"Skipping Christmas" by John Grisham

Skipping Christmas by John Grisham is about a modern day scrooge that wanted to skip everything to do with Christmas except the church stuff but wound up doing everything the last minute to please his daughter who came home unexpectedly with a fiancé.  This is a quick light read. 
 
 Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

Tuesday Teaser: "Unbroken" and "It's A Cat's World...You Just Live In It"

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. 

Gerard's:

Men moaned and screamed, one calling for his mother.  A pilot thought the voices sounded "like animals crying."  Men's eardrums burst.  A man died of a heart attack.

From p. 169 of Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.  (click on the title to see my review.)

Karen's:

Do you ever see your cat lying on them?  Nope--not unless you are trying to read them at the kitchen table.  So it's not that your cat wants to actually lie on a different surface for fun--your cat just wants you to realize that he's right there for you, supporting your every read.

From page 26 of It's A Cat's World...You Just Live In It by Justine A. Lee, DVM

"White Chocolate Moments" by Lori Wick

White Chocolate Moments by Lori Wick is contemporary fiction about a girl, Arcineh, whose parents died in an accident when she was 11 and was raised by her grandfather, Sam who was a wealthy owner of a company. She left when she was 18 because he took in her cousin and moved in with a friend, got several jobs, danced, and found romance and became a Christian and married. Issues it deals with are death, reconciliation and love. I liked it!

(Karen's review 4/3/09)

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

"Letters From A Skeptic: A Son Wrestles With His Father's Questions About Christianity" by Dr. Gregory A. Boyd and Edward K. Boyd

I read this book because it was recommended by Kris, a friend of mine who ministers to college students at Kent University.  I found it extremely thought provoking and interesting.

Letters From A Skeptic:  A Son Wrestles With His Father’s Questions About Christianity.  This is an unusual book because it is all letters back and forth between a father and son.  The son, Greg Boyd, is a professor of theology and an ordained evangelical minister.  The father, Edward Boyd, was raised Catholic but with numerous questions about Christianity which the son patiently tries to answer over a period of time through correspondence.  The questions fall into four major categories:  Questions about God, Questions about Jesus Christ, Questions about the Bible, and Questions about Christian life and doctrine. 

Here is a small sample of some of the tough questions the father and son discussed:

Why has Christianity done so much harm?
Why is the world so full of suffering?
Why did God create Satan?
Why trust the Gospel accounts?
How can you believe that a man rose from the dead?
Why do you think the Bible is inspired?
What about the “holy books” of other religions?
Why does God make believing in Him so difficult?
Do all non-Christians go to hell?
Isn’t the Christian life impossible to live?
How can I be sure it’s all true?

If you have questions about Christianity or know someone who does and would like to know how to answer them, I highly recommend this book.  I loved seeing how the father slowly became more open to Christianity and finally accepted Jesus as His Savior when he was 73. 

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

"Kasey To the Rescue" by Ellen Rogers--An Enjoyable Read!

This video shows some of the things monkeys are trained to do for handicapped people.  Kasey To The Rescue is about a family who got one of these monkeys to help them.





Kasey To The Rescue by Ellen Rogers is a true story of an amazing son, Ned, and his mom, the author of this book.  Ned gets in a horrific car accident but miraculously survived.  The mother brought Ned home to take care of him along with her other children and two dogs.  Taking care of Ned was a major task!  To help with his care, they went to Helping Hands and got Kasey, a monkey.

To me, the mother is amazing and the main story of this book about how she takes care of Ned, runs her family, and tries to keep up everyone's spirits including her own.  Ned too shows remarkable courage.  The monkey, Kasey, is also pretty remarkable in the way he helps.  This is a very enjoyable and encouraging read about a family who did not fall apart when faced with tragedy.
(Gerard's review) Read the teaser.

UPDATED 12/18/10:
This book is really about a super mom (Ellen) persevering in raising her family and taking care of her son Ned, who was in a car accident while away at college and suffered a spinal chord injury which rendered him a quadriplegic. The story is basically all about Ned and how his mother made him her top priority, even going so far as to bring in a monkey (Kasey) from the Helping Hands organization. In actuality, it seemed to me Kasey was more work for her than help; however, it did help Ned stay positive and gave him a constant companion. Ned gained more dexterity in his fingers and arms because the monkey provided motivation for Ned to interact with Kasey. Kasey was entertaining and although it took three months for Kasey to really trust and feel a close relationship to Ned, it was worth it.

I enjoyed reading this book but was anxious to get to the part when the monkey came which is about halfway through. This is the story of a loving family and although the beginning was sort of depressing, the second half of the book is very entertaining and inspirational. I really liked learning more about the Helping Hands organization and how the monkeys are trained to be service animals. 
(Karen's review)

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


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