Long Way Gone - Book Review

Cooper O'Conner is the son of a widowed traveling revival preacher/gospel musician. His father is a kind and loving, yet larger-than-life figure who does his best to teach Cooper to develop and use his God-given musical talents to reach and left others. At the age of 18, Cooper rejects his father's love and concern and vows to take control of his own life and destiny. He steals everything he can take from his father and heads to Nashville in search of his own fame and fortune. Nothing goes according to his plan and it isn't long before Cooper has lost everything, and longs to return home, but feels he is not worthy to do so. When he meets Daley Cross, a beautiful Country singer on her way up, he shares his own songs with her and in so doing helps her find her own voice. They fall in love and plan to marry, and for a while they appear to be two stars on an endless climb upward. However, just when everything seems to be going right, Cooper finds that his fall to the bottom is not yet complete. When a shooting and a fire almost take his life, Cooper's life is mysteriously saved at the last moment. What follows is a long, slow painful climb back to those he loved, left and lost.

Told in first-person, by the main character, this story is tender rework of Jesus's parable of the Prodigal Son found in the New Testament of the Bible. The characters are fully developed and feel like friends - flawed and imperfect but valuable and lovable nonetheless. The details, descriptions and storyline make the reader feel like he is right there experiencing what Cooper O'Conner experienced. 

Music is a huge part of this story and I learned a lot about the making and selling of music through reading this book. I think this story and its characters will stay with me for a long time - not only because I love the parable of the Prodigal Son upon which it is based, but because Long Way Gone is a memorable and moving tale in its own right. 

Thanks to BookLook Bloggers for providing a Kindle version of this book in exchange for my honest review. I give this book 4 **** out of 5 stars. 

The Entitlement Cure - Book Review

The Entitlement Cure - Finding Success in Doing Hard Things the Right Way, by psychologist and leadership expert, Dr. John Townsend, is a book that probably everyone would benefit from reading since it deals with how to recognize and remedy entitlement "take the easy way out" attitudes in others and ourselves.  

As a parent of young adults and a high school teacher, I thought I knew all about entitlement attitudes. What I wanted was ideas on how to prevent and deal with them. This book offered a cure for entitlement right in the title, so when I was offered the opportunity to review it, I jumped at the chance. 

As I began reading the book, I was surprised to learn that it wasn't just about how to cure entitlement in others, but also how to recognize and remedy it within ourselves. Further, I began to see that I had more entitlement attitudes than I had ever imagined. After all, I was a hard-working adult who knew that life could be tough - why would I feel entitled?  Yet, the evidence presented by Dr. Townsend helped me to see that I take too many short cuts and too often try to do things the easy way, or expect that things should turn out a certain way because I "deserve it."  I thought I was just being "efficient" and saving time and effort, and being good to myself, when in reality, I was short changing myself and those I care about. 

As I read on, I learned more about myself and my relationships with others and how to take responsibility for myself and my actions, resolve obstacles, and minimize regret in my own life so that I could help those I care about also find success in doing hard things the right way.  

As Dr. Townsend explains, taking responsibility, facing pain, keeping commitments - even tough and inconvenient ones - and rising above the current "take the easy way out" culture in our society is the only way to the real and lasting success and happiness that God wants for us, and that we should want for ourselves.

I gave this book four stars **** out of five. There is an abundance of excellent information, although it did seem redundant and drug out in places, especially near the end. I did like the author's Christian perspective.  He referenced scriptures where appropriate to give weight to concepts, but he was not overly preachy or judgmental in tone. In the end, this is a book worth being read by virtually everyone. Book Look Bloggers provided me with a copy of the book, but the honest opinion and review is my own. 

52 Little Lessons From A Christmas Carol - Book Review

In this delightful and thought-provoking book, author Bob Welch walks the reader through Dickens' timeless "A Christmas Carol" and the profound life lessons it teaches. "A Christmas Carol" is so much more than a heartwarming Christmas story, and Welch shows us that it is really a scripturally based tale of repentance, forgiveness, love, grace and salvation. He shows us that although this story is now over 172 years old, its lessons are as fresh and relevant as the day Dickens finished it. Indeed, it's significance may be even greater in our modern world where avarice and selfishness have reached levels undreamed of in 1843. 

I truly loved this book. I enjoyed reading it and pondering the importance of each lesson Welch discusses. It is an uplifting book, with significance that extends far beyond the holiday season, as it reminds us that if there is mercy for Ebenezer Scrooge, there is grace, salvation and deliverance for us all. 

I give this book five stars out of five stars!  *****  I highly recommend it.

Because I am a BookLook Blogger, I received this book free of charge to review, but the honest opinions expressed are purely my own.