Wakela Runen's World

Book Description   The book that any grandmother, mother, sister, or friend will want to give to a new bride... and to herself. How did a farm boy from North Dakota and a willful 17 year old from South Dakota forge a relationship that has lasted more than six decades? How did they withstand tragedy, unprecedented social upheaval, breast cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, and 400,000 miles of travel together? And why do they say, after all that has happened, "And so we lived happily ever after"? Book Review   Lois Tschetter Hjelmstad has been married to the same man for 60 years.  In this poignant memoir, she looks back upon those glorious years and shares how to keep your love alive. It is through her experiences that she has come to several realizations.  There are certain things that must be done in order to keep the fire burning within your marriage.  And these are not only during the joyful times, but through the tough times as well. This is definitely

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book! You never know when I might play a wild card on you! Today's Wild Card author is: Beth Wiseman and the book: Need You Now Thomas Nelson; 1 edition (April 10, 2012)   ***Special thanks to Rick Roberson, The B&B Media Group, for sending me a review copy.*** ABOUT THE AUTHOR: When a personal crisis tested and strengthened her faith, award-winning journalist Beth Wiseman was advised by her agent to consider writing a Christian novel, particularly an Amish one. E

Book Description   In this new contemporary novel, middle-aged Harriet Beamer is forced to leave her home in Philadelphia and move to Grass Valley California because her children decide it's time. But Harriet doesn't take the change lightly and seizes the opportunity to make the journey of her life as she travels from town to town, city to city all the way across the country using nothing but local buses, trains, ferries, trolleys and the occasional hot air balloon, a motorcycle and an Amish buggy. But it is on this journey that Harriet learns that although her family thinks it's time for her to be put out to pasture, God has a different plan. Book Review   This book was much more then I could possibly have ever imagined!  Harriet reminded me so much of my grandma.  She was a spunky widow woman who lived life according to her terms.  And that is exactly the way Harriet was. Harriet didn’t want to go live with her son and daughter-in-law, but if she was going t

Book Description   Just when her new life as a TouchStone — a mortal bound to help OtherFolk cross between Faery and human worlds — seems to be settling down, Abby Sinclair is left in charge when the Protectorate, Moira, leaves for the Faery Court. And when the Protectorate’s away…let’s just say things spiral out of control when a spell on Abby backfires and the Faery Queen declares the Doors between their worlds officially closed. The results are disastrous for both sides: OtherFolk trapped in the mortal world are beginning to fade, while Faerie is on the brink of war with the daemons of Hell. Along with her brooding elven prince Talivar and sexy incubus Brystion, Abby ventures to the CrossRoads in an attempt to override the Queen’s magic. But nothing in this beautiful, dangerous realm will compare to the discoveries she’s making about her past, her destiny, and what she will sacrifice for those she loves. Book Review   This is the second book in the series.  I just revi

Book Description   The man of her dreams might be the cause of her nightmares. Six months ago, Abby Sinclair was struggling to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. Now, she has an enchanted iPod, a miniature unicorn living in her underwear drawer, and a magical marketplace to manage. But despite her growing knowledge of the OtherWorld, Abby isn’t at all prepared for Brystion, the dark, mysterious, and sexy-as- sin incubus searching for his sister, convinced Abby has the key to the succubus’s whereabouts. Abby has enough problems without having this seductive shape-shifter literally invade her dreams to get information. But when her Faery boss and some of her friends vanish, as well, Abby and Brystion must form an uneasy alliance. As she is sucked deeper and deeper into this perilous world of faeries, angels, and daemons, Abby realizes her life is in as much danger as her heart—and there’s no one she can trust to save her. Book Review   This is the start of a great fa

Book Description   Rick Moody has been writing about music as long as he has been writing, and this book provides an ample selection from that output. His anatomy of the word cool reminds us that, in the postwar 40s, it was infused with the feeling of jazz music but is now merely a synonym for neat . "On Celestial Music," which was included in Best American Essays , 2008, begins with a lament for the loss in recent music of the vulnerability expressed by Otis Redding's masterpiece, "Try a Little Tenderness;" moves on to Moody's infatuation with the ecstatic music of the Velvet Underground; and ends with an appreciation of Arvo Part and Purcell, close as they are to nature, "the music of the spheres." Contemporary groups covered include Magnetic Fields (their love songs), Wilco (the band's and Jeff Tweedy's evolution), Danielson Famile (an evangelical rock band), The Pogues (Shane McGowan's problems with addiction), The Lounge L

Book Description   Musician and naturalist Bernie Krause is one of the world's leading experts in natural sound, and he's spent his life discovering and recording nature's rich chorus. Searching far beyond our modern world's honking horns and buzzing machinery, he has sought out the truly wild places that remain, where natural soundscapes exist virtually unchanged from when the earliest humans first inhabited the earth. Krause shares fascinating insight into how deeply animals rely on their aural habitat to survive and the damaging effects of extraneous noise on the delicate balance between predator and prey. But natural soundscapes aren't vital only to the animal kingdom; Krause explores how the myriad voices and rhythms of the natural world formed a basis from which our own musical expression emerged. From snapping shrimp, popping viruses, and the songs of humpback whales-whose voices, if unimpeded, could circle the earth in hours-to cracking glaciers, b