J Books

This is one of my favorite books of daily devotions.
I've been through it several times and never tire of it.

I had a paperback copy of this book, and it really helped me to grow closer to God. So, I bought the journal..one for myself and a couple as birthday gifts for my friends. If you are searching for a closer walk...this book will help you find it...

I have been reading God Calling ever since the early 1970's. This book has helped me to know God in a personal way. I have given many copies away as gifts and worn out 3 paperbacks. I just received the Devotinal Journal and will now write in it along with my meditations. Every person I have given God Calling to has found peace, joy and guidance in their spiritual life and thanked me for introducing this timely book to them.

I use this every morning along with another book by Joyce Meyers called "The Secret Of Speaking God's Word". It is amazing that no matter what day it is the message always seems to speak to something going on in my life during that time. It allows me to better identify certain area(s) I want to focus my prayer and meditation on. Joyce Meyers book give specific scriptures outlined by subject, "Fear, Anxeity, Depression, Hope, etc. . ."

I have purchased at least 6 copies of this book in the past three months because I have friends I knew would benefit and enjoy them as I do.

God Calling is the most precious book I own next to the very Word of God, the Bible! Those with the Spirit of God living in them will easily recognize that it IS truly Jesus talking to you! Every day is a profound message and worth going back several times per day to reread.

This particular edition - I have purchased several for gifts - is soft gold leather and has space for journaling and gives daily scripture too. It is extremely rich looking and makes a special intimate gift for a friend. I would be lost without this book to give me encouragement and peace!

This book is a masterpiece! It contains a wealth of knowledge on the foods and supplements we should eat to be our healthiest. It contains many helpful hints and brand names of healthful foods. I am sending a copy each to my two adult daughters.

I wanted a comprehensive list of the Superfoods because I have been trying to include them in my family's daily diet. This is a good book for this purpose. It gives good explanation of the value of eating each food. I definitely recommend this book if you want to eat better.

The total opposite of a deprivation diet. Now I work hard every day to eat the foods that are good for me, and now thanks to this book, I know what those foods are. This is surely better than spending my life trying to avoid foods I shouldn't eat. By the time I get finished with the super foods, I am so full, I couldn't even consider eating anything else. What I refreshing idea! Actually, I have never been able to find a way to consume all the superfoods in a day. Even with salads and smoothies, but what a neat challenge. I never felt better! Everyone says I look healthy, too.

This is a very good and thorough book detailing the 14 foods necessary for maintaining a healthy body and mind. Sadly my two staples, chocolate and coffee didn't make the cut but most of the other foods are things I eat on a regular basis so adding more of these things won't be a huge lifestyle change. You wouldn't think a book about 14 foods would fill a book without putting one to sleep but the author has written the book in such a way that it is easy to skim over the more detailed health benefits of each food and move on to the recipes. I skimmed initially to get a quick idea of what foods I should be focusing on and quickly scan the health benefits and later went back and read the nitty gritty details. For anyone wondering the 14 superfoods are: beans, blueberries, broccoli, oats, oranges, pumpkin, salmon, soy, spinach, tea - black & green, tomatoes, turkey, walnuts and yogurt. For more specific info. you'll need to grab a copy of the book ;)

Once I started reading this book I could not put it down! It is packed with so much information and I have been amazed at how good and alert I feel by changes I have made in my diet.I am a cancer survivor and this book is important to me to help prevent any other types of cancers or heart disease in the future. I also have heart disease in my family. I have been so impressed with this book that I bought 4 more books for my friends, one who was just recently diagnosed with cancer and the other who is a cancer survivor. I will be purchasing 4 more to give each of my children and siblings. So I say this book is a MUST READ!

GREAT BOOK!!!! Buy it if you are trying to advance from an intermediate speaker to an advanced speaker ... very useful

Perhaps the only book dealing with spanish grammar I enjoyed reading. The author does a wonderful job of not bogging down in technical jargon while instilling the difference between knowing the technicalities of a language and being FLUENT in a language. It was profoundly helpful!!

