A Review of "Right Where I Belong" by Krista McGee

This was a free ebook read, provided to me by Booksneeze for the purposes of review.

There was nothing too extraordinary in this novel, but it was enjoyable none the less. My only quarrel would be that it comes across as a bit preachy and not particularly nuanced, but the story (while predictable) was a fun read, and the characters were well developed and yet left you wanting more. The characters were likeable, though I at times felt like this novel was the middle one in a series, and that I was missing pieces that would have helped me to understand the story and characters more fully.  I appreciated the emphasis on calling rather than on income as the major guiding factor in choosing one's career path.  It was a simple novel, but all in all not a bad read!

Surprised by Oxford: A Review

Surprised by Oxford (by Carolyn Weber) has been on my read and review list for over a year.  I attempted to make my way through this lengthy title several times over, and ultimately never managed to succeed in finishing the read.

If I'm honest, this was a great disappointment to me.  Since the book had been highly recommended by several favorite bloggers, I eagerly requested a copy when it was made available on Booksneeze.com for review.  The copy on the book jacket (and the recommendations of others) suggested exactly the sort of memoir that I usually prefer - a coming to faith story complimented by time in a somewhat different culture, and much intellectual and literary discussion.  Unfortunately, I felt that this book bogged down in exactly this - the literary and intellectual discussion.  I wanted so badly to find the text appealing, and instead found that I struggled to enjoy the writing style and that I longed for a bit more emotionalism and a few less literary references.  I plan to eventually re-approach this book, to give it a final try, but I think I'll wait until I have time to devote a larger amount of mental energy to understanding, absorbing and completing this read, rather than struggling to force interest at a time when I find myself in need of lighter reading fare.

A Review of Sabbath by Dan Allender

This book is the centre of a series of funny timing in my life.  I requested a review copy of it from Booksneeze.com back in February, and started waiting.  When it had been several months and it still hadn't appeared, I contacted them, and looked into the missing book.  They sent me a new copy, and life happened.  I hardly made any progress on reading this book until this week.

How perfectly exquisite is God's sense of humor that in a week where I have been craving silence, quiet, rest, and space, one of the items on my to do list was to finally tackle Dan Allender's book on Sabbath?

I can say for certain that this book will be the centre of further conversations on my blog.

Allender offers a thoughtful and beautifully written discussion of the idea of practicing Sabbath.  It's a topic I've thought often about in recent years, a topic I've listened to various speakers address, and even a topic I've read about, but I don't believe I've ever heard someone address it in a way that made me long for the sort of Sabbath they were describing.  Allender's book did that for me.

The idea that the Sabbath is to be a time filled with delight is central to his premise, and is an idea striking to me - so contrary from the dry, studious, and perhaps even boring ideas of Sabbath that pepper my conservative Christian background.  A day of delight - a day for hope, to set aside work, and worry, a day to enjoy the best - good food and wine, wonderful relationships, and deep conversations.  That sort of description has me pondering how I can practice Sabbath in my own life and context.

I'd highly recommend this book - it's not prescriptive, but presents instead a beautiful argument for the centrality of sabbath not only to the Christian faith, but to our very ability to live full, rich lives.  It's not a complicated read, but is well written, the words flowing beautifully.

As I said, it was a book that fit wonderfully into a week that found me craving quiet rest, and spoke truths that will carry forward with me into the remainder of my life.

Note:  I was provided a free copy of Sabbath by the Booksneeze.com review team.  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated beyond the copy of the book, and was not required to provide a positive review.

Mini Reviews (Part 5)

Letters from the Land of Cancer (Walter Wangerin Jr.)

I was hoping for more from this title.  A memoir of his journey through cancer treatments, the book is a series of letters to friends and family, with a few reflections interspersed.  I think that I was hoping for a more intimate account of the day to day struggles, and this isn't what was provided.  That said, towards the end of the book, I was moved to tears as I sat on the bus and read the closing of his account.  It's not the easiest read, not particularly flowing, and perhaps even a bit dense - like reading the correspondence of a stranger, without any emotional attachment.  So, not a stellar recommendation, but definitely not a wasted read.

