Let There Be Light by Archbishop Desmond Tutu

I have two preschool-aged children, so when I saw the beautiful cover of Let There Be Light by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and illustrated by Nancy Tillman, I couldn't resist it (for their sake as well as my own).  The book did not disappoint.


This is a beautifully illustrated picture book for children telling the story of creation through its whimsical and almost magical illustrations.  The colors are vibrant and the text on each page is short, which allows the children to really enjoy the pictures.  The story chronicles Genesis 1 fairly accurately, with the artist's illustrations perhaps a bit simplistic, but beautiful nonetheless.  My children truly enjoyed looking at the pictures.


The only fault I could find with the book was that instead of Adam and Eve on the sixth day, just "people" were created and the illustration shows a group of children.  This is not scriptural but rather a generalization and I don't really have a problem with it, as my children have heard the story of Adam and Eve being the first people created but it is a variation from the Scripture. 


Our family enjoyed this story and I imagine most families would.  It would also make a wonderful gift for a new baby as it is absolutely beautifully illustrated.

The Sinners' Garden by William Sirls

I enjoyed reading The Reason, William Sirls' first novel and so I quickly snatched this book up.  Another story that requires the reader to think outside the box and make allowances for the supernatural, The Sinners' Garden, does not disappoint those looking for an unusual story and weaves another story of redemption, love and lessons learned.


In the small town of Benning Township, mysterious happenings bring about reconciliation and healing in the lives of those who have believed lies and wrestled with questions about their respective pasts.  A benevolent stranger dressed in black has been leaving gifts in the night, a supernatural garden grows near an abandoned factory and the mystery of a past murder begins to unravel all while the characters face unanswered questions they have been dealing with for years.  A police officer doubting her ability to confront evil, a past drug-dealer looking for redemption, a teenager dealing with the disfiguring burn from his childhood, a wise pastor and a mother who blames herself for the growing distance between her and her son all come together as they learn lessons of God's love and forgiveness.


While I did not find this book to be quite as suspenseful or thrilling as The Reason, I again enjoyed Sirls' ability to develop characters and make them believable and I also loved his ability to bring about a plot twist right at the end.  A thoroughly enjoyable read!

Tenacious by Jeremy and Jennifer Williams with Rob Suggs

I couldn't quite fit the entire title and author line on my blog post title:  Tenacious: How God Used a Terminal Diagnosis to Turn a Family and a Football Team Into Champions by Jeremy and Jennifer Williams with Rob Suggs.  But despite the length of the title, it is apt and appropriate. 

The book opens with the story of the Williams family's experience with the TV reality show Extreme Makeover:  Home Edition and then backtracks and tells the tale of how they got to the point where they were shouting "MOVE THAT BUS!" with their friends, family and neighbors tearfully watching.  Not being much of a TV watcher or sports fanatic, I had not heard of the Williams family but I was fascinated by their story.

They are ordinary people who have chosen to follow Christ and make that part of their every day lives, whether that is coaching high school football, dealing with a child with special needs or receiving a devastating diagnosis of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) at a fairly young age.  The theme of the book is a tenacious faith in God and a tenacious approach to living life like you mean it.

I enjoyed the story quite a bit, but then I always love memoirs.  I did find the writing style at times to be a bit "preachy" but from what I gleaned from the book every bit of "preaching" comes from genuine faith so it is hard to fault that much.  I thought the book was a very uplifting and positive story, despite the difficult challenges that the authors face.  I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a feel-good encouraging story about facing tough times with a good attitude.

A Walk Through the Dark: How My Husband's 90 Minutes in Heaven Deepened My Faith for a Lifetime by Eva Piper

With one of the longest subtitles ever, A Walk Through the Dark:  How My Husband's 90 Minutes in Heaven Deepened My Faith for a Lifetime by Eva Piper gives us the other side of the story to the popular book 90 Minutes in Heaven by her husband, Don Piper.

