tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-340379412024-02-20T11:54:03.221-05:00Dark Parables - Reviews from a Christian SisterA blog about race, religion, reviews, ramblings and rantings.Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.comBlogger1226125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-3170305408299731222023-07-20T15:10:00.001-04:002023-07-20T15:10:54.623-04:00BOOK REVIEW: His Majesty's Airship: The Life and Tragic Death of the World's Largest Flying Machine<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81WsOk0gcHL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="527" height="800" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81WsOk0gcHL.jpg" width="527" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/His-Majestys-Airship-Largest-Machine/dp/1982168277/ref=asc_df_1982168277/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=632175769184&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7170413774221669509&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9004731&hvtargid=pla-1880225603443&psc=1" target="_blank">His Majesty's Airship: The Life and Tragic Death of
the World's Largest Flying Machine </a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">by S. C. Gwynne <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Publisher : Scribner (May 2, 2023)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Language : English<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Hardcover : 320 pages<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">ISBN-10 : 1982168277<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">ISBN-13 : 978-1982168278<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The history of mechanics, especially failed mechanisms,
can be intriguing or exhausting when written by an historian who researches
every nook, cranny, bolt, and screw. His Majesty’s Airship is written by such
an historian. Now, whether it is intriguing or exhausting depends on the mind
of the reader. Some readers might wonder why Gwynne would feel the necessity of
putting all – or nearly all-- his research into the book, while others
(especially those who are fascinated by how great egos, narcissism, obsessions,
imperialism, marketing skills and gullibility work together to create failure will
find the book exhaustive and intriguing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Through these pages, politicians, governmental
officials, and the general public are depicted as the self-blinded purveyors of
invention. Which, in its humanistic way, challenges the mystique we generally
have about the greatness of invention. The author, though not persistently or
intrusively humorous, shows his personality often. One pictures him shaking his
head here, rolling his eyes there, or holding his head in dismay at how humans –usually
those with a great deal of power, money, patriotism, and marketing skills—could
go about being so self-deceived about a system of machinery for so long that it
could lead to disaster.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The book is primarily a history of airships and national
pride. Throughout its pages we encounter one or another obsessive character who
has a glorious vision, who is great at self-promoting, and who – all evidence
to the contrary-- believes he can attain the impossible. A safe, powerful,
fast-moving airship. But all, all, are either building their vision upon faulty
information, bad and dangerous science, and airy visions. The author’s decision
to interweave the fatal last trip of R101 with backstory is fun and suspenseful
but also somewhat akin to fishing where the reader is lured in and ready to be
caught in the horrible disaster only to have the fisherman-historian loosen the
tension line. This was frustrating in the beginning but after a while, the
reader gets used to this narrative choice and pushes aside the need to see the
devastating flames. It will come when it comes, one thinks, and reads ahead
plunging into the next bit of backstory or side story.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">At first, the reader is regaled with the self-regaling
of these inventers—Zeppelin arguably being the worst, because it was upon his
lies that form much of the foundation of all this airship visioning. Then,
after a world wind and exhaustive tour of national imperialism from Germany, France,
the United States, the book focuses on Great Britain and the British
Commonwealth. It is here that we meet some of the major characters who will be the
focus of the disaster of His Majesty’s Airship R101, the world’s largest flying
machine. Lord Thomson, Ernest Johnstone, Captain Irwin, First Officer Atherstone,
Michael Rope, Herbert Scott, and Reginald Colmore. (Princess Marthe hardly
matters except as some distant vision of Thomson’s glory in the same way that
joining the British Commonwealth by air is a distant vision.) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reader looks on at these men with a
combination of pity, anger, commiseration, and exasperation. There’s a bit of “serves-these-privileged
guys right” attitude toward the arrogant (and drunk) who always get their way.
Yet at the same time one’s heart goes out to the sane, good, silenced people
who were on that doomed flight or who had live with the regret of having been
involved in the national delusion/debacle.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The book tells us something new. Certainly most people
have never learned this much about airships. But it also tells us what we
already know: Inventors and great men don’t always know best; they believe
their own lies, they often do great deeds because of envy, unfulfilled desire,
or insecurity. They have power to destroy the lives and careers of those who
are less powerful. They exist in all ages, honing their skill at
self-promotion. Their failures and rare successes change the world.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For better or worse, this book is exhaustively researched.
For better or worse, the author doesn’t tell the story in chronological order.
But for better or worse, it is a great book. Highly recommended.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-53136788986825852972018-11-16T13:08:00.000-05:002018-11-16T13:08:24.210-05:00Review: The Infographic Bible -- Visualizing the drama of God's word.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<h1 class="a-size-large a-spacing-none" id="title" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 21px !important; line-height: 1.3 !important; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span class="a-size-large" id="productTitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.3 !important; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">The Infographic Bible, Cloth over Board: Visualising the Drama of God's Word</span> <span class="a-size-medium a-color-secondary a-text-normal" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(85, 85, 85) !important; font-size: 17px !important; font-weight: 400 !important; line-height: 1.255 !important; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">Hardcover</span> <span class="a-size-medium a-color-secondary a-text-normal" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(85, 85, 85) !important; font-size: 17px !important; font-weight: 400 !important; line-height: 1.255 !important; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">– November 13, 2018</span></h1>
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<div class="a-section a-spacing-micro bylineHidden feature" data-cel-widget="bylineInfo" id="bylineInfo" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 6px;">
by <span class="author notFaded" data-width="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a class="a-link-normal" href="https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&text=Karen+Sawrey&search-alias=books&field-author=Karen+Sawrey&sort=relevancerank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066c0; text-decoration-line: none;">Karen Sawrey</a> <span class="contribution" spacing="none" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="a-color-secondary" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(85, 85, 85) !important;">(Author), </span></span></span><span class="author notFaded" data-width="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a class="a-link-normal" href="https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_2?ie=UTF8&text=Nicky+Gumbel&search-alias=books&field-author=Nicky+Gumbel&sort=relevancerank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066c0; text-decoration-line: none;">Nicky Gumbel</a> <span class="contribution" spacing="none" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="a-color-secondary" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(85, 85, 85) !important;">(Foreword)</span></span></span></div>
<br />
Hardcover: 224 pages<br />
Publisher: Zondervan (November 13, 2018)<br />
Language: English<br />
ISBN-10: 0310453984<br />
ISBN-13: 978-0310453987<br />
Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 0.9 x 11.3 inches<br />
<br />
<br />
This is a fun and informative book. If you want overviews of certain elements of Scripture, the graphics and charts in this book are super-helpful and creative. Want a quick glimpse, harmonization, comparison, doctrinal threads, or depiction of some Biblical list, group, or data, this book has most of them. Clean and Unclean Animals, for instance. Solomon's wealth. Parables of Jesus. Names of God. The Feasts. The Prophets. The Life of David. An assessment of topics in the psalms. They are here, and much more. They even have a chart on Promised children and God's intervention, so the book is pretty creative. The book pretty much (but not quite) goes through certain aspects of the Bible.<br />
<br />
It really is a good book but I really wonder if it wouldn't be more useful if the dimensions of the book was larger. Seriously, the print-size for this book makes it virtually useless for kids or for older folks with eyesight difficulties. I suppose a pastor with a good copy machine that enlarges copies could make use of this book to its fullest. But then again, there are the color choices. This is a full-color book, so the charts are colorful and the data of the charts are precise. But....But...Some of the colors chosen were plain wrong and they disappear when looked at under the wrong light. I have great eyesight but even I had to bend really close to see the pages. Not good for the back all that bending over.<br />
<br />
I gave the book to my hubby and said, "Okay, tell me what you think about this book?"<br />
His first response: "Well, i know i don't like the tiny type."<br />
<br />
So, while i would recommend this book...;I caution buyers to only buy it if their eyesight is good or if they have a good enlarging copy machine.<br />
<br />
I received this book free from the publisher.<br />
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Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-10342353325744805382018-09-21T15:03:00.000-04:002018-09-21T15:03:26.128-04:00Review: NKJV Spirit-filled Life Bible<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41JB7-0grqL._SX355_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="357" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41JB7-0grqL._SX355_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" width="228" /></a></div>
NKJV, Spirit-Filled Life Bible, Third Edition, Hardcover, Red Letter Edition, Comfort Print: Kingdom Equipping Through the Power of the Word Special Edition<br />
Jack W. Hayford, Exec Editor<br />
<br />
Hardcover: 2176 pages<br />
Publisher: Thomas Nelson; Special edition (September 4, 2018)<br />
Language: English<br />
ISBN-10: 0529100142<br />
ISBN-13: 978-0529100146<br />
Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 2 x 9.6 inches<br />
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<br />
Jack Hayford is one of the few charismatic Bible teachers whom I respect. He's intelligent and insightful without sounding like a pompous "ultra-spiritual" self-appointed preacher of new and deep hidden things. You know the types i mean. And Hayford doesn't have the humble brag tendencies that so many teachers, charismatic and otherwise, tend to have.<br />
<br />
This is a solid Bible. I wanted to review it because it's a Bible-study written from a spirit-filled perspective.<br />
<br />
The Table of Contents include the usual things one finds in Bibles, such things as:<br />
<br />
Introduction, Editors and Contributors, Bridging the Testaments, Charts, In-text Maps, Harmony of the Gospels, Concordance, etc.<br />
<br />
But it also includes such charismatic signposts such as<br />
Kingdom Dynamics with index<br />
Word Wealth with index<br />
Praying the Word with index<br />
Truth in Action with charts<br />
Dealing with Last Things -- The Rapture, Second Coming, and Millenium<br />
In Studying the Book of Revelation<br />
Holy Spirit Gifts and Power<br />
The Key to Suffering: Unlocking God's Glory<br />
Worshiping and Intercession: The Calling of All Believers<br />
Aflame with Passion for World Evangelism<br />
The Believer's Potential and Pathway for Ministering Healing to the Nations<br />
Understanding Messianic Jewish Ministries<br />
How to Lead Someone to Jesus<br />
<br />
The introduction of each book of the Bible is informative and gives information about the author, date, background, purpose, content, personal application of the book. The book also shows how Christ is revealed, how the holy spirit works in the book, and how the book compares with other books. Each book ends with a chart called Truth in Action which shows the truth the book teaches and how the reader can turn that truth into action. Throughout the books, there are insets of Kingdom Dynamics and Word Wealth. Word Wealth shows the deeper meaning of certain words, Kingdom Dynamics was a bit less clear. Sometimes it shows how the kingdom of God worked in that part of the Bible story, and sometimes it is a cultural description.<br />
<br />
The pages of this Bible are made in two large columns separated by a smaller column which cross-references to other verses. At the bottom of each page are verse commentaries. There are footnotes throughout which shed light on Bible verses. The Bible has the feel of a study Bible, because the verse commentaries explain the theology, cultural implications, and doctrine which are in the verses. On the whole -- from what i could see- there are some commentaries on some verses that are full of spirit. Other commentaries seem born out of human reasoning, American cultural Christianity, and a desire to explain what might be misunderstood passages. For the most part, I accepted these explanations but there were moments when I did give them the side-eye.<br />
<br />
It's a good book, but i suppose i wanted it to be more global. The commentary lacks theology from the larger global Christian community. That is a shame, i think. The editors and contributors are primarily American Christians so we don't get insights from Asian, African, European etc Christian cultures. So basically, this book will be good for American Christians who want a deeper knowledge of the Bible but its limited focus on American Christianity, let alone American Charismatic theology, will make it less helpful to more knowledgeable American Charismatics. I recommend this Bible. <br />
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Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-57038634178923095282018-08-20T20:08:00.000-04:002018-08-20T20:08:04.407-04:00Review: Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice Coloring Book<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice Coloring Book<br />
<ul style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Series:</span> Coloring Faith</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Paperback:</span> 96 pages</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Publisher:</span> Thomas Nelson (August 14, 2018)</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Language:</span> English</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">ISBN-10:</span> 1400210011</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">ISBN-13:</span> 978-1400210015</li>
