Meine Klein Welt

For the Love

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{This post is part of Jen Hatmaker’s “For the Love” Blog Tour, which I am honored to be a part of. Read more from other team members here.}

Book Cover For the woman who

Way back in March, I saw a blog post by Jen Hatmaker. It was an invitation to join the launch team for her new book, For the Love. I had no idea what a launch team was, but I have a great deal of respect for Jen and thought it might be fun to help her share her new book. Some amazing things have happened with this launch team. Somehow a group of 500 people reading a book about loving one another well in the name of Christ turned into a miraculous community of grace. I am excited to share this book with others because I am hopeful that it can launch other communities of grace. I am hopeful that if we decide that loving each other well is of paramount importance, the people in our lives will be able to see Jesus. They’ll know his grace. Then. THEN. We might just live in that grace. And that will change everything.

Love is Excellent

One of the main reasons that I enjoy reading Jen Hatmaker’s words is that she is a truth teller. This book is full of truth. For me, the most important truth that she shares is this:

theology

We have to stop creating our own theology based on what makes us comfortable. We have to start understanding and living out Christ’s theology. His theology is true for everyone everywhere.

On a practical level, this book is a really enjoyable read. It’s a series of short essays. As a mom of a toddler, I don’t have a lot of spare reading time. Short essays are perfect. Mixed in with large theological truths are essays about aging, parenting, and the trials of autocorrect. This book is a great balance of challenging and hilarious. As a bonus, my name is in the thank you section. That makes this a must buy. Right?

autocorrect

 

 

Dracula

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dracula1.I think that Whitney Sorrow is brilliant. She is keeping a blog on which she will post Bram Stoker’s Dracula in real time. The novel itself is written as a series of letters and journal entries. Whitney is going to be posting the book a letter/journal at a time on the date it was written. The book starts on May 3rd, which was yesterday, so now’s the time to start reading. Check it out!

Dracula Blog

Battle of the Books

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Each year the library puts on a Battle of the Books where middle school students form teams, read a selection of books, and then face off in a game-show-style quiz about the books.

This year I am on the faculty team, which will take on the top student team in a high-stakes match-up.

I just completed my first book: The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson.

This is the story of a orphaned girl named Annika, found as an infant in a small chapel in the Austrian Alps, and adopted by the servants of three Viennese professors. She learns to love the city of Vienna, and enjoys helping out around the house and the kitchen.

As expected, she dreams of one day meeting her real mother. And one day her real mother does come for her. And that’s where the real fun begins.

I found the historical setting of the book(early 20th century Austria and Germany) to be intriguing, though the major plot developments were a bit predictable. Perhaps a more complex plot is too much to ask for from a junior high novel, so I will reserve any further criticism in that vein.

Overall the story was well-written, laced with interesting historical tidbits and quite an enjoyable read. I’d highly recommend it to any junior high student looking for a good way to pass the time.


 

How Does God Enjoy You?

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This is an excerpt from a book I’m currently reading called Gilead, which recently won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. It’s a wonderfully written book and I highly recommend it to anyone. I find there are quite a few sections that cause me to pause, reread and reflect. Here is one particular excerpt that I have been mulling over for the past couple of weeks:

“[John] Calvin says somewhere that each of us is an actor on a stage and God is the audience. That metaphor has always interested me, because it makes us artists of our behavior, and the reaction of God to us might be thought of as aesthetic rather than morally judgmental in the ordinary sense. How well do we understand our role? With how much assurance do we perform it?…I do like Calvin’s image, though, because it suggest how God might actually enjoy us. I believe we think about that far too little. It would be a way into understanding essential things, since presumably the world exists for God’s enjoyment, not in any simple sense, but as you enjoy the being of a child even when he is in every way a thorn in your heart”(Robinson, Marilynne. Gilead. p. 124-125).