Sheep Books

I didn't really like this book but it was O.K. It was about a girl who's father died during World War two so she, her mother, and little brother have to move to Parish Grove with her strict Aunt Bess so her mother could find a job. Mandy is scared of the sheep but she has to take care of them. She meets this Boy named Dean when she sees him steal some money from the store her mother works in. She goes to school and meet a girl named June they ecome friends. She has all kinds of adventures including having a box social. Her mother sys some things about her father and she gets really angry and relizes thay are going to Buy the store in Parish Grove instead of the fulton Place. Then she finds the sheep are stranded on an island and can not get off because the water is rising. She tries to go and save them.

I didn't really like this book but it was O.K. It was about a girl who's father died during World War two so she, her mother, and little brother have to move to Parish Grove with her strict Aunt Bess so her mother could find a job. Mandy is scared of the sheep but she has to take care of them. She meets this Boy named Dean when she sees him steal some money from the store her mother works in. She goes to school and meet a girl named June they ecome friends. She has all kinds of adventures including having a box social. Her mother sys some things about her father and she gets really angry and relizes thay are going to Buy the store in Parish Grove instead of the fulton Place. Then she finds the sheep are stranded on an island and can not get off because the water is rising. She tries to go and save them.

The surface of this book deals with a girl's struggle over her family's relocation to a rural area, and the loss of her dream of remaining in her home town, but its deeper currents deal with the difficulty she, her mother, and her brother have in dealing with her father's death in action in World War Two. Her brother clings to hope that the father somehow survives in hiding somewhere, her mother is overwhelmed by angry feelings of abandonment and desperation to find a way to support her children, and the main character, Mandy, clings to her father's dream of buying a neighbor's house in the original home town. Through her experiences with local school children, the strict great aunt with whom they live in the rural area, and her growing attachment to the herd of sheep she tends after school Mandy comes to terms with her own grief and begins to accept her mother's and brother's confused anguish as well. In the process she grows up a little, and begins to understand why relocation, however painful, is the only way to support the family.

Jesus said to go into all the world and make disciples. Apparently, we have a different translation so we're bringing the world into the Church. Instead of the Church influencing the world, it is the world influencing the Church. Is religious rock 'n' roll really ministering to our spirit or to our flesh? This is not only for this type of music. The questions should be: Are people converting to Jesus Christ with this music and is it a lasting conversion? Since for the most part religious rock 'n' roll sounds like secular rock 'n' roll, are the people experiencing a transformation or has the Church made so easy for sinners to transition from secular to spiritual with no apparent distinction? I think the issue here is discernment from those for and against this type of music. If this type of music glorifying God and if the Church is being edified then leave it alone. If not, throw away the LPs, audio tapes, and CDs.

This book clearly illustrates what a sick hypocrite Jimmy Swaggart is trying to impose his holy sick lifestyle on others which makes this book total garbage!!

Jimmy Swaggart was right. Nearly everything he predicted in this book has come to pass. He makes a great case against playing rock music (with Biblically based lyrics) in the church. I wish every Christian would read this book. The title says it all - CHRISTIAN ROCK: A WOLF IN SHEEPS CLOTHING.

Balakian is incredible. He speaks the truth. His audience loves him, both Armenians and non-Armenians alike are astonished by his style and charm. Truly an incredible man.

Elegant, spare, sensitive, bold.
A poet who takes care.
A stunning read.

It's a pity that the other online review is less than useful, sour grapes, and highly personal. Don't let it (or anything) steer you away from this fine writer and his stately words.

Balakian was a professor of mine, and this work stands firm as a clear representation of his pretentiousness.

I found this autobiograhpy to be an interesting view into the life struggles and journey of Kato Shuichi. I feel the translation was done quite well and was deeply moved by the details and insight the author put into his autobiography.

I found this book surprisingly flat. It was an enjoyable enough read, but Kato seems to be more interested in dropping names than building stories. Chang's copious footnotes demonstrate this aptly -- she adds information on writers that you never "hear" from again. I would have enjoyed hearing more story-building details from him about his friends, life abroad and in Japan, career, marriage.

I would have given 'A Sheep's Song' five stars if I hadn't expected something much different. But what I got was refreshing and at times philosophically profound. It is difficult to recommend the autobiography of a person you have probably never heard of, and even more difficult because I expected a concise look at Japan over the last seventy years through the eyes of one of that country's great thinkers. Little did I know how much he yearned to be away from Japan, if for no other reason, to learn to appreciate it more through his absence. What Shuichi Kato provides is an in depth look into his reasoning for wanting to be away from Japan and a detailed account of his life and in the process gives the reader a taste of Japan's contemporary history and the adventures of a Japanese abroad throughout Europe. Of particular interest is Kato's perspective on the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This section is worth reading the whole book for. While not for everyone, 'A Sheep's Song' is recommended for those looking for a world perspective that is intriguing and entertaining.

