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Augusten Burroughs, as he renamed himself once he reached leagal age, is a highly intellegent man who suffered a childhood of abuse and neglect under his biological parents. His father was a college professor who became a mean drunk every evening, and his mother suffered with mental illness which included hallucinations of demons.

His brother, John Elder Robison (Look Me In the Eye), has Asperger’s Syndrome and made up names for everyone. He called his brother Varmint. After his parents divorced, Burroughs’ mother signed his custody over to her psychologist, a Dr. Finch who from all accounts was as nutty as any of his patients and eventually lost his license to practice medicine.

Living in the Finches’ house with an assortment of non-blood related misfits was chaotic and unrestrained. There were no rules. No one told Burroughs when to go to bed or to school, or that he had to go at all for that matter. Respect of his elders was not insisted upon and nothing was off limits or sacred.

When Burroughs felt depressed, Dr. Finch reached to the shelf behind him and without looking picked up a drug sample and tossed it to Burroughs. Dr. Finch told him to take that until it was gone and he would be feeling better. Burroughs had already decided he was gay, so he figured the answer to his depression was a new boyfriend. Somehow that didn’t fix things either.

I was depressed at the sad state of affairs in the lives of these non-fiction characters by the end of this memoir. I was binge-reading his brother John’s books on Asperger’s Syndrome and thought I might get a little more insight from Burroughs’ book. There wasn’t any insight about Asperger’s, just a sad sick feeling that comes from a life without boundaries.

This book does have sexually explicit scenes and crude language.

#ChrisRobison #mentalillness #Snort #Varmit #depression

Amy Byler’s life was thrown into chaos three years ago when her husband walked out of her and her children’s lives. Suddenly she needed to become not just Mom, but breadwinner for her family. Dusting off her college degree, she was able to get a job as a librarian. It wasn’t as lucrative as her husband’s income had been, but with refinancing she and the kids were able to stay in the house. Amy was stretched from both ends, but she made life work.

After three years her husband decides to walk back into their lives just as he had walked out. Not so fast, said Amy and the kids in unison. But slowly he wins them over enough to take the kids for the summer, leaving Amy free to return to NYC for the first time since before becoming a mom.

Letting her hair down and playing the single woman is fun for a while, (“What do you mean you never got divorced?”) but eventually Amy is forced to make difficult choices.

I have a different value system than our fictional protagonist, but I give high marks to Overdue Life for the friendships that support Amy, enduring through years and demonstrating a loyalty that draws their physical presence from states away when there is a crisis.

The book is enjoyable, light reading. Maybe best of all it is free with Audible narration if you have Kindle Unlimited.

#momspringa #overduelife

Melody Warnick and her husband were on their sixth move as a married couple when they pulled the moving van up to the rental house they would occupy in Blacksburg, VA. As upwardly mobile professionals, they had followed jobs from city to city. Along the way daughters were born and their family grew. Melody, a writer, began to think about the permanence and stability of her own childhood and that maybe it would be a good thing to give her daughters, too.

But what makes a place home? Where should they stop moving and say, “This is home”? They came to Blacksburg because Melody’s husband landed a job teaching at Virginia Tech. Melody was put off by the town at first, surrounded by dreary clouds and rain and mountains. She decides to make the best of it, and embarks on a series of experiments designed to help her feel more connected with the town where she lives, Blacksburg.

In an odd personal twist, I grew up just outside of Blacksburg, and moved to a flat part of the state as a young teen. How I pined for the Blue Ridge Mountains, the lower humidity, and a population who didn’t think I had a hick accent! For this reason Melody’s book was of special interest to me; would her experiments fail and her opinion besmirch my hometown?

Melody Warnick is a talented writer and she has approached this subject in a thorough journalistic style, while keeping the text engaging.

@melodywarnick @VikingBooks #LiveLocal #lovewhereyoulive #livelocal  #placeattachment #BlacksburgVA #homesweethome #BlueRidgeMountains #NewRiverValley

Eva Schloss had blond hair and blue eyes, and like her mother, could pass in appearance as non-Jewish. During World War II in Europe, they made the risky choice to hide in the open while Eva’s brother and father’s more ethnic features forced them into hiding in the country.