Told by Eva with the help of Cecil Murphey (who also co-wrote Don Piper's book), this book chronicles Eva's experience of hearing about Don's terrible car accident, his recovery process and eventually the story of how he died and went to heaven and was "prayed back" to earth.  It tells of her personal struggles, what she felt and how she responded to having a husband who was severely injured and underwent a lengthy and painful recovery.

I enjoyed the first part of the book, where it tells of how Eva found out about the car accident and her experiences watching Don struggle.  I found it to be a good look into what spouses and caregivers of those severely injured go through and I haven't found that to be a popular perspective in memoirs.  Typically memoirs are about the injured person, not those who have to watch and support the recovery without actually having any control. 

However, I thought that Eva did a bit too much defending of her choices and decisions.  The second half of the book felt a bit defensive at times and a bit preachy too.  I come from a church background so the vernacular was familiar to me, but at times it seemed a bit too Christian cliché for my taste.  However, I have never undergone a similar situation and I am not faulting her responses or emotions at all, just the style in which the book was written.  She is brave to tell her story and I have to give her that.  It just wasn't my favorite style of memoir writing.

All in all, this book was a good companion book to 90 Minutes in Heaven and I think would be a good read for anyone who has been a caregiver for someone with a life-threatening and lengthy illness.

Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me: A Memoir...Of Sorts by Ian Morgan Cron

After reading Chasing Francis by Cron, I was interested in picking up his memoir, Jesus, My Father, the CIA and Me: A Memoir...Of Sorts.  I wanted to learn more about the man who came up with the story behind Chasing Francis and of course, I'm always a sucker for memoirs.

I found this book to be easy to read as it chronicled Cron's childhood growing up with an alcoholic father.  The majority of the book covered Cron's school years and the significant life events and interactions that shaped him, particularly those with his father and how they affected him as he grew up.  Cron writes with a sense of humor, and I often found myself chuckling out loud.  The humor wove its way around the painful incidents of his childhood and helped the memoir from being overly sad or dark.

My only criticism was that there was a part of the book that didn't seem to flow chronologically.  At the end of one chapter, Cron is floundering a bit as a college student.  In the next chapter, his dad dies, he finishes college and gets married.  I had to flip back through to see if I had missed something.  Maybe the author intended to use it to get across the abruptness and chaos that his father's death brought to his life or maybe it just needed a little more in the way of details to make it flow better.  It also seemed to jump whole periods of his life towards the end of the book, as if he was trying to finish it in a certain number of pages, after spending a lot of time and detail on his childhood.  And even though the title has CIA in it, the CIA was really just a very small part of the book.

Other than that, I really enjoyed the book and also the way he explained his search for his father's love as being integral to almost everything else in his life.  I liked his writing style and would definitely recommend the book.

Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim's Tale by Ian Morgan Cron

Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim's Tale by Ian Morgan Cron is part fiction, part non-fiction, a genre called wisdom literature according to the author's notes.  The story follows the crisis of faith of a contemporary pastor and his discovery of a new way of living a spiritual life focused more on Christ than religion. 

The author provides a lot of historical information and deeper thoughts about the life of St. Francis in the context of Pastor Chase Falson's search for true faith.  This nonfiction information is nicely balanced by the fictional character development and plot.  A book more about thoughts and feelings than actions, the reader is drawn to think more about what it means to be a Christian in the postmodern world and what the church should look like.  The example of St. Francis's life is used to introduce themes about faith, art, embracing culture, service and love in the context of the contemporary church.  There is also a lengthy section in the back of the book with more information and lots of discussion questions, should you want to read the book with others.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit.  I didn't know anything about St. Francis before reading and I found him to be an intriguing historical figure.  I would never have picked up a nonfiction book about him or about the subjects/ideas introduced in this book so this was a good chance to learn and be prodded to think, yet have the framework of a fictional character's pilgrimage to hold up the ideas and demonstrate them.  I think many of the questions brought up in this book about faith and church in the postmodern world will continue to be hot topics of discussion in the years to come and this book does a great job of introducing them.

