Tina Fey
From the publisher: “Everything you would hope for from this book - it’s impossible to put down, you will laugh until you cry, you will wish it were longer, you can’t wait to hand it to every friend you have - is true.” (Los Angeles Times)
From me: I had this on my list at the library, then saw it at the little free library in front of Culver’s and said, “Bingo!” While there are a few instances of PG-13 and R-rated language, it is thoroughly hilarious. I embarrassed myself in the lunchroom a few times by guffawing loudly in the midst of my El Parian leftovers.
Page 56/Sentence 5: I met HRW the next evening at his off-campus apartment.
Philip Yancey
“In his most powerful book since What’s So Amazing About Grace? and The Jesus I Never Knew, Philip Yancey probes the very heartbeat - the most fundamental, challenging, perplexing, and deeply rewarding aspect - of our relationship with God.”
I don’t know that I would use the word “powerful” to describe this. I found it, though challenging in a few places, to be mostly encouraging and reassuring. It is good to hear a profound thinker have the same kind of questions and doubts and disappointments and desires about prayer as me. The most significant walkaway for me was switching from prayer as a never-ending shopping list to being a restful time of relationship with my father in heaven, who loves me indescribably.
56/5: He later wrote about them in his book Knowing the Face of God, and I will simply quote him: Silently gazing into a friend’s eyes may seem purer, and certainly more romantic, than mere talk.
Nancy Guthrie
“This 10-week study of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon mines the Wisdom Literature not only for wise principles for living, but also for the wise person these books point to through their drama, poetry, proverb, and song - Jesus”
This was the resource for our adult Bible study class on Sunday mornings this winter. Guthrie did an excellent job of not only helping us understand the Old Testament books in their context, but also seeing how Jesus was right when he said that all of the books of the OT spoke of him.
56/5: In this challenge between God and Job, what would define a “win” for Satan?
Craig Johnson
“For 24 years, Walt Longmire has been the sheriff in Wyoming’s Absaroka County, where his wit and charm have helped him solve many crimes. Even that can’t prepare him for the savage attack on his daughter, Cady, a Philadelphia lawyer who has unwittingly become embroiled in a political cover-up.”
This is the third book in the Longmire series, which I started reading because of the Longmire TV series. Unlike the first two, this one would be R-rated, mostly for language, if it were faithfully rendered on-screen. Still, the plot never gets bogged down and we get more of the great relationship between Walt and his friend, Standing Bear.
56/5: She saluted ever so slightly with her glass and downed the wine in one smooth swig like a longshoreman.
Herschel H. Hobbs
“See the places Jesus walked, preached, and ministered. Weaving the Gospel writers’ varied perspectives into one seamless narrative, best-selling author Herschel Hobbs offers a unique angle on Jesus’ life, teachings, sacrificial death, and resurrection.”
While there aren’t as many illustrations as I was expecting in a book with this title, and it’s basically a recounting of what I’ve already read in the four Gospels, Hobbs does manage to explain some things about life as Jesus experienced it that helps breathe a new energy into some of the parables and events. His explanation of how one part of the Sermon on the Mount leads to the next and so on was a revelation for me.
56/5: John the Baptist’s ministry was on the decline.