</ul>
<br />
I really really like this book. Every once in a while, one sees a form of art where various disciplines work together. This book is pure and simple a meditation on fall and the joys of harvest. I cannot imagine anyone coloring the pictures in this book who would not ponder God's creation. The Bible verses and literary quotes scattered through the book in lovely calligraphy also point to the beauty of creativity and nature.<br />
<br />
The pictures are generally of fruits, vegetables, flowers, sketches of nature, and fall activities. This could be a book for either adults or children. The drawings are detailed but not complicated, and there is room in the various calligraphy for the lettering to be colored. This is a good book for Sunday School teacher to use in her class. She could copy pages for assignments. I can also see siblings or parents and children coloring the book together, one on one page and one on another. Because pictures are on both sides of each page, I would recommend not using magic markers. Crayons, pastels, and colored pencils are best. Recommended.<br />
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I got this book free from the publisher and this is a voluntary review.<br />
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Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-75080007061446764482018-07-10T14:46:00.000-04:002018-07-10T14:46:03.414-04:00Review -- Early Readers Bible NKJV<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<h1 class="a-size-large a-spacing-none" id="title" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 21px !important; line-height: 1.3 !important; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;">
<span class="a-size-large" id="productTitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.3 !important; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;">NKJV Early Readers Bible</span> <span class="a-size-medium a-color-secondary a-text-normal" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(85, 85, 85) !important; font-size: 17px !important; font-weight: 400 !important; line-height: 1.255 !important; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;">Hardcover</span> <span class="a-size-medium a-color-secondary a-text-normal" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(85, 85, 85) !important; font-size: 17px !important; font-weight: 400 !important; line-height: 1.255 !important; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;">– May 29, 2018</span></h1>
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<div class="a-section a-spacing-micro bylineHidden feature" id="bylineInfo" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 6px;">
by <span class="author notFaded" data-width="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="a-declarative" data-a-popover="{"closeButtonLabel":"Close Author Dialog Popover","name":"contributor-info-B01M3XBQKY","position":"triggerBottom","popoverLabel":"Author Dialog Popover","allowLinkDefault":"true"}" data-action="a-popover" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a class="a-link-normal contributorNameID" data-asin="B01M3XBQKY" href="https://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Nelson/e/B01M3XBQKY/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066c0; text-decoration-line: none;">Thomas Nelson</a> <a class="a-popover-trigger a-declarative" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066c0;"><i class="a-icon a-icon-popover" style="background-image: url("https://m.media-amazon.com/images/G/01/AUIClients/AmazonUIBaseCSS-sprite_1x-7233320d393c05a5508cf7d579641c4b327cbda4._V2_.png"); background-position: -90px -5px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 400px 900px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 5px; margin: 5px 0px 0px 0.385em; opacity: 0.6; vertical-align: text-top; width: 7px;"></i></a> </span><span class="contribution" spacing="none" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="a-color-secondary" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(85, 85, 85) !important;">(Author)</span></span></span></div>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Age Range:</span> 7 - 10 years</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Grade Level:</span> 2 - 3</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Hardcover:</span> 1184 pages</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Publisher:</span> Thomas Nelson (May 29, 2018)</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Language:</span> English</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">ISBN-10:</span> 1400309115</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">ISBN-13:</span> 978-1400309115</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Product Dimensions: </span>6.5 x 1.5 x 9.5 inches</li>
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<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61g5vfc0XQL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="316" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61g5vfc0XQL.jpg" width="202" /></a></div>
This is a regular Bible, not a kid Bible with kid versions of the stories. The big difference between this early readers Bible and an adult Bible is the collection of extra materials. This is where a kid Bible shows its worth.<br />
<br />
First the good:<br />
Lots of charts<br />
Devotional charts<br />
Maps<br />
Chronological Charts<br />
There are many good pictures that kids will like and I especially liked the comparative chart between secular history and Biblical history.<br />
<br />
The font is dark and readable, and as I said, it's the Bible. The NKJV is a good translation and accessible to young readers although I do think the NLRV is better because it breaks up those long run-on sentences (especially in Paul's writings) that can confuse new readers. <br />
<br />
I do question why some pictures and charts are in the wrong place. I know the editors probably think those pictures aren't in the wrong place but it seems to me that if one is going to do charts of something, it might be best to place the charts near the passages of Scripture they pertain to. Why have charts of Israelite feasts in the middle of the book of Kings? And some of the pictures and charts seem to be perfunctory filler.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, although this is a well-made Bible with many informative charts and pictures, the information contained in some of the kid-friendly articles is sometime unhelpful. They often seem to think they are teaching kids what the Bible is about but they are still preaching to the choir, a very denominational sin-focused choir.<br />
<br />
For instance, in the article called How To Study the Bible, it doesn't even explain the basics. And by "basics," I mean, it doesn't tell the new Bible reader that the numbers at the side of the Bible texts are verse numbers. Sorry, I used to be a Sunday School teacher in both an Episcopal and a Charismatic setting and one would be amazed at what kids don't know. Some of these articles should have been written by working Sunday School teachers. And as I said earlier, it is very intent on telling the reader the Bible is all about various sins and how not to fall into those sins. <br />
<br />
On the whole, this is a good little Bible. For the information it packs in, it isn't heavy and it feels good in the hand. I received this book free from the publisher and this is a voluntary review. </div>
Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-10777451092898423702018-06-15T11:32:00.000-04:002018-06-15T11:32:49.449-04:00Book Review -- Create!: A Girl's Guide to DIY, Doodles & Design<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Create!: A Girl's Guide to DIY, Doodles & Design<br />
Faithgirlz<br />
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<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Age Range:</span> 8 - 12 years</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Grade Level:</span> 3 - 4</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Series:</span> Faithgirlz</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Paperback:</span> 144 pages</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Publisher:</span> Zonderkidz; Gld edition (March 6, 2018)</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Language:</span> English</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">ISBN-10:</span> 0310763169</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">ISBN-13:</span> 978-0310763161</li>
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I wanted to review this book because the summer is coming and we all want to know how to keep kids busy. This book is for creative kids (who can be trusted with scissors, glue, tiny things, and paint.) Some of it is definitely useful for kids outside the age range and even for developmentally-disabled kids and some older girls who are not into crafts or girlie stuff will definitely not be interested in it.<br />
<br />
This is a good book for the creative child, In my experience, some creative projects are just plain useless or silly but even if they are, they do teach dexterity and creativity to those who do them.So while one may never need a clotheslinestyle photo frame, the learning that goes into creating the thing is something needed in our day and age.<br />
<br />
The directions and vocabulary are good but might be a hurdle for some children so some children might need a parent to explain the instructions at first.<br />
<br />
The materials needed for most of these projects diverse. Some are easier to get than others and some might tempt kid DIYers to rip up some of your clothes or accidentally destroy some household or personal items. I highly recommend parents working with kids to do only the projects whose materials are already bought. I shudder to think what some children would do with their parents library in their attempt to create a Hollow Book Storage.<br />
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What i like a lot about this book is that it introduces children to many kinds of artforms that the child might want to explore. Doodling, cartooning, even calligraphy, watercolor, painting, sculpting, beadwork and the like.<br />
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Bible verses are included in some of the project descriptions and in projects that include poster-making.<br />
<br />
There is no one author for this book; it seems to be the product of a committee. This means it has its probably been researched carefully. This is definitely a good way to make kids more active (and not locked into their phones and TV) for the summer<br />
<br />
This took some trouble to find on amazon because of the !: in the title but it's there. I received this book free in exchange for a fair and honest review. I highly recommend it. </div>
Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-63357426864889919332018-03-27T17:20:00.001-04:002018-03-27T17:32:03.343-04:00Review: All Things Bright and Strange<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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All Things Bright and Strange<br />
James Markert<br />
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<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Paperback:</span> 336 pages</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Publisher:</span> Thomas Nelson (January 30, 2018)</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Language:</span> English</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">ISBN-10:</span> 0718090284</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">ISBN-13:</span> 978-0718090289</li>
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I generally don't like Christian speculative fiction -- yep, even though I write books in that genre. But this book was a pleasant surprise. It's not imitative -- written in the Left Behind, Narnia, or Divergence mode-- as so many Christian specfic books are.<br />
<br />
The characters are not cookie-cutter and do not speak in on-the-nose preachiness. There is no undercurrent of a woman looking for her Boaz or a Hosea type. This is a good book. It's not perfect but what book is?<br />
<br />
I'll write a longer review of this on the christian fiction review blog where I'll go deeper in depth into the characters and discuss how challenging it might be to the "typical" Christian reader, and my ideas about how it succeeds or fails.<br />
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And yes, there is such a thing as a typical Christian reader. So there might be issues about whether the story is truly Christian or not. Christians come in all sizes and shapes, and the question of hell and who gets saved is iffy. I tend to avoid putting people in hell but i do believe in a hell. Some Christians don't believe in hell. Upshot? Depending on how you have built your Christian foundations, this book might be offensive...or not. The type of Christian who thinks anything supernatural is demonic or weird and "unChristian" will have a problem with this book. Racist Christians who don't like to be stressed about race issues will have a problem with this book. It deals with someone who is not in love with his life and is pondering suicide, stuff that some Christians often don't want to deal with. It has its tropes and for the most part they work. The author is trying to walk the fine line of writing a book for a particular audience and at the same time trying to write a book that will challenge that audience. <br />
<br />
I received this book free in exchange for a fair and honest review. </div>
Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-49639354447990976212018-03-27T14:23:00.001-04:002018-03-27T14:23:13.827-04:00Review: Vegan comfort classics -- 101 recipes to feed your face<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://d188rgcu4zozwl.cloudfront.net/content/B071PCM3Q3/resources/626367992" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://d188rgcu4zozwl.cloudfront.net/content/B071PCM3Q3/resources/626367992" width="239" /></a>Hot for Food<br />
Vegan comfort classics -- 101 recipes to feed your face<br />
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<ul style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Print Length:</span> 240 pages</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Publisher:</span> Ten Speed Press (February 27, 2018)</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Publication Date:</span> February 27, 2018</li>
<li id="sold-by-merchant" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Sold by:</span> Random House LLC</li>
</ul>
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First off, we have to get our definitions straight. Vegan means no animal products. Even eggs, milk, cheeses, etc. I guess vegans eat honey but I'm not sure.<br />
<br />
Speaking of honey, we get to the second point. Vegan doesn't necessarily mean healthy, sugar-free, non-GMO, or non-refined.<br />
<br />
Once you understand those two points, you can really enjoy this book.<br />
<br />
The chapters are:<br />
Hey, hot for food fam<br />
Badass brunches<br />
Finger foods<br />
Veggie sides & big salads<br />
Hearty soups<br />
Stacked sandwiches<br />
Oodles of noodles<br />
The main event<br />
Sweet things<br />
Get savory<br />
Acknowledgments<br />
Index<br />
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The recipes are written clearly and the photos of the dishes are tempting.<br />
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What all these recipes have in common is tasty home-spun meals. For those who miss non-vegan foods and who can't tweak the recipes, this is a good book. There are tofu, miso, etc in some of these dishes but often there are workarounds such as almond bacon and an exotic fruit or two like jackfruit but it's basic Americana stuff all put in one book. You don't have to be a committed vegan to cook these recipes but once you get a knack for substitution, you'll be eating vegan without too much trouble. The sauce/dressing/aioli section and the various ways of making fake bacon are the best parts of the book, especially because those sections are helpful to folks who don't know their way around a health food store.<br />
