The Navy Girl Book, by Scott Erickson

Title: The Navy Girl Book

Author: Scott Erickson

Publisher: Azaria Press

Date: September 6, 2014

Paperback: 152 pages






About the Book
The Navy Girl Book is a collection of short pieces of surreal humor, absurdity, twisted dialogue, non sequiturs, incongruity, unabashed silliness, strange weirdness, and puns galore. 


My Take
Do you like reading funny things? If that is the case, then you should get your hands on a copy of Scott Erickson's book, The Navy Girl Book. It is filled with poems, stories, dialogues, etc. It will keep you laughing from the beginning of the book to the end. I was really surprised how funny a lot of it was. For example, under Today's Headlines he writes, Worm eludes early bird only to succumb to late sleeper. A lot of his stuff had me cracking up. I wanted to share some of it with my daughter, but she is too young for some of it. What about the part where he writes, The Surgeon General has determined that this warning label isn't going to deter you from smoking. Even though a lot of it is just for laughs, I found truth in a lot of the humour.

If you are a girl, keep this book in your purse and if you are a guy, keep a copy in your jacket pocket. If by chance you are having a bad day, pull it out and start reading your way to a better day.


About the Author
Scott Erickson is a writer of humor and satire. His pieces have been published in The Oregonian, The Portland Mercury, Bang!, and several humor websites. He is a two-time winner of the Mona Schreiber Prize for Humorous Fiction and Nonfiction. One of his stories was included in the book Laugh Your Shorts Off, a compilation of contest winners from the website Humor and Life in Particular.

A complimentary copy of this book was given to me by the author through Bostick Communications for an honest review.

City On Our Knees, by Tobymac

There are a lot of people out there in the world that want to do good for others. Some people still have a genuine heart, even though there is a ton of turmoil out there. In Tobymac's book, City On Our Knees, there is a collection of people's stories that show how much God still uses people in order to help the less fortunate. This book is also somewhat based on Tobymac's song, by the same title.

The book is broken down into four different sections, which are the lyrics from his song.

1) If We Gotta Start Sometime, Why Not Now? Step Across the Line

2) Two Worlds Collide: Out of the Comfort Zone ... and into the Light

3) We Are One Choice From Together: We Are Family

4) Through The Fog There Is Hope In The Distance: Hope Is Just a Prayer Away

Throughout the book you will find different quotes from people and Bible verses. He has them before the stories and at the end of them. You will also find little blog sections that he has included before each section begins. Some of the stories that you will find in the book are of people choosing to adopt a kid from a foreign country or even about a young child with terminal cancer who saves up enough money for research before she dies. A lot of the stories are very touching and make you realize how important God is in some people's lives. How much they rely on him to make the right choices. Within this book you can hopefully take the courage that some of these people have had and intertwine it into your own life.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It showed me how much you can go out there and make a difference in other people's lives. God can use us all in different ways to benefit the lives of other people. I think this would be a good book for anyone to read.

I thank Bethany House for giving me this book for an honest review.

Love Is A Flame, by James Stuart Bell

How many of you are in love? Now, when I say in love, I mean truly in love. Have any of you ever had your love tested? In the book, Love Is A Flame, by James Stuart Bell, there are a collection of stories about people who either had their love tested or rekindled.

At the beginning of the book is a foreword by Gary Chapman. He is the author of the book The Five Love Languages. In the foreword, he writes about marriage and love and how important it is. He also talks about how he went through a myriad of emotions as he read this book.

When you get to the end of every story, the author gives a little explanation or more or less his insight into what the story is about.

There were a couple of stories that really stood out when I read this book. One touched my heart more than any other story in the book. It was about a couple who got into the typical rut of daily life. The husband wanted things to change, so he planned a trip to Paris for his wife's birthday. When they got there, they had the time of their life. It was what they had needed to get the spark back. After the trip, when things seemed to get down and out, her husband would turn to her and say, (in a Boggy voice) 'Will always have Paris, Schweetheart'.

This book has a lot of touching and enduring stories. I loved reading them. They will bring out all of your emotions. I really enjoyed this book and think that everyone should read it.

I was given a copy of the book from Bethany House for an honest review.