Book: For the Love

For the Love

by Jen Hatmaker

Length: 224

Format: Ebook
Price: Free on overdrive

How I heard about it: My Bible Study crew picked it for a summer read

Basic Premise: Pastor's wife Jen Hatmaker talks about, well, all kinds of stuff. I'm really not sure what the book was about. Just, whatever came into her head, I think.

My Take: 5 out of 10 (scale here)

Let me preface by saying I HATE these inspirational, self-help type books. I don't do well with non-fiction in general, but these kinds of books make me yawn. Dread reading. Wish I was doing just about anything else. But I am a reader, dangit, and there is nothing I can't read. Plus I already told everyone I would read it.

That said, this book was ALL OVER THE PLACE. It wasn't like the parenting book I read, where the focus was parenting and the book followed a systematic and methodical sequence. This book felt like a shotgun golf tournament. Have you ever been to or in one of those? They just send you to a random hole and you just play maybe in the middle, or maybe at the end, but you don't really know until you're in it. Reading this book felt a lot like that. Once I figured out that I don't think she even knew what she knew what topic she was writing about, I felt better and it was much easier to follow (since following was impossible). She talked about being a mom, and about liking to cook (and she included a few weird random recipes in various places), and about church and missions, and it was fine. She was funny, but the funny didn't feel natural - it felt planned and measured...like she was trying to get me to think she was cool or something. Have you met those people? They are trying to be funny and it's just awkward. That's how this book felt.

There was one really good thing I took away, though, and that was the idea of treating the scope of things you do like a balance beam. If it energizes you and feeds you (ie spending time with a friend), it's on the beam. If it is draining and stressful and time-consuming (like helping with Awana at church, for me), it's off the beam. The balance is key, and keeping the balance often requires saying NO...which I'm really terrible about.

Otherwise...I wouldn't recommend this book. Read Carry On, Warrior instead.