The Autobiography of Santa Claus

I know I haven't posted a book review in a while, and I apologize. I've been so busy with work, some other little assignments for people and church, and then of course with Christmas shopping and getting ready for Christmas. Now speaking of Christmas, I decided to read a fun book to get me more in the Holiday spirit of things I guess you could say. It is the "Autobiography of Santa Claus". What a joy it was to read too. This book is excellent for you to read to children, for young adults, adults, and older adults alike. It's just great for everyone!

To be honest I never really knew a whole lot of the legend of Santa Clause, or the history behind him I guess you could say. That is part of the reason I wanted to read this book. I had no idea I would get so wrapped up in it. What is great about it is that, not only do you get to find out how Santa Claus really came in to being in all different cultures, but you get a great history lesson from the book as well! The book starts back when Santa was just a child not long after the years of Christ, and as he grows up shows you how he gets started in his adventures to become the Santa Claus we know. It's a lot longer of a process then I ever imagined, and by the end of the story it may just have you believing there truely is a Santa Claus. ;o)

I encourage you to pick up the book. If you do not feel you'll have time to get through it for Christmas this year then pick it up for next year. You'll be glad you did! I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!

Three

Ted Dekker's book "Three" was just totally mind riveting. I had it read in 4 days because I could not put it down. I think it is my favorite of the books I've read of his so far. Granted all of his books have been excellent, and I would recommend any of them, but this one takes the cake so far. There are so many loops and twists to it, that when you think you have it figured out, trust me . . . you don't.

To give you a brief over view, the main character of the book is Kevin. He is a first year Seminary student, and his professor, Dr. Francis is his best friend. They get into debates over the good and evil natures of man, and Kevin's next paper is going to be on this subject. On Kevin's way home from his last class he gets a call on his cell phone from a man that calls himself Slater. Slater tells him a riddle and then tells him he has 3 minutes to confess his sin or his is going to blow Kevin's car up. Kevin ditches the car and 3 minutes later the car blows up. This was not the last Kevin will hear from Slater and this is just the beginning of the game that Slater wants to play. The only people Slater will allow involved in this game are an old childhood friend of Kevin's named Samantha and FBI agent named Jennifer.

What sin must Kevin confess? What is Kevin hiding from? There is something from his past, and Samantha only knows part of what her childhood friend, Kevin dealt with, but she knows there is more. She and Jennifer know they must get it out of him if they are going to stop this Slater, and stop this game.

Check out the book. You'll be glad you did. I'm sure you'll have it finished as quickly as I did because there is not a dull moment in this book. The game is constantly going, and you are wanting to know what is going to happen, or what secrets lie ahead.

BLINK

"BLINK" is another exciting book by Ted Dekker that I really enjoyed reading. I've come to find Dekker's books so far to be extremely thrilling, and to also get you thinking about other cultures besides just American society. The first book of his that I read, and reviewed on this site, "Obsessed" dealt with Jewish culture and society a lot, both in the present and in the past. This book "BLINK" will get you looking at Islamic culture and religion. Dekker does an excellent job of showing comparisons between Islam and Christianity. It's very interesting to read in that retrospect.

As for the story that is another whole other ball game. The story starts out in Saudi Arabia with a young princess named Miriam. Her father is a Shiek, and for her protection gaver her up for adoption to another very wealthy and powerful man, but with one condition. He could not marry her out until she was 21. Miriam would be 21 in a few months, however her real father, the Shiek has come up with a plan of an arranged marriage for her himself in order to gain advantage in Saui Arabia with another powerful man where she would marry this man's son, and he would become King. This man was very dangerous though, and Miriam found out she was to marry this man, and was forced to flee to America.

Meanwhile, a young man named Seth is attending college in California. His IQ is amazingly higher then that of Einstein. Lately he has been having flashes of a sort of dejavu where he feels he has already seen that particular instance happen or happening. The university, Berkeley, is having a banquet one night in his honor due to his amazing academic achievements. While he is up in front of everyone making his speech, something very strange happens to him, he blinks, and all of a sudden he can see a scene in the woman's bathroom playing out in front of him, a woman who he saw earlier at the banquet, was being held at gun point in the bathroom. He flies from the podium, realizing this was an actual scene in the future unfolding. Seth flies into the ladies restroom, and startles the woman (who we know, and he finds out is Miriam). Obviously mayhem breaks out. I don't want to get into too much detail, but Seth and Miriam escape unharmed, and are now on the run. Men from Saudi Arabia are after them because they are after Miriam, and now U.S. officials are after them.

Seth's clairvoyance powers increase over time, and he can constantly see further and further into the future. This allows them to be able to constantly outmanuever the cops and others that are after them. Seth has one weakness though . . . sleep. When he is sleeping he doesn't see anything. Will this be something that gets them caught in the end, or will they completely escape and elude everyone with Seth's amazing new ability? Read the book and find out. It's awesome, and I highly recommend it.

