Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Tuesday Teasers: Four For You


Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should  Be Reading. Anyone can play along, so I thought  I  would play for fun! Just do the following
  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page (well, we cheat and choose specific ones)
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on  that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away!   You don’t  want  to  ruin the  book for others!)
  • Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can  add the book to their TBR  Lists  if they  like your teaser.   

Karen's:
"They're just a couple of men trying to feed their families, and they got no other way to do it except to sell spirits to people who want an occasional drink. If it's between making moonshine and letting their kids starve, they're right to choose moonshine, and you're wrong to judge them."
From page 68 of Sweet Mercy by Ann Tatlock. (Historical Christian fiction)

Do not be a hypocrite. Do not be jealous or speak evil of others.
From I Peter 2:1, (Int'l Children's Bible) non-fiction

Gerard's:
Your brother eats us out of house and hone and smashes up the furniture, and who gets raked over the coals? Me. For selfishly cycling too much.
From page 131 of Big Brother by Lionel Shriver.

And with that, she marched out the door of her house--her house--cross that she had to explain it all.
From page 11 of Accidents Happen by Louise Millar.

Happy Reading!

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Riveting Memoir: "The Blood Of Lambs--A Former Terrorist's Memoir of Death and Redemption" by Kamal Saleem


The Blood of Lambs by Kamal Saleem  tells the true story of his life and his change from being a follower of Allah to being a follower of Jesus Christ.  At the age of 7 he was trained to become an Islamic terrorist!  It is a fascinating read.  I didn't know how they train these people, but I do now and it is very scary!  The story of how he became to speak out against terrorism is mind-blowing.  You have to read it to believe it!
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)

WOW! That's the word that kept coming into my mind as I read The Blood of Lambs--A Former Terrorist's Memoir of Death and Redemption by Kamal Saleem with Lynn Vincent. It is the most interesting memoir I have ever read!  I was fascinated by what the Muslims believe and have a better understanding of how Muslim terrorists think.  Kamal was abused and bullied as a kid, and found acceptance and protection when recruited as a boy soldier.  All his life he was raised to hate and at age 7, attended a terrorist training camp where they trained with live ammunition.  This man had a vast number of experiences that were completely new to me, including many near death experiences.  His childhood is heartbreaking and even after he came to America and was converted to Christianity, his bravery continues as he publicly shares his story and warns the U.S. to wake up to what the Jihad is up to.  His life is always in danger!

I learned so much from reading this book!  I am not into politics at all so thought this book might be boring and read like a history text book, but I was so wrong!  It is a very interesting and captivating read because wanting to know what happened to bring about this terrorist's conversion to Christianity kept me turning the pages.  This is not the kind of book I normally would read, but it was recommended to me by a friend in an email that went into detail about it which piqued my interest.  Now I am recommending it to you!    
(Karen's review, 5 stars)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

Saturday, June 8, 2013

"Someday, Someday, Maybe" by Lauren Graham of Gilmore Girls and Parenthood

Someday, Someday, Maybe is Lauren Graham's first book.   I loved her on the show, "Gilmore Girls" and now on "Parenthood."  She tells the story of a young woman who wants to be an actress on Broadway, sharing the trials and triumphs she goes through, hoping to make her dream come true.  It is very funny, like watching an episode of "Gilmore Girls."  Do yourself a favor and pick it up.  You will be glad you did!
(Gerard's review, 4 stars)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

Friday, June 7, 2013

Like Adventure? Read the Book of ACTS from the Bible

The book of Acts in The Holy Bible is full of action showing the power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the apostles after Jesus returned to heaven after his resurrection. Chapters 1-12 primarily focus on Peter’s ministry with the exception of chapter 8—Philip and chapter 9—Saul’s conversion. Chapters 13-28 focus on Paul’s complete transformation into a traveling preacher from a zealous persecutor of followers of Jesus. The book of Acts is about the persecution of the early Christian church and the spread of the good news of Jesus Christ throughout the world! It records many miracles, including speaking in tongues, prisoners set free, people healed, angel appearances, Paul’s near death experiences and more! There is some humor too—Eutychus fell asleep while Paul talked on and on and fell from a 3-story high window (Acts 20)!  This is the sequel to Luke.

During the 60s as a teenager, I quizzed on the book against other Christian and Missionary Alliance churches and later coached another quiz team of teens: Jolene, Jeff, Brenda, Dawn, Larry, Cy and Danny (if any of you happen to see this, please leave a comment for me!). Since I have taught from it many times. Below is a short cute video I taped of the boys in one of my 5th grade Sunday School classes using puppets to tell the story of Ananias and Saphira found in chapter 5.


I enjoyed reading through the book of Acts again very much because there is so much action and adventure and still find things I hadn’t noticed before. I encourage you to read the book of Acts for yourself. It’s truly amazing how God used ordinary people in extraordinary ways for the furtherance of the good news about His son, Jesus Christ. Here are some of my favorite verses from Acts (KJV version):

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.—Acts 1:8

. . .Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.—Acts 1:11

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.—Acts 2:21

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.—Acts 4:12

Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.—Acts 5:29

And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.—Acts 24:16

More related Sunday Sharing posts—highlights from Acts Over at "Right Where We Belong":

Lie, Lie, Now You Die!
A Life Transformed
Meetings Arranged By God
Perseverance, Courage and Commitment
We All Need Encouragement!
Why Didn't Paul Listen, and What If He Had?
A Brave Boy Saved His Uncle Paul


Have you read Acts? What did you think of it?  Happy Reading!

Thursday, June 6, 2013

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill is Fantastic!

USA TODAY had NOS4A2 by Joe Hill at No. 2 to read for books coming out in May. I can see why; this book is really really good! In the book, Charles Manx kidnaps kids and takes them to a place he calls Christmasland. When one girl gets away, the only one to ever escape, he wants to get her back. When he gets her son, it's on!

This is a fantastic read full of twists and turns. Don't let the over 900 pages scare you off because it's large print and all good with an awesome ending. Joe Hill is Stephen King's son and has learned very well! I LOVED IT!
(Gerard's review 5++ stars)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!
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