Joni & Ken: An Untold Love Story by Ken & Joni Eareckson Tada with Larry Libby

I was excited when I saw the author of this book as I have always admired and respected her.  Joni & Ken: An Untold Love Story by Ken & Joni Eareckson Tada with Larry Libby is my favorite kind of book - a memoir about relationship.

Reading at times like a journal and others as if you are a fly on the wall, this book gives both the broad scope of this couple's story as well as details that make you feel like you are just sitting at the kitchen table over coffee discussing life.  There isn't much on their early lives, the story mostly begins when they meet with flashbacks to key events in their childhood and early years. 

I enjoyed this story and was encouraged by the commitment this couple has shown to each other, to their ministry and to Christ.  Living with quadriplegia, persistent pain and breast cancer and all of the care-taking duties that go along with that cannot be easy and they readily admit that but they also admit that they have learned that in their weaknesses they are strong because of their shared faith. 

However, I would have liked more.  More details on how they fell in love and their courtship.  More insight into their decisions and how that affected their relationship.  Maybe more about their families.  The book was a quick read and fine as is, but I think it needed more for me to be able to call it an amazing book.

A Matter of Trust by Lis Wiehl with April Henry

I was looking for an entertaining book and A Matter of Trust by Lis Wiehl with April Henry certainly fit the bill.  The main character, Mia Quinn is a Seattle prosecutor and is talking with a colleague on the phone one evening only to be horrified to hear a shot ring out and hear no response from her friend.  Mia is then given her colleague's murder case to solve, along with the help of a police detective with whom she has an unpleasant history.

The book is fast-paced and fairly well written.  I found the plot line a little confusing at times but maybe that is just because it is a murder mystery and the author wants the reader to be in the dark a little.  I enjoyed the inevitable twist at the end.

I felt that a few of the minor story lines were not well developed and either should have been given more time or else left out entirely as they were a distraction.  However, I note that this is the first book of the series so perhaps some of those story lines will be teased out in later books.  I also didn't think that the main character was always believable or even as well developed as she could have been. 

I thought this book was pretty good and I read through it quickly so if you are looking for a beach read for the summer, I would recommend it.  If you are looking for something with more character development or something to really think about, I would keep looking.

Every Perfect Gift by Dorothy Love

A little bit of mystery, a little bit of history and a love story.  That is how to describe Every Perfect Gift by Dorothy Love. 

The reader is drawn in by the strong main character, Sophie, who is a woman with a past who comes back to the town she grew up in to bring the newspaper back to life.  Set towards the end of the 19th century, the book is a little look into life in a small town and all of the customs and beliefs of the times.  Sophie was raised in the orphanage in town and decides to return to follow her dream of running her own newspaper.  In the midst of struggles to achieve her dream, she meets and falls in love with a man who has a troubled past of his own.  Throughout the book, numerous incidents leave you wondering exactly what the secrets are and how they will be uncovered.

I found the characters likable, the writing fairly well done and the setting believable but there was something about this book that was a bit predictable.  I suppose most romances are that way but it was pretty obvious as soon as we met the characters what the ending was going to be.  However, even knowing that, the book was written well enough that I kept reading just to go along on the adventure to the inevitable outcome.

If you want something light and easy to read, then this is the book for you.  If you are looking for something with a little more depth or ambiguity, then keep looking.

Call of a Coward by Marcia Moston

Call of a Coward:  The God of Moses and the Middle-Class Housewife by Moston is a book written about a family who embarks on what many might say was a crazy idea of serving God.  Moston and her husband feel called to Guatemala, specifically to a remote village of Mayan people and they give up everything in their comfortable life to follow that call.

The conditions were difficult and Moston adjusted to life in primitive conditions, a language barrier, differences of culture and sickness.  They made new relationships and grew in their faith.

