Book Club - The Year of Living Biblically

A.J. Jacobs is insane. Trying to live a year following the all the rules in the Bible literally, is the definition of ab absurdum. His wife Julie deserves all of our respect. She not only endured this year but did it while carrying twins. Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed his experience from the safe distance of my couch.

I was intrigued by this book, The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possibly, as soon as I heard about it. It seemed like an interesting way to learn more about religion and to hear another opinion about God’s word without having to endure the slog through another dry read. This book is witty, insightful, and a joy to read. There were some areas that I wish he developed more, but he does a good job covering a huge range of Biblical topics from the wearing of tassels to snake handling.

I would not recommend this book to people who believe that the Bible IS the word of God as they will call it heretical and dismiss it outright, but for those who believe that it contains the word of God, this is a worthwhile read. This book will make you consider areas of the Bible that you had not before. It may give you insight as to why the Bible calls us to do things that we don’t fully understand.

As for A.J., a self-proclaimed agnostic, it is interesting to read his own personal transformation: from purposeful prayer to inspired prayer; from A.J. to Jacob and back to A.J.?; from Jewish by genealogy to Jewish by life choice. One of my favorite scenes was his time locked in his bathroom – did the handle fall off or perhaps a greater hand in his lesson? A.J.’s voice is friendly and interesting and though most of us probably would have given him wide berth in his white un-mixed fiber costume, you will want to continue to hear from him. In fact, I plan to try to get his other book The Know It All out of the library today.

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(Oh wait - I have to read Suite Francaise for the Book Club - see how this becomes a problem?)

Book Club - Suite Francaise

We have decided on a book Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky. Barnes and Noble describes it as:

"Beginning in Paris on the eve of the Nazi occupation in 1940. Suite Française tells the remarkable story of men and women thrown together in circumstances beyond their control. As Parisians flee the city, human folly surfaces in every imaginable way: a wealthy mother searches for sweets in a town without food; a couple is terrified at the thought of losing their jobs, even as their world begins to fall apart. Moving on to a provincial village now occupied by German soldiers, the locals must learn to coexist with the enemy—in their town, their homes, even in their hearts.

When Irène Némirovsky began working on Suite Française, she was already a highly successful writer living in Paris. But she was also a Jew, and in 1942 she was arrested and deported to Auschwitz, where she died. For sixty-four years, this novel remained hidden and unknown."


A couple of women in the church have read it and recommended it. It certainly sounds interesting. If anyone wants to discuss it once I've read it, I'd love to. I have also reserved The Year of Living Biblically at the library. It just looks to good to pass up.

Church Book Club - November Reading

Has anyone read this book?



We left our book club last month without picking a new book and frankly I’m a little nervous about attendance. A couple people recommended books that other book clubs are doing, but I’m not sure that it is worthwhile doing books that other groups are currently doing. It may reduce the possibility of people coming. As we are a church group, I thought this book might bring up some very interesting conversations.

These are the other books that I was considering.






Let me know if you have any insight on any of these. I welcome your help.