This is a super informative book by a highly qualified doctor. His explanations are simple and straight forward. I haven't taken any of the supplements he recommends yet, because Im still waiting to see the effects of my raw diet. But his suggestions are the first I will turn to if the raw food doesn't help as much as I hope.

I plan to buy this book at some point. A friend loaned it to me and the recipes sound amazing. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in healthy eating. All the recipes are raw and vegan, but anyone would enjoy them. And its bright and beautiful.

This is the only raw cookbook I own to date. I chose this one because it is "a beginner's guide" to raw food. And it is a great book for that purpose. Alt is not extreme, and has no spiritual or moral reasons for eating raw. It's only about health for her. In fact, she isn't even vegan (a rarity amongst raw foodists), and includes seared fish and beef in her diet. As far as her recipes, I haven't been too impressed. But I'm still glad I got and read this book.

I can't say Im the better for reading these (all three in a couple of weeks), but they are fun. My friend Kat loaned them to me (without my request), and I finally picked them up. And then I couldn't put them down. Rowling does a fantastic job of writing in a way that keeps the interest of a 10 year old as well as a 30 year old. The world she created is so believable, and with each book I've been more impressed with the complex story she is weaving. I'll get to the next 4 eventually, but Im taking a break for now. I need some Muggle time.

This is a beautiful book that my friend Esther has been recommending for some time. I saw it for cheep at a local book store and am the better for reading it. The style is a unique mixture between dialogue (without quotation marks) and poetry. It takes place in South Africa, and deals with the generations, classes and races in South  Africa at the time. It's a tale of love for a people, and faith that is deeply challenged. It is slow moving, yet so worth the journey. I highly recommend this book.

I don't have much to say about this book.

Overall I did not care for it. Although it was well written, the subject matter was difficult for me.

I did like that it is told from three different perspectives. A father's, a son's, and a lover's. So you see the same events and characters but from different points of view.

Caleb and I have decided to teach our kids through life learning, not forced curriculum. And this book explains how other parents are doing the same thing. If you are interested in the topic, I recommend this book. It explains "unschooling" on a basic and clear level. It encouraged me in our journey.

I reread this because of a conversation I had with a mom. It reminded me of all I learned from this book, and I thought I should refresh my memory. This is my favorite Christian parenting book to date. The authors believe that Scripture teaches parent's have authority over their kids, yet feel this should be carried out with honor and respect for your kids. The object is to teach the whole family to show preference to each other and treat each other as special. They encourage independent thinking yet mutual understanding among family members.

It helped me see that I can be in charge, yet not be domineering or authoritarian. I have often felt I either have to be totally lenient or completely strict. This book helps me find a balance (not that I've reached it).

I highly recommend this to parents with kids still in the home.

I bought this book (as well as Three Junes) at a cute local bookstore (Book Tales). I walked in wanting an interesting novel that had won lots of awards. I have always thought that guarantees a good read (and Im not talking #1 bestsellers. I mean like "book of the year" type awards.) So I began Small Island with high expectations due to it's impressive array of awards. But I struggled through it. I found it really boring at parts and then page turning at others. I would set it down for days at a time. And then race through a good section in one night. The end was super interesting, which helps my opinion of the book.

It's told from four different voices. Two Jamaican characters and two British characters. It takes place during and  following WWII, with a lot of emphasis on the lack of honor given to Jamican's fighting for Britain.  The cultural issues are pretty interesting, and I loved reading about the Jamaican man's culture clashes with England. 

But, overall I don't recommend this book. I realize now that impressive book awards don't necessarily guarantee a good read.

This book looks at the lives of American adolescent girls, and their depressions, eating disorders, suicide attempts, etc. It is a heavy book, that was pretty depressing to read. But it was also eye-opening. For one, I realize how great my adolescence was compared to many others. Although I wanted to fit in, I did have community and support, which I believe God used to keep me from a lot of things.  I also think this book will help me be less naive when my little girl hits 13. She tells many stories of good parents who were surprised by their daughter's depression, drug use, sexual activity,etc. in Jr. High and High School. Pipher's ideal answer to this problem is for the culture to change. "We live in a look-obsessed, sexist 'girl-poisoning' culture." She wants girls to be able to keep their "true selves", and not be taken in by society's inconsistent standards.  She recommends parents keep their girl's safe, yet allow them the freedom to be independent  without totally separating. A lot of discussion about culture and media should be had in the home. And girls should ask themselves questions about who they are and what they truly like and want; hopefully sorting through what culture tells them they should be. This is an exercise that still benefits me (at 31).

