The Potluck Club Takes the Cake by Linda Evans Shepherd and Eva Marie Everson is the third in a series about a group of friends from a church who started several years ago getting together for prayer and a potluck meal.

The characters and their storylines were established in the earlier two books. There’s Evie, or Evangeline, long-time church and town member, founder and acknowledged unofficial head of the Potluck Club. She’d dating her “old flame” from high school days, Vern, the sheriff, who is also the father of Donna, another member of the Potluck Club. Donna, unbeknownst to others, is not a believer and has several issues to work through — the abandonment of her mother, the abortion of a child years earlier that she still hasn’t gotten over, her father’s dating of Evie, attention from several males when she wants to be left alone, and her work as her father’s deputy. Vonnie is an older lady who is very close to Donna. Her son was taken away when he was born, and her mother told her the baby had died, all because she was prejudiced against the heritage of the baby’s dead father. In a previous book Vonnie was shocked to discover her baby was very much alive and grown and wanted to meet her. Vonnie’s husband was even more shocked — he hadn’t known that Vonnie was married before. Lizzie is just settling into the quiet serenity of an almost empty nest when one son’s family problems cause him to move back home, later bringing his wife and child with him. Then her brother has a crisis in his family, necessitating that Lizzie step in to provide care for her elderly mother. Goldie’s husband has been unfaithful for years and she finally calls him on it, moving out of the house. He begins counseling with the pastor and Goldie has to decide whether he is sincere and what she should do. And then there is Lisa Leann, newcomer, transplant from Texas, general busybody, on an all-out and obvious campaign to wrest the leadership of the group from Evie. And Clay is a local reporter who is interested in Donna and who speculates what the Potluck Club as a whole is up to.

Each chapter is told by a different character, with Clay’s observations in between chapters tying them all together. I like the set-up because you hear the different character’s voices and see events from different points of view.

When I began reading the first book, I thought, “Well, Christian fiction should have flawed characters, because we are all flawed,  but wow, these ladies are over the top!” I think, I hope, anyway that some of their character flaws are exaggerated for effect, especially Lisa Leann’s. And though the storylines may sound somewhat soap-opera-ish, Christians today do have to deal with several of the issues involved. The authors masterfully weave together each storyline ads the ladies help each other through each crisis and grow in grace and dependence on the Lord, and there are splashes of humor as well as poignant moments throughout. This was my favorite book in the series so far.

The Booking Through Thursday question for this week is:

There was a widely bruited-about statistic reported last week, stating that 1 in 4 Americans did not read a single book last year. Clearly, we don’t fall into that category, but . . . how many of our friends do? Do you have friends/family who read as much as you do? Or are you the only person you know who has a serious reading habit?

I am the only book-reader in my immediate family. 😦 I had visions of enjoying the classics with my kids, and we read a lot when they were little, we were regulars at the library, but somehow they all got away from the habit. My mother-in-law reads avidly and my mom did also when she was alive. Among my friends, there are several who do read books occasionally. Among my online acquaintances, though, there are many who read as much as I do and even more.

The Booking Through Thursday topic for this week is:

One book at a time? Or more than one? If more, are they different types/genres? Or similar?
(We’re talking recreational reading, here—books for work or school don’t really count since they’re not optional.)

Quite often I’m reading through a couple of books at a time — one in each bathroom. 😳 🙂

If I am reading a non-fiction book, I almost always have a fiction book on hand, too. It takes a different mindset to read non-fiction and it’s not something I read to relax like I do with fiction.

If I am reading a classic I often have a lighter work of fiction on hand as well.

I’m almost always in the midst of some Christian fiction book.

Sometimes I’ll also make my way through a third book if I am incorporating one into my daily quiet time of Bible reading and prayer.

The Booking Through Thursday topic for this week is multiples.

Do you have multiple copies of any of your books?
If so, why? Absent-mindedness? You love them that much? First Editions for the shelf, but paperbacks to read?
If not, why not? Not enough space? Not enough money? Too sensible to do something so foolish?

