40 DAYS TO BETTER LIVING - OPTIMAL HEALTH

Over the next few months we’ll be doing a series of Reviews on a group of books released by the Church Health Center of Memphis, TN. Today we’re looking at the first one of the group 40 Days to Better Living, Optimal Health.

Forty days is, of course, a Biblical number and I’m sure that was among the reasons they chose it. Following a regimen of exercise, prayer and contemplation for more than a month gets a person off to good start on a life-changing adventure.

Dr. Scott Morris founded the Church Health Center in 1987. Today, they handle 36,000 patient visits, have 120,000 wellness visits, and have a staff of 250. They are unique in that they provide all of this care without Government funds. The Center is Christian-based and espouses treating the whole person — mind, body and spirit.

The book is set up in daily increments. Each of them begins with a short Morning Reflection. Their message is generally low-key and not strongly denominational. They do, however, acknowledge the role of God in our lives and well-being. Prayerful living is definitely encouraged. They also encourage each person to keep a journal of their goals and progress. As a matter of fact, they provide space right in the book for it. Each day ends with an Evening Reflection. Regardless of where an individual might be in their spiritual journey, following this simple routine is bound to increase a person’s awareness of God working in their life.

Nearly every page has colorful illustrations and there are half a dozen “stories” scattered through the pages. Each one features an individual who came to the Center with a specific health issue and the progress they made due to the program. Rather than being a get-rich-quick scheme like so many books on Health, these books are part of a larger ministerial outreach and this is reflected in their modest price. The list price on Optimal Health is a thrifty $7.99 and I expect the others will be as affordable.

If I sound like I’m impressed, it’s because I am. Rather than tell you how great the book is, I’d rather share a personal story. I suffer from degenerative arthritis of the spine that has impacted the nerves in one of my legs. Lifting, bending and walking have become increasingly difficult. After reading the story of Eddie, a man who faced possible amputation of his legs due to an auto accident, I was motivated to do more. I decided if he could do it, maybe I could too. This past week I went for a walk. I wasn’t fast and I relied upon my cane, but I covered almost a mile. That may not sound like much, but it’s the greatest distance I’ve walked in months and I'm looking forward to making additional progress.

We thank Audra Jennings at B&B Media for providing us with a copy for an honest review.
—E G Lewis

Product Details
List Price: $7.99
Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Barbour Books
Language: English
ISBN-13: 978-1616262648

GOD GAVE US YOU by Lisa Tawn Bergren

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:

Lisa Tawn Bergren

and the book:

God Gave Us You (Board Book)

WaterBrook Press; 1st edition (September 19, 2000

***Special thanks to Laura Tucker, WaterBrook Multnomah Publicity, for sending me a review copy.***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Lisa Tawn Bergren is the best-selling author of eight novels, three novellas, and two gift books, with more than a half-million books in print. God Gave Us You is her first children’s book. As an editor during the week and a writer on weekends, she makes her very-messy-but-cozy home in Colorado with her husband, Tim, and their daughters, Olivia and Emma.

Visit the author's website.

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR:

Laura J. Bryant attended the Maryland Institute of Art, where she received a strong foundation in drawing, painting, and print-making. Illustrating children’s books has provided her with both a rewarding and creative career. Laura’s clients have included Simon & Schuster, McGraw Hill, and Stech-Vaughn publishers, among others. She currently lives among the tidal rivers on the eastern shore of Maryland with her loving husband and curiously cantankerous cat!

Visit the author's website.

SHORT BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Filled with playful, winsome illustrations by an artist who specializes in polar bear images, this four-color, read-to-me picture book will build children’s self-esteem through the tale of a mama bear who reassuringly explains where her cub came from and affirms Mama and Papa’s great love for her.

And now, Our Review:
God Gave Us You is the first of a series of books that all begin God Gave Us… Designed to answer those first “Where did I come from” questions, this illustrated story for pre-schoolers lets a child know that they not only have a heavenly father, but that they are loved and wanted by their earthly parents. Set in an easy to understand question and answer format, Mama Bear patiently answers each question. Grandparents take note, the book makes a wonderful baby shower gift or a birthday present for a three-year-old. It’s a story youngster never tire of hearing. Strongly recommended.
—E G Lewis

Anyone interested in Seeing smaple pages from the book can go here.

