The Mrs. & the Minister

Alan Jacobs' How to Think:  A Survival Guide for a World at Odds is the right book for the right time.  Jacobs is a good thinker, as any with knowledge of his previous books, many essays, and invaluable blog posts will know.  How to Think is vintage Jacobs -- an incisive, consistently thoughtful work that hits a post-truth, "alternative facts", right-side-of-history American culture right between the eyes.  The worst thing that can be said of it is that it doesn't say quite enough.  Fortunately, How to Think is not directed at any one political polemic or a guidebook for navigating Facebook or Twitter.  Jacobs writes that it's a mistake to assume that human beings are ultimately rational beings whose irrationality cannot be understood.  On the contrary, human nature, and therefore human thinking, is inescapably moral.  We often think and live poorly because we want to. How to Think says we fail to think correctly, fairly, and help...

You are the Beloved: Daily Meditations for Spiritual Living brings together passages from a variety of Henri Nouwen's works to create a 365-day devotional.  Nouwen's later works devoted so much attention to reclaiming the Christian spiritual life of those who are beloved by God.  This collection builds on that notion to bring together some of Nouwen's most important passages from his various works. This is a devotional that should sit next to some other classics. I received a free copy of this game from the Blogging for Books review program in exchange for my honest review here.

Lisa Fain's Queso gives us a collection of recipes for that game day staple.  It brings together some of the most interesting and creative recipes into a fun addition for every kitchen.  Just this last weekend, we hosted another game-day celebration (Go Dawgs!) and I went out on a whim and made one of the recipes from this book.  It was a huge hit!  I love that this cook book breaks down the recipes and ingredients.  It combines flavors that  I never would have thought of combining into Queso before.  Definitely a book to help spice up game day recipes! I received a free copy of this game from the Blogging for Books review program in exchange for my honest review here.

Andrea Raynor's The Alphabet of Grief: Words to Help in Times of Sorrow is an important little book.  And has proven to be an important and timely one in my own personal life.  It's written for those navigating the process of grief.    Written in a warm, pastoral way that combines pastoral excellence with scriptural integrity, Raynor uses each letter of the alphabet to present a systematic way of coping with loss.  The stories are honest, the emotions are raw, and, at the end of it, you will emerge a stronger person because of the hope dispensed by Raynor's writing.     The author does an excellent job of using biblical stories and principles in a way that avoids platitudes, truisms, and other cliches and does not knock them over the reader's head.  I highly recommend this book for pastors and parishioners who are trying to understand mortality in the scope of eternity.    I received a free copy of this game fr...

Deal or Duel is a must-have for all those Hamilton lovers out there! While I ordered it because of the musical, when my husband and I played after dinner one night, I was hooked for the history.  It's beautifully designed and filled with all the trivia you didn't get in your high school American history class.  Players pit their survival skills against one another, trying to do the one thing that really is American -- try to win all the money ... or die trying. We love it and plan to share with all our friends and family. I received a free copy of this game from the Blogging for Books review program in exchange for my honest review here.

The New York Times Footsteps is a fun literary journey a collection of travel essays centered around the homes and haunts of literature "greats."  While the book started out interesting, I enjoyed learning about these literary figures and their places in the world.  After several chapters, though, the stories became more tedious as the writers became more and more obscure. Ironically, it was the story of Mark Twain that was my favorite; a writer I vowed years ago to never read after discovering the horrid things he said about Jane Austen.  I feel there was a striking imbalance between writers who contributed positivity and decency to the world and those who prattled off drink and sex-fueled mumblings.  Overall, I was not super impressed with this collection. I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program, in exchange for my honest review here.

The Dream Centered Life: Discovering What Drives You by Luke Barnett helps us to center our lives on God.  It's a beautifully-written and spiritually-sensitive guide that focuses God as the center point of our whole life, how putting our trust and faith in him will help us live a better overall life. God has a specific design for each life he creates, and Barnett outlines the way in which obedience -- though often difficult -- is actually a daring adventure in which we discover what actually drives us.   I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.