Wednesday, July 20, 2016

The Anatomy of a Disciple:

The Anatomy of a Disciple: So Many Believers. So Few Disciples. By: Rick Taylor
Non-fiction: religion, E-book
E-Book Count: 12
Book Count: 18

Okay, so on Amazon Prime you get one free e-book a month from a large list of books.  It was the end of the month of June, I had an almost dead battery and I needed to pick something quickly or forfeit my free book for the month.  This book's title looked interesting enough to be better then nothing.  I did not give it the normal amount of looking over that I usually do for my monthly book.  And that is why I finished reading this book, as otherwise I would still have lost my free book.
That being said, this books main idea is that God is the one that does all the work and so all you need to do is: read your Bible, "bend the knees of your heart" in prayer, and be around other Christians that will hold you accountable to become a disciple and not just a believer who fails constantly and burns out by trying on their own to be a good Christian. . . you know by reading their Bible, praying and doing Christianly things with other Christians. So it reads like a self-help book with a neat graph on things to aim for, stories on how it works in real life, Biblical examples, bullet-point lists, and end notes; however, as it isn't about what you will be doing it feels long and rambling.  Like if it had the beginning with the graph of actions and practices of a disciple and the end with it's reiterating on how to be open to God making you a disciple (minus the plug to buy their personality test.) it might have been an okay read.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

No Price Too High:

No Price Too High: A Pentecostal Preacher Becomes Catholic By: Diane Hanson
Non-fiction: Religion, Biography, NYR, 258 pages
Physical Book Count: 8
Book Count: 17

This is the conversion story of Alex Jones as well as his wife, Donna.  Each shared their own story with the author, so it is like two books in one, with the author writing it in each of their voices.  

Monday, July 11, 2016

My Badass Book of Saints:

My Badass Book of Saints: Courageous Women Who Showed Me How to Live By: Maria Morera Johnson
Non-fiction: Religion, Biography, NYR, 132 pages
Physical Book Count: 7
Book Count: 16

This book both tells stories about the author's life as well as that of saints and other women that she looks up to.  There are 11 chapters, each that deals with one topic and includes the stories of at least 2 women that are an example for how to live out that virtue, one of them a saint or blessed.  Most of the other women are also Catholic, but she also draws inspiration from a couple of women that were not necessarily religiously motivated in their activities.  After that the book ends on Mary.  There are a couple questions at the end of each chapter as well as a guide at the end to use it in a 6 week study.

 At the start of the book it does go into how she ended up writing a book about saints titled bad ass.  The short version is that as she is bi-lingual she read the Spanish version of a friend's book where one word translated more to mean bad ass in Spanish then the meaning of the original word, and also she wanted a book on women saints where it showcased their boldness.