Where I share my love of books with reviews, features, giveaways and memes. Family and needlepoint are thrown in from time to time.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Mailbox Monday (April 4, 2011)



 Mailbox Monday's host for April is Amy at Passages to the Past. In My Mailbox is hosted Sundays at The Story Siren. Please visit these posts and take a look at what packages everybody else got this week! 



I Wonder Why Penguins Can't Fly
by Pat Jacobs


Colorful, surprising, and full of information, the I Wonder Why books have set thousands of young minds buzzing.  I Wonder Why Penguins Can't Fly is the perfect introduction to polar lands, featuring grumpy bears, record-breaking birds, polar pioneers, and much more.


What do you want to find out?  Clear, lively text answers all those tricky questions about how the world works, while friendly, funny cartoons add interest.  With more than 35 titles across a mind-expanding range of subjects, this is a series guaranteed to amaze and amuse.


Build your treasure-trove of big questions and amazing answers at http://www.iwonderwhybooks.com/.





That's When I Talk to God
by Dan and Ali Morrow
illustrated by Cory Godbey


A little girl discovers that she can talk to God anytime, in any place, and about anything.


As a little girl says her bedtime prayers, her mother asks a simple question that sparks a powerful discovery:  "You know we can pray to God anytime we want to, right?"  With that, the little girl suddenly finds things to talk to God about everything -- in her garden, in a friend's backyard, and on the soccer field -- and learns how God talks to her, too.


That's When I Talk to God is a sweet story that will help deepen the prayer lives of children everywhere.  This charmingly illustrated tale steps beyond explaining prayer and models constant communication with God.


Includes a letter to parents from real-life grandpa Lee Strobel.






Doctor Confidential: Secrets Behind the Veil
by Richard Sheff, MD


In the hushed stillness of a late night hospital room, confronted with a dead patient and an ethical dilemma, Dr. Sheff wonders, "What's love got to do with medicine?"  The answer he finds for himself in that darkest of hours, and now shares with all of us in Doctor Confidential, is "Everything!"


From the unique perspective of a nationally respected, mature physician, Dr. Sheff reflects deeply on the formative experiences of medical school and residency, giving the reader unexpected insights into the heart and mind of doctors, the experience of patients and their families, and ultimately the connection between love, medical practice, and the healing we all seek.


The unique stories in Doctor Confidential speak directly to anyone in medical training or considering a career in medicine, but also to the patient in all of us.  Pulling back the veil of secrecy that too often surrounds medicine, Doctor Confidential provides compassion, humor, and ultimately hope that, when sick and most vulnerable, each of us can be heard, understood, and deeply touched by our physician.





by R.A. McDonald

No sickness, no injuries, no pain, no limits.

If you had the power to heal, what would you do?

For fifteen-year-old Ada discovering that she can heal feels more like a curse than a gift.  When she learns of the mystery surrounding her mother's disappearance, and sees the indifference of so-called friends, she sets out for Paris to find her.

The power to heal protects her, but also has her hunted by a man who sees her as nothing more than his fountain of youth.  Ada realizes her true power is her will to survive, and that her only chance at freedom is to become the best at escaping.




The Fitting Room: Putting On the Character of Christ
by Kelly Minter


An irresistible invitaiton to a spiritual makeover.


Colossians 3:12 tells us to "clothe" ourselves in classic Christian virtues such as peace, forgiveness, compassion, kindness, humility, and patience.  But what does that look like in real life?  (And where do we shop to find these supernatural clothes?)


Writing with warmth, humor, and down-to-earth honesty, Kelly Minter explores what it means to take off negative traits and emotional entanglements and put on the character of Christ.  There's no guilt here, just a lot of grace, insight, warm encouragement, and an irresistible invitation to a spiritual makeover.  Through Scripture and story, Kelly gently shows you how to put on virtues that were truly made for you, personally tailored by the One who knows and loves you best.





The Bond: Our Kinship with Animals, Our Call to Defend Them
by Wayne Pacelle


A fascinating exploration of humanity's eternal bond with animals, and an urgent call to answer the needs of millions of at-risk creatures.


A landmark work, The Bond, is the passionate, insightful, and comprehensive examination of our special connection to all creatures, written by one of America's most important champions of animal welfare.  Wayne Pacelle, the president of the Humane Society of the United States, unveils the deep links of the human-animal bond, as well as the conflicting impulses that have led us to betray this bond through widespread and systemic cruelty to animals.


Pacelle begins by exploring the biological and historical underpinnings of the human-animal bond and reveals our newfound understanding of animals, including their remarkable emotional and cognitive capacities.  In the book's second section, Pacelle shows how the bond has been broken.  He takes readers to a slaughter plant shuttered for inhumane practices, as well as the enormous egg factory farms of California.  We visit Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in Kansas to speak with NFL star Michael Vick, then serving his sentence for dogfighting.  Pacelle paints a portrait of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and highlights the heroic actions of residents and volunteers to reunite pets with their owners.  Pacelle's narrative also leads the reader to remote locations in which conflicts over the killing of wildlife continue to play out -- from the fields outside of Yellowstone National Park where bison are slaughtered with the encouragment of federal authorities, to the ice floes of Atlantic Canada where seal nurseries turn into killing fields.


