Mark Driscoll
287 pages

I had heard of Mark Driscoll before I read Religion Saves. He appeared on a podcast of a show  that I listen to regularly. He was discussing the church and culture and how Mars Hill Church, which is located in Seattle, is confronting culture and is growing at a rapid rate. I have listened to several of the podcasts from his church, I read his blog occasionally and I have visited The Resurgence on a several occasions. So I pretty much knew what I was getting when I requested a review copy of this book.

I have mentioned before that I tend to love books that deal with doctrine and with Christianity and culture. The premise of Religion Saves is that Driscoll would address the most difficult or controversial questions posed by visitors to his church’s web site. After votes were cast the top nine were chosen and appear in the book. He then proceeds to address some very difficult topics in a very straight-forward, simple and humorous way. Some of the topics are delicate(birth control, sexual sin, dating) some are theologically weighty(predestination, grace, faith and works, the regulative principle)and some seem out of place but turn out to be very enlightening(The Emerging Church and Humor.)

Driscoll has been criticized for being bold and outspoken. That  doesn’t bother me at all. In a world where it’s okay to have sexuality paraded around on my TV and music is filled with sexually explicit lyrics and cursing, I am fine with hearing/reading a pastor discussing doctrine, sin, and other issues of faith in a bold and outspoken manner. Some things just need to be said. There is no soft-pedaling it.

I found this book to address some difficult subjects in a completely accessible way. The message isn’t always easy but it’s always truthful. I would recommend this book if you are interested in delving into some significant questions of faith in the simplest most straight-forward manner possible. I give it my highest rating(and so would my almost 18 year-old son who snatched it and devoured it before I had the chance! ) I wish I lived closer to Seattle. I would love to visit Mars Hill Church. (5/5)

Amity Shlaes

Audiobook (Narrated by Terence Aselford)

The Forgotten Man  is a book that is packed with information. It recounts The Great Depression from several different viewpoints. There are snippets of thought(complete with quotes)of the major players including Roosevelt and Hoover but we also learn of lesser known characters such as Rex Tugwell, Andrew Mellon and Raymond Moley.

Since I am primarily a visual learner, I struggled quite a bit with the volume of information contained in this audiobook. It would have been much easier for me to absorb the information if I had been reading a physical copy. However, non-fiction is one genre that I find well-suited to audio so that’s why I chose this one. I found The Forgotten Man fascinating and there were several times that I wanted to make notes about the parallels to the things that I see happening today. However, because I was busy doing other things as I was listening, that didn’t happen. 

The overall theme I came away with this book was that though it may have been well-intentioned, the experimentation done by Roosevelt and other people during this time in history actually prolonged The Depression. We see some of the same things being repeated today as far as huge spending versus scaling back and reducing the deficit. 

In all honesty, though I found this a fascinating book as I was listening, I didn’t retain a lot of it. I would like to revisit the print version because there is a wealth of information there. In light of current events, I highly recommend reading this one. Just take notes. (4/5)

I seem to have gotten the Christmas spirit over the weekend. We decorated, made cookies, and listened to Christmas music.

I also find myself in the mood for some Christmas-themed reading. The only book that I happen to have on hand is The Reluctant Journey of David Connors.  So that’s where I’ll start. I also plan on starting Until We Reach Hometoday or tomorrow.

Do you have any good Christmas book recommendations? Please leave some in the comments and I will check them out.

In other news, I finished The Magician’s Book.

303 pages

Laura Miller

The Magician’s Book is about the author’s experiences with The Chronicles of Narnia. First, as a young student who is offered a copy by her teacher, then as a teenager when she re-reads them and discovers the “hidden” messages that are in the story, and lastly, later on as an adult.
The first time she read these books she was captivated by the story and fell in love with them. When she re-read them as a teenager she felt betrayed by the messages it contained. When she read them again as an adult she finds that she truly does love the story though she doesn’t care for some of the other messages that are present.

I found this book to be very accessible and I enjoyed the author’s writing style. I don’t know if I necessarily agree with all of her conclusions but that was not entirely unexpected. I did enjoy seeing Narnia from a different perspective. I have only read the first two books of The Chronicles of Narnia and only as an adult so I didn’t necessarily have the innocent wonder that a child would have. I am also not a skeptic but a believer. These are two probable reasons why my perceptions are different.
Still, I would recommend this thoughtful book to anyone interested in pondering Narnia.(3/5)

***This author will be featured in an interview on Blog Talk Radio on December 4th. If you’d like to hear the interview you can do so here.