I purchased this book when I was diving into learning the Spanish language. Although not fluent, this book is a tremendous reference source indicated which word to use when. I still use the book to this day. The author makes it interesting and fun. I'd recommend it to anyone wishing to explore and break out of their gringo culture. I've written my own book and I've included some Spanish dialog that is not "proper spanish" in it.

My son is serving a Spanish speaking mission for our church. He is wanting to improve his Spanish and has asked for my help. He told me this book was recommended to him. He has thanked me for all the help I have sent him, so I assume this is a good help.

This is a book that I have been searching for. Most of the books I have come across only give very "stiff-sounding" vocabulary and idioms. The author of this book seems to be someone similar to me in how I learned Spanish; 10 years of school and college and then going to Spanish speaking countries and dating Spanish women. He is very good at explaining a lot of things that are culture related. For example, the difference between "nice" and "not so nice" people in Spanish are differentiated as buen educado and mal educado.

What I hate about most Spanish/English dictionaries is that words are not necessarily translated properly and I noticed that reverse lookup from the Spanish and the English sections sometimes don't correlate (saca puntos, which is pencil sharpener is incorrectly translated in the English section of many dictionaries to corta lapices). What I really find more valuable at my level is a Spanish dictionary with Spanish translations. This book is a valuable as that type of dictionary.

So far this is the best book I have found for my level of Spanish.

I thought this book was the best book on Vietnam that I have ever read. Its a facinating look into life as a line officer in a front line Marine Infantry batallion during the early part of the war. Caputo holds nothing back when it comes to describing life on the front line and what goes through the minds of these young, too young Marines who fought on the front line. An excellent read and I highly reccomend it.

Its a page turner from start to finish. A very unique view of the war.

I assigned this book to my college students for a closer glimpse of the Vietnam Conflict. I had not read it before, but had done research and study on the subject. I found Caputo's book to be insightful, controversial and thought provoking. He doesn't glamorize the war but explains how it effected soldiers and one of the many reasons it was such a mess. Throughout the book, Caputo shows how the conditions changed the average American teenager into a robotic killer and how their experiences stayed with them. In the end, he speaks against the war, but not in the normal Jane Fonda version of bashing the military and labeling them rapists and baby killer. Caputo talks about how the government was at fault and created the situations that lead to PTSD and other issues for returning soldiers.

A must read to understand the war and its effects on our soldiers.

In keeping with the theme of this Memorial Day weekend, I would like to offer my thoughts on "A Rumor of War," a classic tale of Vietnam. Philip Caputo has crafted one of the most moving and disturbing testaments to the men who fought and died in that far away land. When the book was first published in 1977, the New York Times called it "The troubled conscience of America speaking passionately, truthfully, finally." I became aware of this classic memoir when my friend, Capt. Kyle Kalkwarf, West Point Class of 2002, told me that it was one of the best books about war he had ever read. He recommended that I add it to my reading list. He was right in doing so.

Caputo's recollections of his time as a Marine in Vietnam are filled with anger and sorrow at the misbegotten policies promulgated in Washington and carried out with disastrous results by General Westmorland and his subordinates. The author makes it clear in his introductory remarks how he felt and feels about that war and the impact that it had upon him and his comrades in arms:

"Beyond adding a few more corpses to the weekly body count, none of these encounters achieved anything; none will ever appear in military histories or be studied by cadets at West Point. Still, they changed us and taught us, the men who fought in them; in those obscure skirmishes we learned the old lessons about fear, cowardice, courage, suffering, cruelty and comradeship. Most of all, we learned about death at an age when it is common to think of oneself as immortal. Everyone loses that illusion eventually, but in civilian life it is lost in installments over the years. We lost it all at once, and in the span of months, passed from boyhood through manhood to a premature middle age. The knowledge of death, of the implacable limits placed on a man's existence, severed us from our youth as irrevocably as a surgeon's scissors had once severed us from the womb. And yet, few of us were past twenty-five. We left Vietnam peculiar creatures, with young shoulders that bore rather old heads. . .

