Savvy Thinker » Kindle book http://savvythinker.com thinking about life, playing with makeup Tue, 22 May 2012 15:37:11 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Review: The Brainiacs by Brook Syers http://savvythinker.com/review-the-brainiacs-by-brook-syers/ http://savvythinker.com/review-the-brainiacs-by-brook-syers/#comments Sun, 13 May 2012 00:56:00 +0000 Karin http://savvythinker.com/?p=8454
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    I really enjoyed this book and give it 5 ***** out of 5. It is almost a YA book, but not quite.

    It is only available for Kindle (but you can read it with a free app):

    I purchased it from Amazon, when I heard about it.

    The story involves two different time frames, and the book alternates chapters, pretty much, between the two of them. In the earlier story, we learn of several teens who are bullied at school. Ultimately they band together as super heroes against their tormentors. Each one has a particular expertise, and we learn how each one honed theirs.

    Some is improbable, but what the hey! It makes a great story.

    In the alternate chapters, the modern time frame, the teens are grown up. Theo Phillips has graduated from Harvard with a journalism degree, which doesn't get him a job. He is back in Houston with heavy college loans. The only job he can get is with a franchised burger place. He is a whiz with numbers and before long, the suggestion box is full of his innovations, which net the company mega bucks, and they begin to court him for bigger things. But he enjoys his co-workers, one of whom is trying to extricate himself from one of the two rival gangs that control the drugs in Houston.

    When the gang targets his co-worker (and himself) in a brutal attack, Theo vows to fight back. He gathers his old friends together, and they take on the gangs while protecting themselves and the co-worker (who is hospitalized.)

    The book is very well written. Syers self-published it, thinking he could do better than most self-published books. I think he succeeded. He says he has more stories in this series, and I look forward to them. He says he was bullied as a kid until he took up karate and learned to defend himself. He is an accountant in his other life.

    He has developed the personalities clearly and well. I liked the relationships between the co-workers and between the Whiz Kids, later known as The Brainiacs.

    I think it would make a terrific movie! If he sells it, you heard it here first.

    Karin
    www.savvythinker.com

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    ]]>     http://savvythinker.com/review-the-brainiacs-by-brook-syers/feed/ 2     A Secret Gift by Ted Gup http://savvythinker.com/a-secret-gift-by-ted-gup/ http://savvythinker.com/a-secret-gift-by-ted-gup/#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 11:19:38 +0000 Karin http://savvythinker.com/?p=7485
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    I recently read an author interview with Ted Gup about his book A Secret Gift in The Christian Science Monitor (December 20, 2010.) It sparked my interest, so I ordered the book from the library.

    This is not a review, but a heads up on this non-fiction book, because I haven't finished reading it yet, but I will say that what I've read is 5* out of 5*.

    The story
    In December, 1933, B. Virdot (the pseudonym for Gup's grandfather, Sam Stone) placed an ad in the Canton, Ohio, local paper, offering to sent $10 to up to 75 families who wrote to him telling him of their needs. He got a very large response, so he actually sent $5 to 150 families. $5 in those days is roughly the equivalent of $100 in today's money. He never told anyone about what he had done or that he was B. Virdot. However, it was common knowledge to his wife and children, including Gup's mother.

    Stone knew the power of a philanthropic gesture. Even if he couldn't alleviate all suffering, he could do his part. We know how much $100 would mean to us today, even if our straits are not so dire, so with a little knowledge of what those times were really like, we can catch a glimpse of how much it meant then.

    How did the story come to light?
    When Gup's mother was downsizing, she took him up to the attic and gave him a small suitcase which he didn't immediately go through. And when he did look at it more closely, he still didn't immediately catch the significance.

    The name B. Virdot rang a bell for him, though, and as he pondered how he knew this name, he remembered that his grandfather had named a boat with it.

    Now the book
    Gup makes the depression come alive, with real folks' difficulties, whether they were at one time wealthy then lost it all or were from more modest circumstances and then had even less. With a historian's eye, he reads the letters to his grandfather requesting money and the many letters of thanks his grandfather received afterwards. Gup does his best to track down the various writers' families to see how the gesture of receiving $5 at a time of extremity factored into future events with the writers and their family line.