In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom (Qanta A. Ahmed, MD)

 

This was an absolutely fascinating read, and one which I will likely re-read at some point in the months to come.  It is the personal account of a single female British Muslim doctor, who, after training in the United States, suddenly found herself without a visa, and accepted a position in Saudi Arabia.  It explores medicine, her experiences as a woman, and as a Muslim.  I was particularly captured by her description of her experience of hajj, and of encounters with the religious police.  As I read I found myself making a list of questions, to be answered with further reading and research.  A book that captures me with narrative and leaves me with challenging questions for further reading and study is pretty much my definition of a great read.  For those interested in Islam, the middle east, memoir, culture, or even women's issues, this is definitely worth the time spent reading, and as I said, I expect to re-read it later in the year.

Mini Reviews (Part 4)

A Cup of Friendship (Deborah Rodriguez)

I bought this particular title on a whim, based on a suggestion from a friend.  I'd loved Rodriguez's memoir Kabul Beauty School and was willing to give her first attempt at fiction a try.  It was a great story.  In many ways, the story-telling of Kabul Beauty School carried through to A Cup of Friendship, detailing the intersecting lives centered around a cafe in Kabul, and it's owner, Sunny.  The story-telling was fabulous, the characters complex and believable, and the book left you feeling as if you'd truly been given a window into both Afghani culture and the lives of the ex-pats living in Kabul after the initial defeat of the Taliban.  If you're interested in travel, and culture, and looking for an easy read, this is your book!

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress (Rhoda Janzen)

I listened to the unabridged audio version of this book, and I'll admit that I had high hopes for it, since I've had connections to the Mennonite culture for quite a number of years, studied Mennonite history in university, and had read positive things about the book on a few different blogs that I follow.  The text on the jacket promised that this title was "an immensely moving memoir of healing."  It didn't feel like that to me.  It felt like more of a chance to poke fun at the culture that the author suddenly found herself relocated back to, after some painful turns of events.  Janzen does not claim to profess the faith of her culture or her parents and her tone, though trying to be respectful, comes off almost as derisive and dismissive.  And honestly, I'm not sure we see a journey of healing, other than the physical healing that came as she recovered in her parent's home from the injuries sustained in a terrible car accident.  The book is humorous, but at times crass, and it seems as if Janzen goes out of her way to point out the many flaws of the faith and culture of her family and childhood, while focusing far less often on the positive things it also gave her.  I can't decide if I'd recommend this one or not.  It was funny, but left a bit of a bad taste in mouth as well.

Mini Reviews (Part 3)

Safe People: How to Find Relationships that are Good for You and Avoid Those That Aren't (Dr Henry Cloud & Dr. John Townsend)

I have no idea, honestly, how to sum this book up.  A friend suggested it to me back in September of last year, I resisted, eventually ordered it, and spent several of my late fall bus reading sessions working my way through it.  In the last few weeks I've taken the time to go back through, reading the parts I marked in the fall, and making notes, taking note of what struck me at the time I first read it, and why it struck me then, and how those things were sitting with me now.  It was a relatively easy read, in the sense of being a book that is not technical, but easy to understand and apply.  It was not at all an easy read in that, for me, it spoke deeply, convicting, challenging me, speaking into questions and parts of my life that were very much relevant and helpful.  If you are asking questions about friendships, or other relationships, or have experienced a number of less than healthy ones, I really can't recommend this book enough.  The development of safe, healthy relationships has been something I've struggled with, often choosing profoundly unhealthy and even abusive relationships because I was desperately seeking to be loved and accepted.   The book explored not only what makes a relationship safe or unsafe, but also the reasons that can contribute to choosing unsafe relationships. I found this book to be profoundly helpful as I worked through some difficult relational issues, made some hard decisions, and ultimately believe it has contributed to me moving towards a far more healthy place.  I may have to come back and talk about it at length at some point in the future.

