Reggie by Reggie Dabbs with John Driver

Reggie is an autobiography and inspirational book in one.  The author is a motivational speaker in high schools all around the world and in this book he shares a lot of what he speaks to those kids.  He shares funny anecdotes, childhood memories, narrates Bible stories in a modern way and includes questions at the end of each chapter, some simple, some pretty deep.

I found the very beginning of the book to be a little bit arrogant.  He talks a number of times about how many kids he speaks to, how he's invited all over the world, and proclaims how he is considered one of the most popular public school and motivational speakers in the world.  After that I found it hard to continue, but I had to, partly because I don't like leaving a book unfinished, and partly because I received this book free from BookSneeze to review.

A lot of the book is filled with analogies, so much that I found it sometimes hard to follow and to remember what he was even talking about.  I also thought he was maybe a bit crude in some instances, though you can tell he is gearing his book mostly towards teenagers and young adults, so then those kinds of references are forgivable.  I also did not like how he used the story of creation to state that since God didn't make His usual "It was good" comment after what He created on Tuesday (or the second day of creation) to say that a "Tuesday" in your life is a time when it's difficult to see the good, implying God had difficulty seeing the good in part of His creation.  Seemed like a bit of a stretch.

The saving grace of this book was his modern takes on Bible stories as well as the entire last two chapters of the book.  For as much as I was lost amid the analogies and motivational-type writing throughout most of it, I was enthralled with his renditions of well-known stories from 'his favourite book,' as he calls the Bible.  As well, the last chapter in particular focuses on how important a father is in every person's life, and he explains very well how God is our Daddy.  He breaks down what people today think of the concept of how God is our Father, and revamps it to better suit the Biblical Heavenly Father.  He also gives a couple powerful examples of God working amazingly through the lives of mere humans.

This book is probably very well suited to high schoolers, or even adults, who feel lost, trapped by their past and worried about their future.  It gives hope through God and he explains the plan of salvation well.

Thr3e by Ted Dekker

I just finished my second Ted Dekker book.  I was not a fan of the first one of his I read, called Skin, but I've heard so much good about his books that I decided to give him another try.

This book is about a man, Kevin Parson, who receives a bomb threat and is forced to confess a secret sin or it will blow up.  When he doesn't confess and his car blows up, things become hot.  His past is dredged up and he remembers things he wishes he could forget.  The madman begins playing a game with Kevin, getting him to solve riddles before another bomb blows.

Most of the book was great, a good page turner, but once again I was really disappointed byt the very strange ending.  I don't necessarily feel that all endings have to be happy and work out perfectly, but this was too bizarre.  So my impression of this author is that he goes for the weird stuff.  I can't see him ever being one of my favourite authors, but I may try reading some of his stuff again.  Like I said, for the most part, the book kept my attention and was entertaining.

Max on Life by Max Lucado

I'm super excited to have received my first free book in the mail from BookSneeze!  And it was a good one!

The book, Max on Life, is filled with questions author Max Lucado has received over the years, on a number of broad topics, and him answering them.  The topics included are Hope (God, Grace, and "Why am I here?"), Hurt (Conflicts, Calamaties, and "Why me?"), Help (Prayer, Scripture, and "Why church?"), Him/Her (Sex, Romance, and "Any chance of a second chance?"), Home (Diapers, Disagreements, and "Any hope for prodigals?"), Haves/Have-Nots (Work, Money, and "Where's the lifeline?"), and Hereafter (Cemeteries, Heaven, Hell, and "Who goes where?").  Each answer is about a page in length.

I thought Lucado's answers were incredible!  I found myself saying 'Wow!' out loud numerous times and dog-earring many pages.  He answers all questions while teaching Biblical truths, he is compassionate in his answers, and adds some humour too.  A very apparent theme is hope.  While he chastises sin, he always ends his answer with encouragement of God's love and the hope we have in Christ.  I learned new ways to look at things and had many of my own questions answered.  As well, some of my currently held beliefs were confirmed in his writing.  I particularly liked his answers on prayer, as this is dear to me and I struggle with a consistent prayer life.  But even the topics that don't pertain to my life were interesting to read and provided ideas on how to help others with these particular questions.

I did find a few answers that never got to the crux of the issue, but still, Lucado leads the reader to seek God, and in these cases he has generalized, out of necessity, to incorporate more than just a very specific question.

