A Better Way to Live by Og Mandino

First and foremost, I can't believe I purchased this book in 2001 - January 26 2001 to be precise.  How do I know?  Well I went on to Amazon UK to check if they had it in stock and there was a a little note above that gave me the update.

Yes, it has taken me 10 years, but I got there in the end!

The book is divided into two parts. Og talks about lessons he learnt from the past - before he became a successful salesperson and writer and what he did to achieve that.  The second part is a list of 17 rules to live by which according to Og, is a better way to live.

One of the things Og does in the first part, is to invite us into his writing room. There are so many things in that room of his and before he finishes talking about most of the things in his room, you can tell that he loved keeping stuff!

I was surprised at one of the books in his library - The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition (Strunk and White's Element of Style). This is a book that a lot of people recommend over and over again for people who want to improve their writing styles.

We get a picture of how Og's first marriage failed as a result of bad choices and we see how he reached a turning point in his life and decided to change after almost killing himself. We see how he gradually begins and maintains a successful life.

Part two is all about the 17 rules to live by. Whilst I won't mention all the rules, I particularly liked the first which talked about counting our blessings.  We are told that until we evaluate our current situation and take time to see what we have and not what we haven't got at the moment, then there might be a tendency to think that there is nothing to be grateful for.  It's in counting our blessings that we realise our true value and worth.

I believe all the rules given in the books are great nuggets.  Some might be easy to achieve, whilst others might need a little bit of working on or practice.  All in all, I would say the book is worth a read.

Don't wait 10 years before you read it though!

Smack-Dab in the Middle of God's Love by Brennan Manning and John Blase. Illustration by Nicole Tagdell

Smack-Dab in the Middle of God's Love is a children's book published by Thomas Nelson.  This book is about discovering ways God loves us from a child's perspective and also the relationship between adults and children and the way adults convey the message of God's love to a child in a way that they would easily understand and connect with.

This book is appropriate for ages 2 upwards. Even if a two-year old cannot understand everything being read to them, the illustrations are there for them to enjoy.

The writers use care for the elderly, animals and food as ways of getting the message across about God's love.  They have come to the level of a child and presented the story in a way they can easily identify with. The setting is in Mexico and it is reflected by some of the terminology written in Spanish.  This is one of the ways the writers have been able to present a connection with the children in the setting by applying some of the local lingo, so to speak in the book.  There are only a few in the book and the reader gets to know the meaning straight away.

You get to see the innocent questions asked by the children and how they perceive God.

My daughter who is two and a half years old was transfixed by the illustrations.  The drawings were very clear and colorful. The drawings fully complement the story.

Anyone picking up this book would immediately see the message of God's love being portrayed throughout. There is no disguise as to the message being conveyed here.

I would recommend this book because of the simplicity of how God's love is being shared.  Children will love this book and would want to read it over and over again.  The parts that have Spanish in it should not pose any problem because one gets to know the meaning of the word pretty much straightaway.



Disclosure: This book was received as an e-book via BookSneeze®.com - book review blogger program. I was not required to give any positive review. The review given for this book is my personal opinion only.

Types of Books I'll be Reviewing or Writing About

I will be reviewing books I read that help me in my development as a writer and also books that help me in my Christian walk.

If I am reading a study guide, I will be writing what I've learnt on a week to week basis rather than wait till I'll finished reading the whole study.

There may however be some books that whilst sharing what I've learnt, I may be restricted in revealing the authors' techniques as it would be unfair to them. Generally, I would review it and give my own honest opinion of what I think about it.

Inspired to Resume Reading!

Read a blog entry by Michael Hyatt today and he talks about a site created to encourage bloggers to read and write their fair reviews about books they've read. 

Whilst I have lots of books at home, I will still apply to BookSneeze which is the name of the site in order to participate in the reviews.

I was also inspired by one of the reviewers whose site is called Tiffany's Bookshelf, which gave me the idea to call mine Wumi's Bookshelf - hardly original, I know.