Our next Book.......

"The Five People You Meet in Heaven"

I choose this book as a recommendation from a friend, so here it is our next big pick!!!

Amazon.com Review:

Part melodrama and part parable, Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven weaves together three stories, all told about the same man: 83-year-old Eddie, the head maintenance person at Ruby Point Amusement Park. As the novel opens, readers are told that Eddie, unsuspecting, is only minutes away from death as he goes about his typical business at the park. Albom then traces Eddie's world through his tragic final moments, his funeral, and the ensuing days as friends clean out his apartment and adjust to life without him. In alternating sections, Albom flashes back to Eddie's birthdays, telling his life story as a kind of progress report over candles and cake each year. And in the third and last thread of the novel, Albom follows Eddie into heaven where the maintenance man sequentially encounters five pivotal figures from his life (a la A Christmas Carol). Each person has been waiting for him in heaven, and, as Albom reveals, each life (and death) was woven into Eddie's own in ways he never suspected. Each soul has a story to tell, a secret to reveal, and a lesson to share. Through them Eddie understands the meaning of his own life even as his arrival brings closure to theirs. Albom takes a big risk with the novel; such a story can easily veer into the saccharine and preachy, and this one does in moments. But, for the most part, Albom's telling remains poignant and is occasionally profound. Even with its flaws, The Five People You Meet in Heaven is a small, pure, and simple book that will find good company on a shelf next to It's A Wonderful Life. --Patrick O'Kelley

From Publishers Weekly:

"At the time of his death, Eddie was an old man with a barrel chest and a torso as squat as a soup can," writes Albom, author of the bestselling phenomenon Tuesdays with Morrie, in a brief first novel that is going to make a huge impact on many hearts and minds. Wearing a work shirt with a patch on the chest that reads "Eddie" over "Maintenance," limping around with a cane thanks to an old war injury, Eddie was the kind of guy everybody, including Eddie himself, tended to write off as one of life's minor characters, a gruff bit of background color. He spent most of his life maintaining the rides at Ruby Pier, a seaside amusement park, greasing tracks and tightening bolts and listening for strange sounds, "keeping them safe." The children who visited the pier were drawn to Eddie "like cold hands to a fire." Yet Eddie believed that he lived a "nothing" life-gone nowhere he "wasn't shipped to with a rifle," doing work that "required no more brains than washing a dish." On his 83rd birthday, however, Eddie dies trying to save a little girl. He wakes up in heaven, where a succession of five people are waiting to show him the true meaning and value of his life. One by one, these mostly unexpected characters remind him that we all live in a vast web of interconnection with other lives; that all our stories overlap; that acts of sacrifice seemingly small or fruitless do affect others; and that loyalty and love matter to a degree we can never fathom. Simply told, sentimental and profoundly true, this is a contemporary American fable that will be cherished by a vast readership. Bringing into the spotlight the anonymous Eddies of the world, the men and women who get lost in our cultural obsession with fame and fortune, this slim tale, like Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, reminds us of what really matters here on earth, of what our lives are given to us for.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Happy Reading!

"The Shack"

Chapters 4-18

I have to say this book was a great read and really starts to make you think.

As you can imagine Mack does go to the Shack, the place where his daughter was murdered and finds something he could not of imagined in a million years. His friend lets him borrow his Jeep and he gets his hiking gear together as well as a gun, he is hoping he doesn't have to use. But to his surprise when he gets there, it is still the same place he had found almost 4 years ago but then something happens...he falls and hits his head and the world around him changes right before his eyes. And everything he thought of God and Jesus are somewhat a totally different then what he was told and believed. There were 3 of them, God himself, Sanjua and Jesus all working together but yet three separate people or "spirits" that had a plan for Mack.

My first reaction was that they were there to lead him home to be with Missy, and then it was maybe she is still alive and they will lead him to her but neither were true. They each had a purpose to show him the light and that even though he was a believer, they wanted to show him he had to truly forgive before he could heal and that the damage from not forgiving was hurting his older daughter Kate, who thought Missy's disappearance was her fault. They allowed him to make peace with his Father who he had so many hard feelings for, for so many years and Mack's heart was finally finding some peace but now it was on to the biggest challenge of all....trying to find forgiveness for the worst possible thing that could of happened, the death of his youngest child by a child murderer.

