Unstoppable:Preview

I just got the book Unstoppable by Nick Vujicic and I am super excited to read it! My review will come soon, but I wanted to show you where to read chapter one for free and a short clip about the book.

You might be discouraged right now, but this man gives me hope.

Review coming soon. Book will be out October 2, 2012!

Summer Chick Lit

I don't know what it is, but occasionally, I cannot get enough of reading! It has been like that for the past few weeks. Even though I have mountains of unread books at home, I can't help browsing the libraries around town in hopes of a good read. In one such adventure, I came across Kate Klise's In the Bag. 

A story of two single parents and their teenagers traveling in Europe and their interactions with each other. Interesting enough story line, I guess. Very simple chick lit, but I liked the setting of the book and she wrote it from four different perspectives, switching people each chapter. 

Heart of the Matter was not as good as Giffin's other books, but I have to say I like her style of writing. She writes in first person and like Klise, switches perspectives with every new chapter. I like that Giffin is not afraid to write about real life: the good, the bad, and the ugly. She has approached subjects, such as not wanting to have kids in today's culture and how we view such couples, martial affairs, adoption, single parenthood. Given that, her books do have sexual content and language (one reason I prefer young adult fiction to adult fiction). But I really do like her books for the most part. Her earlier books were better, possibly because her style was so refreshing. These two books by Giffin I recently read felt a little long. 

I really like that in both of these books, Giffin makes connections from her previous books. Some of the major characters from previous works are secondary characters in these books. It was fun to recognize them! 

Where We Belong just came out at the end of July. I finished it last night. One of my favorite characters was the main character's dad, Jim. Maybe it was something about the way she wrote about Marian and Jim's interactions that remind me of my own dad. He is just a very likable man. Anyway, yea for summer chick lit. 

When Bad Christians Happen to Good People

I really appreciated Dave Burchett's authenticity throughout the book. I could relate to him on so many levels as being the one wounded by other Christians as well as inflicting pain. He was honest and shared personal examples from his own life.

My favorite chapter was Chapter 15: Blindsided by God -- Never Saw it Comin'.

Burchett divided the book into three parts:
 1. Silencing the Lambs: The Indefensible Things We Do to One Another
 2. Why Won't Those Heathens Listen? Thoughts on How We Lost Our Audience
 3. Reality-Based Faith for Survivors: Being Real in an Artificial World

Having had a few conversations with friends lately, I have realized what a huge problem other Christians can present in blocking others to God's grace. It saddens me to see once-strong Christians bitter about the Church.

"Relationships exclusively outside the faith might not be the best for your spiritual health. But believe me, relationships exclusively within the faith will put you in violation of the Great Commission (Matthew 28.18-20)" (56).

"I have never... caught a fish without going to the water where the fish were located.... [Y]ou cannot fish for people without going to where they are located. But understand that sometimes they will be in polluted water" (125).

"If you are tired enough, discouraged enough, and wounded enough, maybe you are not ready to scream, 'I can't do this anymore!' And if you are, then I have good news: you are ready for grace" (211).

I could keep adding my favorite quotes, but I'll just let you read the book... and I highly recommend that you do.

Three Philosophies of Life: Peter Kreeft

You may remember my post on the stack of books to read in 2012. One I decided was just too boring to read (The Girl Who Could Fly), and I have read five others, so we are down to fourteen books by the end of the year. This is the second book I have read this year that I received from my friend, David Joe.

I admit that ever since college I rarely read books that challenge my thinking in deep philosophical ways. This book was short, but it was really powerful in the way it made me think about deeper life issues. The subtitle is: Ecclesiastes--Life as Vanity, Job--Life as Suffering, Song of Songs--Life as Love.

Each section was interesting to me, but Ecclesiastes meant a lot to me at this point in life. I have been through the Job part of life and look forward to someday living in the Song of Songs part of life.

"Our world is full of thousands of little things, which keep us diverted from the one big thing. We are kepy so busy that we have no time to think" (33).

"Life is a quest for love and a quest for God, and there is no car or plane for this trip. It is an old-fashioned quest made on our own two feet" (110).

Thank you, David Joe, for another great read.

The Circle Maker



Batterson never fails to amaze me with the ways he connects with his readers.

This book is about Prayer. Not being afraid to ask God for big things, for big dreams, and consistently for a long time (because we all know God's timetable is rarely ours).

It never fails that Batterson hits on life goals in his books. It is a reality check every time I read his own life goals and realize what I have already accomplished and what I still hope to accomplish in life.

"If you aren't willing to put yourself in 'this is crazy' situations, you'll never experience 'this is awesome' moments" (50-51).

"Everything we see and hear is priming us in a positive or negative way. That's one reason I believe in starting the day in God's Word" (154). That was definitely something I have been struggling with lately and I needed to hear/see this.

I highly recomment this book. You can read a sample chapter and learn more about the book/DVD series here.

Book vs. Movie

Part 1: The Vow

I went to the library a few weeks ago. I picked up The Vow.  I have not really been paying attention to movies, so I really had no idea what it was about, but I thought it would be a cheesy Nicholas Sparks romance type book. Throughout the book, I was captivated by these two people's faithfulness to each other and to God. It is truly a beautiful and refreshing story that people take their marriage vow seriously. I highly recommend the book over the movie. Check out the youtube clip below. It does a pretty good job of an overview of their story.

vs

Part 2: One for the Money

My roommate has a very colorful stack of books that I have been eyeing for when I have time to read. I finally went to the library to check out the first book in the Stephanie Plum series, One for the Money. It recently became a movie with Katherine Heigl, who I really like, so I was excited to read the book before seeing the movie.

I really enjoyed the book. It was fast paced and I read it in two days. The movie did a pretty good job for the most part. The ending was totally different, and I did not think they needed to change anything -- should have gone straight from the book. The only thing the movie did was improve the language, which was surprising! Finally a movie that IMPROVES the language of a book instead of spewing F bombs.

Still think the books were better than the movies. Surprise, surprise.

The Girl's Still Got It

Ruth. My favorite book of the Bible.

It's no wonder when given a chance to read a book about her life, I snatched it up.

Liz Curtis Higgs' book, The Girl's Still Got It, is going to be released July 10, 2012.

I have never read any of Higgs' books before. Higgs goes into depth about what it might have been like for Ruth and the other characters in her story. The book includes discussion questions and a study guide. I also saw that there is a DVD available for purchase. It seems like this book would be fitting for a women's Bible study group.

Ruth continues to be my favorite book in the Bible. I appreciated Higgs' statement about the overall purpose of Ruth: "The book of Ruth is a crash course in Soverignty 101, with God whispering all through it, 'Trust me!'" (2).

Higgs does a great job of knowing the background of the culture.

This book was good, but I did not connect with her writing style very well.

I reviewed this book for Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers Blogging for Books. I received this book for free in exchange for a review of the book.