Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers

I've reviewed three books for Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers for my blog and wanted to make sure I shared a few more details. I stumbled across this on another blog I was reading and was intriguied. If you go to the site and sign up and have a blog where you review books you can receive copies of books for free. On the site you can see reviews other readers have already done of books and can also access a list of books to select from to review. Once you select the first book you must reveiw it before being allowed to receive another book, but as soon as you post the review you are eligible to select another. So far all three of my books have been nonfiction, but there are also fiction selections. I have the button posted at both the top and bottom of my post or you can use this address brb@thomasnelson.com . Check it out if you are interested!

"Have a Little Faith: A True Story" by Mitch Album

I was surprised to find this book on the shelf at the library last week. I have enjoyed Album's books in the past and was looking forward to giving this one a try. It was very enjoyable. Although he condenses it into a one year period it covers a span of 8 years of getting to know his childhood Rabbi after being asked to perform the Rabbi's eulogy. At the same time as he is getting to know the Reb, the Rabbi's nickname, he also gets to know a pastor at a church closer to his new home in Detroit. As a sportswriter Album is used to traveling so he takes time to go to meet with the Reb in New Jersey and also regularly visits the I Am My Brother's Keeper Ministry that is housed in an old church that is falling apart. This book reminded me how important it is to slow down and get to know people, to stop relying so much on emails, text messages and technology and how much can be gained by face to face interaction with family and friends. Also, community is formed by getting to know your neighbors.

"Jack Daniel's Spirit of Tennessee Cookbook" by Lynne Tolley and Pat Mitchamore

This book is part cookbook and part history book. Scattered thoughout the recipes are historical essays, descriptions, personal accounts, stories and quotes about Tennessee and the Jack Daniel's distillery. These add ons bring Tennesse and it's geography and population alive for the reader. Many recipes start with a story of where it came from and how it came into being.

I enjoyed finding out how Jack Daniel's distills their whiskey, about how prohibition affected the Daniel's family (they started trading mules), and about how one boarding house is so popular it is still a lunchtime spot that requires reservations. I look forard to giving a try to some of the recipes, many of which call for Jack Daniel's whiskey. Unfortunately none of the recipes include any calorie estimates which I've become used to in cookbooks.

"Down the Rabbit Hole: An Echo Falls Mystery" by Peter Abrahams

This is a young adult mystery that I decided to read for a group I belong to on GoodReads. When I was younger I loved reading mysteries, I still enjoy them now but I've branched out in more directions as I've gotten older. I thought it would be fun to try out a YA mystery as an adult. This one would have appealed to me a lot more when I was younger. I enjoyed it, but as an adult it became kind of obvious who was responsible. I got a bit frustrated with the main character, a thirteen year-old-girl named Ingrid because she kept taking matters into her own hands. She does solve the mystery but had she been my daughter she would have been grounded for a very long time for taking so many chances with her safety.

Contest to win "Her Fearful Symmetry" by Audry Niffenegger

Right now Facebook has a special offer for "Her Fearful Symmetry" by Audrey Niffenegger. Regal Literary has 25 hardcover and 10 Advanced Reader’s Copies of Her Fearful Symmetry for fans. Email hfs@regal-literary.com with subject “Facebook Special Offer – I’m a fan!” by November 13, and we’ll enter you into the lottery. I'm not sure if you have to become a fan on facebook before you can enter, but if you have a facebook account it only takes a minute. I loved "The Time Traveler's Wife" and have really been wanted to read this one too!

"The Power of Respect: Benefit from the Most Forgotten Element of Success" by Deborah Norville

This book is well written and very nicely organized. Norville first defines respect and how it starts at home, how it can be taught in a family, how it works in a marriage or a friendship, how it functions in the workplace, how it's lack can affect both a school or business, and how an individual can work on their own self respect. She uses examples from research and from the lives of people she knows either personally or through her work on Inside Edition. The chapters are clearly marked for easy use by parents, teachers or businesses.

Having small children I was very interested in how to teach respect to children and as an educator I really enjoyed how she showed respect at work at schools and the great difference it made in not just behavior but also academic achievement when school wide respect programs were implemented with student involvement. It is eyeopening to think about how she is right, often we are more respectful to strangers we meet during the course of our day than we are to our own families. You can build people up by showing them respect, at home, at school, or at work and that building up can build a foundation for the future.
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"The Postmistress" by Sarah Blake

I received this book as part of Barnes and Nobles First Look Book Club. If you have never taken part in one I highly recommend it. You can find them on the B & N site under book clubs. The next sign-ups will be at the beginning of December for a January club (the next two months are off months). You sign up and receive an Advanced Reading Copy or ARC of a book that has not yet been released. You are expected to participate in an online discussion and post a review to their site at the completion of the book. This is my third one and all three have been wonderful.

My thoughts on the book:
I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. It is set over the course of a year starting in 1940 and going into 1941 before the US enters into WWII. This is not an era I typically read books set in so while I know of it, I don't know any real details. Whatever I learned in school has become pretty sketchy at this point. To me the author really brought the time period alive and made it real. The story is set on both sides of the ocean with the characters being connected by radio. There is Franklin, Mass. where Iris, the postmaster, and Emma, the doctors wife, listen to radio reports and then in London there is Frankie reporting the news they are listening to. These three women are the focus of the story and they are very different. Iris is a 40-year-old unmarried woman who is in charge of the post office, Emma was an orphan who married Will and moved to Franklin a small town on Cape Cod and Frankie is a reporter stationed in London during the Blitz who really brings life and details to the nightly bombing and regular loss of life. I don't want to reveal too much or spoil the story for anyone, but I will say it was a very well written novel with characters who seemed very real. It shows the innocence in the US prior to entering the war, thinking it couldn't really touch the US and also brings alive the plight of the people trying to escape from Europe. Very nicely done!