The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha

This book was totally awesome!  I loved reading it.  It contains some very short, some long blurbs discussing various 'awesome' things in life that just make you smile.  And many of them did make me smile.  It contains such gems as bakery air, finding money in an old coat, old dangerous playground equipment, sleeping in freshly laundered bedsheets, watching the Price is Right when you're home sick, and when cashiers open new check out lines at the grocery store, and of course many more.

It's a very easy read, easy to finish quickly, as I did.  It would also be very easy to read a little bit at a time, and you can always come back to it after a long time since you don't have to remember a story line or pick up where you left off, it's always a new topic.  It's just fun and uplifting.  I highly recommend it as a quick pick-me-up.  And I plan to get The Book of (Even More) Awesome soon!

Billy Graham in Quotes by Franklin Graham

This is an interesting book.  It is a great compilation of quotes from an amazing man of God.  The book is divided into 107 topics, such as The Blood, End Times, Eternity, Jesus, Greed, Heaven and Hell, Peace, Suffering, Surrender and more.  It is laid out really well, all topics are in alphabetical order, making it very easy to find a quote on a particular area of interest.  The forward, by Franklin Graham, and the introduction, by Billy Graham himself, are a great way to start in, giving a bit of background on how he teaches and why he uses the Bible as his ultimate authority.

As a book to sit down and read, it was difficult.  Besides the forward and introduction there are no paragraphs to further discuss any of the quotes.  It is quite simply the topic, a verse related to it, and then the quotes.  It's a relatively quick read because everything is in short little blurbs, but just something different than reading your regular book.  To me it feels more like a handy tool than a book to curl up with a read straight through.

Many of the quotes were very moving and inspirational to me.  I think Billy Graham is an incredible man with great insight into tough topics and questions people have.  I'm glad I own this book and can refer back to it when I need just the right quote for something, or even to boost my spirits or give me extra umph in my Spiritual journey.  Overall it's a very good book showcasing a very devoted follower of Jesus, a model to us all.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

I'm just going to come right out and say it, my review of this book is not positive.  And I think it's the first time I feel bad about giving a less than stellar review because my cousin recommended it to me and she loved it, and so I guess I feel guilty for not enjoying it.

Having said that, I don't know what it was exactly that didn't grab my interest.  It wasn't that I vehemently hated the book, it just was rather boring to me.  I didn't like the writing style, with some strange (though I admit, still correct) grammar, especially in the long descriptive paragraphs.  Which is another thing I couldn't get into, the descriptions that seemed to go on and on that just didn't have anything to do with plot or characters.  I know all books have description that's just added fluff, but something about the way this author wrote was, to me, very tedious and unnecessary.

The story itself was very sad and I did find myself wanting to find out what happened in the end, though that, too, was disappointing.  And there was no exciting sub-plot or a character that I absolutely hated or loved.  I just couldn't get into it, plain and simple.  Sorry Allison!

The Peacemakers by Jack Cavanaugh

As I anticipated, the most recent book I read in the American Family Portrait Series (as showcased here) was not as good at the first 6.  And I just found out there's one more, but the jacket blurb sounds better than this one.  The setting for The Peacemakers is the 1960's, the assassination of Bobby Kennedy, the war in Vietnam and the protests in America over it's involvement in that war.  It is a time of hippies and free love and peace protests, not a particular point in history that overly excites me.  Still, the writing is good, and despite my lack of interest in the 60's, the author still kept my interest.  The characters are intriguing and likeable, even though I don't like their lifestyles and choices (protests of any kind tend to disgust me).  I could go into more detail about this book, but I'll just leave it at that and hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on the final book, The Guardians, soon.