It's Better to Build Boys than Mend Men by S. Truett Cathy

Recently I read a book by S. Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-Fil-A. I myself have a son and I am always on the lookout for good christian perspective books on raising children. This is a quick read at only 111 pages but offered some wisdom that I hope I don't forget for a while. It was also interesting learning about Mr. Cathy's work with foster children and young boys. I commend him for the work that he has done and continues to do and reach out to others. And yes it makes me love Chick-fil-a even more. :) Here is a description of the book I found online:

Children have plenty of buddies. In an age when kids all around us are growing up without strong, positive guidance from their parents (who are busy, distracted, gone, or choose to be buddies instead of parents) children need someone they can look to with respect to help them build their lives. When he was thirteen years old, Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-fil-A, had such a man step into his life: a Sunday school teacher who modeled love, respect, hard work, and discipline. Cathy decided to follow that model, and today he has some 130 foster grandchildren, many of whom have broken their family’s generational cycle of neglect through the encouragement of Cathy and other adults who reached out to them. In It’s Better to Build Boys Than Mend Men, Truett Cathy lays out a simple model for adults desiring to reach out to youth and challenges readers to allow God to work through them to change the life of a child. His book is filled with stories illustrating the principles of discipline, trust, reputation, generosity, common sense, peer pressure, and family stability. Readers who follow their hearts into children’s lives will find that their own lives are enriched as well. (End quote)

I enjoyed reading this book and the advice is not for those with boys alone. The advice can be applied to girls as well. I especially liked his take on teenagers and cars .....but you will have to read the book to get the full story. Let's just say after sharing Mr. Cathy's method with my husband, we both agreed at what a wonderful idea. Hopefully we can hold on to it for when our children are sixteen! This is by no means a selection for our book club but since I'm sharing with you what other books I read, this one is by no means exempt. I would recommend this book if you are a parent, grandparent, mentor to children, etc. Mr. Cathy has a realistic and caring approach to children that I hope you enjoy reading as well. Happy Reading!

Courting Trouble

If you notice the difference in the blog, I decided that we had the previous background up long enough and wanted a change for the new year... Hope you like it!

Back to business.....Recently I read the book, Courting Trouble by Deeanne Gist. This is a Christian Historical Fiction novel and we had previously read a book by her last year (Info. found here). Here is what the book is about from the author's site:

Whether it's riding bikes, catching snakes, or sliding down banisters, Essie Spreckelmeyer just can't quite make herself into the ideal woman her

hometown--and her mother--expect her to be. It's going to take an extraordinary man to appreciate her joy and spontaneity--or so says her doting oil-man father.Unfortunately such a man doesn't appear to reside in Corsicana, Texas. It's 1894, the year of Essie's thirtieth birthday, and she decides the Lord has more important things to do than provide her a husband. If she wants one, she needs to catch him herself. So, she writes down the names of all the eligible bachelors in her small Texas town, makes a list of their attributes and drawbacks, closes her eyes, twirls her finger, and ... picks one. But convincing the lucky "husband-to-be" is going to a bit more of a problem. Join Deeanne Gist for another unforgettable tale and find out whether Essie's plan to catch a husband succeeds or if she's just Courting Trouble. (end quote)

The book is about 330 pages and the author kept me turning the pages pretty fast. And I have to tell you that I enjoyed the previous book we read more than this one. It was entertaining reading and has a good message about Jesus being all we need in life but it didn't have enough wow factor for me to make it a book club selection for our group. But don't get me wrong, even after saying all that I am still interested in the sequel I just learned about. If you choose a Deeanne Gist book to read, be sure to check out her site as she does have lots of great resources. That is one thing I love about this author, she does research on her writing and doesn't forget about book clubs. I look forward to reading more from her so be sure to let me know if you have read one of hers that was a good pick. Happy reading!

January 2011 Book Club Selection

Happy New Year 2011!! I pray that there are great things in store for you and yours as we move into another year. This will be the start of the 3rd year of our book club. Two years of so many wonderful books, great conversation and company! Just in case you want to look over all the books we read over the past two years, click here for a list on the blog.

Our January Selection will be The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Here is a description of the book from her site:

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step. Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women--mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends--view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't. (end quote)

After several recommendations I read the book and thoroughly enjoyed it. I also recommend listening to it on CD as the actors reading the book did a terrific job.

Our January meeting will be Saturday January 29th at 8:30am-10:00am in Swift's new building. Thanks so much for your participation!!! Remember I LOVE book suggestions and am here if you have any questions or need some other book ideas to read when you finish the monthly book. You can also check back at the blog and see what other books I read and review as I try to find books for the club and for my own enjoyment.

Happy Reading!

Years in Review

Just in case you are new, before we start our 3rd year I have decided to go ahead and give you a list of all the books we have read thus far. Some of the books we had some great discussion on and I did A LOT of writing and others not so much writing was done on my part. For this I apologize but life is busy and sometimes I don't always have the time or a lot to say. Regardless I hope that you find something enjoyable. The books are also listed down the right hand side of the blog with the link to all posts related to that book.

Book Club Year 2009

January – Traveling Light by Max Lucado
February – Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
March – Same kind of different as me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore
April – The Shack by William P. Young
May – Having a Mary heart in a Martha world by Joanna Weaver
June – The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
July – The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
August – The Five people you meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
September – One Tuesday Morning by Karen Kingsbury

Book Club Year 2010

January – The Ultimate Gift by Jim Stovall
February – The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer
March – God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew
April – A Lineage of Grace by Francine Rivers
May – Candle in the Darkness by Lynn Austin
June – The Measure of a Lady by Deanne Gist
July – A shepherd looks at the 23rd Psalm by Phillip Keller
August – Redemption by Karen Kingsbury
September – For One More Day by Mitch Albom

I will mention other books I read that are not a part of the book club selections. Just click on the right hand side that says "What other books Amber is reading" and you will be taken to all those posts. I am getting things ready for January so stay tuned for that announcement! Happy New Year!

