My Review of "Tough as They Come"

Travis Mills' Tough as They Come:  Thousands Have Been Wounded in the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, five has Survived Quadruple Amputee Injuries.  This is One's Soldier's Story tells the amazing tale about a US Army soldier who served in Afghanistan with the 82 Airborne Division.  While on patrol, he was seriously wounded by an IED; he became one of the few quadruple amputees who survived a war zone.  This is his account of his life, service, injury and recovery.

I won't give away any details of the story -- it's gripping enough to make readers into page-turners -- but I'm not kidding when I say it's an amazing story.  Since the cover is a spoiler, I knew what the book was generally about, but the details are truly incredible.

This is not a book to be missed.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

"The Women of Easter"

Liz Curtis Higgs' The Women of Easter:  Encounter the Savior with Mary of Bethany, Mary of Nazareth, and Mary Magdalene is an amazing writer who has given us a number of books on spirituality particularly geared toward Christian women.  This is another of her gifts.

In a fully narrative way, Higgs recounts the lives of three particular women in Jesus' life -- lives really lived by real women who became the first witnesses (and therefore the first preachers!) of the Good News:  That death has been defeated and Jesus is alive!

Like a said, an amazing gift.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Confessions of a Secular Jesus Follower"

Tom Krattenmaker's Confessions of a Secular Jesus Follower: Finding Answers in Jesus for Those Who Don't Believe helps secularists -- not necessarily atheists, but those for whom religion is a social curiosity -- find in Jesus a role model of the highest order.  Jesus is worth listening to, according to Krattenmaker, even worth following, so long as you don't call it "religion".

Jesus' words in the New Testament are not sacred to Krattenmaker but are indeed worth utilizing for daily ethical dilemmas.  "When it comes to a secular engagement with Jesus," he notes, "we can pick and choose, accept and reject, mix and match, however we wish."  The author stands in a difficult position.  To nonbelievers, he will come off as a Christian.  No matter how much he protests, the reality is that many self-professed Christians are just as unconvinced as he is of the supernatural aspects of Jesus' story.  Yet to many committed Christians, he will seem to be appropriating what they hold dear for his own purposes.

Krattenmaker is surely right to find moral authority in Jesus' teaching, but the rest of his argument falls flat.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Jesus Over Everything"

In his new book, Jesus Over Everything, Clayton Jennings looks at the heart of Christian faith:  Jesus Christ.  He fashions everything in life -- who we are and what we do -- around that center.  Jennings insists that since Jesus is everything we believe, he must be over everything we are and do.  Jesus Over Everything is an important book, and one that I will reread again, because it's packed with so much deep spiritual wisdom.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Enjoy"

Trillia Newbell's Enjoy: Finding the Freedom to Delight Daily in God's Good Gifts is an amazing book that explores all those ways in which we often miss opportunities to participate in God's divine delight because we're discouraged, self-absorbed or feeling guilty.  As Newbell reminds us on nearly every page in innumerable ways God's gracious gifts come to us every day, and, as she writes, women particularly need reminders that those gifts are for enjoyment.  Newbell covers everything from relationships and careers to food and sex.  And invites readers to grow in their understanding of God's activity in the world.

This is a thought-provoking book that will help readers -- male and female -- learn to live with gratitude and humility.  I've added it to my personal shelves to read and re-read again and again.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "The Great Spiritual Migration"

Brian McLaren's newest book, The Great Spiritual Migration: How the World's Largest Religion is Seeking a Better Way to be Christian is by far his greatest book.  Here, McClaren gives a clear voice for what a "new kind of Christian" actually looks like in a world fraught with a number of imminent ecological, economic, social, political, and spiritual crises.

Follows, McLaren writes, need a faith that abandons a punitive deity in favor of a creative god of love and nonviolence.

