Blue Like Jazz and a fairy tale

Blue Like Jazz by Don Miller

I really liked this book and it read really fast. His style is very readable. While the book is religious and I am not, it was refreshing to hear this viewpoint. A big point of the book is that non-Christians often act way more Christian than Christians do. In fact, Miller pretty much talks about how selfish we all are, how little we are all doing for other people, and how modern Christianity doesn't really encourage anyone to be less selfish.


He also makes good points about living alone vs. living in a community. I like living alone, but I have always enjoyed living with other people. I think a lot of people really hate living with others, but Miller makes the point that living with a group of people forces you to socially interact and socially compromise. His point is that when you live alone, you converse (for most of us in our heads, I hope) with only yourself and just keep getting more and more used to how you do things. I totally see this in older people who have lived alone for a dozen years or so--they can't handle anything done a different way in their house. It also seems to me that when you live with other people you get drawn into social activity that you might not participate in if no one was there to say "Come onnnnnnnnnnn, let's go OUUUUUUUUUT!" I think living alone makes it easier to make excuses that you really need to stay home. Also you have to do all the housework yourself, which does take more time than if a lot of people are doing it.


This book made me very homesick for Portland because there is a lot of specific place information in it. Apparently, I lived a few blocks from the author several times! Also, much of the book takes place at my alma mater. I do not know when the stories in the book took place, but I lived, worked, and attended the college in question for the six years before the book was published, so I imagine I know some of the people mentioned. In fact, there is a very very specific mention of someone that I cannot imagine being a coincidence. It is very weird to read about places you know so intimately, and people you know in real life in a book. That really hasn't happened to me in this degree before. It's completely creepy. SO CREEPY. You feel like someone's watching you read the book!


This is probably the most easily enjoyable religious book for non-religious people, possibly because it disses on Christians. But I do not know if I would have liked it half as much if I couldn't related to the places and people mentioned.



Lona: a fairy tale. By Dare Wright
This was a pretty book, sadly in black and white. It was not as weirdly creepy as the majority of Dare Wright's children's books, which I am taking as a good sign.