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Category: Book Reviews
Just Released! Mr. Blair’s Labyrinth $9.95 Available Now At Lytle Pharmacy
Written by Editor
Thursday, 08 September 2011 09:16
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Like Robert Lytle’s other seven novels, Mr. Blair’s Labyrinth is marketed for the 9- to 14-year-old set. However, these Michigan-based adventures extend to a much greater audience including teachers, parents and senior citizens. Many are read in Michigan schools for their life lessons and fast-paced adventures. 

Mr. Blair’s Labyrinth tells of two teenaged brothers who visit Grampa’s new home as he is rebuilding an old garden, originally built by the estate’s first owner, Frank Blair.  Mr. Blair, a wealthy Detroit banker, lost everything during the Great Depression, including his summer home on Indianwood Lake in Orion Township, the site of this story.

Click here to see Robert Lytle’s books online

At midnight on Midsummer’s Eve, the brothers walk Grampa’s rebuilt labyrinth.  Each hopes the garden will grant his wish. Charlie wants a baseball glove. Jack wants to know more about life during those interesting but terrible times. As the brothers finish the garden’s path Jack gets his wish.  The boys emerge in 1935, during the depths of America’s worst economic nightmare.

As trespassers, the brothers elude an angry policeman by fleeing across Lake Orion in a stolen canoe. Cold and hungry, they are taken in at a hobo camp.  From there they hop trains, hitchhike and walk from place to place. Living from hand to mouth, the boys work in a circus, pick fruit and sweep floors.  Their stops include Holly, Traverse City and Rudd’s Mill—always avoiding starvation and the persistent policeman.

The boys learn lessons and make friends as they travel the state while experiencing the most exciting adventure of their lives. Incidentally, Charlie gets his wish, too.  Mr. Blair’s Labyrinth is a must read for those who survived the Depression, those who wish to avoid another one, and young adults who enjoy fast-paced adventures.

 
Book Review: One Lump or Two?
Written by Editor
Wednesday, 02 March 2011 22:19
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Chances are we all know someone either directly or indirectly suffering from cancer. We’ve worn the pink ribbons and slipped on the yellow bracelets to show our support, but how would you react to hearing the life-altering sentence, “You have cancer.”

Well, that’s exactly what Linda Sadler had a chance to find out firsthand when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2009. She isn’t a celebrity, but rather a wife, mother, sister, daughter, and friend. How does an ordinary woman deal with the potential of losing an important part of herself? By asking the tongue-in-cheek question, “One Lump, or Two?”  and keeping a meticulous journal over the course of her breast cancer diagnosis, treatment, and reconstruction, Linda holds nothing back. From enduring painful and extensive testing, to getting her new “chassis,” and figuring out what comes next, Linda takes it all in stride, but more importantly, she takes the reader right along with her.

During her journey we discover:  Where there are tears, there is laughter; where there is fear, there is also hope.  It’s not necessarily the lumps you face in life, but rather what you choose to do with them that really matters.

Purchase the book here

 
Book of the Week: The Shack
Written by Editor
Thursday, 20 January 2011 00:10
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I recieved The Shack as a Christmas present this year and I am excited to dive into it.  Reading some of the reviews and the fact that this book was ranked in the top 10 for highest sales in 2010 leads me to believe it is a great book. One review on Amazon states:

 “William P. Young’s book has an intriguing premise. Years ago, a father name MacKenzie Phillips took his children camping and lost one of them to a man who has kidnapped and killed others. Mack has grieved since then. His marriage has struggled. Understandably, his relationship with God has suffered. Then, one wintry day, he receives a note in his mailbox inviting him back to the woods, to the shack in which his daughter’s dress and bloodstains were found. The note, it would seem, is from God.

From this simple yet effective premise, Young leads Mack Phillips back to his point of despair and anger. The encounters he then has with God there in “The Shack” serve as thought-provoking moments for both Mack and the reader. This is not the God of stodgy Sunday school classes. This is not a flannel-graph Jesus. This is not limited to a fluttering dove of the Holy Spirit. The descriptions here are startling, while remaining true to the nature of God’s love and grace as portrayed through Scripture. Not only are they startling, they’re wise and moving and beautiful.”