The Great Spiritual Migration is divided into three sections, each with study questions.  The first urges readers to move from dogma to a loving way of life; the second continues the theme by advocating for an "integral/literary" (nonliteral) view of the Bible; and the third begins to imagine how a new Christianity might look.

McLaren gives us a convincing view of what that Christianity might be.

This is not a book to be missed.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Walking on Water"

Madeline L'Engle's Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art brings together spiritual and theological reflections on the craft of creating art from one of the most contemplative writers of evangelical fiction.  L'Engle is perhaps most remembered for her Wrinkle in Time, but it's Walking on Water that offers a gift of grace to artists of all types.

Walking on Water, though, will probably be a frustration if readers approach it as any usual theological text.  That's because Walking on Water reads more like a journal than a theological argument.  Here, L'Engle weaves together biblical reflections with the depth of creative mystery -- so you're more apt to find self-contradictory passages than to find a richly textured argument.

But, as L'Engle maintains from the start, "Faith" and "Art" properly belong together, and together reflect something of the image of God.  To her, creating is a faithful process in which the artist must step aside and let inspiration flow for an honest work to be created.  She illustrates this point by referencing a character in a novel she wrote that she didn't intend to write about before she began.  The character, Joshua from her book The Arm of the Starfish, came to her suddenly after a majority of the plotline had been preconceived.  Having faith to her creative impulse she followed through with the character acknowledging that she had no choice to include this character or not.  She writes, "I cannot now imagine the book without Joshua, and I know that it is a much better book because of him.  But where he came from I cannot say.  He was a sheer gift of grace".

Those gifts of grace come to artists through deep spiritual practices -- like prayer.  "The disciplines of the creative process and Christian contemplation are almost identical."  It's only through those practices throughout life that artists learn to surrender their ego to God, and in that surrender receive the gifts of grace that become the creative product.

For L'Engle, art is at its very nature incarnational.  That is, art is borne through the artist giving birth to something that God calls into existence in the good world of created matter.  And that incarnation takes place in ways that Christians cannot control or manipulate.  This is why L'Engle insists that finding "Christian" art ("true art") is nothing other than a response to this question:  "Do we want our children to see it?"  Though L'Engle tries to make the point clear, this doesn't necessarily mean that something does not handle difficult subject matter.  She actually encourages the artist to employ all facets of life, whether they be violence, sex, etc…  Her criterion is therefore more an observance not of a child's capacity to handle a given subject, as she believes they are capable of far more than adults give them credit for, but a of love that seeks not to be destructive to those who take part.  One may discover upon more reflection of her work that she does not intend this to be used as an excuse to censor art or remove the rough edges, but as a way to communicate those parts in ways that build up and not break down.

Walking on Water is, then, a collection of anecdotes, quotes, stories, and perceptive tangents that encourage the reader to ponder things that just might become applicable in that quiet moment of creating.  Her voice as a well-respected writer and theologian makes this book an indispensable resource for thinking Christianly about art.

This is a classic book that I'm glad to see gaining new audiences, and the reader's guide at the end will go a long way to making this book useful for a new generation.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Love, Henri"

Love, Henri:  Letters on the Spiritual Life is an amazing collection of over 200 letters by the late Nouwen (whose The Wounded Healer is quite probably the best book for understanding the ministry to which we are all called), a beloved author and Roman Catholic priest.  Love, Henri provides insight into his personal struggles, insecurities and faith and offers the heartfelt guidance Nouwen shared so generously with individuals to a wide audience.

Each letter has a brief introduction in order to give historical context in Nouwen's own life.  The letters are addressed to a rich variety of friends -- colleagues, students, clergy, scholars, critics, readers of his books, grieving parents and even politicians.  The courage and kindness with which Nouwen writes pervades all his books, and are even more visible in these letters.  Here, Nouwen provides direction, advice, companionship and affection -- and these letters will ensure that Nouwen's spiritual legacy as a Christian spiritual father reaches a new generation.  While Nouwen died in 1996, his sincere desire to live with gratitude, faith, and love will speak fresh through these letters for years to come.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Starting Over"

Dave Ferguson and Jon Ferguson's Starting Over: Your Life Beyond Regrets explores how not only to recognize our life's regrets, but, more importantly, how to move beyond them by releasing those regrets to God and finding the grace to start over.

