“You keep doing that. You keep choosing to read books you know you’ll disagree with.” Look, it’s a valid point. I won’t pretend it’s not. But unlike the not-so-subtle implication of the accusation, I really don’t go looking for books to spend hours reading so I can then say how much I didn’t like Continue Reading
Book Reviews
Strike the Mark: Was It a Total Win or Epic Fail
Maybe it’s because it’s a spiritual discipline that I never felt like I developed well. Or, perhaps it’s just because I’m older and, prayerfully more mature. Whatever the reason making prayer a bigger part of my spiritual life became a huge priority in the past few years. I suspect, however, the Continue Reading
What Is This Fabulous Fitness Program for Perfect Curves?
Christmas 1982. The Esplanade—Oxnard, California. The store sold nothing but mugs, and I read every one of them. I bought one for a friend that showed a hippo, a flying bird, and two sheep. Cracked up all the way home on that one (hippo, birdie, two ewes). But then there was this other one. I Continue Reading
The Hardest Thing about This Book and Why I Love It
The diagnosis came. Cancer. Of all the people I knew, she was the last I would have expected to get cancer. She was healthy, active, careful with everything she ate. But years before, in the seventies and eighties, she’d spent way too much time in the sun—before people knew that was a Continue Reading
Is True Love Overrated in the Fiction Genre?
Is True Love Overrated in the Fiction Genre? Sometimes, it really feels like it. I'm just sayin'. You read posts and listen to conversations and all of a sudden, that priest guy in The Princess Bride fills your mind and all you can hear is "Wuv... twue wuv..." Gag. But here's the thing. God Continue Reading
The Best Tips on How to Select YA for Your Teen
I’ve said it before. As a kid, I read everything—from total junk to great stuff. And for a while there, that included stuff from the extensive YA section of the library. From coming of age angst to confusion on relationships, to figuring out just what was true and wasn’t, and a host of bizarreness Continue Reading
Is This Author Really Worth the Hype?
“Have you read this book?” The question is asked with the confidence that the answer would be in the affirmative. I mean, anyone with any sense has read it, right? All it takes is a shake of my head for the reaction. “What?!” Suspicion furrows a brow and narrows eyes. Lips purse. Then Continue Reading
4 Purposeful Ways You Can Change Your Life
As I said in my newsletter a week or two ago, I’ve been listening to Emily P. Freeman’s, The Next Right Thing podcast recently. Woven through the words she shares each Tuesday, one thread stands out strong, courageous, and a little audacious in our modern, “go, go, go—do, do, do” society. As she Continue Reading
Should You Really Judge This Book by Its Cover?
It had an outdoor checkerboard with autumn trees in the background—a skyscraper. I paid a lot of money for that photo—clueless that it was a picture of Central Park in New York City. Oops. In the place of an O in the title, I used a checker piece. I thought I was so clever. Look, I Continue Reading
Why this Book Will Be Worth Your Time and Money
Brown paper bags with a big blue prize ribbon on them. It said “Stater Bros” in the middle of that blue ribbon. Our preferred grocery store. Well, and the only one actually in Yucca Valley, California in 1984. We lived in Landers about twenty miles away—at the end of Dusty Mile Road. No, Continue Reading
Just Who Is The True Apple of This Governess’s Eye?
Sarah E. Ladd. I’d never heard of her. I know, I know. Shoot me now. Do you know how many awesome Christian fiction authors there are out there? I can’t know them all. Kind of wish I could, though. Wouldn’t that be cool? Still, I promised myself I’d try out new authors this year—books that Continue Reading
Why You Need To Let Go of All the Baggage in Your Life
It doesn’t happen often, and maybe that’s a good thing. After all, if every time you picked up a book and read half a dozen pages—if every time that happened you just knew your life would never be the same—you’d have to stop reading. Our lives can’t shift that often or drastically without causing Continue Reading
