theseasoul's reviews
455 reviews

|| 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!) 

|| 3 ⭐️ ||

I’m attracted in many ways to the simple, quiet, nature-filled life that Thoreau describes himself living in this book. He paints the setting with so much detail that I could easily picture myself there when I really tuned into the writing. That said, it was hard to do—the sheer amount of description, much of it very mundane, bogged me down often. Especially in the second half of the book, when the philosophical thoughts fizzled out a bit and the number of very specific run-on details grew. 

|| 4 ⭐️ ||

For my first attempt at reading in-depth about court trials, this was surprisingly interesting. Of course, that’s partially because the topic of glyphosate has intrigued me for quite some time. But I wasn’t expecting to find the court proceedings themselves so interesting. I didn’t know much about how trials like these work, and it’s amazing how much of a… game they can be. It seems like it’s often more about saying the right thing and trying to make someone say the wrong thing than it is about actually examining the truth and getting to the bottom of it. 

I also didn’t find myself always agreeing with the author, who was representing the victims of glyphosate injury (the side I agree with). He’s a doctor, and a highly specialized one at that—which means he is trained to view systems of the body in isolation, and seemed to have very little knowledge about how the entire body works together. He was more determined to get to the root of these peoples’ health issues than most doctors are, but I still found it greatly lacking. So it was eye-opening to learn more about how specialists think too. 

I’m surprised Monsanto is still allowed to exist and sell products. They’re so blatantly corrupt. I hadn’t even realized just how bad it was. But it seems like when you have a lot of money, you can get away with pretty much anything. 

|| 2  ⭐️ ||

Disappointed by the heavy evolutionary stance and the fact that over half of this book hyperfocuses on environmentalism and climate change. I would’ve enjoyed many more chapters on the actual brilliance of the abyss and its creatures—scaly-foot snails and yeti crabs and bone-eating worms? Soooo cool! More chapters like those, please… the ones that put God’s astonishing creativity on display and nod to all the mystery that still remains to be unveiled. I’m fascinated by all that, but I’m tired of reading about how the earth would be better off without humans. 

|| 4 ⭐️ ||

The first half was a bit more philosophically dense than my brain could handle today, but everything I did absorb from this little book was excellent. Wiley builds a really good case for the role of the household as it relates to society and religion, in terms of duty, piety, and stewardship.

The concept of verticality especially stuck out to me—the whole idea that mainstream thought attempts to remove hierarchy (the vertical dimension; God being above humankind and everything in between) from every societal structure. With the elimination of verticality, it makes sense why the patriarchy is commonly considered oppressive nowadays; a father/husband could selfishly impose his own will on his household, without the possibility of divine accountability. But with a proper, biblical view of hierarchical structures, this isn’t the case. There is verticality above him, and he serves to represent the household to God, and God to the household. I never thought about hierarchy in this way.

DNF at 33%. I guess I’m just not in the mood for dragons, curses, royalty, and a political plot. It feels very cliche so far.

Already too many references to masturbation/sex.

|| 4.5 ⭐️ ||

As far as middle grade novels go, I’ve never read one that made me so emotional. This story of three orphaned children seeking out their forever family during WWII is so sad, but so sweet. I also, of course, loved the bookish theme. The library as a haven and the children’s love for reading everything from picture books to The Count of Monte Cristo to the Encyclopedia. 

|| 5 ⭐️ ||

Immensely encouraging. Sometimes I just need to be reminded of what I already know: that it’s okay to desire marriage and hope/pray/prepare for it, and at the same time cultivate contentedness and fruitfulness in the circumstances God has ordained for me today. Trusting in God’s sovereignty and plan, and rejoicing in it no matter what He has in store for me.

This book addresses a whole scope of interesting topics related to singleness, some of which clarified a lot for me and others which I hadn’t even considered before. It was very insightful and I’m sure I’ll keep coming back to certain sections when I catch myself feeling discouraged or tempted to take things into my own hands.

|| 4 ⭐️ ||

This was my first graphic novel, and it was great fun to read it in one sitting. I don’t anticipate venturing beyond this particular series in the graphic novel realm, as I know there are a lot of sketchy/inappropriate ones out there, but I’ve heard good things about this one for a long time. I’m glad I finally got to it. There’s not as much room for depth in this format as there is in written novels, but I still was impressed by the illustrations and how much was conveyed through them. It was hilarious and charming and I’m excited to read the next volume.