October Book Reviews

A Paris Year: My Day-to-Day Adventures in the Most Romantic City in the World by Janice Macleod ★★★★★
I enjoyed Macleod's Paris Letter (my review HERE), but absolutely adored this follow-up, which has a journal format. Beautiful watercolor illustrations and her own photography brighten each page as she pens personal anecdotes, interesting history of people and places in Paris, tidbits about the Parisian culture, and descriptions of famous French holidays. I finished it a few days prior to heading to Paris and added a few last-minute sights to see due to this fun book.



Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore ★★★★★ (audiobook)
The true story of an angry homeless man who befriends a wealthy married couple, changing the course of all three lives forever. It is a great reminder to stop judging those who look completely different than you because in the grand scheme of things, we deal with a lot of the same basic needs, desires, and weaknesses. Denver was a man full of anger. He was seen by everyone at the homeless shelter as dangerous and antisocial, yet Deborah (wife of the author, Ron) felt a strong heart-tug to show him extra compassion. She knew there was more beneath the surface and was convinced that God had an extraordinary plan for him. Ron was a prideful, selfish, arrogant art dealer that spent more time with clients than his family. He agrees to join his wife at the homeless shelter after he nearly wrecks his marriage. Just as his friendship starts to form with Denver, he receives  crushing news about the health and future of his wife, which leads all three of them on a journey filled with pain as well as reassurances of God's love through it all. I was completely enthralled with anything and everything Denver and Deborah said and did. They seemed so authentic, humble, and real. Bonus: The movie based on the book is out in theaters right now (trailer HERE)

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway★★★★☆
Before the riches of fame that came with the bestsellers like The Sun Also Rises, Farewell to Arms, and For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest was a struggling writer living in Paris with his first wife, Hadley. He frequented the home of art curator and confidante of fellow authors, Gertrude Stein. He borrowed books (and sometimes money) and forged a lasting friendship with Sylvia Beach, an American bookseller and founder of my favorite bookstore in the world (Shakespeare & Co, situated near Notre Dame in Paris). This memoir, begun in 1957 and published posthumously seven years later, he captures expat life of a poor writer in the 1920s who is trying to find his voice in the literary world -- as well as a quiet cafe where he can get some work done. Whether you adore the literary lives of the infamous Lost Generation (including Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Ezra Pound) or references to the ever-enchanting Paris (or like me, both!)  Hemingway's essays are laced with a nostalgic feel. As an old man battling depression and the ravaging effects of lifetime excessive alcohol consumption, it is as if Hemingway wrote these essays, some of the last of his writing career before his death, to say "Now those were the days! That was what writing was all about." I read this while in Paris and visited Shakespeare & Co., which made this reading experience even more enjoyable.

Four Seasons in Rome: on Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World by Anthony Doerr (audiobook) ★★★☆☆
I had high hopes for this one since I absolutely loved Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See, so it may not be the book itself as much as the reader's expectations that dulled the experience. I listened to it while in Italy (a bulk of it while in Rome), which made his descriptions of places like the Roman Forum, the Pantheon, and the Vatican spring off the pages. These travel essays were my favorite from the book. I anticipated more mentioning of his writing process for the aforementioned ALTWCS, but he was in Rome during the very start of the writing, so he was actually working on a short story more than the historical tome that would take him a decade to eventually complete. He wrote a lot about raising twin infants since he was in Rome with them and his wife from the time they were six months to a year and a half, and a lot happens during that season (first teeth, crawling, first steps, first illness). There’s a lot of historical references, some of which were attributed to philosophers I wasn’t interested in, so that part dragged. I got distracted a lot while listening, mostly because I was traveling and seeing gorgeous sites during morning walks or on the train and didn’t listen as intently as I thought I would. But also because his voice was so slow and  monotonous. I listened to certain parts a few times, which helped with missed parts but made me eager to just finish the book already. I’ve listened to a ton of audiobooks and this is the first I wish I would have read on paper instead.

My photo in Rome that I didn't realize until no is the same angle as the cover photo

Love Does: Discover A Secretly Incredible Life in and Ordinary World by Bob Goff (audiobook) ★★★★☆
Bob Goff is an entertaining, yet also wise storyteller, linking incredible (sometimes hard to believe) personal stories to truths about God’s active love for us and how our love should likewise never be stationary. I love how he puts it: “That's what love does - it pursues blindly, unflinchingly, and without end. When you go after something you love, you'll do anything it takes to get it, even if it costs everything.” Don’t expect deep, theological exegesis; instead, expect to be inspired by a somewhat impulsive, energetic man spurring you to love with your hands and feet in ways that’ll kick you out of your comfort zone, but in the process, better reflect God’s great love for us. His writing style reminds me of Max Lucado, except with a bit more sense of humor and spunk (he shares some pretty numerous capers he’s done). I listened to the audiobook and it was well done.




Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar (audiobook) ★★★★☆

As a Cuban-Jewish grade-schooler, recently emigrated from tumultuous Cuba in the 1960s and now living in a lower class neighborhood NYC, Ruthie is just trying to enjoy being a carefree girl. Gaining confidence from her recent graduation from "the dumb class" because she'd finally learned enough English to join the mainstream class, she was also the reigning hopscotch "queen of Queens" when a tragic car accident left her  bedridden in a body cast. Behar, now an older woman, peers into her younger self, sharing all the fears, anger, and eventual hopeful resilience  amidst a traumatic and life-altering experience. Her honesty about her selfish, prideful  tendencies as well as the anxiety-ridden return to normal life (and re-learning to walk) brought vulnerability and depth to this middle-grade/YA book. 

Reminds me of: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith


So, You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson
An intriguing look at how the once bygone public shaming akin to The Scarlet Letter has resurfaced through Google search engines and social media. A life can be marred in the blink of an eye due to dishonesty (like an author being revealed as plagiarizing and inventing false info) or stupid, offensive jokes posted as a tweet or Facebook photo that was interpreted as grossly disrespectful and racist. The author reveals the stories that made the headlines including the aforementioned examples and the consequential demise from the social eye of these publicly shamed people. He also looks at shame as a construct and how damaging it can be to individuals and groups. It was an interesting book but a caveat: there are a few chapters with  F-bombs galore as well as a disturbing chapter where he interviewed a porn star who talks about how she helps people forget their shame about their unusual sexual preferences. Also a chapter on a famous guy who got caught in an Nazi-themed orgy that was really disturbing and offensive (the guy, not the author’s writing). These are chapters than can easily be skipped without losing any overall context, but I nearly stopped reading because of them.

The Queen of Katwe: A Story of Life, Chess, and One Extraordinary Girl's Dream of Becoming a Grandmaster by Tim Crothers ★★★★☆ (audiobook)

Phiona lived and worked in the Ugandan slum village of Katwe when, barely fifteen, she boarded a plane to Siberia for the Chess Olympiad, the world's premier chess event. She was only nine years old when she followed her brother to see what he was doing in the chess club he attended -- and she quickly learned the rules and developed a passion for the game that would change her life. The chess club was started by a man who had once grown up in slums as well and now was part of a global Christian outreach ministry serving kids through providing a safe place to learn sports like soccer. He'd noticed some kids were not interested in the sport and quickly offered an alternative, a board game he didn't even know the correct name for. With his encouragement and tutelage,  slum kids (including Phiona) became highly skilled, winning a national competition. Crothers tells Phiona's story (and that of her family), full of heartache from seemingly endless cycle of generational poverty, but offering hope through her dream to become an elite chess player. HERE is a recent interview and video of this inspiring girl and the trailer for the 2016 Disney movie based on her life, Queen of Katwe.

Worship: The Reason We Were Created -- Collected Insights from A.W. Tozer ★★★★☆One of Tozer's favorite subject to write and preach about was worship. Not merely the Sunday morning singing, but rather, a daily attitude  of "astonished reverence, breathless adoration, awesome fascination, lofty admiration" of the character and work of God that "should be making every day of the week a holy day and every spot we tread holy ground." Tozer's essays repeatedly return to the gospel as he proclaims God is the only one worthy of our everyday worship: "He became meek because He was majesty. You deserve nothing but death, but He died that you might be called to Him.  What a wonderful, gracious God He is." Tozer also teaches of God's receptive and unfailing love for His people: "God loves us more than He values the galaxies ... We please Him most, not by frantically trying to make ourselves good, but by throwing our ourselves into His arms with all our imperfections and believing that He understands everything -- and loves us still." WOW. That quote alone made the book a great read, but the numerous other words in this timeless collection have both challenged and inspired me to pray for my heart to truly worship God in a more fervent way.  I want to be awed by His presence, by the life-sustaining words in the Bible, by the opportunity to communicate with Him through prayer, and by His guidance and comfort of His Spirit. There is a lifetime of reasons to worship God and this book helped remind me of this.

Disclaimer: I received this book from Moody Publishers in exchange for my honest review, which I have provided here

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