Book Review: Signs of Life, David Jeremiah

"We need to freely dispense the same grace God has shown us."
~David Jeremiah

"Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity."
~1 Timothy 4:12

The Christian life that genuinely belongs to Christ will not only manifest itself inwardly, in the heart, but also outwardly, through the actions.  Signs of Life is designed as a 40 day reading plan which will encourage Christians to live the servant heart and reach out into the world that needs to experience His grace.  Each reading explicates a particular biblical wisdom and illustrates it in action by the use of anecdotes.  And at the end of each is a one sentence summary making the lesson easy to remember, a Bible verse that will corroborate the lesson, and an application question that will make the readers reflect.

I find this book very practical and timely.  It is quick to become indifferent in a culture that is bombarded by permissiveness, selfishness, materialism, greed, and lack of compassion.  This book is provoking one to go against the grain of what society teaches and live that quality of life that evidence's Christ round the clock, all year round, even on holidays ;)

Book: Dusty Shoes, Rolled-Up Sleeves, and other Signs of Life (Back to the Basics of Authentic Christianity)
Author: David Jeremiah
Number of pages: 276
Published by: Thomas Nelson
Price: PHP 600
Available at: OMF Lit book shops

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A Book Review: The Diary of Anais Nin, Volume Three: 1939-1944

"Let him remain a poet and reveal magic coincidences and magic possibilities."
~Anais Nin

I first came upon Anais Nin while reading about Henry Miller.  She is best known for her unstructured bohemian lifestyle that was the life blood of her diaries.  As a diarist, she is very aware of herself in relation to her environment and those with whom she interacts.  She is decadent and affront.  She can be sympathizing but sometimes highfalutin.  In most of her pages she records her obsession for love which I find narcissistic and foolish that my eyes roll inadvertently all the way to the moon while reading.  Regardless, she's a good, though not great or awesome, writer.  She can bring color to her opinions on art, writing, and everydayness by means of poetic locutions.

"Proust and Dostoevsky are opposite poles in the study of love.  Proust studied its fragmentations, analyzed its disintegrations,  the malady of doubt and jealousy.  Dostoevsky studies the exaltations of instinct and impulses, the dangers of emotional passions.  In Proust duality, in Dostoevsky an effort to dissolve dualities and conflict by a Christian self-annihilation, lost of the self in the ecstacies of sacrifice.  In Proust disintegration of analysis.  In Dostoevsky through passionate instinctive blind impulses, masochism, the chaos of nature.  In Proust the tragedy of lucidity, in Dostoevsky the tragedy of blind emotions, obscurantism, mysticism, contradictions."

~Anais Nin
  September, 1941

Book: The Diary of Anais Nin, Volume 3: 1939-1944
Author: Anais Nin
Number of pages: 327
Published by: A Harvest Book (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.)
Price: *
Available at: *
*I got this book via ebay.  I'm not sure if local bookstores in Manila got 'em.

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A Book Review: The Swan Thieves, by Elizabeth Kostova

"Marriages are like certain books, a story where you turn the last page and you think it's over, and then there's an epilogue, and after that you're inclined to go on wondering about the characters or imagining that their lives continue without you, dear reader.  Until you forget most of the book, you're stuck puzzling over what happened to them after you close it."

~ Elizabeth Kostova

This book is a detective story without the frills and thrills of a typical hollywood mystery or "it" novels.  Each chapter peels a thin layer after another slowly revealing the secrets of the plot and its characters.

My first impression upon reading the prologue is boredom.  But it was nothing of that.  As I continued to read, I became interested in the characters, what made them the way they are.

The first half of this book searches and finds answers on who Robert Oliver is.  The other half explores the mystery of his obsession.

As beautiful as the storyline is how the author wrote it.  She can bring to life the paintings she pictures and the settings she puts her characters in.  She introduces her characters with such skill that readers will understand their insights, feelings, melancholy, and mania.

Overall, this book is timeless.  Might even be a classic.  I would compare the beauty of this book to the quiet morning breeze.  It will take patience to read through it but satisfaction comes in following their stories until the very last page, until the very last word.

I know Kostova's first book, The Historian, is about vampires.  I am repulsed by books that depend on vampires or the paranormal to make it interesting.  But after reading her writing in The Swan Thieves I think I will someday be giving The Historian a try.

Book: The Swan Thieves

Author: Elizabeth Kostova

Number of pages: 607

Published by: Sphere

Price: PHP 299

Available at: Fully Booked

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A Book Review: Holiness Day by Day, by Jerry Bridges

"The Holy Spirit's work in transforming us more and more into the likeness of Christ is called sanctification.  Our involvement and cooperation with Him in His work is what I call the pursuit of holiness.  That expression is taken from Hebrews 12:14: 'Strive for [literally pursue]... the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.'

...the pursuit of holiness must be anchored in the grace of God; otherwise it is doomed to failure."

