and then you read the lyrics of the song that came of that memory. It’s written so that you can read these little snapshots of her memories without too much time commitment. (One of the things I dislike about reading in my new WAHM role is getting interrupted – as one does with a toddler – in the middle of a particularly long and engrossing chapter)

So, here’s my review:

Content: 9
Writing Style: 9
Re-readability: 5
Busy Mommy Scale: 10

Content – Like I said, I haven’t finished the book yet, but so far, I am really enjoying what I have read. It feels like I am getting to know her – much in the same way you get to know someone from reading their blog. And I especially like the ties to the song lyrics. I know a lot of her songs by heart and to read them in context with her life is giving me an even greater appreciation of them.

Writing style – Solid. Conversational. Easy to read. Reflective story telling.

Re-readability – It takes quite a bit for me to decide that a book is something I will re-read. It requires me to have been entranced, enthralled, excited, and it MUST have a happy ending. Non-Fiction is rarely on this list, unless it’s a Bible study or similar self-help book. I know that I will enjoy reading this book, but it’s almost definitely one to pass on to others to read.

Busy Mommy Scale – This is a brand new category triggered by this book. It gets a full 10. If you think you’d like to read this book, but aren’t sure you have time, I’m tellin’ ya, you can read it in short bursts and not lose the full effect of her writing!

To listen to music from Mosaic, visit Amy’s site.

To purchase a copy of Mosaic, visit Amazon.com