Book Review: The Daniel Prayer

The journal I purchased for this year (sadly, I'm not doing well at all in keeping it up), has a wonderful feature in the back with a year-long Bible reading plan. It works through the entire Bible in the space of a year, so the portions of daily reading are never too overwhelming, but significant enough to glean something each day. Moreover, after stumbling upon the Sweet Blessings website, I have taken to writing out Scripture using her monthly plans (although, if July's topic doesn't suit me, I might simply find verses I wish to cement in my brain).

Like my intentions to better journal my days, my intentions for prayer have gone by the wayside, as well. When I used to walk along the high school track, I would spend the time praying. But now that I walk on the treadmill more frequently and listen to books on CD instead of praying, I have found that my prayer life has suffered. Sure, I pray throughout the day for various things and offer up instant thanks when He answers frantic petitions (like when I left my cell phone in a shopping cart at the store a few weeks ago and thanked Him repeatedly when it was found still in the cart), but I'm sorely lacking in concentrated prayer time.

Anne Graham Lotz, daughter to evangelist Billy Graham, writes in The Daniel Prayer: Prayer That Moves Heaven and Changes Nations about the importance of concentrated, intentional prayer time. Following the life and prayers of Daniel, the author recommends diligent, fervent prayer for our lives and our nation. We cannot afford to be lackluster in our prayer life and God is waiting for us to step up to the plate and petition Him boldly on behalf of our nation.

As the inside cover proclaims, "The Daniel Prayer is not an everyday type of prayer. It's a prayer birthed under pressure. Heartache. Grief. Desperation. Or it can be triggered by a sudden revelation of hope. And answer to prayer. A promise freshly received. A miracle that lies just over the horizon. But whether you pray out of triumph or tragedy, The Daniel Prayer works!"

This book is a call to repentance and a plea for revival. Lotz doesn't mince words when she addresses the ills of our present national crisis spiritually. But, she doesn't dwell on despair either. She focuses her energies on the powerful, living God as the answer to every problem in our lives and in our world. She speaks Scripture boldly: "Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing." (Joel 2:13-14)

If you feel a growing sense of disillusionment with our society and our governmental structure, if you crave a deeper prayer life, if you wish to bend the Lord's ear in a mighty and powerful way, you cannot go wrong by starting with this book and following it up with dedication to spend time in the Lord's Word and in communication with your Maker. You will not regret the time spent in these pages for they will inspire you to take action. Truly, "the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." (James 5:16 - KJV)

Book Review: The Letter from Penobscot Mills

From an early age, I knew that I wanted to be a writer. In my grade school years, I would sneak my journal out from under my pillow and creep to the dim light shining from the hallway beneath my closed bedroom door at night. There, lying on my stomach, I would compose poems and stories long after my bedtime. While my parents might not have lauded this disobedience, they certainly encouraged me to write. In addition, I was blessed with some good teachers who also stood on the sidelines, nurturing my enthusiasm and, perhaps, my abilities. One such teacher was my fourth grade teacher, Mr. Philip Bouchard. When I discovered recently that he had published his own novel, I was determined to not only read it, but also own an autographed copy.

The Letter from Penobscot Mills takes a fresh approach for a novel. It is written in nine short stories about the inhabitants of the small paper mill town, Penobscot Mills. These stories culminate in a final one that reveals the truth of the interwoven tales and solves the murder mystery. Bouchard has done an excellent job of weaving the details together, much like the pieces of a kaleidoscope merging together to create a colorful image. Each chapter provides snippets of varying perspectives. With excellent pacing, the conflict steadily intensifies. The villain is despicably evil and the reader cannot wait to see him brought to justice.

While the writing was very good, there were times when I might have put the book down if I hadn't known the author, but this was primarily because it wasn't quite as clean as the books I tend to pick up. Thus, I wouldn't recommend it to my Christian readers or my minister parents. Still, I have to say, apart from a few unsavory bits, it was a good read, full of suspense and intrigue. I wanted to know what really happened. I wish Mr. Bouchard the best of success with his endeavors and many satisfied readers for any future books he might write. Maybe one day, I'll be able to send him an autographed copy of one of my own novels. One day.