This book is partly an attempt to capture something of its [the war's] ambivalent realities. Anyone who fought in Vietnam, if he is honest about himself, will have to admit he enjoyed the compelling attractiveness of combat. It was a peculiar enjoyment because it was mixed with a commensurate pain. Under fire, a man's powers of life heightened in proportion to the proximity of death, so that he felt an elation as extreme as his dread. His senses quickened, and he attained an acuity of consciousness at once pleasurable and excruciating. It was something like the elevated state of awareness induced by drugs. And it could be just as addictive, for it made whatever else life offered in the way of delights or torments see pedestrian." (Pages xv-xvii)

Caputo's last comments in the section just quoted seem to be eerily in keeping with the themes of the stunning films, "The Deer Hunter" and "Apocalypse Now."

In one of the most gripping passages in the book, Caputo recaptures the spectrum of emotions he felt during a helicopter assault - running the gamut from fear to courage:

"A helicopter assault on a hot landing zone creates emotional pressures far more intense than a conventional ground assault. It is the enclosed space, the noise, the speed, and, above all, the sense of total helplessness. There is a certain excitement to it the first time, but after that it is one of the more unpleasant experiences offered by modern war. On the ground, an infantryman has some control over his destiny, or at least the illusion of it. In a helicopter under fire, he hasn't even the illusion. Confronted by the indifferent forces of gravity, ballistics and machinery, he is himself pulled in several directions at once by a range of extreme, conflicting emotions. Claustrophobia plagues him in the small space: the sense of being trapped and powerless in a machine in unbearable, and yet he has to bear it. Bearing it, he begins to feel a blind fury toward the forces that made him powerless, but has to control his fury until he is out of the helicopter and on the ground again. He yearns to be on the ground, but the desire is countered by the danger he knows is there. Yet, he is also attracted by the danger, for he knows he can only overcome his fear by facing it. His blind rage then begins to focus on the men who are the source of the danger - and of his fear. It concentrates inside him, and through some chemistry is transformed into a fierce resolve to fight until the danger ceases to exist. But this resolve, which is sometimes called courage, cannot be separated from the fear that has aroused it. Its very measure is the measure of that fear. It is, in fact, a powerful urge not to be afraid anymore, to rid himself of fear by eliminating the source of it. This inner, emotional war produces tension almost sexual in its intensity. It is too painful to endure for long. All a soldier can think about is the moment when he can escape his impotent confinement and release this tension. All other considerations, the rights and wrongs of what he is doing, the chances for victory or defeat in the battle, the battle's purpose or lack of it, become so absurd as to be less than irrelevant. Nothing matters except the final, critical instant when he leaps out into the violent catharsis he both seeks and dreads." (Pages 277-8)

Caputo's thoughtful and passionate recounting of the growing up that he did in the cauldron of Vietnam added to my understanding of what many of my generation experienced as they fought in Southeast Asia and returned to a country that had grown sick of the fighting. As our nation once again wrestles with combat fatigue and the questions of when to withdraw and how to withdraw from Iraq, I am grateful that this time around - unlike the situation that existed in the late `60's and 70's - even those who oppose the war have not showered those returning from the Gulf with opprobrium. They desire our admiration and our gratitude.

Thanks Kyle, for recommending this book, and for your continuing service to our nation.

Al

Caputo wasn't much of a marine. He started complaining about Vietnam before he arrived. Every page is filled with criticism, cynicism, griping, complaining, and self-serving tripe. He wanted to be a hero, but he didn't have what it took to be anything but a whining wimp. Certainly he writes well. But writing well and living well are entirely different. He doesn't understand honor or duty. Sure the war was politicized, but so is every war. Sure the rules of engagement were stupid, but a soldier serves. Caputo did not serve; rather he whined. Many of us who served in Vietnam believed there were many things that made no sense. But we didn't turn tail and run. We served. For those who want to understand what is was like to be a soldier in Vietnam, read "We Were Soldiers Once... and Young" or "Steel My Soldiers' Hearts". If you want to know what is was like to be useless in Vietnam, read this book.