They deal with regrets that most of us deal with -- in relationships, health, purpose, finances, and spirituality.  And they offer specific tools to redeem our mistakes in those areas.  From escaping the "Sorry Cycle" to experiencing the "Starting Over Loop", Starting Over is an important guide.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "You are Not Alone"

Dena Yohe's You Are Not Alone: Hope for Hurting Parents of Troubled Kids covers everything from dealing with emotions like shock, fear and worry to forgiveness, letting go and even finding a new healthier place for your own life -- regardless of the choices your child makes.  Each chapter discusses one basic topic giving both tips and sharing real life experiences and insights.  I loved that the daughter from time to time writes what she was thinking and feeling as her parents did or said certain things.  I wish there had been more of her sections, because I found some of them particularly insightful.

This is a great book, not only for parents of troubled kids, but also for those who minister to them.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Possible"

Stephen Bauman's Possible:  A Blueprint for Changing How We Change the World describes ordinary people that yearn for change and justice in a world filled with suffering and claims that it is possible to change the world.  Possible is filled with extensive first-hand experience working in countries crushed by poverty, those vivid stories that tell the realities, struggles, joys, and beliefs of people suffering all over the world.  These stories make Possible interesting, convicting, and creditable.

And Bauman's stories are littered with Scripture, theologians, and cultural references -- all of which make his vision for changing how we change the world that much more engaging.

This is the book Christians need to challenge that long-standing lie that ordinary people cannot bring change, that only "important" and "powerful" people can bring change.

And in the end he offers a convincing and compelling case for a social justice that is at the heart of God's love for the world.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "The Very Good Gospel"

Lisa Sharon Harper's The Very Good Gospel:  How Everything Wrong Can Be Made Right blends deep theological reflection -- on such important topics as faith, church, and redemption -- with real life moral reflection.  What she gives us, in the process, is an important book for the Church that seeks to embody the Gospel of Jesus Christ:  Lessons on structural and political (in)justice, peacemaking , and living faithfully.

The vision Harper shares here is a vision of the Shalom of God -- wholeness for a broken world.

Shalom, Harper rightly insists, is the Gospel because it is the message from the earliest words of Genesis.  God has always desired and declared a Kingdom in which "enough" and "healing" and "dignity" are the words spoken over humanity and all creation.  Shalom is the word spoken by Jesus, and is the word spoken by Christians who follow Jesus.  What Harper gives us here is a way of taking up that message -- that wholeness -- and speaking it in and to a broken world.

This is not a book to be missed!

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

The Love Code

Alexander Loyd's The Love Code: The Secret Principle to Achieving Success in Life, Love, and Happiness is a book is had hoped to enjoy.  Sadly, it's proven to be another American-styled self-help book that promises far more than it delivers.

Much of what author Alexander Loyd says sounds good -- from the statistic that 97% of self-help books fail due to the fact that every problem stems from the fear that underlies it.  Even his definition of success rings true -- "True happiness and success mean living in love internally and externally in the present moment, regardless of your current circumstance".  But he hedges his bets in the definition of love and points to God/other, leaving it to the reader to fill in their personal preference.  That is a false choice that even the gospels won't allow.

In the end, much of the book is  rather quirky.

The Love Code is far more hype than it is substance.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Lessons in Classical Painting"

Juliette Aristides' Lessons in Classical Painting:  Essential Techniques from Inside the Atelier covers the essentials in classical painting -- subjects like understanding color and texture, to proportion, depth, light and shadow.  The text is insightful and filled with tips, supplemented by beautiful illustrated examples from artists and old masters.

