How to be a Perfect Christian: Your Comprehensive Guide to Flawless Spiritual Living by the Babylon Bee

Merriam Webster defines satire as:

1 : a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn

2 : trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly 

How to be a Perfect Christian is satire.   It is intended, to quote the back cover of the book, to "shine a spotlight on modern Christian cultural quirks.  As it pokes fun at all-too-familiar trends and traditions, it calls each of us to a truer understanding of real biblical faith."  

If you have no sense of humor, don't bother to read it.  Please.  You'll only be offended and upset.  You might even post a rant against it on Facebook.  You may be tempted to start a petition against The Babylon Bee and a boycott of Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers. 

However, if you do have a sense of humor and you like to laugh and you're not easily offended, get a copy of this book.  Please.  You'll laugh out loud and surely recognize your own church, or the church you grew up in, or the church down the street.  You might even see yourself in the pages. But, here's the good news:  it's all in good fun.  Here's even better news: the Holy Spirit could perhaps, possibly, maybe even use this book to call out some hypocrisy or legalism in you that you'd be better off without. 

Let me just tempt you with my favorite paragraph from the chapter of How to be a Perfect Christian entitled Serving in Church Without Ever Lifting a Finger: 

Christ left three ordinances for the local church: baptism, the Lord's Supper, and the potluck.  The latter is a sacred tradition, thousands of years old. In fact, Biblical scholars now believe Christ's final Passover supper with His disciples was a potluck, with each of his disciples offering to bring a different hot dish for everyone to enjoy.*

And the best line of all is a footnote to the above:

*According to the latest research, Judas Iscariot brought Jell-O filled with questionable fruit pieces.

If that doesn't make you laugh, I don't think we can be friends!  (kidding!)  (kind of)

I received this book from the publisher through their book launch program.

Daring to Hope: Finding God's Goodness in the Broken and the Beautiful by Katie Davis Majors

I read Katie Davis' book Kisses from Katie previously and while I enjoyed it, I felt that it was a bit pretentious.  Katie was very young, and although she had a huge heart and was doing wonderful things in Africa, it seemed to me that she was very anti-American wealth (even though it was largely American wealth that supported her) and that she was rather judgemental of those who live a comfortable life in the United States.  I was slightly hesitant to read this second book for that reason.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that Katie has grown up, physically yes, but mostly in faith and humility. 

Daring to Hope is both heartbreaking and encouraging.  Katie tells of extreme brokenness and tragic circumstances.  Yet through it all, God is faithful to her and her family as they serve the least in Uganda: the sick, the dying, the homeless, the orphan.  Katie finds herself desperate for God, desperate for hope and as she cries out to him, he draws near to her, upholding her through every trial, every heartache, every goodbye.  Gone is any bit of pretense or judgement.  Instead I found Katie to be the very opposite of both.  She is humble and loving, generous and caring.  God has been molding and shaping her to be a true servant to the people of Uganda.  Her story will uplift and strengthen you, it certainly did me.

Isaiah's Daughter: A Novel of Prophets and Kings by Mesu Andrews

I really looked forward to reading Mesu Andrew's new book Isaiah's Daughter when it came out so I was delighted to have the opportunity to review an early release copy.  I love Andrew's novels because they are what I like to call Biblical fiction.  She chooses a character from the Bible and brings him or her to life in a way that I have always yearned to know them.  So often when I read the Bible I think, I sure would love to know the rest of the story.  Ms. Andrews doesn't claim to have any more details than God gives us in Scripture (she is a FICTION writer, remember), but she adds many historical details and brings in other characters as needed to make a well rounded tale.  Her books are always fascinating to read and Isaiah's Daughter was no exception.
The prophet Isaiah is one of the major prophets in the Old Testament. He was the voice of God to God's people, the Israelites, when they were divided into two nations: Israel and Judah. This book takes place during the reign of Judean Kings Ahaz and Hezekiah around 700BC. I Kings 16:30 says that Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. Ahab's son, King Hezekiah, on the other hand, did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. (I Kings 2:18:3).  There is much excitement and intrigue in this battle of good and evil and caught up in the midst of it is the Prophet Isaiah. 

The Bible tells us that Isaiah was married to a prophetess and names two sons.  It is not known to us if he had more children or if any of them were daughters. Isaiah's daughter is therefore fiction, a character drawn from Andrew's imagination. But she is a character who leaps to life from the pages of the book and one whom you will be interested in from the first chapter.  Her story is a fascinating and Mesu Andrews weaves it beautifully with the Biblical narrative. It is a wonderful read!

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.