Dreaming in Hindi: Coming Awake in Another Language (Katherine Russell Rich)

To be honest, this book was a disappointment.  It seemed like my dream book - a memoir about travel and learning a new language and culture, while incorporating ideas from linguistics about the process of language acquisition, and exploring the changes on the world stage following 9/11.  (The author, a native New Yorker, landed in India to begin her year of language school, just days before 9/11.)  Everything that I'm theoretically fascinated with, all rolled up into one book.  Unfortunately, it fell short.  It read like a disjointed stream of consciousness, moving back and forth from linguistic theory to personal anecdote, and I felt like there was never anything to grasp on to.  In many ways, it felt aimless, as if it really was a dream, drifting and wandering without ever particularly arriving at a conclusion.  The characters were vague, in fact the author herself seemed vague about the impact of this year on her psyche.  There was no conclusion, no definitive timeline to follow, no way to keep the progression of events straight.  I can't say I'd recommend this one to anyone.

Crazy Love

For the last number of months (five or so, I think), my house church has been reading and studying Francis Chan's book, "Crazy Love," together.  Just this last week, we finished it.  It's been (in my opinion) a really good thing for our house church to read and study like this together, and Crazy Love has been an ideal fit for us, since there is also a very affordable DVD curriculum available, with one 8-10 minute video for each chapter, and included discussion starters.

To be honest, I'm more excited about what studying together has done for our little house church, than I am about the actual content of the book.  Reading and studying together has stirred discussion, has brought out opinions from some of the quieter people, has inspired people to step up and agree to lead discussion, or to read and get involved.

The content of the book itself, didn't feel new to me.  That said, I read fairly widely, and have read several titles that challenge the reader to take the call of the gospels to follow Christ seriously.

There were two chapters I found particularly striking, however.

The first was chapter 4 - Profile of the Lukewarm.  It wasn't so much that the information was new, just that it was presented in a way that was a hard to ignore - a way that caused me to stop again and consider how I'm living, to stop and pray and ask the Lord what I need to be aware of.  Using the parable of the seeds and the sower, Chan cautions readers, "Do not assume you are good soil."  (pg. 67)  He goes on to list a number of characteristics of the lukewarm.  Characteristics like:

Lukewarm people give money to charity and to the church...as long as it doesn't impinge on their standard of living.  If they have a little extra and it is easy and safe to give, they do so.  After all, God loves a cheerful giver, right? (pg. 69)

Lukewarm people don't really want to be saved from their sin; they want only to be saved from the penalty of their sin.  They don't genuinely hate sin and aren't truly sorry for it; they're merely sorry because God is going to punish them.  Lukewarm people don't really believe that this new life Jesus offers is better than the old sinful one.  (pg. 70)

Lukewarm people love others but do not seek to love others as much as they love themselves.  Their love of others is typically focused on those who love them in return, like family, friends, and other people they know and connect with.  There is little love left over for those who cannot love them back, much less for those who intentionally slight them, whose kids are better athletes than theirs, or with whom conversations are awkward or uncomfortable.  Their love is highly conditional and very selective and comes with strings attached.  (pg. 73)

Lukewarm people are continually concerned with playing it safe; they are slaves to the god of control.  This focus on safe living keeps them from sacrificing and risking for God. (pg. 77)

Lukewarm people do not live by faith; their lives are structured so they never have to.  They don't have to trust God if something unexpected happens - they have their savings account.  They don't need God to help them - they have their retirement plan in place.  They don't genuinely seek out what life God would have them live - they have life figured and mapped out.  They don't depend on God on a daily basis - their refrigerators are full and, for the most part, they are in good health.  The truth is, their lives wouldn't look much different if they suddenly stopped believing in God. (pg. 78)

Challenging, huh?