    He unearths secrets within the townsfolk, as well as in his family.

    I find it utterly fascinating, easy to read, even though the subject is difficult.

    In my own family the depression was not kind to one side of the family. From what I remember of what I was told: While they had once had a home, they lost it during those years and the father (my grandfather) who had been a good provider spent his days playing cards and drinking. His wife, my grandmother, I was told, went door to door selling dresses. I don't know where she got them. Maybe they were her own. Or maybe she sewed them. Or maybe she was selling dresses she got from other people. Those are parts of the story lost to me, as my parent who would remember has died. But it could not have been an easy life.

    Gup's book certainly puts those times and years into perspective.

    Have you read it?
    It is also available for Kindle.

    Buy the physical book here. A Secret Gift: How One Man's Kindness--and a Trove of Letters--Revealed the Hidden History of the Great Depression

    Buy the Kindle book here. A Secret Gift: How One Man's Kindness--and a Trove of Letters--Revealed the Hidden History of the Great Depression

    Sam Stone is a man worth remembering. May his name be for a blessing.

    Karin
    www.savvythinker.com



    Originally posted 2011-01-27 14:34:03.

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    ]]>     http://savvythinker.com/a-secret-gift-by-ted-gup/feed/ 0     In praise of books http://savvythinker.com/in-praise-of-books/ http://savvythinker.com/in-praise-of-books/#comments Wed, 09 May 2012 22:28:25 +0000 Karin http://savvythinker.com/2007/02/16/in-praise-of-books/
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    In Praise of Books

    A book is a garden you can hold in your hand,
    An orchard you can take on your lap.

    A book is a companion who sleeps
    Only when you are asleep,
    And speaks only when you wish him to.

    A book is a tree that lives long
    And bears delicious and abundant fruit
    That is easy to pick and perfectly ripe
    At all times of the year.

    A book obeys you by night and by day,
    Abroad and at home;
    It has no need of sleep
    And does not grow weary from sitting up.

    --Al-Jahiz (Abu Uthman Amr ibn Bahral-Jahiz, known to his friends as al-Jahiz, was born in Basra in 776 and was the leading literary and intellectual figure of his age.)

    I like that when reading a book, we can commune with the author no matter what time frame they lived in. People we'd have no chance to sit down or talk with, are as close as our thoughts when reading the words they have written.

    Another thing I like about books, outside of the fact that I like to read and have broad interests, is that they can be put down and later picked back up again -- that's an important thing in a busy life. Invariably if I try to watch TV, I am interrupted. I might as well not try to watch TV unless it is recorded so that I can treat it like a book.

    Plus reading a book is one of the few things that gets a little bit more done each time, like knitting or embroidery, unlike the chores of life that are never ending. You can actually see progress in reading a book as you get further into it, similar to seeing an embroidery begin to take shape.

    I have, however, in recent years given myself permission not to finish a book if it doesn't strike me in one way or another. Because I read fast, I could skim to finish -- but when time is at a premium, I'd rather move on to another book or another project. It's the rare book that I read every word at a pace that is savoring it.

    I like the tactile nature of books, holding them in my hands. I'm not really into using wooden stands to help me hold a book, though it might be nice if a book is particularly heavy. And I like the way most books smell -- a combination of paper and ink.

    Android Phone Apps and such for reading
    I store and read parts of books (and books with the Kindle for Android App or Stanza)on my iPod Touch (quotes and such) and at one time had the Bible downloaded into my Palm. I now have a Bible App for my Android phone that offers many versions.

    ebooks
    And now that I have a Kindle, I have read many ebooks. I have read a friend's manuscript on the computer. I did not print it out. Then I converted it for Kindle. I have also done this with some research I have done.