I have two copies of Little Women, both hardback. One came with a set of children’s books. The other I saw at a bookstore and just loved the illustration on the cover, the size of it, everything about it. It was the type of book that you would remember long after reading it for the book as well as the story. If I had ever had daughters, probably one copy would have been hers. I am hoping someday to have a very bookish granddaughter to share these kinds of things with.

Other than that, I discovered I had two copies of a biography of William Carey — I had just forgotten I already had it. If I haven’t given away the extra copy yet, I should.

As to the “why not” part of the question — I really don’t see a need for two copies of any book unless one copy is for children and one to save and keep nice, or one is part of a set that has some value. Otherwise I’d rather the extra copy went to someone who could use it rather than taking up space on my bookshelf.

One exception would be Bibles. We have different translations as well as older copies too worn for general usage but which contain notes we want to keep.

The Booking Through Thursday topic for this week is letters:

Have you ever written an author a fan letter?

Did you get an answer?

Did it spark a conversation? A meeting?

(And, sure, I suppose that e-mails DO count . . . but I’d say no to something like a message board on which the author happens to participate.)

I’ve thought about it, but wasn’t sure quite how to get a letter to an author. I have supposed that I could just send a letter to the publisher, but just never followed through.

These days, though, many authors have web sites and/or blogs, and it’s a little easier to make contact. I think the first author I ever contacted in that way was Dee Henderson. I discovered her while looking for a Christian fiction book to send my Mom. I didn’t normally gravitate toward suspense novels, but my mom liked them, so I was looking for something along that vein in Christian fiction. I was hooked from the first pages. Not only was the story excellent, but the underlying spiritual truths were clear, yet not told in a moralistic way. At one point I e-mailed Dee through her web site and told her how her books were ministering to my mother, and I did get an nice e-mail back.

In a twist on this question, I’ve had three different authors contact me after I’ve mentioned or reviewed their book on my blog. That was a surprise and a pleasure. One contact led to an “interview” on a blog book tour with Lynn Walker, author of Queen of the Castle: 52 Weeks of Encouragement for the Uninspired, Domestically Challenged or Just Plain Tired Homemaker. We e-mailed a few times in conjunction with the interview, and I’ve e-mailed her since (her book is written in a weekly, through-the-year format, so I am still enjoying and discovering it, and I commented once on something I had just read and how it helped me), but I don’t want to “bug” her or make her feel like I think I’m her new BFF.  🙂

I may have sent a short e-mail of appreciation to a few more, but really haven’t done that as much as I could have or probably should have. Sometimes I think authors receive all kinds of mail, mine would just get lost in the shuffle, what would I say anyway besides, “I really liked your book!” But I imagine authors really like to know that people liked their books! And especially when a book has touched me in some way, I should let the author know that. Elisabeth Elliot is a writer whose words have touched me and ministered to me in multitudes of ways, and at at the end of a chapter called “The Trail to Shandia” in her book Love Has a Price Tag, she writes,

Analysis can make you feel guilty for being human. To be human, of course, means to be sinful, and for our sinfulness we must certainly “feel” the guilt which is rightly ours–but not everything human is sinful. There is a man on the radio every afternoon from California whose consummate arrogance in making an instant analysis of every caller’s difficulties is simply breathtaking. A woman called in to talk about her problems with her husband who happens to be an actor. “Oh,” said the counselor, “of course the only reason anybody goes into acting is because they need approval.” Bang. Husband’s problem identified. Next question. I turned off the radio and asked myself, with rising guilt feelings, “Do I need approval?” Answer: yes. Does anybody not need approval? Is there anybody who is content to live his life without so much as a nod from anybody else? Wouldn’t he be, of all men, the most devilishly self-centered? Wouldn’t his supreme solitude be the most hellish? It’s human to want to know that you please somebody.

We visited another place where I lived–Tewaenon– where the Aucas live. It had been sixteen years since I had seen them, but they remembered me, calling me by the name they had given me, “Gikari,” and everybody beginning at once, as was their custom, to tell me what they had done since they saw me. Dabu, with two of his three wives, came walking up the airstrip and began immediately–there are no greetings in Auca–to tell me that when he had heard of the death of my second husband he had cried. This prompted Ipa to remark that she had sat down and written me a letter when she heard of his death, but on rereading the letter said to herself, “It’s no good,” and threw it away. Sometimes readers of things that I write tell me long afterward that they have thought of writing me a letter, or have written one and discarded it, thinking, “She doesn’t need my approval.” Well, they’re mistaken–for wouldn’t it be a lovely thing to know that a footprint you have left on the trail has, just by being there, heartened somebody else?

