The Return

Review: Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption Bryan Stevenson Spiegel & Grau 2015 I missed this one in its original offering, but I am glad to have discovered it in paper.     Yes, this is about justice and mercy from a lawyer’s own experience and practice.   A single case serves as the base story line for this book, but there’s plenty of others interspersed as well.   This reads as well as most recent fiction, but it’s true and with endnotes too.    Stevenson originally worked with death row inmates primarily in the Alabama prisons.   If you are from Alabama I’ll tell you now it isn’t a pretty story of the legal system in that state.   Not only in the days gone by, but also in more recent times.   Other states take some hits too, so he didn’t single just Alabama out.   And they aren’t all in the South. This book has been compared to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird .   It does carry a sad resemblanc...

Review: Tranquility: A Prayer and Reflection Coloring Journal Compiled by Amie Carlson Tyndale House Publishers 2017 I have become a believer in the adult coloring books, an admission that will sway my opinion of this book.   Coloring books in general require me to stop, slow down, and relax.   Add a time to consider what a Bible verse says and things are good.   Very good, in fact.   That’s what this journal is about.    Tranquility describes this journal well.   The introduction page says tranquility is a state of calmness, peacefulness, quietness, serenity.   Sounds wonderful already.   Just typing those words felt good.   The book has small drawings on nearly every page that may be colored, a few lines (or more) to use as the reader sees fit, and a short paragraph to encourage some prayer.    The overall size doesn’t exceed a child’s book.   No giant designs to labor over.   One a day woul...

Review: Portrait Revolution: Inspiration from Around the World for Creating Art in Multiple Mediums and Styles Julia Kay, editor Watson-Guptill Publications 2017 What a great little book to thumb through!   I’m an admirer of art more than an artist.   Had to put that disclaimer up first, but admirers have a bit of role in the making of art, too.   Kay assembled the work of quite a few folks who used several different mediums and approaches for this one.   Each page was a new scene for me. Art on a phone?!   New kind of crayons? Yep, that can happen.   And as I read through the comments from her and those that presented their work here I found ideas I hadn’t seen before, products used I’d not heard of, and some down to earth advice from bunches of people.   The publishers used some nice paper and printing for this collection, and that added to my enjoyment.   I like books that feel like books and images that reveal marks from...