What makes reading books for the purpose of reviewing them is that normally you try to read them quickly, which isn’t always the best approach. I read through Phil Callaway’s To Be Perfectly Honest far too quickly and probably didn’t appreciate fully the premise. To be perfectly honest myself, Callaway’s book is better fit for bathroom reading than for sitting on leather chair in your study and smoking a pipe while sipping brandy. I don’t have a leather chair, study, pipe, or any brandy. But if I did, they wouldn’t make up my setting for reading Honest.

It gets me every time. That Subaru commercial with the little girl in the driver’s seat, her father anxiously offering last-minute safety reminders. I’m certain it melts the heart of every father to a daughter. They grow up far too fast. Greg Wright realized this and so crafted a renewed, purposeful approach to fatherhood, which he outlines in “Daddy Dates: Four Daughters, One Clueless Dad, and His Quest to Win Their Hearts.”

Going on vacation soon, here’s what I’ll be taking in my bookbag. Well, my digital one. Though we might find ourselves on the beach in San Diego for a day, I doubt I’ll have a lot of time to read. And with 3- and 2-year-old boys, reading on the beach might be a bit irresponsible. If I get time, here’s what I’ll read: “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins (fiction) …

While in its definition the word angst might seem disagreeable—that is, a feeling of dread, anxiety, or anguish—I may prefer the emotion over its antonyms: contentment, ease, nonchalance. Something has been stirring in my heart for some time, agitated by Bible study, conversations, events, and reading books, including one by Erwin McManus. Essentially a reprint of his earlier The Barbarian Way, McManus describes in Unleashed a break from the mold of civilized religion, including tamed Christianity, with which I’ve not merely associated but for which I’ve been a paid representative. …

I just finished Matthew Paul Turner’s “Churched: One Kid’s Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess,” a sort of memoir (though he seems too young to write a memoir) about growing up as a fundamentalist. His story, at least early on, is striking similar to my own, except I grew up in a Pentecostal church, and he certainly drew a line between holy rollers and his Baptist brethren. … Turner can be downright funny and even informative, as he describes the fundamentalist’s preoccupation with hell. …

I’ve been putting off writing my review of Dan Allender’s Sabbath primarily because I’m still trying to piece together in my mind all that I’ve read. What is that struck me the most? Did Allender answer my questions about the often unheeded fourth commandment? Did he challenge my previous ideas about a simple day off?

In my Breathing In category of posts, I write about various art forms that not only interest me but sort of infuse with artistic fuel. Every artist needs to breathe in art, and not just their primary focus. I’m first and foremost a musician, but I appreciate most other arts—even [...]

Stanley’s little book (less than 100 pages) is fantastic for people who are searching to know and understand God, whether they’ve never been to church before or if they’ve been “saved” for a long time. He breaks down the commonly-held view that adherence to things like the Ten Commandments and overall morality will assure us a place in heaven.

It has been some time since I’ve had to read a book as an assignment. Most books I read are either for enjoyment or to learn something. I just finished a book that was neither enjoyable nor instructive. Despite its brevity at only 115 pages, The Sacred Meal by Norah Gallagher was a test in my resolve to finish a book. Normally, I would have just tossed the book aside, but I was compelled to finish it so I could write this review.

I wanted to catch you up on some books I’ve read recently. … As with Elephants, I really enjoyed this rather short novel (230 pages) about an English-language newspaper in Rome. Each chapter explores different characters somehow affiliated with the newspaper, including aging reporters and cantankerous editors.