I enjoyed this book and applaud the faith it took to pursue a call out of all that is familiar to a place that is completely foreign with a daily life full of challenges.  However, I was expecting to read a book about long-term foreign missionaries.  It turns out the Moston family was only in Guatemala a few months before they came back home to America and took on a different kind of mission.  I was a bit surprised by how much the book built up their foreign missions trip and then how short it turned out to be.

Even though the book wasn't the story I was expecting, I think that is a good parallel of how life often goes.  Our expectations change and our perception of God's calling can change, too.  The Moston family was faithful to what they felt they should do and that is the true story of this book.

Cruel Harvest by Fran Elizabeth Grubb

I read this book in one day, nearly in one sitting.  I could hardly put it down.  A memoir that simultaneously broke my heart for the story it told and caused me to marvel at the resiliency of the human spirit, Fran Grubb's Cruel Harvest was an engaging read.

I've always been a sucker for a memoir, as I love to read about the lives of others, the challenges they have faced and the ways they found to surmount those challenges.  That is the plot of nearly every memoir and I am seldom disappointed in that story, despite the many differences in the tellings.  This book was no different.  The story gripped me from the first page and I was left at the end, wishing I could read more.  In fact, if I have any criticism to offer, it would be that the story seemed to end a bit abruptly, with much of it left untold. 

The remarkable detail of Grubb's nearly nonexistent childhood, abusive father and broken mother would break the heart of nearly anyone.  Yet even in the depravity that she was subjected to, she found love in her heart for her family and hope inside that the elusive someday would indeed be better.  I enjoyed the interweaving of her past with the story of reuniting with some of her family later in life.  Despite the challenges she faced and the innocence that was taken far too early, Grubb finds a way to trust the Lord with her burdens and she shares that fact freely in her storytelling without becoming "preachy" which often happens in memoirs.

Even though parts of this book were hard to read, I could not put it down.  Read it.

Running For My Life by Lopez Lomong

With the Olympics rolling along full force, now is the perfect time to read this amazing story.  But even if the Olympics weren't on, now would still be the perfect time to read this book.  It's that good. 

Running For My Life: One Lost Boy's Journey from the Killing Fields of Sudan to the Olympic Games by Lopez Lomong is a story of hope, determination, support and dreams.  Most people have heard of the Lost Boys of Sudan, the children separated from their families during Sudan's long and violently bloody civil war.  But how many of us stop to think of where these boys have ended up as they have grown into men?

This story tells the tale of one of those boys.  Lopez, also known as Lopepe (his Sudanese name) and Joseph (his name given at his baptism), was taken from his family and wrenched from his mother's arms by rebel soldiers when he was just six years old.  He was able to escape from the soldiers' camp and ran for three days and nights with three other boys.  While running to what they thought was home, they were actually running straight towards the Kenyan border.

Lopez spent the next ten years in a refugee camp and through a set of circumstances he attributes solely to God, he was able to come to the US at age sixteen.  Through another set of circumstances, which he again gives God the glory for, he becomes a runner who is good enough to run collegiate races and eventually turn pro.  Lopez ran in the 2008 Olympic games and competed again in 2012 in London.  This book tells of all of the remarkable twists and turns his life took as he grew from a little boy torn from the only home he's ever known to a pro athlete on the other side of the world whose greatest dream is to give back to his home country.

Read this book.  You will learn something, you will be challenged in your faith and you will want to cheer your heart out for a remarkable young man who was once a Lost Boy.

Miraculous Movements by Jerry Trousdale

A book that encompasses both techniques for reaching nonbelievers and a collection of compelling stories of Muslims who have embraced Jesus, Miraculous Movements is definitely a book worth reading.  The book alternates between introducing and explaining the principles behind the Disciple Making Movement in a way that is understandable and relevant and stories of dozens of former Muslims and their amazing and often miraculous coming-to-faith stories. 

