On my Kindle...

Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back
by Todd Burpo (Kindle Edition - Nov. 2, 2010) - Kindle eBook

Buy: $6.16
I've stopped being so dramatic and accepted that this is a very convenient way for me to get some reading done while taking care of the ladies. I was browsing the section of popular downloads on my Kindle app. and came across this book. I'm a BIG fan of religious stories. Be they books, TV shows, or movies, real or fiction, I'm intrigued by them all. A story of Heaven as told by a 4 year old piqued my interest.
 
From the site:
Editorial Reviews

A young boy emerges from life-saving surgery with remarkable stories of his visit to heaven. Heaven Is for Real is the true story of the four-year old son of a small town Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. The family didn't know what to believe but soon the evidence was clear.Colton said he met his miscarried sister, whom no one had told him about, and his great grandfather who died 30 years before Colton was born, then shared impossible-to-know details about each. He describes the horse that only Jesus could ride, about how "reaaally big" God and his chair are, and how the Holy Spirit "shoots down power" from heaven to help us.Told by the father, but often in Colton's own words, the disarmingly simple message is heaven is a real place, Jesus really loves children, and be ready, there is a coming last battle.

The story was heartwarming. I cried a lot while reading of Colton's brush with death. I smiled a lot at the simple descriptions of such a HUGE concept that is God, Heaven, and eternity. It's a quick and easy read and I'd absolutely recommend it.

I've made my first kindle purchase...

... and I'm being super melodramatic about it.

Exhibit A:

A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking.

- Jerry Seinfeld


As soon as I hit "purchase" I felt as though I single-handedly shut down an independent bookstore. I began mentally beating myself up with the memories of my favorite bookstore downtown that is no longer selling books.

Up until this point, I had eschewed all fancy-pants-space-aged media. My iPod is still in its box because I can't bring myself to buy music online. I like to own the album and read the lyrics and liner notes. I like going to book stores and having the actual hard copy in my hands, folding down pages I want to re-read, and filling it with stains and crumbs. (Don't lend me you books if you want to keep them looking good.) and I enjoy going to the video store to peruse the DVDs, reading the backs and holding them in my hands.

I guess you can say I like my media tangible. I'll read you, Kindle, but as I do it I'll be clutching my tapes, books, laser discs, and betamax tapes tightly to my heart.

On that note, any book recommendations?

I ordered mine

From Stephenie Meyer's Website:

"This story was something that I worked on off and on for a while, just for fun, in between the times I was writing or editing other Twilight novels. Later, when the concept for The Twilight Saga: The Official Guide came up, I thought that might be a good place for Bree. Her story is a nice complement to Eclipse; it explains a lot of the things that Bella never knew. So I dusted it off and finished it up for placement in the Guide."

And anything that gives to a charity you KNOW I love:

"One other aspect of this release is the plan to give a more important gift to people who really need it. One dollar of each book purchased in the US from the first printing will be donated to the American Red Cross for their relief efforts in Haiti and Chile and other parts of the world where people are in great need."

Click here to order The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella

Tell me. What should I read next.

Given the fact that most of my online friends are also Twilight fanatics, I'm not ashamed to admit that I've just been reading the series over and over again.

But I'm ready to read something new... well I'll work it in between Twilight books so I don't have to go cold turkey. I'm not a machine.

What have you guys loved recently? I DO NOT like Debbie Downers a la My Sister's Keeper. I don't like depression as a form of recreation. It also doesn't have to involve vampires as Edward is the only one for me I think.

I'm open.

A MUST Read!!

And not just because I am completely and totally beaming with pride that MY COUSIN has a book on Amazon! No... it's a must read because she is one of the most intelligent, funny, well spoken people I've ever met in my entire life. Just being around her makes you want to be more like her. The fact that she's lived this, wrote about it, published it.... I'm just so inspired...

The Cairo Chronicles (Paperback)by Leslie Robin Lewis (Author)

2 Reviews
5 star:
See all 2 customer reviews...
2 customer reviews)
3 new from $12.00

Product Description
In January, 2005, a young anthropologist boards a plane in Los Angeles with her husband and two young children, and flies to Egypt, a world both ancient and modern. So begins a year and a half sojourn in the most populous city in the Middle East. In these “reports from the field” the author dons the hijab, trips over Arabic, and interacts with the bemused citizenry, evoking laughter, tears and reflection. Readers will feel the heat of a Cairo summer, mingle with in-laws and ex-patriots, chafe under strict social norms, bow in resignation to a maddening bureaucracy, delight to the devastating wit of Cairenes, weep at the suffering of a struggling underclass, and open their eyes and hearts to the warmth, resilience and humor of ordinary Egyptians.
About the Author
Leslie R. Lewis is a doctoral candidate in anthropology at the University of California at San Diego, a former research fellow at the Institute for Gender and Women's Studies at the American University in Cairo, and a recipient of a National Science Foundation grant for her ethnographic research in Egypt. In addition to her work in the Middle East, Ms. Lewis has traveled and undertaken fieldwork in Mexico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. She is now living in La Jolla, California where she juggles writing, teaching, academic work and family life, all on a unicycle.

My Next Read

Friend or Frenemy?
A Guide to the Friends You Need and the Ones You Don't
By Andrea Lavinthal, Jessica Rozler
Price:
$14.95
On Sale:
8/5/2008
Formats: Trade PB E-Book


How do you finally break free from a fair-weather bud who flees the scene as soon as a new guy comes around? How do you know which friends make it into your framily? With tips for making and breaking, maintaining and sustaining your friendships, plus stories from real women, Friend or Frenemy? explores how great friends get us through hard times and dishes out advice about dumping the users, losers, and abusers. In this era of instant communication, relationships are not necessarily easier. Friend or Frenemy? also looks at how texting, MySpacing, and other modes of instant communication are oh-so-convenient but sometimes make it harder to make meaningful connections.
With tons of wit and loads of charm, Lavinthal and Rozler are sure to get you thinking about friendship as if for the first time—reminding us why our BFFs are often the most important people in our lives.

Eat Pray Love

OK, Eat Pray Love... I told Two Pretzels A LONG time ago I'd read it also and tell her what I thought. (Sorry for the delay. If there aren't pictures of Elmo or Spongebob, Athena thinks it isn't worth the read.)

I'm pretty much on board with her mission for self discovery, and in order to be, I think you need to have felt that dark, down, out and on the brink of insanity. You know it if you have... there's no "I think maybe I have". BUT acting like this is in any way a normal way to do it irritates me. We might all be healed if we're able to quit our lives and travel to spiritual havens. The correlation might seem odd, but it reminds me of the self-absorbed head-in-the-clouds way of thinking from one Vogue writer that tries to relate to people having a hard time purchasing fragrance as a gift, so he did what ANY normal person would do and called the head of Dior for some input. Whatev.

So, to keep it short without a major review, I liked it but I think it read like fiction.