Adam Shields

Timebound by Rysa Walker (Chronos Files #1)

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I am reposting this review because the kindle edition of Timebound on sale for $1.99 is part of the Oct $3.99 or less sale. Also the rest of the series is on sale as well.
Timebound by Rysa WalkerSummary: Sixteen year old Kate must time travel to restore the timeline and stop her Grandfather and Aunt from taking over the world.

One of the things I like most about Amazon is their willingness to experiment.  Amazon started the Breakthrough Novel contest several years ago and it has really generated some good books.  Timebound is the overall winner and the young adult category winner for 2013.

But that is only one part of the experimentation of this book.  Amazon also has started pre-releasing 4 books a month to Amazon Prime members with their Kindle First program. If you are an Amazon Prime member you can pick one of those four books to keep for free (and buy the others if you want.)  Timebound was part of the December offering.  I picked the kindle version up for free, and then used some promotional credit at Audible to get the audiobook (it was only $1.99 with purchase of the kindle book.)

Amazon’s experiment seems to have worked.  After only a month from its official release, Timebound has over 1300 reviews and more than 1200 of them are 4 or 5 star reviews.

Timebound is about a 16 year old girl that discovers that her grandmother (whom her Mother does not get along with and whom Kate barely knows) is dying of cancer.  Her Grandmother (Katherine) has moved to DC to be near Kate and wants Kate to move into her home part time so they can get to know one another.  Kate will inherit the house and the entire estate when Katherine dies.

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The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee

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The Normal Christian LifeSummary: A discussion of the first half of Romans and how we are to live as Christians.

Every month Christianaudio.com gives away a free MP3 audiobook.  I am trying to actually listen and review the books before the end of the month that the books are free.  I barely made it this month.

Many of these books are current, but some of them are older Christian classics. The Normal Christian Life is of the classics variety.  It was originally published in English in 1957, but was based on a series of lectures given in Europe in 1938-39.  Watchman Nee was a Chinese Christian leader that spent the last 20 years of his life in prison both for his faith and because he was a business owner during the cultural revolution.

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Basic Christianity by John Stott

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Basic Christianity by John Stott

Summary: A book of basic discipleship.  Not apologetics or evangelism as much as teaching.

As I get older (alway a bad way to start out a review), I am continually struck by how important good discipleship is to Christianity.  And how little emphasis is put into discipling young believers not only among Evangelicals, but also among many streams of Christianity.

Basic Christianity is mostly a book of discipleship.  Because it was originally written in 1958, it is a little dated and I think Stott’s later Radical Disciple written 50 years later shows how he changed his approach over time.  The structure is in four parts, the person of Jesus (and some confirmation of Jesus’ historical reality and divine nature), our need for God, how Christ’s work changes us, and then how we should respond to God.  The structure is straightforward and clear, although dated.

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Room of Marvels by James Bryan Smith

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I am reposting this 2011 review because the Kindle Edition is currently on sale for $1.99 as part of the Big Deal Sale
Room of MarvelsTakeaway: Heaven is not just a promised place (fire insurance), but really is a place we should look forward to.

This is a short semi-fictional novel by a primarily non-fiction author and professor, James Bryan Smith.  In his book, The Good and Beautiful God (my review), Smith shares that in a short period of time his good friend (and renter of his attic apartment) Rich Mullins, his 2-year-old severely disabled daughter and his mother all die in pretty quick succession.  Smith was devastated and mad at God.

In the novel, an author is in the same situation and goes on a five-day spiritual retreat.  During the retreat, the main character has a dream and is taken to heaven to visit with the three that were the cause of the spiritual quandary but also others that help him understand more of the purpose of God.  The epilogue says that while the setting is fictional and that Smith did not have a dream like character in the book, he did have a ‘waking dream’ writing exercise with many of the same features.

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The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

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The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George SpeareSummary: A 16 year old English girl that grew up in the free society of Barbados moves to a closely controlled community of Puritans in Connecticut in 1687.

Yet once again, I thought I had read a book, and when I go to read it again, realize I had not.  This season of not buying new books has been pushing me to my library for audiobooks.   I have tons of kindle books in my library that I need to get around to reading.  But I do not have a lot of audiobooks that I have not read, especially fiction audiobooks.  So I am working through my library wishlist.

The Witch of Blackbird pond was published in 1958 and was the first of two Newberry Awards that Elizabeth George Speare won (The other was for The Bronze Bow).  Only 5 authors have received 2 Newberry Awards and no author has received more than two.  When I was growing up I read a lot of historical fiction in my middle grade years.  And since then I have read a lot more history.  I am fairly familiar with the time period.  Jonathan Edwards (although from Massachusetts) was born a few years after this book was set.

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