Bingo Square: Not My Wheelhouse Originally, I was going to use this for my Listicle square but the more I read it, the more I realized how much this book was just not my style! I saw it on Bill Gates’ summer reading list, and I really need to learn my lesson that when people use the word faith they usually mean religious faith specifically rather than some general faith in the universe. So you know, my bad! The author is a religion professor at […]
Horrifying and heartbreaking in equal measure
Sometimes you come across a book that is so mind-blowingly good, you immediately go out and purchase every book ever written by the author. The Road to Jonestown was such a book. A huge, fat book that’s more than worth the effort, it tells you everything you ever wanted to know and more about the Reverend Jim Jones, his followers, just how he got hundreds of otherwise intelligent people to cede control of every aspect of their lives, and the sequence of events that led […]
God Bless the Gargoyles and us, too
I absolutely love the illustrations in God Bless the Gargoyles. Dav Pilkey has stepped away from his more humorous stories and gone a spiritual and Christian route. The nod to a famous painting also is a neat treat. While the story is religious (the Church, the story of gargoyles and angels), it is not “in your face” overly religious. It is more of a spiritual story. However yet, it is not for a non-believer. I would have like more history of the gargoyle. It […]
Believe the Enneagram Hype
I was skeptical about this book for two reason. When something is trendy, like the Enneagram, I hate it by default. (The first version of this book, to be fair, was from the 1980s.) I’ve also done a lot of introspective exercises in the last few years, and at this point I’m a bit skeptical of more of it.The reason is, at some point I think you have to focus less on yourself and more on the rest of the cosmos. I was mentally primed […]
It’s like The Matrix for Thoughtful Christians
After burning out at my old job, I’ve recently stepped into a new one that will hopefully allow me to prioritize the things I care about most in life – God, loved ones, and catching up on fun tv. Part of creating Halbs 3.0 has involved reconnecting to things I used to love doing, especially physical exercise and spiritual practices focused on being still and silent. Into the Silent Land was recommended to me by a colleague, and after reading it I could see why. While […]
Hard to read while rolling your eyes
Like most Texans, I was raised very religious. Like most people who have religion shoved down their throats for 18 years, I am now an atheist. Atheism isn’t why I hated The Shack, though, it’s because it’s a fucking terrible book. I realized pretty quickly I didn’t like this book, given how shoddily the words are put together. I don’t even want to call it writing. I think I digested about 20% of the overall book, followed along completely, and still felt I gave it too […]
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