Eva and her family knew the Franks before they went into hiding. Eva described Anne Frank as mature and self-assured. Anne was just a little older than Eva, but Eva so admired Anne’s confidence and sense of fashion.

It was hard to be in hiding, and heartbreaking for her family to be separated. Sometimes Eva and her mother made the dangerous train trip to the country to visit her father and brother. It was terrifying to make the long journey with German soldiers all around them, often checking their identification papers. Eventually the family was found out – betrayed – and sent to Auschwitz.

It may be difficult, but it is important to read (or listen to) historical accounts of what happened at Auschwitz. First-hand narratives such as this are so horrible it may seem hard to believe they are true. But story after story after story verify these atrocities. May our world never fall to such wide-spread evil again.

After the war Otto Frank and Eva’s mother both came home, but their spouses did not. In time the two married, making Eva stepsister to Anne, who of course did not survive the concentration camp.

Now 90 years old, Eva earlier this year spoke with a group of students who were photographed at a party playing a drinking game with cups arranged in a swastika pattern. 
Eva said of the meeting, “I think they have learned a lesson of life.”

@EerdmansStore @eerdmansbooks ‏#holocaust #WWII #EvaSchloss #evasstory

The SAMPLE copy of the No-Stress Bible Guide I was given to review was clearly not meant to be an all-inclusive reference. It came across to me like a CliffsNotes version of the Bible. That’s great if you’re studying for a test on the Minor Prophets or you have to write a paper on the salient points of Paul’s missionary journeys.

I’d rather sit down with the whole Word of God and ask the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of my understanding. I’m glad I don’t have to pass a test or write a essay, but what I’m doing seems much harder. I’m humbling my pride, crushing my selfish will, and learning to love my enemies. For this I want the whole counsel of God.

I expect this guide to fully meet the needs of some readers, but it’s not for me.

@BarbourBuzz

Jill Savage compares the empty nest years to the encore of a musical. You get to pick your favorite parts to play again, she says. You can enjoy being a grandparent without having to stay up all night with a fussy kid. It should work this way in theory, but I have a friend who is single-parenting the son of her 30-something-year-old mentally challenged son. She loves her grandson dearly, but raising him was not what my friend had envisioned for her retirement. Life isn’t so cookie-cutter neat as to reward every parent with an encore season, especially for the economically depressed or those who deal with chronic illnesses.

Even so, Empty Nest explores many relevant concepts from a Biblical viewpoint. Savage writes candidly about her Christian family grappling with the news that one of their sons called to tell them he is gay, and another son who called to say his girlfriend was pregnant. When you reach the empty nest stage of life, it is time to let some things go and grab hold of other things. One of the things you may need to let go is the idol of what other people think of you. When your adult children call with news that is upsetting, is what others will think of you one of the first things you consider?

Savage suggests holding onto relationships. She says your kids probably already know where you stand on moral issues, and the color of their hair isn’t important, even in family photos. Give them words of affirmation. Don’t enable, but love.

The most encouraging part of Empty Nest for me is seeing that although Jill Savage has spent years in ministry, she admits to the same types of struggles and disappointments I might have in my own family. Yet, she is not defeated by it. She isn’t bogged down with self-blame, but she is carrying on with what God has called her to do.

@jillsavage @MoodyPublishers #EmptyNestFullLife #NetGalley

This short devotional is similar in style to other Barbour Publishing devotionals I have reviewed recently, The 5-Minute Bible Study for the Anxious Heart, and The Bible Promise Book For the Anxious Heart.

The format this devotional follows is listing a topic of difficulty, such as I Can’t Take the Stress, followed by a recommended passage of scripture, and a key scripture verse. Next, a section called Understand presents several questions to help you think about the topic in terms of the scripture that was just presented.

In a section called Apply, we are given practical advice to carry out the wisdom found in scripture. A short prayer ends the devotion with a petition for God’s help in the topic of study.

Of the three devotionals reviewed, I found the Difficult Times to be the most relevant for me. Perhaps it spoke to a need at that moment in my life, or maybe the subtlety of this third book being written by a different author made the distinction for me. Regardless, I recommend all three of these devotionals, whether or not you are anxious or going through difficulties. Hide these truths in your heart for the times you will need them.

