Book Review: The last Israelis

The Last Israelis by Noah Beck was reviewed via audio book through Audible. This is my first review of an audio book and I found it difficult to follow with all the different characters. I don’t think this is an issue with the author, but with me as the reviewer.

Even now, I am having trouble following the story so forgive me if my details are off. I have no page numbers or anything to refer to in my review; nothing to bookmark. I spent all day Saturday and some of Sunday sitting and listening to the novel. From my point of view, it’s a military novel about the Iran-Israel clash. The characters are the prime minister in Israel who has fallen mysteriously sick making Israel nearly leaderless during a critical time in their history. The cache of other characters take place on a submarine called the Dolphin. The cast is diverse from a gay person wanting to come out of the closet to a conservative. It seems message-orientated as each explains their point of view. Most of the story takes place on the submarine.

Objectionable content is at a place where the point of view gets confused when we switch heads and the swear words startle you. The swear words are not overdone or without purpose. The pros of this audio book is the later half of the novel when the action begins. The pros of this book is also the reader, too. The person reading the novel is very engaging. He does great voice impersonations and it’s not hard to listen to this novel, just hard to understand what is going on because of so many characters. When I listen to an audio book of the Bible, I understand what’s going on, but with so many characters in this novel, it’s very hard to follow. The story that comes clear from the story is the Prime Minister of Israel’s coma and awakening. Perhaps if I were to read the actual novel, I could follow it better.

The end of the novel disappointed me. The epilogue was the diplomatic cable that probably could have been left out as the only purpose it served was to be a message, instead of a story. I would have also liked to be left with some hope at the end of this novel.

Overall, it seems like social hour on the submarine discussing their points of view and politics, a lot of technical information, and some military action. I gave this novel three stars as an audio book.

*Book given by author to review.

My Prayer Car

“As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. But be sure to fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things He has done for you.” - 1 Samuel 12:23-24

In My Prayer Chair by Carla McDougal, she prayed in her car. “Between a red light and a green light, in less than three minutes,” a prayer she prayed was answered. A woman approached her car and Carla prayed for and with her, even donated to her ministry to help others recover from drug addiction. At the end of this chapter, called, My Prayer Closet, she asks, “Do you use your car as a prayer closet?”

Some friends of mine have actual prayer closets. It’s a place dedicated to spending time with God. I, and apparently, Carla, have prayer cars. When I leave my driveway I ask God to protect the house, the dog and the cat, my husband, me and my writing. I also talk to him like I am talking to you now. A near-miss taught me the importance of this prayer.

A couple of years ago, I pulled out of my driveway and something nudged me to pray that prayer. So I prayed it and drove to work as usual. At Highway 89 and Willow Creek Road, traffic becomes unpredictable. For some reason, traffic builds up fast. It’s our mini-rush hour. We live in a small town and our rush hour lasts five minutes, but five minutes can cause a wreck.

I slammed on my breaks, my car weaved a bit, and I stopped, but the large, black SUV was heading toward me like a bullet. I pressed down firmly on the brakes and tightened my grip on the steering wheel as I braced for a hit. I prayed, then, too. She fish-tailed and swerved at the last minute into the shoulder next to me. In that moment, I knew God was protecting my car. Since that day, I have not left the house without praying. Prayer is powerful.

I like what Carla said, “‘Lord, I don’t want to miss a moment with You. What do you have planned? I can’t wait to find out!’ Be ready. Be willing. Be watchful!”

Do you use your car as a prayer car? What answers have you gotten?

Book Review: Sweet Sanctuary

Sweet Sanctuary by Kim Vogel Sawyer is unusual in that the bad guy isn’t the cookie-cutter version you so often read in romantic novels.

Dr. Micah Hatcher is called to Boston by an angry father, demanding Dr. Hatcher take responsibility for a child he supposedly fathered with nurse, Lydia Elredge. Micah surprises Lydia at the door, but what appears to be a lie concocted by Lydia becomes simply a caring father’s wrong-headed justification to try to save Lydia’s child, Nicky.