Product Details:

List Price: $10.99
Reading level: Baby-Preschool
Hardcover: 40 pages
Publisher: WaterBrook Press; 1st edition (September 19, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1578563232
ASIN: B002PJ4LHM

THE LAND OF PAINTED CAVES by Jean M. Auel

With the exception of her first novel, The Clan of the Cave Bear, I bought all of Jean Auel’s novels as soon as they were released. Her series, Earth’s Children, is my favorite group of books and quite possibly always will be.  I do think she deserves nicer looking book covers, however. I don’t believe any of the artwork was detailed and exacting enough, or up to the quality of her writing.

If you’ve read her earlier novels, you will enjoy following the most recent exploits of Ayla and Jondalar in Jean Auel’s sixth novel, The Land of Painted Caves. If you haven’t read the others, don’t start with this one. Below this review are reviews for each of her other novels in this series.  The Clan of the Cave Bear is the first.

Here they are in order of their publication:

1. The Clan of the Cave Bear
2. The Valley of Horses
3. The Mammoth Hunters
4. The Plains of Passage
5. The Shelters of Stone
6. The Land of Painted Caves

Reviews for these books work their way forward, beginning from the bottom up. I was careful not to place any other book reviews between them.

Jean Auel visited many caves in France filled with ancient paintings, and does an excellent job of describing them in this novel. Have to admit though, that after a while reading about them isn’t the same as being there would be. Much of the book is a Cro-Magnon travelogue, but that’s not a bad thing.

Regrettably, wonderful, handsome Jondalar disappoints in this novel. His shining image is tarnished beyond repair. Although Ayla forgives him, I wouldn’t have. In fact, I wouldn’t have written it that way … I want my hero’s and heroine’s to remain upright in all regards. So, for that reason, this wasn’t my favorite book of the series. It ranks sixth on my list. As I mentioned in an earlier review, my favorite is The Valley of Horses, next is Plains of Passage, then Clan of the Cave Bear, Mammoth Hunters, Shelters of Stone and this one last. But, it is still worth reading just to see Ayla become a Zelandoni and witness Jonayla’s childhood. The Land of Painted Caves divides into three parts.  Sweet Jonayla grows a little older in each one.

Much of the conflict in this novel occurs because of Jondalar’s infidelity. There is another sad aspect to this book, but I won’t give it away.

Ayla continues to educate her new community, including the fact that babies can only begin if a man and a woman share “pleasures” together.  Ayla’s training to become a Zelandoni is enjoyable and fascinating. It takes tragedy for her to actually become a Zelandoni, however.

If you love the characters, Ayla and Jondalar, you should read this book. Although I enjoyed some of the others more, you might feel differently, and I did enjoy it. It is highly recommended after reading the others first.

—Gail Lewis

Product Details:
Hardcover: 757 pages
Language: English
Publisher: Crown Publishers, Inc.
ISBN-10: 0517580519
ISBN-13: 978-0517580516

THE SHELTERS OF STONE by Jean M. Auel

This is Jean Auel’s fifth book in her Earth’s Children series. It’s also my fifth favorite in the series. 

A year after leaving the mammoth hunting Mamutoi’s, Ayla and Jondalar arrive at his home. These Cro-Magnon groups shelter and make their dwellings in caves, some extremely large. Jondalar’s mother, sister and extended family members welcome his return, and we meet many of his extended family. Ayla faces embarrassment at the hands of a former girlfriend of Jondalar’s, and actually turns it to her advantage. As usual, she wins over most of his people and once again makes a place for herself as a valued member of their society.

Ayla educates them about the Neanderthals they call Flatheads, introduces firestones and much more. Jondalar brings his skills as a flint knapper and introduces them to the spear-thrower he invented. As hoped for, Ayla gives birth to their daughter, Jonayla, and everything concludes with a happy ending.

Ayla and Jondalar’s introduction to his family is fascinating, as are the customs of his people. However, hinted at potential conflicts never transpired. I expected more excitement, and was left wanting. This book lacks the action and intrigue of the previous four. That said, it was still fun to read about the ongoing lives of my favorite characters.

Jean Auel is also an accomplished poet as evidenced by The Mother’s Song, an epic poem the Zelandoni of all the cave communities use to explain their Creation belief and who that divine being is to them. Well worth reading after reading the first four books in the series.
—Gail Lewis

Product Details:
Hardcover: 753 pages
Language: English
Publisher: Crown Publishers, Inc.
ISBN: 0-609-61059-7
ASIN: B001LMZ035

THE PLAINS OF PASSAGE by Jean M. Auel

Jean Auel’s The Plains of Passage is one of my favorite books. It is her fourth novel, and my favorite … second only to The Valley of Horses.  Shortly after its publication, I had the pleasure of attending a writing seminar where Jean Auel spoke. She was inspiring and likeable. I had the good fortune to sit beside her at lunch, a very memorable event for me. Although I had a copy of all her novels with me, I only asked her to sign her latest one, The Plains of Passage. 

