Real Life Stories

I adore the public library and am a prominent figure amongst the memoir book section and the DVD documentary section. I guess I'm a sucker for real life stories. 

SIDENOTE- Jake actually has a pretty hilarious insight into my love for real life stories:

Jake loves to tell jokes. He can rattle off joke after joke that he read off popsicles when he was 8 years old. He has a knack for remembering tragically corny jokes and enjoys telling them to me. However, I am the most terrible audience because I do not laugh. I can't even muster up a polite laugh 1. because it's truly not funny to me and 2. because I do not want to encourage his corny joke telling. He came up with a solution that if he starts his joke off with the stage set as if it is a real life situation, I will be engaged in the joke and therefore think it is funny because it is real life. Example: Jake- "Man, yesterday, the craziest thing happened . I went out to lunch with Mike and this guy I haven't seen in years walked in. His name was Bill. And actually, he was a duck...." So Jake has tried this theory out on me many times, but I usually catch on by the time he admits his "friend" was a duck. ;)

Anyway... Now that school is winding down, I have been able to do "pleasure reading", which should probably have a different name (one that does not connotate reading graphic romance novels by myself in a rose-petal-filled bathtub). 

I have loved some of the recent books I have read and thought I would share my recent reading list:

The Year of Living Biblically- A.J. Jacobs
This is a memoir of the Editor of Esquire Magazine who spent one full year living out the commandments of the Old Testament as best as possible. It definitely includes a part where he stones an adulterer (but I won't spoil that encounter for you). I have mixed feelings about books like this that take something sacred and sovereign to me and turn it into a money-making endeavor (aka- a book deal). I just pray that the author was able to truly glean some of the wisdom and truth from the Word of God through the process. A year emerged in the Bible can never be a bad thing. All in all, it is quite a hilarious book and the writing is excellent. Highly recommend.

The Blue Parakeet: Re-Thinking How You Read The Bible- Scot McNight
I am having a more difficult time getting through this book because it is more meaty than some of the other "pleasure" reading I have been doing. It has really good insight and addresses many current hot topics in the Christian faith. I can't give it a full recommendation because I haven't finished it, but for now, I am still intrigued enough to keep reading and hopefully learning.

The Unlikely Disciple- A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University- Kevin Roose
This book is similar to The Year of Living Biblically, because it involves a non-believer submerging himself in a Christian world of unfamiliar rules and routines and trying to make sense of them without the understanding of who God truly is. I did enjoy the insights into some of the quirky, non-Biblical practices that Christians have adopted (such as the side-hug, modern-day courting, and so many linguistic adaptations). I also related well to the culture of Liberty University (aka "America's Holiest University"), because it is very similar to my undergraduate university- Oral Roberts University (ORU). The difference is ORU students viewed Liberty as more liberal in their rules; ORU was much more strict. So to read some of the scoffing at the rules made me think this guy had it pretty easy, even thought he thought things were pretty strict.


Well, I don't plan on becoming a professional book reviewer, so I will stop there. All that being said, I have been enjoying reading non-school books lately... about real life situations... that have no relevance to knock-knock jokes.