The other chapter (Chapter 8 - Profile of the Obsessed) that caught me did so for much the same reasons.  Instead of profiling the lukewarm, it profiles the one who is obsessed with Christ, and includes statements like these:

People who are obsessed with Jesus aren't consumed with their personal safety and comfort above all else.  Obsessed people care more about God's kingdom coming to this earth than their own lives being shielded from pain or distress. (pg. 133)

People who are obsessed with Jesus live lives that connect them with the poor in some way or another.  Obsessed people believe that Jesus talked about money and the poor so often because it was really important to Him (1 John 2:4-6; Matt. 16:24-26). (pg. 135)

Obsessed people are more concerned with obeying God than doing what is expected or fulfilling the status quo. (pg. 136)

People who are obsessed are raw with God; they do not attempt to mask the ugliness of their sins or their failures.  Obsessed people don't put it on for God; He is their safe place, where they can be at peace. (pg. 144)

A person who is obsessed with Jesus is more concerned with his or her character than comfort.  Obsessed people know that true joy doesn't depend on circumstances or environment; it is a gift that must be chosen and cultivated, a gift that ultimately comes from God (James 1:2-4). (pg. 146)

I read this second chapter the same week I was challenged by some stories of people in real life who really were learning what it meant to live obsessed - to not be certain of safety or comforts, to live in obedience.  The combination of Chan's words and these stories I'd encountered was powerful and convicting.

All in all, I'd say Crazy Love is very much worth the read.  Yes, it didn't have a lot that was brand new material, but Chan's heart is sincere, his words are challenging, and for me, anyway, God used this book to challenge how I think about my life and faith and how that gets lived out.

A Review of "In Constant Prayer"

I was delighted when "In Constant Prayer" popped up as an option for a review on booksneeze.com and immediately requested a copy.  Prayer is one of my favorite topics, and by far the most helpful book I've ever read on the subject (Living Prayer) was also written by Benson.  He has become one of my favorite authors, and this book, like all the others of his that I've read, was excellent.  "In Constant Prayer" is part of The Ancient Practices series, exploring the ancient traditions of the church and whether they are applicable to modern culture.  In Constant Prayer examines the tradition of fixed hour prayer, or praying the offices.

Benson writes in a style that engages the reader, and, though I've never heard him speak, as I began to read, I could "hear" his voice - the familiar (and now much beloved) voice and tone from his other books begin to draw me in, and couldn't help but smile.

As an introduction to praying the offices, this is fabulous -engaging and easy to follow, while providing enough history and narrative to draw the reader into the idea of joining in a millenia old concert of prayer.  I did found myself wishing for a more examples of the actual structure of the offices, but am confident that I'll be able to find these in the recommended titles that Benson included at the end of the book.

This book is well worth the read - both for those who already believe a life of prayer is important, and for those who are just beginning to wonder if perhaps there is something to the idea of praying regularly, joining with the saints.

note: In Constant Prayer was provided to me at no charge by booksneeze.com.  I was not required to write a positive review.  All opinions expressed here are my own.

Mini Reviews (Part 2)

Here are a few more mini book reviews - one from a book I just completed on the weekend, and the others from books I read later in 2010.

Tea With Hezbollah (Ted Dekker & Carl Medearis)

This book chronicles a journey of discovery that the two authors took through the Middle East, with stops in such unlikely places as Israel, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudia Arabia and Syria, in hopes of answering the question of whether Jesus' greatest teaching to love your neighbor as yourself, and his story of the good samaritan had any relevance in the Middle East today.  I had high hopes for this one, knowing of Dekker's skill as a storyteller, and having read Medearis' excellent "Muslims, Christians, and Jesus."  Unfortunately the book mostly fell short.  It was an interesting dialogue, with some good questions, but was slow, lacking story telling.  The most compelling part of the book, a story about a young woman named Nicole, turned out to be a modern sort of parable, concocted by Dekker, and in this, his skill as a storyteller shone.  However, discovering that the story of Nicole was a parable, at the very end of the book, was disappointing, and felt like a deception, thanks to the way it had been presented, woven through the very real dialogues of the authors.  I can't decide if I'd say that this was worth the read or not.  I'm not sorry I read it, and it certainly added to my thoughts on travel, Islam, the middle east, and even terrorism, but it did fall significantly short of the hopes I'd had for it.

