Abby's Book Club

Okay okay, you caught me. I don't really have a book club. I don't really read either. Until last week! I started reading again. Woo too! Vacations provide great opportunities to read. Airport time. Plane time. Laying out time. Killing time. You get my drift? All this to say, I finished a book, have 20 pages left in a book, and have started a book all in less than a week! Wow! Let me show you what I'm reading in my own personal book club.

1. A Thousand Tomorrows by Karen Kingsbury

Okay, this is actually rather embarrassing, because I borrowed this book last year and planned on reading it by the end of 2010. You can read about that here. Well. I didn't even touch it. Isn't that terrible! I ended up bringing it on the cruise and I finished it in just 4 days. That sounds like a long time to many of you, but to me, that's like rapid speed!

This book was absolutely beautiful. It was exciting. Adventurous. Tender. Loving. Upsetting. And more. I loved every single page, every single chapter, every single word in this story. Without giving too much away, it's about a boy named Cody who is a world renowned bull rider who rides with anger. He's angry with his famous dad, his pathetic mom, and just life in general. He only shows compassion for his younger brother who lives with Down's Syndrome. There is another girl who is in the same rodeo ring as Cody. Her name is Ali and she is a national horsewoman who has a secret. Cody and Ali are drawn together with their past and their love for the sport. I won't tell you anymore, because you absolutely MUST read this book! It was a beautiful story that brought me to tears. No, sobs! Weepings!!!!

I adore Karen Kingsbury and think that she is a brilliant Christian writer. I hope to read more of her books after I get my Kindle for my birthday in November. Don't worry. Jamie already knows about that :)

2. The Nazi Officer's Wife by Edith Hahn Beer
Hmmm....? I know what you guys are thinking. "Why in the world is she reading an autobiography about a woman who was a Nazi's wife?" Well, little did you know that I am wildly fascinated in WW2 and the Holocaust. I took a Holocaust class in high school and it truly changed my life. It was such a tragic time in our history, but I don't think we should ignore it. We all need to be knowledgable of what happened back then and learn from it. I'm not a big history buff, but I am big on learning about the Holocaust.

Back to the story. This book is about a woman, Edith, who is an educated Jew, living in Vienna and finishing up law school (long story short), and was sent to a labor camp. By the grace of God, determination and with the help of friends and family, she escaped and took on a new identity. During this time, her boyfriend Pepi stayed loyal to her, but since he was not a Jew, he was afraid of help her. Coward. A Christian woman was unafraid and admired Edith's eager attitude to flee from her past. She was a hunted woman once she left the labor camp and went underground until she was able to get a new identity. She moved to Germany and had a new identity as a German woman, the "perfect Aryan race" and fell in love with a man named Werner, who just so happened to be a Nazi soldier. He was madly in love with her and stayed true to her even after he found out her true identity. He even kept her identity a secret, which could have put them both in grave danger. It's an amazingly powerful story of how one woman defied the odds and didn't let fear conquer her in such a fearful and frightening time in our history. I highly recommend this book as well. It's well written and empowering :)

3. Weird by Craig Groeschel
For you lifechurch.tv folks out there, you've heard of this book. I hadn't heard of this book until a few weeks ago when I started listening to his podcasts again. I went to Life Church for 6 years and miss it dearly, so I've started listening again :) Anyways, he had a sermon series called "Weird" and it was brilliant. He was talking about being a weird Christian, rising above the standard. Going above and beyond your "duties" as a believer. It kind of reminded me of David Platt's Radical. I loved the series because it wasn't something that is unreachable or impossible to do as a Christian. It's the small things that can set us apart from the rest of the world. I saw this book in the airport and knew I had to have it. I've only read a couple chapters in it, but when I finish the Edith Hahn book, I'll get going on this one. I'll do a more in depth description of it later :)

That's all for now! I just went on a big walk and am a sweaty Betty, so I'm gonna hop in the bath, shave my legs, read the rest of my book, clean the house and get ready to show it at 2:00! Woo too! Then kickboxing this afternoon with Claire and dinner with a couple moms and their daughters that were in my class! So excited for a little reunion!

Have a great day, everybody! Love you!