Category Book Reviews

Dana shares books she likes

Aug 19 2011

Trafficked: The Diary of a Sex Slave

Trafficked: The Diary of a Sex SlaveOne of my increasing joys of being an Indie Author is connecting with other Indies around the world. This year I’ve met the charming and ebullient Sibel Hodge, who generally writes chick-lit romances and mysteries. Sibel has a dual British/Turkish Cypriot nationality, which makes her very interesting, indeed. She departed from her usual fare to raise awareness of the terrible sex-slave industry. She sent me a copy Trafficked: The Diary of a Sex-Slave and this is my official review:

Sibel Hodge paints a vivid picture of a woman caught up in a global travesty of our time: Sex-Slave Trafficking. Using the Diary format to tell Elena’s story of betrayal, helplessness, and degradation, Hodge sheds light on an industry that preys on thousands of young women every day. Using a novelist’s skill, we come to care for Elena quickly. Women readers can easily relate to Elena and how she feels caught in the trap of prostitution. The piece is gritty, but not gruesome. I read it in one sitting. It left me feeling like I wanted to DO SOMETHING, which I imagine was the reason Sibel diverted from her usual chick-lit fare to tackle a serious subject. Hopefully, the pen truly is mightier than the sword, and “Diary” will help raise awareness and action against one of the most shameful cruelties of modern times. Change begins with resolve. I admire Sibel Hodge for devoting her time and talent to keep this issue in the spotlight.

Change begins with awareness and then the decision that enough is enough. Hopefully, communities and countries will begin to decide that treating their girls as sexual commodities is not acceptable.

Aug 2 2011

Surprised by Healing: The Delores Winder Story

Dana by Dana Taylor

Sometimes heaven puts someone in your path just when you desperately need them. Twenty six years ago, Delores Winder was that person for me and my family.  The summer of that year my husband, David, suffered a major heart attack at the age of 36 while we were on vacation in Colorado. Approximately a third of his heart died. In the months following the event, he experienced erratic heart beats and said he sometimes felt like he was about to leave his body. Needless to say, we were very concerned. Our daughters were only six and three. We wanted their Daddy to help them grow up.

It was also around that time that I was getting involved in healing ministry. Our minister invited Delores Winder to visit our church, tell her story, and offer her healing gifts.  She was in her fifties, a petite woman with an incredible story. She had been desperately ill for years and had deteriorated almost to the point of death. Her bones had lost all their substance. A body brace held her upright. Coming from a conservative Christian background, she believed in Christ, but not in spiritual healing. She would have welcomed death, if it hadn’t been for her thirteen year old son, Christopher. A friend convinced her to attend a Kathryn Kuhlman service. Delores only hoped for a sense of encouragement for Chris; instead, she received a miracle healing. And the Gift of Healing.

Surprised by Healing tells Delores’ story. I first bought the book a quarter of a century ago. Now, with the advent of the digital age, it is available to everyone through the Kindle store. You’d think it would be a “happily ever after” story, but some of the most interesting parts of the book detail the difficulties Delores and her friends and family had dealing with something they didn’t believe possible. Her faith and sanity were challenged. It took a while to come to terms with her new life and even longer to accept her mission to pay the miracle forward.

I’m so grateful she rose to the occasion. My husband and I took Delores and her husband, Bill, out to lunch the Sunday she visited our church. I’ll never forget how she offered her hand to me across the table. She told me to squeeze her pinkie finger. It was spongy, rubbery—boneless. The finger was the only part of her body not restored to complete health at the Kuhlman service.

She said, “The Lord told me, ‘You can’t lift your little finger without me.”

After lunch as we were saying goodbye, Delores stopped and looked at my husband and said, “I can’t let you go without praying for you. I see a spirit of death on you.” She proceeded to offer a commanding prayer to release him from a negative entity and then prayed for his heart and longevity. From that time on, my husband’s heart settled down and his energy returned.

David is now 62 years old.* His heart still looks damaged to the doctors and they are always amazed at his outward appearance of health and vitality. We live a pro-actively healthy lifestyle, but I’m convinced Delores delivered a supernal healing energy that resonates in my husband even today. I am so grateful he was able to see the girls go to their proms, graduate from high school, get married and meet our first grandchild. How much our family would have missed without the healing touch of Delores Winder.

 I encourage you to read Surprised by Healing and enjoy the Delores Winder story for yourself.

——-

*Update–My husband, David Taylor died in a one car accident February 11, 2013. His heart never mal-functioned, despite doctors’ dire prediction. For more information see: https://supernalliving.com/category/musings/

Ever3  Bring a lift to your spirits with one of my books —

Visit the Dana Taylor Books and Bio Page

Jul 17 2011

Poems from the Heart of Katherine T Owen

I spent some time this morning with poet Katherine T. Owen. No, we didn’t have breakfast together. Katherine lives in England and I’m in Los Angeles. I happened upon her small collection of poems via my Kindle. I have an Internet relationship with Katherine, of sorts. We met through a writing contest for spiritual authors and felt a kinship, though we’ve never exchange a word. With little fanfare Katherine has published Be Loved, Beloved—14 Spiritual Poems. I spent my morning quiet time seeped in Katherine’s words.

 Her poems were forged in the midst of deep personal struggle. As a young woman Katherine was incapacitated through a disease known as M.E.—Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. In her words “I…spent fourteen years bedbound with little movement and little speech…My life took on two sides: the difficult circumstances in which I was living—fighting to survive, and the rich, although initially also grueling, spiritual journey.”

