Amy

At one point while reading the first chapter of this book, I almost had to throw the book across the room, because the point Brown made hit so close to home. This is very timely, for the state of the world right now as well as the state of my own life. It's an accessible read yet challenging as well.

I love East, Shoots & Leaves. So I was really excited to find this Lynne Truss Treasury. But unfortunately, I don't think Truss's fiction is as compelling as her grammar manifesto. All three of her novels were too bizarre for me, and they weren't redeemed by very likable characters. Her columns were a bit better, and I related to her cat-lady stories, but since I didn't follow her as a columnist, the collection seemed out of context and disjointed to me.

It might be a spoiler, but the entire book hinges on the fact that Bridget Jones is a widow, and as a huge Mark Darcy fan, that of course breaks my heart. But while Bridget Jones is still recognizable as the woman who is constantly embarrassing herself in some way, this book has an added depth as she navigates raising her kids on her own, wrestling with her grief, and figuring out dating again. Even though I can't relate to much of the actual circumstances of Bridget's life, I relate a lot to the struggle to just get through each day as gracefully as possible. One of the best things about Mark is that he loved Bridget just the way she was, and I was glad that Bridget found another man who did the same.

I'm amazed at how interesting I found a food-based book that is primarily about food I'm not interested in (particularly a lot of seafood). But Tom Fitzmorris makes a compelling case for the importance of food in New Orleans and particularly how food culture and restaurants in particular were critical to the recovery of the city after Hurricane Katrina. Reading this book also helped me understand why the staff at Emeril's when I tried to just stop in for dessert while I was in New Orleans a few years ago.

I picked this up from a library display, because I've read PS, I Love You and vaguely remember enjoying it. This one was hard to get through. I didn't really enjoy the main character, Holly, and I thought the writing of interpersonal scenes between characters was pretty unrealistic. I realized that I think what I liked best about PS, I Love You was Gerry, and since this book is about Holly's life after Gerry, there just wasn't much for me here.

Jennie Allen challenges me to think about how the pieces or threads of my life can be woven together to be used for God's purposes. I need to reread this slowly, taking time to reflect on the journal prompts she provides. But even without doing that yet, there are so many sentences in this book that made me stop and pause, comforted me that others share my experiences while prodding me to think and act differently. Allen is an approachable writer without oversimplifying or relying on truisms.

I thought that The Daring Book for Girls would be a little more daring. But it's basically a how-to manual for a variety of childhood fun activities. I appreciate the variety, from how to build a scooter and how to play basketball to how to make a daisy chain and how to tie a sari, and it would probably be a fun gift for an 8- to 10-year-old girl. It would also be nice if it was organized, instead of randomly assorted items.

This book speaks to the complexity of identity for multiracial people, and I really appreciated that it comes from a Christian perspective. Sundee Tucker Frazier shares her own story and the stories of other multiracial people as she examines what it means to find wholeness, particularly in spaces where we are often forced to choose. I need to buy a copy so I can revisit this book over and over.

I've learned to not expect a lot from Amazon First Reads, but this was slightly better than previous books I've read. The concept of the story was interesting, with a seemingly intrusive older woman trying to fix the lives of the people around her, including her next door neighbor, a woman recovering from a scandalous divorce and collapse of the life she knew. As with most other First Reads, the writing wasn't great and certain elements were predictable, but there were definitely some twists (although they seemed a bit shoehorned in). Overall, a good read for a plane ride.

Ann Voskamp has a very lovely and charming way of describing the everyday gifts of life, and I was reminded daily to give thanks in the big things and the small things, in the joyful things and the hard things. The folksiness of the writing at times didn't seem real (although I think it was), and it was sometimes hard to relate to a life of raising six kids on a farm, but the core message comes through and is important.

This was an interesting book to read, and the writing style of the three women was very conversational and easy to follow. The three women explore their religions and faith in conversation with one another. And of course, this is nonfiction, so this is what happened, but I would be interested in reading about a similar group in which the participants are more orthodox in their beliefs. For the most part, these women were exploring the religions that they identified with, but they didn't have strong connections to many of the particular beliefs of their religions, and in the end, they were all discussing a sort of universalism. I wonder what these conversations would look like for the participants to be able to accept one another while still focusing on what they believe to be true about their unique religions.

It's so interesting to reread certain books at different parts in your life. I remember being so impacted by this book the first time I read it, close to when it first came out (which is more than 10 years ago now!). I still appreciate the concept of living your life as a better story, and I've even adapted that into my own life motto. But I'm not as charmed by Miller's writing as I once was. I noticed a lot more misogyny in his writing; or perhaps that's too strong of a word, but women and girls were often tools in the storytelling rather than fully realized characters themselves. I think I can appreciate this book as a good resource to help remind me of using my life to tell a better story, but I can also leave it at that.

This is a compelling guidebook to community development centered on empowering people and communities from within. In addition to learning more about the practical aspects of doing this kind of work, I was also reminded about the centrality of prayer in all ministries and in all aspects of life, something I constantly need to be reminded of.

I did not expect to cry reading this book. But the section called “Saturday Night Cryfest” at the end of the book included a few essays got me to do my signature move when something affects me, which is to close the book when it feels too real. In addition to that section, the rest of the book pokes lots of tongue-in-cheek fun at Christian cultural, particularly white evangelical megachurch culture. I enjoyed the Stuff Christians Like blog, and now finally reading the book a few years later, I enjoyed it as well.

I love the Thursday Next series, although I hadn't read The Eyre Affair in a long time. In rereading it, I realized that while I still enjoyed it and it's important for world-building, I don't love it as much as some of the later books in the series. The first half is darker and more intense than I remembered, and then the end of it wraps things up a bit too quickly. But I do love how deep this book goes into Jane Eyre, and I do just love Thursday Next.

We were given this book as part of a work exercise, in which we all took the accompanying assessment of our languages of appreciation. I found the assessment to be helpful, and I've used the language of appreciation styles with my colleagues a lot. This accompanying book is useful in giving context for the styles and ways they can play out in individual people and workplaces. It's not the most captivating read, although the chapters are short and fairly approachable. But I think you can get the idea of the languages of appreciation without reading the whole book.