Going deep with Dylan

As a fan who has seen Dylan live in concert 4 times over the last 4 decades, after reading this book I consider myself a novice. So unless you have an already deep appreciation for Dylan, you may struggle to get through this work. For me, I never knew there were so many angles with which to consider Dylan's catalog. When does the harmonica come in? What is it paired with? Is it in response to lyrics? What kind of poetry does Dylan use? What tone - is he crooning or using rhythm to drive home a point? Rhythm in general, back-ground vocals, minor key, song structure? So many ways to analyze Dylan's music and make observation of the changes over the years. The best way to read this book is with a streaming service (or the real thing) at hand to listen about the tune you are reading about and learning from. So go deep, learn new observations and start listening to Bob Dylan. This book is scheduled for a September 14, 2021 release. An advance digital copy was made available in exchange for a review without any obligation of favorable summary.

A Decade in Search of Justice

At Any Cost is a great read for True Crime story fans. I follow a lot of true crime via podcast, documentary and books but somehow was totally unaware of the tragic death of this young mother Shele. Maybe because it took about 10 years to bring charges against her husband who was ultimately convicted. This work contains lots of detail and comments by those who knew both in this couple, and follows the investigation through the trial and verdict. Sadly there were young children involved to live with this trauma to this day. It is quite readable and highly recommended. An advance copy was made available for my review via NetGalley without any obligation for positive feedback.

Dealing with SIN

Whatever the sin you find yourself struggling with Pure in Heart is an important work that will help you on your recovery to freedom. J. Garrett Kell uses many scriptures to support the strategy and statements, as well as some key works over history that are well referenced and documented. If you are like me, you may be inspired to go back and read some of those, especially "The Mortification of Sin" by John Owen, a revered Puritan work. Some key thoughts from Kell are that "using your body for pure sex is an act of worship, but perverted sex unites your Spiritindwelled body to another's in a way that uniquely offends God and harms you." Kell points out that Satan is warring very diligently to destroy sex as created by God because it was actually designed to promote His glory, and also as opportunity to serve our spouse. We should not measure our fulfillment as a person on anything sexual as Jesus Himself was never married or romantically involved - yet He was joyful and complete. And a sobering reminder too that God created the men and women employed in the porn industry, they are made in His image with souls - they have real stories. The most difficult part of the book is the reminder that we cannot keep our sin in secret because that's where it thrives - but as Proverbs says "he who confesses and forsakes (his/her sins) will obtain mercy." So again, this is a solid work to help focus our minds to bring change to our hearts for any sin area that is a struggle for us as a Christian. An advance copy was made available from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review, without any obligation of positive feedback or endorsement.

Tacking the Dirty Dozen

We'll all heard of the 7 vices, now we have the Dozen Habits. Yep, some expectedly overlap. I'm sure if we are honest, did I already say that Lying is one of the habits that a full chapter is devoted to, we are guilty of multiples of these habits if not at times all. But there is hope of course as a Christian through the forgiveness and changes possible through Christ. This very readable work helps us ask the right questions to discover where we are with each of these habits and after we take the initial step to "Own it" provides some steps to help reduce the power of each one in our lives and to ultimately and hopefully eliminate it. Still as Poe points out, most of these did not develop overnight and will most likely take some time. We will stumble, fall, and fail - but we get back up again and keep trying in this journey of life. We can be the people God desires for us to be as He made the way possible. I received my advance copy through Netgalley with no obligation for a positive review.