Another Book Report

I’m not sure how you feel about my “book reports”, but here goes another one! Since the acquisition of my Kindle, I have been able to enjoy a lot more reading. In addition I love being able to read the reviews on Amazon.com, which helps me have an idea of what books are about. I have really enjoyed the 10 million words blog where Tim Challies is trying to read all the books on the New York Times Bestseller list. He reviews some of them and that gives me an idea of a book that might be interesting to me. I tend to be a little lazy and just read the authors or books I know, as I hate to waste time and money on a loser (and here in Brazil I don’t have the option of a library to resolve that problem). In addition to devotional and church literature and feel good books (i.e. Agatha Christie, Charlotte Bronté, Jane Austin, etc.), I just felt such a need to read a variety of well written books. Now I have a large list awaiting my mind and eyes. This week I finished two wonderful books. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was reading “The Help” by Kathleen Stockett. Do not miss reading this book. I laughed and cried and was so sad when I could no longer share in Abilene, Minnie and Skeeter’s lives. It is a thoroughly satisfying story with a healthy philosophy of life and a fairly sound theology as well. While not heavy, it is not fluffy.

In between reading this work of fiction, I squeezed in André Agassi’s autobiography, called “Open”. Although it had rave reviews and I thoroughly enjoy reading biographies, I was a little skeptical of enjoying reading about this controversial tennis star. He wasn’t exactly known for his morality and in fact was known for his “potty” mouth. I know next to nothing about tennis, nor am I particularly interested. What IS the deal with “Love” as a score in a sport?? I can say I am glad I got over my prejudice and read the book. I am glad other than the fact that I sat for 5 hours straight (until 2AM) to finish reading the book. I could NOT put it down. I know Andre worked with a Pulitzer prize winning author on this and it shows. The biography reads like a novel and you just HAVE to know what happens next. I know it is a memoir, in effect, because no one remembers verbatim conversations and thoughts like in this book, but I am sure anyone would have to deal with that issue. What impressed me was not particularly his honesty (and he was brutally honest), not his revelation of drug use (come on, he was a millionaire athlete superstar, did anyone seriously think he didn’t do drugs???), but his willingness to NOT be a victim and complain about his difficulties. That is something rare nowadays. I also was impressed with his search for something more. He truly is a lost soul and my heart ached for him as I saw him living out the words of Ecclesiastes. The book was also a good reminder that we just can’t trust the media hype about famous people, whether is be good or bad. Everyone lies – the stars and the media and his book makes it abundantly clear. I wish I could say that in the end Andre found what he was looking for. He thinks he did, but I fear that his wife and two children won’t really be enough for him. I encourage you to go on the journey of reading his story. It will be worth your time.