Ignorant Historian

I know that it has been way too long since I’ve posted a book review here but nothing I’ve been reading lately has provoked me to blog about it. Perhaps Die Young will break the ice for me.

Die Young is all about the importance, difficulty, and benefits of dying to self. Thus the title: Die Young is written to young adults.

I definitely appreciate the message of Die Young as it really doesn’t take a light and fluffy approach to the Gospel. I think we are doing our youth a disservice when we act like becoming a Christian is easy. In one sense it is (we aren’t doing the work), but in another, we ‘re giving everything we have and are back to God. So before we encourage a youth–or anyone–to take the first steps to follow Christ, we need to encourage them to count the costs.

Will this keep people from coming to Christ? Yes and no. We’ll definitely get less numbers to report: less people “walking the aisle.” Yet the ones who do make a decision are more likely to be sincere.

There were a few nit-picky things that I didn’t like about Die Young. The biggest thing was that I thought that their picture of true contentment was short-sighted. The reason why a Christian can be content with little/nothing (Philippians 4:11-13) is because they’re content in God not in what they have or where they are. When we put our eyes on God, everything else truly does grow dim.

I appreciate books like Die Young for going deeper than traditional youth group material. However, I do think that there is a better book out there on the topic, and I’d recommend Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris first.

Disclaimer: I received an advanced reader copy of Die Young in exchange for this review.

I can’t quite explain why I enjoyed How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford so much.  I read this book in the middle of the Read-a-thon a couple of weekends ago, right after coming to tears at the end of Shadow of the Giant.

Well, this one brought me to tears as well.

I always have a lot of respect for books that can make me cry.  Few do.  Movies that make me cry are a dime a dozen, but it’s harder to convince me to react emotionally when the only weapon you have is words.  Natalie Standiford did that.

I hope that doesn’t turn you off to How to Say Goodbye in Robot.  It’s not a sad book, really.  Just very real.  I’ve been reading a lot more YA books lately, and they seem to fall into many of the same clichés over and over again. This book didn’t do that.  It reminded me of books that I enjoyed (Special Topics of Calamity Physics and Wintergirls) but in no way is like those books.

How to Say Goodbye in Robot is the quirky tale of the budding friendship between Bea and Jonah.  It’s not plot-driven, but it still surprised me in the end (though it probably shouldn’t have).  Standiford does a great job of getting you to feel what it would be like to be Bea in the story, and leaves you thinking just as Bea is left thinking.

If you ever enjoy YA literature, I recommend checking this one out.  Check out The Page Flipper’s review for another take on it.

Having read their first book a few months ago, I was excited to receive a free copy of this book from the publisher.  While I, not being a teenager or college student, am not really the intended audience of these books, I like to have an idea of what’s going on with the younger generation since I regularly work with children and preteens.

I greatly enjoyed Doing Hard Things and thought it had a lot to offer.  As a companion book, Start Here: Doing Hard Things Right Where You Are hits many of the points where Doing Hard Things was weak or could easily be misinterpreted.  Start Here shows evidence of Alex and Brett’s maturity from their teen years, the wisdom that comes with more life experience and time following God.

In Start Here, Alex and Brett continue to encourage teenagers to pursue hard things for God.  Yet they offer several reasonable cautions, like don’t pursue something hard to the neglect of the  things that God has commanded us all to do (spend time in the Word and prayer, honor our parents, love others as we love ourselves).  They also emphasize that there is no reason to do this alone…a “hard thing” doesn’t have to be a solo project.  They remind their readers not to take pride in their accomplishments, something they’ve clearly fight in their own experiences.

I think Start Here and their first book Doing Hard Things are great books for teenagers and those who live and work with them.  These are great resources to use to encourage teenagers to set themselves apart from the me-first, pleasure-seeking culture they deal with everyday.  This is a message young people need to hear–and hopefully one they will hear from their peers even if they won’t listen to adults.

I have one copy of Start Here to give away!  If you’re interested, please leave a comment telling me why you’re interested in reading this book (or who you want to give it to).  Open to residents of the US and Canada only.  Must provide your email address so I can contact you if you win.  This giveaway will be open until 5 PM Eastern, March 26th.

I’m tired, but it’s been a great weekend.  Lana came over Saturday night, and we played a game (Bananagrams…fun and educational!) and watched Pride and Prejudice. It was her choice because I had been talking about how much I enjoy it, and though she had seen it before, she was getting it mixed up with Sense and Sensibility and wasn’t too impressed.  With a proper guide (me) she liked it much better.  There’s about nothing I enjoy better than introducing a friend to something like Jane Austen.

Today after church, Lana and I decided to make it a Star Wars day.  Again, it was her choice, not mine (but she has good taste!).  She had started watching Episode III and had a lot of questions, so we decided it would be fun to watch Episodes IV-VI, as she has only seen bits and pieces.  The day was punctuated with more games (she’s as competitive as me), a little golf (watching, that is–my interest, not hers), and some junk food.

So now we’re watching Episode VI.  It’s been fun having a teenage roommate for the weekend, and reminds me that I’m still young!