After reading about David Livingstone in the Heroes of the Faith series, I was excited to find their book called Martin Luther: The Great Reformer. I, of course, remember studying about Martin Luther in school, but I really wanted to refresh my memory about his life. The main takeaway for me was that Martin Luther was not looking to be the Great Reformer. He never intended to start Protestantism. He didn’t grow up looking forward to the day he could nail the 95 Theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg. He simply wanted to follow Christ, read the Bible, and not trick people into believing they could have their sins forgiven by paying money to their priest. He simply made the steps God showed Him to make, and the results were something God used to reform the world. Our obedience is important. When we answer God’s call to obedience, He can cause great things to happen. Things that can shake the foundation of an empire. And to think that we’re still singing “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” in churches all across the world today is astounding!

John Gunther was a well-known journalist and author whose career spanned almost five decades, beginning in the 1920’s and continuing until his death in 1970. Though he wrote several novels, his renown came mostly from his Inside books, a series in which he amassed information about people and places in different regions of the world, and then presented it in a readable and enjoyable format. However, his most enduring book is one he wrote about the illness and death of his beloved son, Johnny. In Death Be Not Proud he details Johnny’s fifteen-month battle with a brain tumor, ending in his death at the age of seventeen.

I was really amazed at this book, and at the author/father’s ability to present the information practically and with great feeling, but without sappiness or being overly-emotional. I guess there is a fine line in writing between writing with emotion, and being overly-emotional. John Gunther seems to know where to draw that line. The writing is simplistic – he tells the facts about the events and their reactions. But it is detached enough that the reader, while empathizing with the family, does not become distraught.

Johnny had an incredible mind. He was a teenager who did physics and chemistry experiments for fun. He corresponded once with Professor Albert Einstein about an idea he had with regard to one of his experiments. He was extremely interested in the sciences, and he excelled in some of the best schools in the country. Upon his graduation from Deerfield Academy, he was accepted to Harvard University, though he died before enrolling. The irony that this brilliant brain was where the cancer occurred is not lost.

It would be insensitive to say that I enjoyed reading this book. While it was intriguing and inspiring, and I am glad that I read it, it was not a book that I would recommend to just anyone. I can certainly appreciate the author’s simplistic writing style, rich and full of content. However, it is a heartbreaking story in every way.

I gotta tell ya, I’m glad that I saw the movie before I read this book. John Steinbeck spins a nice little story on this one, not too happy but not terrible awful either. And then when you’re expecting a nice, happy ending…WHAM!!! Had I not known what was coming, I think I would have been devastated and in a bad mood for the rest of the day.

I do love the writing of John Steinbeck. And in this 1937 classic, he tells one heck of a story. It is the tale of two itinerant farm workers – one mentally retarded, and the other his care-taker. They dream of saving their money and buying a little farm where they will spend the rest of their days not working for anyone but themselves. But Lennie, whose mental limitations keep getting him into trouble, finds himself in a situation which is beyond hope. Does his buddy George betray him in the most unimaginable way possible… or is he unimaginably merciful?

I will definitely read more of John Steinbeck’s work. But I do hope they aren’t all this “heavy”. Whew!

Mary Anneliese and I read this book together, and it is such a sweet, charming, simple little book. We read it at the same time I was reading Same Kind of Different As Me, and I was struck at how much the two books were similar. Though written fifty years apart, they both tell the story of accepting and learning to love people, despite cultural differences.

The Courage of Sarah Noble, written in 1954 by Alice Dalgliesh, is the story of a young pioneer girl who moves with her father to a new land. She helps him for many months as he builds a new home for the family they have left back home. All is well, until it is time for Father to go back home and move the family to the new land. There isn’t room for Sarah to go along, and so she is forced to stay in the new land with an Indian family. She is afraid. The Indians are unlike her. They have different customs, wear different clothes, eat different foods, speak a different language. How will she live among them for months?

Though the two books are so different, really the story they tell is universal. We would all do well to open ourselves up to different types of people, accepting and embracing our differences. For it is in opening ourselves up that we find we really aren’t that different after all.

I know I am soooo late to the party on this one, but I have had Same Kind of Different As Me on my reading list for FOREVER, but I am just now getting around to reading it. Now I see what all the fuss was about. I loved this story. And the fact that it is a true, modern-day, real-life, could-happen-to-anybody-who-is willing kind of story? Even better.