But Nicky isn’t Lydia’s blood child. Eleanor, a friend of Lydia’s, died giving birth to Nicky. She was on the run from her drug-addicted husband, Nic Pankin. Dr. Micah Hatcher is reluctantly drawn into their precarious situation, and in a trial to test their faiths, Lydia and her father decide to follow the letter of the law and gain custody of Nicky. But it’s too late. Nic finds them and takes the child and there is nothing Lydia or Micah can do to stop it. Law enforcement can’t take the child away until Nic does something illegal. Nic is the bad guy in the story, but he becomes a good guy towards the end. This is the main story.

On the back cover of the novel it talks about Dr. Micah’s “secret mission.” The secret mission takes very little paper as most of the focus is on Micah, Lydia, and Nicky. The secret mission has very little to do with the rest of the novel, except in a very small way. It is not the secret mission that keeps Micah away from coming to Lydia’s rescue, but stubbornness and miscommunication that, in the end, is resolved.

Sweet Sanctuary is a page-turner. I wish the back cover copy focused on the main plot, more than the secret mission. Secret mission suggested danger towards Micah and that always draws readers into a story. This is less a suspense story and more a story of the heart. I gave this novel four stars.

*Book given by the publisher to review.

Book Review: Shadow of Night

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness is a novel in love with its characters, history and knowledge. The way it’s written reminds me of Oscar Wilde’s, The Picture of Dorian Gray, but it also feels like an instruction manual on how to become a witch.

Oxford scholar, Diana Bishop is a witch from Book 1 of the All Souls Trilogy. She fell in love with a vampire named Matthew. In Shadow of Night, Diana and Matthew escape to 1590 England for two reasons: to search for an enchanted manuscript and to complete Diana’s teaching on becoming a witch. The reason I say this novel reminds me of the layout and style of Oscar Wilde’s, The Picture of Dorian Gray is because it is rich in conversation.

The first half of the novel seems focused intently on the history of 1590 England and how Diana struggles to blend with its inhabitants as a modern-day American. She has to learn how to write, speak and dress like an Elizabethan. While the dialogue and novel were impressive in knowledge and interesting, I really began to become bored by it all, yearning, instead, for more action. The Picture of Dorian Gray lost my interest in the same way. That book I did not finish. Shadow of Night I did reluctantly finish. While not an expert at classic works, Shadow of Night seemed to imitate some of the classic works I’ve read. It also read too intimately like an instruction manual on Wicca.

Christian novels tend to need the main character to become saved, and this is what they are most criticized for, because it’s almost formulaic. In much the same way, Shadow of Night felt like it was written for the occult audience. I have read secular fantasy/speculative fiction and even enjoyed them, like The Soul Mirror by Carol Burg and the first book in J.K. Rowlings’ Harry Potter series, but in those novels it focused on the story and not the intimate details of Wicca and the occult. Shadow of Night uncomfortably crossed my Christian worldview. Shadow of Night reveals between the sentences a deep knowledge of the occult and of history. It’s also a book with great character development.

The complex relationship between Diana and Matthew was intriguing, even if the scant sex scenes did nothing to add to the story. I loved how the value of commitment was enforced when Matthew said a vampire mated for life, but the distraction was the minute details of the occult as Diana learned of her past and her future and tried to escape the Congregation and their rules against marriages between witches and vampires. It’s interesting how Shadow of Night felt like it reenacted parts of Romeo and Juliette.

Shadow of Night is an interesting read and thorough in its research. However, I lost interest in it halfway through. Too much conversation, not enough action until halfway through when it began to get intense, and too much occult information. A secular person who loves the way the classics read and has a love affair with history will enjoy this novel. It is unique. A Christian will not get past the first few pages because some of what it speaks exists in this world today (Wicca, goddesses, etc.). I gave this novel four stars for its well-researched pages and the complex marriage of Diana and Matthew, but it did not interest me enough to read Book One or any further books in this series.

*Book given by publisher to review.

