Heaven is for Real – by Todd Burpo

3 08 2014

Earlier this year we were talking about resurrection/heaven in my housegroup, and this book came up as some had read it. The film also came out earlier this year.

Safe to say, some people really hate this book. I’m not about to dive into a theological debate, feel free to read the book for yourself.

Basically it’s another testimony book. A family whose son got very ill, and while on the operating table, experienced some time in heaven. As he starts to mention things he saw, he shares things that at his tender age of 3, he could only know from experience, definitely not things he’d’ve been taught in Sunday school, and he talks of people he met, who died years before he was born.

But the biggest thing for me in this book was the dads attitude. The book is written by the father, who himself is a church pastor. Every single time his son recounts something from that trip, he immediately goes to his bible and checks that it tallies and corresponds, and most importantly does not contradict what he finds there.

Of course the cynics claim it’s all made up, no story is without it’s disagreers, but I definitely found it an encouraging read, not just for the glimpse of what heaven might be like, but the things the family learnt as they went through that awful time too.

Read it and see what you think 🙂

heaven is for real


Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: ,
Categories : Books I've Read, Christian

Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy – by Helen Fielding

29 07 2014

I was quite nervous about this book. The first two were excellent, but there are some major changes in Bridget’s life between books 2 and 3. We know that at the end of book 2 she and Mark Darcy were happy, settled, and engaged. Book 3 fast forwards several years…

**SPOILER ALERT**

Ok, technically it’s not a spoiler as it’s how the book opens, but some people would still be upset to find out, so I’ve put that there in case.

The book opens with Bridget, in her early 50s, with two children, Billy in year 3, and Mabel in year R. Mark Darcy died 4 years ago.

So instead of singleton, hopelessly-alone-forever Bridget, we have widowed single mum Bridget. I was worried how this would ever work, how she could still be the Bridget we know and love.

But fear not, she totally is 🙂

We travel with Bridget as she discovers twitter, works to get a screenplay she’s written made into a film, and deals with her friends telling her it’s time to move on and sleep with someone else, and see where that takes things.

I won’t say any more as there’s so much that’s just better enjoyed as you read, but Bridget is still the Bridget we know and love, still rather socially awkward if she’s not drunk with her friends, but totally wonderful.

There are obviously a few more sad moments in this book than the last two as she still deals with the loss of her husband, and there’s a beautiful bedtime story that he wrote for Billy and Mabel, but the book is full of humour too. Do try it!

bridget jones - mad about the boy


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , ,
Categories : Books I've Read

Notes from a Small Island – by Bill Bryson

22 07 2014

From the outset this book had me cracking up audibly.

Bryson is an American writer and journalist, but lived over here for several years. This is written just before he and his wife take his family back to America so that his children can experience life there too, and so he takes one final lap of the UK using public transport. He visits both places he’s been to before and loved, and places he’s heard of and wanted to see before he leaves.

He started in the south, so I loved reading about places I know, and then gradually works northwards. He often goes off on tangents, either old anecdotes, or just thinks he loves, or finds peculiar (or both) about the British. These were probably the bits that made me laugh the most!

I really enjoyed the book, although the last few chapters did get a bit repetitive. He’d arrive in a new city by train, book into a hotel/guesthouse, try and find somewhere for dinner, and comment that all British high streets have the same shops, and some are ruining the original buildings with modern exteriors. But for the most of the book there was so much interest and humour I really did like it!

the complete notes

I’m going to take a break and read something else before reading the Big Country half of the book – but I’ll come back with that soon enough!


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: , ,
Categories : Books I've Read

Billy and Me – by Giovanna Fletcher

7 07 2014

I should admit the main reason I bought this book was because it was written by the wife of Tom from McFly, but I’d also had a friend read and like it, and it’s chick lit, so thought it was definitely worth a try.