    Audio books
    I have listened to a couple of audio books which were very well done. The Harry Potter audio books are excellent. Jim Dale, the reader, voices every character differently. Another I read (and heard) took place in England. The reader had an English accent, so it had a different feel than reading it to myself with my own voice which is not English, but American. I get impatient listening to a book because I can read it so much faster, but it is a good pastime in the car on long or repetitive rides.

    What are you reading?

    Video
    I thought this video was quite funny. Introducing the book (with subtitles.) This is a skit showing how a monk might have learned to read a book when he was used only to a scroll. Not too far off from introducing a computer or an ebook. We gotta learn how to do it!

    Karin
    www.savvythinker.com

    Originally posted 2007-02-16 08:03:57.

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    ]]>     http://savvythinker.com/in-praise-of-books/feed/ 3     Review Mudhouse Sabbath by Lauren F Winner http://savvythinker.com/review-mudhouse-sabbath-by-lauren-f-winner/ http://savvythinker.com/review-mudhouse-sabbath-by-lauren-f-winner/#comments Thu, 03 May 2012 14:01:07 +0000 Karin http://savvythinker.com/?p=8416

    The subtitle of the book is: an invitation to a life of spiritual discipline.

    I got this book from the library, because I read a review of another of her books, so I found her as an author. I generally enjoy reading other people's faith stories. Winner's is interesting because she went from Judaism to Orthodox Judaism to Christianity, but she still feels an affinity for much of what is Judaism.

    This book is a short read and fast, that incorporates some ideas about how an understanding of the spiritual practices and richness of Judaism and its traditions are valuable to the practices, prayers, and beliefs of a Christian.

    Some of the things she discusses are attentive eating, supporting a marriage, marking the stages of grieving, how one looks at one's body, aging, and more. She missed some of the rhythms of Jewish life that follow the year, much like Christian liturgy does, and wanted to incorporate it into her faith life -- and share it with us. She is now an ordained in the Episcopalian church.

    I especially liked her explanation of Sabbath.

    Have you read any of her books?     She is quite a prolific writer.
    Do you have a favorite?

    I rate this book 3.5 star out of 5.

    Parts of it were meaty for me; others parts were not. Theologically we are not necessarily at the same place all of the time. I get a bit tired of her writing style. That hasn't stopped me from looking at one article of hers referenced and available online or from reading two other of her books these past couple of weeks, reviews to follow.

    It is also available for Kindle:

    Karin
    www.savvythinker.com



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    ]]>     http://savvythinker.com/review-mudhouse-sabbath-by-lauren-f-winner/feed/ 0     Review girl meets GOD a memoir by Lauren F. Winner http://savvythinker.com/review-girl-meets-god-a-memoir-by-lauren-f-winner/ http://savvythinker.com/review-girl-meets-god-a-memoir-by-lauren-f-winner/#comments Wed, 02 May 2012 17:55:00 +0000 Karin http://savvythinker.com/?p=8430
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    girl meets GOD is the third book I've read by Lauren F. Winner, though it is the first that she wrote. I got it from the library.

    She organizes the book mostly around the Christian calendar -- Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Eastertide, Pentecost, Advent -- and ties it to the Jewish calendar when it applies. The first chapter is Sukkot.

    Winner is a seeker after God. She collects an impressive library of Jewish works by the time she is in her teens, then gives them away when she becomes a Christian, then re-buys many of them to re-build her library. She is earnest. It is obvious that she wants to be her best at what she believes, from her converting to Orthodox Judaism (her father was a Reform Jew)(her mother a lapsed Baptist) to her driving a couple of hours away for an Episcopal priest to hear her confessions, even though she has confessed them to God and made an effort to leave them behind.

    She is not a virgin, and she writes frankly of trying to reconcile that to church teachings (and her confessions.) Additionally, she has written an online article about sexuality (which I read) and a book (which I have no interest in reading.) Her online article was not well received by some Christians. She feels it is unlikely that people will remain celibate into their 30's, if they postpone marrying until that time.

    Because I read all three books over a relatively short time, with a lot of interruptions by life, the books have run on together in my thoughts. The one easiest to read was Mudhouse Sabbath (see my review here.) That one ties together the two elements of her religious life, Judaism and Christianity. It shows how having a deep understanding of Judaism permeates and enriches her Christian faith. (It did many of the early converts to Christianity also, though she doesn't mention this.)

