Gravel Road Musings

I'm back again with another fiction book review. This one definitely rates higher on my radar than some of the last ones.  If you like grizzly bear attacks with good endings, an incredible car accident where everyone walks out alive, a bit of romance, and some good truths about God, and not necessarily in that order of importance, you might enjoy this book. I like Susan's writings. She can mix intrigue and drama and still bring out God's work very nicely I think. This book had a lot to do with accepting God's grace and His rescuing power in our lives. Once we see that we need rescued, we need to step back and let Him work it out. We need to let go of anger and guilt and work to forgive ourselves and then those around us who we are sure have wronged us or betrayed us. That's putting it all in my words. Another interesting thing from the book is on perspective: "See, when we're stuck in our everyday troubles, we can get focused on them, and that's a...

So why did I pick an Amish novel? I have a pretty firm stance against reading them, or I thought I did, until in the weakness of the moment, I requested this one. And how to describe the book? I guess I will give my viewpoint in two different ways. As far as writing, Suzanne did a fine job. The story was interesting and while it hopped around a lot from person to person, she was good at keeping things flowing, so you could always follow along. In some ways, I like when books do that so you can keep up with what is going on in everyone's life without the waiting and wondering. The setting is the 1730's, Amish coming over from Germany to settle the New World. I don't know how pioneer people lived at all back then, so that part I'm not going to critique. I imagine life to be immeasurably hard and fraught with trials both with claiming land and taming land. On the second side of it, it just didn't seem very accurate to the Amish lifestyle I am familiar with. For...

The One Word that Changes Everything for Your Marriage I have read a few marriage books in the last couple of years. My goal is to read 2-4 a year. They often challenge me and convict me to put more effort into my own marriage. I just wish I could somehow memorize the words and imprint them on my life permanently. But this book has got to about top all the books I've read lately. And yes, I might say that about everyone, but this one is good and definitely worth reading. Cherish, one simple word, but it really can revolutionize a marriage. Cherish, to put your spouse's needs and desires above your own, to make a conscious effort to seek out the best in your spouse, to affirm them, to be kind, to do things for them. It's showcasing your spouse's strengths while you're willing to step back in the background and let them succeed. Cherishing calls us to go to war against contempt, speaking spitefully to your spouse will kill a relationship. It's noticing and...

I think I'm starting to realize that fiction doesn't have quite the hold for me that it used to. I know there are some out there going, Yay, she's finally getting it. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop reading fiction, it just means, well, I don't know for sure what it means. I think it means that my tastes are growing pickier and it's harder and harder to find a good fiction that I love, love, love. I will say that I am becoming a bit more of crime, mystery reader and I'm not sure if I like that or not. I get tired of the stories that you can tell from the first chapter or two how the book is going to end. And often these mystery books don't have the surety. This one sure didn't. I enjoyed the story line. A group of airline stewardesses are smuggling diamonds into the states. One doesn't like doing it and wants to stop, but her "boyfriend" slips them in her purse anyway. She hides them and then is killed. The "killer...

Written by Gary Bower Illustrated by Barbara Chotiner Ah, do you remember the old children's book, "This is the House that Jack Built"? It built line upon line and repeated all the previous lines, like "This is the house that Jack built.... This is the cat that ate the rat that lived in the house that Jack built. This is the dog that worried that cat that ate the rat...." And so on. I haven't read that story in years and so I might have messed it up, but you get the idea. Anyway, this book is built like that. It talks about the "ark that proceeded to park on a patch on the peak of Ararat." And then it talks about Noah's and Noah's sons and the door and the ramp and the animals and the rain and so on and so on. It's a fun little story to read. The pictures are unique. I'm not quite sure what the word is to describe them. When I looked at them one description that came to mind was chainsaw carvings. Sort of a rough and square...