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I received this book free in exchange for a fair and honest review. </div>
Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-69230478320009247882018-03-12T16:57:00.002-04:002018-03-12T16:57:22.266-04:00Review: Sweet Potato Soul<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<h1 class="a-size-large a-spacing-none" id="title" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 21px !important; line-height: 1.3 !important; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;">
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<h1 class="a-size-large a-spacing-none" id="title" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 21px !important; line-height: 1.3 !important; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;">
<span class="a-size-large" id="productTitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.3 !important; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Potato-Soul-Recipes-Southern/dp/0451498895" target="_blank">Sweet Potato Soul</a>: 100 Easy Vegan Recipes for the Southern Flavors of Smoke, Sugar, Spice, and Soul</span> </h1>
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By<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/SweetPotatoSoul" target="_blank"> Jenne-Claiborne</a></div>
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<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Paperback:</span> 224 pages</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Publisher:</span> Harmony (February 6, 2018)</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Language:</span> English</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">ISBN-10:</span> 0451498895</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">ISBN-13:</span> 978-0451498892</li>
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<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">In an Introduction which details the author's background, and a description of Southern food, we are given short but informative subsections such as </li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Five Healthy Food Rules I Live By</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">What To Expect From This Book</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Tools to Stock Your Soul Kitchen</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Southern Pantry Staples</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Varieties of Sweet Potatoes </li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">How to Slice Sweet Potatoes</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Greens</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Creole Seasoning</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Flours Sweeteners</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">After that, we have the recipes which are listed in the following categories:</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Breakfast</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Salads and Soups</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Greens and Sides</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Mains</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Sweets and Drinks</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Pantry staples & Sauces</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Then Acknowledgments</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">and</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Index</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Each recipe section takes one page and lists ingredients, cooking directions, and a homey or helpful blurb</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Okay, i loved this book! I'm not even from the south. With only a few exceptions (purple sweet potatoes, coconut sugar, miso, tamari, dulse, nori, flaxseed meal, etc), the ingredients are easily-found especially if you live in or near a large city. Happily most of the recipes use regular items.</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">The dishes are sometimes veganized versions of old favorites such as sweet potato hummus, stalwarts such as pecan pie, and fusions such as Cajun Blackened Tofu Sandwich, cream cheese pound cake (made with soy milk) or Spicy fried cauliflower "chicken.". </li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">This is a book for folks who want that down home cooking while eating vegan. You shouldn't have to give up on your culture to eat vegan. The book is vegan. It is not gluten-free cooking or even healthy non-sugar cooking. </li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Highly Recommended. I got this book free in exchange for a fair and honest review. </li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></li>
</div>
Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-29473337800477065862018-02-01T13:35:00.004-05:002018-02-01T13:35:45.946-05:00Pok Pok -- The Drinking Food of Thailand<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/9149bzc%2B6aL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="548" height="400" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/9149bzc%2B6aL.jpg" width="273" /></a></div>
<br />
Pok Pok -- The Drinking Food of Thailand<br />
by Andy Ricker with J J Goode<br />
<br />
<br />
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Hardcover:</span> 272 pages</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Publisher:</span> Ten Speed Press (October 31, 2017)</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Language:</span> English</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">ISBN-10:</span> 1607747731</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">ISBN-13:</span> 978-1607747734</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Product Dimensions: </span>7.2 x 1 x 10.8 inches</li>
<br />
I decided to review this book because I love South-east Asian food and figured if I learned to cook them, I'd spare myself major bucks. Why go to a restaurant when you can cook? I say all that because the title might turn a few folks off. Basically, the book is about foods you might find in a Thai bar, or a Thai home. So while there are tons of foods that are snacks, and a few that are cooked in alcohol, for the most part this is a recipe book with the same categories one would find in most recipe books. Alcohol is not necessary.<br />
<br />
<br />
The chapter headings are:<br />
Introduction<br />
About this book<br />
Using a Mortar and Pestle<br />
Snacks<br />
Soup<br />
Chile dips<br />
Fried Foods<br />
Grilled foods<br />
Salads<br />
Stir Fries<br />
Late-night and morning food<br />
Sundry Items<br />
ingredients<br />
Equipment<br />
Acknowledgments<br />
Index<br />
<br />
The book reads like a travelogue of bars and personal memoir. The reader also gets to know Thai culture, especially Thai bar culture.<br />
<br />
First of all this is a meaty book. Yep, a lot of meat recipes. A lot of pork and seafood, so if you're not into pork and seafood (or pig brains) you might not get a lot out of this book. I love shellfish but i don't eat it, and I never touch pork. BUT, I'm not averse to substituting beef or fish in a recipe.<br />
<br />
Another thing is that this book has a lot of fried and deep-fried recipes. Again, if you're not into frying food, this book might not be your taste.<br />
<br />
And yes, there is the aforementioned alcohol. Lots of recipes use various kinds of local alcohol (which can probably be switched around with western alcohol.)<br />
<br />
There are a few raw meat recipes and most of the recipes require finding some kind of South-east Asian spice, but I'd say...if you want to learn how to cook with a Thai flavor, this book is a good buy so go for it! Although... i don't see myself using a mortar and pestle or going to a bar anytime soon.<br />
<br />
I got this book free in exchange for a fair and honest review. </div>
Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-43718158943114517682017-12-26T18:08:00.002-05:002017-12-26T18:08:31.561-05:00Review: When God Made You<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61xzKkYnhXL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="499" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61xzKkYnhXL.jpg" width="319" /></a></div>
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<div class="a-section a-spacing-none" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 22px;">
<h1 class="a-size-large a-spacing-none" id="title" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 21px !important; line-height: 1.3 !important; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;">
<span class="a-size-large" id="productTitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.3 !important; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;">When God Made You</span> <span class="a-size-medium a-color-secondary a-text-normal" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(85, 85, 85) !important; font-size: 17px !important; font-weight: 400 !important; line-height: 1.255 !important; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;">Hardcover</span> <span class="a-size-medium a-color-secondary a-text-normal" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(85, 85, 85) !important; font-size: 17px !important; font-weight: 400 !important; line-height: 1.255 !important; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;">– February 28, 2017</span></h1>
</div>
<div class="a-section a-spacing-micro bylineHidden feature" id="byline" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 22px;">
by <span class="author notFaded" data-width="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="a-declarative" data-a-popover="{"closeButtonLabel":"Close Author Dialog Popover","name":"contributor-info-B001JPC8LY","position":"triggerBottom","popoverLabel":"Author Dialog Popover","allowLinkDefault":"true"}" data-action="a-popover" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a class="a-link-normal contributorNameID" data-asin="B001JPC8LY" href="https://www.amazon.com/Matthew-Paul-Turner/e/B001JPC8LY/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066c0; text-decoration-line: none;">Matthew Paul Turner</a> <a class="a-popover-trigger a-declarative" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066c0;"><i class="a-icon a-icon-popover" style="background-image: url("https://m.media-amazon.com/images/G/01/AUIClients/AmazonUIBaseCSS-sprite_1x-c4a765aedd886dc04d89e7e93b6a02c59ecb7013._V2_.png"); background-position: -90px -5px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 400px 750px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 5px; margin: 5px 0px 0px 0.385em; opacity: 0.6; vertical-align: text-top; width: 7px;"></i></a> </span><span class="contribution" spacing="none" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="a-color-secondary" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(85, 85, 85) !important;">(Author), </span></span></span><span class="author notFaded" data-width="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a class="a-link-normal" href="https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_2?ie=UTF8&text=David+Catrow&search-alias=books&field-author=David+Catrow&sort=relevancerank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066c0; text-decoration-line: none;">David Catrow</a> <span class="contribution" spacing="none" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="a-color-secondary" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(85, 85, 85) !important;">(Illustrator)</span></span></span></div>
<br />
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Age Range:</span> 3 - 7 years</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Grade Level:</span> Preschool - 2</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Hardcover:</span> 48 pages</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Publisher:</span> WaterBrook (February 28, 2017)</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Language:</span> English</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">ISBN-10:</span> 1601429185</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">ISBN-13:</span> 978-1601429186</li>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
This is one of those Christian picture books that challenges social issues by not making a big deal about it.<br />
<br />
There really isn't a story per se. The book follows a little girl on her creative adventure through the park. She has a little sister whom she loves and the story begins in the world as we know it, then her creativity connects to the entire universe....as creativity is wont to do. After the creative adventure, it returns to the bedroom of the two siblings with the older sister reading to the younger sister.<br />
<br />
It's a picture book that celebrates creativity and individuality. Let's face it, although we Christians often go about saying that God made us all different, the truth is that often the artistic spirit is not celebrated in some homes because many people can be quite rigid and they like having their children conform to normalcy. The story reads like a blessing given from a parent to a child, or as a blessing given from an older sibling to a younger one.<br />
<br />
I liked this book. The little black child on the cover is also a treat. We need more books with Black characters, even if the artist and writer are white.<br />
<br />
The illustrations are vivid, and --like the story itself-- rhapsodic. The language is accessible although there are a few words (such as cyclone, and glory) that will need to be explained to younger kids. It's written in rhyme<br /><br />
<br />
One of the best lines:<br />
'Cause when God made you, thus much is true<br />
The world got to meet who God already knew.<br />
<br />
I highly recommend this book. I received this book free in exchange for a free and honest review.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.255; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 4px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;">
Biography</h3>
<div class="outerAuthorBio" id="outerAuthorBio" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; height: auto; overflow: hidden; z-index: 1;">
<div id="authorBio" style="box-sizing: border-box;">
Matthew Paul Turner is the best-selling author of "When God Made You," "Churched,"and "Hear No Evil." He, and his wife, Jessica, along with their kids, Elias, Adeline, and Ezra, live in Nashville, Tennessee.</div>
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Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-30787033221791503272017-11-16T19:21:00.001-05:002017-11-16T19:21:09.693-05:00Review: a box of awesome things matching game<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
a box of awesome things matching game<br />
by<br />
wee society<br />
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Grade Level:</span> Kindergarten - 12</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Game:</span> 40 pages</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Publisher:</span> Clarkson Potter; Brdgm edition (September 26, 2017)</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Language:</span> English</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">ISBN-10:</span> 1524759546</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">ISBN-13:</span> 978-1524759544</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">This is not a book but a collection of 20 pairs of matching cards. The cards are about 2 inches b 2 inches and are brightly colored with images created with that trademark stylized minimalist geometric art that wee society does. So it's basically a matching game. </li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">On the surface, the set seems a bit arty. I'm not sure that young kids would recognize some of the pictures being depicted, even though they could match them. Older kids would recognize the trapdoor card, the skull with the eyepatch, and the lava flow mountain. And i guess those things are pretty awesome in their own right. But for me, i was expecting more. Kids who are young will be able to see the patterns, older kids will understand what all the patterns mean.</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">I guess if you're looking for a matching set, this is good and less complicated than a deck of cards. </li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">The pictures are cute and the cards are on heavy-duty glossy stock. There are words that go along with the pictures so kids who are learning to read will like it. It's not that expensive at only $10 on amazon, so if you're looking for a good present for kids this would be a good set. You can't find many educational kid toys for ten dollars nowadays. I'd recommend it for holiday stocking stuffers or gifts.</li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></li>
