Saturday, October 31, 2009

And You Know You Should Be Glad

"And You Know You Should Be Glad" by Bob Greene

My dad picked this book up for me at the 99 cents store. Now you may think it probably isn't going to be that good if they are selling it for 99 cents. But it was good, surprisingly good. I have a best friend that I cherish and this book reminded me of how precious those friendships are. This book is about two boys becoming friends and the story of their life long friendship. It is a true story and is written when they are in their fifties and one is dying of cancer. The story moved me and I had so many parts that were really insightful. You may not even have to read the book after reading this review!
  • "When you're older, it's much more difficult to ask for help. The instinct to do that has been trained out of you by life." How many times a day do my girls ask me for help without having any reservations? But when we become adults we think we need to do it all by our selves. This reminded me that friends are there to help, and that they want to help.
  • "There would be a brief silence, like an invisible ellipsis, then we would be right back where we were, where we always were." With the best of friends it doesn't matter how long it has been when you see or talk to each other you can just pick up where you left off. I love that.
  • "Fleeting moments of kindness can echo forever."
  • "After half a century, a voice across the miles can say 'Hi.' And you never have to ask. You know. Always." The familiarity of best friends. I love that across the miles I know it is her when I hear her voice. No other words need be spoken, just hi. And from that we can even tell how the other is feeling.
  • "There are a handful of people, during your lifetime, who know you well enough to understand when the right thing to say is to say nothing at all. When the right thing to do is just sit there with you-either in the room, or on the other end of a telephone line. To be there." Hold on to these people, they are priceless.
  • "He was tasting his life. He was savoring who he was, and where he had been, who he had known...he was tasting it with a fierce and pervading kind of appetite." The "he" in this sentence is the man who is dying of cancer. I want to taste life now. Enjoy the moment now.
  • "In most people, you don't notice its absence: Indifference, after all, is usually not visible. When overriding mercy is present, though, it shines like a beacon; when it's there in a person, only then do you perceive how many others lack it, and what a rare and good thing it is." I pray that Christ's mercy shines like a beacon through me.
  • "Life, when you let it, can thrill you." So often we miss the little things and let the worries take over.
  • "The best pictures, the most lasting and most vivid, are the ones you see with your heart. They never fade, and they never get old."
  • "We all, it seems, yearn for something that will let people know we once were here."
  • "I don't know how a man becomes so lucky, so blessed; I don't know what a man does to deserve such a friendship." I feel this way about my best friend. God has truly blessed me by putting her in my life and I am so very thankful.
  • "Friendship doesn't die. This thing that costs nothing, this thing priceless beyond measuring-never ends. No one can take it from you."

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

The Wednesday Letters

"The Wednesday Letters" by Jason F. Wright

I received this book for my birthday from my parents. My dad is excellent at picking out books that I love, he knows me oh so well. And yes, I really enjoyed this book. It is about a man who writes letters to his wife every Wednesday. When he and his wife die their children find the letters and discover so much they didn't know about their parents and about themselves. It truly makes you want to start writing letters. I love that the epilogue is written by hand and put in an envelope at the back of the book. I think it was a very clever way to end the book. I enjoyed this story of love, discovery and forgiveness. I am thinking of writing my own "Wednesday letters". Here is a quote that I liked from one of the letters, "Sometimes my best isn't good enough, sometimes I need a little more, that's why my Father has sent me here, to learn to ask of the Lord. I must learn to ask of the Lord, in all that I do. Yes, I will learn to ask of the Lord, and all my dreams will come true."

Friday, October 16, 2009

And If I Die

"And If I Die" by Jon Aubrey Anderson

I finally got to read the third book in The Black Or White Chronicles. I was a little dissapointed. I still think the first book was the best. And I didn't really like how this one ended, it left too much to the imagination, I needed a little more closure. It wasn't as exciting as book one but it did fill in some of the gaps by going back in the life of a few of the characters. I loved the main point of the book though. It being that God has ordained our lives from the beginning of time. What we are doing now He knew we would do. Sometimes we come to a moment in our lives and know that everything that came before, every moment, was leading us to that point. It makes my mind spin but it makes me smile. Smile that God is in control no matter what happens.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The Last Song

"The Last Song" by Nicholas Sparks

Alright, I admit I am a BIG fan of Nicholas Sparks. Read them all. Loved them all. But I must say I think this is his best one yet. I don't know how he can keep writing better and better but I think he does. I got this book for my birthday on a Tuesday and had it finished by Wednesday. It was sooo very good. It had just the right amount of drama, love, tragedy and soul searching in it. He even incorporated God a lot in this book. The end is perfect! It just made me say awe. That is how books are supposed to end, with closure but a little something left for the imagination. It is a story about two kids who have to go stay with their dad for the summer, against their will. It is about finding out what you thought was the truth for what really is. It is about protecting your children and allowing them to make their own choices and believing in those choices. It was a great book, I highly recommend it.