theseasoul's reviews
454 reviews

|| 3 ⭐️ ||

I enjoyed this about as much as I expected. Not the most riveting sci-fi plot, but contained plenty of C. S. Lewis’ classic biblical and philosophical undertones which certainly made me pause and think. I probably would’ve gotten more out of it had I slowed down and analyzed it just a bit more. 

|| 4 ⭐️ ||

This may be the most depressing memoir I’ve ever read. Reading about Jeannette’s deeply dysfunctional family, her alcoholic father who wasn’t willing to sacrifice a thing to provide for his family, and a mother who preferred her hobbies over taking proper care of her children was all heartbreaking. The neglect was unreal. It makes me angry to know there are so many broken families similar to this one in the world, many hiding behind a façade and pretending even to themselves that everything is fine and normal. It made me particularly angry that her parents constantly downplayed her reports of being molested several times, brushing everything off and saying she was “tough” enough to handle these “minor” instances. 

I liked the literary choice to not get deep into introspection at all. Jeannette just told things exactly as they were, and that was enough to communicate all the feelings behind each moment of her childhood.

|| 2 ⭐️ ||

The two stars are mostly for the illustrations, which are very well done. I felt that the story itself was a bit watered down—it would’ve been better had it been simplified to make it easier for kids to understand rather than watered down. Some important details were left out, like the fact that Jesus didn’t come to earth to be everybody’s nicest friend, comfort sad people and dance with the village people. He was also very bold in his opposition to sin, and the book doesn’t really mention that. It makes it sound like sin and darkness was something that simply afflicts people on earth, not something that originates from inside of them. The book redeems itself when the gospel is clearly explained at the end, taking sin nature properly into account. I only wish that had been woven throughout the story a little better. 

I read this for the Visual Theology reading challenge, which has several prompts for kids books—something I don’t read much of in this stage of life for obvious reasons! But it’s a good opportunity to hopefully find some good ones that I can store up for future children if I’m blessed with any.

|| 2.5 ⭐️ ||

This book expanded my vocabulary and made me laugh a few times—Carrot taking his job as a member of the Watch seriously as a new hire contrasted hilariously with his more seasoned colleagues who avoided actually enforcing the law at all costs—but I wasn’t really into the plot. I could tell Pratchett is a very skilled articulate writer, just not for me I guess. There was also a lot of unjustified swearing and some mildly vulgar comments. It felt like a drag and I’m happy to be moving on to other books.

|| 4 ⭐️ ||

Art theft and the recovery of priceless stolen pieces is such an interesting topic for many reasons. Dolnick is a remarkable storyteller, and nobody could tell the story in a more engaging way than he does. We are given the story of The Scream by Edvard Munch—plenty of detail regarding who Munch was, the stuff he painted, this specific painting itself, its incredible (as in dumb, shouldn’t have happened) theft in 1994, and everything that led up to its final recovery by Charley Hill a few months later. Woven throughout were some of the details of other art thefts throughout history, and I ate those side stories up as well. This was really splendid and I learned a lot about this side of art history.

|| 4.5 ⭐️ ||

What a page-turner… I was immediately drawn in by the unique dystopian concept. What if the preborn are protected, and children are protected until the age of 13, but then between the ages of 13 and 18 parents can choose to have their children unwound and and their bodies, limbs and organs used as “parts” for transplants for everyone else? That’s quite the concept, and I was intrigued all the way through. It made me think. Often dystopian fiction starts out with an interesting concept and then falls flat, but this wasn’t the case here. I’m looking forward to reading on in the series.

Didn’t realize it was going to be about vampires. 

|| 2.5 ⭐️ ||

It’s another okay book on nutrition that lays out some good information. Could be a decent starting point for learning about how metabolism works and how food (and other factors) can either promote or prevent disease.

But there’s a lot to unpack here. As I read more and more nutrition books they’re all starting to feel very similar. Like many that I’ve read, Good Energy goes extremely in-depth into various specific cellular functions and specific nutritional components’ impact on those. While this is super interesting to read about, I’m increasingly grateful that God takes care of all these little mechanisms and we don’t have to know too much about them in order to remain healthy—all we really need to know is the basics of what and how to eat. I can’t help but feel like someone new to using food as medicine would find all this information more overwhelming than it needs to be.

Another thing that a lot of nutrition books have in common is an overemphasis on nuts and fibre. As per usual, the author goes on about how sugar has never been consumed in such high doses until recently, yet ignores the fact that the same goes for nuts and seeds and instead encourages people to eat them liberally… including as a substitute for grains, which people have been eating since the beginning of time. There is never any mention of proper/traditional preparation of nuts/seeds/grains if we do choose to eat them. She also tries to make a case that veganism can be an acceptable diet, despite lacking loads of the basic nutrients she repeatedly admits we need for optimal health. These things are always a bit baffling to me when professionals write about them, regardless of how many studies they cite.

The chapter on stress and mental health was heavily secular and new age and I disagreed with a lot of the proposed solutions. Especially when BetterHelp was recommended as a good way to find a therapist….yikes. And psychedelics… even more yikes.

I did appreciate the chapter on circadian health, which is something many books on health overlook. 

Finally, being a doctor who left the mainstream system to start her own private practice, she gets into a lot of the problems with the Western healthcare system from an insider’s perspective. That was very interesting and I agreed with her take wholeheartedly there.

|| 4 ⭐️ ||

Encouraging and reassuring exposition of Romans 8. While it is a rather long-winded commentary, Romans 8 is a very rich and beautiful chapter that could probably be written about for several more hundred pages. It’s so good to be reminded of the extent of God’s grace and permanence of our salvation (and if anyone thinks believers can lose their salvation, Romans 8 refutes that notion pretty quickly!)