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Jacket description:
"Evangelical pastor Ed Dobson chronicles his year of living like Jesus and obeying his teachings. Dobson’s transition from someone who follows Jesus to someone who lives like Jesus takes him into bars, inspires him to pick up hitchhikers, and deepens his understanding of suffering. As Dobson discovers, living like Jesus is quite different from what we imagine."

Inspired by A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, (which I reviewed back in May) Dobson has essentially tweaked the process Jacobs went through when he attempted to follow the Bible as literally as possible for one year, and decides to strictly live like Jesus. What happens is sometimes funny, sometimes emotionally riveting, and overall a really interesting experiment about a regular man attempting to live his life in a Jesus-like manner. It could not possibly have been an easy task to take on, but Dobson did so in a realistic manner, at times having to stray from his Jesus-like path to accommodate his daily life.

I felt the writing was choppy, although done in a journal-type style, so maybe the choppiness would work for some people. I was a bit put off by it in the beginning of the book, but slowly grew to appreciate Dobson's simplistic thoughts about his journey and note-jotting. We get a glimpse inside the world of this man, struggling to live with ALS, a degenerative illness, whose faith is astounding despite his self-proclaimed weaknesses.

The middle of the book is a bit history-heavy, filled with facts from the Jewish faith and the aspects of life in Jerusalem, as explained when Dobson leads a tour group. I found myself skimming a little here, but overall I really enjoyed reading Dobson's journey. His constant humility and humor was a great addition to the pages and I would have no problem handing both Christians and non-Christians the book. Either way, it's a good read.

The Year of Living Like Jesus: My Journey of Discovering What Jesus Would Really Do
Ed Dobson
304 pages
Non-Fiction
Zondervan
9780310247777
October 2009
Review copy received via Amazon Vine


To learn more or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon. I am an Affiliate and I'll receive a tiny commission for your purchase. Thanks!

I am a huge fan of memoirs, which make up probably 90% of my adult non-fiction reading choices. Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer, written by Novella Carpenter (isn't that the coolest name???) was a fabulous memoir, filled with the utmost honesty and passion about growing and raising one's own food, even when the setting is not the most ideal.

Carpenter and her boyfriend move from Seattle to a not-so-great...well, really, terrible, section of Oakland, California, where gun shots are their background noise and drug dealers litter the corners. They choose this area on purpose, liking the places that others find undesirable, and decide to start their own farm in order to subsist of the land, no matter where that land may be.

Filled with funny and sad escapades surrounding the growth of a successful garden, the raising of chickens, ducks, turkeys, bees, and pigs in downtown, urban Oakland, this book is really an enjoyable and educational read, cover to cover. We get the insight into who Novella Carpenter is, the biggest aspect of a memoir to me, and we learn a bit about farming...the good and the bad.

I was so impressed with the determination of Carpenter, especially when it came down to killing the animals for food. I know I couldn't kill a duck or a turkey I had raised, but she knew what she wanted and was not going to consider these animals her pets. She raised them, killed them, and cooked them!

I was also totally impressed with the couple's passion for the urban area they lived in. Though people were killed right around the corner from their home, they were not going to run away or be scared. They wanted to live an urban lifestyle and bring somewhat of a backyard paradise to the people of Oakland. Though they sometimes took advantage, people were encouraged to come and take vegetables for free, helping to feed the hungry as well as Carpenter.

I loved the cover, I really loved learning about Carpenter's eccentric neighbors, and definitely took away some valuable information when it comes to growing gardens. I plan to start my first this coming spring and enjoyed gathering tips as I read through the book. Carpenter and her boyfriend are inspirations to those of us that desire to live more from the land and help cut-down our usage of "stuff."

A great gift for an adult in your life that enjoys gardening or farming. I would also recommend this to fans to memoir reading or those new to the memoir genre. A very enjoyable, fast-paced read.

To learn more or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon. I am an Associate and will receive a small percentage of your purchase price.

Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer
Novella Carpenter
288 pages
Adult non-fiction
Penguin Press
9781594202216
June 2009
Borrowed from library

I know I've said it before with the review of her previous two novels, After the Leaves Fall and Summer Snow, but I LOVE Nicole Baart. She writes with such description and personality that I'm always left in whatever location she has placed her characters, feeling an actually friendship or kinship with them and am always so sad when I finish the last page. She is most definitely one of those authors that I just wish could write faster, always keeping a book in my hand and those characters in my mind, but alas, I do suppose she's only human like the rest of us.

The Moment Between is Baart's latest and thought slightly "different" than her previous two books, both in location and definitely in the intensity of the read, it was again, absolutely wonderful. The reader is brought to beautiful British Columbia, deep into wine country, following the main character, Abigail Bennett on her quest for knowing. Abigail wants nothing more than to find Tyler Kamp, the man she believes is responsible for the death of her sister, a woman that was already on a path of complete destruction before she met Tyler.

Abigail's "mission" is quite obviously an obsession, bringing her into a new country, giving her a new job working at a local winery, and forcing her to omit her real reasons for being there, in order to keep her relationship with her sister a secret. As Abigail is immersed with new people, wine, beauty, and this risky obsession, the reader also learns of her past with her sister, her family, and the reason she still feels the need to stand up for the sibling that is no longer alive.

Baart has this unique ability to write with such description that the reader really does feel as if he or she is there, in the moment. You will feel so strongly for Abigail, you will want to shake her at times and sometimes you just want to hug her, or drink a glass of wine with her. And believe me, the descriptions of British Columbia will leave you needing to take a vacation, fairly immediately. I've already informed my husband that the next vacation we take will be there!

This is a rather intense read, sad at times, and other times you will be filled with love...for siblings, for travel, for work, for love. The Moment Between was wonderfully breathtaking.

To learn more or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon.

The Moment Between
Nicole Baart
384 pages
Adult fiction
Tyndale House
9781414323220
April 2009