Book Talk

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     It was W. Somerset Maugham, whose book Of Human Bondage, was adjudged one of the finest examples of a realistic novel, who said, "The only important thing in a book is the meaning it has for you." This is probably what Ralph Waldo Emerson meant in his statement, "What's a book? Everything or nothing. The eye that sees it is all." What you bring to your reading may serve to determine what you take away when you have finished the book.

     I have just finished reading Love Not the World Watchman Nee. It consists mostly of addresses delivered to Christian believers in Shanghai in the early part of the Sino-Japanese War. One talk "A World Under Water" was delivered at a baptismal service in London in May 1939. I must confess that I derived ideas about the world and our relationship to it that I never received before. I wish you would read it. It is only $1.00. Other books which will help change your life, all of them by Nee, are Changed Into His Likeness ($1.25); The Normal Christian Life ($1.50); and Not I But Christ ($1.50). I would like to have all of you read Against the Tide, the biography of this Chinese Christian. It is now in a paperback edition for only $2.50.

     If you haven't read The Armstrong Empire, which is "A Look at the Worldwide Church of God" as started by Herbert W. Armstrong, you certainly need to do so. This book is valuable as it contains a personal interview with Garner Ted Armstrong as to why his father "tied the can on him" for awhile. There is a lot of material in the book that you need in advising others. It is $4.50.

     When you want a gift for someone a book is about the best for any occasion. The People's New Testament With Notes, by B. W. Johnson, is excellent for a younger Christian in the faith, or for older people who need something that is helpful but simply written. It is $7.50 per copy. Another very helpful book is Halley's Bible Handbook, and we have a few of the new revised edition for only $5.95. The book contains 860 pages. There are still some copies of the New Testament Commentary remaining. This is the book by E. M. Zerr, who started out to write "a commentary for the common man" and succeeded. The volume contains comments and explanations upon every verse in the new covenant scriptures and it sells for $7.00. The supply is limited. A beautiful gift for young people and the family is Hurlbut's Story of the Bible for $7.95. It will grace any library table. Too, you might think of The New International Version of the New Testament, a lovely and appropriate book which sells for $5.95. Again we urge you to give books--the gift that can be opened more than once! Bless the life of someone with good reading material.