The book focuses around a girl who lives in a small village, working in a tea shop, and falls for a young man who happens to be a massive teen movie star (which she doesn’t realise) who is filming locally, and what happens when she’s thrown massively into the limelight.

I enjoyed the read, it was an easy holiday book, though it got a little sickly sweet in places and though it has it’s ups and downs, it’s all a bit too easy!

billy and me


Comments : 4 Comments »
Tags: , , ,
Categories : Books I've Read

The Vow – by Kim & Krickett Carpenter

1 07 2014

This book was not at all what I expected.

I watched the film when it came out at the cinema. A story of a couple who have an accident and the woman loses all memory of her husband and he has to win her over again.

The key word in that trailer is “inspired by”, not “based on” true events. Technically that outline also covers the story in the book, except the details are very different, and for one key point: The book is a testimony. The book is the story of how God was central to their relationship, their marriage, and how they both had to lean on Him to get through it all. It is an autobiography and the focus is God. He doesn’t even get a look in on the film!

The book is also very different in the way they meet, how the relationship develops, the wedding, the relationship between the husband and her parents – it may as well be a different story but for the very basic outline.

I love this book because it shows how through the most truly awful circumstances, God worked through it, and brought them to a much better place than they could have imagined.

At the time apparently their story got a lot of press coverage, I don’t remember this, but they were so passionate to share what God had done each time they shared their story. It’s inspirational!

the vow


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , ,
Categories : Books I've Read, Christian

The Fault In Our Stars – by John Green

28 06 2014

This is the first time in years and years that I’ve “binged” on a book. When I woke this morning I was on page 76. I’ve not had lunch yet and I’ve finished it, all 313 pages! I haven’t read that much in one go since Harry Potter as a teenager I reckon!

I know the film’s out at the moment and it’s a very current book (I bought it about 6 months ago but only just got round to reading it) so I don’t want to give away any spoilers. There’s so much I could say, but not without giving away major plot points.

I loved the characters, the humour, the location, the relationships, the realities – trying to keep this as vague as possible! It didn’t go down the path I expected it to at all in the end. All I can say is please read it!

Just a line from right near the end, but that doesn’t give anything away – I read it and thought how similar it is to the strapline of my blog in a way, and just how my head so often works:

“My thoughts are stars I can’t fathom into constellations”

the fault in our stars


Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: , , ,
Categories : Books I've Read

How to fall in love – by Cecelia Ahern

26 06 2014

Wait, Ineke finished a book in under a week? I find Cecelia Ahern‘s books just whizz by for me – partly because I struggle to put them down, and partly because they’re so easy to read I just fly through them when I am reading them!

Another of her more “real” books, the basic premise is that our main character, who has a massive addiction to self-help books, finds a guy about to jump off a bridge and to stop him taking the leap, agrees to convince him his life is worth living before his next birthday – which happens to be 2 weeks away.

We delve into all his problems, and discover some of hers at the same time, which she just seems to be trying to ignore. A very engaging and involving book, even right towards the end I couldn’t quite work out where it would end up – which is quite a pleasing quality in it. The overall thread was relatively predictable, which can be quite comforting for chick lit, but the details of how it would happen were a little harder to guess.

Definitely recommended as a heartwarming, easy read!

how to fall in love


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , ,
Categories : Books I've Read

Red Letter Christianity – by Shane Claiborne & Tony Campolo

22 06 2014

My colleague Wendy recently said, “Most people who go to a Tony Campolo event know that they’re going to get ‘beaten up’ for justice.” and this book wasn’t far off of a punch in the face either – in a good way of course! I’ve heard both of these guys speak before, and always find they challenge my way of thinking and being. The book was no different.

The idea of Red Letter Christians is that they live their words specifically by the words that Jesus said. In some copies of the bible, every word Jesus spoke is printed in red so as to stand out from the black text.

Each chapter of the book took a different topic that Campolo and Claiborne would then discuss between them, sharing thoughts and perspectives. I found some of what they shared truly refreshing; they didn’t just go down the line you might expect them to!