This is not an immediately hands-on book where you can dive in and draw straightaway.  It focuses on the understanding of different techniques.   After which, each chapter ends with a guided practical lesson on learning points.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "God Bless America"

God Bless America is a beautiful adult coloring book.  The pages are printed on high quality heavy paper, perforated, and printed on only one side of the page.  Most of the pages have a quote by a famous American (Franklin D. Roosevelt, Neil Armstrong, Lady Bird Johnson, Susan B. Anthony, etc.) woven into the coloring picture.  The 37 pictures here are all beautifully drawn (by nine different artists) even though not all are drawn in the same style.  Other pictures, while without a quote, contain a paragraph about the image for that page.  There's something here for everyone.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Together at the Table"

Hillary Manton Lodge's Together at the Table: A Novel of Lost Loves and Second Helpings is a compelling and beautiful story of Juliette D'Alisa, a young Seattle woman who's working hard to get her fledgling restaurant -- with whom she is co-owner with Nico, her brother -- off the ground.  When, in a series of tragedies, she comes face-to-face with death -- the death of her relationship with her long-term boyfriend, and the real death of her mother.

Months later, she's dating her brother's sous chef, Adrian, who is wild about Juliette, and trying to again find her footing when her ex, Neil shows up in Seattle.  Remembering memories she thought she was over, Juliette struggles to separate the life that was with the life she has now.  It doesn't help that Neil keeps showing up in her world or that up until now Juliette never fully admitted what her heart knows; she's not over the not-so-distant past.

Together at the Table is a gentle love story that blends lots of fun recipes into the narrative.  It's a great novel for some light summer reading fare.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Vinegar Girl"

Anne Tyler's Vinegar Girl attempts to re-tell the story of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew for a modern audience.  So many, of course, think Shakespeare's story is irredemably sexist (it isn't -- Shakespeare is always more nuanced than modern ears can appreciate), but Tyler's version is faithful to the Bard's own nuanced story in fresh ways.

In Tyler's version, a sharp-tongued preschool assistant, Kate Battista, whose scientist father is convinced his dead-end research will soon break through -- if only he can hang onto his lab assistant, Pyotr Shcherbakov, whose O-1 visa is about to expire.  That's right, Dr. Battista wants Kate to marry Pytor to keep him in the country:  After all, he points out, she doesn't exactly have men flocking after her like her airhead sister Bunny, and she's still in high school.  Kate is hurt by her father's thoughtless cruelty, and already these characters have more depth than Shakespeare allows his broadly drawn protagonists.  The real drama, though, is between Kate and her widowed father, who depends on her without really valuing her; even self-absorbed Bunny turns out to have more appreciation for her sister than the selfish Dr. Battista.  The rest is a masterful re-telling that avoids all the counter-tale traps one might expect.

Vinegar Girl is a wonderful summer read.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Naturalist"

Darrin Lunde's Naturalist:  Theodore Roosevelt, a Lifetime of Exploration and the Triumph of American Natural History explores in historical detail Teddy Roosevelt's interests in the natural world and his contributions to the environmental movement. 

Part biography and part historical examination of the field of natural history preservation, Lunde's Naturalist begins with Roosevelt's childhood as the foundations for his natural interests.  As a boy growing up in New York City, he collected "as many specimens as possible", encouraging his parents to do the same when they traveled without him.  By the time Roosevelt was a teenager, he had become a "full-bore birder".  At Harvard he took classes on anatomy, vertebrate physiology, and botany, hoping to emulate heroes John James Audubon and Spencer Fullerton Baird.  As an adult, Roosevelt studied animals "by shooting them, stuffing them, and preserving them in natural-history museums".

Even Roosevelt's attraction to big-game hunting in Africa satisfied both his yearning for outdoor adventure and his intellectual curiosity.

Lunde explores Roosevelt's environmental activism and his accomplishments in political office, most notably his lobbying for the establishment of Yellowstone National Park, and impressively narrates how Roosevelt was able to pursue his passions during a contentious political career.