Break....almost over...

I know I never did do an official blog post to state this but most of you know that our club is on a break during the months of October, November and December. I am currently getting a list of books together for 2011 and in the process of making a decision on our January Selection. I have been reading just not as often as I would like to since I have been going back to school at night. Bummer. But it has had me listening to alot more books on CD. I hope to be able to start catching you all up on what I have been reading/listening to soon. If you have any suggestions for a great book club pick, PLEASE share!!!! :)

Thanks for sticking around! I pray you have a very blessed Christmas Season!


Stay tuned for January...

September Book Club Selection

Wow... our 2010 book club year is coming to a close. Two years of so many wonderful books and great conversation! I can't believe we are announcing the last official book for the year but can't wait to see what the year 2011 will hold for us. As you may remember, we read Jan-Sept and take Oct-Dec off for Holidays. I finally decided on the September Book after reading the recent edition of Homelife Magazine where they featured famous Christian Speakers/Authors and their favorite books. Our September book will be, For One More Day by Mitch Albom which also happens to be a favorite of this past month's author, Karen Kingsbury! This book is inspirational fiction. It is only 208 pages long. Here is a bit about the book from the author's site:


“Every family is a ghost story . . .Mitch Albom mesmerized readers around the world with his number one New York Times bestsellers, The Five People You Meet in Heaven and Tuesdays with Morrie. Now he returns with a beautiful, haunting novel about the family we love and the chances we miss. For One More Day is the story of a mother and a son, and a relationship that covers a lifetime and beyond. It explores the question: What would you do if you could spend one more day with a lost loved one? As a child, Charley “Chick” Benetto was told by his father, “You can be a mama’s boy or a daddy’s boy, but you can’t be both.” So he chooses his father, only to see the man disappear when Charley is on the verge of adolescence. Decades later, Charley is a broken man. His life has been crumbled by alcohol and regret. He loses his job. He leaves his family. He hits bottom after discovering his only daughter has shut him out of her wedding. And he decides to take his own life. He makes a midnight ride to his small hometown, with plans to do himself in. But upon failing even to do that, he staggers back to his old house, only to make an astonishing discovery. His mother -- who died eight years earlier -- is still living there, and welcomes him home as if nothing ever happened. Albom has said his relationship with his own mother was largely behind the story of the book, and that several incidents in “For One More Day” are actual events from his childhood. (End quote)


I read the book a couple years ago and really enjoyed the "what if's" of the story. It really changes your perspective for the here and now, for the future of how you treat and respond to others and the assumptions we all make about our loved ones. You can find this book at your local library. Our September meeting will be Saturday September 25th at 8:30-10:00 in Swift's new building. Thanks so much for your participation!!! Remember I LOVE book suggestions and am here if you have any questions or need some other book ideas to read when you finish the monthly book. You can also check out the blog and see What other books I read and review as I try to find books for the club and for my own enjoyment.

Happy Reading!

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Recently I decided to pick up the book, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and see what all the fuss is about. Especially with the new movie coming to theaters with one of my favorite actresses, Julia Roberts, I thought I should go ahead and check it out from the library. On one hand I have a friend that LOVED it and on another hand a friend that didn't care for it and couldn't get into it at all. So I decided I needed to make an opinion for myself. In case you are reading this and haven't heard about the book, This is non-fiction story of a woman's healing journey through Italy, India and Indonesia. The book is about 352 pages and to find out what it is about here is what I found off of Amazon:

Gilbert grafts the structure of romantic fiction upon the inquiries of reporting in this sprawling yet methodical travelogue of soul-searching and self-discovery. Plagued with despair after a nasty divorce, the author, in her early 30s, divides a year equally among three dissimilar countries, exploring her competing urges for earthly delights and divine transcendence. First, pleasure: savoring Italy's buffet of delights--the world's best pizza, free-flowing wine and dashing conversation partners--Gilbert consumes la dolce vita as spiritual succor. "I came to Italy pinched and thin," she writes, but soon fills out in waist and soul. Then, prayer and ascetic rigor: seeking communion with the divine at a sacred ashram in India, Gilbert emulates the ways of yogis in grueling hours of meditation, struggling to still her churning mind. Finally, a balancing act in Bali, where Gilbert tries for equipoise "betwixt and between" realms, studies with a merry medicine man and plunges into a charged love affair. Sustaining a chatty, conspiratorial tone, Gilbert fully engages readers in the year's cultural and emotional tapestry--conveying rapture with infectious brio, recalling anguish with touching candor--as she details her exotic tableau with history, anecdote and impression. (end quote)

Well I read the book and have to say that I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed her story, humor and attention to detail for her reader as she traveled through the three countries which I have never been to. And by saying that I liked the book I have to tell you that I do not condone or agree with everything in it. It is one of those things where you just have to agree to disagree and not judge others decisions and just enjoy the story. I like her ability to make fun of herself and the courage that it took for her to do what she did as she tried to put her life back together. I would recommend the book with this warning of keeping an open mind and that just because you read it doesn't mean you have to agree with everything she says, just enjoy the story and admire the tales. There is some cussing and brief intimate sexual detail shared just so you are aware. With all this being said I would definitely read the book again and can't wait for the movie. It will def have to be a girl's night out so I can go see it in theaters. This will not be a book club selection but still wanted you to know about it just the same.

Happy Reading!