Artsy Chaos

Facing a debilitating illness or surgery, or having a family member doing the same, can be frightening and a bit like you're leaping into an unknown abyss.  I recently read Back to Life:  A Journey of Transformation Through Back Surgery and found it to be an interesting and informative read.   One month ago, my mother had heart surgery for the second time.  The first time was 17 years ago for a triple bypass after two heart attacks.  She was 45.  This time she needed a valve replacement and they performed another bypass during the nearly 10 hour surgery.  Back to Life by Pamela Douglas chronicles her experience with major spine surgery through first-person and family journal entries in categories of before, during and after surgery.  I found the similarities between Pam's experiences, thought and feelings to be remarkably like what my mother just went through with major heart surgery.  To me, what is most extraordinary is the way t...

First, let me say... I LOVE this little book.  Life Promises for Success ~promises from God on achieving your best~ by Jim Tressel is a keeper.   On the rear cover of this book, Jim Tressel, the head football coach of Ohio State and author, says "If you're struggling with your place in the world, if things have become difficult and you feel like giving up, this little book will encourage you, lift you up when you're wrestling withlife, push you forward, and motivate you to be a better person-and a more vital part of whatever team you serve." This is one of those books that you want to keep around to inspire and reassure you with quotes, short stories and touching messages of scripture.  We all have bad days, sometimes we have more bad days than good.  Life Promises for Success reminds us that we're not alone, that everyone experiences the down times and can use some encouragement and words of love. As you turn each page of this sweet book, you are greeted ...

Matthew Barnett, founder of the Dream Center in L.A., has written a book about what it should mean to be alive.  This is how everyone should live everyday.   Pastor Barnett gives great advice and snippets of advice on living your life to the fullest while fulfilling the one great thing you were created to do in this world.  Regardless of your religious backgrounds or beliefs, the center core of this book is service to mankind.  What could be greater? In reading this book, we are reminded that by giving of ourselves, we become greater, more at peace and satisfied in knowing that we are living the way that we were meant to.  The many stories of people once lost to the street, to drugs, to abuse and other tragedies are uplifting and give you a respect for what Pastor Barnett does to help all walks of people through his Dream Center and programs.  If nothing else, this book will inspire you to be a better person, to live a better life and look deeper at ...

I don't read a lot anymore for a few reasons.   1)  New literature bores me.  I like a good read with full bodied descriptions, deep characters and educated verbiage.  In my opinion, too much of popular fiction is stale, flat and written for a 7th grader.  Being impatient, I'll give up the book before suffering through its entirety. 2)  If I do find a good read, I can't put it down.  I'll eat up every moment of my free time and get no sleep and ignore my family to finish the book.  Wow, where is my self control?  I've just finished Susan Heyboer O'Keefe's adult novel, Frankenstein's Monster , which fit all too nicely into category #2.  I could not put the book down. To continue where Mary Shelley left off and capture the essence of the time and characters in such a way, to me, is amazingly well done. I enjoyed the well woven pattern of self doubt, personal judgment and confusion with the human world in the journal entry type di...