Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Then Sings My Soul - Book Review



In case you didn’t know, there less than 46 days left until Christmas. I put a countdown to Christmas counter way down at the bottom of the blog and forgot to mention it until now. So, if you ever need to know how many shopping days are left, just check back here and look at the bottom of the page and you’ll know!

Speaking of Christmas, leads us to Christmas shopping. Have you started yours yet? A few years ago for Christmas, I gave my grandmother the book Then Sings My Soul 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymn Stories. My grandmother liked to read and she also liked old gospel hymns and when I saw the book in the store, I knew it would be a good choice for her Christmas present. Since that time a second edition was published and now the author, Robert J. Morgan, has come out with a special edition which includes 150 Christmas, Easter and All-time favorite hymns.

If you have never seen or heard of this series of books, allow me to tell you a little bit about them. Obviously, each book contains 150 hymns. The hymn, along with it’s music is on one side of the page and on the other side is the story of how the hymn was written or the story behind the hymn – how it came to be.


The special edition, as stated, includes some of the most beloved Christmas hymns including The First Noel, Hark The Herald Angels Sing,, Away in a Manger, and It Came Upon a Midnight Clear. The book also has a selection of patriotic songs and their stories, including The Star Spangled Banner, and America, the Beautiful. To complete the 150 hymns, the special edition has the stories of some of the most beloved hymns like Abide with Me, Jesus Loves Me, and Rock of Ages and it also has the hymn and story of one of my most favorite songs, There is a Balm in Gilead.

The book is in paperback form and I really like the way it looks which was another reason I was drawn to it when I bought the original copy for my grandmother all those years ago. The sides of the pages look like they are torn or made from handmade paper which to me gives the book a really classic and unique feel and look. It is one of my favorite features about the book. Then Sings My Soul is 310 pages and includes three indexes – one alphabetical by title, the second alphabetical by the first line of the song and the third alphabetical by the author/songwriter – so that you can easily find the song for which you are looking.



Then Sings My Soul is a great book for anyone who loves hymns. The list price is $19.99, but it can be found on Amazon for less than $15. Buy it for the music lover on your Christmas list!

This book review was written in coordination with my association with BookSneeze. All reviews are my own opinion. I was not paid for this review, but did receive a free copy of the book.

2 comments:

Erika said...

I think I got the 1st publication for Mr. and Mrs. "V" last year; I think I will be getting this version for them this year! Great idea, and a perfect gift for those hard to shop for. Thanks for the suggestion!

Mary McLaughlin said...

I think I'm gonna get that for my mom! I was trying to think of something to get her and this is perfect!! Thank you!