Books

I just finished a couple of books and I thought I'd recommend them. They are such polar opposites of each other that it feels kinda strange talking about them in the same entry here, but in the interest of time I'm gonna do just that.

The first book I want to recommend is Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. This is not my typical read, but I discovered this guy on the pages of the Knoxville News-Sentinel, just a small blurb about him and about this book. I researched it on Amazon a little bit -- well, researched meaning read the other reader reviews -- and decided to buy the softback version. So glad I did. This book is about this guy's search for sense in modern Christianity. It's about his conflict about calling himself a Christian when most of the *Christians* he knows are judgmental, closed-minded folk. It's about how you can be a *normal* person and still come to the conclusion that there has to be something bigger than you out there. It also speaks to the importance of spirituality as it relates to belief rather than just memorization of Biblical philosophy. And it's about how acceptance of EVERYONE must be at the root of your belief system, else you are just a phony Christian. It's funny, it's sad sometimes, it's a quick read. Most of all, it feels familiar, at least to me.

The second book I want to recommend -- so different from the first -- is the new Stephen King, Duma Key. I love Stephen King, always have. I love the gory, love the scary, love the clever wordplay. Ever since his real-life near-death accident, though, I haven't loved him as much. Sorta felt like he was different, a little less weird and a little more broken or something. Anyway, the main character in this one is no different than in any other of King's books. He's a broken guy, but through his life upheaval, he finds this artistic ability he's represssed all his life while he was building a career. There are the usual scary, weird, even bloody elements in this book, just like all of his books, but there seems to be more heart. I'm not gonna review it, cause, well, that's just not what I do, but I will say it's worth it's heft. It moved pretty quickly and I thought about it for longer than my usual half-hour after I closed the back cover.

I have included a link to Donald Miller's website. He has several other works and I think he's worth checking out.
Donald Miller Website

That's all for now, kids. I'll probably be blogging again after the weekend. Kelsey's in the regional spelling bee Saturday. Hopefully I'll have pictures and a story after all is said and done. Everybody, please keep her in your hearts the next few days. She has worked her rear off studying in addition to all of her schoolwork and I couldn't be prouder of her!

~Peace