It was amazing to me that after all that Jesus, God and Sanjua taught him he finally got it and realized that by not forgiving, he was only leaving his heart unopened and his daughter to suffer also. So as you can imagine he did find that forgiveness and in return they showed him where to find his daughters body.

As with any good book there is always a twist, and in this one I never saw this coming but he finally "woke" up in a sense and started home to tell his family of what had just happened, but as luck would have it he was in a serious car accident with a drunk driver who ran the light. As it was happening I was thinking how can this be it, they just took him back to have him help his family find forgiveness and now he's gone? But of course that was not the case.

He was taken to the hospital and my a miracle he was alive and ready to explain his story but at first it was blurry and he wasn't sure it happened until his wife Nan was at his side and it started all coming back, so he finally got to his wife and kids, especially Kate who finally admitted she felt it was her fault but now Mack truly lost it and explained it was never her fault, it was all God's Plan.

After he was released from the hospital, they went back to the "Shack" to try to find Missy. Of course it was almost to much for the family when they went back but with Mack's directions her body was found and enough evidence was there to find the killer, and also allow the other four families to find their loved one's bodies.

I guess what learned from this story is that without truly forgiving someone your heart will be closed, and without an totally open heart you are not letting God in 100%. It also showed me that even the bad things that happen and it seems like it's not fair, it's God's Plan and World not ours. We have to take each moment and realize it could be our last, love our families and hold onto the one's that mean the most to us. Plus the perception of God isn't always as what we take it to be, and have to be open to new ideas and know that one day those that we love that have gone, we'll all be together again for all eternity.

Until next time.........

Happy Reading!

"The Shack"

Part 1: Chapters 1-4

I told Adriane last night that I guess even though I posted the synopsis, I didn't really read what the book was about. Or I did and it didn't even comprehend what it was because as I kept reading, I never saw what happened coming! This has been an easy read, one that I didn't want to stop reading but because I am a faithful book club member, did...but it was hard not to move on!

Anyways, with that said the story begins with Mack taking his family on a vacation to the outdoors without his wife, Nan as she has to work. So he takes his 3 kids, 2 girls and a boy and they camp for the week, and they are having a fantastic time. Meet new friends and Mack has what I see as a revelation with God as he prays that his life is so good. His kids have found friends, he has met people that are really good people and they all are really enjoying themselves. Until the last day when the two older ones want to take the canoe out, just one last time and something goes wrong...the canoe tips and he has to leave his younger daughter in the campsite coloring while he uses his old lifeguard skills to save his older son and daughter from drowning. In the meantime after things relax, and everyone is OK he goes back to the campsite to find his daughter Missy, missing. Thinking she just wondered off with her new friends or went to the bathrooms panic sets in but he is still in the mindset of finding his daughter. Then the reality starts to set in as she is nowhere to be found and her friend is found at the showers without her. They continue their search and get the Park Ranger, and Police involved.

They split up and start searching, start talking to other campers until they find someone who saw Missy or someone who resembled her in a green truck, the person pushed her down and now they know that she has been kidnapped. With this new knowledge they go back to the campsite to find her shoe, and a lady bug stickpin with five dots on it. Now with a kidnapping of a child the FBI get involved. Unfortunately the FBI has no good news, this is the MO of a serial killer that has been out of the news. He stalks for children who are left unattended and then he kills them, but they never find the bodies or any evidence and other than the serial number on the lady bug that is left as well as now there were 5 dots which means that this is his fifth body.

Nan comes down to the site and finds Mack not only physically exhausted, but mentally and to my surprise is that he oddly calm and collective. So the search expands, they find evidence of the truck and come to a shack which the FBI and Police go into first, what they find is that of a pool of blood of the little girl who unfortunately is thought for dead, and once again no evidence other than hers. It sad to see, a Father have to go through such a horrendous ordeal and a family be torn apart by a monster. This is where the story begins, a family planning a memorial and almost 4 years later getting a letter from Papa or God as we all know him, but he is not sure if it's for real or if someone is toying with his emotions but it's something that he has to find out for himself....and the story continues, will he go by himself or have the police look into it??