Naturalist is a real historical treat and a joy for environmentalists, too.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Bat Dad"

Blake Wilson's Bat Dad:  A Parody is not the book that parents deserve, but it's certainly the book that parents need.  Wilson, famous for his videos in which he he dons a Batman mask and asks his children to do things, provides us a collection of images of Bat Dad doing what Bad Dad does best -- interacting with his children.

Bat Dad has images accompanied with a hilarious quip or Bat Dad child rearing reference.  Parenting as Bat Dad is not for the faint of heart, it seems.  Some of my personal favorites have to do with Wilson's interactions with his daughters, including one hilarious image where one has covered his mask with bright pink stickers.  But this is a warm-hearted book in which a families' love for one another shines on every glossy page.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Book Review of "Old Age"

Michael Kinsley's Old Age:  A Beginner's Guide explores some weighty topics -- aging, illness and dying.  Now that Baby Boomers are entering "life's last chapter, there is going to be a tsunami of books about health issues by every boomer journalist who has any, which ultimately will be all of them".  And so Old Age is meant to be a witty, short "beginner's guide" for those writing the last chapters of their life's story.

What readers will find here is a realistic personal narrative about illness and learning to face death, a story of how "what's next?" will have you asking lots of other questions too. 

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Simply Calligraphy"

Simply Calligraphy: A Beginner's Guide to Elegant Lettering by Judy Detrick is a beautiful guide for those who want to learn to write with art, that is, to write with calligraphy.  Simply calligraphy teaches you the basics so you can add beautiful handwriting to your day to day notes along with wedding invitations, and hand-label envelopes.  The instructions that are included in this book make it easy to create calligraphy with just a pencil.  After learning the basic letters, this book presents an open invitation -- and a bit of inspiration -- to make calligraphy one's own with just a pen or pencil.  There's even a page for helping to write with the appropriate line sizes that can be reproduced.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Spiritual Sobriety"

Elizabeth Ester's Spiritual Sobriety:  Stumbling Back to Faith When Good Religion Goes Bad is a second memoir, in the tradition of her Girl at the End of the World.  In it, Ester probes one important question:  "Can a person have a persistent, compulsive dependence on religion?"

And the answer is "Yes".

Drawing from personal experience, as well as the stories of others, Esther writes extensively about the characteristics of religious addiction and its impact on faith communities, specifically Christianity.  Her own childhood taught her all the ways to prove her devout faith to others and receive approval, everything from singing hymns with her eyes closed instead of open to preaching on street corners with her family.  "I was consuming God.  I didn't have access to chemical substances -- we were intensely devout, conservative Christians -- so I used what was available:  religious beliefs.  I habitually 'used' God and all things church to numb pain and feel good" (page 3).  By the time she left the cult at the age of twenty-five, Esther was chronically depressed and suffering from PTSD.  Addiction recovery programs became part of her healing process and eventually led her to the pursuit of spiritual sobriety.

This is an important book for all those who've experienced God in unhealthy ways through unhealthy, obsessive religious practices.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "The Sleep Revolution"

Arianna Huffington's The Sleep Revolution is an account of Huffington's journey as a "sleep amateur" to become "a sleep pro".  In it, she looks at our society's widespread sleep deprivation and argues that our various social ills -- from weight gain to Alzheimer's -- are partially due to that deprivation.

There's plenty of wisdom here about practical matters, including chapters on how to fall asleep (and how not to fall asleep).  But the book is also, more broadly, a survey of how we became a culture that treats sleep as optional and valorizes those who can do without, and a prescription for how we can course correct.  The Sleep Revolution probes history, and discovers that "our collective delusion that overwork and burnout are the price we must pay in order to succeed" derives from the first Industrial Revolution.

But Huffington is ultimately optimistic about a turn toward better sleep hygiene.  Technology, while it is one of the culprits for keeping us constantly wired (and awake), can also become a tool for valuing human creativity and fostering rest in order to make that creativity possible.