<li style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">This was given to me free in exchange for a fair and honest review. </li>
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Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-22562001404131394072017-08-06T15:09:00.000-04:002017-08-06T15:09:03.648-04:00Review: NIV Beautiful Word Coloring Large Print Bible<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hF_K3QIUdaw/WYdpNgxTptI/AAAAAAAADXQ/vjQkYHbmAKkUQTQHNIPIN_-4YLXaUENkQCLcBGAs/s1600/610pop%252BX9HL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="372" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hF_K3QIUdaw/WYdpNgxTptI/AAAAAAAADXQ/vjQkYHbmAKkUQTQHNIPIN_-4YLXaUENkQCLcBGAs/s320/610pop%252BX9HL.jpg" width="238" /></a></div>
Okay, I'll admit it. I wasn't too thrilled at the thought of this Bible. Which is weird because I'm always marking up and writing in my Bibles. When my Bible starts looking like a rainbow-colored ultra-highlighted mess, I know it's time to start scrawling in another one. <br />
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But the more I think about this Bible, the more I like it.<br />
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First, there are those verses to color. Many of the verses are the big ones that every Christian knows and every Christian parent wants their kids to know. Some of these verses have great calligraphy, some are not really colorable because they are more about design than fill-in-the space coloring. But most of them are words and pictures that one can color. My caveat would be to use colored pencils or crayons, NOT magic markers. I can see Sunday School or Bible Class teachers copying some of these pictures for their students' use in their classes. How easy it is to memorize a Bible verse if you're coloring it. Those who like coloring, will find coloring the page meditative.<br />
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Secondly, this is a large print Bible. It's not Extra large print but it is an easy read for kids and normal folks. <br />
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Thirdly, this Bible has generous columns on each page, with ruled lines, for note-taking. It's a pretty heavy Bible so --unless you're accustomed to carrying around large Bibles-- you might have to leave this at home and use it for family Bible study and note-taking. <br />
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This Bible comes with a strong heavy cloth cover and a ribbon placeholder. I have often wished that Zondervan would quit using the same all-purpose preface it uses in all its Bibles. This time around they added a neat "Letter from the Editor" which helps the reader feel that the reason for this Bible. <br />
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So, yeah, I'm liking this Bible a lot. <br />
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I was given this Bible free in exchange for a fair and honest review. </div>
Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-34534034681868985292017-06-23T10:38:00.003-04:002017-06-23T10:38:58.155-04:00Review: NIV Kids' Visual Study Bible<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DCxF3cK50UI/WU0n2rubzkI/AAAAAAAADTc/aSYmSkL8D3Mq10XIBLmGrz9GY3xXz_VoQCLcBGAs/s1600/51QjtaH2flL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="316" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DCxF3cK50UI/WU0n2rubzkI/AAAAAAAADTc/aSYmSkL8D3Mq10XIBLmGrz9GY3xXz_VoQCLcBGAs/s320/51QjtaH2flL.jpg" width="202" /></a></div>
<span class="a-size-large" id="productTitle">NIV Kids' Visual Study Bible, Hardcover, Full Color Interior: Explore the Story of the Bible---People, Places, and History</span> <span class="a-size-medium a-color-secondary a-text-normal">Hardcover</span> <!-- use pre formatted date that complies with legal requirement from media matrix --> <span class="a-size-medium a-color-secondary a-text-normal">– June 6, 2017</span> <br />
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<li><b>Age Range:</b> 8 - 12 years</li>
<li><b>Grade Level:</b> 3 - 7</li>
<li><b>Hardcover:</b> 1952 pages</li>
<li><b>Publisher:</b> Zonderkidz (June 6, 2017)</li>
<li><b>Language:</b> English</li>
<li><b>ISBN-10:</b> 0310758602</li>
<li><b>ISBN-13:</b> 978-0310758600</li>
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<em>This Bible is set up as follows:</em><br />
<em>Table of Contents </em><br />
<em>Preface</em><br />
<em>The Bible</em><br />
<em>Table of weights and measures</em><br />
<em>Infographics index</em><br />
<em>Maps index</em><br />
<em>Color Maps</em><br />
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<em>This is a good Bible, with great explanatory notes on almost every page. It has a sturdy hardcover. The pictures, photographs, and graphs are good and helpful, depicting certain fundamental truths carefully. The notes are especially informed and insightful. They will definitely help readers understand the Bible. </em><br />
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<em>So, if this Bible has all these good things, why am I not really impressed with it as a Bible for kids? It might just be me being picky but what we have here is a marketing failure. </em><br />
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<em>First: The title. The word "kids" implies (at least to me) that the book is for tweens and under. This book is more fit for 13 year olds and over. The title is misleading because one expects a kid-friendly book for littler kids.</em><br />
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<em>Second: "Visual." This Bible has many pictures but it's not really as visual as all that.</em><br />
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<em>Third: the lightness and size of the font. The font is light and small. It should be darker and larger .Even teens will have a problem with this font. The column for the notes should be smaller, and the column where the actual Bible is written should be larger. That might've helped the font issue.</em><br />
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<em>Fourth: A general laziness. If this Bible is to be presented to a child, the design and presentation should have been better. For instance, the preface isn't written for kids. I'm not sure but it might be the same-old same-old preface . Why? Shouldn't they have gotten a kid-friendly kid-understandable version of that preface? </em><br />
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<em>This leads to my FIFTH complaint: The designers and editors of this book saw the trees, but not the forest. A kid's Bible should have a timeline, several in fact. In the front or back of the Bible, there should be overviews of the Bibles, of the kings, of Israel's history, of the prophets, of the miracles, of the parables. Kids haven't known it all or seen everything; they aren't like us older folks. There really should be more guides to the basics. </em><br />
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<em>Upshot: This book should have been called the TEEN'S STUDY BIBLE. A mere title change and this book would be perfect. Please do not buy this Bible for</em> little kids or for kids with bad eyes. <br />
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This book was given to me free of charge in exchange for a fair and honest review. <br />
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Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-66686032844255079952017-06-07T16:54:00.000-04:002017-06-07T16:54:15.397-04:00THE FAN: This Present Reality<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Fan: This Present Reality</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">By Carole McDonnell</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Hello there, Dear Readers, Watchers, and Fellow Creatives.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">No doubt you all understand the power of a passionate obsession. And, some of you might remember my embarrassing addiction to stories that send the viewer off into a rabbit-hole of dislocation. Well, I will just say that an obsession is not easily dropped. Lord knows, they’re even harder to drop if the obsessed has no intention of actually dropping the obsession. So, yes, I waded through my usual drama crack of singularities, quantum physics, string theory. Yep, films such as B4, Orange, Beautiful Prison, and Penitent Man. But, true to my promise to spare you my time-travel and dislocation rambles, I’m not gonna review any of that. Nor will I review Apocalypse Kiss which was my first --and, yes, undoubtedly my last-- venture into dystopian porny horror. (Yes, there are some things in this world that one’s mind cannot unsee.) Instead, let’s get to the speculative stuff that entranced me this summer in the fantastic universe of creativity. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Embers --- </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Written by Claire Carre and Charles Spano. Directed by Claire Carre, Jason Ritter, Iva Gocheva, Greta Fernández 2015 1 hour, 26 minutes Available on iTunes, Amazon Prime, YouTube</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I love living in these post-gatekeepers days. Sure, the big filmmakers/publishers/music companies are good at making big films, books, and music with big stars and blockbuster production. But there is something about indies. Yes, yes, some of them are pretentious, some are precious, most have bad acting. But, all that said, indies do tell some good stories sometimes.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Embers </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">was on </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kickstarter </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and I’m sure the folks who donated to help this little indie are proud of it. The story takes place at some near-distant time in the future. It’s a few years after a viral pandemic killed much of the world’s population and left the rest with semi-amnesia. The survivors have forgotten their past memories and can’t create new memories. They remember certain basics or habits -- like how to ride a bike, how to speak their language, how to open the odd can of food they’ve found somewhere. But for the most part, their present memories tend to last about fifteen minutes, disappearing several times throughout the day and when they sleep.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This is speculative fiction at its best, and the best aspect of speculative fiction is how it deals with the ramification and consequences of a particular idea. In this film, we follow several characters who have pretty much gotten used to their present circumstances. There is no whining about living in a bleak world, no grief about the loss of the old ways. Because no one remembers the old ways. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So who are the main characters? Well, this is an indie film so we have “types” as opposed to characters. There’s a character called Chaos, who walks around chaoticly, doing chaotic things, in a chaotic state. Even with memory loss, he’s a nasty piece of work. Personality is resilient in this world, apparently, and an amnesiac with a selfish nasty personality will be selfish and nasty no matter what. We have “the lovers” who give each other new names every time they wake. They wear cloth bands made from the same material so they’ll know they’re supposed to be together. We have a nameless little boy who probably has known only this life. It’s not clear if he inherited the universal memory issues or has a kind of memory adapted to this world. There is a teacher/writer who lives in the woods. He is one of three characters who knows his own name. And the only reason he knows that is because it’s on a book he’s written and he’s consciously trying to train his mind to know how to remember. And there is a father and a daughter who have lived in a bunker since the outbreak began. The daughter wishes to explore the world outside the bunker but the father fears dangers and the loss of memory. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A word about the tension in this film. This is one tense film, because there is mega-suspense in worrying about human issues such as separation, safety, isolation. But if you’re someone who has a problem with films where nothing big really happens, you will be bored to tears. This film is not altogether silent but don’t expect mega-dialog and action. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Embers</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> has received various awards in many film festivals and I’m glad the donors to its kickstarter campaign enabled me to see it. As I wrote earlier, the gatekeepers of distribution can no longer prevent art from reaching the masses. I accept that. For me, it means everything old is new again. The ancient paradigm of art was local; artisans shared their work with the neighbors and villages nearby. Then education, wealth, and the notion of fame came about, and artistry was joined to the idea of being super-famous. Now, in the internet age, we're back again to the roots of art distribution, to a smaller kind of fame. Yep some folks will have super contracts and mega wealth but most artists/singers/artisans/writers are happy to just share their stories in their little community and internet worlds. youtube, ebooks, indie films, fabric design places, etc. I wouldn't mind a few of my books being ultra-famous but I like this return to normal art-making. More films like this, books, music, etc for me to encounter. Kudos to Kickstarter.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">W --Two Worlds --- </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Written by Song Jae-Jun Starring: Lee Jong-Suk, Han Hyo-Joo. 16 episodes. South Korean television series. July 2016 to September 2016. Fantasy, Suspense, Melodrama, Romance. Streaming online on viki.com and other sites.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Korean dramas are nothing if not predictable. But every once in a (long) while, something unpredictable comes up. Don’t get me wrong; I like all the typical tropes. But I like organic storytelling as well. And nothing is better than organic speculative storytelling because there are so many ramifications and consequences and one’s heart just squees when a writer shows she’s aware of the implications of her story. This drama was written by my favorite Korean writer, the writer that brought the world </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Nine: Nine Times Time Trave</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">l and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Queen InHyun’s Man</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, both dramas that dwelt with the rabbit trail of ramifications. In </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">W - Two Worlds</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, the traveling is not between decades, centuries, or altered timelines. It’s about alternate realities: the characters in the real world versus the characters in the world of a webtoon which is being written by (at first) the real-world manga-writer. