You know Billy, but do you know RUTH?

This is a warm and revealing portrait of Ruth Bell Graham, wife of evangelist Billy Graham. In Ruth: A Portrait you will come face to face with a fascinating and remarkable woman. You'll delight in her spunk and be encouraged by her courageous spirit. You'll just simply fall in love with her!

Ruth's childhood begins in China of the 1920's and 30's as a daughter of a medical missionary. She goes to Wheaton college and earns average grades. She, wants to be a missionary herself one day, but instead becomes the wife to one of the greatest preachers our country has known. In these pages, you'll get to know a Ruth that only family and close acquaintances knew. You will feel privileged. Find this book in our non-fiction section and read about one extraordinary woman's life journey.

This book is the October 2008 pick for the "Faith-Inspired Book Club" meeting the third Thursday morning of each month.

This one might rock your boat!

I give this book enthusiastic praise because it has the potential, without a doubt, to transform and astound you. You'll like it so well that you'll want others to read it.

So what is this book about? To begin, The Shack is a parable, (i.e. Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress) most of it being a conversation between a beaten-down, middle-aged adult male named Mack and three figures who dubiously represent the Trinity. (This might rock someone's boat!) The conversations take place in a remote shack in eastern Oregon, the exact spot of the greatest tragedy in Mack’s life.

Author, William P. Young, wrote this book at his wife’s prodding to explain his 11-year journey of healing with God to their 6 children. What he created is a story of soul wrestling with the forever asked question: “How can a loving God allow pain and suffering?"

A beautiful representation of how a God brings inner healing to one man, this book is a harbinger to others who might also carry a "great sadness." If you like parables....if you like to get deep.....and if you are willing to get your boat rocked...... read The Shack. You won't regret it!

This book was the September 2008 selection for the "Faith-Inspired Bookclub," meeting the 3rd Thursay morning of each month. Join us!

Cold Murder, hot revenge

The Swedish winter setting and the body in the ice hut make for a cold beginning to what turns out to be a brutal revenge killing. Author Asa Larsson takes us back again to Kiruna, Sweden where a beer-drinking naked ice fisherman finds the body of a woman dressed in jogging outfit and lacy underwear, in an ice hut where he seeks refuge. The victim, Inna Wattrang is the information officer for the Kallis Mining company. Inspector Anne-Marie Mella and her lonely partner, Sven-Erik find few clues and get little help from the woman's friends and colleagues. Our favorite lawyer,Rebecka Martinsson is asked to look at the company's financial and business records and she finds hidden bank accounts and bribes paid to influence the African mining industry. Could this have anything to do with Inna's death? Anne-Marie and Rebecka find a tangled web of deceit and perversion. Sven-Erik finds a cat and perhaps love.

An Unconventional Romance Spanning Centuries

The Gargoyle: A Novel by Andrew Davidson


After surviving a fiery crash induced by bourbon and narcotics, the main character and narrator of this debut novel begins to slowly mend in a burn ward. Horribly disfigured and just as equally cynical, he meets a mental patient who insists that they've met previously, seven centuries ago. A unique relationship begins as they share their stories of unsuitable foster parenting, a 14th-century German monastery and the art of sculpturing gargoyles.

A family's struggles in Iran

The Septembers of Shiraz, by Dalia Sofer, provides a portrait of a Jewish-Iranian family whose lives are torn apart by the Iranian revolution. A gem dealer in Tehran, Isaac is arrested and wrongly accused of being a Zionist spy. It is a terrible time in Iran, when those who have materially benefited during the reign of the Shah are singled out and persecuted. Isaac suffers physically and mentally in prison, but his family suffers also, as they struggle to maintain a degree of normalcy without knowing exactly what Isaac is going through. His son had been sent to New York to school, and his daughter is too young to fully understand what is happening. Although this is a haunting story that is sometimes difficult to read, the strength of the individual family members is encouraging and inspiring.