Beyond all comparison

"For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 

"For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison."

2 Corinthians 4:11, 17

Eighth Shepherd by Thoene

This is the eighth book in the A.D. Chronicles series by Brock & Bodie
Thoene. It's the story of Zacchaeus told from the viewpoints of
Zacchaeus (Zachai) and a woman who was healed of leprosy and works in
Zacchai's fig grove. It is an interesting, well-written story as all
the Thoene books are.

It's All About Him by Denise Jackson

It's All About Him: Finding the Love of My Life is the story of the marriage of Country singer Alan Jackson and his wife Denise. She tells how she was a weak, needy person, completely dependent on Alan's strong personality for any feeling of self-worth. After about 18 years, he left her. She tells how her relationship with God grew until she realized that it was all about Him, not Alan and not her. After a number of months, they got back together, got counseling, made changes, and came through on the other side stronger and more in love. I thought this was a great book and would highly recommend it.

The Island of Dr. Moreau, War of the Worlds

I love reading classics. These two books by H. G. Wells are science fiction from the 1890s. In The Island of Dr. Moreau, Dr. Moreau lives on a tiny Polynesian island and does surgery on animals trying to make them into humans with, as might be expected, rather horrible results. In the end, they kill Dr. Moreau, his assistant, and most of themselves.

In War of the Worlds, Martians invade the earth (they land near London) and kill many p eople. Everyone panics because guns and bombs don't work against them. Eventually, the Martians succumb to bacterial infections and everyone who's still alive celebrates and goes home again. I enjoyed reading these two books but wouldn't want a steady diet of this kind of stuff.

The Seeing Stone, Crossing Places, 100 Ways

Arthur: The Seeing Stone by Kevin Crossley-Holland

I had read Gatty's Tale by the same author so I was interested in more. This story is really about life in the middle ages and includes many of the legends of King Arthur. It is the story of a boy named Arthur and a man called Merlin who gives him a magic stone in which he can see things happening.

Arthur at the Crossing Places by Kevin Crossley-Holland, the second book in a series of three.

More about Arthur, what he sees in his stone, his desire to become a knight one day and the girls he likes. These books have a great deal of interesting details about life in those days.

100 Ways to Simplify Your Life by Joyce Meyer

This might be a good book for some people, but it sure didn't do anything for me.

Abomination and Lonestar Sanctuary

by Colleen Coble

This one was about a woman being stalked by a serial killer who leaves the bodies at geocaching sites. It was a good book, not too scary (too scary for me would be Frank Peretti's latest ones. I stopped reading his books after The Visitation; they kept getting scarier), but still moved at a good pace. I was a little disappointed that I didn't even have a clue who the real killer was. Isn't the author supposed to give you at least a clue? I guessed the totally wrong people. Recommended.

Another story about a woman being stalked by a killer, but the setting was completely different. This one was not scary at all (for me, anyway), I really enjoyed it. It was much more romantic than Abomination. Oh, and I had a pretty good idea who the killer was this time.

Final Justice, Gardening Weekends, Blink, Unbridled Dreams

Final Justice by Marta Perry was the sequel to my last blog post. It
was much the same and the story ended happily ever after. Good for
light reading if you're trying to rest your brain. Which was what I
wanted.

Better Homes & Gardens Gardening Weekends was not really what I was looking for. I was hoping for inspiring pictures and this book had lots of pictures and lots of words, most of which I didn't read, and did not inspire me in the least.

I loved Ted Dekker's book, Blink. It was fast-paced with police chases and stuff and definitely not a brain-rest book. It also goes into what a Muslim woman/wife's life is like. One theme through the book was the question of God's existence and the arguments on both sides were interesting, but kind of assume that God thinks like a human — which He does not! (Isaiah 55:8) I highly recommend this book. My husband (who does not read much fiction) is really enjoying it too.

Unbridled Dreams by Stephanie Grace Whitson is set in the 1800's and is about a girl whose mother wants her to be an accomplished lady but she wants to be a trick rider in a cowboy show. Secrets come out and they find that their dreams aren't quite as opposite as they seemed. This was a nice story and I've passed the book along to my mother; I think she would like this one.