Amy
Overall, this is a great resource for thinking about welcoming immigrants through a Christian faith perspective. I really appreciated reading some familiar Bible stories through a lens that explored the biblical character's immigration story. The writing is approachable and easy to read. The only thing that I didn't love was the format of the book, which alternates chapters between a story about a biblical character and a story from the author's life in connection to a church sacrament. Both types of chapters were useful and interesting, but the bouncing back and forth made the book feel disjointed to me. I think I would have preferred a more integrated approach to the concepts.
It took me awhile to get into this book. The main character, Renee Michel, is not particularly endearing at first, much like how she is with the other characters in the book. There is a lot of philosophy discussion as well. But as Renee starts to open up to her new neighbor Kakuro and solemn Paloma, I started to like and appreciate her as well. I also really enjoyed the intermittent “profound thoughts” of Paloma; there were so many I wanted to stop and write down.
This is one of those books that I so desperately wanted to like. It's what Code Switch calls the rep sweats: when you feel like you need to like something because it features characters who look like you. And although the central characters are a generation off from my life, I still connected with the Japanese culture represented in their stories and a mixed-race marriage and kids. But unfortunately, the writing just didn't keep up with the promise of the story. Central plot points were rushed, and characters were described rather than developed. It was a quick read, and I loved the descriptions of life in Japan. But I unfortunately wouldn't recommend.
I really appreciated a lot of the observations Roxane Gay makes in this book. She is particularly adept at being critical while acknowledging her own involvement in problematic topics (for example, she critiques music, movies, and TV shows while sharing her own enjoyment of them). This book made me think a lot – about topics I'd never considered before as well as about issues on which I disagree with Gay. I will say that I'm not a huge fan of essay collections, so while I found the writing interesting, it was often hard for me to stay engaged (but I think that's a very specific personal preference and not necessarily a problem with the book).
This is definitely a book I need to slow down and read with a notebook beside me. Jose Humphreys shares so much wisdom in this book from a humble perspective of a leader at an impactful church. The writing is approachable yet with a lot of depth, and the stories he shares are relevant and connected to the topic at hand. This is a book that I would want anyone to read who doesn't understand the role of community development in the full gospel.
This book reads like a novel but is non-fiction. Remembering that as I read it made everything even more horrific. And yet, the hope that Corrie ten Boom and especially her sister Betsie clung to throughout their lives and especially in the prison and extermination camps challenged me. How can people facing such horrors believe in a good and saving God when I struggle with it in my cushy life? I was also disturbed by how much of what happened back then seems to be repeating itself in present day. Maybe not in the same way, but with a lot of the same hate and distrust of others. What does it look like in my life to make sure we build a different world?
This is such a lovely book that really hit home for me in a lot of ways. I love Annie Downs's writing as if she is talking right to you (although I could have done with fewer ALL CAPS words), and I appreciated her voicing experiences of wrestling with our feelings of God, even when we deeply believe in Him. This is definitely one I will reread and savor.
Everything about this book is tragic – the main event, all of the relationships, all the things they never tell each other. Yet the story is so compelling. I was gripped, wanting to intervene and clear up misunderstandings between the characters and tell them all what they aren't seeing. It's such a strange feeling to enjoy a book so much that made me so sad.
As a person who helps lead youth, I liked the idea of a book that encourages youth to rebel against low expectations. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything particularly helpful or useful in this book. It seemed to be challenging teens to rebel against low expectations around things like morality or laziness, rather than challenging them to tackle the larger injustices of the world. The book is more than 10 years old, so it might just be out of date.
As an introvert, I had a feeling I was going to enjoy this book. And I was really blown away by how much I did. It's not just because the book is encouraging to introverts for all the ways we feel misunderstood. This book is thoroughly researched yet presented with very approachable writing. Cain mixes individual stories to illuminate with research about the science of temperament and personality. My favorite portion was a chapter that included a longitudinal study of children and their reactions to new stimuli, showing that infants whose brains were highly reactive to news stimuli grew up to have more introverted personalities. In other words, some introversion could be related to one's neurological sensitivity to the world around you. I'm fascinated by these ways our neurology and psychology interact.
This is very firmly in the “fine” category. It was an approachable book with a few interesting points, but nothing really stands out from it. In fact, I felt like the majority of the book was quoting other writers. The premise is good: that we are all broken people, and our brokenness can be used to build community. There just wasn't anything particularly special about the way this book conveyed that idea.
This book was fine, but nearly as interesting as I was hoping for given the title and its status as a New York Times bestseller. It may just be that I'm not the target audience for the book, as Anna Quindlen is writing about being older and looking back at her life. I just had a hard time getting through it.
It's so strange that reading books by authors that were so influential to me years ago are now not noteworthy. (This may be part of the problem with my very long to-be-read book list; it takes me awhile to get to books.) I really enjoyed Anne Lamott when I first read her, and I still appreciate her voice and perspective. These essays are well-written and engaging, but I just wasn't as connected as I once might have been. Also, she really thinks George W. Bush's presidency was rock bottom for the country, so it does make me curious about what she thinks these days.
The relationship between Denver Moore and Ron Hall is interesting and encouraging. This book about their story is not nearly as much. The fault, I think, is in the way it was written. There are parts of the book with minute details about things that ultimately don't seem to matter, and then large sections of time that are critical to the friendships between the two men are swept over. We're told that Denver has come to be seen as one of the family for the Halls without any evidence really shown of that.
The part of the book that I did think was powerful was the storytelling around the grief experienced by Ron at the loss of his wife. I couldn't make it through the scenes from the last few days of her life without crying, and this line from just after her death: "When He didn't -- and I truly believed He could -- my heart exploded," exploded in me as well.
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.
I am so torn about this book. It is exceptionally well-written, which is I'm sure what makes it a classic and keeps people reading it. But the narrator was such a frustrating character to me. As I read the book, I kept telling people, I'm really enjoying reading this book, but I don't like it! I don't know if I've ever read another book that I would say that about. There is no book without the main character's obsession with Rebecca and Rebecca's influence over her husband and all the people in their lives. And yet that obsession, self-doubt, and misinterpretation of everything going on was so frustrating to read. Ugh! I don't know what to think of this.
I was certainly drawn to this book by its title. And even the premise, of a girl who can taste people's emotions in the food they prepare. The book is beautifully written and engrossing. But it is a strange to the point of confusing and a bit disturbing to me. And although the plot was unique, I didn't connect much with the characters. Interesting, but not my cup of tea (or slice of cake).
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.