MrsDrPoe: Constantly Craving

The next book I would like to present to you for a Reading Review is another one that I received free from BookSneeze, "Constantly Craving: How to Make Sense of Always Wanting More" by Marilyn Meberg:

In this book, Meberg addresses several areas where people often crave more- romance, contentment, friendship, time, meaning, etc.  She identifies with each situation by telling of her own experiences and suggests how universal these things are.  Ultimately she also identifies humanity's cravings for various earthly things with actual craving for God and heaven.

I mildly enjoyed the book.  I believe many inspirational quotes could be drawn from it, and parts are very encouraging to readers.  The use of personal experiences made it seem like Meberg was sitting next to me giving advice; although, this technique also made the book drag in places.  For anyone remotely familiar with Christianity, this book doesn't present anything new, but it does serve as a reminder that our "hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness."*

I would recommend this book to a reader looking for encouragement from such a reminder.  However, I would also caution him/her that many of the views presented by Meberg are not consistent with those presented in the Bible.


*From the hymn My Hope is Built on Nothing Less.

MrsDrPoe: Our Favorite Sins

Welcome to the latest Reading Review!  Today I'll share with you another book I received free from the BookSneeze website, "Our Favorite Sins: The Sins We Commit and How You Can Quit" by Todd D. Hunter:

"Our Favorite Sins" is a book about what the book of James tells us gives birth to sin- temptation and (as Mr. Hunter puts it) our "disordered desires."  Several temporary ways to avoid sin are discussed, as is the lasting solution to our sin problem, which is changing our lives from the inside out.  The overall theme of the book is the fact that we shouldn't rid our lives of desire, but we should instead reorient our desires toward the things of God.

The book was a fairly easy read, thought provoking, and I would definitely recommend it.  I found it very interesting the types of sins that most Christians say they struggle with were things like anxiousness, procrastination, eating, media, and laziness.  

While the premise of changing the focus of our desire is not new, I liked the visualizations employed (our pursuing the path of sin is called a "downward staircase" instead of a "slippery slope"), the importance of time spent in prayer and silence, and the emphasis placed on the fact that our duty to mold our lives to that of our Savior isn't earning us anything.

I do, however, wish that more of the prayers in the book would have come from the Psalms or other scripture instead of works of men.  Also, some of the views indirectly expressed by the author do not appear to follow the ideas New Testament.

MrsDrPoe: Then Sings My Soul, Book 3

For the next Reading Review, I present to you "Then Sings My Soul, Book 3; The Story of Our Songs: Drawing Strength from the Great Hymns of Our Faith" by Robert J. Morgan.

This is another book that I received free from BookSneeze.  I was very excited when I saw the title listed, and I knew that this would be a great birthday gift for Mr. Poe after I was finished reading and reviewing it.

"Then Sings My Soul, Book 3" is divided up into four parts.  The first part gives a brief overview of the history of various styles of hymns (ancient hymns, English hymns, contemporary hymns, etc.).  The second part contains brief histories of the authors of certain hymns; conversely, the third part contains slightly longer histories of six hymns themselves.  The final portion of the book gives some great advice on how singing, understanding, memorizing, etc. hymns can help us personally and makes a good point that Christians should embrace both ancient and modern hymns in worship.


My favorite part of "Then Sings My Soul, Book 3" is the fact that 4-part choral sheet music is included for almost every hymn mentioned in the book; it's fantastic to be able to learn/practice singing the hymns as you learn more about the people and circumstances that brought them into existence.  Parts 3 and 4 were my favorite of the book because they were very detailed.


As I was reading, it seemed like the majority of first two parts of the book were too short.  Realizing that the intent of the author was to simply include brief histories, I would say he accomplished his goal but often left me wanting to know more.  I would also caution readers that some of the theological views indirectly expressed by Mr. Morgan as well as the hymn authors themselves are not in accordance with the teaching and examples given in the New Testament.  

Overall, I enjoyed "Then Sings My Soul, Book 3," and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning more about hymns.  Mr. Poe is excited to read the book as well, especially since it contains the stories behind three of his favorite hymns in it.

MrsDrPoe: The Love and Respect Experience

It's time for another Reading Review here on the blog.  Today I present to you another book that I received free from BookSneeze: "The Love and Respect Experience: A Husband-friendly Devotional that Wives Truly Love" by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs.

As the subtitle suggests, this book is comprised of 52 devotionals geared toward helping couples improve their marriages through growing together in Christ.  Each devotional is about three pages long and focuses on applying a verse or two from a particular Bible passage to marriage.  There are discussion questions for each devotional in the appendices, as well as contact information for counselors and a summary of Dr. Eggerichs' "Three Cycles of Love and Respect."

