A Beggars Purse Perfect Paperback – July 6, 2010

A Beggars Purse starts out as sweet reminiscing of a child growing up in a California beach town in the 1950's, but don't let that fool you. It was during Toni Nelson's childhood that God planted seeds of compassion in her heart that would bloom years later in the desert of Nevada. I related to the stories of her childhood, memories so similar to my own, and I appreciated the open honesty she shows when first confronted with the growing wave of the homeless in Nevada. Toni also acknowledges the quandary she and her husband faced about giving money to a person who may use it for their addiction, or offering to buy them a meal and risk their displeasure.This short book is easy to read, and informative for anyone interacting with those who have fallen through the cracks. I read it on Kindle.

It took me no time to read this book. I could not put it down. From the first page I was captivated and could not stop.Not only was I caught in the simplicity and the joy of the story but I cried sharing some parts of it with my family. I celebrated with the heroine her heart changes, her pains and her love of Jesus.I bought two books immediately because I know people I would gift this delightful gem to, sharing the life lessons and joys in it.Toni Nelson imparted with alacrity, humility and introspection a wonderful heartfelt experience of life and learning.

I loved this book! Toni Nelson is a talented writer with the ability to describe a situation for the reader so vividly that they can visualize the story and walk through it with her. For example, the opening line of this book is “Our house was shaped like a cube of butter and was even the same, creamy yellow color”. I love that! And, I loved seeing the kitchen’s “red Formica tabletop (that) sat on its stylish chrome legs under a huge window about the size of a sheet of plywood that faced out onto what we called the playing field”.In this book, Toni writes about her childhood and the values instilled by her grandparents to treat others with kindness who were less fortunate. They lived near the train tracks and gave food to many of the hobos who were just passing by. Those childhood memories and values resurface in Toni as an adult living in Nevada where she experiences many homeless people. Her initial reaction is how most people react - turn away and act like you don’t see it. However, her husband and her faith challenge her to think differently. She adopts her husband’s philosophy of not giving the homeless people money (which could possibly fuel a bad habit), but always providing a meal to anyone who may be in need. Toni learns that by opening her heart to their needs, she begins to fulfill the greater call that God has placed on her life. Toni reaches out to ask people their name. She strikes up conversations with them. She starts to really see the people that others don’t see.Although it is an interesting and enjoyable read about Toni’s journey, in a gentle way she encourages readers to follow her lead. The book I received included a brown paper bag with the suggestion to pack a lunch and hand it to a homeless person. If that step is too bold, Toni offers other suggestions to get involved by filling it with some canned goods and dropping it off at a local food bank or to just use it as visual reminder to be grateful for the blessings that you’ve been given -- your friends, a roof over your head, a satisfied stomach, etc.I was blessed to meet this author through goodreads.com and received a complimentary copy of this book. I certainly intend to pay it forward by delivering several brown paper bags filled with lunches in a nearby town. Thank you Toni for opening up my eyes and my heart to see things as you do!

Wow. For such a short book, I have a lot to say about A Beggars Purse by Toni Nelson. I won the book through a giveaway hosted by the author on Goodreads. It has been at least two months since I received the book, and I'm sure she has given up on me by now. Never fear-the book just got pushed back on the to-read list, with book club books taking priority. :) A Beggars Purse is a short memoir about a woman and her attitude for the homeless, or what she calls "hobos" when she is a child. The book probably only took me a total of two to three hours to read once I got started.Let me be honest with you. I am probably the farthest thing from religious you will ever find. I dislike Christian-themed works because I usually feel like they are preaching to me. While I don't like to argue with people about religion, I would rather not discuss it at all. You can imagine my surprise when I turned my newly received book over and read the synopsis, which made it clear how religious Nelson is. The first page of the book (before the Acknowledgements) displays a Bible verse. Ever the cataloger, I flipped to see the Library of Congress subject headings on the back of the title page, and those were "Religion / Christian Life / Social Issues" and "Religion / Christian Life / Stewardship and Giving." I let forth the largest internal groan you could imagine. What did I get myself into? I requested to be entered to win this book, so clearly I did not read the description very well.Let me tell you something else. The religious aspect of this book was not that bad! Nelson portrays religion in a "this is how I see it and how it fits into my life" manner, not a "this is how it should be done, and you should do it too" manner. I did not feel like Nelson was preaching at me, though there was one part that started talking about God that I just had to skim through to get back to the storyline. While the religious nature didn't bother me as much as I thought it would, it still wasn't really my thing.A Beggars Purse has an interesting "plot." Toni Nelson seems to have led an interesting life, and she presents it in a manner-of-fact way. Do you remember sitting with your grandparents or older relatives on a hot summer day and listen to them relay stories about what it was like when they were younger? This book has that feeling to it. I would not call it particularly eloquent, but the stories had a decent flow to them. The book was definitely more about Nelson's life than the homeless population, but the sections tied together nicely. Nelson held ambivalent views toward the homeless population throughout her life, but she eventually came to the point as an adult where she felt passionately about giving food to the homeless. She acknowledged her own faults, as there was a time when she did think of the homeless as responsible for their own situation.Toni Nelson herself is a really nice person. The copy of the book she sent to me was personally signed to me by name. One of the neatest things about the giveaway is that she included a brown paper sack with a piece of paper attached to it. The sheet of paper encourages us to do a variety of things with it, like pack a lunch and give it to a homeless person, pack it with food to drop off at a local food bank, or just us it as a "visual reference . . . that you have a roof over your head and a satisfied stomach." I am somewhat of a bleeding heart myself, and I like the idea of giving food to people who need it. Overall, Nelson's book is worth the read, particularly because it is such a fast read. I would actually have liked it to be a little longer than it was. I plan to loan this to a coworker I think will most likely appreciate it more than I could.This review was originally posted on the Book Blag at Wordpress.