 While the doctors may have called Katherine’s disease M.E, her poems reveal a major blockage of divine love as her true dis-ease. For whatever reason, Katherine deemed herself unloveable. From her sparse words emerges the picture of a woman who had the wall between God and herself removed, one revelation at a time. One poem at a time.

 One thing that struck me was the stripping of ego in the work. Most of us have a comfy ego façade, but weakness and disease tore Katherine’s away. Her poems come from the heart.

 It’s a short piece, easily read in half an hour, but the beauty of poetry is its ability to be fresh with each reading, like listening to a favorite song over and over. Be Loved, Beloved is a precious little tome to be revisited time and again.

Jun 18 2011

Book Review: New Age Classic “The Parables of Kryon”

 

“The Parables of Kryon” by Lee Carroll was first published in 1996. At that time I was living in Oklahoma, the buckle of the Bible Belt, basically a galaxy away from Del Mar, CA where Mr. Carroll was at the forefront of the New Age movement. The Kryon material is channeled information, which in many circles still has the connotation of being straight from the Devil’s Lair. I’ve found channeled material to run the gamut from the ridiculous (“greetings, Earthlings”) to life changing (“A Course in Miracles”).

Since acquiring a Kindle, I enjoy exploring all the spiritual book lists seeking the rare gem, the classic I missed along the way. I’d vaguely heard of Lee Carroll and Kryon, even in the insulated heartland, and decided to risk perdition by downloading “The Parables of Kryon.” What I discovered was a delightful collection of twenty deceptively “simple” stories rich with profound life lessons.  Just as Jesus taught the villagers of his day through tales like The Prodigal Son, The Sower of Seeds, and The Good Samaritan, Kryon shares his philosophy via the storytelling tool.

The book begins with the brief “Parable of the Tar Pit” where everyone thinks being covered in tar is normal until one person is suddenly washed clean. Carroll serves as interpreter of the Kryon tales he receives, spelling out the spiritual lesson in case you missed it. Disciples can be a little dense, as Jesus learned when he had to explain the Sower of the Seeds analogy to his followers. Likewise, Carroll makes clear the philosophical lessons behind “The Big, Fuzzy Caterpillar” (a wormy creature who misses the chance to become a butterfly), “The Two Groups of Warriors” (reminiscent of putting on the whole armor of God in Ephesians), “David the Indian” (who breaks through foggy boundaries) and the rest with summaries at the end of each story.

I found myself reading one parable a morning, like a daily devotional, ruminating on the spiritual lessons, sometimes agreeing, sometimes not, but each story was always food for thought. The piece stands as a sort of spiritual movement historical marker, using phrases like “New Age” and “life contract” that were once new and have now taken on a lot of baggage.  The order of the stories starts with universal life lessons that would not rock many boats to increasingly New Age concepts of reincarnation and karmic principles that would definitely send mainstream Christians back behind their fences.

Still, for those spiritual explorers who enjoyed hearing Bible stories in Sunday school, “The Parables of Kryon” delivers some interesting concepts in a variety of entertaining tales.

Visit the Lee Carroll/Kryon website at Kryon.com

May 27 2011

“Tattoos on the Heart,” My Favorite Book

Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion

Taylor email 03 Review by Dana Taylor

“His ways are not our ways…but they sure could be.” 

Tattoos on the Heart author Gregory Boyle, aka Father Gregory Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries and long-time priest of the Delores Mission in Los Angeles, aka “G-dog”, sums up his approach to life in that simple, but profound, phrase. Father Boyle has been honored with numerous awards, including the California Peace Prize, and even brought gang members to dinner at the White House. A bout of leukemia prompted him to finally write a book inspired by his twenty-five years ministering at the ground zero of gangland—Boyle Heights of Los Angeles. Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion is my new favorite book and it will take something pretty special to bump it off the top of my list.

It hit me on so many levels.  First, the writing style—there’s a dose of barrio homeboy vernacular to make it real.  A homegirl acting as receptionist answers a bomb threat with “Go ahead and bring that bomb, motherfucka. We’re ready for your ass.” (Christian publishers passed on the book because of those moments.) Then, in the next paragraph Boyle might quote Thomas Merton or a Catholic saint.  He uses so many different colors to paint the palette of his book.

Next, the content is the stuff of inspiring sermons—spiritual lessons couched in anecdotal stories of the homies. Rather than writing a chronological autobiography G (as he most often is called) offers chapters that focus on the gifts of the spirit—Grace, Compassion, Gladness, Kinship. He makes the barrio come alive through the eyes of man who sees the value in people who can’t see the value in themselves. This isn’t a Disney-like portrayal of the happy mean streets. His heart has been broken by the 167 times he’s buried the homeboys because of senseless violence.

 Yet, there is hope because he knows who the Savior is.  He sees Him in every scary, tattooed ex-con who comes through the doors of Homeboy Industries. G knows the Boundless Compassion of God and does his best to pay it forward.

Father Boyle lives among the angry, the marginalized, the under-educated throwaways of society and shows them God’s love. Indeed, his ways are not our ways…but they sure could be.

If you read it, Tattoos might turn into your favorite book also.

Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion by Gregory Boyle

****

Ever-Flowing Streams: Christ, Reiki, Reincarnation & Me

   “A book not just to read, but to experience”–Tampa Bay Examiner

Available as ebook and paperback at Amazon