Book Review: One Glorious Ambition

One Glorious Ambition by Jane Kirkpatrick follows in the steps of her last novel that I reviewed, Where Lilacs Still Bloom, in which she takes a historical character, and through much research, writes a fictional account of their life story. In this case, the character, Dorthea Dix, is Jane Kirkpatrick’s focus.

Dorthea Dix lived in New England during the 1800s. Her father drank too much and squandered any money given to him. Her mother had a mental illness. Dorthea, the eldest of three children, shouldered grown-up responsibilities, like raising her two brothers, helping in her father’s floundering business venture, and being a mom to her mother. Eventually, she traveled for miles in the snow to her wealthy grandmother to beg for relief. Her grandmother, at that time, had a kind heart, but instead of taking in the family yet again, she chose to send aid for the sake of the children. Eventually, her grandmother takes in only Dorthea when Dorthea reaches her teens. At that time, a woman’s glorious ambition was to marry well.

Dorthea didn’t follow tradition though. What was interesting in reading this novel was how Dorthea sought to become part of a family. She lacked a real family growing up. Even though her grandmother took her in briefly before sending her to other relatives, her grandmother was as emotionally unavailable as her own mother. Dorthea found a best friend in Anne Heath as a teenager. At one point though, Dorthea’s need to have a family outweighed other concerns. Anne Heath loses her sister when they are adults to Cholera and their family gathers together to mourn without Dorthea.

This breaks Dorthea’s heart. How many people have grown up without loving support and go through life looking to find a substitute family? It’s like Dorthea wanted to re-write her past. She even pressed to become a mom by nearly forcing the hand of Grace to take custody of her daughter as Grace slowly died from an illness. Dorthea wanted to become a mom in some way. God had other plans for Dorthea.

Dorthea would become the voice of the helpless in later years, entertaining presidents and president’s wives, senators and house members. She was the spinning top, that if stopped, would collapse and die. Reverend Channing, a substitute father, would caution her about working too much. Dorthea had a tendency to work, filling her time, so as to allow no rest, while frequently getting sick. At times, I wondered if Dorthea worked hard to fill the emptiness she so often felt because of her past. She had no roots, always traveling, always writing, and because single women were considered a burden, Dorthea had to support herself, staying for months at a time with friends, and never truly finding a place she could call home.

Dorthea Dix had a deep faith. She, like Paul, was married to God. When she finally finds her purpose to reach those in insane asylums and to change how prisons work, Dorthea becomes a familiar and admired sight to politicians, jail houses, and asylums. She had an unmatched compassion for the helpless and a gift with words; able to turn a phrase to relax a defensive jailer or to turn around a once violent prisoner to become a leader. One Glorious Ambition is a clarion call, a reminder, to the rest of us that we need to see people as human beings. As Christians, whether we are called to speak for the insane or to serve in some other way, we need to remember the lessons in Dorthea Dix’s story and apply them to our ministries and life.

Once again, Jane Kirkpatrick has written another inspiring novel that took me by surprise. It seems she is in the habit of writing fiction, based on research, on a real person’s life. The end of the novel includes an interview that fills in the blanks on Kirkpatrick’s research on Dorthea Dix. I gave this novel five stars and would still recommend reading Where Lilacs Still Bloom.

*Book given by publisher to review.

Book Review: Astonished

“I do not tell Will and Jacki that to me God and Mary are the same spirit force energy with different names; Mary was the mother of Christ, but since her death she’s become a mystical mother of us all, a feminine manifestation, and in my opinion the feminine side, of a God who is sexless.” Pg. 35

Astonished: A Story of Evil, Blessings, Grace and Solace by Beverly Donofrio reminds me of the movie previews from “Eat, Pray, Love.” Instead of leaving to find herself, the author searches for an escape from a horrific rape by traveling from monastery to monastery.

Astonished is a great book for the left-leaning,New-Age-believing liberal, but for the Christian it is against everything we believe. The writing is poetic and flamboyant. When describing how men treated her in Brooklyn in the beginning of the book, the unnecessary crudity was too much information. It’s only a difficult read because our worldviews are so radically different, even when at the end she says she believes in Jesus and yet her belief is mashed with other beliefs contrary to the Bible talking about mystics who see flying saucers to a shaman who cleanses her room after the rape or, like the quote above, talking in the present that God is Mary or God is a she or a he/she.