221 pages

Ok, I readily admit that I was supposed to be reading the books that I have listed in my sidebar. But I made a trip to the library and got waylaid by this particular title.  I had heard about it and I was interested in it but I didn’t expect that my library would get it in so fast when I placed the hold. Oh darn, I have an amazing library system. Cursed, I know.

A couple of years ago(before I had a blog) I read Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. While I learned a lot from that book and I enjoyed Ehrenreich’s sense of humor quite a bit, I was left feeling sad and a little irritated at the premise that the American Dream is dead.

Apparently, I am not the only one who felt this way because Scratch Beginnings is in Adam Shepard’s own words:

Socioeconomically speaking, my story is a rebuttal to Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch, the books that speak to the death of the American Dream. With investigative projects of her own, Ehrenreich attempted to establish that working stiffs are doomed to live in the same disgraceful conditions forever. I resent that theory, and my story is a search to evaluate if hard work and discipline provide any payoff whatsoever or if they are, as Eherenreich suggests, futile pursuits.

- Scratch Beginnings pg XV, Introduction

Adam Shepard’s story begins after he has graduated college. He is frustrated by what he sees around him: lack of initiative, whining, entitlement mentality, and reminiscing about the “good ole days”. So he decides to do a test. Armed with only $25, an 8′X10′ tarp, an empty gym bag and the clothes he is wearing he travels to a random city(name drawn from a hat) by train. He is not allowed to use his college education or personal contacts to advance himself in any way and he a goal for himself. Within a year, he must move from homelessness into a productive member of society as defined by: having an operable vehicle, a furnished apartment, $2500 in cash and be in a position to continue improving his position either by going to college or starting his own business.

There are a lot of things to be learned both from Ehrenreich’s book and Scratch Beginnings. For someone like me who grew up in a stable, suburban home, both Nickel and Dimed and The Invisible Poor by David K. Shipler can go a long way toward educating us about the difficulties that are out there. The playing field is definitely not level: that is to say that not everyone starts out with the same advantages. But Scratch Beginnings reminds us that no matter where you start out, there comes a time when you must accept responsibility for your own life. As stated by Leo, one of the guys that Adam meets during his 70 day stay in the homeless shelter:

Some of the people in the lower class start out behind. We all have the same freedoms, true, but those of us born into poverty don’t necessarily have the guidance.

But I’ll tell you this. There comes a time for everybody that it’s time to grow up. I mean, look at me. I came from a broken home. Mama’s got six kids. No daddy. Maybe the lights will turn on today; maybe not. Eatin’ mayonnaise and pickle sandwiches. I started out less fortunate than most people, and I lived my life accordingly. Streets, drugs, violence…all that. But then I turned twenty and realized that it was time to shape up or dead just like everybody else I knew.

- Scratch Beginnings, pgs 102-103

I highly recommend reading Nickel and Dimed and The Invisible Poor to compliment this book. They offer more information on the adversities but they are less hopeful.

For that reason, I loved Scratch Beginnings. I think it presents a balanced perspective between understanding the lives of those less fortunate than ourselves and the adversities that must be overcome, understanding personal responsibility and holding out hope that hard work and perseverance are not vain pursuits. (5/5)

370 pages

Tess Gerritsen

Trying to recover from a divorce, Julia Hamill has bought a 130-year-old home in Massachusetts. She wants to fix it up, work in the garden and feel like she has done something all on her own. While digging in the garden, she unearths a skeleton that is found to be that of a woman who was murdered. Julia ends up feeling haunted by the woman and the time frame that she came from and the reader discovers much about the history of the surrounding area and is taken back in time via letters written(fictitiously) by none other than Oliver Wendell Holmes.

This is my third Tess Gerritsen book and I chose it because of the fact that it alternated between the past and the present. There is quite a bit of medical jargon, mystery and history in this story which qualifies it perfectly for The Medical Mystery Madness Challenge. I would classify this as my favorite book by Gerritsen so far. I was captivated by the characters of Rose Connolly and Norris Marshall and I also liked the fact that I didn’t find the mystery predictable. I was hooked from the beginning and didn’t want to put this one down. (4/5)

BTW, I have completed he Medical Mystery Madness Challenge. Go HERE to see what I read!

I have finished the Non-Fiction Five Challenge. Of course, I don’t have links for any of my reviews anymore but I did finish and I really enjoyed it. Non-Fiction is one of my favorite genres. Here’s what I read:

1. When Answers Aren’t Enough - Matt Rogers
2. Mayada, Daughter of Iraq - Jean Sasson
3. The Working Poor: Invisible in America - David K. Shipler
4. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - Barbara Kingsolver
5. The Millionaire Next Door - Stanley and Danko

Thanks to Joy from “Thoughts of Joy” for hosting!

