Mackenzie Allen Philip’s 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, n 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.

My Review: This book starts off with a capturing story of the kidnapping and murder of his youngest daughter. Unfortunately, that ends after the first 75 pages or so, maybe sooner. The back of this book (the summary given above) only gives one tiny sentence referring to his dealing with "God", but it ends up taking over 3/4 of what is happening in the book that is only 250 pages. The religious views imposed in this book are so far from my own that it was very difficult to read and keep my attention. From what I got, to him, God is an African American woman, Jesus is a Middle Eastern handyman, and the Holy Spirit is an Asian lady. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it was disappointing because the back of the book barely mentioned God and made the book sound like this big mystery about the Shack in the middle of the Oregon Wilderness. If you own this book, I would try to return it for even a partial refund or throw it in the D.I pile without reading it. You are not missing ANYTHING. I found this book used on Amazon.com for $1.35 or brand new at Costco for about $9.00

My rating: .5 out of 5 stars

Sheri Dew details the life of Gordon B. Hinckley with exaustive research and then relates the facts with eloquent prose. You'll learn more about his family, his travels, his ability to handle tough assignments. You'll receive better insight on his character, his humility, his work ethic, and his sense of humor. This biography does what any good biography should do: Inspire you to do a little better, try a little harder, and believe a little more.

This book tells so many amazing stories about the life of the past LDS prophet. It definitely made me feel like I've been slacking off in life...If you think you are busy and have no personal time, read this book and you'll learn the real definition of "busy", "burnt out", and "overwhelmed". I would highly recommend this book to everyone! It is a really easy read, some great humor, amazing stories, and a great reminder of how wonderful he and his wife were.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

Note: This book is almost 600 pages, so it is not really a "weekend" read as I like to call them.

The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette's brilliant and charismatic father captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn't want the responsibility of raising a family. The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered.

This memoir will definitely make you grateful for your family and especially your parents, no matter how crazy you think they are. It was an eye opener to the poverty that actually exists in America, and to how REAL small town life is. I strongly recommend this book for those that need either a reality check, or for those who need to learn to be grateful for what they have. This book tells some amazing stories about how a little girl and her siblings grow up against literally ALL odds and make something of themselves.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

Recommended to me by: LuAnn

This book, as with the one Now, Discover Your Strengths, is one that I had to read for my Organizational Behavior class. Most people know what this book is about, and a lot of you may have read it. Basically, this book is broken up into, yes that's right, 7 different habits that each of us need to work on. There are some very interesting concepts this book has to offer. Stephen Covey illustrates this book all the way through with interesting stories that help us to grasp the importance of each of the habits. I think that everyone should read through this book at least once in their lifetime.

My favorite part of this book was in habit 4, I believe, that talked about putting first things first. It gave a very interesting concept of effective time management in which I think most people would benefit from.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

This book is about a mans life of growing up in Kabul, Afghanistan back before political upheavals began. Something happened early on in his life that greatly affected him for the rest of his life, and only later on was he able to redeem himself. In this book he talks about his relationship with his father, his best friend Hassan (who is also his servant), and his constant struggle with his low self-esteem.

I absolutely loved this book. It was a huge eye opener to the cultural differences between the Afghani people and our culture here in the US. I think that we have so many stereotypes about people in that part of the world, that it was nice to get an inside look at how it actually is over there. At the same time, it was also interesting to see the contrast of the book as it went through different political revolutions.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

Ok, so I normally don't read these kinds of books, but I had to read this for my Organizational Behavior class. This book is about first, how to identify our strengths, then it talks about 34 "themes" (strengths) that are most common among people, and how to use those strengths.

It was definitely interesting to read because I think everyone should know about their strengths. I think the only critique I have about this book, is that after the first chapter, you basically get the idea of the entire book. The only other thing that is needed is to read through the 34 themes to help you identify some that you might have.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

This book, The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston is a true story of a serial killer that hunted the hills of Florence, Italy for over 30 years, and was never caught. The author, Douglas Preston is a journalist and decided to move his family to Florence for fun. He became so involved in this story, that he and his friend, Mario Spezi (who was a journalist in Florence who had been covering the story from the beginning) became suspects for the murders.

This book has a very interesting story line. It goes through every part of the investigation. It really makes me grateful for our justice system here in the United States. It is a huge eye opener to for me to see how corrupt some justice systems can be. Although this book isn't the easiest read, I like the fact that it is a true story. I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Because I've been on such a reading kick lately, and I definitely don't see an end to that in sight, I decided to create this blog as one that someone can go to find a good book to read. I've been posting book reviews on my normal blog, but I want to leave that to my family life. So...pass this blog address around to your friends who are big readers!!! And if you have any suggestions of books I may like, let me know!