The book describes her journey as doing what feels good, and yet alienates any conservative readers on page 187 by saying, “…hearing on the radio in my hermitage the raw hate at Tea Party gatherings.” Having been to a Tea Party gathering, that is not true. On page 57, Astonished puts down conservatives, especially those for the death penalty who are pro-life. The unborn baby didn’t murder someone. When she calls the baby a fetus, it tells me she is pro-choice.

Astonished, at times, doesn’t properly quote scripture. On page 53, she quotes a verse from Psalm 16, but doesn’t say what verse or what translation. Her usage of scripture concerns me. Is she wrapping scripture around her life or her life around scripture?

I thought, by the end of the book, Astonished would find the author turning to Jesus, not to a Jesus of her own making. Feminism definitely influences her view of the Bible and God.  Her story is a sad one, but I thought her views were too radical and I struggled with how to rate this. It’s not written under the Christian genre, but writes for a left-leaning and more radical audience. I can see the Oprah crowd oohing and ahhing over these pages. Because the audience is more radical, I gave it three stars. A Christian won’t like it. It will insult a conservative or a moderate liberal. Astonished will offend a pro-lifer (which spans both Republican and Democrat). If she wrote fiction, I’d probably read her books, but not her nonfiction.

*Book given by publisher to review.

Astonished: Not Today

Astonished: A Story of Evil, Blessings, Grace, and Solace by Beverly Donofrio will not be reviewed today. Too many things were going on this week, some things which were out of my control. The review will instead post on Monday, May 27.

I am not thrilled with the story, but will make an effort to force myself to finish it. Read my review on Monday to find out why. Normally, my book review policy allows me to stop reading at this point. I feel some things in the book need to be answered in my review.

Thanks, Nikki

Book Review: Bread and Wine (Part II)

A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes

“More than that, I am a bread-and-wine person. By that I mean that I’m a Christian, a person of the body and blood, a person of food and drink, and also, at the very same time, I recognize them as something much greater—mystery and tradition and symbol. Bread is bread, and wine is wine, but bread-and-wine is another thing entirely. The two together are the sacred and the material at once, the heaven and earth, the divine and the daily.” - Pg. 11, Bread and Wine, Shauna Niequist; Zondervan

Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist makes you wish she lived next door to you.

Niequist writes a combination cookbook and blog-like chapters, filled with warmth and love for her friends, husband, and you and me. Included in most chapters are recipes. I have tried two so far–the Bacon-Wrapped Dates and Goat Cheese and the Blueberry Crisp.

This was before baking.

The Blueberry Crisp (pictured above) was altered. I used blueberries and strawberries. Also, nuts were omitted. Almond Meal costs nearly $10 a bag and so I substituted flour. The result wasn’t what I liked. It wasn’t sweet enough. So I grabbed a handful of brown sugar which made it perfect. I probably won’t make it again. Her other recipe was a risk.

Bacon-Wrapped Dates with Goat Cheese (pictured above) was a surprising treat. My husband hated it. I couldn’t stop eating them. When you bite into them, you don’t really detect the dates. I used dried dates and not fresh. The dates added a light touch of sweetness to the savory. The goat cheese didn’t stand out strong, but became subtle as it baked. I used thick-cut gourmet apple-smoked bacon in this recipe. I tried to persuade my co-workers to try the recipe, but they were making all sorts of faces at me. My husband says, “Dessert and meat do not go together.” It’s another snack recipe that I don’t have to share, like avocados.

Overall, I loved this book. Like any recipe book, you will always have your winners and losers. Having only tried two recipes so far in this book (later in the week, I plan on making the goat-cheese biscuits), the Blueberry Crisp was definitely the loser. Most of her recipes are gluten-free or altered to fit her particular diet. I gave this book four stars.

*Book given by publisher to review. You can read Part I on the review here.

