Book Review: Gentle and Lowly

 

Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers by Dane C. Ortlund
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a book for thinkers. When my sister gave me Oswald Chamber's My Utmost For His Highest for my high school graduation, she wrote in it, "This is a book for thinkers and you are a thinker who will benefit from reading it." This needs a re-reading and another re-reading to glean its teaching.

A friend in ministry reviewed by saying, "This may be a modern classic." I agree that it very well may be.

The author quotes Scripture freely which I love. He also quotes old authors which were sometimes difficult to wade through. I often had to re-read sentences and paragraphs for understanding.

For various reasons this took awhile to read. The lesson I will remember most vividly is that God's wrath and mercy are not a balance in which when His wrath over sin is high, God's mercy is diminished. No, when His wrath for sin is high, His mercy is greatest as shown by His love and forgiveness. Our sinful hearts think God cannot love us when we sin or loves us less, but no. When we sin, His heart draws us even deeper to Him.

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Book Review: Call Your Daughter Home: A Novel

 

Call Your Daughter Home by Deb Spera
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Before a cruise I thought I was getting a book by a different author, but once I started this book my OCD kicked in and I had to finish it. This follows several southern women in the 1920s and how they deal with family and cultural dynamics. So much dysfunction and one storyline of sickening perversion made this a difficult read. It is so far removed from my life experiences and demonstrates how the Gospel changes people and families. That storyline alone tells me not to recommend this book to my friends.

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Book Review: My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry

 

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book fit in my bag to read on a cruise as I wanted an easy fiction read purely for enjoyment. This really wasn't that for me, but since I didn't have access to another book on the boat and since I have to finish what I start I completed it. It was a bit hard to follow as there was a fantasy element that I just didn't get into.

I didn't really enjoy A Man Called Ove by this author although it was highly recommended by quite a few friends so I'm not sure why I thought I'd like this book, but what can I say? It was $1 at an estate sale  

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Book Review: An Invisible Thread

 

An Invisible Thread by Laura Schroff
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An Invisible Thread is a can't put down book. It took only two days to read while I was on vacation. I don't know who recommended it or where I read about it, but I'm thankful someone or I did.
The thread is a reference to a Chinese proverb that people are connected with an invisible thread so they will inevitably meet and be tied together. My faith says that isn't by chance--it's God's plan. this is very much in the same vane as Same Kind of Different as Me but without reference to God or a faith foundation.
Would I have done what Laura did? I don't know. I know I'm not always responsive to panhandlers, but what if a child asked me for money?
Obviously this statement near the end resonated with me to identify with Laura: It's not your lot in life to have children but in fact to affect many.
I recommended this book.

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Book Review: The Truth about Employee Engagement: A Fable about Addressing the Three Root Causes of Job Misery

The Truth about Employee Engagement: A Fable about Addressing the Three Root Causes of Job Misery by Patrick Lencioni
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another excellent Patrick Lencioni fable that teaches such great truths. The premise is about employee engagement, but it's really about dealing with people in general. Through the story he teaches the three things that make for a miserable job--immeasurability, irrelevance, and anonymity. Except for measurement, in every day life people want to be relevant and have impact on others as well as be known to others. This is a very helpful and meaningful read since I'm on the Employee Engagement and Experience team at work--definitely sharing with others.

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Book Review: For Such a Time as This

For Such a Time as This: My Faith Journey through the White House and Beyond by Kayleigh McEnany
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

By the time Kayleigh McEnany became Press Sec. for Trump, I was kind of over the MSM and all the false narratives so I admit I really didn't know much about her. I like that a woman of faith was in this position. Her attention to detail and excessive research and preparation for her work is beyond admirable. It seemed she needed a word count and many ideas were repeated even if in slightly different situations. I get it, she had a baby that she constantly referred to as Baby Blake rather than just Blake, her mother either kept Baby Blake in FL or brought her to DC, and Kayleigh hated to leave Baby Blake every time she went to work. I also thought there were too many details about her mammograms, ultrasounds, and dense breast tissue. This is a quick and easy read but as is typical for me, my evenings were choppy to complete it very fast.

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Book Review: Making Numbers Count

 

Making Numbers Count: The Art and Science of Communicating Numbers by Chip Heath
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Excellent reference tool for communicators. Reading it straight through gave me general ideas but it's hard to remember the various strategies when presented with so many. I see going back to this for quick reminders.

If you think you aren't a numbers person, you need to read this to communicate and see relationships of numbers.
If you are a numbers person, you need to read this to make numbers relevant to the common man.

If you like general trivia, this is an interesting read simply to go through the examples which are put into tables and easily noticeable to read.

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