    What drew her to Christianity?
    The long and short of it: she read extensively, to the point that her Jewish friends commented on it, that it didn't make sense to them. She had a dream. She fell in love with Jesus. I think she was drawn to the ideas of atonement, forgiveness and heaven.

    Also, the farther she drifted from Judaism, none of her Jewish friends pulled her back or encouraged her in her faith walk of Judaism.

    What happens when she converts to Christianity?
    She loses friendships in the Orthodox Jewish community. It deeply disturbs her father. Later, both her father and her mother (who are divorced) are drawn more into their own faith traditions. Her father becomes active in the synagogue, and her mother becomes active in the Episcopalian church.

    In some ways she wrote this book as an apology to her Jewish friends, and with the hope that Christians might learn something about Judaism.

    My take:
    I give it 2 stars out of 4.

    I got tired of this book, perhaps because I know what follows in her later books. It got tedious. She has been called self-indulgent. In some ways, following along with her is an emotional roller-coaster. She deals with her jealousy of a friend's marriage and pregnancy -- and more.

    As I said, she is earnest, but it's as if, to me, she is trying so hard, because she isn't exactly sure what would happen if she didn't. There comes a point at which one rests in one's faith, while not being complacent. It is who one is, not so much the outward symbols of what one does, though how one acts is definitely important.

    Have you read it?
    What did you think?

    You can find my reviews of Still: notes on a mid-faith crisis here.

    It is available for Kindle:

    Karin
    www.savvythinker.com

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    ]]>     http://savvythinker.com/review-girl-meets-god-a-memoir-by-lauren-f-winner/feed/ 0     Review The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner http://savvythinker.com/review-the-geography-of-bliss-by-eric-weiner/ http://savvythinker.com/review-the-geography-of-bliss-by-eric-weiner/#comments Tue, 01 May 2012 01:42:07 +0000 Karin http://savvythinker.com/?p=8394
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    I wanted to read this book after I read Man Seeks God, even though Weiner wrote it first. Again, I got it from the library.

    Books about happiness have interested me, it seems like forever. This one is better than most and definitely more fun. It is not a self-help book. It is more like a travelogue.

    I laughed my way through it. And some of it is laugh out loud, that just begs to be read to the person in the room with you. In fact, I did. Weiner's sense of humor, his sense of irony, must be very much like mine.

    Weiner has, like his name as he points out (whiner) a low-grade depression most of the time. So he is definitely interested in seeking happiness. He learns that certain places have a higher happiness rating, so he goes to those places in search of the elusive happiness, to see if what he has heard is correct. Toss in assorted odd characters, plus ones who show him the ropes. Toss in his penchant for including interesting details, tidbits, sound bites of miscellaneous fitting quotes or just plain trivia that applies to where he is. I can't begin to remember all of it.

    His humor is never malicious. Sometimes it is dark, but not always, and he finds he holds love for some of the people he meets along the way that he would not have thought. There is a touching incident in Moldova.

    He begins in the Netherlands, then goes to Switzerland, Bhutan, Qatar, Iceland, Moldova (the lowest happiness rating on earth), Thailand, Great Britain, India and America. In many ways, he finds that like Dorothy, home holds the heart.

    The short of it is that he finds that happiness is relational. It depends on friends, family -- and more. You could read the epilogue first and get a feeling for all he learns. (I didn't and wasn't even tempted -- unlike my usual method of reading.) Then you might not read the book, but you would miss a very good read, indeed.

    Have you read it?
    I rate it 5 star out of 5 star.

    The only thing I disliked was how much alcohol was imbibed along the way.

