"Each Peach Pear Plum"... and other things....

Janet and Allan Ahlberg combine their talents in this delightful
"I Spy" book for children using traditional nursery rhyme characters like Jack and Jill, Cinderella, Mother Hubbard, The Three Bears and others.

I'm always reminded of this book at the end of the summer fruit, when I'm left with a few of each-peach, pear and plum.  I decided to order a few copies of the book for my grandchildren.  Then I made jam.  By now I've adapted the "Heavenly Jam" recipe to suit the fruit and it's always delicious and such a good way to use up the last of the pears or... 

Children's books are often very beautiful and entertaining along with being educational too.  But I've been doing other reading as well.  Here is a picture of some of the titles:

 

Our Pastors challenge us to read and post what they're reading on the Northview website.  Our lead Pastor Jeff has frequently cited from The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller and so that was a must read.  It's a fresh insight into the story of the parable of the prodigal son.  A new definition to the word "prodigal" and a new way of looking at "Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith", captivated both Al and me.  We found this little book to be stimulating and provocative as we recognize ourselves often in the hypocritical "older brother" model.

In one of his messages Jeff mentioned that he was always reading a book of biographies on the spiritual giants of the faith that have gone on before us.  I've enjoyed some of these books in the past and when I saw this title available and then saw it on the list of one of our pastors' book list I ordered it as well:  

50 People Every Christian Should Know.  The book has short chapters of pertinent information about these outstanding people- what brought them to where they were and the legacy they have left behind.  The stories are given in chronological order beginning with Katherine von Bora 1499-1552 (wife of Martin Luther) and ends with the story of William Culbertson 1905-1971-I haven't got that far yet since the plan was to read one story a day.

The Ultimate Healing System by Donald Lapore ND, with subtitle: "The Illustrated Guide to Muscle Testing and Nutrition" is a resource book.  Ever since Al has received such excellent care and help from a herbalist over the past four months, we've been intrigued with the realization that God created plants for our benefit, through their healing properties.  It is available through Amazon Books as are the others.

 Just realized that I'd forgotten to include this fascinating book, The Twelfth Imam, a birthday present for Al from Jennifer.  This is Joel Rosenberg's latest book, released just this month.  It isn't a thriller in the same sense as his earlier books are and for that I found this style more to my liking.  If you find end times stuff interesting, thought-provoking and enlightening, you will want to read this book.

Book Review

Last month I ordered two books online from Amazon Books, Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health by the Moosewood Collective and Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef with Ron Brackin.  That was the first order I'd ever placed with Amazon and I felt great having done it, especially when the books arrived quickly and with no complications right to my mailbox.*

The book I initially set out to order was the cook book which Jennifer had recommended.  I first saw it at her place, since she too is being careful in her cooking, looking for organic foods and health-conscious choices.

Right off, I liked the Dedication Page:
We dedicate this book to organic farmers and small farmers 
the world over, including backyard and balcony gardeners.

That's nice...that includes me even though I mainly plant herbs and tomatoes.  This year will be different.  Once again, I want the pleasure of getting lettuce greens daily from my little patch that I've been dutifully turning over and over in the hopes that the soil will be good.

This cookbook has a great introduction section including interesting and informative items such as Organics, Pesticide Levels in Fresh Produce, and a super section called Guide to Ingredients.  Some of the ingredients are very different from what I've been used to and so haven't tried too many recipes yet.  But one great food item I learned about through this book, and thanks to Jennifer actually cooking some for us, was "Quinoa", a grain type food and one which agrees with Al's stringent diet.  That alone is worth the price of the book for us!

On a totally different plane is the book, Son of Hamas.

This is the gripping account of the ongoing battle between the Palestinian people and the Israelis.  From ancient times, yes from the initial conflict between Sarah and Hagar, the battle has been raging.  Mosab was born to devout Muslim parents and lived in the Westbank until he was 18 when he was captured by the Israelis.  In and out of prisons over the next 12 years, he lived a very dangerous life and ended up in espionage, working for the Israelis.  The details of how this happened,  how he came in touch with a group of Christian students and what it cost Mosab to reject Islam and embrace Christianity, are all excellently woven into his remarkable story.  Mosab fled to the States and has been living there for the past two years.  The book was just published in 2010.  A very good read, although a harsh one in many ways.

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*By ordering two books I saved the shipping costs but then of course they got me, right?   I bought two books!  However, I was going for the cookbook but when I saw the title Son of Hamas splashed all over the site, I knew it was one we'd like to read since Al had already mentioned it prior to this.   My total bill was $40.00 which I thought was reasonable indeed.  When today I saw the "Hamas" book at one of our local bookstores selling for $30.00 I felt kind of smug at not having had to shell out that extra ten bucks but then again...what about supporting local business, especially when you like the business?  Aha.