I recommend this book to anyone with or working with adolescent girls.

I really liked this book.  I don’t think I ever would have thought to read it, but I saw my sister-in-law (Wendy) reading it. I found the few pages I read interesting, so she lent it to me. And it IS super interesting.

I’ve always been distantly interested in Bono’s faith, and liked U2’s music. He is faith-filled, driven, philanthropic and inspiring. I was really encouraged by his love for the Scriptures and desire to help the helpless. His relentless effort to help the poor and sick in Africa is awesome.
He lives out his relationship with God in a different way than I have traditionally seen, and that was helpful for me. I don’t want to copy him completely, but there are many ways I do want to.

I was shocked when he shared the gospel of Jesus with Michka (the interviewer and author of the book). It was so cool. He was humble yet bold. And Michka said he wished he could believe what Bono did.

He is not an introspective person, and I was helped by his frustration with those who are too analytical (which I am prone to be).

One of my other sister-in-laws loaned me this book (Ann). I took a couple of months to read through this. Each chapter deals with a different marital issue, and I needed time in between each chapter.

I haven’t read a marriage book in a long time. And we are in our seventh year of marriage (which is supposedly one of the hardest) so I think it was really great timing. Its cool to read a book like this when your not having “problems” in your relationship.

Although there were not a lot of new ideas in this book, it was good to be reminded of the basics: communicate, be understanding, keep learning about each other, and embrace your differences.

It was fun that the authors reminded me of mine and Caleb’s personalities. It made it easy to relate, and more practical. I recommend it.

I didn’t read this book when everyone else did. And it seemed everyone I knew was talking about it. So I didn’t feel the need to read it for myself. But I reached for it the other day, and am glad I finally did.

I really appreciate Donald Miller. I relate to a lot of his struggles with Christian culture and the church, as well as to his affinity for hippies.

He does remind me of Anne Lamott because he is honest and funny and you don’t always like him, but then wish you could have coffee with him. But I connect more with his understanding of Christianity. He seems to believe Jesus is the only way to God. And I think Lamott is fuzzy on this. I really appreciated what he wrote about loving yourself.  and the ability to receive love. This is not popular where I come from. But I was helped by what he said. And I loved his thoughts on the mystical nature of worshipping God.

This is my first fictional novel by Lamott. Mattie, the main character, seems extremely similar to Lamott. I kept thinking she was talking about herself, because her other books I’ve read were memoirs. That was kinda weird to me. But I feel like Im friends with Mattie as well as Lamott, due to her personal and real portrayal of people. She describes the mundane rhythm of life in a way that I can relate to.

I can’t believe I wanted to keep reading about this woman’s day.  She wasn’t amazing or exciting. But she was real. And her life sucked much of time. And she did things that I don’t want to do.  But I continue to think about her. And I’ll wonder what she would say about something.  I guess that’s the sign of a well written book.

I get to hear Anne Lamott speak in a couple of weeks. Im really interested and excited to hear her.  Maybe I’ll blog about it.

I think this is my favorite book of all times. I FELT so many emotions and had so many THOUGHTS while reading. I’ve never wanted to be like a 50 year old man before. But Jean Valjean is someone I want to be like. His selflessness appalled and inspired me, and his gracious generosity is something I am so far from. He is a beautiful, yet imperfect, picture of Jesus. And it helps me to have that picture painted in a new way.

I think of “carrying other’s burdens” - Valjean is an amazing example. I was mortified and overwhelmed at what he was willing to do for others, without credit. I know he is a fictitious character, but I feel like he is real and I know him after so many beautifully written pages about him and those connected to him.

