Heaven is for Real

Heaven is for Real
A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back
by Todd Burpo
2010

This is a book I have seen quite a bit in ariports, as Russ and I have traveled about this year in the USA.  Various people have recommended it to me and especailly during the time I was awaiting results from an ab-normal medical test it caught my interest.  But it wasn't until after I got my library card in the Heights and a librarian helped me to find it that I actually read it.
Well, it is very much like the subtitle describes: the little boy, named Colton, has a need for emergency surgery and while that is taking place he goes to heaven.  Later as he is fully recovered he begins to tell his family  bits and pieces of what it was like in heaven including people he met, time spent with Jesus, the colors of heaven, etc.   The story unfolds from the father's  point of view and is a quick and easy read and gives lots of hopeful things to think through.  What I found maybe most fascinating is how Colton, even years later, had a very clear memory of what Jesus looked like.  Several times since Colton's experience there were opportunities for his family to see various portraits of Jesus and each time they would ask Colton if the artwork looked like Jesus.  Every time there would be something not quite right with the artists' attempt to capture in a painting or a sketch the essence of Jesus.  Then Colton was shown the art work of a young girl named Akiane Kramarik (who had also been to heaven and back) and Colton was speechless so his father asked him what was wrong with the portrait. He said, "Dad, that one is right."
As Colton's dad is also a pastor, he takes the time to add dimension to the story by quoting passages from the Bible that give a foreshadowing of heaven. I'm glad I read the book and for it being the first near-death-expereince book I have read, I found it to be a good one and believable.   Can't wait to go myself!

Riding the Bus with my Sister

 Riding the Bus with My Sister
a True Life Journey
by: Rachel Simon
2002
paperback; 296 pages

Generally I have chosen to only read books that come to me via a recommendation,  but recently I found myself in a new library and very ready for a light novel. Surrounded by books, I could not think of one title that someone recommended, so this light blue paperback caught my eye because of its size; perfect weight and good margins so I could read it while hula-hooping and that is how I began the story of a year of  bus journeys.  At first I almost put the book down after a chapter or two, as it seemed a bit predictable and self-indigent; the writer was writing of how she, a successful got-it-together independent woman, was going to learn life lessons (and ultimately become a bit more successful) by writing about  her sister and her mental disability to shine light on the importing things of life.  But putting aside my cynicism, I pressed on and found much more to the story.  The big sister really does care about the little sister and as one review stated the book is, "clever and unsentimental".  I liked learning about the variety of bus drivers and their healthy perspectives on life, all who make up Beth's world as she rides day after day around a city in Pennsylvania.  As each month leads to the next, I discover more about Beth (the little sister) and consequently Rachel's (the writer) relationship with her. The author also does a very good job of going backward in time to describe things in chronological progression of her childhood and how she (and her siblings) were effected by not only the "different-ness" of having a sister who was different, but their parent's  divorce and the lingering effects it had on everyone.  Her detail in memories brings the richness to the story's re-telling of the music and fashion of the past in which she grew and gives authenticity to the joys and challenges life presented.  I am now excited about becoming a bus-rider and the people I just meet on the journey..I  have my bus pass, just need a destination and look out, maybe I will learn the ins and outs of Houston and the people that make up this great city.  At the end I read more slowly as I did not want to have Beth out of my life.  A story well told.