I expect that anyone who reads this book will find themselves convicted and convinced that our sleep habits can use a thorough critique -- a loving critique -- like The Sleep Revolution.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "The Real Doctor"

Matt McCarthy's The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly:  A Physician's First Year is a wonderfully funny (even if the humor is a bit dark) memoir, that continues much of what Matt began in his Odd Man Out: A Year on the Mound With a Minor League Misfit. 

Two weeks out of Harvard Medical School, and fueled by a cocktail of adrenaline and coffee, McCarthy recounts what it's like to be an idealistic novice who's thrown into the deep end of a bustling hospital.  Working primarily in the cardiac care unit, but dipping his toes into other areas, his days are as varied as sorting through a patient's fecal matter looking for smuggled drugs, or poking and prodding a dying woman until he can find a vein for her IV.

But there's tragedy, too.  Worn down by long hours and his failure to connect with patients on a personal level, McCarthy makes his share of rookie mistakes.

But in the end this memoir is a confirmation of McCarthy's main belief:  "Amazing things happen here".

The humor often comes at McCarthy's expense.  But The Real Doctor is a real treat -- filled with stories that keep the reader turning pages.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Night Driving"

Addie Zierman's Night Driving:  A Story of Faith in the Dark is a masterful exploration of faith, isolation, and depression. 

On the surface, this memoir is a story about packing up her minivan and taking her children on a two-week road trip from Minnesota to Florida.  Having lost her connection to the Christian faith of her younger days, Zierman decides to outdrive her troubles by visiting friends, giving book readings, and doing publicity interviews.

Make no doubt about it, this is a spiritual memoir that pulls punches and tugs on a reader's heartstrings.  "Imagine opening your Bible and finding it to be a concrete slab in your lap."  But her struggle to avoid internal darkness that seems to permeate all her thoughts is a struggle that will resonate with so many readers.

I know it did with me.

It's those struggles that make Night Driving a book you don't want to put down.  It's a story about a renewed search for faith that is filled with refreshing, life-affirming moments.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Writing My Wrongs"

Shaka Senghor had once dreamed of becoming a doctor, but after his parents separated and his mother began beating him, he left home and fell in with crack dealers.  After being shot himself, he took to carrying a gun, and one night, shot and killed a man whom he felt threatened by.  Before long, he found himself sitting in prison for murder.

Writing My Wrongs:  Life, Death, and Redemption in an American Prison recounts his story from violence to redemption.  Writing helped him atone for his wrongs -- and the life he had taken.  It also provided a respite from the harsh day-to-day realities of his cell.

Reading was also a refuge -- and what a refuge it became.  From Malcolm X's Autobiography to The Bible to the Quran.

But make no doubt about it, the writing and the reading would probably give us a false sense of life in prison.  So Senghor gives us a window into the violence that underwrites so much of the prison experience in America -- from rape and robbery to murder.  The Darwinian rules of survival kept him alive on the streets during the crack epidemic and the "laws of the jungle" defined his life in prison.

Writing and studying provided Senghor with a refuge from the chaos of prison and a growing awareness that he wanted to turn his life around.  It was a resolution galvanized by his correspondence with the godmother of the man he had killed, who told him she forgave him.

Senghor was released from prison on June 22, 2010, the day after his 38th birthday, and after a series of part-time writing jobs, he started a mentoring program for at-risk youth.  And writing became the way he explored what forgiveness, atonement and reconciliation might look like for himself and others like him.

This is a moving account that will challenge what you think about prison, felons and violence.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Catholic Catalogue"

Melisa Musick and Anna Keating, who maintain the website upon which The Catholic Catalogue:  A Field Guide to the Daily Acts that Make Up a Catholic Life (http://thecatholiccatalogue.com/), have given us a hands-on, useful guide to all the ways in which being Catholic involves passing along the embodied Christian faith of our ancestors.  This is a book that calls a whole generation of baptized Catholics to lay down their arms in the culture wars, and pick up the ways of being Catholic that pass along that faith in ancient patterns of keeping time and following those who have gone before us.