    It is available for Kindle:

    Karin
    www.savvythinker.com

    Geography of Bliss Geography of Bliss Paypal US $1.99 27d 14h 36m


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    ]]>     http://savvythinker.com/review-the-geography-of-bliss-by-eric-weiner/feed/ 0     Review Man Seeks God by Eric Weiner http://savvythinker.com/review-man-seeks-god-by-eric-weiner/ http://savvythinker.com/review-man-seeks-god-by-eric-weiner/#comments Mon, 30 Apr 2012 21:33:03 +0000 Karin http://savvythinker.com/?p=8390
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    I've been on a roll lately, reading, and finding books to read at the library that lead me to other books, and I've not been good about keeping up with mentioning them on my blog, so I will make a beginning.

    I thoroughly enjoyed this book -- a sort of male version of Eat, Pray, Love, minus the love affair. I liked it so well, I asked the library to get me his first book, The Geography of Bliss (review to follow.) And I took quite a few notes so I would remember what were to me some of the more salient points.

    Since I was reading Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner at the same time, it made me wonder if this title shares some similarities. If I hadn't been reading them at the same time, I doubt I would have seen it.

    Weiner's voice is funny, ironic, self-depreciating -- and I laughed my way through a lot of it. He is a whole lot easier to read than Winner.

    He investigates: Sufism, Buddhism, the Franciscans, Raelism (in Las Vegas), Taoism, Wicca, Shamanism, and Kabahlah.

    The book starts out with a personal experience that begins when he thinks he is dying, but it is only a severe attack of gas. The nurse asks him: what is God to you? In the course of the book, he tells us that he suffers from hypochondria; he loves books, he loves to underline in his books; he suffers always from low-grade depression; and he likes to watch life and religion from a safe distance, not really as a participant. His back story is that he was raised in Judaism, but he isn't involved in it. He is more of a secular Jew. He is married with a wife and daughter, adopted from Kazakhstan. He credits his wife a lot.

    If you ever wanted an interesting overview of the particular religions he investigates, easy to read, with lot of interesting sidelines and people, this book is for you. As I said, I liked it a lot.

    I give it 4 stars out of 5.

    Have you read it, or anything else by Weiner?

    It is also available for Kindle:

    Karin
    www.savvythinker.com



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    Once in a while a very clever idea comes along that I bet a lot of people will copy. This book is a tie-in to the TV show Castle. I got this book from the library. It is the third in the book series.

    It is easy to picture the characters in the book because of the characters in the TV show.

    "Richard Castle's" picture is used for the author of the book, but this is clearly not true, because Castle is a fictional character. No one is clear as to who the real author of the books is, or authors are, but it is thought that it might be the writers of the TV show.

    The book is so intertwined with the TV show, that it is as if the success of one guarantees the success of the other. If you like the book, you'll try the TV show; if you like the TV show, you will likely read the books, so it might guarantee both a best seller and a long runny TV show. Very clever marketing.

    Have you read any of the books?
    I rate this 5* out of 5.

    It starts with a murder in a New York bondage club and moves at a fast pace from there. The murdered man is a popular Catholic priest. He seems to be a legit kind of guy, not mixed up in something as seamy as a bondage club.

    Before Nikki Heat can get to the parsonage, Captain Montrose has been there and done a thorough search of his own.

    Nothing is what it seems. Corruption reaches to the highest level of the NYC police. And more than one person is out to kill Nikki, as she gets too close to the truth.

    It is also available for Kindle

    Karin
    www.savvythinker.com



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    ]]>     http://savvythinker.com/review-heat-rises-by-richard-castle-psyeudonym/feed/ 0     Review Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich http://savvythinker.com/review-explosive-eighteen-by-janet-evanovich/ http://savvythinker.com/review-explosive-eighteen-by-janet-evanovich/#comments Thu, 29 Mar 2012 02:54:38 +0000 Karin http://savvythinker.com/?p=8346
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    Janet Evanovich is in high form in Explosive Eighteen. I've found a couple of the latter books to be rather lackluster, but this one is full of our favorite characters, with a laugh or two on every page, with both ridiculous situations -- and dangerous ones, and the quandary of which lover would best suit Stephanie. She is such a likeable character that the morality issue really never quite comes up. Would that we all had such a dilemma!

