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alltheradreads's Reviews (1.9k)
I breezed through this one during a recent lunch break, as our team at work will be interviewing Idleman for an upcoming podcast (I'll share more once we release it into the wild!) -- I grabbed several nuggets throughout the chapters and appreciated his thoughts on grace, but wasn't wowed by any of the things he shared. There were good elements and I liked the way he structured the chapters, but it wasn't anything amazing in my opinion.
You guys. This book. Forget every other recommendation I've ever given you, and get this one ASAP. Block out a day or a weekend or a whole week if that's what it takes, and read it without stopping. Prepare to have your own identity wrecked (it's all about race, and it will truly wreck you) and your privilege brought into the spotlight (uncomfortable but SO NECESSARY) and your heart just torn a million different ways as you relate to, love, hate, root for, and want to kill these characters. WHAT A STORY. Picoult tackles the hard topics in the most powerful way, and I cannot put enough good words around this one. Wow.
This Bible (meant for kids, as you can tell) is stunning and wonderful and adorable and heartfelt and precious and so, so, so dear. I read straight through the whole thing last evening and was so blown away by the way the stories of the Bible I've read and studied a million times were boiled down into these perfectly told stories that kids could easily understand but adults could also be convicted and stirred by. It's such an incredibly resource, and one I can't wait to share with the kids in my life, as well as re-read to my own self often! To read the scope of the Bible as a true Story like this brings to much of it to life -- I love this.
This wasn't my favorite Oxford-faith-search memoir (Surprised by Oxford wins that category) but this was a fun little read from the daughter of Max Lucado. It was a little scrambled in my opinion, and it didn't seem to have super strong themes or really convicting stories, but it was enjoyable to read and I appreciated some of her thoughts about doubt and identity, especially for those of us who have grown up in church.
read this for the first time in 2017, and liked it, but didn’t relate to it at all. i wasn’t yet on church staff, didn’t know what it was like to be in ministry, didn’t know the grief of leaving it.
now, reading it again, after leaving my church, i am so grateful for these words. those three stars turned to five. i get it now.
the joy, the hurt, the tension, the uncertainty, the grounding of nature, the draw to higher education, even. i get the need to find new spaces, to cut ties, to find different paths forward, to disconnect from church but find Church all the same.
a gift. glad it found me again when i needed it.
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After LOVING Learning to Walk in the Dark from BBT and hearing her speak (still one of the coolest experiences of my life), I thought I would just adore anything and everything she wrote, but this one didn't quite do it for me. It's an interesting memoir about her coming into leadership as a priest in her church and then leaving to become a college professor instead, and there are great thoughts about community and putting down roots and such, but it wasn't as rich or as moving as I was expecting. Granted, this is a very different kind of book than what I've read from her, and as far as memoirs go, it was a good one... I just didn't connect as deeply (nor do I think she intended for the reader to). If church leadership interests you, or you're curious about BBT's story as a priest and beyond, definitely grab this one!
now, reading it again, after leaving my church, i am so grateful for these words. those three stars turned to five. i get it now.
the joy, the hurt, the tension, the uncertainty, the grounding of nature, the draw to higher education, even. i get the need to find new spaces, to cut ties, to find different paths forward, to disconnect from church but find Church all the same.
a gift. glad it found me again when i needed it.
///
After LOVING Learning to Walk in the Dark from BBT and hearing her speak (still one of the coolest experiences of my life), I thought I would just adore anything and everything she wrote, but this one didn't quite do it for me. It's an interesting memoir about her coming into leadership as a priest in her church and then leaving to become a college professor instead, and there are great thoughts about community and putting down roots and such, but it wasn't as rich or as moving as I was expecting. Granted, this is a very different kind of book than what I've read from her, and as far as memoirs go, it was a good one... I just didn't connect as deeply (nor do I think she intended for the reader to). If church leadership interests you, or you're curious about BBT's story as a priest and beyond, definitely grab this one!
We talked about this one on the podcast at work, and I was surprised to find I genuinely really enjoyed it and found so much of it relevant, meaningful, well-written, and thoughtful. The title led me to believe it would be a little cheesy or "trendy" in regards to social media terms, but it's really a wisely written and rich book with great thoughts about what it means to be a friend, have friendships, be in community, and follow Christ in our lives.
This was another library book sale grab (because the cover! that watercolored typography!) and it was a fun little fiction read, but nothing amazing by any means. It follows two different women and their stories, but wasn't very fast-paced or super engaging, but I kept going to the end where I really found that it fell flat with how things concluded... Just an average read, really.
I read this one since we were interviewing Piper for our podcast at work and having a discussion about curiosity on our very first episode, and it was a fun, easy read. I appreciated many of his thoughts about the importance of curiosity, creativity, and whimsy, and found myself agreeing almost entirely with what he says in this book.
I couldn't put this book down. After reading Small Great Things last month and realizing I had misjudged Picoult, I grabbed several books by her at my library's book sale and dove right in. This one is compelling, well-written, incredibly intense and emotional, and just SO GOOD.
I didn't expect this book to be so short (mine was 112 pages...) but it's full of wise writing like Nouwen always shares... just not my favorite of what I've read from him. It focuses on wisdoms from the "desert mothers and fathers" and was a little different than what I was expecting, but focuses on three stepping stones: solitude, silence, and prayer -- I can totally get behind those. It's really just such a quick read, and not as meaty or rich as other books by Nouwen, so I wouldn't start here if you're new to his writing.