To be fair, I’m a Christian and he approaches “The Year of Living Biblically” without any faith in God at all. So it starts out feeling like a gimmick to sell books (and he would probably agree that it was at least partially that). I held out for some redeeming moment where he realized why he was REALLY on this quest and what it meant to him attempting to live with faith in something for a year.

There were a few glimpses of that, but far too few to keep me from being disappointed. While I admit that I was hoping the year would really show him his need for God, I also came to feel that he was toying with things that aren’t really meant to be toyed with. I love his humor and his willingness to be self-deprecating, but the blase approach got old (really? Wearing a white robe and carrying a bible around? That’s not trying to be like Jesus, that’s just being weird for the sake of being weird).

If you’re attracted to the oddball passages of the Bible or you wonder how anyone can take it literally, this might be an interesting read. He is kinder towards some of the “oddball” beliefs than many religious people who preach tolerance. But if you’re looking for a moral message, keep seeking.

For me, that’s an important distinction and an improvement. Not only do the Goodwin’s feel inspired to spend a year living on homemade, homegrown or used items, but they explore what it says about their faith to have chickens in their backyard, to make their own birthday party decorations and to give microloans to struggling families in Thailand. Their entire enterprise was started on December 27 when they were fed up with all of the junk that’s bought and exchanged at Christmas. I don’t know about you, but I’m already thinking about (and dreading) the shopping, wrapping and exchanging for a few moments of pleasure (before the kids are off to the next thing).

It doesn’t have the great recipes that Kingsolver’s book contains and it’s perhaps lighter on environmental depth than some of the other options in the environmental living genre (you’re not going to read extensively on CAFO’s in this book, but it’s not devoted just to local food either). But it’s a great book to read with your bible study group or a gift to give to a friend who’s been toying with the idea of starting her own garden but gets intimidated easily. It may also inspire you to buy a lot more local goods as Christmas gifts this year (or even make some gifts), which would almost certainly be a good thing.

Anyway, the kid is cute, the story unfolds slowly and includes lots of details. The parents are careful to say what they did mention and didn’t (the cynics amongst us will suggest that they probably said more than they self report, the holy rollers will insist it’s all divine intervention). Perhaps most telling is the fact that the child reports going to heaven even though the doctors insist that he was never clinically dead, just a very sick little boy undergoing dangerous surgery.

Read it and make your own decisions. Or it would make a great gift for someone who’s curious about God, heaven, or what happens when we die.

It does approach things from a Christian perspective. I don’t think it’s so heavy handed that non-Christians can’t get something out of it, but feel free to tell me if you disagree.

This is a Christian book and may not appeal to everyone, but it should. It reminded me a lot of “Tuesdays with Morrie”, one of my all-time favorite books. It also speaks to our hearts and why we should care about those less fortunate. If you haven’t volunteered or have felt burnt out on volunteering in your community, this is the book for you! It’s inspiring how easy and hard it is to change someone’s life (and I’m not sure that’s really a contradiction).

Dekker and Medearis are Christians (though perhaps not traditional ones). Most of the men they interview are Muslim, many of them are in leadership of various groups including Hamas and Hezbollah. Interestingly enough, everyone seems to agree that “love your neighbor as yourself” is important, even divine advice. What no one seems to agree on is what it means.

That’s really no surprise, you could probably interview people in leadership of various religious organizations in America and get a lot of different answers to that question and few, if any, people willing to actually live it.

What makes this a good read is the people being interviewed and the fact that they use transcripts from their interviews, not paraphrases.

I could’ve done without Dekker’s little fictional play tucked neatly inside (he does freely admit that it’s fiction, as long as you read the entire book).

It wasn’t quite as gripping as Mortenson’s books, but it was good and may help you see things from a new perspective, which is, in my opinion, always valuable.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk details. The book is about a man (Mack) whose young daughter was kidnapped and murdered. He sinks into a depression (understandable) until one day he receives a note that seems to come from God saying (essentially) “Let’s hang out”.

Mack is angry, but he goes nonetheless, and ends up meeting God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit (the author assigns them very human characteristics, which may or may not meet with your approval).  Does he find the answers he’s looking for? Kind of, you’ll have to read it to find out.

Is the book Biblical? No, but it really doesn’t pretend to be either. If you’ve struggled through a time when you felt like God was distant, or if you’re angry with God over some situation or pain in your life, this story is worth reading as a story. It may touch your heart; it could even jar something loose.

She did lose most of her family. Many of her friends did reject her for being a Tutsi. And yet she discovered a much more meaningful relationship with God that she still carries with her today.

While this is a dramatic and disturbing read, it’s also uplifting. We have a great capacity for faith even in the midst of extreme persecution and hopelessness.

If you’d like a more academic view of suffering, I suggest “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl.

Thanks to Laura H for suggesting this book!

This is a Christian book and non-Christians may not get as much out of it. Welch quotes the Bible extensively to demonstrate the ridiculousness of our worries and reinforce the reasons for our fears (after all, God does not promise that our house won’t get foreclosed on, that our spouses won’t cheat on us, that our children won’t get sick – He only promises to be with us through those things).

I’m not going to say that this book has solved all of my worry problems (I have a lot of faith in books, but not THAT much faith), it has helped significantly.

If you’re looking for help for anxiety, this is a great resource. For help with depression/fatigue, I recommend, “The Instinct to Heal by Dr. David Servan-Schreiber. If you’re just struggling with “When Bad Things Happen to Good People” read what Harold Kushner has to say to start and then go to “When God Doesn’t Answer Your Prayer” by Jerry Sittser.

What I love most about this book is that Alex and Brett point out the inherent ridiculousness of our current culture. Just 70 or 80 years ago, teenagers were responsible enough to be wage earners, earning enough in some cases to support not only themselves, but to help feed their parents and siblings as well. Almost all teens in the early 1900′s raised their younger siblings, worked on the farm or at a job and shared their income with their parents. Many of them had families of their own by the time their teen years came to an end.

While I’m not suggesting that 15 year olds should be having children, the fact is that they used to do that and a whole lot more. We’ve gradually reduced expectations of teens to the point that just showing up to school occasionally gets them kudos. We don’t even expect them to do all that well in their classes! How did we go from one extreme (kids working in sweatshops 60 hours a week) to another (18 year olds who refuse to work 15 hours a week because it’s “too demanding”)?

This is a great book and would make a great gift for anyone over 11.