I think this book would be ideal for anyone who is preparing to become a missionary, whether abroad or in service in their own country.  The ideas presented would be easy to implement, are detailed but not constrictive and are biblically based.  In fact, the principles given in this book are useful to any Christian who wants to serve the community that they live in and reach others for Christ.  Although the book is focused on reaching Muslims, the approach that is explained would work for any people group.

The stories of Muslims who have become Christians were the most interesting part of the book for me.  I was surprised and amazed at the numbers and the research presented, but the personal stories of miracles and redemption were my favorite part of this book.  Weaving them into the explanation of the approach of Disciple Making Movements was a very engaging way to write this book and allowed personal examples to illustrate the points that were being made.

I Am Second by Bender and Sterrett

I have to admit, it was the cover that drew me in first.  Clean, crisp white with just a boxy armchair and an intriguing title.  But once I read the snippet about the book, I knew I wanted to read it.  Bender and Sterrett bring twenty stories to life, complete with photos and QR codes which link to videos on the I Am Second website.  This book is a twenty-first century experience, multimedia, raw and real.

Each story was personal and honest, sometimes brutally so.  From famous athletes to former drug addicts, wealthy businessmen to reality tv show participants, the stories have a wide variety of components but one core message.  Jesus first, me second.  For every story in the book, there are links to one or more other stories just like it.  I did not take the time to explore the website, but it looks incredible at a quick glance.

I enjoyed this book, but more than that, I felt my faith was strengthened by it.  I believe the church is built up when we share our stories of meeting Christ and that is what this book is about.  It's not pretty or neat and it doesn't fit into the typical Christian box.  But it's real and I appreciated that.  I think others, Christians and nonChristians alike will appreciate it too.

This Thing of Ours by Cammy Franzese

With a subtitle like "How Faith Saved My Mafia Marriage", it was hard to resist this book.  Cammy Franzese writes a fascinating memoir about her marriage to a former Mobster, Michael Franzese and details how they met, fell in love and married.  She writes of the struggles and triumphs of enduring over eight years of Michael's incarceration and his parting of ways with the Mafia while raising their four children.

I always enjoy memoirs, and this book was no exception.  Franzese did a good job of sharing both the positives and negatives of her life story.  I appreciated her acknowledgement that much of what she dealt with in life was due to consequences of choices made by both her and her husband.  Many people seem unwilling to accept that some hardships are the results of decisions made, not just bad luck or random circumstances.  Cammy Franzese does not waffle about taking responsibility, and I can respect that.

I thought the book was a bit light, but it made for an easy read.  Transparent and honest, it told the story well, even if some parts were a bit vague.  I was encouraged by the main story line, which is that God can change and use anyone; our past is not always an indicator of our future.  God is in the business of changing people and this is one of those stories.  Overall, it was a pretty good book.

The Encounter by Stephen Arterburn

I chose this book because I've read at least one nonfiction book of Arterburn's and I am familiar with his name and story from attending Women of Faith events.  I was excited to read a fictional story by him, figuring that his life story and ministry would enrich any kind of tale he might tell.

The Encounter tells the story of a man so burdened by his past that he is compelled to go in search of the answers to questions that have tormented him his entire life.  The setting is rich in detail, set in Alaska in the wintertime and the characters possess the range of emotions that I would expect from Arterburn.  The book was easy to read; in fact, I finished it in one sitting while on vacation.

This book was more like a short story, or an inspirational read in a magazine like Guideposts.  It was short, but sweet.  Although it wasn't too "fluffy", it lacked the depth and detail that a longer novel could have developed and I was a bit disappointed by that.  Given Arterburn's history and other books, I expected richer character development and plot.  However, the book was still a good story and a good light read for my vacation. 

One Call Away by Brenda Warner

I am a sucker for memoirs.  I am always quick to pick up a book with "memoir" in the subtitle.  And while I'm not a big football fan, I was interested in reading this memoir by Brenda Warner (wife of NFL star quarterback Kurt Warner). 