Prayers of Generations Past

“Then this thought burst into my mind, “After I am in heaven with Jesus, the only way I can still affect the generations that follow is through prayers I prayed while living on this earth!” Tears emerge. Heart warms. God bumps ignite. We see this over and over in God’s Word where God’s promise is fulfilled in the generations to follow. For example, Jesus prayed in John 17 for future believers in Him, which includes those even today. Wow, His prayer is still coming to fruition.” - Pg. 24, My Prayer Chair, RLM Ministries.

Carla McDougal, in her new book, My Prayer Chair, said in the third chapter how she got God bumps when her great-great uncle told stories of how many believers sprouted on their family tree. The stories he told touched her heart and she reflected on Psalm 145:4 how, “one generation will praise Your works to another…” What would that look like?

Was it when my aunt scrawled her God-notes on cards to me? Did she whisper prayers about me as she wrote those notes and put in her “treat money?” I think she died before she knew the fruit of her prayers in my life and what God would and still is doing in it.

Carla wrote, too, how Jesus prayed for believers not yet born. I thought about how Abraham was told by God that he would become the father of Israel. He would not see the fruit of his prayers in his generation. Carla asked, “What prayers are being prayed that are being answered today?”

What would our life look like if we had the patience to pray for someone even if we do not see the answer in our lifetime? What kind of impact would it leave if we were to pray bold prayers?

It would change us. It would change our outlook and grow us through the pain and frustration of yet unanswered prayer. I wonder if our view of God would change if we looked into the Bible and studied only answered prayer. What if we sought the answers of questions like:

1: What prayers took generations to answer by God?

2: What prayers were answered quickly?

3: What prayers did God say no to and what prayers did He grant?

Then, perhaps we should look at the substance of those prayers. Do they sound like our prayers? These are questions ruminating through my mind as I read this chapter in, My Prayer Chair.

Book Review: Decisive

Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work by Chip Heath and Dan Heath breaks down our decision-making patterns and helps to identity the problems of our narrow points of view. It’s a business book, but it can be read to help someone with their personal life.

Chapter One begins with the title, “The Four Villains of Decision Making,” which includes making decisions based on tradition and political infighting:

“This was the moment of clarity. From the perspective of an outsider, someone not encumbered by the historical legacy and the political infighting, shutting down the memory business was the obvious thing to do (page 14).” The authors explained how Intel’s CEO, Gordon Moore and Andy Grove fought on what direction they should take Intel. At the time, they were deep into the memory business, but microprocessors were where the profit was even though Intel had a legacy in memory. Because of asking themselves, what would a brand new CEO do in this situation who didn’t have the history of the company ingrained in their psyche, Moore and Grove saved Intel.

Decisive breaks the book down in four parts, outlining their business theory: WRAP (Widen your options, Reality-test your assumptions, Attain distance before deciding, and Prepare to be wrong).

Many times we don’t widen our options by expanding the spotlight beyond what people want us to focus on. We need to look at the bigger picture and widening your options does this.

Reality-test your assumptions uses the example of Ooching. Someone in one of the chapters chose to test a product before deciding to invest in it. In this section, Decisive even suggested that people applying for a specific job interview people in that field to determine if the job is the right fit for you and if it met your expectations.

Attain distance before deciding talks about stepping away or sleeping on a decision before agreeing to the job. It used an example of someone who had to decide between a great job and a greater job. The emotional high after the interview impeded her judgement and ultimately she chose to stay with her job because it gave her balance in her life. She had time for all the things she wanted to do in life, but the better paying job would have increased her work hours exponentially.

Prepare to be wrong is preparing for the worst-case scenario. Decisive talked about setting trip wires. Trip wires are like early warning systems.

“All this worrying about traps and contingencies may make tripwires sound overly cautious–the bicycle helmet of decision making. But actually we want to argue the opposite, that tripwires encourage risk taking by letting us carve out a “safe space” for experimentation” (Pg. 240).

Decisive’s chapters bear a summary and repetition style of writing which makes keeping this new knowledge easier. I enjoyed reading this book and gave it five stars.

*Book given by publisher to review.