This book helped explain persecution without being difficult to read. It's a must read for anyone who cares about the inhabitants of "mother earth".

Although this book sheds a very informative view of the home churches across china, I found that the characters were not easily identifiable. In addition, the last quarter of the book seemed that is was written for a fast ending, almost as if the author became bored and just wanted a nice simple ending. I had my hopes up in the beginning, but by the end I was also bored and really wanted it to end.

If anything, read it for a better understanding of the home churches across China.

Safely Home puts into perspective as to what is important in this life. It is a window that allows the reader to view religious persecution in today's world both here in the U.S. and abroad. Once you begin to read, it will be hard to put the book down.

Buy this book, take a day off, and read it. I read it 2 years ago and I have bought or loaned this book out to at least 20 friends since then -- all of whom have loved it. If you are a Christian, I trust you will be convicted and challenged as you read it.

I can't imagine this book failing to put a burden,on the hearts of all who read it,at least for prayer, for all the Christians who are being persecuted(often in horrifying ways)around the world.

I also couldn't help thinking maybe such persecution here, is exactly what it will take to destroy all the 'false doctrine- Prosperity Preaching' churches,and the appalling apathy of many Christians here in America!

This book grabbed me from the beginning and never let go until the end.Would love to see this made into a movie.

An amazing,eye and heart-opening book. May God continue to bless Randy Alcorn,and continue to use him to further His Kingdom.

My daughter was introduced to the movie before we even read the book. But, now that she has the book, she LOVES it too-- maybe even as much as the movie (which she adores and wants to watch again and again). It's not only a sweet story but teaches a great deal about bats/nocturnal animals. We love reading it as part of our bedtime routine as well as throughout the day.

This sweet, beautiful book teaches about bats in a lovely, non-threatening way. Stellaluna, as a lost baby bat, must learn about her talents on her own while trying to live with birds. Readers learn the difference between birds and bats, as well as the beauty of bats. What a wonderful book for bat lovers as well as those who fear bats! It is a wonderful tool for education as well as an all-round stunningly wonderful book.

This is such a wonderful book to use for life science. Through such a sweet story, Stellaluna describes the interesting facts and characteristics of bats.

GREAT STORY, WE HAVE THE BOOK AND VIDEO. A MUST HAVE FOR YOUNG ONES, CHILDREN WITH AUTISM. MY SON LOVES IT.

Note: My reviews are plagued by cyber stalkers who distort votes totals.

If I HAD to answer the question: What is your favorite children's book?, I would have to pick "Stellaluna." There, this children's librarian committed, but I think my students would know that. It's one of their favorites, too!!

What makes this book so special? E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G!! The story line, the embedded lessons, and the sweet, sweet illustrations. I don't know how well you can see the young bat's face on the cover. If you can, notice that darling tongue sticking out, like a puppy's. Notice her struggle, expressed with joy, to hold on to the limb. And we have not even opened the book yet!

This is the story of a young bat who is separated from her mother after an owl attacks them in flight. She falls into a tree, then into a bird's nest filled with three hungry babies who are already fully feathered. The mother bird adopts her but insists she eat bugs like her babies. Stellaluna is a fruit bat, but adopts the ways of birds, except for hanging by her feet to sleep. Her new siblings try it one day. Mother returns and expresses her dismay. The babies are hilariously portrayed with their bird feathers hanging down from their heads.

When they learn to fly, poor Stellaluna is so clumsy trying to land upright on a limb with feet equipped for hanging, not perching. At night her bat radar comes into play and she goes weird on them flying by radar. Eventually, her bat mother finds her and Stella's world is restored. She discovers she eats mangoes, not bugs. She is delighted!

