The Noticer (published by Thomas Nelson, Inc.) is subtitled “Sometimes, all a person needs is a little perspective.” This statement pithily summarizes the philosophy of the title character, a mysterious old man named Jones (“Not Mr. Jones; just Jones”). Jones, who says he has a gift of “noticing things that others miss,” appears from time to time over the course of many years to comfort, counsel, and aid hurting people in Orange Beach, Alabama, by helping them gain the perspective that helps them find a way out of their troubles, or at least makes them better people in the end.

I’m ambivalent about this book. I enjoyed reading it. It’s well written and engaging. It made me think about the importance of perspective in how we perceive (and therefore how we endure) the struggles we face in life. Still – and I admit that it’s probably my own inherent cynicism – I simply had a hard time buying into the book’s premise, even though it apparently is based on a true story. For me, it felt too . . . staged; it tried a little too hard to inspire. The characters into whose life Jones came, starting with the narrator, seemed too obviously chosen to illustrate various struggles that people face. And the perspective that Jones helped them find seemed to lead too inevitably to a heart-warming resolution.

I’m guessing that other readers, especially (but probably not only) Christian readers, will like this book very much and find it very inspiring. It certainly is hope-filled and uplifting. In his conversations with his various new friends, Jones offers thoughts and advice clearly illustrative of Biblical principals; I found no fault with its underlying theology. Perhaps it’s only my own failings that prevented me from reaping the book’s full intended benefit. Notwithstanding that fact, I wholeheartedly recommend this quick read to Christians looking for some encouragement and inspiration.

Can your customers tell the difference between you and your competition? Scott McKain’s premise in Collapse of Distinction (published by Thomas Nelson) is that a lack of distinctiveness is fatal to business. Describing the collapse of distinction as a “cultural phenomenon as well as a corporate and professional nightmare,” McKain insists that in today’s environment, when businesses in any given industry or profession are devolving to a “beige uniformity,” distinctiveness, or differentiation, is the key to business success. His new book makes a convincing case for this proposition, and offers tools for achieving the kind of differentiation he champions.

After summarizing the developments that led to today’s prevailing culture of sameness, McKain then identifies the pathways to a distinctiveness that will make a business stand out among its peers, garnering positive attention – and profitable business – from current and prospective customers and clients. He argues that when every business in an industry is doing the same things in the same way, eventually the only way to compete is on price, and this is the worst possible place for a business to be in. Rather than focusing on what the competition is doing (and trying to incrementally “one-up” them), McKain advocates developing a “customer-experience focus,” positing that “the purpose of any business is to profitably create experiences so compelling to the customers that their loyalty becomes assured.” Collapse of Distinction describes in useful detail a means for accomplishing that purpose.

I found this book to be well written, informative, and though-provoking. McKain offers specific practical suggestions and action steps at the end of each chapter to help the business owner or professional develop and execute a plan for differentiating itself from its competition. I plan to re-read Collapse of Distinction with a pen and paper nearby, taking notes and forming a plan of my own for my law practice.

I recommend this book to any business owner or professional responsible for building a clientele. Church leaders interested in growing their church also could glean a lot of useful ideas from Collapse of Distinction.

A Vote of Confidence tells the tale of a beautiful, independent young woman in 1915.  Believing it’s God’s will for her to do so, she declares her candidacy for mayor of her small Idaho town, in part to protect the town she loves from the only other candidate, the man who runs the local saloon and often is seen about town intoxicated.  Much to her surprise, though, another candidate declares that day: a handsome stranger who’d moved to the area a year before to build a luxury spa outside of town.  Sparks fly (in more ways than one) as the campaign progresses and the two new political rivals – both committed to following God’s will – find they have more in common than they expected.

Robin Lee Hatcher, author of over 55 Christian novels, wastes no time jumping into the thick of her finely plotted tale.  As the story progresses toward the mayoral election, Hatcher weaves the threads of romance, intrigue (why does a county commissioner who believes that women should be seen and not heard throw his support behind Gwen’s candidacy, and who is trying to sabotage her opponent’s spa construction?), and history (including the changing attitudes toward women’s roles at the turn of the last century) into an entertaining and interesting tapestry.  The story is not perfect – for me, the parallels between Gwen’s and Morgan’s pasts were a bit too “convenient”, there is a tad more internal monologue than I like, and every once in awhile the historical color wasn’t as subtly introduced as I might like – but she creates likeable characters (and some not so likeable!) whose stories you just can’t help but care about.  I read the entire book in a single weekend, wanting to find out whether the nasty commissioner was going to succeed in stopping Morgan’s spa!

