Spoiler Alert Tuesday/Giveaway

I promised we'd be back soon with some giveaways, so here is the first one of 2010!

2 spools of craft ribbon, a mini recycle  bag and a card making kit. The kit includes all of the embellishments and card making stuff for 4 cards.

As usual, all you need to do is comment to win.

Spoilers Below!!

Why is the author so hesitant to help the Christian pastor out? Is it because of his reckless  past or do you believe he mistrusts the pastor because of his Christian faith?

What do you think ultimately led to Mr. Albom's "leap of faith", as it were, when deciding to help the pastor and his church community out?

Don't forget we posted next month's book pick last week!

Announcement

We just wanted to let you know about next month's book pick so you can hopefully have it in time.

Part of the reason we are going with this book is because it's now a movie and I believe is coming out soon, or possibly may have already been released. We all know the book is usually better than the movie, so don't go see it until you've read it! This way you can be sadly disappointed that you wasted the money on seeing a dumb movie that didn't live up to the book. And, if you're like me, you'll be doubly sad that even though you knew the movie would suck, you still went to see it.

February's book is:

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

From Publishers Weekly:

Hot on the heels of True Believer and sequel At First Sight, Sparks returns with the story of ne'er-do-well-turned-army-enlistee John Tyree, 23, and well-to-do University of North Carolina special education major Savannah Lynn Curtis. John, who narrates, has been raised by a socially backward single postal-worker dad obsessed with coin collecting (he has Asperger's syndrome). John bypasses college for the overseas infantry; Savannah spends her college summers volunteering. When they meet, he's on leave, and she's working with Habitat for Humanity (he rescues her sinking purse at the beach). John has a history of one-night stands; Savannah's a virgin. He's an on-and-off drinker; she's a teetotaler. Attraction and values conflict the rest of the summer, but the deal does not close. Savannah longs for John to come home; her friend Tim longs to have a relationship with her. On the brink of John and Savannah's finally getting together, 9/11 happens, and John re-ups. Savannah's letters come less and less frequently, and before you know it, he receives the expected "Dear John" letter. Sparks's novel brims with longing.

We had a lot of positive feedback from our prior Nicholas Sparks book, so we felt it was safe to go with another. Also, the reality of so many men and women in the military and overseas right now makes it more relevant.

I promise (pinky swear) that new giveaways will be up soon.

Go get the book and join in for next month's read!

Click on the book to visit Amazon's page for Dear John.

Spoiler Alert Tuesday

What do you think of the book so far? I really enjoyed it; finished it in a couple days.

We will be doing more giveaways, so if you're here for that, please hold the thought! We actually have some stuff, however I'm too lazy busy to take a decent picture and

post it right now.

Spoilers Below!!

The author really starts to get to know his Rabbi on a personal level throughout the book. He no longer sees him as the unapproachable "Man of God" that he once did.

Do you have people in your life who you saw as unapproachable or saw them in a different light, only to get to know them and see that they are just as human as you?

Do you think that since the author started to see his Rabbi as a normal person that it helped him to get back in touch with his faith?

Spoiler Alert Tuesday/Giveaway

So, friends, what do you think of Have A Little Faith so far??

I started reading it this weekend and I had to make myself put it down so that I wouldn't finish it before our first Spoiler Alert Tuesday!

Spoilers Below!!

Have you ever been, or are you now, at a point in your life where you distance yourself from religion or God?

Why do you think Mitch Albom walked away from the faith his parents had tried to instill in him after he left home?

By the way: if you don't have the book yet, go visit Maven at A Fabulously Good Life for your chance to win it! The deets are on her side bar.

New Month, New Book!

Uh...woops! I forgot to let everyone in on the January book pick!

It may have something to do with the fact that we just picked it, but I can not confirm nor deny that.

Are you ready??

I promise, this one is way beyond better than the last one. I still feel bad about that. I did the worst thing ever when I picked that one up. I judged the book by it's cover. Wince. Cringe. I know.

Okay, without further ado:

Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom/Click the book to go to Amazon's page.

Synopsis from Amazon.com.

What if our beliefs were not what divided us, but what pulled us together?
In Have a Little Faith, Mitch Albom offers a beautifully written story of a remarkable eight-year journey between two worlds--two men, two faiths, two communities--that will inspire readers everywhere.
Albom's first nonfiction book since Tuesdays with Morrie, Have a Little Faith begins with an unusual request: an eighty-two-year-old rabbi from Albom's old hometown asks him to deliver his eulogy.
Feeling unworthy, Albom insists on understanding the man better, which throws him back into a world of faith he'd left years ago. Meanwhile, closer to his current home, Albom becomes involved with a Detroit pastor--a reformed drug dealer and convict--who preaches to the poor and homeless in a decaying church with a hole in its roof.
Moving between their worlds, Christian and Jewish, African-American and white, impoverished and well-to-do, Albom observes how these very different men employ faith similarly in fighting for survival: the older, suburban rabbi embracing it as death approaches; the younger, inner-city pastor relying on it to keep himself and his church afloat.
As America struggles with hard times and people turn more to their beliefs, Albom and the two men of God explore issues that perplex modern man: how to endure when difficult things happen; what heaven is; intermarriage; forgiveness; doubting God; and the importance of faith in trying times. Although the texts, prayers, and histories are different, Albom begins to recognize a striking unity between the two worlds--and indeed, between beliefs everywhere.
In the end, as the rabbi nears death and a harsh winter threatens the pastor's wobbly church, Albom sadly fulfills the rabbi's last request and writes the eulogy. And he finally understands what both men had been teaching all along: the profound comfort of believing in something bigger than yourself.
Have a Little Faith is a book about a life's purpose; about losing belief and finding it again; about the divine spark inside us all. It is one man's journey, but it is everyone's story.
Ten percent of the profits from this book will go to charity, including The Hole In The Roof Foundation, which helps refurbish places of worship that aid the homeless.

Click on the picture of the book to go to Amazon if you would like to purchase this book. My mom recently bought it for 11 dollars from Amazon; regular price is 25.

Or put a hold on it at your local library. It's pretty popular!