This is a fantastic book for people in all walks of life.  Despite the heavy content, it is a quick easy read, and I know I will be reading it multiple times, and even going back to look at things here and there as they arise.  The entire book is filled with encouragement and answers to many difficult but common questions.  I give it five stars.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

When I heard all the buzz on facebook about this book, I just had to pick it up and read it for myself .  And I had watched a preview for the movie based on this book and wanted to see it, but I always like to read the book first.  So when I went to the library to ask if they had 'Water for Elephants,' the librarian looked at me blankly for a split second, then said, "I'm guessing that's the title of a book."  Yes, I wasn't actually asking if you had water for elephants!

The basic premise of the book is a young man, Jacob Jankowski, living in the 1930's who runs away from his life when his parents are killed in a car accident and their farm is repossessed.  He was literally just about to write his final exams at an ivy league school to become a veterinarian when he gets the news of their deaths.  In desperation to escape his new reality, he jumps a train which he quickly finds out is part of the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth and he ends up becoming their vet, working in the menagerie with lions and other large cats, monkeys, zebras, giraffes, horses and an elephant.  What follows is kind of a coming-of-age story, where young, innocent Jacob is thrust into a lifestyle that includes seediness, brash and immoral living, and cruelty to animals and humans, and he is forced to make very difficult life and death decisions for love and friendship.  The author, Sara Gruen, obviously did her research, and included many aspects of circus life at the start of the Great Depression.  I found a lot of it really interesting and scary and quite sad, like the ring master withholding pay from the roustabouts (labourers) for months on end, men being redlighted (thrown from a moving train, often while passing over a bridge, to get rid of unwanted mouths to feed), lewd sideshow acts just for 'red blooded American men,' and of course a head honcho that cared only for profit, not for his animals, and even less for his people.  The whole book being about circus people really isn't as cheesy as you might think.

However, the first chapter I read of this book made me a little cautious in continuing.  I do not like reading fiction books written in the present tense.  It really bothers me.  In addition there is some crude language and taking God's name in vain, which I hate reading.  In my mind, I try to skip over it, but you still see it in black and white in front of you.  The same goes for overly graphic sexual scenes, of which there are at least three in this book.  In my mind, those things are completely unnecessary and the author could still make her point without being so explicit.

This novel was definitely intriguing and contained enough to keep me reading.  But I can't quite pinpoint what made it so interesting.  There's not a lot of suspense but I did find myself really rooting for Jacob and wanting to know how his life turned out (as the actual novel is flashbacks of a 93 year old man reliving his early circus days, so we know he lives a long time).  I was especially captivated in the last 100 pages or so.

So with my mixed feelings about it, I can't decide whether I'd recommend it or not.  It definitely kept me hooked, as I finished all 331 pages in 4 days (fairly good considering my busy week with the kids), and was quite an entertaining read.  And yet the faults were such that they quite turned me off.  So based on my very short review here, I'll leave it up to you.

Bringing Up Girls by Dr. James Dobson

I am very disappointed to have to say I was not overly impressed with this book.  I think very highly of Dr. Dobson, who wrote it, and it is still an interesting read.  However, the subtitle, which states "Practical advice and encouragement for those shaping the next generation of women" is not a good summary of the book.  It contains chapter after chapter of how the world is corrupt and pop culture is ruining our kids (especially girls) and the teen sex rate is high, as is drug use, puberty is happening earlier, bullying by girls is on the rise, as is sexual assault, and more and more girls are cutting.  It's very disturbing and very hard to read.  I found there is actually very little practical advice.

The advice that is included is largely for fathers.  I completely agree with Dobson that daddy's are so very important to little girls, as there have been studies proving girls that have good relationships with their dads are less likely to engage in early/pre-marital sexual activity, less likely to do drugs, more likely to make it through their teen years happy and unscathed.  It was all really great advice...for dads.  There is a whole chapter of short proverbs like "Her mom will show her how to bake chocolate chip cookies.  You show her how to dunk them in milk."  "Remember, if you yell at a boy not to play with a wall socket, he'll either stomp off or do it anyway.  A girl will cry."  "Never laugh at her dreams." "Never forget that supportive fathers produce daughters with high self-esteem."  There are many, many more, and a lot of those can easily pertain to moms too.

I loved how Dobson talked about when girls reach puberty and a lot of fathers will start to pull away physically because they're just not sure how to hug that new womanly body or are too scared they'll touch a girl in a way that makes them uncomfortable.  He says girls need continued hugs from their dad, they will notice if you suddenly stop.  He calls when dads lean away from hugs the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  It's incredibly hurtful to a girl going through major hormonal changes.

