A dramatic Christian devotional full of fire and brimstone—and hope and encouragement.
A daily devotional offers quotes drawn from Christian Scripture.
Horacek’s debut book has a simple goal: “to cultivate within the reader, a desire to consistently pray and read God’s Word and be transformed by it to become the whole person God intended you to be.” Using a typical devotional strategy, the author takes his readers day by day through a year, highlighting a different religious theme each month, illustrating that idea with quotes from Scripture, and then elaborating on those citations with spiritual and life lesson writings of his own. The author mostly eschews the seasonally themed narrative anchors of such an approach in favor of straightforward evangelical preaching of a bracingly old-fashioned kind. No matter what the date, Horacek is concerned with a more eternal narrative of Christian eschatology composed of equal parts optimism and encouragement (“The furnace of life brings about silver and gold of immense value”) and stern fundamentalist warnings: “Serve God acceptably, with reverence, awe, and godly fear. Although He is gracious and merciful, He will also ultimately destroy all His enemies with a consuming and devouring fire in the times of the end.” The version of Christianity presented here is a stark combination of daily affirmations and detailed descriptions of Christian end times, with the author repeatedly stressing the hopeful, participatory side of faith, telling his readers that Jesus “persevered and endured the scourge of the Cross” for them, and that “the Divine Whisper” confirms that they belong to God. “He knows the path of your life,” Horacek writes. “Let Him guide you in the way, moment by moment.” The author’s prose is vivid and fast-paced, and his amplifications on the Scriptural passages he chooses are always decisive and thought-provoking. His Christian target audience should find much to both challenge and comfort them in these pages.
A dramatic Christian devotional full of fire and brimstone—and hope and encouragement.Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-63575-372-1
Page Count: 469
Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
Review Posted Online: Feb. 28, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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