Blogging for Books

BONDing over Books has been a blog book reviewer for WaterBrook Multnomah, a division of Random House Publishing for almost a year and a half in their Blogging for Books program.

We have also expanded our reach to Facebook and Twitter. We do not post the full reviews on The BONDing over Books Facebook page. What you will find instead are links to the weekly reviews, suggested reading book titles, weekend “Cuddle Alert”  book choices, and so much more…

• Here’s one important thing to remember, you do not have to have or need a Facebook account to view the contents of our page.
• BONDing over Books is a community page which is open to the public.
• However, if you want  to comment or “like“ our page, you will need to have a Facebook account.

You can access our Facebook page two ways:

1. On the left side of this blog’s home page, go to the box with the Facebook icon. Click on the words BONDING OVER BOOKS (with blue letters) and it will take you directly to the page.
2. Type in http://www.facebook.com/bondoverbooks in the URL address bar and the page will open up.

The Way of The Traveler (revisited)

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?  Ever had an idea floating in your head, but you didn’t know where to start? How about just plain being stuck?  The Way of The Traveler – Making Every Trip a Journey of Self-Discovery by Joseph Dispenza helps you to organize your thoughts, so that you can write your book, magazine article, or blog post, etc., in a structured and systematic way.

Although the book was written primarily for those who want to recapture  and write the memories of their trips. Others have found it to be helpful in helping them write in general. At times, (especially in the beginning) the verbiage and the pace of the book was laborious and taxing. With that being said, The Way of the Traveler is very thought-provoking and worthwhile, if you are willing to persevere to the end.

The purpose of this book is to stimulate your creative juices, heighten your senses, and prepare you to become a more observant writer and recorder of the events on your travels. The Way of the Traveler helps you to hone your skills of perception, push you out of your comfort zone and write for the reader. Centuries and even years ago, it took days, weeks and even months to take a trip and write about it…not today. Nowadays, you can take a trip half way across the world in a matter of hours and write about it, all in the same day.

THOUGHTS for your SOUL:

• “If others seem indifferent to your travels, it is not because they are unconcerned about you – it is because they have not been changed by the same experiences that changed you.”
• “Exploring the meaning of the place is the key to understanding the journey. When we have learned what the place means for us, we have discovered  The Way of the Traveler.“

So what’s the lesson that the journey offers you? “What is the overriding motif of your travels?” What were you meant to learn/experience, if you believe that nothing happens by accident? What you have learned is self-discovery. “Your lessons from travel will  be your own. They may not always be profound, but they will present themselves…if you allow them.

According to The Tao, “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” “Every time we leave home and go to another place, we open up the possibility of having something wonderful happen to us. When we move out of the familiar here and now, we set in motion a series of events that, taken together, bring about changes at the very root of our being“…and it is time to change.

Let’s BOND over Books  rates The Way of the Traveler – Making Every Trip a Journey of Self-Discovery as MELODICALLY MEANINGFUL (151-300 pages).

La Belle Cuisine

It seems like every day and everywhere, whatever we do, many conversations and commercials bombard us with the topic of losing weight and diets. But every now and then, a little comfort food can be a beautiful thing! La Belle Cuisine – Recipes to Sing About by Patti LaBelle with Laura B. Randolph  is just that! A cookbook with recipes that you can sink your teeth into.

Not all the recipes in La Belle Cuisine  are her own. They are the recipes from her grandmother who passed it down to her father, as well as from her mother and sisters . She shares the “authentic down-home, Southern, country cooking [which] is a generation-to-generation pass-it-down gift.” Ms. LaBelle said that she often fantasized about being a “celebrated singer and a celebrated chef,” and she lives out that dream because she travels with her pots and pans while on tour…she never leaves home without them.

THOUGHTS for your SOUL:

• “When Grandmother Temple was in the kitchen cooking, she wasn’t just making her family’s meals, she was making their memories.”
• “People gather in the kitchen not just to put food in their mouth, but to put joy in their spirit. To feed their hunger for connection, as well as refection.”

The greatest gift you can give a person is you. Do you have a favorite dish that your mother, father or someone else makes that you just absolutely love eating? If you read our book review on the 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman. “quality time” is one of the love languages. Ask that person if they wouldn’t mind teaching you how to make that dish…quality time is about the connection, you don’t just want the recipe. Let us know how your dish turned out.