A Vote of Confidence is the first of a series of novels that will feature the “Sisters of Bethlehem Springs.”  The next installment is to focus on Gwen’s “cowboy” sister, Cleo.  I look forward to reading her story when it releases in the fall.  In the meantime, I recommend this book to any reader who enjoys this type of book – it’s a great example of the genre.

I recently received and read a review copy of In the Shadow of the Sun King, a Christian historical novel by Golden Keyes Parsons published in 2008 by Thomas Nelson.  The book's back-cover copy describes the novel as follows:

"Seventeenth century France is an unsafe time to be a Huguenot. By order of King Louis XIV, all French Protestants must immediately convert or face imprisonment--or death. The king's dragoons ferret out the nonconformists, pillaging villages and destroying homesteads.

"When the king's soldiers descend on the Clavell estate, the family's fate hangs in the balance. Quickly, quietly, they send their two sons into hiding, trusting that the young age of their daughter will guarantee her protection. But the dragoons will not be dissuaded; they hold the manor hostage looking for clues of their guilt or innocence. However, Madeleine Clavell, the lady of the manor, holds a secret--one possible chance to save the family. She and the king share a past.

"Once a beautiful young lady in the French court whom Louis loved, Madeleine travels to Versailles to plead for mercy from the fickle king, hoping to regain his favor and save her family. It's a gamble, but she is left with no other choice. Madeleine soon faces an agonizing decision--one that changes her family forever."

I received my review copy on the condition that after I read it, I would post a review of it online.  Before receiving my copy, I was predisposed to like it.  For many years I've been a bit of a Francophile -- fascinated by the language, culture, and history of France, and especially by the era when Louis XIV, the "Sun King" reigned over France.  On top of that, I've always been intrigued by the courage of the Huguenots in the face of persecution.  This novel seemed right up my alley.

Unfortunately, though, this novel failed to live up to my anticipation.  While the premise itself was interesting and could have led to an exciting story (a well-to-do and influential family faces losing everything because of their religious convictions), the premise was not well executed.   Too often, the narrative fell into a didactic tone, as if the author was trying hard to educate the reader about the times and trials of the Huguenots.  Thus a story that could have been suspenseful and fast-moving was . . . not.  One example appears in chapter 26, which includes a scene from the King's point of view, as the King listens with boredom to a priest talk about the plight of the poor.  The author apparently wanted to use this scene to comment on or educate the reader about the King being out of touch with his people.  Rather than finding a way to demonstrate this (show, don't tell), though, she includes language that I found inconsistent with the King's point of view:

"For the briefest of moments, a flicker of faces from his past flashed through his mind [King's POV], . . . but the rationalized conscience of the regent did not light on them for long. . . .  Louis did not understand the consecration and humility of the devout. [theoretically in the King's POV, but telling, rather than showing] Religious duty, he understood.  But the attributes of sacrifice, dedication, piety, and religious fervor escaped his mind-set."

(The bracketed phrases are my own editorial commentary.)  I added the italics to highlight language that I found jarring because it clearly stepped outside of the King's point of view to allow the author to editorialize.  I find it almost impossible to believe that King Louis, who was so supremely confident in the divine source of his authority, would have said those things about himself -- or even thought them. (From my reading of the history of the period, I believe that Louis actually did consider himself to be appropriately pious and devout!) Other readers might not find this distracting, but I did.

The novel's pace was further slowed by the author's writing style, which relies heavily on adjectives and adverbs to modify unfortunately weak nouns and verbs.  Additionally, the author did not handle dialogue well.  Too often characters spoke in ways that did not seem authentic to me, but, again, seemed intended to make an authorial/editorial point.

Finally -- and I will admit that this is a nit, but it's one that I found distracting -- the novel included occasionally misused/ungrammatical French terms, such as "mon petite" -- this, of course, is problematic only for those who've studied French and who therefore know that "mon" is a masculine article (means "my") but "petite" is the feminine form of the word in this term of endearment.  In this case, a character was speaking to a young girl, and would have referred to her as "ma petite".

I have no doubt that many readers will enjoy this book.  Certainly the subject matter is interesting, and the plot, while not sufficiently well executed to satisfy me, is intriguing.  Other readers who aren't so picky about some of the matters that bothered me will find this book an enjoyable read.  Those who enjoy history and like to learn something from their novel-reading will find this book rewarding, because it does include a lot of interesting historical tidbits.

In the Shadow of the Sun King is the first novel in what apparently will be a multi-book series.  Based on this novel, I'm afraid that don't intend to buy the next book in the series.

Angie Hunt, a best-selling Christian author, posted a terrific blog entry today summarizing how government works -- sort of a "US government 101" -- that I wish every American would read.

http://alifeinpages.blogspot.com/2008/09/government-refresher-course.html

A moving ad. According to the site from which I pulled this, the McCain campaign did not pay for this ad.

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