And the second best part is that she remains friends with her bird friends.

Embedded lessons:
1. Bats are what they are; birds are what they are.
2. We can accept each other's differences and be enriched by the experience.
3. It's good to walk in another's shoes just a short time.
4. There are some artists with stories sweet and heartwarming without being saccharine.
5. The author furnishes "Bat Notes" on the last two pages for further educational value.

This book belongs in every child's personal library and on the shelf in every children's library. Highly recommended.

Other favorite books by Janell Cannon:
Pinduli
Verdi

Although the rhymes as nice and the content of picking various berries come into play - I think the pages are way too busy with lots of illustrations that distracts the story and causes focus problems.

I love this book. I love the rhythm of it, I love the note at the end, I love the dedication - love it.

Unfortunately, I've yet to get either of my nieces overly involved in it. They'll sit through it, but they won't request it :(

So I've had to take a star off what I'd normally rank this book as because, in my house, it's just not doing its job. I don't know why they don't love it, they just don't.

This book was a favorite with our first child 10 years ago, and we just bought another copy for our 1-yr.-old! I love the flowing, rhyming prose, and the illustrations allow for so much discussion and interaction. As with Dr. Suess books, I find myself repeating the words throughout the day (like when we're eating berries!) I definitely recommend this book!

This was my kids' favorite book when they were little, and now I'm buying many copies for nieces, nephews, and little cousins. Wonderful verse, fun pictures. Lots of repetition, which the little ones love. Enjoy!

My grandson loved this book once he turned about 16 months old. Before that he had no interest.

Item sold - exactly as stated online - item was delivered very fast and in perfect condition.

Out to Canaan (The Mitford Years, Book 4)

Most wonderful fiction series I've read in many years! I love Jan Karon's Mitford Season, and can't wait until the next ones come out. The characters have become so real to me, I feel like I've known them all my life. It's hard to find good Christian fiction, which are loved even by those who do not usually read Christian literature, but these fit the bill! I give them for gifts to many.

I just loved this book. I am reading the Mitford series and getting to know the characters. It's great to have a respite from our busy world. This book had me laughing out loud in a few places.

My 97 year old grandmother is in love with Mitford. She has macular degeneration and can no longer read with her eyes so she "reads" with her ears. Whenever she is feeling blue or is sick in bed, she just puts Mitford in and says she feels comforted. This was the missing book of her series on CD and we sent it for her 97th birthday. A highly recommended series - the first book may seem a bit slow, but once you finish, you'll want to read the rest of the series.

This is a great book. It contains no violence or sex and still manages to entertain on every page.

This book is one of the most amazing books i've ever read. it's got a great depth to it and explain in a discreet way about sociology and friendships. It's a page turner.

This book is defianitely the best book out of all the Night World books, even though each of them are excellent in their own way! I think its just the way that Jez and Morgead's love is so pure and brilliant! Also Jez is so powerful! But Jez and Morgead are so different and them being together could never work, if Morgead knew her secret, that makes me never want to put the book down!

I've been a fan of L.J. Smith's since I first read "Chosen" six years ago. I've read all of her books, including her little known play on the King Authur myth that involves the Fey. I've read all of her trilogies, and the NightWorld books at least twice a piece.

I've even gone back and reread the NightWorld books and have been pleased to see that they still hold up. Even though I'm not a 15 year old girl anymore. My mother even read them and enjoyed them.

The thing I like the most about the L.J Smith books are the heroines and the heroes. Both characters are somehow vastly appealing. Well, save the ones in "Spellbinder" and "Dark Angel".

In "Huntress" the heroine is no aception to L.J. Smith's rule. She's even more of an outsider than Rashel, and is a bit wiser than the Cat. However, she's got a bit of a wild streak, not to mention she's more cunning in her own fashion.

She's sypmathetic and strong at the same time.

