Mark Batterson caught me off guard with his book, ‘Whisper’. I read his books ‘The Circle Maker’ and ‘In a Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day’, and I thought I had a handle on his writing style. He writes a series of wonderful anecdotes that all tie together and illustrate each point he had to make. He did that in ‘Whisper’–and more.

The added ‘spice’ was his detail research on each point. So each point he made about listening to God’s voice was backed up by anecdotes, the Bible, and scientific research on the brain and how we’re wired. The total effect made each of his points powerful, weighty and meaningful.

If you want to hear God’s voice for the first time, or more regularly, or more clearly, this is the book for you. Mark covers the seven love languages of God and how He expresses Himself to us in them.

I rarely give any book five stars. That’s reserved for books that are still being read after fifty years or more. I gave ‘Whisper’ this rating because I believe people will still read his book fifty years from now.

Outstanding summary of the major analyses of plot structure. Author Wijeratne begins with Aristotle’s three-part story structure and goes in time order through various methods of systematizing plots to our current day.

What really makes this book interesting is how he applies the various plot structure theories to modern, popular works, like The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, and Star Wars.

Writers familiar with ‘The Hero’s Journey’ and ‘Save the Cat’ will find them both in here, as well as more esoteric approaches like the Japanese Keshokentetsu.

I recommend this book to any writer of stories.

This book takes you on a roller coaster. You begin with the miraculously born Samuel, the last judge of Israel. He gets Israel straightened out, but then they reject him and God. Samuel takes it hard, but God tells him to pick out a king, Saul.

Saul is huge and humble, at first. He leads Israel to impressive victories over their foes the Philistines. Then he starts disobeying God. Finally, God rejects him as king.

God then selects David, the youngest of his seven brothers. He becomes King Saul’s harpist and then after he kills the giant Goliath, his general and chief warrior. But Saul becomes jealous.

David marries Saul’s daughter Michal and becomes best friends with his son Jonathan. But Saul tries to kill David and he flees to the wilderness. Malcontents and rebels flock to him while he flees from cave to cave. He escapes Saul and spares his life twice, finally hiding among the Philistines. The book ends with Saul and Jonathan’s death, after forty years of rule.

In “Living Water”, Brother Yun gives an outstanding perspective on Christians, Christianity, and the church from the point of view of a Chinese evangelist who’s endured persecution and torture for forty years.

His bold vision for Chinese Christians is to carry the gospel to all nations south and west of China until they reach Jerusalem. After enduring and escaping torture, nothing fazes him, nor many Chinese Christians.

His book Living Water holds inspiration and correction for Christians of all cultures. Read it and be ready to repent.

David becomes king over Israel and brings harmony to his nation. He conquers neighboring countries and brings them under tribute. He brings the ark to Jerusalem, after conquering it and dances so vigorously, his first wife despises him.

Then he commits adultery with Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife, and kills Uriah to cover up her pregnancy. God reproves him not for his adultery, but for killing Uriah and covering his sin.

And that’s just the first twelve chapters! Don’t miss this one: it’s packed with excitement and human drama from the beginning to the end!

The whole land of Israel prospered under Solomon. Yet, despite God appearing to him and speaking three times, Solomon went astray and began idol worship in Jerusalem. That spread throughout Israel and continued until first Israel and then Judah was carried away into captivity.

This tragedy began in the beauty and glory of Solomon’s reign, just as the tragedy of all human sin began in the garden of Eden. Let the hearer hear!