Tag Archives: books

Ten Books That Have Stayed With Me

booksOK, I got tagged on Facebook to list 10 books that have stayed with me in some way. The instructions also say, “Don’t take more than a few minutes and do not think too hard. They do not have to be the “right” books or great works of literature, just ones that have affected you in some way.” I thought I’d try and do that here:

  • The Happy Hollisters – Why would I list this book? Because it was a jump into “real” literature, or so it seemed at the time. My sisters had this book (two of them, though I’m not sure which titles). These were hard-backed chapter books, the first I ever read.
  • The Tales of Edgar Allen Poe – Too young to pick up on Poe’s emotional issues, I enjoyed the twists that he put into his stories (Borges would later delight me in the same way). When I’ve had to write short stories, I’ve liked to have a surprise or two along the way.
  • More Strange But True Football Stories – I read voraciously as a youngster, but by far, my favorite books were books about sports. I list this as representative of the dozens and dozens of such books I read.
  • The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings (Tolkien)
  • How To Talk To God (Winward) – A simple book on prayer that came along at a good time in my life.
  • The Friendship Factor (McGinnis) – Reading this while in college was a great help to an introvert like me.
  • My Utmost For His Highest (Chambers) – This book was given to me at a special time in my life and still moves me with its short, simple messages.
  • Celebration of Discipline (Foster) – My introduction to the spiritual disciplines.
  • How To Read The Bible For All Its Worth (Fee & Stuart) – Coming at a time when I was rethinking how I approach the Bible, this book was an important part of that process.
  • Mere Christianity – My introduction to C.S. Lewis
  • Mere Discipleship (Camp) – I had already begun questioning much of what I’d learned about citizenship and patriotism. This book drove home the point that following Jesus and following a country are not compatible.

What would your list look like?

More Hope For Life

MHfL coverInstead of doing a Friday book review, as I have at times in the past, this Friday I have a book announcement. Steve Ridgell and I have written a third book: More Hope For Life. This is a follow-up to our 2011 Herald of Truth publication, Hope For Life.

More Hope For Life contains short articles designed to help people find the hope that only God can give.

The articles were originally published on the Heartlight Magazine web site. Most of them also appeared on our Hope For Life web site. The compilation makes it easier to present the articles to someone who is looking for hope.

The book has six sections:

  • Our Father In Heaven
  • Jesus, Our Hope
  • Walking In His Steps
  • The Contented Life
  • When Life Tumbles In
  • Life Without End

Each section is introduced with a pertinent Bible passage, and each article has one that follows it. The pictures in the book are all from Herald of Truth ministry projects.

The book costs $11.00, and shipping is $2.57. Residents of Texas have to pay sales tax as well. (If you would like a signed copy, please send an email to timothycarcher@gmail.com indicating how you would like the book inscribed. If you’d prefer to purchase by check, you can e-mail me at the same address for further information.)

We’ve got a winner!

We’ve got a winner, folks: Travis Flora won yesterday’s book giveaway.

Tyndale gave me the chance to participate in the blog tour for Matt Mikalatos‘ new book Night of the Living Dead Christian. They sent me a free review copy, as well as the chance to give away a copy to one of my readers. Travis was the first to comment, and the random number generator at www.random.org came up with “1” as the winning number.

I appreciate Matt taking the time to stop by and interact a bit. Too bad we didn’t have more people asking him questions. So be it.

Have a great weekend!

[And yes, dear FCC friends, Tyndale did provide me with free books for this review and giveaway,
and the links to Amazon do generate referral fees]

Review: Night of the Living Dead Christian

Tyndale gave me the chance to participate in the blog tour for Matt Mikalatos‘ new book Night of the Living Dead Christian. They sent me a free review copy, as well as the chance to give away a copy to one of my readers. All you need to do to enter the contest is leave a comment. It’s possible too that the author himself may stop by to interact a bit, so if you’ve read this book or Imaginary Jesus, you may be able to ask him some questions about those books.

Now, about the book. Night of the Living Dead Christians is an ordinary story about monsters and monster killers roaming a neighborhood. It’s a light-hearted book that seeks to make some not-so-light-hearted points about transformation and the meaning of discipleship. Along the way, it also seeks to make Christians look at how we deal with those who are struggling with sin in their lives.

I like the concept, love the message and enjoyed reading the book. But I have to confess that all the way along, I had the feeling that I didn’t get the joke. I kept wondering if there was something more than what I was seeing.

In some ways, the story felt like a parable, where you aren’t really supposed to interpret each individual element, merely capture the main points along the way. Yet other parts of the story seemed allegorical, which made me wonder if I was supposed to be seeing something more in some of the descriptions.

For example, the central character in the book (besides the narrator) is a werewolf. Another character is a vampire. These seem to be just unnamed character issues that they are dealing with. Or was I supposed to realize that “werewolf” means ____? I wouldn’t have thought so, but there were two things that made me doubt. First, the werewolf’s wife had left him because he had struck her. OK, so something about being a werewolf made him violent. Does “werewolf” mean uncontrolled temper? Or am I looking for meanings that aren’t supposed to be there? Secondly, there are zombies in the book, and we are led to see exactly what that means. So if we know what it is to be a zombie, are we supposed to know what it is to be a werewolf and what it is to be a vampire?

There were lots of things like that in the book that left me with the nagging feeling that I just wasn’t getting it. Other things didn’t seem clear to me. In the initial scene, a mad scientist uses a device that seems to attract monsters. Or does it reveal them? Or does it do anything at all? The narrator had already seen the werewolf, so his coming seems unrelated to the machine. And does that machine represent something?

Sigh.

As I said, it was a fun book to read, and I loved the message. I’m just not sure if I caught it all.

I’m looking forward to others reading this book and clueing me in. Whoever wins the book today will be obligated to give me their view. To have your chance, just leave a comment of any sort in the comment section. And spread the word… maybe your Christmas gift to someone can be helping them win a free book!

Here’s a video from the author about his book:

[And yes, dear FCC friends, Tyndale did provide me with free books for this review and giveaway,
and the links to Amazon do generate referral fees]

Book Review: A Common Bond

Paula Harrington was gracious enough to send me an electronic copy of her new book A Common Bond for me to read and review. I meant to review this on Friday, when I often do book reviews, but couldn’t come up with the file on Friday! Paula generously sent me another copy and now I’m ready to write!

Paula received submissions from a number of men who have preached in the churches of Christ. Several of them are well known; most have preached for decades. In the book, they discuss things like sermon preparation, job interviews, time management, etc. The book is full of humor, but includes many serious insights and practical suggestions.

Reading the book reminds me of the times I’ve gotten to swap stories with other preachers (and other Christians who aren’t preachers). It’s the sort of thing that goes on at workshops and lectureships around the country.

The material found in this book will be especially useful to those looking at going into the ministry and those who haven’t been in ministry long. It will also be useful to church leaders who oversee the work of ministers as it gives great “behind the scenes” looks into a minister’s life. And I think the book can be enjoyed by all.

The greatest thing that shines through in this book is the love these men have for what they do. That in and of itself is a treasure for our brotherhood. Some men grow tired of ministry, others grow cynical about its role in the church. Reading this book can help restore your faith in these men who serve others in this way.

Paula did a previous book on preachers’ wives; if you can find a copy of it, the two would make a great companion set. I have high hopes that she will continue these compilations, doing similar works on elders, missionaries, Bible class teachers, etc.

I wasn’t asked to write a positive review, just an honest one. I’ve done my best to do that.