I have attempted this several times but never made it through a year. Let’s see if 2012 can be the year I write at least a sentence about every book I read!
Creation Regained
by Al Wolters is a book I’ve been meaning to read for about 10 years. Geared towards students, it’s a good look at the implications of the gospel through all creation. (8.5)
Bonhoeffer
by Eric Metaxas is a well written look at a fascinating figure worth reading about. But somehow, I felt like this biography was a little too close to hagiography, and also projected quite a bit of 21st century evangelicalism onto the subject. Still, it’s a good read. (6.5)
The Fault in our Stars
by John Green made me laugh and cry and think. Word to the wise: there is a lot of good work written in the Young Adult genre that you might enjoy, that is neither dystopian nor vampiric. TFioS is my favorite of Green’s novels so far, but I probably need to re-read Looking for Alaska now that I know his writing better. (9.5)
I re-read Compassion, Justice & the Christian Life
by Robert Lupton with some friends this month. If you are interested in practical wisdom about loving the poor, I recommend this simple book. (9)
Hippie Boy
by Ingrid Ricks was an unfortunate Kindle Lending Library choice fueled by my interest in all things LDS. It is a decent, but unremarkable memoir, and not as much about Mormonism as the blurb suggests. (4)
I really wanted to like The Shaping of a Life
by Phyllis Tickle. And there were moments I really enjoyed. But I did not love it, nor did I find it as engaging as many other spiritual memoirs. (6.5)
The Underdog
was Markus Zusak’s debut novel. It’s quirky and fun, but read The Book Thief, that is Zusak’s masterpiece. (6)
I wrote a full review of Give Them Grace
by Elyse Fitzpatrick here. (6)
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
by Muriel Barbery is thought-provoking and like The Fault in our Stars, made me feel a wide range of emotions. It read well and didn’t feel like a translation. I think this is a book people either really like or really don’t, and I’d recommend it more cautiously, even though I enjoyed it. (8)
Have you considered reading fewer books? It should make the task of writing about each of them simpler…
Although I just had to look up the definition of “hagiography”, I do agree with your assessment:) For me, it was slow in the beginning, but I did get to a certain point where I couldn’t put it down. I like Metaxas, in general, and was also surprised at some of his zingers. Bonhoeffer’s life was fascinating, and I agree that the book is definitely worth reading.
I LOVE, LOVE ‘Creation Regained’ as well!!!
For the record, I have not looked up so many words in a book that is less than 100 years old than I did reading Bonhoeffer. It got a little ridiculous.
I like a rating system out of 10 (as opposed to Goodreads’ or Amazon’s 5-star rating system). Helpful sentence reviews. :)
Note that even using a 10 point scale, I needed to use half increments for many of my books read. I don’t know what that says about me.