Multi-faceted is really the best way to describe Brenda Warner.  She has had a wide range of life experiences which she tells in such a way that I could hardly put this book down.  From her loving childhood to her Marine career, from her experiences with a special-needs child and divorce to being a mom of seven children including twins and the wife of a famous athlete, Brenda weaves her story in a light-hearted and honest way.  The pages of snapshots in the middle were numerous and great to look at. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  I found the author to be very relatable and interesting, and the book was well-written.  I laughed out loud several times and I felt like she did a good job of not taking herself too seriously.  While I didn't find my life changed in any way, I was entertained and touched by her forthright portrayal of her life and experiences.

Love You More by Jennifer Grant

I am a sucker for memoirs.  I have an adopted son.  So I was quick to snap up the book Love You More:  The Divine Surprise of Adopting My Daughter by Jennifer Grant.

Grant weaves facts and information about adoption, particularly international adoption, with the personal journey of adopting her daughter, Mia, from Guatemala.  The book chronicles the couple's early history as they build their family and how they felt called to pursue adoption.  Details about the adoption process are provided, in the context of their experiences.  The story ends as Mia is settling into life as part of the family, woven in to the place the family has created for her.

I have to admit, that while this book was well written, it wasn't what I was expecting.  The majority of the book was about the adoption process and facts about adoption in general.  I am an adoptive mother, but I couldn't really identify with much.  This probably has more to do with the unusual circumstances of our kinship adoption than the book, but I was still a bit let down to not feel a connection the way I expected.  I also would have enjoyed hearing more about who Mia is and the process of fitting her into the family.  Most of the book covered the process of actually adopting her, not how she adjusted, which was something I was interested in.  I did enjoy and relate to Grant's stories of parenting and lessons learned as she raised babies and toddlers born close together.

While I found this a well-written and interesting book, it was not what I was expecting to read.  I enjoyed it, though, and would definitely pass it on, along with some caveats.

Thunder Dog by Hingson

It has been awhile since I've picked up a book about 9/11.  In fact, the only ones I've read have been novels and I found them to be unrealistic and overly sappy.  This book was a breath of fresh air.  Thunder Dog tells the remarkable true story of a man who cannot see and the dog who guides him out of the burning World Trade Center.

The author has never been one to let his impairment hold him back and so when he found himself in the towers on that September day, hard at work preparing for a meeting, he reacted as he always did.  He simply made a calm decision, trusted his guide dog and was fortunate to make it out of the towers alive.

My favorite part of this book was how the author jumped from the story of his descent down thousands of stairs to the story of his life and how being blind has only been a small part of who he is.  I am a sucker for memoirs and found this one to be candid and interesting.  I am not a dog lover by any means, but I found Roselle, the author's guide dog to be completely endearing. 

Overall, a quick and easy read and an interesting story about one man's survival of 9/11. 

A Place Called Blessing by Trent

I was intrigued by the idea of this book:  to take a nonfiction book about relationships and model the key principles in a work of fiction.  A Place Called Blessing:  Where Hurting Ends and Love Begins tells the story of a young man with a troubled past.  Josh has never been loved and as a result, he has never developed trust.  The child of uncaring parents, he ended up in the foster care system.  After a terrible tragedy and repeated rejection, he finds himself on his own at 18.  He meets a couple of people who change the trajectory of his life profoundly. 

Interwoven throughout the story are the key concepts of Trent's principle of biblical blessing.  I have not read the nonfiction book, The Blessing, so I was not sure exactly what I was looking for in the novel.  At the end of the book, Trent outlines the 5 key concepts of blessing and as I thought back through the story, I could clearly see them throughout the book.  The book also includes a great list of questions that one could work through independently or as a part of a book club or small group.

I enjoyed this book.  I like memoirs or novels that read like memoirs, and stories of people overcoming personal obstacles are some of my favorites.  It was a quick and easy read, yet gave me something to think about.  In some ways, I found it to be a bit too simplistic or maybe not quite believable.  However, the core principles are based on truth and this book does a nice job of laying them out in an enjoyable, readable fashion.