Everybody has a type of dish that they are partial to. Some like desserts and breads, others salads, soups and sandwiches. Then there are the magnificent meat dishes, fabulous fixin’s (side dishes) and scrumptious seafood. We have reprinted a three of our favorites from the Let’s BOND over Books taste test kitchen.

Down-Home Hush Puppies(makes about 20):

• 1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 and 1/4 cups white or yellow cornmeal (white cornmeal will give it a slightly sweeter flavor)
• 1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground hot red (cayenne) pepper
• 1 cup milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 small onion (finely chopped)
• Vegetable oil, for deep-frying

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and red pepper. In a small bowl, beat the milk and eggs. Add to the dry ingredients with the onion. Stir just until combined.

In a large skillet, preferably cast-iron, add enough oil to come halfway up the sides. heat over medium-high heat until very hot, but not smoking (365 degrees).

Using 1 TBSP batter for each hush puppy, carefully drop the batter into the hot oil. Fry, turning once, until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Using a skimmer, transfer to paper towels to drain. Serve hot.

Wicked Peach Cobbler (serves 4-6):

• Basic pie crust for double-crust pie
• 3 lbs medium *peaches (peeled, pitted and cut into 1/4 inch slices)
• 2 TBSP cornstarch
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, plus more for the top of the crust
• 4 TBSP (1/2 stick) butter, chilled, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly butter an 8-inch square baking dish.

In a medium bowl, toss the peaches, cornstarch, sugar. lemon juice, and cinnamon. Fold in the butter. Spoon half of the peach mixture into the prepared dish.

On a lightly floured surface work surface, roll out the smaller disk of dough into an 8-inch square about 1/8 inch thick (trimming the dough as needed). Place over the peaches in the baking dish. Top with the remaining peaches. Roll out the larger disk of dough into an 11-inch square about 1/8 inch thick (trimming as needed). Fit over the top of the baking dish, letting the dough hang down the sides of the dish. Pinch the dough firmly onto the top edge of the dish. Cut a few slits in the top of the dough. Place the dish on a baking sheet to catch any of the bubbling juices.

Bake until the fruit juices are bubbling and the top is golden brown (about 40 minutes). Sprinkle the top of the dough with cinnamon. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

*You can substitute 6 cups of blueberries or blackberries, or peeled and sliced nectarines, apples or pears. Frozen fruit is fine, too.

Let’s BOND over Books rates LaBelle Cuisine – Recipes to Sing About  as MELODICALLY MEANINGFUL (151-300 pgs).

Permission granted through Random House Publishing.

This Beautiful Mess

HAVE YOU EVER ASKED YOURSELF where is God in your life?  Have you had that conversation while you sat in the pew on a Sunday or watched your favorite televangelist? In your search for the answer to this and many other questions, you may accidentally stumble on several resources.

THE KEY IS TO ASK QUESTIONS, seek, understand and learn from those answers.  THIS BEAUTIFUL MESS – Practicing the Presence of the Kingdom of God by Rick Mckinley  is a book with questions and answers. It is a book about awareness, accountability and Christianity. It doesn’t answer the questions, it asks them.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN to be a Christian in today’s society?  THIS BEAUTIFUL MESS  reads more like a journal about the author’s journey into discovering a way he would like/prefer to live life as a Christian. He divides it into three parts:

1. Discovering the Kingdom – “Is to help us hear the words of Jesus again and begin to shift our affections toward Him and His brilliant vision.“
2. Re-Visioning Life in the Kingdom – “Is to recognize the kingdom, we need to learn to see differently. To see God’s present kingdom in the midst of the ordinary miracle in which we live.”
3. Practicing the Presence of the Kingdom – “Is to tear down the fake walls. You are called to be a signpost along the road standing in the midst of suffering with people who are suffering and declare to them that they are loved.”

THE TITLE, THIS BEAUTIFUL MESS  IMPLIES that somewhere within the pages of the book there are paradoxical statements waiting to be found; after all, how can one find “beauty in mess?”  The author stated that he chose to describe God’s kingdom as messy because to “think of mess as real and apparent complexity, as absolute resistance against the tidy, easy, or manageable. For example, finding purpose and goodness in a desolate place. Christians don’t like mess, not in our world and especially not in ourselves or our churches.”