Same Kind of Different As Me is the story of three very unlikely friends – VERY unlikely. They meet at a Fort Worth, Texas, homeless shelter, and eventually become like family. Denver Moore is a homeless black man who came to Fort Worth to escape the modern-day slavery of sharecropping on a Louisiana cotton plantation. Ron Hall is a fabulously wealthy art broker who is himself a rags-to-riches story. But the one who ties them together is Deborah, Ron’s wife, who follows God’s call to put her faith into action. She is burdened for the homeless people of Fort Worth, and decides to volunteer at a shelter. She drags a reluctant Ron along with her.

From the beginning, Deborah sees the homeless people she meets as friends. She sees that with a little help, they can have a future far better than what they have come to expect. She reaches out to them, viewing each of them as God sees them – precious treasures. She breathes life and hope into their weary, dead souls by simple acts of kindness. By simply treating them with respect and honor. She leads them to believe that they have a future full of possibilities. She promises to help them get there. And then she is diagnosed with cancer.

As Deborah’s family and new friends pray for a miracle, her health continues to decline. But what happens in the end is a miracle no one ever saw coming. No one, that is, except Deborah… who had the vision from the beginning.

I loved this book! I loved how one person’s obedience started a major revival of being the hands and feet of Christ in this world. It’s a page-turner that I could not put down. I had to force myself to go to bed at 1:15 am, even though I really wanted to just stay up and finish it. I don’t think you will be disappointed in it.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

As an Alabamian, I have long loved this classic novel by Alabama author Harper Lee. I don’t know how many times I have read it – probably three or four. This time I listened to the audio version, which was read by Sissy Spacek. Her Texas drawl is authentic. A true Southerner can spot a fake southern accent within the first few words. 

Anyhoo, since 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of this beloved classic, I decided to give it another go. The writing is beautiful and spot on with life in a small Alabama town. I love the descriptions of long, lazy, hot summer days. And I know from experience that characters are indeed just as colorful as Miss Lee paints them. Oh, the eccentricities of life in a small town!

Since there are many festivities around the country marking the anniversary of TKAMB, there are many online resources available. Here is the original New York Times review of the book from 1960:

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/archival/19600710tkamreview.pdf

And a great article on an appearance made by the reclusive Harper Lee.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/30/books/30lee.html?_r=1

I really should have known more about Theodore Roosevelt than I do. I guess my time spent in the back row of Norma Jean Spivey’s American History class was a complete wash, because as I read the biography by Michael Cooper of one of our most influential presidents of all time, I was surprised by how much he accomplished in his lifetime.

As a family man, Theodore Roosevelt was fully involved in the life of his family. Very shortly after the birth of his first child, his beloved wife Alice died. Theodore mourned for her deeply, even feeling guilty about remarrying. But, remarry he did, and went on to have five more children. The family of eight were physically very active, even rambunctious in the White House. They turned the White House into a veritable zoo with the number of pets they kept, allowing the animals free reign over much of the house and gardens, even allowing the animals to sleep on the priceless antique furnishings inside the home. But Roosevelt loved his wild and crazy family and was always involved with their many activities.

As a conservationist, Roosevelt did more than perhaps any other president to preserve our nation’s natural resources. He set aside more land than had ever been done before to be used as national parks and protected area.

As a writer, he penned several historical accounts, many of which are still in print today. He wrote about his life as a rancher. He wrote about the Naval War of 1812. He wrote about big game hunting in Africa. He wrote about the Rough Riders, the volunteer cavalry he commanded in the Spanish-American War. And his books sold very successfully.

As a political leader, Theodore championed the progressive movement, even before the movement was organized as a political party. He infiltrated and exposed the ways of the old Republican guard, turning his own political party against him. Though it angered his party, he cleaned up the corruption and bribery that pervaded government. He exposed the fact that government offices were being bought by men who were inexperienced and unqualified for the jobs they held. He instituted the first civil service exams, insuring that those who held government jobs actually had mastery of the skills needed to complete their job.

One of the characteristics that is similar between Theodore Roosevelt and David Livingstone, whose biography I finished earlier this week, is one of moving ahead, despite opposition or approval, when you feel something is the right thing to do. Both of these gentlemen believed that if they waited around for the proper approval, they would spend all of their time waiting and very little of their time “doing”. Neither was willing to waste time seeking the approval of men when they believe God had given them direction. I’ll be looking for that trait as I continue this study of successful people to see if it is common.