@BarbourBuzz #NetGalley

David Fajenbaum was, by his own admission, an ordinary kid. He wasn’t especially talented academically or athletically, but he did have an almost autistic-like hyper focus which allowed him to spend hours watching game films after his football teammates had already gone home. It allowed him to power through study sessions when other friends had wandered off to watch TV.

It was this hyper focus that allowed Fajenbaum to play football at a Division I school, despite a broken leg his senior year in high school. It was his hyper focus that he relied on when his long-time girlfriend said she didn’t feel like he was making her a priority, and they should take a break. “Fine,” he said. “We’ve got lots of time.”

But as this young med student pressed into his studies and gym workouts, he experienced an unexplainable fatigue, enlarged nodes, and blood moles. What was this? Fajenbaum’s organs began to shut down and doctors could not identify the problem. In the ICU on the brink of death Fajgenbaum insisted on a test for cancer. When the nurse came back with the results of no cancer, but something called Castleman Disease, she thought she was bringing good news. Not so.

What could Fajgenbaum, a young doctor, do stop his body from succumbing to this little known disease? Could he find a cure in time to save himself?

This is a true medical thriller, being played out in real time for some Castleman patients. Find out what happened to Fajgenbaum, and if there is any hope for others diagnosed with Castleman disease.

#ChasingMyCure #NetGalley @randomhouse @DavidFajgenbaum  @CureCastleman #thinkitdoit #iMCD

The Bible Promise Book for the Anxious Heart is a collection of short devotions meant to displace anxiety with healing, comfort, and peace. The devotions are comprised of Bible verses, the author’s own prayers, and hymn lyrics.

The devotions are alphabetically arranged, from Abilities to Worship. So if you have a problem with worry, let’s hope you don’t also have OCD and a compulsion to read through all the devotions that come before Worry, before reading the section on Worry!

I liked that the author used several different translations of the Bible, instead of chaining the reader to a single translation. In this way Thompson had the freedom to select the translation of that verse which best stated the sentiment of the topic of that devotion. It also gives the reader a chance to see what may be a favorite verse, in a refreshing new way.

If you want to banish anxiety from your heart, this book is a great resource of prayers, scripture, and hymn lyrics to point you toward comfort, healing and peace.

#TheBiblePromiseBookForTheAnxiousHeart #NetGalley @Barbour @BarbourBuzz @booksbyjanice

James E. Beitler III is an associate professor of English at Wheaton College, so it isn’t surprising that he should write a book on rhetoric, or persuasive speaking. Beitler looks at rhetoric in the church as he examines five prominent Christian thinkers and writers of the last hundred years (C.S. Lewis, Dorothy Sayers, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Desmond Tutu, Marilynne Robinson, plus worship). Beitler matches each of those thinkers with a season of the church calendar from Advent to Pentecost.

The title of Seasoned Speech was likely inspired by Colossians 4:6 English Standard Version: Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Seasoned Speech is replete with footnotes and content notes, the notes sometimes taking up more space than the text which the note is referencing.

Beitler spends a great deal of time in the beginning of the book defining rhetoric, and discussing how he is using it in this book. In society today, and especially in the news media, rhetoric has taken on a decidedly negative connotation. Beitler uses it in a positive sense, as persuasive speech that may cause one to choose to become a Christian.

My personal favorite master of rhetoric examined in Seasoned Speech is Desmond Tutu. He boldly proclaimed his faith at a place and time when racial tensions put his life in jeopardy. His words were persuasive and his personality charismatic. In a church where armed soldiers lined the walls, Tutu was able to rouse the frightened congregants into a worshiping, dancing crowd that made the soldiers feel no threat.

Beitler believes rhetoric is rarely used in the church, and if it is used at all it is by the clergy. He hopes that will change. Rather than the lay-person using a simplified formula and failing at witnessing, Beitler would like to see all Christians trained in the use of rhetoric; for aren’t all Christians called to witness?

#SeasonedSpeech #NetGalley @ivpress @ivpacademic @WheatonCollege @WheatonExperts