3-for-1 Book Reviews

Now, you all know I had high hopes of posting a fabulous review of Cutting for Stone BEFORE we left on our anniversary weekend getaway... yeah that happened. :) I have actually chewed through 2 more books and am working on a 3rd since I finished Cutting for Stone. I love summer for reading - all of my shows are in re-run mode so I am not wasting any time sitting in front of my computer... well except for right now... and have been enjoying the warmer weather and reading away. So, instead of one long review on Cutting for Stone, you are getting 3 mini reviews on my most recent reads!

Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. Orphaned by their mother’s death in childbirth and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution. Yet it will be love, not politics—their passion for the same woman—that will tear them apart and force Marion, fresh out of medical school, to flee his homeland. He makes his way to America, finding refuge in his work as an intern at an underfunded, overcrowded New York City hospital. When the past catches up to him—nearly destroying him—Marion must entrust his life to the two men he thought he trusted least in the world: the surgeon father who abandoned him and the brother who betrayed him.

An unforgettable journey into one man’s remarkable life, and an epic story about the power, intimacy, and curious beauty of the work of healing others
 
That synopsis will probably end up being longer than my review. I could review this in three words actually: GO READ IT.
I LOVED this book. The characters are phenomenal, multi-dimensional, and relate-able. I felt like I was truly reading the story of someone's extraordinary life. I did get a little lost in some of the medical terminology at times, but I felt free to scan over it and didn't feel like I missed out on any of the story. My emotions were on a roller coaster through this book and I love a story that can evoke intense feelings from me. It was wonderful - really - go read it.
 

A mysterious stranger with a magic touch descends upon the small town of Antioch and the town is slowly divided by his seemingly supernatural presence in director Robby Henson's adaptation of Frank Peretti's best-selling novel. Despite the fact that he may have the power to heal, the charismatic stranger nevertheless radiates a strange aura of menace and malevolence. Some believe him to be the one true messiah, and others dismiss him as a false prophet sent to seduce the souls of the weak. When the events in the stranger's remote revival tent take a turn for the sinister, it's up to a fallen ex-minister to re-connect with his faith and reveal the suspicious stranger for what he really is.
 
Ah - Frank Peretti. I love this man's Christian fiction. I feel like his stories, even though they all follow a similar formula, really challenge me in my faith in different ways. This book was creepy, scary, and uplifting. I really enjoyed it. And, there is a DVD, which I just moved to the top spot on my Netflix list. It's probably going to be awful, but I enjoy seeing how books translate to the screen and I am excited to watch it.
 

A terrorist bombing. A rogue experiment. A community vanished. Who will save them now? In a series that blends the urgent action of the Left Behind books with the alluring weirdness of the television show Lost, this first book opens with a terrorist bombing that combines with a rogue underground experiment to rip a clovershaped section of the working-class city of Barcester loose from the world. Cut off from any hope of help, police sergeant Jason Logan fights to keep order and track the terrorist mastermind. But after a second bomb explodes, effectively sealing the displacement of the vanished area, he knows the nightmare is just beginning. As the mist from the bomb slowly clears, those inside the vanished community find themselves surrounded by a majestic wilderness that is both primitive and primal as the vanished community battles for survival against enemies they've always known and forces they've never imagined.


*Grumble* This was another Christian fiction book I picked up with high hopes. I would not have touched it if I had realized it was the beginning of a series, not because I wouldn't read them all, but because they aren't out yet. This is definitely a jr. high reading level and I flew through it. I have waaaaaaaay more questions than answers and I feel like I have read the first 1/3 of what would be a great novel. There was absolutely no resolution at all and this book cannot be a stand-alone. I was really irritated when I finished this book, mostly because I want to finish the story. There is some mysterious mist, a terrorist plot, no one responding, their town may be in another dimension? I was so confused. Wouldn't recommend this baby to anyone until they are all out