An often engaging collection of inspirational meetings.
A Christian man relates stories of random encounters in coffee shops.
The latest from McIntyre (Shackled Yet Free, 2011) is an attempt to capture how serendipitous and sometimes-momentous spiritual events can begin with a simple encounters. The author firmly believes that God uses everyday people as his messengers (“ordinary people to do extraordinary things,” as he puts it), and he’s tried to satisfy what he calls humanity’s “innate desire to fellowship” in coffee shops around the country. In them, he meets people at random, learns their stories, and shares his own. McIntyre espouses a straightforward, fundamentalist Christianity that sees God’s hand in everything, and the book is full of stories that take this point of view; however, they may confuse skeptics, even as they have fellow believers nodding their heads in agreement. The author’s 2-year-old daughter was struck by a neighbor’s car in one story, for instance; fortunately, she wasn’t injured, and McIntyre writes that the driver “was able to stop the vehicle” in time “by divine intervention”; however, he doesn’t address why God would allow the accident to occur at all. “Reaching out to others is not only something worth doing, but it is God’s commandment for us,” he writes, and similarly optimistic affirmations fill the book. An opening assumption that all atheists believe that the universe came “together by accident” is inaccurate, but in general, the author’s compassionate faith that “every one of us has a calling to be a planter” carries the book over its few rough patches. Not all readers will come away convinced that the coincidences that McIntyre describes are heaven-sent, but even doubters may hope to meet him in a coffee shop themselves someday.
An often engaging collection of inspirational meetings.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-64367-643-2
Page Count: 322
Publisher: Time Tunnel Media
Review Posted Online: Sept. 10, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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