There just was not enough of a story for this small book with
lots of padding. Poor.

I myself was raised as a JW. I left for many reasons (too authoritarian, made women feel inferior, too antiquated,etc.) but at the time I never thought murder could occur among such "sheep-like" people. I had to read this in one sitting-I was riveted. What made me especially angry to read is that the elders told Kim she had to return to her husband (the person who killed her and her children). The elders are partly to blame. And the treatment the author received at the funeral was shocking-being shunned and ignored and his name being omitted from the list of survivors. How dare anyone be so callous and unfeeling? And yet I remember as a small child to be told to behave that way when in the company of disfellowshipped people. I think the story is well-told and recommend it highly to anyone trying to open their eyes to this organization. Also mentions the failed prophecy of "the end of the world coming in 1975" and how the author was duped into believing that at the time (another reason I left-Society changing its tune every so often).

This is the heart wrenching story of the murder of Kim Anderson and her two children. Kim, a devout Jehovah's witness lost her life at the hands of her husband, also a member of that faith community. The story is told with courage and compassion by James Kosteliuk, her first husband and the father of the two children. While the trigger was pulled by Jeff Anderson, some blame must be laid at the doors of faith communities where religious principles come before the safety and well-being of its women and children. This book tells of a tragedy on many levels, but most importantly it reminds us of the violence that women and children continue to face in that safest of all places: their homes. Riveting and disturbing at the same time.

This is not a happy book, but I think it is realistic - not because of the events it portrays but the way it portrays them. For most of the part we see only what Isaao Dazai sees and he creeps to understanding very slowly; the ending is largely unresolved. But - Yo! Dystopian! When was it ever gonna be happy? On the surface 'Black Sheep' is a story about racial segregation, with each city split into three - asian (where most of the action happens), african and caucasian. However in Asian Sydney, caucasians and africans are so remote that they might as well be aliens. Thus segregation occurs on a much finer scale - Asian Tokyo versus Asian Sydney. I think this probably illustrates that people will always look to find differences between each other, no matter how alike they apparently are. In 'Black Sheep' the only people who are truly the same are the 'Assimilated', bleached of all colour and self will.

The government's (and UN's) role in controlling the cities and enforcing the 'No Multiculturalism' rules remains shadowy, but is very reminiscent of George Orwells '1984'. The faceless 'Segregators' are not quite as omniscient the Thought Police, but they are in pursuit of thoughtcrime. It is not apparent if those in real control believe their own propaganda, or if they are using it to forward their own interests. One of the things I noted was that, even in this extreme society, the passage of time showed it becoming even more extreme. Things can always get worse...

Isaao Desai, a history teacher, is ambivilent about his home city, Asian Tokyo, and even more so about his adopted city Asian Sydney. He's a pawn in lots of games. The government uses him to test out new entrapment laws, his wife uses him to assuage her own guilt, while Peek uses him to explore the rights of the individual versus the benefit to society. Initially I found Issao a bit whiny and lacking in charm (possibly a little unsympathetic of me). However, ultimately I did care what happened to him and I am left worried that he'll get home ok.

In summary: well written and prose flows nicely. It's not as accomplished as 26 Lies/One Truth but, given 26 Lies is the more recent book, that's probably a good thing.

At 333 pages, the .pdf of Black Sheep is an easy read on a computer. Prime Books have chosen a comfortable default font and my only quibble with the layout would be that, at times, there's a lot of blank space to page through.

Set in a dystopian future, Black Sheep chronicles the downfall of narrator Isao Dazai, who is "convicted of being Japanese" in Asian-Sydney. Multiculturialism is now considered a disease for which the only cure is ruthless segregation. We're in Orwellian territory here, with routine surveillance of citizens by cameras, microphones, and powerful masked Segregators, and a history and culture that's tailored to your ethnic origin, which in turn dictates where you can live.

The story starts with Isao undergoing a show trial, at which he's not permitted to speak, but soon flashes back to show the reader how he got there. For me, this lengthy flashback was the least effective section. All we really learn about Isao is that he's a maybe rebel without a cause: disaffected without knowing why, and ineffectual without being endearing. It's hard to believe that so much effort and manpower needs to be put in to entrapping him--and even harder to believe that, after he's been explicitly warned these tactics are being used, he doesn't for one moment suspect what's coming. Despite the first-person narrative, we never get below the surface of Isao's character, and he's continually driven by events rather than being pro-active. He drifts through this phase of the novel as he drifts through life, and it's hard to resist skipping ahead to find out what happens to him after his trial.

