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.