"Love Your Life" by Victoria Osteen

Love Your Life by Victoria Osteen moves right along and gave me the feeling that Victoria was a friend chatting with me. It is packed with lots of good advice and is very encouraging and uplifting. I liked that she included summaries of “anchor thoughts” at the end of each chapter.  This is a book I actually own--got it from www.paperbackswap.com. 

A few of the things that really made an impact on me were:

1) “Make your relationships a priority and find simple ways to enjoy the people you love. No one gets to the end of life and says, “Boy, I sure do wish I had worked more hours in the office,” or, “I wish I would have had a cleaner house.” No, at the end of their lives, most people say, “I wish I would have spent more time with my family and loved ones.”

2) Be a people builder—encourage someone every day.

3) Your hands may be tied, but God’s hands never are. Always remember, there is a “God option.”

4) Do not hold on to past mistakes, nor allow them to keep you from who you were created to be.

5) Keep stretching, growing and learning and don’t allow fear to hold you back.

6) Stay flexible and be willing to change in order to embrace the new things God has in store.

7) Keep a list of all the things you love about your spouse and all the things they do for you so you don’t forget. Keep it handy and add things as you think of them with the first pen you get.

8) Look for ways to find common ground with the people in your life. Don’t push your point of view but let others be heard for the sake of peace.

9) Help others succeed.

10) Don’t hold on to offenses.

11) Be willing to make adjustments to improve relationships.

12) Live each day in faith.

(Karen's review 12/08)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

"Play Their Hearts Out" by George Dohrmann

If you are a parent of a young boy or girl who is really good at basketball, you should read Play Their Hearts Out by George Dohrmann.  I think the boy or girl would like this too!  "Play Their Hearts Out gives the reader an inside look at AAU basketball--the traveling All-Star teams.  The focus is on Joe Keller, the coach and Demetrius Walker, the star player, but there is much more than just the games and the scores.  I really enjoyed this book a lot more than I expected I would.  It was eight years in the making, and it shows.  A truly great read!  Take a bow, Mr. Dohrmann, you deserve it!

This is a must read for anyone into youth basketball!  I highly recommend it.

(Gerard's review)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

"Become A Better You" by Joel Osteen

I thought Become a Better You by Joel Osteen was a great book—Inspirational, Practical & Biblical!  It was upbeat and encouraging.  He gives interesting examples for all his points.  I really liked this book and felt there was a lot of good stuff in it.  His wife wrote a book as well and I liked that too!

Things that stood out to me:

1) Keep stretching because my best days are yet to come. Your best days are not behind you, they’re in front of you.

2) Develop a Habit of Happiness. Choose to put a positive spin on things and be happy-even in bad circumstances.

3) Remember who you are and act accordingly—child of God Almighty, redeemed, talented, creative, have potential to fulfill your destiny.

4) Find work you are passionate about.

5) Relationships are more important than accomplishments. Build others up—compliment someone each day. Be the head cheerleader and encourager for your spouse.

6) Leave places better off than they were before I came by.

7) Celebrate other people’s victories.

8) Keep a running record of the good things God has done for you.

9) Listen to the small still voice that nudges. Keep a tender conscience so God can hear God’s voice.

10) Plan on a long and healthy life, don’t plan for failure!

11) Keep a song of praise in your heart all through the day.

12) Enjoy life, be happy and stay thankful.

13) Make a list of all that is right with your life and read it frequently (daily) to keep your passion for living alive.

(Karen's review 1/08)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

Tuesday Teasers: "If I Grow Up" and "Play Their Hearts Out"

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
• 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::

"You forget how your momma died?"  Gramma snapped.  "How many times I have to tell you not to run when they shoot?  You could run right into the cross fire.  You hear shootin', you drop to the ground and stay there."

From p. 18 of If I Grow Up by Todd Strasser.

Gerard's:
 Like most children, they saw only the glory.  It was up to the parents to see what lurked behind it.

From p. 92 of Play Their Hearts Out--A Coach, His Star Recruit, and The Youth Basketball Machine by George Dohrmann

"Dewey's Nine Lives" by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter

Vicki Myron, best-selling author of Dewey, The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched The World Library Cat, is back with more stories about Dewey and other stories about people who have had their lives touched by cats in her book, Dewey‘s Nine Lives.  This is just an outstanding read.  The stories about Dewey are good and the other stories are really good too!  I enjoyed this book so much!  So, welcome back, Dwey, and the friends he brought along.  This book will make my top 10 for the year for sure!  I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys reading about pets, people‘s everyday lives and cats.
(Gerard's review)

Dewey's Nine Lives by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter is a collection of nine short stories about different people and how Dewey or another cat affected their lives.  Although I did not enjoy it as much as Gerard did, I did like it okay.  It is a touching book but not one I couldn't wait to get back to see what happened next.  It's about ordinary people who had some unusual experiences with different cats.  I liked seeing the pictures of the different people with their cats.

I was amazed at how tough "Spooky" was.  He survived being tossed onto a moving car from quite a distance, riding on a goose, riding a motorcycle, being swatted by a bear and thrown  through the air and being dumped in the garbage by his owner's landlady and walking back home 20 miles.
(Karen's review)