The novel's pace picks up after Isao is Assimilated, becoming a puppet of the state with no will of his own, and controlled by guilt for his 'crime'--the implanted murder of his wife. Although presented with far greater obstacles than in his previous existence, he succeeds in throwing off his conditioning and sets out to uncover the bleak truth about Peek's vision of future Australia. The novel ends poignantly, and not entirely without hope.

Peek's writing is tolerable but not stellar, and is plagued by repeated homophone errors--"too" for "to" being perhaps the most egregious. The future world is well imagined, if implausible--who watches all the footage? listens to all the tapes?--and there's excellent irony here and there, but the plot relies on at least one far-fetched coincidence and the characterisations are not strong. Isao's character in particular can't carry the narrative.

If you're a fan of dystopias, you'll probably want to add this to your collection; otherwise, it's a suitable read for a train journey or rainy night.

[[review by Debbie Moorhouse, for GUD Magazine]]

Andie Field isn't happy about her latest job. She's been hired to keep an eye on sexy-as-sin bad Boy Nick Heagerty. and that means being close to him---Day and night. But on her arrival, she's instantly caught up in scandals of the past.Even worse, she finds herself faling for the charismatic rebel she's come to investigate.

This romance is well-plotted with lots of interesting twists that will keep a reader guessing until the conclusion--which is a rare feat in a category such as this.

Stuart Pawson had a career as a mining engineer He followed this with a spell working for the probation service, before he became a full-time writer. He lives in the pleasant waterside village of Fairburn in Yorkshire. The author's writing is gritty and to the point added to which he has a likeable sense of humour that he usually incorporates into his books, all of which I have found enjoyable.

DI Charlie Priest is mulling over the fact that as the saying goes a copper is never off duty. Although supposedly on sick leave he has been asked to keep an eye on a well known drugs courier, who uses the Hull-Rotterdam route on a regular basis. He is also concerned for the safety of his girlfriend as she spies on a tobacco company and their sales operation in Africa.

Stuart Pawson's books are to me at least, a cut above the average crime novel. As I said earlier, he has a dry wit that transmits itself to the reader and makes the reading of his books that much more enjoyable an experience.

This is another entry in the series about Yorkshire policeman Detective Chief Inspector Charlie Priest and a good one it is too ,although I would urge newcomers to start with the earlier series novels which fill in the back story.
Events are triggered when the wife of an American tobacco tycoon is snatched outside a London department store and her chauffeur murdered .The object of the kidnapping is for the gang to raise a ransom but they are foiled when the husband not only refuses to pay but is able to rescue a tape showing the identity of the kidnappers.He then recruits the gang to further the interests of the tobacco lobby by killing the leader of the Opposition party in the country ,a man likeky to br Prime Minister shortly and set on a nationwide ban on tobacco.
The gang is ruthless and includes at least one seriously deranged soul ,the disfigured psychopath Shawn Parrott who is able to achieve sexual gratification only in the act of killing and he does a lot of that in the book-the chauffeur ,a truck driver and a teenage whore .
Priest while still officially on stress related sick leave gets involved with the case and operates undercover on the trail of drug runners in the course of which he encounters the gang and becomes involved in the plan to thwart the assassination attempt

A few too many subplots hold things up -namely the fashionable theme of child abuse which is introduced late in the book ,and the fact of Priest's girl friend being a propagandist for the anti-smoking lobby and its "exploitation "of Africa which allows Pawson to ride his tirsome hobby horse into the setting sun.While the gang is a chilling creation the cabal of U S tobacco tycoons underwriting the assassination bid fails to convince --the section where they appear is like a weak episode of Dallas in which everybody is JR
Good things outweigh the bad and Charlie is a likeable hero.
One for lovers of the British police novel

Before reading my comment, please bear in mind that I am a very uncensorious person who believes in giving children free range of reading matter; I was raised that way, raised my children that way, and want to see my grandchildren raised that way. However, I tried to imagine reading this beautifully illustrated (though syntactically very strange) book to any of my 2-8 year old grandchildren, and realized it would TERRIFY them. The spooky way it treats the separation of mothers and offspring, along with its implications that freedom is scary and potentially dangerous to warmblooded life, makes this a book I really don't want to have where my grandpeople can get hold of it while I'm babysitting them. They'd be screaming for their mother within minutes. This is the only book I've ever returned for a refund!