I enjoyed reading through this work and would recommend it to anyone even considering marriage.  The idea of husbands growing in love for their wives and wives in respect for their husbands is an often difficult-to-implement command of God, but it's one that the prayer and activity suggestions presented in the book will help with tremendously.  I did not, however, care for the thirtieth devotional, which essentially said, "tell everyone to buy my book."  Also, most of the ideas presented are directly from scripture, but as with any spiritual book, I recommend reading with an open Bible, since there is no substitute for the Word itself.

Since this is a couple's devotional, I asked Mr. Poe to examine the book too.  He thought that this work was well-written and that it contained useful activities and information throughout the book and its appendices.  He found it to connect real-life application to Biblical principals very well, but he did not appreciate Dr. Eggerichs' constant use of his own marriage as an example.

MrsDrPoe: Has God Spoken?

It's time for another Reading Review here at the blog.  For your entertainment, I present another book that I received free from BookSneeze, "Has God Spoken?: Proof of the Bible's Divine Inspiration" by Hank Hanegraaff:

This book was a relatively easy read, containing about 290 pages of text and an additional fifty pages of notes; in it Hanegraaff discusses various reasons why the Bible is truth and divinely inspired.  He mostly addresses issues brought up by opponents to his position through the use of acronyms: MAPS for the ‘big picture,’ COPIES, SPADE, STARS, and LIGHTS for the main ideas, and various others for minor points.  He also includes the Legacy Reading Plan introduction and chart to encourage daily Bible reading.

 I appreciated the overall intent of this work, as well as the use of mnemonic devices to aid in remembrance of the various points made.  There were several historical and geographical bits of information that I gleaned from the first three sections of the book; my favorite chapter (12) was on the “succession of nations.”  I do not agree with the summary on the back of the book jacket, however, as it seems that in this work divine inspiration is not defended with “gentleness and respect” but instead with pride and arrogance.  At times it seems like Hanegraaff has a person vendetta against those who oppose his view (particularly Bart Ehrman).  Not only is this the incorrect way to defend our belief in Christ and the written word of God, but it seems like the drive to be right also causes the author to choose defenses that are weak, if not altogether contrary to the scriptures (ex: flood arguments).  I would recommend this book to Christians interested in the subject; however, I would caution them to read it with an open Bible.

Have you read any good books lately?

MrsDrPoe: The Blessing

For the next reading review, I present to you "The Blessing: Giving the Gift of Unconditional Love and Acceptance" by Dr. John Trent and Gary Smalley:


I received a free copy of this book from the BookSneeze website. In this work, a method for blessing our children is investigated based on examination of Old Testament blessings given from fathers to their children. The five main 'parts' to a blessing are developed from these passages. The authors also delve into general guidelines and examples for blessing, as well as suggestions for how to pass on the blessing if we have never experienced it ourselves.

I enjoyed this book. It was a fairly easy read, and it presented psychological thoughts of a Biblical nature that should be considered when raising children. Although I don't plan on being a parent any time soon, I think the ideas conveyed by the authors will be helpful to me when we do start adding to our family.

I found the subtitle of the book to be a little misleading; in the text, Dr. Trent does acknowledge the need in certain instances for discipline as outlined in the Bible. In these cases, sinful acts of children should not be "unconditionally accepted." This and most of the ideas presented in the book align with my understanding of the scriptures; however, some do not. As always, I caution readers to examine any study of this nature with an open Bible, because nothing should replace the word of God.

MrsDrPoe: What's in a Word

For my next Reading Review, I present to you...What's in a Word by Webb Garrison.

I was provided a free copy of this book to read and review by the BookSneeze website. This book is essentially a collection of very brief histories of words and phrases that are common to the English language. It is organized into seventeen chapters, with each chapter hosting a group of related words (such as "Chapter 2: Sports and Recreation"). Accompanying the histories is the occasional picture to aid in visualization of certain words.

“What’s in a Word” was a very interesting book. While I am most definitely not an expert in the history of our language, the histories presented for the selected words seemed believable and accurate. I especially appreciated the way the book was divided up into manageable pieces – it was very easy to find an appropriate stopping point for any desired length of reading. The book would make a fantastic coffee table or bathroom book for house guests or a great gift for that person on your list who likes “different” books but may not have as much time to read as he/she would like.

As much as I liked this book, there are some things about it that are pseudo-negative. First, certain of the histories are extremely short and contain very little information. I realize that the point of this work was not to present an exhaustive history of each of the words presented, but a few histories were a bit disappointing. Also, a few of the words chosen for discussion seem to be outdated.