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The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » Book Review

Book Review

My Best Reading Advice

By Bob Hostetleron October 16, 2024
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My wife and I, newly married and preparing to enter training for ministry, hosted a seasoned pastor in our home for one of our entrance interviews. He asked what sorts of books we’d been reading, and we answered. I expected him to be impressed with my answer. After all … well, never mind.

But he smiled kindly. “May I offer a piece of advice?”

What were we going to say? “No”? So we gave the expected answer.

“Don’t read books,” he said. And then, after an artful pause: “Read authors.”

Ding ding ding. I may not be smart (hold your comments, please), but I knew immediately that this was something to hold onto.

He explained briefly that there are so many books to read (and this was before Amazon existed!), that one could spend a lifetime consuming this and that, wheat and chaff, hit or miss. But when you find an author of worth, you’ll do yourself a favor if you make a note and pursue his or her oeuvre.

I remember nothing else of our appointment with that good man. But that was worth the price of the glass of our iced tea he drank. Since then, my life has been enriched by so many authors: William Shakespeare, William Faulkner, E. M. Bounds, Samuel Logan Brengle, Eugene Peterson, Dallas Willard, Robert Frost, Dashiell Hammett, E. Stanley Jones, A. W. Tozer, Louis L’Amour, C. S. Lewis, Josh McDowell, Francis Schaeffer, John Steinbeck, Mark Twain, James Michener, Charles Dickens, Wendell Berry, Jack London, Mary Oliver, Anne Lamott, G. K. Chesterton, and, more recently, Wallace Stegner, Kent Krueger, Leif Enger, and so many more—including my wonderful clients, of course, all of whom belong somewhere between Lamott and Chesterton in the above list.

This is not to say that there’s no room in my reading for new authors (or “one-hit wonders,” so to speak); I intentionally include such books in my annual reading plan (which I’ve written about here). But once I find an author who floats my literary boat, I’ll keep reading like a dog on a bone, even if that means mixing metaphors and similes.

So, how about you? Do you read “books”? Or “authors”? Do tell, please.

 

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Category: Book Review, Career, Encouragement, Inspiration, Reading

What Did You Read This Summer?

By Steve Laubeon September 9, 2024
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In 1957 H. L. Mencken coined a new word to describe a group of people that he called the bibliobibuli, which means “people who read too much.” (From the Greek “biblio,” meaning books, and the Latin “bibulous,” from “bibere,” to drink.) But how much is too much? And who decides that? I happen to believe that there is always room for more. I was once …

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Category: Book Review, ReadingTag: Book Review, Reading

Read Old, Read New

By Bob Hostetleron July 3, 2024
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I’ve posted before on this blog about my annual reading plan (here), which I’ve done for most of my life to keep my reading varied and voluminous, year after year. So it will come as no surprise to those who know me or know of my reading plan that I strongly advise reading both new books and old books, especially for writers. Thus, two of the categories in my annual reading plan are “classics” and …

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Category: Book Review

Books That Change Lives

By Bob Hostetleron May 9, 2024
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Many of us aspire to write books that change lives. There’s no better reason to write. And if you ask a writer to name a book that changed his or her life, you’re likely to get a quick—and informative—answer. So, I asked some writer friends to name the book (in addition to the Bible) that changed their lives. Here are some of their responses: My mindset changed once I read Joyce Meyer’s …

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Category: Book Review, Inspiration

April Tool’s Day

By Steve Laubeon April 1, 2024
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I decided not to try and trick you on April Fool’s Day with something like “Steve Laube buys yet another shiny industry business. This time he bought the entire out-of-print catalogs from Nomas Telson, Zyndale, and Tondervan. Included in the purchase was the New International Christian Standard Living Message Bible (NICSLMB).” Instead, I thought about which reference book I use …

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Category: Book Review, Craft, Creativity, Personal, Reading, Steve, Writing CraftTag: Book Review, Craft, Creativity

Books You Missed in School?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon November 1, 2023
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To be great writers, we must be avid readers. To be informed citizens of the world, we must read widely. As part of my independent, ongoing education, I’m reading a few titles my teachers didn’t assign. One is The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. Teachers mentioned the novel, but few readers in modern times seem to have read it. Initially published in 1905, Sinclair’s work exposed the …

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Category: Book Review

Everyone is a Critic

By Steve Laubeon July 10, 2023
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One of the burdens an artist must bear is the scrutiny of public opinion. It can either be exhilarating or devastating. At the risk of oversimplifying the issue, let’s look at some categories that define this topic. Opinion Everyone has an opinion. The problem for the author is to determine how much weight to give to those opinions. One mistake a writer will make is to ask someone or a group of …

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Category: Book Business, Book Review, Career, Craft, Creativity, Writing CraftTag: Career, Critiques, reviews

Adopting an Author (Not in a Legal Sense)

By Dan Balowon July 5, 2023
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Most authors find the promotion part of publishing a book at best challenging and, at worse, a necessary evil. Some authors enjoy it, seeing it as an important part of getting a book noticed and into the hands of readers. The antidote to this entire platform thing is to first think about readers and those you will influence through your work. It’s a borderline magic potion to enjoying the …

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Category: Book Review, Personal

My 50 Favorite Books (That I Didn’t Write or Represent)

By Bob Hostetleron April 19, 2023
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People occasionally ask me how I became a writer; and my standard answer is, “I was raised in a family of readers.” And over the years I’ve read thousands of books (that I can remember by title and author, that is). Not counting comic books. Not counting textbooks. Oh, and not counting my own books. So, when I sat down recently to try to list my favorite fifty books, I faced a daunting task. I …

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Category: Book Review

Book of the Month – October 2021

By Steve Laubeon October 11, 2021
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I’ve known Les Stobbe for well over 30 years. And here he is, at age 91, publishing a new book! God Moments in My Publishing Life: The Making of a Writer and Publisher was just released by EABooks Publishing. I want to recommend it to all of you. I had the honor of endorsing this book and wrote, “It is important to hear the stories of our industry’s history. Our confidence in …

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Category: Book Review
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