WHAT IS THE “ME-ISM OF CHRISTIANITY? . . .  My desires, my hopes, my future, my agenda, etc. The author talks about being careful when “studying God expertly in His parts [because you can] miss Him entirely in His Being.” In the Bible, it says that you can’t serve two masters. You can’t serve God and still be in control of your life. The book says God wants you to be a part of His agenda, and not you “trying to get God to endorse your agenda.”

THOUGHTS for your SOUL:

• “If you start with the church, you might end with the church. If you end with the church, you may never get to the kingdom. But if you start with the kingdom, you will always get the church.”
• “When is my giving, no matter how generous, more about me than someone else?”…”Americans tend to assume that we know what the people in the rest of the world actually need.“
• “What you look to for freedom and security can actually enslave you.“

IF YOU THINK YOU’VE read or heard this before, you have! Rick Mckinley believes that in order to be a part of the kingdom you must repent. Repent… the author defines repent as to “stop what you’re doing, to turnaround and do the opposite.”  He believes that God wants you to release the “smugly held beliefs, especially the so-called enlightened ones that convince us we have no need to repent.”

WHAT DOES ANY AUTHOR or good book strive to do? What does any good book accomplish? According to bestselling author, Malcolm Gladwell, “Good writing does  not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade. It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else’s head.” After reading THIS BEAUTIFUL MESS, it’s normal to reflect on what you’ve read and ask yourself “Would I be the same person today if I never read this book?”  

Let’s BOND over Books  rates THIS BEAUTIFUL MESS as MELODICALLY MEANINGFUL (151-300 pages.) . . . just the right mixture of pages and content.

Disclaimer: Let’s BOND over Books  received this book free of charge from the Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group in exchange for this review.

 

Caught Between a Dream and a Job

Have you ever felt  like you are at a point in your life and you just want more out of it? You may or may not be content with your current career choice, but there’s something inside that just keeps nagging at your spirit.  Caught Between a Dream and a Job  – How to Leave the 9-5 Behind and Step into the Life You’ve Always Wanted by Delatorro McNeal II  may be the inspiration needed to motivate you to get serious right now.

Are you thinking  or have you thought about owning your own business, but haven’t done it yet? Are you afraid of failing? Don’t know where to start and dread having to read one more self-help book? Well, before you throw in the towel,  read this book. It might just be what you need to motivate you.  Some of the examples are:

• Identifying your destiny and purpose, and the need for a transition.
• Hiring yourself and landing your real dream job.
• Tips for stepping powerfully into your dreams.

The premise of this book  is no different from any other, but it is the infectious energy  leaping from each page that sets it apart from others, making it a worthy reading option.  Do the work, look within and have the courage to ask yourself the hard question – “How badly do I want this?” Then put all of those good ideas into action?

Change is never easy but the rewards of your leap of faith can be as vast as you want it to be. What’s your game plan? Your plan of action? Your exit strategy (from your current job)? All these question and more are addressed and/or answered. Mr. McNeal invites you to be an active participant in your future.

THOUGHTS for your SOUL:

• “Nothing in life is guaranteed, but one thing is; if you don’t try you will fail, it’s about taking risks.”
• “When the social archeologists of tomorrow look back on the days of yesteryear and find your footprint, what story will it tell? What social imprint will you make? What will your legacy be?” – Jason Drenner
• “The self-employed are the wealthy folks of America. The average net worth of a family where the head of a household works for someone else is $65,000. When it comes to the self-employed, the average net worth is $352,3000.” – Dr. Steve Sjuggerud
• “There will be 10 million new millionaires in the United States alone created between 2006-2016. Prime candidates are those people who are in direct selling, technology, in home-based business, product distribution, or wellness field.” – Paul Zane Pilzer, Economist, Trend Forecaster and best-selling author of The Next Millionaires.

Caught Between a Dream and a Job  is jam-packed with suggestions. You just have to have the courage to step out on faith. Delatorro McNeal shares his personal testimony, of how he systematically worked to make that transition. The advice is practical, timely and pertinent, as well as structured to walk you through the process. Each of the best practices are explained in detail, with an inspirational quote to keep you focused. He invites and encourages you to be an active participant in your future. To do that you have to be open, take notes, highlight poignant passages, WRITE your answers down and reflect. By the end of the book, he convinces you that your dreams are possible…if you choose to pursue them.

Let’s BOND over Books  rates Caught Between a Dream and a Job as  MELODICALLY MEANINGFUL (150-300 pages).

December “THOUGHTS”

“While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of those actions.” – Stephen Covey