by T. Fields ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 6, 2011
A passionate sermon on the pervasiveness of love in Christian teaching and its overwhelming importance in Christian life.
A short manual about the theory and practice of Christian love.
Three things are eternal in the Christian world, writes St. Paul in 1 Corinthians: faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. Love similarly occupies a central position in Fields’ nonfiction debut, which takes as its main premise the equation of the Christian God with an all-knowing, all-embracing, all-forgiving love. The book is both a verse-guided look at the blueprint for Christian life (the ways in which the Bible shows its readers “the ways God wants you to live”) and a discourse on the pervasive place of love in the Christian faith. The author urges the faithful to love every day, and to learn the ways of love from God: “Ask him to teach you how to love,” Fields writes. “Study love everyday until you see a breakthrough in your character.” That last detail is crucial in Fields’ view of Christians’ duty: they must reshape their natures, the author says, in order to school themselves in the ways of love, and they must teach those ways to their children. Indeed, one segment of Fields’ study addresses children and teenagers directly, assuring them that they aren’t too young to start devoting their lives to Jesus and warning them of many things (including gossip, slander, and “bad language”) that aren’t pleasing to God. The book effectively echoes one of the fundamental urgings of Jesus Christ by reminding its readers that their love isn’t just for loved ones: they must love their enemies, as well, she says, with the ultimate goal of bringing them to a love of Christ. In this way, Fields hits a proselytizing note throughout the book, portraying love not just as a way of life, but also as a tool of conversion. “Love never fails,” the author assures her Christian readers in plain, direct language throughout the book—and that same audience will find plenty of things to discuss in its pages.
A passionate sermon on the pervasiveness of love in Christian teaching and its overwhelming importance in Christian life.Pub Date: May 6, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4497-1631-8
Page Count: 66
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 4, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Oprah Winfrey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 2, 2014
Honest messages from one of America's best known women.
A compilation of advice from the Queen of All Media.
After writing a column for 14 years titled “What I Know For Sure” for O, The Oprah Winfrey Magazine, Winfrey brings together the highlights into one gift-ready collection. Grouped into themes like Joy, Resilience, Connection, Gratitude, Possibility, Awe, Clarity and Power, each short essay is the distilled thought of a woman who has taken the time to contemplate her life’s journey thus far. Whether she is discussing traveling across the country with her good friend, Gayle, the life she shares with her dogs or building a fire in the fireplace, Winfrey takes each moment and finds the good in it, takes pride in having lived it and embraces the message she’s received from that particular time. Through her actions and her words, she shows readers how she's turned potentially negative moments into life-enhancing experiences, how she's found bliss in simple pleasures like a perfectly ripe peach, and how she's overcome social anxiety to become part of a bigger community. She discusses the yo-yo dieting, exercise and calorie counting she endured for almost two decades as she tried to modify her physical body into something it was not meant to be, and how one day she decided she needed to be grateful for each and every body part: "This is the body you've been given—love what you've got." Since all of the sections are brief and many of the essays are only a couple paragraphs long—and many members of the target audience will have already read them in the magazine—they are best digested in short segments in order to absorb Winfrey's positive and joyful but repetitive message. The book also features a new introduction by the author.
Honest messages from one of America's best known women.Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2014
ISBN: 978-1250054050
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Flatiron View Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
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by Jessica Simpson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 4, 2020
An eye-opening glimpse into the attempted self-unmaking of one of Hollywood’s most recognizable talents.
Awards & Accolades
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New York Times Bestseller
IndieBound Bestseller
Rolling Stone & Kirkus' Best Music Books of 2020
The debut memoir from the pop and fashion star.
Early on, Simpson describes the book she didn’t write: “a motivational manual telling you how to live your best life.” Though having committed to the lucrative deal years before, she “walked away,” fearing any sort of self-help advice she might give would be hypocritical. Outwardly, Simpson was at the peak of her success, with her fashion line generating “one billion dollars in annual sales.” However, anxiety was getting the better of her, and she admits she’d become a “feelings addict,” just needing “enough noise to distract me from the pain I’d been avoiding since childhood. The demons of traumatic abuse that refused to let me sleep at night—Tylenol PM at age twelve, red wine and Ambien as a grown, scared woman. Those same demons who perched on my shoulder, and when they saw a man as dark as them, leaned in to my ear to whisper, ‘Just give him your light. See if it saves him…’ ” On Halloween 2017, Simpson hit rock bottom, and, with the intervention of her devoted friends and husband, began to address her addictions and underlying fears. In this readable but overlong narrative, the author traces her childhood as a Baptist preacher’s daughter moving 18 times before she “hit fifth grade,” and follows her remarkable rise to fame as a singer. She reveals the psychological trauma resulting from years of sexual abuse by a family friend, experiences that drew her repeatedly into bad relationships with men, most publicly with ex-husband Nick Lachey. Admitting that she was attracted to the validating power of an audience, Simpson analyzes how her failings and triumphs have enabled her to take control of her life, even as she was hounded by the press and various music and movie executives about her weight. Simpson’s memoir contains plenty of personal and professional moments for fans to savor. One of Kirkus and Rolling Stone’s Best Music Books of 2020.
An eye-opening glimpse into the attempted self-unmaking of one of Hollywood’s most recognizable talents.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-289996-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2020
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