Book Review - Blue Like Jazz

It's amazing how much reading I can get done when there is no TV to watch or Internet to surf. Kristi and I spent the weekend at a couples getaway at Life Action. There was no TV or Internet to be had.

It took me a few months to get to page 102, which is where I was when we got to Life Action on Friday evening. By Sunday morning I was on page 232. I finished up the final chapter of the book last night.

I loved this book. It shouldn't have taken me so long to read it, because I really enjoyed the time I spent reading it. It is one of my very favorite books I have ever read. The author, Donald Miller, describes the events and happenings in his Christian spirituality journey. He's a GREAT story teller. Very few books make me laugh out loud, but Blue Like Jazz did a number of times.

Mostly I think I liked the book because I could just understand where Donald was coming from. I think that I think like him. (I wish I could write like him.)

Sometimes, if I read something I think is really good, I take it to my Sunday School class and just start reading it to them. It probably drives them crazy, but they're a polite bunch and they oblige me. Blue Like Jazz has a part that I think I will read to my Sunday School class. It's in chapter 11 and is a story about a confession booth. It's a great story, but I won't tell you more about it because I don't want to ruin it for you if you read the book.

Here is one excerpt though:

Sooner or later you just figure out there are some guys who don't believe in God and they can prove He doesn't exist, and some other guys who do believe in God and they can prove He does exist, and the argument stopped being about God a long time ago and now it's about who is smarter, and honestly I don't care. I don't believe I will ever walk away from God for intellectual reasons. Who knows anything anyway? If I walk away from Him, and please pray that I never do, I will walk away for social reasons, identity reasons, deep emotional reasons, the same reasons that any of us do anything.

I think Blue Like Jazz is a fantastic book full of thoughtfulness, humor and points to ponder. I highly recommend it to anyone. But here are some people in particular that I think would love this book:

• Stephanie
• Rocki
• Jamie
• Chris
• Hope