A positive story about the power of faith and forgiveness.
In her debut memoir, a Texas woman recounts how her faith in God helped her through her husband’s job loss, the deaths of loved ones, and an attempt on her life.
Musgrave’s inspirational book is a brief but powerful account of a number of tragedies she suffered in a span of just six months. Three phone calls, in particular, changed her life. In the first, her business-executive husband told her that he’d just been let go from his job after 28 years. Then came a call from her sister, four months later, saying that their father had suddenly died of a heart attack. A few weeks later, she received what may have been the worst call of all: her daughter had committed suicide and left her parents a note saying that she wanted them to raise her 6-year-old son. As if that combination of circumstances wasn’t soul-crushing enough, the author was later shot in a robbery attempt outside a store and nearly lost her life; she went on to battle intense pain and extensive nerve damage from a bullet lodged in her spine. Remarkably, despite all this heartache, the book manages to be quite uplifting overall. For example, the author often returns to a theme of simple faith, including the literally childlike faith of her grandson, who saw her crying one day and said, “Why don’t you do like I do…I just call on Jesus to help me, and He always does.” She says that her decision to study the Bible was the best one of her life and explains how the Scriptures gave her hope for the future. She also writes about forgiving her shooter: “If this young man…would ask God to forgive him, he could be my next-door neighbor in heaven.” Although the book is clearly written and easy to understand, a few passages use religious language that may be unfamiliar to some readers, such as when she calls her trust in herself “my arm of flesh.” This story of her rich, full life doesn’t describe merely surviving these ordeals, though—she also tells of going on to sing for the governor of Texas, start a decorating business, and win the Ms. Mature Irving Pageant.
A positive story about the power of faith and forgiveness.Pub Date: Dec. 9, 2014
ISBN: 978-1500329709
Page Count: 62
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
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