I’ll start by admitting that I have NO IDEA how Start Where You Are got on my “To Read” list. None.
I am not a Buddhist; I know nothing about meditation; and I’ve never so much as heard of Pema Chodron. I’ve learned a few words from the like four yoga classes I’ve taken in my life, but that’s it. Continue reading “Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living”
The Fortress of Solitude is exhausting. Continue reading “The Fortress of Solitude”
Oh yeah. Look at that stud.
Free to Choose is a “personal statement” from the late 1970s about economic policy. Continue reading “Free to Choose”
Ay caramba.
I am very, very far from sure that I understood Go Set a Watchman. Continue reading “Go Set a Watchman”
If you follow this blog, you’ll notice that I gave 90 Minutes in Heaven a 1-point higher rating than I gave Heaven Is for Real.
90 Minutes in Heaven is definitely more of a memoir and less of an argument than Heaven Is for Real. And I appreciate that.
It’s not super well written, which bothers me inherently. And it’s a little bit self-martyring. But I think it would be almost impossible to write a book like this without being a little egotistic.
In this book, Don Piper recounts the day he was involved in a horrific car accident and declared dead at the scene, his subsequent return to life, and his long recovery.
Like I was with Heaven Is for Real, I’m a bit skeptical about what may or may not have happened to Don. If a person dies, experiences heaven, and wants to talk about it, that’s his prerogative. Maybe it’s true, maybe it’s not. The Bible has some very specific things to say about heaven, and that’s more than enough for me.
But Don doesn’t spend the whole book trying to convince me he went to heaven or that his version of heaven is THE heaven. Instead, he talks about how it has changed his life, the wrestling he has done with God over why he was allowed to endure terrible injuries, and how he has turned to optimism and love in the face of pain.
Which is a story I can get behind.
There’s a lot of repetition in this book; I think this book could’ve been about half the length. There are several paragraphs that are almost word-for-word repeated at different points. It’s definitely more about the sensationalism of Don’s story than the literary merit.
So, I mean, take it with a grain of salt. I feel like the people who are going to read this book are going to read it regardless, and the people who aren’t, aren’t.
So, if you want to read it, I didn’t hate it. But I’m not going to force this one down your throat at all.
It is what it is.
*****
If you are a fan of 90 Minutes in Heaven, try these:
(for more books about heaven)
Heaven Is for Real by Todd Burpo
Glimpses of Heaven by Trudy Harris
The Inferno by Dante
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
(for more by Piper)
Daily Devotions by Don Piper
Getting to Heaven by Don Piper
(for autobiographies about pain and recovery)
Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
A Walk Through the Dark by Eva Piper
Coming up:
Dylan Thomas by Paul Ferris
Great Irish Humor by Peter Haining
Changes That Heal, in Dr. Cloud‘s own words, “is a book about relationship, and the barriers that must be broken down for us to have a real relationship with God, others, and ourselves.”
This book was highly recommended to me.
My conclusion? Continue reading “Changes That Heal: How to Understand Your Past to Ensure a Healthier Future”
Can we just talk about that cover for a hot second?
Yes. That’s real.
Whoever designed that should be fired. I can’t take it seriously. Continue reading “The Cay”
The Friday Night Knitting Club isn’t bad.
It’s just a little trope.
My biggest problem with this chick-lit book is the main character (which is a pretty much insurmountable issue). I have a hard time connecting to books in which the protagonist is a self-deprecating martyr who in the midst of a chaotic and hard-knock life somehow makes everything turn out perfect. Georgia Walker isn’t necessarily a flawless character, but a character who is unerring and who is going to make everything work out no matter what.
You probably know Alice Walker from The Color Purple.
Like that novel, Meridian is a depiction of the African-American experience. Walker is clearly attempting to portray something about what it means to be a black woman in America.
But for me, Meridian falls short. Continue reading “Meridian”
I guess I should start off by saying that I’m not a huge fan of tragedy.
The genre as a whole just seems depressing and pointless and inherently unenjoyable. And that’s not because I believe that good literature has to have a happy ending. I love A Farewell to Arms. But it just seems strange to me to read a play knowing full well that it’s going to have an awful ending, that the characters are doomed from the outset, that any good in the world is going to be obliterated by the end of the story.
All that to say that I knew I wasn’t going to love The Duchess of Malfi from the get-go. Continue reading “The Duchess of Malfi”
Tend a Rose Old 