More Than Corn in Indiana

Indiana Beach's famous theme song says, "There's more than corn in Indiana, at Indiana Beach." Well, there's not a whole lot more than corn, but we still find ourselves going back year after year for old time's sake. Frankly, after you've been to Cedar Point, it is hard to get very worked up about a simple trip to the Indiana Beach Amusement Park. Moreover, the park just isn't what it once was. The boys are almost too big for the appeal of a family-friendly park (i.e., the rides are very basic and instead of improving, the park tends to decline year after year). It used to be run and manned by local folk and things were fairly inexpensive. While you can still pay to simply walk around the park (something we always appreciated in years when I was pregnant), lots of things have increased in price (you now have to pay $7 for a locker to store things for the water area, whereas it was always only 50 cents before).

The one thing in its favor, (which cannot really be a good thing, if you think about it) is that you don't have to fight off crowds. We went on a Wednesday and barely waited for a single ride. Plus, we do have a few things we like to do in a ritualistic way. For example, the boys always want to have money for the arcades and insist on spending some of it in the Ghouls Shooting Gallery:

They always beg to ride the Sky Coaster (even though it adds further expense):

We have a few favorite rides (The Falling Star, The Cornball Express, The Tig'rr, Double Shot, and The Steel Hawg). You can clearly see the lack of a line:

Plus, this year we rode the Shafer Queen around Lake Shafer:

The boys rode the one new ride (new as in it had never been there before, but old as in it still has the FireBall sign on one side, while Indiana Beach has named it ZeroG - must be some other amusement park's castoff). We pined away for the taste of a fruit smoothie (because they have removed that particular booth, along with the Noble Roman's pizza and the booth where we once purchased wire name sculptures - too many cherished memories deflated). We were still able to finish the day with a delicious elephant ear, so all was not lost.

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As of 2/19/20 Apex Parks announced Indiana Beach will be closed for good. Here's an ode to Indiana Beach and a few of our treasured memories.

Book Review: Brooklyn

The cover proudly proclaims "Now a Major Motion Picture" and the inside is filled with a list of awards the book has won: 1) Winner of the Costa Book Award; 2)A New York Times Editors' Choice; 3) One of Newsweek's Fifty Books for Our Times; 4) One of The Guardian's Fifty Books That Defined the Decade. That's quite a list. Then, the reader is assaulted with 37 endorsements comparing him to Henry James, Tolstoy, and Chekhov. Thus, when I opened to the first page, I was full to the brim with expectation for this book. While I did enjoy getting to know the main character (whose name gave me pause every time it was used because I couldn't quite get the hang of how it should be pronounced in my head), I don't think I would rate this book among top fifty lists. It was, indeed, moving and well-written. The characters felt like real, living people, caught in the intense dilemmas of life. Nonetheless, I ended the book with a sense of dissatisfaction.

Eilis Lacey is a young, Irish girl in a family struggling to survive after the loss of her father. Well, I think you're supposed to believe they are struggling, but some details feel contrary to that picture. Her older sister, Rose, plays golf with a golf club, and works in an office job. Her three brothers are off working in other parts of the country. It is only young Eilis who seems to be without a vocation. As the book opens, she is fetched to work for a cranky store owner named Miss Kelly. Thankfully, the heavens open and she is offered a chance to go to America to train as a bookkeeper there. For some reason, she cannot pass up this grand opportunity and leaves everything she knows to become a young foreigner in a distant land.

The story clearly paints the picture of discomfort immigrants face. Eilis is homesick and feels like an outsider in a whole different world than she has ever known. But Eilis is such a passive character as everything just seems to happen to her and she never really takes a decisive stand to make a place for herself. Just as she is finally gaining her bearings in the new country, she begins to fall in love with a young man, Tony. It is at this point that the tale picks up steam. Something dreadful happens at home that puts her in an awful dilemma. The final bits of the book follow her back to Ireland for a month-long visit that is excruciating.

The writing really did entrance, but I struggled with almost every decision the young girl made. Why did she feel she had to leave her family and go to America? Why did she allow things to progress so quickly with the boyfriend, when the reader is given every indication that she doesn't really feel a depth of devotion to him. She likes him, but it certainly doesn't feel like she overwhelmingly loves him. Why does she make a commitment to him before going home, when she knows full well that she will be drawn into a desire to remain in her homeland of Ireland? Why does she feel she cannot tell her mother about Tony? Why does she engage in a relationship with someone else while at home? I just found every aspect of her behavior to be mind-boggling. While I felt for her in her dilemma, it also seemed like she framed the dilemma with her own choices.