The Silver Chair (C.S. Lewis)

The Silver Chair has long been my favorite of the Chronicles of Narnia, and Jill Pole amongst my favorite of the various children the series depicts.  I would be sold on the book for a scene in the first few pages alone - a scene discussing thirst and truth, and one which is well worth the price.  But I love The Silver Chair for it's themes of light and darkness, for it's idea of journeying, for the ways it depicts deception disguised as truth, for it's discussion of how easy it is to become distracted in our focus.  I honestly can't say enough good things about this one!

Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile (Rob Bell & Don Golden)

This book was another disappointment.  I'd loved the "Jesus Wants to Save Christians" sermon series that Bell preached several years back, and I'd loved both of Bell's previous books, "Velvet Elvis" and "Sex God", but "Jesus Wants to Save Christians" fell short for me.  Within days of finishing the book, I felt like I couldn't tell you what it was about, or whether it had important things to say - to me, this is a sign of less than stellar communication.    Looking back, I feel like it raised some important challenges for the western church, but I'd be hard pressed to define or repeat those challenges without actually opening the book and turning to find the bits and pieces I'd marked as I read through it.  Not really a recommended read, though I would be curious to listen to the audio version, as I've often found that the more stale written parts of Bell's work come alive when he is reading them and giving them a life and voice.

A Review of The Least Among You

The Least Among You tells the story of Richard Kelly, a young black man arrested during the 1965 Watts riots, who is serving probation by attending an all white seminary.  The story chronicles his journey of adapting to life in the seminary.  Kelly never wanted to attend seminary, and didn’t know what he believed about God.  He certainly hadn’t bargained for an all white seminary that was opposed to the idea of integration.  The plot ultimately centers around his need to decide whether violence or peace, truth or lies are the best answer to the challenges he faces.

To be honest, I didn’t like the movie.  It was dark – not just in theme, but in the way it was shot.  Every scene was dim and grey.  The story was not the most compelling of racial integration stories, and moved almost painfully slowly.  But most confusingly, it suffered from loose ends and unexplained details.  A topic was introduced, and then not followed through.  I was left with questions – what happened to Richard’s mother?  What about the drug money?  Why was it important to know that the president of the seminary had lost a son and had a wife who was severely depressed.  The filmmakers of The Least Among You had the chance to tell a compelling story that all those who have experienced that moment of questioning God’s calling and action could relate to.  Unfortunately, their story was lost in a myriad of rabbit trails and suffered from mediocre execution of the storytelling.

note: The Least Among You was provided to me as a free review copy from booksneeze.com.

Food Rules

I've talked before about my love of Jamie Oliver and cooking.  About the healthy changes in eating, cooking, and supplement taking I've been making over the last few years.  However, if you had told me two years ago that I would be the kind of person who would read an entire book (even if it was a smallish book) on the topic of simple ways to have a healthier diet, I'd have laughed at you.  Long and hard.  And then I was converted to healthier ways because of necessity when my own health failed me, and last week I actually read a whole book on the topic of healthier eating.  I read Michael Pollan's "Food Rules: An Eater's Manual"

I borrowed this one from the public library, but it's one I'll be ordering and adding to my own library.  I'm also, having whet my appetite on one of his shorter works, planning to read at least one more of Pollan's books on the topic of food - where our food comes from, and how to eat in a way that will make us healthier.  Pollan sums up his healthy eating philosophy in seven words.  "Eat food.  Not too much. Mostly Plants."  You can't get much simpler than that.  More than that, though, this particular book was funny in preventing it's wisdom.  It was broken into three sections of rules, 64 total, one for each sentence in Pollan's seven word philosophy of eating.  I'm including some of my favorite rules from each section below:

Eat Food:

• Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food
• Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce
• Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle
• Eat only foods that will eventually rot
• If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don't.
• It's not food if it arrived through the window of your car.
• It's not food if it's called by the same name in every language.  (Think Big Mac, Cheetos, or Pringles.)

Mostly Plants:

• Eat your colors
• Eat animals that have themselves eaten well
• Don't eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk
• "The whiter the bread, the sooner you'll be dead."
• Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.