Last spring I was checking the web sites of several different popular diet plans, and each of them had aspects that didn’t appeal to me (cost factors or elimination of certain whole food groups, etc.). Then I found Dr. Phil McGraw’s site dealing with weight, and it contained a lot of common sense, so I decided to buy his book, The Ultimate Weight Solution: The Seven Keys to Weight Loss Freedom.

Let me say at the outset that I am not a Dr. Phil disciple, so please don’t take this as an endorsement of anything he has ever said or written. I have never seen a whole episode of his show. I have caught parts of it at the doctor’s waiting room and the last ten minutes or so when my husband turns on the TV after dinner some times. I have found myself disagreeing with him on occasion (particularly one program dealing with when to end a marriage) and I have heard him once or twice use language I find offensive. But from what I have seen he is good at laying out a situation in plain black and white and applying common sense solutions. So with that in mind, I started reading his book.

And he does lay things out in plain black and white. Take, for instance, this statement in response to the excuse that “Because obesity runs in my family, I just can’t lose weight.”

Is holding on to the excuse that you’re a victim, blaming others for your results, really going to help you get in shape? Does it bring you happiness, peace, calm, and fulfillment? Is it working for you? If you answered No, No, and No, then stop listening to your own justifications and excuses for why you are putting up with these thoughts and beliefs, actions and inactions, that are not working for you. If it’s not working, let go of it!

Bottom line: there are no victims, only volunteers. You are creating the situations you’re in; you’re creating the thoughts and emotions that flow from those situations. You must embrace the fact that you own your problems and take action to solve them.

He reminds that, if we eat in response to stress, “None of these situations will get better if you respond by stuffing yourself with uncontrolled amounts of food.” You might say, “Well, duh.” But many people fall into that trap of comforting themselves with food, and sometimes that plain, clear realization is a wake-up call.

Here is another quote:

If you don’t have time to exercise, you are saying, in effect, that you have time to stay overweight and that you have time, at some point in your future, for a long, and still-growing list of life-crippling, life-threatening diseases that exercise ios known to prevent. If you don’t have time for exercise, ask yourself if you have time for heart disease, stroke, cancer, or diabetes. If you don’t exercise with some degree of regularity, you are making a decision to compromise your life quality, today and in the future.

Ouch. 

His first “key” is right thinking, and really that premise underlies the whole book, the premise that what you think determines how you feel and act.

I did find a few areas of disagreement. One was a statement in the chapter on right thinking: “You have within you everything you will ever need to be, do, and have, anything and everything you will ever want or need.” As a Christian, I find all that I need, including the strength to do right, in God, not in myself. In the chapter on emotional control, he cites David and Goliath as an example of confidence on David’s part in contrast with fear of the other soldiers, but, again, David’s confidence in both his victory and his cause came from God, not his own self confidence (I Samuel 17). Also in that chapter he recommends certain relaxation techniques. I have no problem with breathing techniques, contracting and relaxing muscles to ease tension, listening to music (Dr. Jim Berg also advocates the use of these in Quieting a Noisy Soul), but yoga and meditation as the world thinks of it cross the line in my book, and I think people need to be wary of them.

He does also talk about specific foods and which kinds are best. There are several helpful charts and quizzes. He cautions against unrealistic expectations, such as thinking that once you do lose weight you’ll find a mate, get a great job, and everything will be rosy.

My problem with any kind of instructional book is that, as I am reading along, I’ll think, “Yes, that’s good,” “Yes, I agree there,” “That’s very helpful,” and then I get done, close the book, and a day or two later, think, “What was that again?” Things just don’t stay with me like they do when I read a story. So I think what I need to do is skim back through a chapter at a time, maybe listing out the points I underlined or noted to review the major points.