Barbara Kingsolver

379 pages

Do you know what a CAFO is? I confess that I did. I learned it from reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan but I did not know what a locavore was or that it was chosen as 2007’s word of the year by The New Oxford American Dictionary. I also had no clue what the 100 Mile Diet was. Though in retrospect, it should be pretty easy to figure out.

I have been fascinated with the subject of additives to our foods and a more natural way of eating for quite some time. That is what lead me to read books on the subject. With this book, Barbara Kingsolver has written in a fascinating and approachable way about what it means to really know your food sources. However, it’s about more than just that. It’s about working for and truly enjoying your food, not just settling for the closest and fastest thing available. It’s about being connected to the community that labors together to produce, savoring the best that the seasons have to offer and not taking it all for granted.

There are recipes, informative sidebars written by her husband, Steven Hopp, and sections by her daughter Camille that share a young person’s perspective on being raised and living this way. In fact, the best parts of the book for me were about how this all tied in as a family experience. Everyone does their part and enjoys gathering together to perform the work, however difficult it is, as well as reap the benefits.

Through reading this book, I realized that I was raised this way in small part. My parents always gardened, put up what they could to last through the winter, always hit the local farmer’s roadside stands to enjoy the bounty of fresh produce when it was in season. My husband’s parents even raised their own cows, dairy goats, chickens plus had a huge garden. All the time we thought they were old-fashioned. Now they are trendy and I want to be like them when I grow up!

There were some areas where I didn’t agree with the author due to philosophical differences but, overall, I loved this book! (4.5/5)

David K. Shipler

329 pages

The man who washes cars does not own one. The clerk who files cancelled checks at the bank has $2.02 in her own account. The woman who copy-edits medical textbooks has not been to a dentist in more than a decade. -The Working Poor, pg 3

Such is the beginning of this book about the plight of people who live just above poverty where they would qualify for benefits and well below middle class where they would have opportunities that they don’t have now. People who have lived on welfare but are trying to find a way out, single mothers plunged into poverty by the sudden lack of income brought on by divorce or people just stuck in dead-end jobs who are trying their hardest to move up but are stuck in a vicious cycle by their circumstances.

Is it a myth that anyone who is willing to work hard can achieve the American Dream? Is the playing field level and does everyone start out with the same opportunities or are the ones who “make good” an anomaly?

With the economy in rough shape and with unemployment in my particular area higher than the national average, I thought this would be an eye-opening book to read. So many people in my area have lost their jobs and are barely scraping by on unemployment while searching for another, only to have to work two minimum wage jobs with no benefits just to scrape by. Who is at fault? Are people lazy and entitled or are they subject to an evil corporate empire concerned only with profits? This is a very thought-provoking book and one that might change your perceptions about what it means to be poor in America. I recommend it! (4/5)

Pete Gall
293 pages

“I wonder what it would be like to wake up and be with other people who are awake–to live with less fear, fewer lies, less compulsive consumption and all the other junk that keeps us anesthetized. I wonder if there are people who actually live that way. Weirdos, I’m sure.” -My Beautiful Idol pg 20

With that, the author leaves a good paying job in advertising and heads off to change the world for God. He ends up working in a rehab program, as a pastor’s assistant in an urban church, at a group home for mentally-disabled men, for a ministry program, and as a plumbing salesman.

His encounters with fellow Christians are at times comical and at other times heart-breaking. The hardest parts are when you recognize yourself in the people he meets and in his struggles and you understand that we often do good things for totally wrong reasons.

I found this book challenging as I followed the author from the brashness of youth and a desire to make a difference to the more mellow faith that is slightly tempered by life experiences. He does an excellent job of illustrating how we each hide behind our “things” and how God is rarely how we expect him to be. However, He is always there. The arguments are not always simple and I’ll admit that there were a couple of times that I had a hard time following. It was worth the effort though. (4/5)

Daoud Hari
200 pages

Reason for Reading: LibraryThing Early Reviewers title, Pub ‘08 Challenge.

For those of us living in the United States, the suffering that goes on in other parts of the world is unimaginable. Darfur is one of the places where such suffering takes place. Genocide is occurring there and military power is constantly shifting. The reasons for this are complicated. However, this book contains an appendix that helps to explain it.

Daoud Hari is a brave man who risked his life repeatedly to take reporters into dangerous areas so that they could get the story out to the world. I found myself wondering constantly as I read his story if I would have the courage to withstand the things that he did to help his fellow countrymen.

I cannot say that this was a “good” book because it is so difficult to read about the suffering of these people. However, this was a very enlightening book and offers a lot of information about the situation in Darfur. (4.5/5)