A Prairie Girl's Faith: The Spiritual Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Stephen W. Hines

I thought I would love this book.  I devoured Laura Ingalls Wilder's books as a girl and then loved reading them again with my own children. I did not love this book.  I didn't even like this book.  I could barely force myself to finish this book.  It wasn't poorly written, it wasn't offensive in any way,  it just wasn't interesting. 

Much of what the author wrote about Laura's spiritual legacy was surmised and not actual fact.  I felt like it was just lame. On top of the conjectured details of Laura's religious upbringing, half of the book was random filler like recipes and words to old hymns and songs. Then the book ended with two appendixes. 

I'm sorry, but I could definitely not recommend A Prairie Girl's Faith to anyone.  I am glad that I didn't purchase it.  I did receive it from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.

Nourished: A memoir of food, faith & enduring love with recipes by Lia Huber

I really had no idea what to expect from Lia Huber's memoir Nourished. Even when I first started reading it, I was unsure.  Lia is completely unlike me.  She is an urban world traveler, risk taker, hipster.  I am a small town, stay at home, play-it-safe middle aged mom. Really, we are so different that I doubted I would relate to her or even like her much.  I underestimated two things: the connection of food and Jesus.  Lia loves both and so do I.  Common ground right there. 

Lia's story is fascinating and takes the reader around the world as she learns about food and expands her cooking and eating repertoire.  She loves to immerse herself in different cultures and study the ways they grow, cook and eat food, passing along what she learns to others.  Each chapter of the book ends with a recipe and most sound delicious.  Some are exotic, some are more homespun.  I have bookmarked several to try. 

Even more fascinating to me was Lia's journey of faith.  God, who knows her heart best, draws her to himself through food. Calls her to partake of the bread and wine that nourish her beyond what she herself knew she needed.  Like any relationship, Lia's relationship with the Lord has its ups and downs.  Moments of soaring, open trust and moments of doubt and anger. 

One such moment occurs when things are crashing in for Lia.  Her mom had a stroke, she and her husband were in deep debt, and her own health was tenuous at best. Lia rages at God that timeless question, "Why?!".  She hears him say to her heart, "I am not in your fear.  I am not in your worry. I am here, waiting for you, in hope and light and life.  And you need to come to me here if you want me to be with you." God's quiet answer to Lia spoke to me as well and was a blessing for a stormy time in my own life. James 4:8 says, "Draw near to me and I will draw near to you."  So simple, yet so easy to forget. 

If you too enjoy food and faith, you'll love Nourished. May it nourish your heart as it did mine.  I received a copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.

The Chilbury Ladies' Choir: A Novel by Jennifer Ryan

The Chilbury Ladies' Choir was a delightful read!  I enjoyed each and every character, and they were characters indeed.  The novel is set in England in a charming village called Chilbury during WW2.  Since all the men are off at war, the Vicar announces that there will no longer be a choir.  Until, that is, a new music teacher moves to town and forms a new choir, one scandalously composed up of ladies only. The ladies find a new sense of purpose in the choir, as well as comfort in mourning and friendship in loneliness. 

The character-filled characters each have their own voice in the story.  They are Mrs. Tilling, a nurse whose only son enlists in the army and leaves her home alone and afraid. Next is Edwina Paltry, a midwife, who concocts a shocking scheme to earn a retirement fund for herself and her sister, Clara. After that are Kitty and Venetia Winthrop, teenage sisters and daughters to Lord and Brigadier Winthrop of Chilbury Manor. We also hear occasionally from Silvie, a ten-year old refugee from Czechoslovakia who lives with the Winthrop family, and  from Flt. Lt. Henry Brampton-Boyd, a young pilot who is in love with Venetia. Each of these Chilbury residents writes letters or journal entries that give us windows into their adventures and mishaps, heartbreaks and joys.

The novel is both humorous and heart warming.  It was well written and entertaining, a story about the resilience of the human spirit and the gift that is hope.  I enjoyed it immensely!  I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.

Bringing Maggie Home: a novel by Kim Vogel Sawyer

Bringing Maggie Home was a very good read.  It was sad and happy, suspenseful and humorous.  It is a story of how childhood wounds can scar long into adulthood and affect generations to come.  It is also a story of the power of forgiveness and the hope of redemption.  It reminds us of the need for grace with each other, but most of all from God.

I really enjoyed each of the four main characters in this book: 80 year old Hazel, her daughter Diane, Diane's daughter Meghan, and Meghan's detective partner Sean. Different sections of each chapter are told through the eyes of one these characters, which I love.  It's so interesting to see the events of the book unfold with the various perspectives of these characters. 

The book is part mystery, part love story, and contains some interesting twists and turns.  I'm sure anyone who enjoys a well-written contemporary Christian fiction book will love it!  I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.