So many questions, and now you can see why it was so hard to stop at that particular spot!

Until our next stop....

Happy Reading!

Introducing our next pick by Adriane:

Editorial Reviews:

Review"The Shack" is a one of a kind invitation to journey to the very heart of God. Through my tears and cheers, I have been indeed transformed by the tender mercy with which William Paul Young opened the veil that too often separated me from God and from myself. With every page, the complicated do's and don't that distort a relationship into a religion were washed away as I understood Father, Son and Holy Spirit for the first time in my life. --Patrick M. Roddy, ABC News Emmy Award winning producerFinally! A guy-meets-God Novel that has literary integrity and spiritual daring. "The Shack" cuts through the cliches of both religion and bad writing to reveal something compelling and beautiful about life's integral dance with the Divine. This story reads like a prayer--like the best kind of prayer, filled with sweat and wonder and transparency and surprise. When I read it, I felt like I was fellowshipping with God. If you read one work of fiction this year, let this be it. --Mike Morrell, zoecarnate.comWhen the imagination of a writer and the passion of a theologian cross-fertilize the result is a novel on the order of "The Shack." This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" did for his. It's that good! --Eugene Peterson, Professor Emeritus of Spiritual Theology, Regent College, Vancouver, B.C. Product DescriptionMackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant "The Shack" wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?" The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You'll want everyone you know to read this book!


Happy Reading!!

A Walk to Remember

Part 2 & 3

Landon Carter's life changed the minute he had his first contact with Jamie and it wasn't until she asked him to be the lead in the play, he realized that his life would be changed forever. Jamie wasn't someone he ever thought he would like, let alone fall in love with her.

The play is coming up and although he hopes it is going to be a success, he is hesitant for the one huge scene with Jamie, with the Drama teacher not saying it was "marvelous" he is not sure that he is ready, but the big night comes and Jamie comes out and that's when everything changes. She takes his breathe away, and that's when for the first time in his life he is in LOVE! The play is a huge success and now it's over and all the afternoon walks and rehearsals are over, and he can't believe how much he is going to miss it. Even Eric, his best friend comes to the second showing of the play! Landon never would of thought his friend would of even come the first time.

So now it's time for Jamie to ask for her favor from Landon, and she decides to have him collect all the cans she has around town and to count the money. Although Landon thought the play was the favor, he figures it's for a good cause the kids at the orphanage. As he is collecting he is realizing how mean he was to Jamie over the years and how little money she really collected to give something special to the kids, so he takes all the money he has saved up and the money collect to come up with almost $300. This allows Jamie to buy each of the kids, something to remember. Jamie and Landon go to the orphanage to pass out the presents and spend Christmas with the kids, after all the wrappings were torn off and kids were asleep, Landon gave Jamie her gift a beautiful brown sweater to replace the one she always wore. To Landon's surprise, her gift was her Mother's bible she cherished so much. At that moment, he knew that was the most special gift she could of ever given him and that he would cherish it for the rest of his life.

Then something happened, Jamie started to not look good and started missing school which meant Jamie finally had to tell Landon she was dying of Leukemia and there was nothing the doctors could do. This devastated Landon as he knew there was such little time left, he took the Bible and started to read it and pray for a miracle. Everyday after school he would go over to Jamie's to look for answers with her in her Bible and they would read scripture, hoping for a miracle that unfortunately never happened. Then it finally comes to him, what he has to do...he asks for Jamie's hand in marriage, something that he truly wanted to do as they both have pronounced their love to each other and before she passes on, it's the one thing he can do to make her dream come true. Even though Hegbert is a little hesitant, he agrees to marry them and Jamie somehow makes her dream come true by walking down the aisle slowly. They are married by Hegbert, with his Father standing by his side. The Father that hadn't been there for him most of his life, now has made sure Jamie had all the comforts she needed medically at home. It was a day Landon would never forget and to this day, still wears his ring on his finger to remind him of his one true love.

This was the love story of two people who fell in love and were unfortunately one was taken to soon, but for the other the heart never repaired itself from being broken so many years ago.

I myself, thought this was a great and easy read that I would recommend to anyone. So if anyone wants to read a true love story, this one that you'll never forget!

Happy Reading!