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The story of the webtoon goes off-the rails when Kang Chul, the hero of the popular manga W, refuses to die at the hand of his maker. In the comic book story, he has returned home to find his family brutally murdered. Next thing he (and the readers of the comic he lives in) knows, he is put on trial for their murder and a nemesis prosecutor is out to prove his guilt. Kang Chul decides to kill himself. Well, his creator decides to kill him. The character, however, is quite stubborn. Instead of jumping off the bridge which he was “drawn” to, he struggles to live. In spite of himself, the manga creator sees the pages of his drawing table and of the published webtoon change before his eyes. He knows he has not drawn the story in this way and is furious that his character is insisting on living. Angry, he suddenly finds himself inside the manga --yes, yes, there are portals-- and tries to kill off Kang Chul directly. (This is reflected in the manga website.) After the Artist/Creator leaves the manga, Kang Chul’s desire to live drags someone else -- the daughter of the Creator-- into the manga world. This is Oh Yeon Joo, and Yeon Joo is destined to become the OTP. Why was she brought into this world? Well, like everyone else reading the webtoon, she wants the noble/perfect/vengeance-seeking Kang Chul to have his happy ending.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And so, we are off. Other people --people inside the webcomic and people in the real world-- are affected by the story. For instance, two small but important examples. The manga creator had not created a killer with a face. In fact, he had no idea what the killer looked like or why the killer had killed Kang Chul’s family. It was a trope he wanted to use to help his character suffer. The manga-readers might have been crying out for the killer to have a face, reason, and personality -- heck, even the killer was crying out for that-- but not the Creator. Second example -- the love interest in the webtoon becomes unimportant because the hero of the comic -- Kang Chul-- has gone off-track by falling in love with a girl from the real world. What is the comic book female lead to do when her very reason for existence ceases to be? Well, she starts to disappear before her very eyes.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This drama is a combination of mega and speculative fiction and watching the writers mine the tropes and possibilities of the premise is an absolute fun ride. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ku_On</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> --- Director, Takayuki Hatamura; Actors: Haruna Isaoka, Sou Sato, Nana Seino, Seiko Seno, Hidemasa Shiozawa, Shizuka, Yusei Tajima; Genre: Science Fiction, Drama, Action Japanese 2015 Amazon Prime</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">First things first: This is not the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kuon</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> horror video game or </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ku-On,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> the horror cutscene video. (A hyphen, an underscore, or no hyphens at all can make a whole lotta difference.) First things over with. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Second things second: If you’re anything at all like me, when you see a movie involving spirits possessing other folks’ bodies, you’re usually not on the Possesser’s side. You’re on the side of the folks whom the bodies rightly belong to. Par for the course. After all, none of us like thieves. But forget that pesky trope for the nonce. It’s not important in this flick. Okay, so that’s that. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Some two hundred years ago, a meteorite fell on a village in Tokyo. The fallout -- yes, pun intended-- of that cosmic happening was that the descendants of certain villagers all now have the power (I won’t call it a “gift” because immortality does have its drawbacks) to jump out of the body they’re inhabiting and into the body of another person. The only caveat is that the “possessee” has to be the same sex. AND also the same age the possessor was when his gift manifested. Our hero realized he had this power when he was twenty-seven so he can only jump into are 27-year-old male bodies. There are other little rules but those are the basics that our hero needs to know and discovers at the beginning of the film.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As luck would have it, our newbie possessor jumped into a new body and into a new life at the worst time possible. One of their fellow immortals, a serial murderer, is scheduled to be transferred from one prison to another and has to be stopped. If there is anything worse than an immortal who steals bodies, it’s an immortal whose only joy in his immortality is murdering folks, especially seventeen-year-olds because that was his age when he first turned. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So what we have here is a catch-the-serial-killer caper. Except that pursuers and pursued keep changing bodies. Think </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Fallen</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> meets </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Highlander</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> meets </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The One</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ya know what? I liked this. It was a fun little indie that knew what it wanted to accomplish and didn’t go wild doing unnecessary stuff. Lean and mean, that’s how I like my films. Of course, not every ramification of every speculation is always shown. And this movie is a clear example of ignoring consequences that aren’t necessary to the immediate plot. For instance, while we explore why such a community of immortals could be whittled down, there is the whole other issue of human bodies being taken over and discarded. So that could be problematical because one requires a certain amount of sang-froid and indifference to simply not care about those dead or comatose discarded bodies. Some questions, such as “What happens to the soul of the body’s original owner?” are not answered and perhaps would be if this were a series. We viewers don’t know if the original soul is repressed/conquered by the new spirit, squelched, nullified, and/or temporarily neutralized? And neither do we care. The ramifications don’t matter in that world, although they would in this present reality. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Happy Creativity, all.</span></div>
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Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-76531076140686578012017-05-09T18:58:00.001-04:002017-05-09T19:32:11.154-04:00Review: Life After Heaven by Steven Musick<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Review: Life After Heaven by Steven Musick (with Paul J Pastor)<br />
How My Time in Heaven Can Transform Your Life on Earth<br />
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<ul>
<li><b>Paperback:</b> 208 pages</li>
<li><b>Publisher:</b> WaterBrook (March 7, 2017)</li>
<li><b>Language:</b> English</li>
<li><b>ISBN-10:</b> 1601429886</li>
<li><b>ISBN-13:</b> 978-1601429889</li>
</ul>
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I liked this book a lot. Not because it's about near-death-experiences, though. I've read so many near-death experiences books and Jesus encounter stories that, while I love them and they do feed my faith, I'm not generally surprised by them any more. Jesus is always sweet, powerful, with beautiful eyes, and supernaturally good. Which of course, He should be because He is our savior. But after a while, it's the same old thing. So one needs to read these books for something other the recounting of the experience.<br />
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In this case, this book's uniqueness is it's depiction of a sick person who endured a long sickness until he was healed. That is what really blessed me in this book. I like any book which shows that someone can be healed even after a long illness. <br />
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Not all of us can endure long illnesses in a fairly good mood. This author managed. And, although many sick Christians wish to die in order to live with Jesus in heaven, Steven Musick endured life even though he wanted to die because he had already seen Jesus in heaven. <br />
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I won't say how he became sick. But after his illness, he died. Jesus met him and Jesus is "okay" and all the bad things in Musick's life was made "okay" or blessed into okayness by a super-understanding and super-loving Jesus. (yes, I kinda wish the author didn't use the word "okay" to describe the healing presence of Jesus when Jesus healed his soul. It just feels so touchy-feely. The book's a great book, an inspirational read but... that "okay" kinda made me cringe.)<br />
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Returning from heaven was difficult for Musick, but his experiences there continued to affect his life after he returned to his ill body. The love, power, and acceptance he saw when he walked with Jesus made him realize that heaven is always with us. The kingdom of God is everpresent and wishing to touch and overflow in our life on earth. There are few books that convey what the kingdom of God is as well as this book. In fact, there are very few books which actually try to show what the gospel of the kingdom is. This book does a good job. <br />
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I recommend this book highly. I received this book free and without charge in exchange for a fair and honest review. </div>
Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-55022208033101764402017-05-09T18:33:00.003-04:002017-05-09T19:21:36.003-04:00Review: Practicing the Power by Sam Storms<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Practicing the Power -- Welcoming the gifts of the Holy Spirit in Your <br />
by Sam Storms<br />
<div class="content">
<ul>
<li><b>Paperback:</b> 272 pages</li>
<li><b>Publisher:</b> Zondervan (February 7, 2017)</li>
<li><b>Language:</b> English</li>
<li><b>ISBN-10:</b> 0310533848</li>
<li><b>ISBN-13:</b> 978-0310533849</li>
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I liked this book a lot. It makes you feel: This is what a church should be like, this is what pastors should be teaching their congregation -- the riches of God's grace and the power of God in us who believe. <br />
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If you're a Charismatic Christian, you've probably read tons of books on the gifts of the spirit. Usually these books are about the book author's journey and they are often limited to one gift of the spirit. So we have prophets writing books on prophecy, dreamers writing books on dreaming, healers writing books on healing. Those books are all needed because those topics are pretty deep. But there are few books which can be used either for individual study, pastoral study, small groups, or larger communal church groups. This is one of them. <br />
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The challenge for anyone --especially a pastor-- who would want to actually practice the Biblically-based counsel in this book is that the church habits, services, and traditions would have to change a little to accommodate them. This means pastors might have to give up their desire to be the main "minister" to the congregation and become more of the one who trains, guides, and orchestrates all members of the church to minister to each other. <br />
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For instance, churches that only have the pastor pray for the sick, might have to give up some of their specialness (let's face it, many pastors like being the be-all and end-all and source and like running their little fiefs) and A) be Biblical in letting the elders/deacons pray for the sick and those who have shown that they have some gifts for healing. Although this isn't a book that teaches all aspects of healing (even deliverance is included) or prophesy or all aspects of any of the gifts, its chapters guide the reader into how to practice the gifts decently and in order yet in a way where the Holy is actually present to work. <br />
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This book will teach pastors and church members how to guide the prophets, workers of miracles, healers, faithers to develop, recognize, and use their gifts. It will also teach them how to understand how God wishes to work in each church and how each gift is to be used. How many of us have heard some so-called prophetess say something that is supposed to be a prophecy and felt uneasy about it? This book definitely shows the pitfalls of wrong prophets, prophesying, and prophesies. I especially liked the part where the author addresses how to use, understand, recognize spontaneous "spiritual songs" in the middle of the service. This is definitely the kind of book Paul might have given to the Corinthian church. <br />
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This book is definitely a challenge, but for those of us who want to be in a church that is as Biblical as possible it's a great book and an easy read. Who doesn't want to be in a church that does church the way God designed it<br />
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I was given this book free and without charge in exchange for a fair and honest review.<br />
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Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-92045717040474720002017-02-15T16:57:00.000-05:002017-02-15T16:57:03.486-05:00The Fan: Microcosm and Macrocosm -- Human Woundedness from A(lienated) to Z(ootopia)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Alienated 2016. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Writer/Director: Brian Ackley. Producer: Brian Ackley, Princeton Holt, and Cassandra Riddick. Actors: Taylor Negron, George Katt, and Jen Burry. Streaming on Amazon Prime </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">First thing first. Let me say that yes, there is an alien invasion in this film and in the long run it probably doesn’t really matter. Yep, that’s a spoiler but I kinda doubt if anyone who watches this movie will care about that -- after he reads my review. It’s a good flick -- or at least it was liked by yours truly. But do not go into this movie thinking we have a scifi movie on your hands.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Meet Paige who is married to Nate. Conspiracy theorist, visionary, isolationist, artist, possibly self-involved, Nate has seen what he thinks is a spacecraft. Trouble is: Nate is trying to get Paige to understand and Paige is having none of it. These two are in a communication and marriage meltdown. Whether it’s because Paige doesn’t understand Nate’s artistic spirit or feels just plain jealous and slighted, it’s hard to tell. At least in the beginning. Sure, Nate includes h himself in all his paintings. The artist part of me can kinda understand that. The characters in my novels pretty much resemble me in parts. And don’t all artists basically do art about themselves? So yeah, I understand Nate a bit. But there’s also the other side. And if there is one thing about this movie it’s that there is always the other side -- a side which the viewer sees, but which the active participants in this marital breakdown are reluctant to see. The other side is this: Well, why the heck is is putting himself in all his pictures? Can’t he vary his drawing style a bit? Why is he putting himself in a painting which he is giving to Denise, the widow of his best friend? Yes, yes, I get it: he is showing her he identifies with loss. Or he is showing loss itself. But dangnabbit, if you sense that your wife is jealous of the woman...you might want to rethink that whole art project. And really why are the lights on the spacecraft like the lights on your painting to Denise? Is there something you don’t know about yourself, Nate?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Why continue willfully on your own way if you sense the discussion is really about something else? And “sense” is the operative word here. One gets the feeling as one listens to this long painfully grievous conversation --yep! This entire film is a conversation-- that one needs to be willing to sense the other person’s side and that these folks are fully capable of willing themselves to….but they just have reached the point where they don’t want to will themselves to understand any more. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I swear this movie would be good for a marriage counseling class. Again, I repeat, the whole alien invasion thing has very little to do with the plot. It doesn’t mean the film is bad. It’s a very good, very harrowing, very painful film. Just...well, if you see it on AmazonPrime, it’s best to know what you’re getting into. So back to our marriage problems:, Nate can decide to perceive Paige as jealous or as needing affirmation. Paige can decide to see Nate as an artist or as self-centered. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But let’s get to the third character: Griffin, this odd guy next door who -- for all we know may or may not exist. Griffin is the kind of neighbor who asks the kind of deep questions folks in indie films ask. Thing is: he kinda knows an awful lot about Nate, who seems to be the only one who sees him. Is Griffin an angel? Is he God? I don’t think he’s God or even an alien. Griffin is the kind of character who can either make or break an indie film because, heck, he gives us a sermony voiceover at the end.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The ending is an open-ending. We don’t see any human bodies so it’s possible our lovers still exist and are alive on another planet somewhere. Heck, they might have been raptured! Thing is though: the earth doesn’t seem destroyed, just kinda ya know… emptied. And if it is emptied, or --heck-- if our main characters are dead...at least they are together and committed to being willing to understand each other. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I remember the days when alien invasion movies ended with humans triumphing over their reptilian exo-skeletoned baddies. Heck, I remember the days when the earth survived all kinds of disasters. Not so, now. It has often been said that if we Earthers were to be challenged by a larger looming evil --heck, if we Americans were all challenged by some external evil-- we would all finally join together. Uhm, I’m not sure of that. Human willfulness and selfishness are both pretty strong. So in the end, our main characters come to terms with their lives and with the changes to their world. Is that a good thing? And if so, how? Is harmony between humans, come what may, all that matters? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Zootopia</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Producers: Monica Lago-Kaytis, John Lasseter, Brad Simonson, Clark Spencer; Directors and Writers: Byron Howard, Jared Bush, Rich Moore; Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Animation 2016</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Now, perhaps it’s me. But I find myself thinking there is something else to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Zootopia</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> other than the much-praised meta-animated discussion of racism. And don’t get me wrong! I do love the film’s insights into multiculturalism and racial dynamics in a cosmopolitan world. And hey! It’s a good mystery and great animation! Some of the racial subtexts were so good I actually had to google the writers to see if any of them were Black. Example: As a Black woman, I’ve had white folks --notably-- my white mother-in-law reach out to touch my afro. And the notion that a government official could make a drug from a flower and circulate it to the “predatory” classes was not lost on my ultra-conspiratorial Jamaican mind. And heck, I almost cried twice when watching </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Zootopia,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> although I suspect that both racists and non-racists could feel the movie is speaking to them. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The first time I almost wept copious tears was of a scene uniquely connected to minorities; the other was a scene that a more generalized audience would understand. In the first scene, an incident is recounted of a little boy who was not allowed to belong because he was not the right uh…okay let’s call it ”race.” The second scene harkened to the kind of heartfelt sentimentality that is everywhere during the Christmas Season, Martin Luther King Day, or even the Special Olympics: belief in possibilities, hope in humanity and ourselves, and loving trust in our neighbors. So yes, I liked this movie a lot.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But yeah, that other thing. The other human element, a subtext which a more homogenous nation might more readily see. Forgetting racial matters, the movie is also an examination of the emotional equivalence of predatoriness and the emotional similitude of being a prey. In </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Alienated</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, the viewer is shown two equals involved in a subtle war against each other. Culturally, a marriage is an alliance and a balance of emotional power; there should be neither prey nor predator in the relationship. (Of course predation --or assumptions of predation-- happens a lot in some marriage...and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Alienated </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">is an examination of the battle humans engage in when they believe they are being preyed upon.)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But in the “real” world, there are no fast rules on how to discern predatory humans, preys, or wolves in sheep’s clothing. We humans often take on allies -- in religious systems, in social groups, in social status-- on the assumption that those who are like us are probably not going to destroy us. In addition to that, we learn to discern false flags, to intuit warning signals, to decipher behavioral patterns that hint at whether we are dealing with someone we can harm, someone who can harm us, someone who will defend herself if attacked, someone who will scurry away like a bunny. I remember reading about a psychological study which examined why certain types of people usually end up repeatedly abused. They send out signals that potential attackers hone in on: phermones, if you will. Other folks, with kinder or more enlightened or introspective hearts, might also sniff out the weaknesses of their fellow humans. But these kinder, enlightened, introspective hearts never attack. They are either able to spiritually check themselves, or identify with the possible prey. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Zootopia</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, Judy Hops still has the instinct to fear those who may be destructive to her. From biological instinct and from past experiences, she is predisposed to distrusting Nick who is a fox. Heck, she carries around a spray just in case she meets an unevolved fox. Thus she is aware that she has been prey and might be prey but she is not willing to be ruled by her past experiences. Nick, on the other hand, has experienced being prey. One would not think a fox could be deceived but alas as a child he was. As a lover of the poet William Blake, I will just say that Nick too went from “Songs of Innocence” to “Songs of Experience” And now, he -- like Judy-- are on their way to singing “Songs of Regained Innocence.” </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Zootopia</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, biology is believed to be the marker that signals the possibility of predation. A lion’s biology would make it a predator, a bunny’s or a sheep’s biology would make it a prey. But since the animals of Zootopia have evolved past mere biological urges, all desire for predation has changed. Oh there are still power structures, scheming, underhandedness, etc. But there is no predation. Let’s digress and consider that for a moment. Not from an animal perspective but from humanity’s. Will cruel humans ever evolve out of the need to be cruel to weaker humans? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There is a scene where Judy chases a criminal through Little Rodentia, a town populated by tiny rodents. Our bunny cop, who has been pretty much among the tiniest beings in Zootopia’s capital city now has power to harm. However, she does not harm. She is quite aware of her power to accidentally step on those who are weaker or smaller than she is. In fact, the viewer also sees that Nick -- a predator-- is also aware of the little folks below him. Later, when we meet a big gangster, Mr Big, we discover that predation has nothing to do with size at all. Small, puny, people can be predatory too. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This leads the viewer to begin to understand that preys can go against their biological programming and suddenly behave like predators. (Not gonna get into the whole nurture versus nature debate here.) So, it is no surprise to us when we see that one prey has been put-upon for so long that patience becomes anger, the need to control, and the active desire for vengeance. I found myself wondering about the human “real world” counterpart of this situation. Do weak, put-upon people suddenly lose it? Why yes, they do!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Considering how volatile the world has been about racial matters lately, I’m not sure how many reviewers will wish to examine this aspect of the film. After all, racism is of national import right now. Being kinder and gentler to each other is kinda on the back-burner. Besides, reviewers, as a group, tend to be like other humans: there are some who are so emotionally strong -- or who have been biologically, financially, and racially linked to power-- that they may not see this little corner of the box. But, I’m hoping in those reviewers out there who understand what being prey is. They might see this subtext quite easily. And maybe their pens will be their swords and they can root for a film that basically tells us all to be excellent to each other.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Happy Creativity, all. </span></div>
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Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-44894992799542957222017-02-11T15:38:00.000-05:002017-02-11T15:38:04.737-05:002017 Oscar Nominated Shorts -- Documentary<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This joint US-Greece short shows the efforts to save refugees coming in by boat from the Middle East via Turkey. I was on the verge of tears watching this. The film is effective in showing how complex the whole humanitarian crisis is. Weeping children, many of them orphans, caring but wary Greeks who feel their island is being overwhelmed, especially because there is no infrastructure on the island to take care of sick, homeless refugees. A very sad but important watch. I suspect that even people who are hateful toward Moslems would be touched. </div>
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I think I needed a trigger alert for this documentary. The focus of this story is on people in ICU in Kansas who are not going to recover from their illnesses. These people (if they are able, or if their families are willing) are given the choice of living or dying. Sometimes living implies being in a vegetative state until the body gives out. It's definitely a study about the ethics of medicine. This is a very, very, hard watch. </div>
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This is very touching. After a NYC radio station starts a musical donation drive, many people donated their instruments. This story is focused on a holocaust survivor who is giving up his beloved violin. Music meant a lot to him before the war, while he was in the displaced person's camp in Siberia, and after. He donates the violin to a young girl and they become friends. This girl also has endure some suffering of her own. This is a very inspiring documentary. I was weepy throughout. </div>
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Among the bombed-out houses and shelters in Syria are a group of people called the White Helmets who go through the rubble to find survivors and bodies. It's another hard watch. It's just very difficult seeing all that suffering, but it's inspiring to see how brave these first-responders are. This is yet another film that those who dislike refugees should see. </div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span> This depicts the life of a refugee Syrian family as they try start a new life in Germany. It's hopeful but felt slightly like propaganda. Unlike the previous refugee films where we are in the middle of a distressing situation, this film has time for reflection and even a bit of a happy ending. The conversations tend to be the kind of talk one hears when one is aware that others are watching and that one needs to say certain appropriate things. Perhaps because of this and because of the slickness of the finished production, everything recalled in tranquility, the film feels like any old documentary one might find on a news program.<br />
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What Should Win: Joe's Violin or 4.1 Miles.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: small;">In Theaters February 8th and On Demand February 21st<u></u><u></u></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: small;">For a full list of theaters the short films are playing in, visit:<u></u><u></u></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: small;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://shorts.tv/theoscarshorts/dates-locations/&source=gmail&ust=1486832454921000&usg=AFQjCNEtotCvTuK9xxOxVma5SihvvZWlvQ" href="http://shorts.tv/theoscarshorts/dates-locations/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">http://shorts.tv/theoscarshort<wbr></wbr></span>s/dates-locations/</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: small;">For information on how to watch On Demand, visit:<u></u><u></u></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="m_-1130038754934569404m_6810819183042888962MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: small;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.shorts.tv/theoscarshorts/online-and-vod/%23online-1&source=gmail&ust=1486832454921000&usg=AFQjCNFdNbR4-6TPkLEyu3P4OhwFeTg5BQ" href="http://www.shorts.tv/theoscarshorts/online-and-vod/#online-1" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">http://www.shorts.tv/theoscars<wbr></wbr></span>horts/online-and-vod/#online-1</a></span></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: small;">Watch the official trailer:<u></u><u></u></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: small;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://youtu.be/i0dp5wPvi8E&source=gmail&ust=1486832454921000&usg=AFQjCNF9asvcfZ1iLKJ5cGTpszbyRfhnaQ" href="https://youtu.be/i0dp5wPvi8E" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">https://youtu.be/i0dp5wPvi8E</span></a><u></u><u></u></span></div>
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Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-30539755494688375572017-02-11T14:59:00.000-05:002017-02-11T15:38:31.688-05:002017 Oscar Nominated Shorts -- Animation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Blind Vaysha</span></div>
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The plot of this story is simple. A girl, Vaysha, is born with one eye that sees only the past and another eye that sees only the beautiful. Although the village women try to help her, she never sees the present. This modern fairytale from Canada merges the philosophical and the fantastical, which is what the best fairytales always do. Watching the artwork is like watching a living ancient etching. An animated film that will cause much discussion among filmgoers of any age. This should win if the Academy members decide to go for a deep story.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Borrowed Time</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">In this US short, a son recounts the tragic events that led to his father's death. A tragedy which he caused but was not responsible for and which has haunted him since that day. The cinematography is breath-taking. The script is crisp, powerful, and heart-rending despite the sparse dialog. A lot of emotion and beauty in this 6-minute film. </span> Definitely not for kids. </div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Pear Cider and Cigarettes</span></div>
