The Heavens Proclaim His Glory: A Spectacular View of Creation Through the Lens of the NASA Hubble Telescope

 

The Heavens Proclaim His Glory:  A Spectacular View of Creation Through the Lens of the NASA Hubble Telescope by Thomas Nelson is a hefty book of glossy photographs of the wonders of space interspersed with praise for God, Bible verses and quotations from notable people.  There is no way to describe the pictures other than absolutely stunning.  Nelson has found a very unique way to unite science and religion into a book that anyone can enjoy despite their spiritual leanings.

Each photograph is labeled and many are explained with details of distance from earth, size, and other scientific facts.  Complementing each photo is a snippet of spirituality that might come in the form of a Bible verse, a poem, or a quotation. 

Patsy Clairmont, author and speaker, said "Can you imagine an endless view of color, comets, and sparkling curlicues pirouetting through the heavens?  Lean in and be reminded that our Creator continues to shower the cosmos with His glory.  These pictures and thoughts make my heart dance with joy!"   

Clairmont is absolutely correct.  You can not look at these pictures without knowing, without a doubt, that our supreme creator is the ultimate artist!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255

Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk

As a rabid Chuck Palahniuk fan, famous author of the cult classic Fight Club boy was  I tickled to get Pygmy  and start it. As I read the first page, my first response was WTF Chuck?!? Another gimmicky style?  Are you trying to drive off readers or just bend our minds?  

Rant and Snuff weren't enough to tickle your creative fancy? The book is written as if it is a first person account of a person whose primary language isn't English, but the account is written in English. For example, flowers are called "plant genitals." 

I almost quit the book, but I kept on, and I finally adapted to the writing style. The story is about Pygmy and his comrades, who were taken from their parents at a very young age and made into weapons of "the state." We never find out which country--Palahniuk does this on purpose--the country who wants to destroy the USA is a composition of what could be many other countries. Anyway, Pygmy and his comrades all enter the USA as foreign exchange students, with their goal to inflict "Operation Havoc."

I really did enjoy the story, even as distracted as I was by the writing. I really wish Ole Chuck would just weave us a few good novels without the gimmicks. He's a great writer, has a huge base and doesn't need to "play." Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe his gimmicks are forever sealing his fate as one of the greatest contemporary writers of our time.

*Note-after having time to stew over this novel, and looking back at how difficult it must have been to write it, I see it in a different light--Palahniuk is a genius.  I rate this one 4 blooms!


Disclosure:  This book was purchased by me and I received no compensation for this review.

Sky Below by Stacey E'Rasmo

Sky Below by Stacey E'Rasmo
Book Description:  At thirty-seven, Gabriel Collins works halfheartedly as an obituary writer at a fading newspaper in lower Manhattan, which, since 9/11, feels like a city of the dead. This once dreamy and appealing boy has turned from a rebellious adolescent to an adult who trades in petty crimes.His wealthy, older boyfriend is indulgent of him to a point. But after a brush with his own mortality, Gabriel must flee to Mexico in order to put himself back together. By novel's end, we know all of Gabriel's ratty little secrets, but by dint of D'Erasmo's spectacular writing, we exult in the story of an imperfect man who was tested by a world that is often too much for him and rises to meet the challenge.

Lily's Thoughts- (As published in Elle Magazine, January 2009)
Rich in details, sentences spun as expertly as an artist's brush renders a masterpiece, this novel is a tale for the connoisseur of words. We live Gabriel life along side him; the painful departure of his father and subsequent loss of the mother he remembers as being so creative and attendant, who now must fend for him and his older sister. We endure his long wait for life to begin, for his coming of age that never materializes the way he expects it will. We hold witness to the thin line between reality and fantasy, sometimes unable to distinguish the differences. Gabriel, long into adulthood, holds onto an idea of the past, a world he's created in his mind, a world he can never seem to grasp, even as his moves mindless through real life situations and relationships. To me, more than anything, this novel explores the question "If you think something is true, does that make it real?"  I give this one 4 blooms.

Disclosure:  This book was given to me by Elle Magazine in exchange for a review.