However, her hero, Morgred isn't.

Usually, when L.J Smith writes "bad boys" they're so bad they're sinful. Morgred falls short of that. He seems to be a pale copy of Smith's previous heroes Ash and Quinn, except he falls short of their charisma, sympathy, and sheer sexiness. Not to mention he's lacking a personality.

The plot is good and the writing is excellent. However, Morgred keeps the book from getting a perfect rating. Sorry Jez, you tried your best.

I think that Lisa Jane Smith is an exceptional author! behind Tolkien. Like Francine Pascale (author of fearless) she's got this thing that makes you want to go on reading until you've finished the book.Huntress like the rest of the series is a very original story...it's too cool

"Huntress" is the seventh book in the "Night World" series, a range of books concerning the secret going-ons of vampires, witches and shapeshifters in our everyday world. Previously, the books were predominantly love stories between humans and Night World members, but "Huntress" is the book where things begin to get a bit more interesting...

Jez Redfern is confident in her abilities and her life - she spends her nights hunting down humans with her gang for fun, and alternatively flirting/fighting with her second-in-command Morgead Blackthorn. But then a vision disrupts this life forever: she is not a full-blooded vampire, but the daughter of a vampiric father and a human mother. As this knowledge endangers her very life, she abandons her gang, joins the benevolent Circle Daybreak and goes to live with her human relatives.

Several years later, Jez is leading a double-life: attending school by day with her annoying cousin Clare, and hunting her former allies at night under the instructions of the Circle. On this particular night she arrives home (in trouble with her family once more) to find another member of Circle Daybreak in her room: Hugh Davis. Hugh gives her the most important mission yet: a prophecy has risen that describes four "Wild Powers" that are destined to stop the coming apocalypse at the turn of the millennium.

And why has Jez been chosen to find the first of these Wild Powers? - (whose clue to their identity is used for my review's title) - Because someone has come forward claiming knowledge of the first Wild Power, and it's none other than Morgead. She must return to her gang and reclaim leadership, all the time knowing that if her true identity is found out then her life would be forfeit. And there are other darker powers looking for the Wild Power...

"Huntress" is one of the most rewarding books in the "Night World" series, concerning a desperate search, family ties, identity issues, Night World politics, and a growing sense of doom as the apocalypse ticks closer. However, don't get too involved in the characters and their situation - L. J. Smith has never published the last book in this series "Strange Fate" that wraps up the entire story (but as the millenium has come and gone without a hitch, I think we can assume that the good guys were successful).

L. J. gives some nice touches to the mix, with mentions of previous characters and events, plus the actual appearence of a character from "The Chosen", that has an unexplained burn mark that only readers of that previous book will understand. We also get another retelling of the Night World ancient history that fits in nicely to what we already know about Hellewise/Maya/the dragons and all the other eras of history.

At times it feels a bit rushed - Jez has found out her secret and moved in with her human family at the end of three very short chapters, and I'm getting increasingly amused at the ages of the vampires: despite the fact that they are immortal, all of her lamia characters just *happen* to be either seventeen or eighteen years old - where are all the grown-ups?!

This book is soul-wrenching. A Must for everyone, regardless of religious affiliation. Brings together both priest and artist: Rembrandt's insights and those of Henri Nouwen. . .

Henri Nouwen had a truly God-given gift - the gift of explaining timeless spiritual truths in very clear, ordinary language in a conversational and deeply captivating way. His words and his explanations imprint themselves into the memory and stay in the heart, and truly help to change lives. Much of his wisdom surely comes from his own struggles, which he admits to in the book - he personally struggled with depression, pride, desire for success and fame, envy, etc. - common human ailments. He also struggled with feeling unworthy of God, and with feeling distant from God. Yet, he learned to overcome his struggles (though he admits that he is still on a journey), and he describes how.

