Thrive by Arianna Huffington

   “There is a purpose to our lives, even if it is sometimes hidden from us”

    Huffington tries to express a way we can better grasp what that purpose may be.

    She explains there are three metrics that we should live our lives on. A metric being something helping us to create a life of success.

    The first two metrics she suggests are Money and Power. She suggests that with only the two metrics by themselves you develop stress and burnout.

    You need the third to thrive. To thrive is to live a healthy, balanced, and meaningful life.

     The third she divides up into four areas of: well-being, wisdom, wonder, and giving.

      All three metrics together can lead you to having a successful life, seems to be the point of this book.

      Oprah has this in her book club. The book club is slanted to female tastes. Some men may enjoy this book, but it is not slanted to the male market, it seems to me.

       This book is too general and feel good. In the area of wisdom, for example, she mentions all faith systems as being equally valid. If you are looking for her to have a belief system she bases her life on that is sound, this is not the book for you. Her views seems to be whatever feels right, do.

        I was not required to like this book when I was sent it free from blogging for books to be reviewed. All opinions are mine.

         Further information can be found at: http://www.Thrive.HuffingtonPost.com

This Is What You Just Put In Your Mouth? by Patrick Di Justo

 

Some of us eat everything placed before us without asking what is in it. Others want a detailed ingredients list before they will touch the item placed before them. If we really knew what was going in our mouths, would we be ingesting it?

Do you really wish to know?

For example, the energy drink Red Bull. What is actually in it? Where does its power come from? Is it as healthy as they advertise it to be?

This tome also handles some stuff we use daily such as deodorant and shampoo. Laundry detergent and skin creams also are looked at.

It is a collection of articles written by Di Justo and published over time in columns in Wired magazine.

I feel that it is a light hearted look at consumer packaging. We in America want to know what it is that we are buying. It is a form of being ingredient aware.  There is nothing wrong with that.

Is this going to make people more aware of what goes in the foods and products they daily shop for? One would hope so. But will it stop them from eating and using these products?

People, being people, probably will read this book and smile and life will go on.

I received this book gratis from bloggingforbooks.com to be reviewed and included in my blog. I was not required to give it a positive review.

The Unertaker's Wife by Dee Oliver

 

A delightful book on a subject most of us deny will happen but it does to us all. The subject is death.

It is not morbid. It is very cheerful and instructive.

Dee fell in love with Johnnie who happened to be a fourth generation funeral director. On her first date they stopped to pick up a body to transport to the mortuary.

They got married and had children and twenty years later he died of a stroke. She had to pick up her life. She decided to go into the family business of funeral director.

She returned to school and got her degree. The family business didn’t want her so she had to do her internship with the colored undertaker in another part of town. This being the South it was a first.

She proved to be a survivor.

In the last part of the book she gives some helpful advice to those of us who need to plain for the event.

I found the story to flow nicely and the information to be easy to digest.

The publisher is Zondervan and the gospel is presented in a harmless and non-evasive manner through the memorial service.

I would recommend this book for all lovers of romance. Also for those who need to be reminded what to leave behind in instructions and help.

This book was sent to me without cost by Bookloookbloggers.com for the purpose of reviewing it. I was not required to give it a positive review.

All views expressed are those of the reviewer and do not reflect those of the publisher.

To order this book please click on the link below.

The Undertaker's Wife: A True Story of Love, Loss, and Laughter in the Unlikeliest of Places

Until You're Mine by Samantha Haynes

    How do you take care of yourself and twins when a baby is on the way and the father is away in the service? Why, you put an ad in the paper and look for someone to be a nanny.

   That’s what Claudia Morgan-Brown does.

   The story is told in multiple viewpoints; two first persons and one third person. The first persons are the nanny, Flo, and the main character, Claudia, who is about due to give birth. The third person is the detective, Lorraine. Chapters alternate between them. This technique heightens the suspense factor.

   It seems someone has been performing C sections on pregnant women who are just about due to deliver, killing the child and mother.

   Flo wants a baby which is one reason she hires out as a nanny. If you can’t have one, care for one. Claudia has a history of miscarriages in the past so this baby is important for her.

   I will not mention any spoilers.

   Hayes is good at holding the suspense tight. This book is definitely not one to read just before turning out the lights at night as it will keep your brain very active.

   I would recommend it for all who like a good suspenseful read.

   This book was sent to me gratis to be reviewed by bloggingforbooks.com. I was not required to give a positive review.

   For those who want to purchase a copy of this book, just click on the link below.

   Until You're Mine

The Grand Paradox by Ken Wytsma

   Faith is a grand paradox. You are praying in the present for something by faith believing it is on the way, and there is this big gap between the time you ask and the time you receive.

   “A paradox”, the author writes, “is an apparent contradiction, a statement about reality that seems antithetical. Some paradoxes are common and well understood.”

    Life is messy. At the same time God is mysterious.  And we must approach him by faith. We are all aware that Hebrews 11:1 informs us it is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen. But that is still not completely graspable. The instances of the Old Testament saints walking by faith and not sight is the only handle God gives.

    Wisdom Is not faith

     The best illustration of walking a life of faith is Jesus. It is to allow God to lead as we follow.

      In the Grand Paradox Wytsma uses 16 chapters to help us realize that others struggled just as we are struggling now. He presents nuggets in each chapter for us to chew on. One is that in the midst of suffering is the best time to experience the presence of God.

      I would recommend this book for seekers who are trying to know God better.

      I was sent this book free from Thomas Nelson through booklookbloggers.com to review and add to my book review blog. There was no agreement that I had to give a positive review in order to receive this book. All views are those of the reviewer and not those of the publisher.
 To buy a copy of this book just use the link below:

The Grand Paradox: The Messiness of Life, the Mystery of God and the Necessity of Faith                         
                                            

Revival by Stephen King

  I have become a fan of Stephen King. I like the way he has developed in his style since his first book a long time ago.
  He used to do gross out type of horror stories. But he started to develop characters that were intriguing. His story in the past about flying saucers and telekinetic powers were a bit off the norm .
 When he works with basic motifs of the unknown, the wolfman, the enhanced mental capability of man-- these are good.
  He has become a leader in the revived horror genre.
   In this one we have the power of electricity and its' distructive power.
    The template for this one appears to be the Frankenstein Motif. A con man enters town and through the power of electricity presents himself as a miracle worker. But each person he helps is either driven to suicide or losing of their minds.
  Except for a few.
  This story is told through the first person voice of Jamie Morton who gets selected by a person called Charles Jacobs, the con man. There is a link between the two set up by a healing done by Jacobs using electricity.
   Jacobs weaves through the story and ends up at the end of his life attempting to raise the dead during a storm. He wishes to know what is beyond death.
   Jamie is needed since he is the success story of Jacobs and has the strongest connection to the power of the storm.
    King may have lost some of his hold over the genre but is starting to regain it.
    This is a good book and enjoyable.
     To buy a copy of this book you can go to my book store .
     On page 11 you will find it. Revival by Stephen King.