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This joint Canadian and UK noir has spectacular linear art, very reminscent of comic books. The story is excellent, the narration world-weary. The entire thing is stylish. But it bored me. Perhaps I'm burned out on good-for-nothing self-destructive types, but after a while I didn't care enough about the antihero and I kept wondering why such great art was being wasted on such a character. Perhaps it's the literature major in me but I've just seen too many stories about loser/users to care. This story added nothing new to similar stories and the backstory of ant-hero's life didn't give the viewer any reason to care about or understand him. So, while his friend the narrator was well-acted and worn down, the story seemed as inevitable and predictable as the anti-hero's path towards death. </div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Pearl</span></div>
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This American short about growing up, bonding, and paternal love is very sweet but it says nothing new. In it, a young girl realizes how much her father has influenced her. The color palate of the film is very painterly, giving the viewer a rhapsodic pastel rush of fleeting, nostalgic, images. <br />
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This is a Pixar joint and it is utterly adorable. I had a big grin on my face. It's cute, hopeful, joyful, lovely...and it has a cute little baby bird. Yes, the cuteness factor is off the charts. Academy members who like cuteness should love this. <br />
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What Should Win: Blind Vaysha but I wouldn't mind if Borrowed Time or Piper won.</div>
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Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-12786079980621049542017-02-10T17:48:00.002-05:002017-02-11T15:39:43.680-05:002017 Oscar Nominated Shorts -- Live Action<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Ennemis Intérieurs (Enemies Within)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Ennemis Interieurs is a story that takes place for the most part in one setting: an official's office. But that particular setting resonates in its universality and specificity. Most people, in most places have been in this type of setting. Who has not had to meet a bureaucrat at some government office? But the setting is also specific and immigrants, religious and ethnic minorities, will feel the resonance in their own way. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The basic plot is this: An immigrant who has lived in France most of his life has decided to become a citizen. He is interviewed by an official who seems at first to be more a gatekeeper or police agent than a welcoming immigration office. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">This is one of the most harrowing short-shorts I've seen in a while. Even more harrowing than the many horror shorts I've seen. And the reason it's such a hard watch and such a painful slow burn is not because of the inherent creepiness that occurs when one sees someone being interrogated in a tiny room by a cold meticulous official bent on tripping one up. It's because one finds one's self getting angrier and angrier as the cruelty becomes more pointed and the trap becomes more inescapable. It's been ages since a film villain has made me so angry. Most villains in movies are cool and we filmgoers generally admire their sang-froid and cold-heartedness. But the citizenship inspector is so reminiscent of that powerful real-world prejudiced villainous official who is hell-bent on destruction. In this character, we see how pernicious, subtle, and vicious the prejudices of the powerful are. Highly recommended. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">La Femme et le TGV (The Woman and the TGV)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">A woman whose life is passing her by is holding on to the past --its elegance, its proprieties, its routine. Part of her daily routine is waving out the window at a passing train -- the TGV. She has not greeted the new things of life -- things such as the internet, or people like the playful young guy who dared to park her car in front of her bakery. But then, one day, a letter arrives and it is from someone on the train. He has seen her waving everyday and he writes to thank her that he values that very human action. She answers that it is a habit she formed with her son in the old days. However, this new interaction with this unseen letter-writer becomes the catalyst which causes her to grow out of her old ways. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">I liked this film a lot. I can't say it is anything super-special, so I'm somewhat surprised that it is nominated as a short. After all, there are countless movies and shorts about people encountering something, event, or action that causes some life-changing momentum to be set in place. Perhaps I'm missing something about the film that makes me unable to see it's greatness. Perhaps it has national or cultural echoes --the death of small-town France, for instance. But I won't hold its simplicity against it. It is a sweet little short with a solid story and good cinematography. </span></div>
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Every once in a while one comes upon a movie where one has a disconnect with the filmmakers. For me, this was such a movie. The story is about a young woman in Denmark who is working in a homeless shelter for poor legal and undocumented immigrants. She encounters a homeless man from Ghana and falls in love with him. Because of this encounter, the man leaves Denmark with lots of money and the woman is left alone happily fulfilled with his child. Perhaps the blurb is to blame, which reads as: "<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: x-small;">The couple builds a life together, but a devastating secret from Kwame's past may undermine their happiness." SPOILER (which is not really a spoiler): The Ghanaian man is married with children. </span><br />
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There are countless reasons why this movie annoyed me. The primary one, however, is that the music cues us to like the Ghanaian. Musical cues rarely work when a story is so facile. The writer in me wants sentiment --especially the sentiment of pity-- to be earned. In the end, the story comes off as a tale about a naïve loveless White girl who is taken advantage of by a Black man. Which is fine. But this is not what the filmmakers intended. The depiction of the immigrant is patronizing, his adultery is glossed over and repaid by monetary gains. The girl comes off as a dupe, and the film as self-congratulatory and simplistic. For me the story should have been more subtle and more morally complicated. For instance, is it possible for a poor man to love a woman who is giving him financial help and who ends up providing him with sex and a place to stay? A story like this --told in times like this-- should leave the viewer feeling troubled and perhaps confused. </div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Sing (Mindenki)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">This Hungarian short is utterly a-political, yet profoundly political. Unlike the failure Silent Nights and the pointed and devastating Enemies Within, Sing shows in a small setting -- a primary school-- that the political is often quite personal and that communal power (however small) can overcome evil....if only on a small scale. The story concerns a school choir, the choir mistress, and an upcoming contest which the choir mistress desperately wishes to win. The choir mistress is not below using cruelty to get her way. What I loved primarily about this film was its kindness, its unobtrusive but powerful subtext, and its efficient storytelling. It may not be as devastatingly powerful as Enemies Within but it says a lot about how power could be challenged. I highly recommend this little short. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Timecode</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">This short from Spain manages to be primarily about dance. I wouldn't necessarily call it a dance film, however. The dancing is interwoven like beads on a very thin plot string. But it works so well. The main characters are two guards who never speak to each other -- at least their communication is not verbal. They pass each other like ships in the night; dancing ships. The only verbal communication between them are the camera timecodes they exchange, timecodes which give each other clues to when and where their dance communication takes place. A good short, and like any good dance flick, the culmination of the story and the dance work perfectly together.</span></div>
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Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-78294049515701098672017-02-09T14:50:00.001-05:002017-02-09T14:50:25.488-05:00review: The Great Good Thing by Andrew Klavan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The Great Good Thing: A Secular Jew Comes to Faith in Christ<br />
by Andrew Klavan<br />
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<li><b>Hardcover:</b> 304 pages</li>
<li><b>Publisher:</b> Thomas Nelson (September 20, 2016)</li>
<li><b>Language:</b> English</li>
<li><b>ISBN-10:</b> 071801734X</li>
<li><b>ISBN-13:</b> 978-0718017347</li>
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I really like this book. Usually I fear reading conversion stories that are published by large Christian companies. Often, they are ghost-written by a Christian ghost-writer and feels very cookie-cutter by-the-book. Often those conversion stories don't feel quite literary. And no, I'm not into literary memoirs, but there is something to be said for actually seeing the personality of the writer and knowing one is reading words that are chosen by the book's subject instead of words chosen or written by a ghostwriter. But hey, that's just me. The writer in me can spot sameness in any book and apparently, there's a Christian style of non-fiction/memoir writing. <br />
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Anyway, moving on. <br />
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Another thing that's good about this book is that feels as if it was written by an excellent writer. There is a self-searching and an honesty that is apparent in this spiritual memoir. The book is ruminative and revelatory and much care is taken to show the inner workings of the memoirist. He talks about having to push past his knowledge that his background might have set him up to reject his faith in order to fit into White Christian Culture. Because the writer of this book loves books, the memoir has many literary references as well as many dissections of emotional, psychological, and spiritual challenges on the way to his conversion. And he's very honest about his challenges, giving -- so to speak-- "a knife to any reader who might wish to stab him with" some supposed 'reason' for his conversion. Most Christian non-fiction --in my experience-- just isn't that honest. And that's what I liked about this memoir. <br />
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One of the challenges he mentions was when he had that moment, the false epiphany of "No God." It reminded of what happened to William James, Henry James' Brother. If I recall, James had been walking through life when suddenly it occurred to him that God did not exist. It was such a sudden realization that it freed him, supposedly. Except that Klavan couldn't rest in that sudden (false) realization that God didn't exist. He pushed past it. <br />
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The book is very readable, insightful, and a great read. Highly recommended. I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.<br />
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Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-5973444116741372542017-01-29T16:52:00.001-05:002017-01-29T16:53:21.969-05:00The Fan: A Boy Goes on a Journey<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">THE FAN -- So...this happened: A Boy Goes on a Journey</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">By Carole McDonnell</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Hello, all:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">One of the chief joys of journeys is the joy of simply zoning out from one’s own mind and entering into the swiftly (or slowly) moving passing present. The joy of being in the happening, especially if the happening is new, emotionally involving, and promises a fulfilling destination. Here now are the latest fan journeys from the Fan, a collection of squees definitely come from a fan girl’s heart.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Train to Busan</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, Korean, 2016, horror-thriller. Directed by Yeon Sang-ho, Produced by Lee Dong-ha, Written by Park Joo-suk; Starring Gong Yoo, Ma Dong-seok running time: 2 hours.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The first thing you oughta know is that Korean films and TV shows are very spiritual. Even films that are revenge thrillers are bound to have a redemption arc or two. You can’t escape it. The second thing you ought to know is that this is a film about a zombie outbreak on a bullet train. A sudden zombie outbreak. I say this because your typical American film about an outbreak of zombieism tends to concern itself with the day after. In </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Train to Busan,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> the survivors are suddenly overwhelmed by sudden disaster. Maybe it’s the effect of living in the fearful shadow of North Korea but the film gives off a great siege mentality, sudden psychic trauma vibe.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So, our story begins with Fund Manager, Seok Woo who pretty much represents greed and selfishness. Korean films, of late have been way concerned with greed and greediness. Seok Woo has plans for himself and his daughter Su-An. They end up on a train with Sang-hwa and his wife Sung-kyung, who is pregnant, two older women who are sisters, a rich guy, a high school baseball team, two lovers, and a mysterious homeless man. These folks all represent different levels and permutations of selfishness, altruism, and self-sacrifice. And then, the zombie rage and neck-biting begins.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And the munchies have not only affected zombies on the train, but it’s all over. Why? You may ask. Well, pay attention to the first ten or so minutes and you’ll get an idea of why things in Seoul and the rest of Korea have come to such a pass. (I can’t say anymore; I only write spoilers when there is absolutely no chance you’ll be watching a film.) So..upshot? The train can’t just stop anywhere. Coz, ya know: zombie roamers, zombie rioting. And right now the only place that seems safe is Busan, the other big city in Korea. (Oh yes, something else about Busan that we Korean dramaphiles know: Busan is a bit like the anti-Seoul..and often equated with country folks and the working class but also with gangsters. So much so that gangsters from all over Korea routinely train themselves to speak in a Busan accent. But who is the real lowlife? The sophisticated Seoulite or the working class guy? Who is the better person? And who is the useless person? Does money truly make the man?