This is the third book I have read by Neuwen. After reading Life of the Beloved I really didn't think that anything could compare, but this book, if not better, is at least just as good. It is an instantly timeless spiritual classic. The whole book is a reflection on Rembrandt's painting, The Return of the Prodigal Son. First Nouwen reflects on the younger son who came back from a foreign land. Then he reflects on the older son who witnesses his younger brother's return. Finally, Nouwen reflects on the father figure. His insights are deep and beautiful. He leads the reader to a natural and yet incredible insight: that after identifying ourselves with both the younger and older brother, we must realize that rather than being either of these two brothers, we are called to become the father!

"Return of the Prodigal Son" is a wonderful opportunity to hear the gentleness and genius that was Henri Nouwen. The book was originally a talk given at retreat when Nouwen was 57, about 8 years before his death, in the time following his famous service at Toronto's L'Arche Daybreak facility for severely handicapped adults. Nouwen's humility is on display, as are his deep spiritual and psychological insights.

The impetus for Nouwen's reflections was Rembrandt's "Return of the Prodigal Son," painted when the artist was elderly, and following multiple tragedies in his own life. Nouwen's inspiration is less the painting, though, than the parable. His lecture is split into three parts, focusing on the younger son, the older son and the father. Nouwen's take on the parable is Jesus's radical break with interpretations of God that held sway in his own day as they still do in ours. The God that Jesus defines is not angry, vindictive or retaliatory, but completely open in love and forgiveness. While many will agree with this description of the Father, fewer will agree with Nouwen that this image of the Father exists the rest of Holy Scripture (both OT and NT) as well. While many of us are willing to accept Scripture's seemingly schizoid vision of God, Nouwen does not. He is completely committed to the loving father portrayed in this parable. For those committed to the God of condemnation, hell and judgment, Nouwen will be a disappointment (or a challenge). Human beings separate themselves from a God who is always anxious to take them back, teaches Nouwen.

In Nouwen's take on the story, the younger son teaches the journey from dissolution to containment. Dissolution includes dissipation of the kind associated with the younger son in the parable -- insults to parents, arrogance, squandering of resources, immorality. But dissolution extends to other activities and attitudes that spread our energies beyond our capacities. We spread ourselves too thin, spiritually, usually out of a desire to impress those in our lives whom we want to impress or influence. But by recognizing our sonship with God, we realize that we do need to impress of fathers (whether heavenly or worldly) into loving us, allowing us to bring our spiritual energies into containment and focus. The elder son often lives in our hearts alongside the younger son. The elder son's error is in resentment and separation. He cannot rejoice that "this son of yours" has returned from death, whining about his own ceaseless and unrewarded labors. But his error also speaks to a misunderstanding of the Father's love. He feels he will be loved *because* of his obedience (evidently given grudgingly) and has missed that his gift is to have been in the presence of the Father all along.

Nouwen's deep insight into the parable, whose subtlety and profundity become apparent the more listen, is astounding. The parable has the power to heal as well. For any who have felt conflict or hurt in family situations, as has Nouwen himself, the parable points the way toward a recognition of our true place in the world, and in God's eyes. This is not a dewy "I'm OK, You're OK" insight, but can lead to a profound shifting of our existential relationship with ourselves, our parents and our God. What false fronts and defenses we might shed if we truly believed in a God who loved us as beloved children -- no matter how far astray we had gone?

Nouwen's style and delivery belie the intensity of his own struggle and the wisdom of his teaching. Yet the insights continue rolling in, like waves following the passage of a ship, long after the book is over. A fascinating and potentially life-changing book.

This book opened up so many different ideas on the well known story of the Prodigal Son. I loved reading this book. It was my first Nouwen read, and it definitely will get me reading more of his books. If you are not familiar with Nouwen, this is a good first read.

This is an excellent life changing book. Presents the core truth of the Christian Gospel in a way that touches everyday attitudes and struggles. A book so personal and touching you may find that Nouwen is addressing your own unique circumstances. I certainly did. You may find yourself thinking about a new way to live. This book changed my life.