    The story
    Well, you know Stephanie is going to be after the bad guys and the not-so-bad guys (and women.) She gets herself into some serious jams, but she has Ranger to have her back, and Morelli is on call, when he isn't working. (I think he works too much and isn't really there when she needs him, to the extent that Ranger is.) (OTOH, she says she loves him. And she feels Ranger has his own issues to deal with.)

    Grandma Mazur is up to her old tricks, and this time she is with Annie Hart (and another love potion...)

    We are dropped in the middle of the story when Stephanie comes back from Hawaii early, leaving Morelli and Ranger to fight it out. We learn more about the whys and wherefores later in the book. (And I'm not telling.)

    On the plane, the fellow she sits next to either gives her an envelope containing a picture on purpose, or he inadvertently drops it in her bag, thinking it is his, as they are identical. And then he is found murdered.

    And doncha just know that a lotta bad guys are after that photo, all thinking that Stephanie has it, but she threw it out at her parents' and the trash has already been picked up. And Stephanie can't get the picture right, when she sits with a (two) sketch artist(s.) (It turns out the picture is not at all what we suspect and very clever indeed.)

    Meantime Joyce Barnhardt shows up at Stephanie's apartment, when everyone thinks she has been crushed in a car at the junkyard.

    And Lula is exactly what is needed to give this book all the breeze and humor you could possibly want -- and interesting costume getups. Not to mention that it is easy to picture her now that Sherri Shepherd nailed the part in the movie.

    Have you read it?
    I rate it 5* out of 5. It is definitely a keeper. I got the book from the library (waiting for it, because I was number 180 something on the list or so...and will pass it to Book Girl and a friend before it is due back.) It is seriously good to have so many laughs.

    It is available for Kindle:

    Karin
    www.savvythinker.com



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    ]]>     http://savvythinker.com/review-explosive-eighteen-by-janet-evanovich/feed/ 1     Review SEALed with a Kiss by Mary Daughtridge http://savvythinker.com/review-sealed-with-a-kiss-by-mary-daughtridge/ http://savvythinker.com/review-sealed-with-a-kiss-by-mary-daughtridge/#comments Mon, 26 Mar 2012 16:28:51 +0000 Karin http://savvythinker.com/?p=6815
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    SEALed with a Kiss by Mary Daughtridge is a warm-hearted, lovely story filled with genuine characters and a lot of love.

    It's a story that makes you glad you read it. The story-line is believable and the characters' falling in love is equally so.

    I enjoy the books by Suzanne Brockman, so I thought I might enjoy this series. This is more a love story than a story about the military SEALs, though the main character's SEAL training comes in handy in the end.

    Navy SEAL Jax Graham has been given an ultimatum by his commanding officer: fix the situation with his 4 year old son, no excuses. Jax' ex-wife has died. She had kept his visitation to a minimum and his job had kept it even further. A SEAL never knows when he must be ready to go at a moment's notice. Her mother will gain custody, but that is not a good situation.

    So Jax takes his 2 week vacation, on orders, with his son.

    Family therapist Pickett Sessoms is in the same place, at the same time, closing a beach cottage against a coming hurricane. She enters the equation, helping Jax regain his confidence as a father, while he learns how to talk to his son, who is smart enough to know a few things, but too young to connect the dots.

    There wasn't much that was contrived or hard to believe in this book. The characters are well drawn, and their awakening to love comes naturally and at an acceptable pace.

    These are people you really care about, as the story moves forward. Even the dogs are well drawn.

    In many ways the love in this story reminds me of the love that is in Morning Glory by LaVryle Spencer. The characters have fully lived, picking up wounds along the way. Each of them heals wounds of the other, gently and with love.

    Have you read the book or any others of Daughtridge? I will be reading more in this series.

    Head's up: the ex-mother-in-law drinks and is verbally abusive to her little grandson; Pickett has celiac disease, which is mentioned, but not to distraction...

    I give it a 5 out of 5.

    The book is available for Kindle.

    See my review of SEALed with a Promise here.

    Karin
    www.savvythinker.com




    Originally posted 2010-05-21 23:04:33.

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