Moreover, the ending had me totally perplexed. I guess I assumed the author was leading the story in a particular direction and then that momentum was simply dropped and life went back to the way it was. I kept expecting to find some horrible information revealed in the unread letters from Tony. I thought she would feel the pull of her home country with more intensity. The allure of America didn't come through clearly for me. At best, she felt like a mismatched key. So, I ended the book with a great deal of dissatisfaction and confusion.

When I placed my name on the hold list for the book, I also placed my name on the list for the movie. It hasn't come up yet, but when it does, I will watch the movie. Hopefully, I won't be as dissatisfied with the movie as I was with the book. We shall see.

Book Review: The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper

This was a delightful debut novel. The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper is a story of a quest. On the quest, the main character grieves, changes, and grows. The reader gets to walk alongside on the journey. It had a similar feel to the novel, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (a big favorite of mine). While I still liked the Harold Fry novel better, this one delivered an interesting story full of self-discovery, hope, and redemption.

Arthur Pepper decides that the time has come to send his deceased wife's belongings to the charity shop. She has been gone for a year and he sets out to tackle the daunting task. Before he gets very far in his efforts, however, he comes across an unlikely piece of jewelry, a gold bracelet with eight little charms. His wife had always had simple tastes and Arthur doesn't remember ever seeing the bracelet before. When he discovers a phone number etched into the elephant charm, he places a call and begins a lengthy journey to sort out the past life his wife led prior to meeting him. His routines are disrupted, his identity questioned, and his life enriched by probing into the past.

I loved the cover, with its striking blue and small images representing India, Paris, and London. I liked the main character and enjoyed watching his growth. I appreciated the layered depth of the other characters, as well, as every individual Arthur encountered bore a unique story. The plot followed an easy pace and kept me turning pages. I would happily pick up another novel by Phaedra Patrick and hope she continues to write.

A Day's Excitement

Yesterday we woke to find a huge limb from one of our back-yard trees perched precariously on top of the back porch roof. Around 11 p.m., the night before, Trevor and John both had heard the sound of a great creaking and then a loud rumble that shook the house, but just assumed it was thunder from the storm. This was the view from our living room window:

And the view from both sides of the back yard:

John called a tree removal service and they came right out to assess the damage. They felt it needed immediate removal. We were able to watch from inside as they rigged ropes to support the place where the branch broke away from the tree. Then they began sawing off smaller limbs and lowering them down to workmen to carry to the chipper/shredder. I was hoping to watch to see how they managed to get down the largest part of the limb, but I took the boys to the final day of the high school pool's sessions. By the time we returned, they were leaving and the tree limb was completely gone.

We are fortunate that the damage was so minimal. If the branch had been higher above the roof, it might have required significant repairs. All in all, it provided a day's excitement and an interesting story to file for our summer.

Book Review: Cometh the Hour

When news of Jeffrey Archer's newest Clifton Chronicles book hit, I eagerly placed my name on the hold list. However, by the time my turn arrived, I had noticed that our library had, indeed, purchased an audio form of the book, so I decided to wait a while longer and return the book while placing my name on the audio holds list. There's something about listening to this story, complete with British accent, that really fires me up.

Cometh the Hour is the penultimate book in the Clifton Chronicle series. A series that I thought would be only five books, turned out to be seven. This sixth installment was true to Archer form, full of suspense and plenty of plot turns. The book begins with the reading of a suicide note, a key piece of evidence in a tense legal battle for Emma Clifton, and ends with a murder. In between these bookend events, the book focuses on a few riveting tales: two love stories for Sebastian Clifton, the woes and wiles of Lady Virginia, Harry Clifton's attempts to free Anatoly Babakov, and more sinister plotting against the Barrington establishment and Farthings Bank.

Despite the length of 13 hours, it was quite easy to remain riveted to the story line from day to day. I was struck again by the wicked, cunning, devious ways of man exemplified in so many of the characters in this novel series. I will be happy to see the series finally resolved, though. At times it feels like it is just being filled with fluff to keep the story going through seven books. I didn't understand the purpose of including the quick, tragic love story. Moreover, I found the precocious daughter to be over-the-top and unrealistic. Still, I have my questions pulling me along: What will come of Harry and Emma Clifton, of their son Sebastian and his daughter, Jessica? What will transpire to bring down Lady Virginia and all opposition to the Barrington ventures. Will Harry's father's remains be found and evidence produced to prove that Harry was not, in truth, Emma's own half-brother? And finally, will the series go out with a bang, the way so many of Jeffrey Archer's well-crafted tales do?