Even if you have seen the movie and play, I recommend reading this book. I had seen the movie twice and the play 3 times before reading this. And I was impacted more than I could have imagined.

A new friend loaned this book to me. I read it somewhat out of obligation. And I will be happy to take a long break from Christian living books. But, of course, this was good to read. It contains account after account of women who needed help and found it in God.  They are all true stories, and all inspiring.
 
If you like biographies and need to be reminded that God is working and answering prayer, this might be a good book for you.

Have you read this book? I highly recommend it. It is a quick read; simple and repetitive and a bit cheesy. But it was a really good reminder to me of what is important in life. This dying man shares his insight on love, money, nature, etc. It’s a true account.
 
I think I was most moved by his challenge to always live as if we are dying (in a since). How would we treat people of we knew it would be some of our last days with them. What would we value?
 
He says to embrace each life stage you are in. “..if you’ve found meaning in your life, you don’t want to go back. You want to go forward. You want to do more, see more. You can’t wait until sixty-five.”   This has been a theme for me recently - not regretting. not wondering “what if?...”

You know how you feel when you’re watching a suspenseful movie. You love the scary tension but you can’t wait for it to be over. This is how I felt while reading Drowning Ruth. It was strange and haunting and confusing. Schwarz’s writing style is unique and a bit odd. But I really liked it.

As far as story line, again, strange. There were many uncomfortable relationships going on, and they are presented in an emotionally engaging way. I appreciated her insights into motherly love that has become selfish and twisted.

I couldn’t put the book down, but mostly because I wanted the suspense to end. Just how I feel about those kinds of movies.

I’ll keep it short since someone was long winded. But this book impacted me a ton.  I learned a lot about Bible history that I didn’t know. Which was actually quite frustrating to me, because I spent the last 12 years of life at a Bible college. Im shocked I did not learn some of these things. Unless Bell’s sources are known inaccurate texts. ???
 
At times I felt a freedom and release in my heart as I read and other times I felt angry and confused. Is he right? That question plagued me, until I remembered I don’t need to take on his “yoke” completely. He can be “right” and “close” and “off” and I get to take and reject and learn. This is probably basic for many people, but has been a learned freedom for me.
 
Im really glad I read this, and feel interested to read and understand more

I’m so embarrassed by this cover. Definitely not the kind of book I usually read. But after reading Till We Have Faces, I learned that George MacDonald was one of C.S. Lewis’ heroes. I found this book in my mom’s stash and decided to give it a try. Turns out, it was a really good book for me to read. I have been somewhat doubting the Bible and christianity, and then feeling guilty and scared and curious. This book has in it the best explanation of “becoming a Christian” I have ever read. I’m not over my doubting completely, but it was really helpful to read this. I was encouraged by the honesty and truth in it.
 
The curate (preacher) realizes his christianity is superficial and begins to wonder if he wants the religious life at all. He ends up in the middle of a murder investigation, and is concurrently being “taught” about true religion from an unexpected person.
 
It was written 1876, and although it has been edited, its not an easy read. But Im glad I did.

If you grew up in a Christian conservative fundamentalist home, you will get this book. I can’t believe how funny and painfully accurate Schaeffer is in his fictional portrayal of growing up in a missionary home. (Frank Schaffer is Francis Schaeffer’s son.) The book is semi auto-biographical. And you can tell. He nails it.
 
Portofino is really hilarious, somewhat offensive and then terribly embarrassing to read. He (rightfully) mocks Christian catch phrases I have heard myself say. This book impacted me the way Elmer Gantry impacted Caleb (some of you heard about that). It made me want to never be that kind of Christian. To never be clueless about life around me and culture. To not be fake. To not try to be so good when really I am not good. And to see myself for who I really am - right now.

I’ve been moved, frustrated and confused. And have laughed, of course (which you would expect if you’ve read any of her books). I love this woman - her honesty, humor and insight. She has such an awesome grasp on faith and humility and has such a dependance on God that is real and raw. I don’t relate with or respect her view of the Bible. She seems to not take it literally or to see it as inerrant. And I don’t think she would agree with Jesus that He is the only way to God. This confuses me. Nevertheless, I’ve enjoying reading this book.