For excitement and suspense, this one can’t be beat. Ayla and Jondalar continue their travels toward his home, and the risk of death is often close at hand.  There are a number of very sexy love scenes between the couple too.  They make up for the last book when, to my dissatisfaction, they didn’t spend enough time together. In this one, they do.

By now, Jondalar also rides a horse. Whinny had a foal that Jondalar named Racer. The young stallion becomes his. The horses are also put at risk in this novel, and you won’t be able to quit reading until it’s resolved.  

Together Ayla and Jondalar amaze whoever they encounter. Not only do they ride horses, but they are accompanied by a wolf. The wolf cub that Ayla rescued in the previous novel is now her adoring, loyal companion. She nearly loses Wolf and risks her life to rescue him. Later, Wolf saves her life too after they encounter an evil community of women. True to the heroic characters they are, Jondalar and Ayla survive and transform that community into a healthier one.

The culmination of the book is that Ayla meets Jondalar’s father and his family before continuing on to the Ninth Cave of the Zelandoni, the home Ayla has dreamed of … literally. Don’t miss this novel. It is excellent!

—Gail Lewis

Product Details:

Hardcover: 760 pages
Language: English
Publisher: Crown Publishers, Inc.
ISBN: 0-517-58049-7
ASIN: B001HEC468

THE MAMMOTH HUNTERS by Jean M. Auel

Ice Age Europe is brought to life in The Mammoth Hunters.  

In this, the third book in Jean Auel’s Earth’s Children series, Jondalar and Ayla set off on a long journey toward his home. They won’t arrive there until the fifth novel, however.  In this one, they encounter more people like themselves, called the Mamutoi, the mammoth hunters. Ayla finds friends within the Mamutoi and they adopt her as a much-loved member of their village.

It is also there that she almost loses Jondalar. Being unfamiliar with the customs of her people, she “thinks” like the clan she was raised in. As a result, and not realizing she has a choice, she accepts an invitation from “Ranec” to couple with him. She likes him and moves into his shelter away from Jondalar, the man she really loves. She doesn’t understand when Jondalar avoids her, and seems angry. I missed the love affair between Ayla and Jondalar, and would’ve preferred less time with Ranec. However, in the end she and Jondalar are reunited. 

 

 

There is the usual excitement and suspense in this novel that the first two provide. I particularly enjoyed the humorous return of “Baby” the cave lion, and how shocked the Mamutoi were when Ayla climbed on his back and rode him.  

 

 

Jean Auel’s fascinating Cro-Magnon exploits and details never fail to enthrall. Although this is not my favorite book in her series, it’s well worth reading. Don’t miss it, especially since it precedes the fourth and second best book in the series, The Plains of Passage.

—Gail Lewis

Product Details:

Hardcover: 690 pages
Language: English
Publisher: Crown Publishers, Inc.
ISBN: 0-517-55627-8
ASIN: B001GTX92A

THE VALLEY OF HORSES by Jean M. Auel

Of Jean M. Auel’s six novels in her Earth’s Children series, The Valley of Horses is my favorite.  

This novel introduces, Jondalar, the tall, handsome Cro-Magnon man who becomes Ayla’s mate. He is the first non-Neanderthal human she sees since the loss of her family in an earthquake as a child.

After being cast out by the Neanderthal Clan that rescued her at age five, now as a young woman Ayla is forced to survive on her own.  Her survival alone in a valley is both touching and exciting. Her adoption of Whinny, a hay-colored steppe horse foal, and later a cave lion cub, are fascinating and heartwarming. But, it is her introduction to her people, their language and to the love of her life that makes this book so special.

Experience a time when Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon man both shared the earth.  See how domesticating animals may have started. View ways Cro-Magnon man could have evolved, learned and shared his early discoveries.  Fall in love with Jean Auel’s wonderful characters, Ayla and Jondalar.

Ms. Auel has created a world full of family and religious customs based on relics of the past. She makes it believable and highly enjoyable. I thoroughly recommend The Valley of Horses to anyone who hasn’t read it yet. But, even though this second book is the best of the best, read The Clan of the Cave Bear first to get the maximum amount of pleasure.  

—Gail Lewis

Product Details:
Hardcover: 512 pages
Language: English
Publisher: Crown Publishers, Inc.
ISBN-10: 0609610988
ISBN-13: 978-0609610985