Not too much:

• ...Eat less
• Eat when you are hungry, not when you are bored.
• Spend as much time enjoying the meal as it took to prepare it
• Don't get your fuel from the same place you car does.
• Treat treats as treats
• Cook
• Break the rules once in a while

Realistically, this was one of the most practical, doable, and basic books I've ever read on this topic.  (Well, it's the only book I've ever read on the topic, but I've read a whole lot of magazine articles and this is still the most basic compilation I've come across.)  More than that, though, what I appreciated was Pollan's sense of moderation.  He doesn't suggest that you make all 64 rules hard and fast - his advice is to pick some from each section and make those changes.  The explanations that go with each of the rules were simple, yet convincing, filling in the gaps of some of the less obvious things, and I actually felt like I walked away from this book with some new ideas for healthy eating, and knowing things about food that I didn't realize before.  Like I said at the beginning, though I initially borrowed this one from the public library, I'll be purchasing a copy ASAP for my own library.

My question is this - which of these rules do you like the best, or what "rules" of your own do you live by for healthy eating?

Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore (with Lynn Vincent)

“Same Kind of Different As Me” tells the story of Denver, a homeless black man, and Ron, a rich, white, international art dealer, and their unlikely friendship prayed into existence by Ron’s wife.

Memoirs of this sort are generally among my favorite books, but as I began to read this one, I feared it would disappoint.  I was wrong.  The story started slowly, and it took me a great number of chapters to sort out the two voices, and get used to shifting back and forth between the two authors.  Once I got the hang of it, though, the story was one I couldn’t put down.  The perspective of reciprocity in relationship between these two men, of how much they learned from each other moved me deeply, and tears collected as I reached the end of the story late last night.  I was particularly challenged by the unique metaphor of catch and release relationships that was woven through much of the book, and paused to reflect on some of my own relationships to consider whether I was valuing them in that way.  While I wasn’t initially sure that this would be a book I could recommend, I’m pleased to say that it is a story well worth the read.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

I am Hutterite by Mary Ann Kirkby

“I am Hutterite” by Mary-Ann Kirkby tells the story of the author’s early childhood in a reclusive Hutterite colony in Manitoba, and of the extraordinary transition necessary for her family when her parents chose to leave community life and everything they’d known behind for a life outside the colony.

This was a fascinating story.  Perhaps because it appealed to the religious history geek in me – the person enthralled by groups like the Hutterites and Mennonites and Amish that emerged after the reformation.  And perhaps simply because at each trip to the local farmer’s market I see Hutterites selling their farm goods (usually some of the nicest available) and I felt like this book opened up the closed world of the Hutterite colonies in a way that is both sympathetic and challenging.  “I am Hutterite” presented a challenging perspective on life both within and without of a community of faith, and is well worth the read.

Disclaimer: “I am Hutterite” was provided to me free of charge via Thomas Nelson publisher’s booksneeze.com blogger review program.  I was not compensated in any way for this review, nor compelled to write a positive review.

Review: The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns

The Hole in Our Gospel is the story of Richard Stearns, formerly a CEO in corporate America, now president of World Vision USA.  Essentially he challenges the reader to consider the idea that a Christian faith without an emphasis on caring for the world’s poor, is not much of a faith at all.

I had high hopes for this book.  I care passionately about issues of poverty, but to be honest, the book fell flat.  There was nothing here that was new information for someone who’s taken the time to educate themselves on issues of poverty and social justice.  At times it felt a bit as if Stearns had taken it upon himself to preach the same set of tired facts, and I found myself wishing that the book has been more of the memoir of his transition from corporate CEO to president of World Vision, as the book jacket copy seemed to promise, and less of the sermon it turned out to be.  It’s usually stories that inspire me to action, not facts, and this book was light on stories and heavy on facts.  That said, it would be a good read for someone who had very little concept of the poverty crisis facing the world today.

Disclaimer:  This book was provided to me free, for review, by Thomas Nelson Publishers via their booksneeze.com program.