In its final section, The Bond takes on the arguments of opponents and critics of animal protection and spotlights the groups and industries standing in the way of progress -- from the National Rifle Association and such agribusiness organizations as the American farm Bureau, to surprising adversaries like the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Kennel Club.  Ultimately, Pacelle points the way to a new, humane economy -- one not built on extraction, suffering, and killing, but on the celebration, stewardship, and care of animals.


An eye-opening must-read, The Bond reminds us that animals are at the center of our lives, they are not just a backdrop.  How we treat them is one of the great themes of the human story.





Revise Us Again: Living from a Renewed Christian Script
by Frank Viola


Every person follows a script for living, a life guide that directs our behavior and shapes our choices. As believers, we find the original script for living woven throughout the Bible.  Yet while the Christian message is simple, it can become complicated by our environment, our culture, and our religious ideas and traditions.  For this reason, we are all in constant need of revising the scripts by which we live.


Author Frank Viola believes we need to revisit and revise what it means to live the Christian life.  Drawing from his rich background in ministry, Viola examines ten key areas that impact every believer and explores fresh ways to revise them.


Conversational, insightful, and practical, Revise Us Again encourages us to examine those religious habits that we unconsciously pick up from others and rescript them with new habits that line up with our new nature in Christ.





Quiet Anchorage
by Ed Lynskey
(ebook)


Quiet Anchorage, Virginia, is like any other peaceful small town in America. Until the murder of Jake Robbins rocks Quiet Anchorage, and his fiancĂ©e Megan Connors is charged for it. Her elderly aunts, the tenacious Isabel and Alma Trumbo, then decide it's left up to them to do some shrewd detective work to unravel the knotty mystery, identify the true killer, and clear Megan's good name. Quiet Anchorage offers a pleasant small town setting, credible characters, droll dialogue, good-natured humor, and intriguing subplots. This cozy mystery follows in the tradition of lady amateur sleuths such as Anne George’s Southern Sisters Mysteries and Rita Mae Brown’s Merry Minor Harristeen titles also set in Virginia.





Predators of Darkness
by Leonard D. Hilley II
(ebook)


Fear What Lurks In The Shadows

The desolate streets of downtown Pittsburgh in 2073 are a reminder of the missile attack that forever changed the lives of the surviving scientists and students hidden in the fallout shelter of Helmsby's Genetic Research Center. Believing themselves to be the only survivors, they station themselves inside the center until food supplies near depletion. Thinking the fallout has lessened, they emerge three years later to discover strange creatures patrolling the streets in search of human flesh and blood. The creatures possess the ability to shift their genomes and alter their appearances by realigning their genetic sequences. Daniel Hutchinson, their leader, teams with Lucas Ridale and together they set out to scavenge the area for food and supplies with the hope to find other survivors. But Daniel's most recent journey uncovers mysteries more frightening than the shifters. He discovers the tip of Pittsburgh has been fenced off from the rest of the area. Low-flying helicopters observe the streets, making him ponder the question: Were the shifters released as simply part of a military experiment with humans being their prey?




Beyond the Darkness
by Leondard D. Hilley II
(ebook)

The Darkness Continues . . .

Three years after Daniel and the other survivors escaped the terrorizing, blood-thirsty shifters in Pittsburgh, his friends have moved forward with their lives, but Daniel cannot. He believes the conspiracies within TransGenCorp have not ended and more shifters exist.

Then Daniel receives a phone call from Lucas that bolsters his paranoia.

Lucas is being charged with murders he insists his clone committed.

Daniel soon discovers darker atrocities are emerging, which not only place his life in immense danger, but all his friends as well.




The Game of Pawns: Book Three
by Leonard D. Hilley II
(ebook)

Pawns are expendable. . .
Twelve execution-style murders have occurred in Newark, New Jersey, in less than a week. Each murder has a calling card - a red pawn on each corpse. Kat Gaddis and Lucian investigate the homicides and discover the last four victims were employed by GenTech, a company that recently merged with Mech Cybernetics. After FBI director Mike Carpenter shares evidence with Kat, they soon discover political ties and corruptions that place Kat's life in direct danger. New players emerge and what seems like serial murders suddenly becomes a struggle for biotech knowledge and power. Kat is thrust into their game - The Game of Pawns.


What books came home to you last week?

3 comments:

bermudaonion said...

Those should keep you busy for a while. I hope you love them all.

Jen B. said...

I just finished Breaking the Rules by Suzanne Brockmann. I just started Invincible: Chronicles of Nick book 2 by Sherrilyn Kenyon. I also received The Captive Bride by Bonnie Dee, The Widowed Bride by Elizabeth Lane and Dark Obsession by Suzanne Rock.

Anonymous said...

These seem like interesting books. I especially found "The Bond" to be interesting.

Check out my IMM.

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