He also states an incredibly interesting fact about girls reaching puberty earlier than decades ago.  Again it's been proven that 'daddy's girls' physically mature later (which is a good thing).  In response to a question about why, he says, "We now know from recent findings that fathers emit chemical signals that inhibit menarche [the first period] and delay the onset of sexual maturity.  These emissions are called pheromones, which are hormones detected through the sense of smell, although neither girls nor their dads are aware of them.  When fathers are absent or uninvolved and the pheromones are not emitted, menarche occurs earlier.  Interesting, huh?  This is just one of the reasons I wrote earlier that girls need their dads as much as boys do.  They unwittingly "engineer" the timing of their daughters' maturation!"
Isn't that incredible?  That blows my mind!  And after reading that to my husband, he promptly went to the kids to, in his words, 'give them a good dose of his pheromones!'

As I stated, there is some really great advice, but the majority of the book is facts and studies.  In the last chapter he lists four components he believes are our primary tasks as parents: 1) Talk to your children about the Lord and His mercies continually [as Moses commanded in Deuteronomy 6:6-9 'These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the doorframe of your houses and on your gates.']  2) Begin teaching your children to pray as early as possible.  3)If you want your children to be guided morally when they are beyond your reach and after they are grown, you should begin teaching favourite passages [of Scripture] to them when they are young.  4) "Pray without ceasing" for them (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

This is heartening because I work at doing all those things.  I'm no where near perfect but if Dobson is to be trusted, and I think so, I have a good start.  Now if I can just get my husband to read the book...

A Royal Mess

As I said at the outset of starting this blog, I don't think it will be solely book reviews, but I don't think I'll be including anything personal here.  I do want to branch out a bit to include other subjects and topics of interest to me.  Right now I'm seeing it as kind of a place to state my opinion on things that get me worked up, either in a good way or a bad way.

Yesterday I came across something that got me quite worked up.  I just recently became interested in the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton.  I used to be quite interested in the British Royal family, mostly because my mom is.  I even had a crush on Prince William when I was a teenager.  And I knew they'd gotten engaged last fall and thought it was great, but didn't delve into it further.

Until yesterday.  For some reason I started searching out information about them, watching some interviews with them, reading a little about their wedding plans.  As everyone says, it's so 'fairytale.'  She is a commoner, and it's every little girl's dream to marry a prince, so I just find their story very quaint and it almost makes me giddy for her.  But after following some links I found this video. It disgusted me and made me so angry!  I have no idea who to get angry at, but it makes me sick that she has to be the target of so much hate because she's marrying a prince or even just because she's in the public eye.  Whoever made this short video found every picture of her taken at the worst moments to vilify her.  They used pictures taken mid-blink and stated she's a drunk and a party girl.  They took pictures of her getting out of cars wearing a skirt and zoomed in on her private area, I'm assuming to show that she's raunchy, though you can't see anything, and it does happen to be extremely difficult to get out of a low vehicle while wearing a skirt and still seem ladylike!  The video just smacked of immaturity and lack of facts.  Poor Kate.

Like I said I just began to be interested and read stuff about them, so I don't know if she really is a party girl, or if she has bad work ethic as some people are viciously plastering all over.  I don't know if she will devote herself to humanitarian work like Princess Diana, but it seems cruel to constantly be comparing her to her husband's late mother.  I like to imagine their marriage will last, but I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't; who could be exposed to those kinds of attacks on a constant basis and not have it affect them?

I've learned that when I peruse the internet and read opinion columns/blogs or comments on news stories  it gets me highly worked up; maybe irrationally so.  And yet I seem to find things like this everywhere.  Is humanity as a whole just getting nastier to each other?  Or are we seeing it more because public forums and technology are growing?  Maybe a combination of both.  Either way, things like this make me sad for famous people.  Some of them choose to be famous (though still don't deserve some of the treatment they get) but someone like Kate Middleton, for example, just happened to fall in love with a prince.

Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges

This was a good, short, easy read.  And at the same time it was very convicting.  The subtitle basically describes the book to a 'T': Confronting the Sins we Tolerate.  The author, Jerry Bridges, includes the sins of ungodliness, anxiety and frustration, discontentment, unthankfulness, pride, selfishness, lack of self-control, impatience & irritability, anger, the weeds of anger, judgementalism, envy & jealousy, sins of the tongue (gossip, etc) and worldliness.  The purpose of the book, as I saw it, is to bring to light these sins that are 'better' in today's society than, say, murder, adultery, or theft.  Popular secular, and even Christian, culture says it's more acceptable to gossip than to embezzle.  You're not really that bad if you judge, as long as you don't commit rape.  But he gives solid biblical evidence that sin is sin.  To God, no matter what sin we commit, we are breaking His law and this greatly grieves Him.  As evangelical Christians we should not tolerate sin of any kind.