Christians have been setting tables and welcoming strangers and enemies at those tables for thousands of years.  The Catholic Catalogue is a clarion call -- a clear clarion call -- for us to continue caring for the sick, burying the dead, receiving Eucharist, marking the hours of dawn and dusk, keeping prayerful watch through the night, honoring and remembering martyrs, just as we have done for two thousand years.

But this is a book for more than Catholics.  It's a good introduction to the embodied faith of Christians of whatever stripe -- because ultimately this is a book about living in the world as the people of Jesus.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Paris Street Style"

Coloring books are all the rage for adults.  And this sleek, chic coloring book is yet another of the treasures of that trend.  This is a fabulous coloring book that brings together the durability of a hardback, the appearance of style with its own in-laid black book mark, and double-sided pages that are thick enough so as not to allow bleeding-through when one actually takes to coloring.

The graphics are feminine to get any woman who's resisted the coloring craze to this point, to give into the temptation.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Raising the Perfectly Imperfect Child"

Some time ago, I read Nick Vujicic's Love Without Limits: A Remarkable Story of True Love Conquering All.  It's an amazing book in its own right, and part of Nick's account there is the love of his parents and its strength in his life.

I was over-joyed, then, to discover his dad's account of that love in Raising the Perfectly Imperfect Child:  Facing Challenges with Strength, Courage and Hope.  It's another amazing book that develops a deeply faithful and joyfully hopeful account of parenting for those whose children present "challenges" (such as our culture would call them).  The clear message of the book?  Become an advocate for your child, because it's in that advocacy that love is revived and thrives.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "God Dreams"

Will Mancini's God Dreams: 12 Vision Templates for Finding and Focusing Your Church's Future is both a roadmap and a toolbox, but even more:  It rejects that one size fits all approach that's so common in church growth studies.  God Dreams is not even a many sizes fit most approach, but rather a "find your size and fit it" approach that is surprisingly refreshing.

With all of the tools, resources, charts, graphs, templates, etc, that Mancini has provided to flesh out all of the ideas with your leadership team, pastors will actually feel like you're stealing.  I know the usual model -- say some stuff in the book, but sell your $5,000 coaching program on every page.  Mancini, though, rejects that approach.  Instead, in the best coaching for church leadership that I've read in a long, long time, Mancini offers particular ways forward for churches who long to find and focus on the dream God has for their particular community.

I can't praise God Dreams too highly.  If you read no other church leadership book for 2016, make Mancini's God Dreams that book.

I received a free copy of this book from B&H Publishing in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Rain"

Cynthia Barnett's Rain:  A Natural and Cultural History is a real treat!  It's a book that kept me reading precisely because this was a book about something I'd never read elsewhere, something so simply as everyday life:  Rain.

Rain is a masterwork of creative nonfiction, an epic built entirely around the humble, parachute-shaped raindrop.  You read that right.  Raindrops fall from the sky fat end up, tapered end pointing toward the ground.  Never heard that one before?  Me either.  Like I said, this book is amazing precisely because of the things it continually brings to your attention in new and exciting ways.

Barnett fills her history of rain with such rarely seen, rarely mentioned observations.  Over and over, she focuses on the uncommon details of natural phenomena and historical events most of us never think twice about because we think we already know them.  According to Barnett, a lack of rain has helped bring down civilizations from Mesopotamia to the Americas.  Fourteenth-century witch hunts in Europe were fueled by the continuous rains and freak storms of the Little Ice Age.  An English amateur meteorologist came up with the cloud classification system that gave us the term "cloud nine".

Those sorts of details are the kinds that makes this book a real treasure -- the new ideas fall like a refreshing rain.

 I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.