Book Review: Almost Amish

Almost Amish
By
Nancy Sleeth

About the Book (from tyndale.com):

Have you ever stopped to think, Maybe the Amish are on to something? Look around. We tweet while we drive, we talk while we text, and we surf the Internet until we fall asleep. We are essentially plugged in and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Rather than mastering technology, we have allowed technology to master us. We are an exhausted nation. No one has enough time, everyone feels stressed out, and our kids spend more hours staring at a screen each week than they do playing outside.

It’s time to simplify our lives, make faith and family the focal point, and recapture the lost art of simple living. Building on the basic principles of Amish life, Nancy Sleeth shows readers how making conscious choices to limit (and in some cases eliminate) technology’s hold on our lives and getting back to basics can help us lead calmer, more focused, less harried lives that result in stronger, deeper relationships with our families, friends, and God.

My Thoughts:

I whole-heartedly agree with Nancy’s idea that we need to make conscious decisions to live simpler lives and focus more on building stronger relationships. While we may not be able to live as the Amish do in our own circumstances, there is definitely something we can learn from their simplicity and devotion to community.  I enjoyed reading her take on Amish principles and traditions, but at times I thought the tone was a bit preach-y rather than encouraging.  There were also times the book felt like it barely scratched the surface on some topics and I was wishing it had gone deeper into how to apply certain things in our own lives. Overall, I enjoyed reading the book and gained some new insight as well as a few ideas about how to make a concerted effort to connect and build strong relationships with those around me.

If you’d like to check out the first chapter of the book, click here.

Buy the Book:

This book can be found at Amazon and Barnes and Noble, as well as many other retailers.

Disclaimer: A complimentary copy of this book was provided for this review. All thoughts are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

Book Review: Life, In Spite of Me

Life, In Spite of Me
By
Kristen Jane Anderson

Overwhelmed with choices she had made and consequences of these choices, Kristen Anderson made a decision to put an end to it all. One cold January night, she lay down in the path of an oncoming freight train. Before the engineer can bring the train to a stop, Kristen has been run over by 33 train cars. After she wakes up in the hospital, all she can remember is opening her eyes and seeing her legs laying 10 feet away from her. It’s nothing short of a miracle that she survives this horrific experience and eventually she comes to realize that God really does have a purpose for her life. This book follows Kristen from the encounter with the train, through surgeries and physical therapy.  The journey is not just a physical one, but also a spiritual one, as she comes to understand how much God loves her and what it means to have a real relationship with him.

This book was very moving and inspirational; it is full of insight into Kristen’s thoughts and experiences. It’s an easy read; I read it in about 3 nights. The book is well written, conversations are written in present tense, not just a recollection of events. Kristen is very  encouraging and stresses the importance of a relationship with Jesus Christ. Some chapters end with notes to the reader about how to deal with issues such as suicidal thoughts, rape, etc. For a girl who has been through so much, Kristen’s personality seems to shine in this book without feeling fake or holding anything back.

This book can be found at Amazon and Barnes and Noble, as well as many other retailers.
Disclaimer: A complimentary copy of this book was provided for review by WaterBrook Multnomah Publishers. All thoughts are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

Book Review: Life Without Limits

Life Without Limits
by
Nick Vujicic

Do you ever feel hopeless?

Do you feel like you just can’t go on?

Nick Vujicic, a man born without limbs, has faced these thoughts and feelings over the course of his life.  In Life Without Limits, Nick shares stories from his life and how God has worked in him to bring him to where he is today. Nick declares that he is “ridiculously happy” and shares inspiration and encouragement on how to live a “ridiculously good life.” The “good life” Nick refers to is a life where you can look at your circumstances with hope and faith that God knows what he is doing. Chapter after chapter, Nick shares how he got to a place where he has hope and knows that God is in control, as well as giving insight on how readers can change their thoughts and attitudes to become “ridiculously happy.”

When I picked up this book, I was surprised to note that it is categorized as self-help/motivational; I thought this would be more about Nick’s story. Because of the expectations I had, I did not enjoy this book as much as I had hoped.  I did, however, enjoy learning more about Nick and his life through the stories provided, some of which were pretty comical. Nick gives plenty of insight on how to look at things differently and how to change our attitudes to be more hopeful and reflect our faith in God, but I did feel like the chapters jumped around a bit and seemed a little disjointed. I wasn’t really sure what the main idea was of some chapters because I felt it was written in a manner where everything that came to mind was written, sometimes without much organization. Despite these feelings, I did enjoy this book and would recommend it to anyone who needs inspiration and a good laugh!

This book is available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble, as well as many other retailers.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.