I bought The Lamb and the Butterfly right away. The illustrations in collage are captivating as the lamb learns about the butterfly's migration. The words are wonderful too as the butterfly zigs and zags and ziggety zags. A child who loves this book would be ready for Malinda Martha meets Mariposa, about a girl who imagines herself directing the life-cycle of a Monarch on her backyard stage, with the common element being the wonder of migration since Mariposa flies from Boise to overwinter in California. It adds the possibility for children to act out the stages of the life-cycle, too. The Lamb and the Butterfly gets children off to a wonderful start.

While this book is fairly well written, (despite the treacly opening scene used to illustrate how one fictitious pastor-family was distraught over their "banishment" from the church, described by the pastor as "an old Mausoleum" that he initially wanted to "breathe life into"), its content is not fairly treated.

A reader is led to believe that many pastors--including the author--are victims of vicious plots against them and their families. Even the publisher's review makes it appear that there is an epidemic of anti-pastorism among the churches of America. The incidents portrayed in the book are taken from real-life experiences of the author and some of his pastor friends. The problem with using personal incidents to illustrate or prove an idea is that it is nearly impossible to trust that the author has treated the incidents in a completely unbiased manner. While some of the ideas presented in the book regarding church discipline may be biblical and warranted in some cases, it's difficult to trust the author's objective treatment of the subject when an entire chapter of the book is devoted to stories selected from the author's past experiences told exclusively from his point of view. How is the reader to know the entire set of circumstances surrounding the anecdote? Without that knowledge, of course the congregants in these stories come out looking like satanic minions while the pastors are portrayed as abused victims cowering in the corners of their offices.

Another problem with the book is the use of these personal anecdotes in the first place. While anonymity was supposedly kept, it seems to me that many of the author's congregants may recognize the incidents--or perhaps themselves--in the book. This type of backhanded criticism leaves a sour taste in the reader's mouth. The people accused of "abusive behavior" have no way to tell their sides of the stories.

The truth actually lies somewhere in the middle, as it always does. And when considering truth one must always consider the source. This is why character witnesses are called when a person is on trial. They attest to the past evidence of a person's moral character; then it is easier to determine whether the person can be trusted to tell the truth. In the case of this book, we do not know the author's character, so we do not know the truth. I suspect that some of the author's former congregants are hurt and disturbed by this book, and it is unfortunate that the author chose to approach this subject in this particular manner as it may have been more powerful had it been treated in a more objective manner.

These Sheep Bite is a fast-paced, compassionate, and savvy how-to for pastors and church leaders facing hostile church members. It focuses on the current rampant disturbance to peace and purity in our congregations-the unhappy few who are disgruntled or bitter for a wide variety of reasons, church-related or otherwise. G. Lloyd Rediger used the term "clergy killers" in his groundbreaking book of that title. Everett L. Wilson, in Christianity Today, defines it this way: "Clergy killers are people who seek to destroy the credibility, reputation, and career of pastors."

These Sheep Bite further explores this obvious but uncomfortable truth -- there are people in churches who do their utmost to promote strife and disunity within the congregation, and stress and harassment to their leadership. To dislike or criticize a pastor is not unusual, and at times understandable. The book does not whitewash the issue of abusive clergy, leaders who abuse their sheep. But it points out that if a pastor does not please them, antagonists go on an all-out offensive. Personal grudges against those in leadership are typical -- the dissatisfied members within any given congregation become hostile and just plain spiteful.

A chapter of the book is a collection of such experiences from a diverse cross section of clergy -- predictable and unrelenting attacks on pastors and leaders. These situations are universal. The names change, the cities change, the dates change, but the personalities, often down to the last detail, are too similar to be specific. Every church has a history -- for better or for worse. If you have a defensive or aggressive sheep, the book suggests checking out his or her personal history (and the church's relationship) with the previous and/or current pastor.

These Sheep Bite is written in an entertaining style with many laugh-out-loud moments you immediately identify with. It offers a balanced view of the problem while also dealing with the darker side of the issue-the role of principalities and powers in everyday church life.

For the health and future of our church, These Sheep Bite challenges us to take caring, loving discipline seriously, and shows how to help build up the body of Christ. It suggests ways for leaders and their families to overcome bitterness, burnout, and resentment, and to deal with the kind of persecution most church leaders will face today without becoming a victim.

Other helpful books on the topic are: Antagonists in the Church by Kenneth Haugk, The Wounded Minister by Guy Greenfield, Clergy Killers by G. Lloyd Rediger, and Pastors at Greater Risk by H. B. London and Neil B. Wiseman.