Where's Your Mark by Jeremy Cowart

Where's Your Mark is a nonfiction book by Jeremy Cowart about numerous people—ranging from ordinary folk to well-known celebrities—making their mark in the world today through their faith in Christ and their works. The book is full of photographs and stories, and it's quite an interesting read.

The cover of the book is strangely silver, so that you can see your own reflection as though it were a mirror. I'm not exactly sure what this is for, but I'm certain it's symbolic.

The stories in the book are certainly interesting, and the various entries could possibly be used as devotionals in small groups or other such situations. Included in Where's Your Mark is the entire book of Mark from the NIV Bible. This was a good idea in theory, but each time there's a page from Mark the page will cut off in the middle of a verse, and it won't resume until a few pages later, after a couple more stories have been told. That part certainly could have been compiled better.

Where's Your Mark is a fascinating book filled with fascinating stories, but at this stage in my life it didn't really hold my interest. I may just hand it off to a friend sometime, or I may just keep it for later.

Where's Your Mark was published on March 19, 2013.
This book was sent to me for free from Zondervan Publishing. http://www.BookSneeze.com/

The Truth About Forgiveness by John MacArthur

This is a book in a series of three books by John MacArthur. I had to choose one out of The Truth About Grace, The Truth About Forgiveness, or The Truth About the Lordship of Christ to read and review. I chose the one that I would be the most interested in, as forgiveness is something I have always struggled with.

I didn't expect much from the book; nonfiction generally bores me by explaining things I already knew in five times the amount of words necessary. I do admit sometimes I thought it was a little wordy—even for a book only a little over a hundred pages—but that is to be expected, and it didn't happen nearly as much as I thought it would.

I started the book genuinely surprised; MacArthur started at a point I wouldn't expect, and continued explaining what I had never thought of before. That, in itself, is something wonderful. I began expecting little, and what I found was more than I could have hoped for.

The first chapter made me think a lot. Sometimes I thought, "He can't say that, because it's very apparent that he's never experienced that himself," but every time as I kept reading I realized that this man truly knows what he's talking about, whether he's experienced "certain things" or not.

The Truth About Forgiveness is not a typical Christian nonfiction book, basically putting a boring sermon I've heard before into text format. It's something entirely unique, and for the first time something actually worth putting into book format. It focuses much on what Jesus said about forgiveness, through parables and stories, along with actual happenings, but it does it in a way that grabs your attention and keeps you interested. What's more, it actually uses good points that you might not have thought of.

It's extremely rare that a nonfiction book, especially about Christianity, does not disappoint me, but this one not only didn't disappoint me, it actually impressed me. When I saw the dozens of five-star ratings for the book, I inwardly chuckled and knew it would have a lot to prove if it were going to get anywhere near that rating from me. Because face it, everyone: sermons and books about forgiveness are generally just plain boring. We never truly hear what we need to hear. John MacArthur's book, however, is different.

I have never recommended a nonfiction book as highly as I recommend this one. Five stars.

The Truth About Forgiveness was published on May 1, 2012.
This book was sent to me for free from Thomas Nelson Publishing. http://www.BookSneeze.com/

1,000 Days by Jonathan Falwell

I'm not into nonfiction, but occasionally I come across a book of the genre that I truly enjoy. 1,000 Days is a book that focuses on the later life of Jesus Christ, i.e. the story told in the Gospels that takes place throughout a three-year period, or roughly one thousand days.

Jonathan Falwell, son and successor to the renowned Jerry Falwell, is an intelligent and resourceful wordsmith, and he expertly crafted a masterpiece. Each of the fifteen chapters centers on a separate subject, moving chronologically in the order of events that happened or the points that Jesus made. Nonfiction is not something I read easily, but 1,000 Days held my interest enough to get me all the way through. Falwell studied parts of the Bible his entire life, as his father was a pastor before him, and he's visited most of the locations Jesus traveled. Few would be as qualified to write this book as he.

Many of the chapters start with stories; some well-known, perhaps from a classic novel or a TV series. They are used very well as metaphorical examples of whatever the chapter is going to talk about, and though the transition between storytelling and discussing history is not always perfect, both aspects of the book are quite intriguing and keep the reader's attention. The stories I had been already familiar with contributed to my admiration of the book.

1,000 Days does have its downsides. Almost all of the scripture quotations are from the New King James version of the Bible, and though many people are fascinated by the old language, it often makes points made in this book hard to understand. In addition, though the editing and quality were very admirable throughout the book, the last 2-3 chapters seemed as though they hadn't gone through their final draft of editing. I can say, however, that these downsides did not lessen the fact that this book is a great read.

In the end, I would highly recommend this piece. 1,000 Days is full of great and valid points, and it knows how to generally make a reader interested. It forces the reader to reflect a lot on their own life and really think about who they are in relation to Christ. As I read through the book, I often found myself wanting to recommend it to people (a pastor, a school friend, my mother, etc.). I was torn between giving it a four star rating or a five star rating, but since there is no "four-and-a-half star" rating on consumer websites, I rounded it to the nearest whole number. 1,000 Days receives five stars.

1,000 Days was publicly released on March 13, 2012.
This book was sent to me for free from Thomas Nelson Publishing. http://www.BookSneeze.com/

For additional content related to the book, check out http://1000days.trbc.org/.

December 1941 by Craig Shirley

Though I couldn't spend as much time with Craig Shirley's book as I would have liked, December 1941 is a very interesting, day-by-day summary of all that went on in one of the most important months of all of World War II. Each chapter is an account of one day, and overall it makes for a very interesting book.

The amount of research put into this book is outstanding. You can understand that just from reading any part of the 544-page book. And then, once you get to the end, you find 94 pages of small print notes and bibliographies. That is a heck of a lot of notes!

December 1941 is best read a chapter a day. I would recommend starting on December 1, and finishing on December 31. Of course, you can't do that now, since it's January, but any other 31-day month would work as well. Or, of course, you could read it at any pace you like. I'm just giving a suggestion.

The book itself was quite interesting. I admit I wasn't able to get through all of it without any skipping around a lot, but it's the kind of book where that is easily allowed. Obviously, since it's non-fiction, it's not like you need to read every last part to be sure of what's going on. It's well-written and easy to read. The amount of research put into it is amazing, and it's definitely something I would recommend to anyone into World War II history or history in general.

December 1941 was publicly released on December 6, 2011.
This book was sent to me for free from Thomas Nelson Publishing. http://www.BookSneeze.com/