"Dreams and Visions: Is Jesus Awakening the Muslim World" by Tom Doyle

This book is a collection of stories of how God is using dreams and visions in the world of Islam.  I had heard of these types of revelations but this book records many accounts of these fascinating and amazing experiences.  Tom Doyle is a missionary in the Middle East and Central Asia spreading the work and words of Jesus to the Muslims.  He tells of his first hand experiences with Muslims who first heard of Jesus through vivid dreams and powerful visions.  Of course turning from Islam and confessing Jesus is grounds for execution but they have found peace and hope that comes from knowing Jesus. 

I think you would find this book to be an eye-opener of how Jesus is working today in the lives of people who are not free to worship as they choose.  I recommended it without reservation!

288 pages

"Some Girls; My Life in a Harem" by Jillian Lauren

Interesting book!  I had only read a review but thought it sounded interesting and it was.  It is the true life story of the author and her experience in a harem and how she got there in the first place.  One of the early quotes she uses is from Talking Heads - "And you may ask yourself, well...how did I get here?"

Because I am so far behind in posting, I am just going to copy the review from Amazon.  I know - what a cheat I am!

"A jaw-dropping story of how a girl from the suburbs ends up in a prince's harem, and emerges from the secret Xanadu both richer and wiser

At eighteen, Jillian Lauren was an NYU theater school dropout with a tip about an upcoming audition. The "casting director" told her that a rich businessman in Singapore would pay pretty American girls $20,000 if they stayed for two weeks to spice up his parties. Soon, Jillian was on a plane to Borneo, where she would spend the next eighteen months in the harem of Prince Jefri Bolkiah, youngest brother of the Sultan of Brunei, leaving behind her gritty East Village apartment for a palace with rugs laced with gold and trading her band of artist friends for a coterie of backstabbing beauties."

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philip Sendker

I finished this book a few days ago and really enjoyed it.  Michael and I went to a fabulous bookstore in Crested Butte, CO and they had the most amazing salesman! I told him some books I had recently read and enjoyed but expressed that I was having a hard time “getting into” a book lately as the recent ones I read I had loved so much.  He provided so many great recommendations and this was one of them.  He thought it would be easy for me to become invested in and he was correct.

               This story follows Julia as she sets out to find what has happened to her father who disappeared the day after she graduated law school.  This search brings her to a small village in Burma where her father grew up.  Here she encounters a man that knows the story of her father and pledges to lead her to him shall she want to listen.  It takes you on twists and turns and can really stop and make you wonder how much you pay attention to in everyday life.  The book is written in such detail it amazed me.  I truly felt like I was there along with Julia in her search.  What was enjoyable was that the details didn’t weigh the story down at all, it flowed beautifully.  I enjoyed every aspect of this book and would love to read another one like it again.  I would highly recommend this book!