Book Report

A couple weeks ago I did something that I don’t normally do. I read two books in the 6 days. I love to read but I’m not normally a fast reader. I prefer to meander through a book so that I can allow my imagination to become fully engaged. It’s not very often that I read a book that is so well written and entertaining that it can engulf me immediately and generate a reading frenzy within me that is only satisfied by continual devouring of the words on the pages. I had the rare opportunity the other week to read two such books back to back. I realize that this frenzy could have something to do with the state of spirit that I’m in now, as I’ve recently been writing more, in an effort to capture and share some of my thoughts. Nonetheless I have to recommend these books to anyone who enjoys a good read. I consider a good read to be anything that can transport me mentally into the book so that it’s not so much reading as it is taking a journey into another world. As I walk through that other world the best journey is the one that will cause me to smile, laugh and cry tears of joy and heartbreak. These two books did all the above. Just so you have a gauge, a good read will normally take me at least a week, often two weeks to finish. I read the first book in one day and the second book in about three.

The first book is The Will of Wisteria by: Denise Hildreth

I started this book on a Saturday morning as I sat in the doctor’s office awaiting the opportunity to be seen. This book made the three hours that I had to wait with people coughing and sniffling all around me rather painless. The plot could be compared to that of the Ultimate Gift as the book is about four siblings who have to complete a task in order to inherit their father’s 1 billion dollar fortune. The journey draws you into the life of four self-centered people, whom you will immediately find similarities with, as they begin to experience life change. I ended up finishing this book late that Saturday night and I’m pretty sure from a little over halfway through till the end of the book, there must have been something in my eyes because I couldn’t seem to keep them from watering. This is one of the few books that I’ve ever read that I consumed the entire thing in one day.

The second book is Chasing Fireflies by: Charles Martin

I actually began this book sometime on Monday. To be truly honest, I probably enjoyed this book more than the first one but there were just more distractions so it took longer to read. I also didn’t have another 3-hour wait in a doctor’s office either. The only slightly negative about this book was that in the beginning, I found myself flipping back through to see if I had missed something only to realize that the author had never revealed what I was looking for yet. Once I began to trust my reading and memory skills, this book quickly sucked me into a world where my emotions ran raw. My wife and I have been considering adoption for a couple months and I’ve been really thinking about an older child (5-10) as an option. This book centers around a man and a young boy who don’t know who their parents are and in up in the foster care of “Uncle Willie”. You will quickly find yourself hurting, laughing, crying and over whelmed with joy as you journey through the lives of these characters as they try to discover who or “whose” they really are. At one point about 2 am Friday morning I found myself trying to keep from sobbing and waking my wife as this book took me on a roller coaster ride of emotions that is just simply sometimes called life. This book will break your heart, but in the end, it will be worth the experience.

Both of these books are Christian based and will leave you no doubt about the importance of God in our lives.