~Jerry Bridges

I'm not a big fan of devotionals but I absolutely love this one.  It's a gem of encouragement for everyday to live in a way that pleases God.  It contains tidbits, but chunky ones, from different books by Bridges' such as Transforming Grace, The Pursuit of Holiness, The Gospel for Real Life, The Discipline of Grace, Respectable Sins, and The Fruitful Life.

While reading this it is hard to not examine my own heart, to see it in its fallen bankrupt state and to see what it has become through God's grace found in Christ.  Jesus paid the price for us to be able to live in the way that delights Him.  Ain't that just wonderful?

Bridges' love for God is so catching you will be heartened to begin a journey with Jesus or to continue in the journey of pursuing holiness.

Book: Holiness Day by Day: Transformational Thoughts for your Spiritual Journey

Author: Jerry Bridges

Publisher: OMF Literature Inc.

Price: PHP 250

Available at: OMF Lit book shops

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A Book Review: House, by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker

A collaboration between two of today's best thriller writers: Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker.

The result is...

...a really. scary. book.  I'm a bona-fide scaredy-cat, so, I don't know if other readers will be as creeped out as I was.

House is a story that follows 7 characters trapped inside a haunted house who are forced to play a game imposed by the serial killer, Barsidious White.  While they play along they will have to kill one in their group if they want to get out of the house alive.  As the game progresses they each will face their own fears and the darkness of their hearts.

The reader is taken through twists and turns until you can see the characters for who they really are.

Overall, this book, though creepy, is a lightweight and very good read.  The symbolisms the authors entwined throughout the plot is remarkable.


Book: House
Author: Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker
Number of pages: 372
Published by: Thomas Nelson
Price: PHP 550

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A Book Review: Golda, by Elinor Burkett

"If only political leaders would allow themselves to feel as well as to think, the world might be a happier place."
~Golda Meir

She was the first woman Israeli Prime Minister.  So far she is the only woman who became prime minister in the state of Israel.

This book chronicles Golda's life from Milwaukee to Israel, from a student activist to politician, from prime minister to icon.  Golda was reckless, and worldly.  Married her husband but then run off with different men and with politics.  She was resourceful and passionate.  She stayed true to her ideals and fought for it no matter the outcome.  She dreamt of a perfect socialist Israel without crimes, corruption, and capitalism.  She labored for it but ended up disillusioned as poverty and unemployment increased, crimes were rampant, corruption was present in the government, and capitalism became the dog of greed.

Golda Meir genuinely cared for her people.  The experiences she lived through and witnessed has shaped her views, her policies, and who she was as a person but most of all as a politician.

Elinor Burkett has written an excellent biography.  She places the reader inside the events that have taken place and puts the reader beside the Iron Lady herself.  While reading this book I got to laugh with Golda and at her, get the feel of the victory they won, be outraged at some of the outcomes, be sad when her people were mistreated, cheered for her political stance, and be disappointed on some of her actions.

This is a biography that is neither sympathetic or apathetic.  Burkett gives the readers room to critique Golda, to hate her, or to love her.  There is no room for in-between.

Overall, if you love to read biographies and would want to get to know who Golda Meir is, this book is a good read.

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Rediscovering Holiness (A Book Review)

"All ventures in holiness go rotten at the core when gain in any form, rather than gratitude, motivates them.  The true taproot of holiness is always the Spirit-prompted urge to show love to God and others by doing what is right out of gratitude to God for Jesus Christ..."
~J.I. Packer

This is one of my favorite books on holiness.  J.I. Packer makes vivid what the holiness of God is and what it means to us.  He explains that holiness is not just a concept but it is who God is and it is what He requires of us as His beloved children.  Packer goes on to say that living a pure life inside out is not as impossible as we think rather it is made possible by Jesus who paid the price of our sins on the cross and with the help of the Holy Spirit.

In this journey I will fall many times, but it gives me much comfort and encouragement to know that the Creator of the universe is helping me every step of the way.  What a relief!

"The sacrifice You desire is a broken spirit.
You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God."
~Psalm 51:17 (NLT)


"He gave us His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."
~Titus 2:14 (NLT)


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The Tehran Initiative (A Book Review)

So far I liked all the novel's from Rosenberg that I've read.  All are fast-paced action-packed political thrillers.  It's like reading something from Michael Crichton.

The Tehran Initiative is a fiction novel and sequel to the first The Twelfth Imam.  This book continues to follow David Sharizi's journey to unravel the twelfth imam's plot to destroy the world through war.  It shows three conflicting countries with differing beliefs and points of view.

I personally liked the first book more.  In reading trilogies (which this book is) the second book is often the least I like.  I find it less exciting than the first and last.  Anyway, The Tehran Initiative has suspenseful moments.  Will the nuclear devastation planned by the antagonist be stopped?  How will the characters and three main countries handle high pressure situations?  What will be the consequences of each action they take?

The secondary plot of this story is a love story.  Every now and then this gives the reader a break from all the politics and action.  But the love story, though it softens the plot, is also gripping.

This book concludes with a solution and then a cliffhanger.  The third book is called The Damascus Countdown which will be available later this year.

Have a blessed weekend!

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