"Ocean's Apart"

This is not the first Karen Kingsbury novel I've read, so I was anticipating a pleasant and easy read - just how it turned out.

"Ocean's Apart" tells the story of Connor Evans, airline pilot, and his family.  A woman he had a one night stand with years ago dies in a plane crash, and the novel tells of the events that follow as he has to take responsibility for his actions.  He meets and quickly adores the son he never knew about, and in typical Kingsbury style, his family eventually forgives him and adopts the boy.

Despite predicting the ending from quite early on in the piece, this was still an enjoyable read.  Nothing genius about the plot, but the writing is engaging enough to keep you wanting to continue.  Great for relaxing over the Christmas holiday!

“The book that made your world”

“The book that made your world”, by Vishal Mangalwadi, describes how the bible and its values have shaped the way we see our world today.  It is thoughtful, discussing the more profound values in any culture, for example, what characteristics make a “hero”, views on education, views on truth and being, and the use and value of  literature.  I really liked and learnt from Mangalwadi’s long-term view of history, going back to the middles ages and earlier, to really get a broad overview of how today came to be as it is.  Mangalwadi also writes from an Indian perspective, giving examples from India’s past that underscore his point.

I have to be honest and admit that reading this book was a struggle at times.  It was very long, with quite complex ideas presented.  To me, it had the tone of a very scholarly discussion, more of a textbook that one might refer to when writing a university paper.  I felt that if I had a little more knowledge of church history or Indian culture I would have ploughed through it a little easier.  I am also really not in a stage of life to be reading scholarly tomes; I need a quick easy read, so this one was just not right for me.

Despite this book not being suited to my preferences, I still give it 4 stars for being a well written and insightful read. I would recommend it to confident and experienced readers who love an intellectual discussion.

The complimentary copy of this book was provided to me by the Thomas Nelson Booksneeze program in exchange for an impartial review.

Movie Review - "The Way Home"

Great production, not-so-great plot...

“The Way Home” is a movie billed as the inspirational story of  a family in crisis.  Randy Simpkins is a man who is obviously dedicated to his work, but one day while preparing for a family holiday, he allows himself to become distracted instead of watching his son.  The movie follows the consequences of this momentary distraction.

I was impressed with the quality of this movie.  The production and acting were good enough to be invisible and let the story speak for itself.  Unfortunately I couldn’t see enough in this story to warrant the making of an entire movie.  I felt it was a story that was far from unique, and hence a little boring.  At the end of the movie, there is some written information telling the viewer that Randy Simpkins changed his life around quite dramatically from this day forward.  I must suppose that this is the inspiration that prompted the movie-makers to go with this story.  But from my point of view that movie didn’t portray the powerful nature of such a life change.  Maybe if we had seen a wider period of time instead of just one day this might have been achieved?

I still rate this movie 3 stars for the great acting and production.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”