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Of course part of the fun of a horror movie is seeing the different kinds of kills and wondering if your favorite characters will make it. I won’t tell you who all makes it to the end, but I’ll warn you that since this is a Korean movie and Korean directors love devastating viewers, it’s best you don’t get too attached to most of our main characters. Just saying: Korean women seem to like crying. So, yeah, there’s that.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Let me tell you, Dear Reader and Cinema-phile, this is a great two-hour thrill-ride popcorn flick. (There’s an animated sequel called Seoul Survivors which I didn’t get a chance to watch which is probably just as much fun...and more so because, yeah...animation. Animated bodies in horror can do mega-more interesting stuff. Yeah, I really should find that film and watch it as well.)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We have redemption arc, we have guilt, we have bromance, we have moral and immoral decisions, bonds broken and made, we have unexpected deaths (okay, they’re only unexpected if you don’t know Korean thrillers, and the last two minutes of the film really had me wondering if nihilism or optimism would triumph. I won’t tell you what wins.) There are two villains, one more overtly villainous than the other. Incredibly nasty-villain comes to an appropriately nasty ending, and not-so-overtly-nasty villain has his moment of redemption. And yes, we have zombies on a train.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What I liked about this flick -- other than being able to see a couple of my fave actors in Korea’s first zombie flick-- is the simple but great worldbuilding. We need to understand only a couple of facts about zombie life and our main characters. Once the audience understands how your typical zombie behaves under certain situations and who is selfish and altruistic, we’re off and running. And yes...I do mean “running.” Because not only are the survivors running but this is one extremely fast-paced flick. Highly recommended.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kubo and the Two Strings</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> -- Written by Marc Haimes and Chris Butler. Directed by Travis Knight. Produced by Laika Studios, 102 minutes, United States, August 2016</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kubo and the Two Strings</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> is a stop-action animation film with one of the most engaging characters I’ve seen in a while. To begin with, he is a very loving and caring child….with one eye. What a sweetie! I can’t remember the last time I saw a film about a loving, caring, little boy. I know this might seem like a strange reason to love a movie but think of it...we don’t see care-giving little boys in films nowadays where caregiving is the child’s major role. And we certainly don’t see it in animated films. Of course the typical hero of old is often selfless, filial, and noble, but he’s usually busy on his hero’s journey; his caring qualities is part of his subtext and only arise when he needs those weaker than himself. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But not Kubo. Kubo’s sole, selfless, purpose in life is to care for his mother -- a mother who is not entirely emotionally-present….unlike the totally absent-but-perfectly-healthy doting moms in the typical fairytale or Disney films. That alone makes Kubo unique. He’s a sweet kid and we simply love being with him on his journey. And what a sweet, lovely, magical journey it is! This is a beautiful, fanciful story. And “fanciful” is always fun. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Poet Emily Dickinson wrote, “A poem should not mean, but be.” Sometimes being and mere experience are all that’s needed; meaning can be unnecessary --or worse-- an intrusion. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kubo and the Two Strings</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> is a storytelling experience about stories. Or maybe it’s about journeys. Or maybe it’s about memories. But, wonderful little film that it is, it would probably have excelled to awesomeness if the screenwriter had not tried to wrestle meaning into it. I have no problem with meaning. Let me be clear about that. What I have a problem with is the sudden infiltration of an attempt at meaning which feels tacked on, awkward, preachy, and over-reaching. An example: some night-time dreams are clear, others are utterly incomprehensible yet they still manage to touch the deepest part of the dreamer’s soul and make the dreamer feel as if she has touched the numinous. Kubo’s beauty comes from its characters, its matter-of-fact fantasy, its mundane otherworldliness, and its depiction of emotions as powerful as love and grief. So, yeah, I kinda wish the storyteller had not felt the need to tie so much of his story into a neat little bow. I suppose the “creative powers that were” felt that a good children’s story should have its meaning stated explicitly. I’m not sure, though, that meaning --explicitly stated or otherwise-- is all that necessary. Kids tend to be more interested in characters...and their journeys..than they are in the meaning. One of my favorite stories,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> The Day Boy and the Night Girl</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> by George MacDonald, is downright inscrutable. But it haunts me still….But “still” Kubo is haunting in its own way. Just not as haunting as it should be.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Now, We’re Alive</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(Et Maintenant, nous sommes en vie</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) 2014, French, Thibault Arbre (Writer, Director, Producer). Giles Daoust, Producer. Amazon Prime.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I happened upon this movie either by sheer luck or by trained intuition. Give me a film synopsis, and I can pretty much tell (most of the time) what I’m in for. Well, imagine my surprise when I found myself being flummoxed as I watched this little French spec-fic indie. Like all my fave films, it’s a slow burn and folks will either love it or hate it. I loved it. Why? You may ask.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Because it’s a great example of a writer taking a speculative premise and running through its various ramifications. When the story begins, we are presented with Tom. Tom is twenty-five and as tradition dictates, he must find his wife. Or, rather, the voice of his soul. This is done by being blindfolded and placed in a room and listening to women (also born on the same day he was, fifteen years ago) speak. The voice of his soul, his true wife, will captivate him and he will know who he is to marry. He will, after that, go in search for her.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So, Tom does all this. He even has visions of the woman’s face. But, woe betide, he cannot find her and when a woman presents herself as the voice he has heard, he simply does not connect with her. This is seriously bad, culturally and familially speaking. An affront to sensible people, an offense to his father and to the girl’s family. But alas, Tom has to soldier on.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But he doesn’t necessarily do that. He becomes more and more attached to the vision of the woman --named Jeanne, perhaps-- whom he knows is the true voice of his soul. All the while, he ignores, sweet patient Lea. Question is: Is Jeanne a figment of his imagination? Is she some inner aspect of Lea? Is the tradition right or wrong? Should Tom just give up on his ideal and accept the woman in his bed? Is there such a thing as the perfect true love...or not?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I loved this movie. Why? Because Tom is so obsessive and so sure and I love an obsessed hero who believes in that one personal truth that no one else believes.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">41</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, Director Glenn Triggs, Writer: Glenn Triggs, Science fiction, UK, 2012</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So, there I was trying to resist my love of time travel movies. (For your benefit, Dear Reader.) Then this film caught my attention. Nay, I dare say it jumped out at me. From my youtube screen. Let me add that for some strange cosmic reason there are a heck of a lot of movies out there with the title </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">41</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. So if you go searching for this flick, look for the indie-looking one made in 2012.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">If you like indie scifi films, this might be up your alley as well. I suppose I should say --off-handedly-- that it is a bit like</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Primer</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. Bur seriously, what indie time travel film isn’t like </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Primer</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Our story begins with Hayden in his philosophy class listening to the lecture ask those deep questions hip philosophy teachers always ask at the beginning of indie flicks. Our premise subtly (or not so subtly) placed before us, we next see Hayden meeting himself. He warns himself not to go to a certain motel and not to go to room 41. But, do I even need to say that he ends up there? Of course not. People never heed the advice given to them by their time-travelling selves. Turns out there is a hole in the floor of a certain hotel room which leads to “the day before.” The next thing we know, Hayden’s ex-girlfriend --whom he bumped into at the motel he wasn’t supposed to go to-- ends up dead. Problematical. One: because the cops blame him for it. And two: because try as he might to prevent the death, his former girlfriend always ends up dead and he ends up with various versions of himself. What to do? What to do?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ya know...ya know...this was a fun movie. Hayden’s repeated attempts to repair yesterday of course lead him to the answer to the life-question posed by hip-trendy professor. But it’s not the life question that mattered for me, it was the journey and the people Hayden met along the way. </span></div>
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Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-35407192423645300872016-11-28T15:01:00.002-05:002016-11-28T15:01:46.811-05:00Review: Soframiz: Vibrant Middle Eastern Recipes from Sofra Bakery and Cafe <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="a-size-large" id="productTitle">Soframiz: Vibrant Middle Eastern Recipes from Sofra Bakery and Cafe</span> <br />
by Ana Sofrun and Maura Kilpatrick<br />
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<ul>
<li><b>Hardcover:</b> 264 pages</li>
<li><b>Publisher:</b> Ten Speed Press (October 11, 2016)</li>
<li><b>Language:</b> English</li>
<li><b>ISBN-10:</b> 1607749181</li>
<li><b>ISBN-13:</b> 978-1607749189</li>
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Wow! What a great tempting book! Generally, I don't like cookbooks created by chefs who are giving readers their formerly secret recipes. For one, cookbooks made by chefs tend to be a bit pretentious and oriented toward the foodie types. For two, I generally hate food fusion...which a lot of these chefs do for upscale customers. For three, the books are often created to advertise the chef and his/her restaurant.<br />
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Well, imagine my surprise! This book has none of those drawbacks! Well, some of the dishes definitely look westernized but not to the smug foodie fusion extreme. I'm wondering if I should keep it -- because I may just try making (or looking for) everything in this book-- and I can't do that because I'm not really supposed to eat gluten. <br />
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The recipes are of foods that are found in the Middle East. Think, Yemen, Greece, Israel, Iran, Morocco, and Turkey. <br />
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The chapters and categories are:<br />
Breakfast<br />
Meze<br />
Flatbreads<br />
Savory Pies<br />
Cookies and Confections<br />
Specialty Pastries, cakes, and desserts,<br />
Beverages,<br />
Pantry (which includes recipes for several basic Middle Eastern spices)<br />
Essential ingredients<br />
Friends and Resources<br />
About the Authors<br />
Acknowledgments<br />
Index<br />
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The book is primarily about pastries, so there aren't a lot of meat recipes. But those that are present look so good! Meat, veggies, chocolate, dairy, nuts, seeds, fruits, flowers, squashes, and beans joined with different kinds of doughs to form breakfast, snacks/appetizers (or mezes) desserts, and larger meals. Then there are the beverages --namely three teas, one lemonade, and one hot chocolate!<br />
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Most of the ingredients are available in grocery stores but a few might only be found in your local middle eastern stores or via Amazon. Generally, the authors don't tell the cookbook user how nd what to substitute for the missing ingredient. <br />
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The recipes are clearly stated and the pictures are temptingly beautiful. Most of these recipes are unknown to me. So don't expect to find recipes for stuffed grape leaves or tabbouleh. Yeah, I kinda wish they had included some of the foods we know...but you know...the real versions of them. But its a great book, nevertheless. If you're a baker, and you want to experiment with new kinds of pastry --the sweets and desserts in this book reminded me of Turkish candies-- definitely buy this book. Or make it a present for the cook you know.<br />
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This book was sent to me free in exchange for a fair and honest review. <br />
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Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34037941.post-46842592428419992442016-11-15T15:07:00.000-05:002016-11-15T15:07:43.645-05:00Review: 365 Devotions for Finding Rest by Christina Vinson<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Review: 365 Devotions for Finding Rest by Christina Vinson<br />
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<ul>
<li><b>Hardcover:</b> 400 pages</li>
<li><b>Publisher:</b> Zondervan (November 8, 2016)</li>
<li><b>Language:</b> English</li>
<li><b>ISBN-10:</b> 0310083532</li>
<li><b>ISBN-13:</b> 978-0310083535</li>
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I'm seriously amazed. I like this book. I generally avoid Christian non-fiction/self-help/spiritual books because hey, if you've been around for as long as I have...well, you already know a lot of this stuff and you're pretty impatient with newbie Christians straining themselves to tell you some new spin on Christian discipline, teaching, fellowship, living or whatever. <br />
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But honestly, this is a good book! I was trying to learn how to rest -- something we Christian women re very bad at because we re brainwashed into being active no matter what. (Although we are supposed to enter into Christ's rest.)<br />
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Anyway, I generally find Christian devotionals to be a bit shallow but this time I was pleasantly surprised. The writer assumes her reader is equal to her. She's not teaching down to you or being patronizing or uber-spiritual. And while the devotionals have insight and depth, they are neither pretentiously pseudo-deep nor watered down. The vocabulary is accessible. The themes that are tackled re surprising. Whoever thought of having a rest from procrastination? I highly recommend this book for anyone --male or female-- who needs to understand the importance of resting.<br />
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I received this book free of charge in exchange for a fair and honest review. <br />
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Carole McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.com0