My Biplar Road Trip in 4-D by Lizzie Simon

Book Description-

Detour is the extraordinary first book by Lizzie Simon, a twenty-three-year-old woman with bipolar disorder. We meet her as she is set to abandon her successful career as a theatrical producer in New York City, with plans to hit the road and find other bipolars like herself -- young, ambitious, opinionated, and truth-seeking. Her goal: to speak with them candidly without judgment, fear, or the slightest trace of anything clinical or jargon-laden. She wants their stories in their words. Detour : My Bipolar Road Trip in 4-D

Lily's Thoughts--

Lizzie Simon, a diagnosed bipolar, decides to take leave from her job and drive around the country looking for her "herd," people like her, who, because of a defining moment, were diagnosed manic depressive, but, despite the difficulties, were successful and living life to the fullest. What she discovered was that people with bipolar are complex and at times, very hard to define and that success sometimes is just being able to wake up and say "Hey, I'm alive." A quick, powerful read. Highly recommended 4 blooms.

Disclosure:  No compensation was provided for this post.  I bought the book.

Lima Nights by Marie Arana

 







If you are looking for a novel that grabs you and doesn't let go until the final paragraph, you've found it in Lima Nights. The book is more than a tantalizing, erotic love story between generations, but a statement that exposes the desperation of indigenous people who live in filth and extreme poverty in contrast to the wealthy German immigrants, who dine on delicacies and live in extravagantly furnished homes, complete with armed guards. Desire and desperation combine into a combustible need; Bluhm, looking for respite from his stifling, unfulfilled marriage, is drawn to Maria's youth and fierceness, while Maria, physically starving, needs to escape the slum she was born into, knowing that if she doesn't, she will be resigned to live the same fate as her mother, sees Bluhm as her saviour. Both Bluhm and Maria are hungry, ravenous, and Arana does very well bringing out the passion between them, and then letting the story evolve naturally, with an ending reminiscent of the masters of classical literature.

4 Blooms


Disclosure:  This book was given in exchange for a review.

The Gilda Stories: A Novel by Jewelle Gomez

 The Gilda Stories, a novel about vampires, but much more....it is a story about longing, living in the past, trying to define oneself by criteria that is inconsistent with the reality of one's existence. Gilda moves though her life, extended through vampirism, searching for a place to call home and wanting a lover who will never leave. Her conflict is her inability to leave her life as a human behind and take on the characteristics of a vampire's life. Gomez's writing is concise and gripping. I enjoyed this novel immensely. This novel has lesbian themes, although I wouldn't necessarily label it as a lesbian novel. It also delicately deals with race and class issues over a generations, from the brutality of slavery to the generalizations of theater and urban life.

4 Blooms

Disclosure:  No compensation was given for this review.

Theft: Stories by N. S. Koenings

Loss is a universal concept that stretches across all ethnicity and walks of life among people. In her collection of five short stories, aptly called Theft, N. S. Koenings explores loss as it is perceived by her parade of varied and interesting characters. In Pearls to Swine, we read about an idealistic woman who, in essence, has her pride and self identity stolen when things don't pan out as she expects. 

Wondrous Strange takes us on a journey into the hope of other worlds, which may or may not rob us of our foothold into reality.

The title story, Theft, no only deals with material theft, but the theft of security and idealism. 

Sister for Shama is a strange but entrancing story of compassion and imagination. 

Lastly, Setting Up Shop quite effectively demonstrates how one can lose everything because of a desperate want of something out of reach.

The writing style is reminiscent of 19th century masters--delicate, beautifully intricate, and vibrantly descriptive. Koenings has an impressive grasp of the "feel" of other cultures and reveals those feelings to us in a wonderful way. I highly recommend this collection.

4 Blooms

Dislosure:  No compensation was given for this review.

Entertaining Disasters:a novel with recipes by Nancy Spiller

Don't be fooled by the title, Entertaining Disasters. This novel is not a superficial story about a foodie's faux pas hosting dinner parties, but a unique creation by the author to weave fiction into memoir. Through creating this memoir, the narrator, who is unnamed, carries the reader along the journey of her life. Paragraphs of the past are interwoven with the present preoccupation of preparing for a dinner party. We are allowed to see how the circumstances of the past, the pain of a mentally ill family member, the isolation from everyone but her dog and husband, and passion for cooking has molded and shaped the narrator into the obsessive, doubtful, fraudulent food writer she has become. But this isn't just a story of the past, but a tale of a woman who discovers the deeper meaning to life--life that she's avoided for over a decade. Spiller's unique method of storytelling lets us witness the food writer answer her own questions about love, life, perfection, and the importance of family

 4 blooms

Disclosure:  This book was given by Elle Magazine in exchange for a review.