As it turns out, I’ve been reading quite a bit of nonfiction this year. My goal was two nonfiction books a month, so far I’ve averaged one ever six or so days. Who would have known? Here are two snap-shot reviews of the two nonfiction books I’ve read in April so far.

I changed up how I did these reviews to make them a bit more concise. I’d be delighted to hear your thoughts. Do you like this shortened version (with pros and cons) or the longer version (with the back cover copy, why I chose the book, and a more in-depth look at my thoughts) better?

Quick STATS:

Find the book on: Amazon and Goodreads
Pages: 256
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Release Date: July 7, 2015
Title: Lasting Love
Author: Alistair Begg
Nonfiction
Read The back cover Copy Here

Disclaimer:
I’m not married, therefore all my thoughts on this book are extremely subjective.

Three Pros and Three Pros

Pros:
*Mr. Beggs uses the Bible to back up his information – which really, is there any other way to do it? He’s also a pastor who’s been married for a long time and counseled a lot of people with marriage issues, so he seems very qualified to write this book
*Other than the beginning, I found this book to be very easy to read, grasp, and be drawn into. The information is imparted in a kind and caring way – you can tell Mr. Begg really cares about people – and yet he also stands firmly on God’s Word
*The book has good balance – showing a fairly in-depth look at both the husband and wife’s role in marriage

Cons:
*The inside of the book – as in the literal, physical inside of the book – wasn’t the easiest for me to read. I’m not sure if it was because of the size of the font or what, but it took a bit for me to get past that and into the content of the book
*Apparently this book was first published in 1997, but I didn’t know that while reading. I know that’s a little thing, but I think it would have helped the book make slightly more sense to me if I would have known that from the get-go. The con was not being aware of that – not the fact on it’s own
*The beginning of this book wasn’t my style, but as I continued reading I found a trove of great information

CONCLUSION & Rating

This is a marriage book and I don’t really recommend those because who am I to recommend a marriage book? But I most certainly don’t unrecommend it. 😉 I’m giving Lasting Love four out of five stars – Thank you to Moody Press for sending me a copy to review. Y’all are great.

Quick STATS:

Find the book on: Amazon and Goodreads
Pages: 256
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Release Date: March 5, 2019
Title: A Cloud By Day A Fire By Night
Author: A. W. Tozer
Nonfiction
Read The back cover Copy Here

Two Pros and Two Pros

Pros:
*The setup in the book is pretty cool. The chapters are short and begin with one of A. W. Tozer’s prayers – something I normally skip in books but actually appreciated in this one. Then we have the chapter and end with a verse of a hymn that goes along with the subject of the chapter. There’s also a lot of white space which makes the book feel clean and bright
*This book does a good job of helping people learn how to find and follow God’s will. It talks a lot about the Children of Isreal wandering in the Wilderness, and how that applies to our lives today and what we can learn from them. Since I’m all for learning from other people’s mistakes so I don’t have to repeat them myself, this was pretty great

Cons:
*It just wasn’t my style. That’s lame, I know, and I feel bad saying that about a good Christian-living book. This is also an exceedingly subjective feeling that I can’t pinpoint the reasons to. Sorry, folks
*I read a lot of nonfiction books and it’s easy for me to stay focused on them, but for some reason I found my mind wandering a lot while reading this book. Again, I think it’s just because it wasn’t my style 

CONCLUSION & Rating

Although this wasn’t my favorite, there’s not anything I found wrong with it, so y’all should give it a try if it sounds good. I’m giving A Cloud by Day A Fire by Night three out of five stars – Thank you to Bethany House Publishers for this review copy. Y’all rock.