In the chapter on pro-life, I expected this to just be a discussion on abortion, and of course some of it was. But there was also a lot of discussion on the quality of life throughout the whole of a persons life: “from womb to tomb”. They covered poverty, sin, and the death penalty alongside the obvious.

In the chapter on homosexuality, they open by discussing gay marriage, but actually when Tony shared his view on it, it took a whole new direction:

“While I believe that the government should not legalise marriage for people who are gay, I also believe that it should not legalise marriage for heterosexuals either. In fact, the government should get out of the marriage business completely and instead focus on civil rights for all of its citizens. It should treat both homosexual couples and heterosexual couples the same, guaranteeing both the same rights and privileges. Homosexual couples and heterosexual couples should be able to go down to the city hall and register as couples who want to be legally recognised as belonging to each other and receive the same civil rights available for all citizens who want to be in committed relationships. Then, if a couple wants to call the relationship a marriage, that couple should go down to a church and let the church perform the ceremony.” – Tony Campolo

The chapter on giving I found particularly helpful, confirming some stuff I’d been thinking about recently anyway, and looking at some prosperity gospel stuff which seems to keep rearing its head lately too.

Every chapter of this book had something to make you think, from liturgy to the middle east, from reconciliation to national debt, there isn’t a lot they don’t touch on somewhere and just stir some of your thought patterns that maybe had sat still for a bit too long.

Red Letter Christianity


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : Books I've Read, Christian

Even more concise 10 second sermons – Milton Jones

15 06 2014

Most people will know Milton Jones for his stand-up, and as a panellist on Mock the Week.

However, he’s also a Christian, and this book is a mixture of both of those worlds, similar to the first one.

There’s a running theme throughout the book about things we debate on that are not the most important thing – something people don’t normally admit! Some excerpts below:

http://instagram.com/p/pOOmbakYlF/

I like these books of Jones’ as they’re very easy to read in one sitting at less than 100 pages, and yet there’s plenty to them. They make you laugh, but also definitely make you think. One line that definitely struck me was:

“Christianity is not so much a religion, more the beginning of a realisation of how things really are.”

even more concise 10 second sermons


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , ,
Categories : Books I've Read, Christian

Re-read: Mockingjay – Suzanne Collins

26 04 2014

The first time I read this I didn’t enjoy it that much, and I read it so quickly so as to find out what happens that I forgot most of it! My housemate would talk about a major plot point and I wouldn’t even remember that it happened, so ready for the first part of the film release later this year, I thought I should read it again!

I enjoyed it much more this time, and I did exactly the same as last time in that I read the last 150 pages (“part iii”) in pretty much one sitting other than stopping for lunch.

I still don’t like the end, I wanted it to end a little differently, but the story is strong, it still twists and turns right up until the end. Definitely a book that hooks you in.

But as we’re due the film soon, I still think I’ll avoid spoilers and just say I misjudged it a little last time, and it really is good!

mockingjay2

Edit: 2nd May 2014

I can’t believe in my re-writing this, I forgot the major bit I intended to mention!

There’s a conversation between a couple of characters relatively early on in the book, which is set in the future. It seems to be to be a very direct comment on us:


“If we win, who would be in charge of the government?” Gale asks.

“Everyone, “Plutarch tells him. “We’re going to form a republic where the people of each district and the Capitol can elect their own representatives to be their voice in a centralized government. Don’t look so suspicious; it’s worked before.”

“In books,” Haymitch mutters.

“In history books,” says Plutarch. “And if our ancestors could do it, then we can, too.”

Frankly our ancestors don’t seem much to brag about. I mean look at the state they left us in, with the wars and the broken planet.Clearly they didn’t care about what wold happen to the people who came after them. But the republic idea sounds like an improvement over our current government.

“And if we lose?” I ask.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : Books I've Read

« Previous Entries Next Entries »