Throughout the book Bridges uses many Scriptures to back up his lessons.  He is very thorough.   He's not at all 'fire-and-brimstone' in his teaching.  He shows how these sins can creep into our life and we often don't even notice a lot of them, but gives such reassurance that God will point these hidden sins out to us if we ask and He is so ready to pour out His grace on us.  


I didn't agree with everything Bridges says, but those instances were all what I consider minor differences so I chose not to get worked up about that and I continued reading until the end of the book. He definitely seems to be genuine about his faith.  He gives examples from his own life and states numerous times that he himself is far from perfect, and he makes it clear he is not writing this book to judge or to place blame on everyone else, but includes himself among the guilty.


The writing style was not my preference, as it seemed he must have written it with a thesaurus by his side, and at times I felt he reiterated the same fact more than once in a chapter, but there were too many good tidbits inside to let that stop me.  I would recommend this book to people who are concerned about their 'subtle' sins, but really any Christian should read it. It is a real eye-opener.

The Shack by William P. Young

Two and a half years ago, I read The Shack (William P. Young). It was really not my cup of tea. It's not the type of book I usually read, and I had a very hard time getting through it. It's a book not completely based in reality or necessarily in Scripture. It's supposed to be spiritual, and it is, but it's also fantastical and almost sacreligious to me.

And though I'm fairly unimpressed with this book, there have been moments of redemption. Like what I read about priorities. The main character is asking a question of the Godhead, who is a big black woman named Papa (God), a jovial man (Jesus), and an Asian woman/fog (The Holy Spirit). He wonders about God wanting us to live with Him as our top priority; God first, then so and so, then such and such. The "Holy Spirit's" answer intrigued me:

"If you put God at the top [of your priorities], what does that really mean and how much is enough? How much time do you give me before you can go on about the rest of your day, the part that interests you so much more?"

Then Papa jumps in: "You see...I don't just want a piece of you and a piece of your life. Even if you were able, which you are not, to give me the biggest piece, that is not what I want. I want all of you and all of every part of you and your day."

And Jesus adds: "I don't want to be first among a list of values; I want to be at the centre of everything. When I live in you, then together we can live through everything that happens to you. Rather than a pyramid, I want to be the center of a mobile, where everything in your life--your friends, family, occupation, thoughts, activities--is connected to me but moves with the wind, in and out and back and forth, in an incredible dance of being."

These few paragraphs really spoke to me. Especially since I often struggle with putting Satan behind me, not giving in to his temptations, to spend time with my Lord. I also often feel awkward when, after reading the Bible and spending some time in prayer, I just stop. I feel like I'm being rude to God to just say Amen, and then go on about the rest of my day. I don't know how to transition. This spoke to me that you shouldn't transition. God is still with us, following us around the house as we do our daily tasks, feed the kids, visit with friends, and everything else we squeeze into our waking hours. I can just continue on my conversation with him, even though I'm no longer sitting in peace and quiet. I truly want God at the centre of my life, rather than just giving him a piece at the top. I have yet to fully comprehend what exactly that means, how it will look as I live it out. But that is the joy of journeying to know Christ better, it will become clearer as I grow closer to Him. God wants to show me, and He and I will enjoy this journey together.

The Title

I have a decision to make, the most important at the outset of a blog: the title.  I'm not good with titles.  I usually have an easy time coming up with content but titles stump me.  So I enlisted the help of my husband.  And now I need your help to decide which of the following two should be the winner.

My husband came up with Scribed, among others, and I really like it.  A scribe in ancient times was usually a person who copied text but in this case I would use the more modern meaning which includes various forms of writing, or anyone who writes.  I like that it has a more ancient feel to it and lends itself perfectly to using great looking ancient books as a header picture.

In some more searching I also came up with Maven, which is a Yiddish word meaning accumulator of knowledge.  I love the word itself, I like that it's a foreign word and I think the definition suits this particular blog perfectly, as I'm starting this up mainly as a book review blog,  but also to impart tidbits I learn from life in general as I'm living it.

Which title, Scribed or Maven, would you choose and why?