Blue Like Jazz

I know I just finished reading "Obsessed" by Ted Dekker a couple of days ago, but I also just finished reading "Blue Like Jazz" by Don Miller. It was a book I started a while ago to read at work during slow days, but then things got busy, and I had to put it down for a while, but I really had been wanting to finish it because it was an awesome book. Well I finished it, and yes, it continued through the end to be an awesome. Now this is a non-fiction book unlike everything else I have been reading lately. Don Miller is an exceptional writer in my opinion. "Blue Like Jazz" is funny, but with a serious side to it. It is very easy to read an understand. He talks a lot about growing up in a Christian home, and what it meant to him being a Christian, and then about Christian Spirituality. His struggles with it. Times when he had doubts, and how he had questions. Also with people he related to that were not Christians, which is why I think the book is sub-titled "non-Christian views on Christians Spirituality". He also spent a lot of time at Reed College or University, which was very much a non-Christian atmosphere, and interacted with the students there, so there is a lot in the book with his experiences there. It was just very interesting to see how he does relate to the struggles and questions that I know we all, as Christians do have, and also how he relates with the every day interactions with his non-Christian friends and peers. It's a great book that I highly recommend to everyone. It's not real long either, and it's very entertaining. I'm very excited about reading some of his other books that he has out. He also has an awesome website as well that I found, and have put a link to it at the left. I have discovered that he is going to be doing some type of presentation or appearance here in Indiana on November 3rd that I am hoping to attend if I can. I think it would be very interesting. So again I encourage everyone to check out "Blue Like Jazz" by Don Miller.

Obsessed

This week I read a new book entitled "Obsessed" by Ted Dekker. He is another Christian fiction author. It was a very suspenseful book. I would definitely categorize this book, and after researching and reading about his other works I would say he is a suspense/thriller writer. It was an excellent book though. One of those "can't put it down" types.

The story takes place in the 1970's with flash backs to the 1940's and world war II. The main character is Stephen, who is a realtor and grew up as an orphan from a Jewish concentration camp during the war. He was believed his mother and father died in the concentration camp, but finds out his mother in fact survived, only to die just now of heart disease. She had left a letter that she had been searching for him the entire time, and could identify him by a mark she branded on him as a baby in the concentration camp in case they were separated. When Stephen finds this out he is heart broken, and goes to her apartment to discover new secrets about what went on in this concentration camp, and becomes obsessed in searching for things his mother left for him. However there is another twist to the story. It seems Gerhard Braun and his son Roth Braun, the Nazi tormentors of the Jewish concentration camp know of Stephen's mother's death, and of the secrets she left behind as well. They also go in search of these and to finish the job that was not taken care of so many years ago at the camp.

It's an excellent story that will show faith, hope, courage, and love. Of course it has that thrill and suspense to it as well. I definitely encourage you to check it out. It's left me wanting to read more of Ted Dekker's works, and I know it will probably do the same for you. He also has an excellent website, which I have posted a link to at the left, so feel free to browse that.

Happy reading!

"Monster" Review

Well I found "Monster" to be a very good book all in all. Frank Peretti does a good job of getting your attention right from the start of the book in the first chapter. Most of the time I had a hard time putting the book down, and had to read it at night in bed when I would get sleepy so that it would force me to have to stop.

Let me start off with a brief summary of the book. Couples Reed and Beck, and Sing and Cap have planned a weekend "survival" retreat up in the mountains at Randy Thompson's cabin. Things go very wrong, and the weekend ends up becoming a week long search/hunt. Beck has been carried off into the night by what Reed can only describe as a fowl smelling, banshee screaming, upright walking monster. While others in the search party and even his friend's Sing and Cap are curious as to what he saw, and are convinced they are hunting a bear, Reed is convinced otherwise. After trying to track the animal they have found hairs, and feces left behind. Luckily Cap is a scientist that has worked at a well known university and goes to try and analyze the hair and feces samples. What he ends up finding is so unbelievable and horrific he can not even imagine that it would be true that he must investigate.

All in all it is a good book if you like suspense, which I do. Also if you you are interested at ll in Evolution Vs. Science and genetic manipulation at all. There is a lot of that in this book. One other thing I really liked about the book was at the end of the chapter there are maps that pinpoint different locations of things that went on during that chapter. This was very cool and helps you visualize even more of what is going on in the story.

The only thing I would say that I did not like about the book is that with it being a Christian fiction book, there was not a whole lot of a Christian feel about the book. God was mentioned a few times, and then there was a debate with Evolution and Science. Other then that I felt like I was really reading any other standard fiction suspense type book. Still a good book though, and I definitely would recommend it.

Oops!

Well unfortunately I left "Monster" at work over the weekend in my excitement to leave on Friday to get over to Notre Dame for the Pep Rally for Saturday's big first home game. Because of this I was unable to get the book finished by the end of the week like I had hoped, so that I could write my firt review for this site. Hopefully I can get it finished here in the next couple of days so we can really get this site going. I really want hope to have a good, fun, and enjoyable site for everyone to interact on. Well, I just wanted to keep everyone updated in case you have been checking back to hear the word on "Monster", so check back soon!