Tuesday, November 25, 2014

A Nation Under Judgement by Richard Capriola



 



Genre: Nonfiction, Christian

     What does it mean to be "one nation under God"? Our Founding Fathers believed the words were more than a political slogan. Have we strayed from their vision? A Nation Under Judgment examines issues currently facing our country, such as hunger, homelessness, poverty, marriage, the environment, income inequality and the power of political campaign contributions in shaping policy. Each of these issues is examined from a social policy and Scriptural point of view, empowering readers to decide whether or not our nation is moving away from God and headed for judgment.   

My Review

     As a Christian and mother to young children, I often worry about the direction in which our nation is headed. As a parent, I am teaching my children to "love thy neighbor" and "Do not judge, lest ye be judged," among other important lessons. There are many other positive teachings in the Bible that everyone should adhere to, not just Christians. So why not our nation? After all, we are "One nation under God," right? 
     Capriola's book brings to light scriptures that apply to our nation and government today. He tells about examples in Biblical history in which nations strayed from God's word, and were punished as a result. Those examples are aligned with examples of modern issues such as abortion, gay marriage, and greed. He quotes many of our nation's leaders, who did in fact seek guidance from God in creating our country and its laws. 
     I would recommend taking your time in reading this particular book. There are a lot of quotes and references to digest. I stand firm in both my Christian and political beliefs, but I think that even non-Christians could gain something from this book. There are many historical quotes and examples which I had never heard before and found quite interesting. 


Author Bio

     Richard Capriola has been a hospital chaplain and completed four years of Clinical Pastoral Education in preparation for chaplaincy work. He has also led a church-based outreach ministry. In additions to his pastoral care experience, he has served as a mental health crisis counselor and has worked at both a regional mental health center and psychiatric hospital.

You can visit his website, or purchase A Nation Under Judgement on Amazon or Bookbaby.


Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Motherhood Smotherhood by JJ Keith


Genre: Nonfiction, Parenting

     What's the first thing a woman does when she thinks she might be pregnant? She Googles. And it goes downhill from there. While the internet is full of calming and cheerily supportive articles, it's also littered with hyper-judgmental message boards and heaps of contradictory and scolding information. Motherhood Smotherhood takes parents through the trenches of new parenting, warning readers of the pleasures and perils of mommy blogs, new parent groups, self-described "lactivists," sleep fascists, incessant trend pieces on working versus non-working mothers, and the place where free time and self-esteem goes to die: Pinterest (back away from the hand-made flower headbands for baby!)
    
      JJ Keith interweaves discussions of what "it takes a village" really means (hint: a lot of unwanted advice from elderly strangers who may have grown up in actual villages) and a take-down of the rising "make your own baby food" movement (just mush a banana with a fork!) with laugh-out-loud observations about the many mistakes she made as a frantic new mother with too much access to high speed internet and a lot of questions. Keith cuts to the truth--whether it's about "perfect" births, parenting gurus, the growing tide of vaccine rejecters, the joy of blanketing Facebook with baby pics, or germophobia--to move conversations about parenting away from experts espousing blanket truths to amateurs relishing in what a big, messy pile of delight and trauma having a baby is.

My Review

     JJ Keith hits the parenting nail on the head. As a mother of four daughters, I have read just about every pregnancy and parenting book there is. Motherhood Smotherhood is a breath of fresh air. Instead of convincing the reader to parent a certain way, Keith encourages her audience to be confident in their parenting decisions. She touches on many key issues that are widely criticized, such as breastfeeding (in public!), vaccinations, food choices, and more. 
     After reading Motherhood Smotherhood, I feel as if JJ Keith and I could be great friends. Her book gives the best advice about parenting: Do it your way, and don't worry about the judgmental looks you may receive. It's a reminder that we can all be amazing parents without getting sucked into the latest silly trends or sanctimonious mom drama. 
     I definitely recommend this book to parents everywhere. Common sense needs to become, well....more common. This parenting book is a great place to start. 

Author Bio


     JJ Keith has written about being a crappy attachment parent for Salon, explored the disturbing undertones of Thomas the Tank Engine for TheRumpus.net, come out as pro-vaccine for The Huffington Post, interviewed Samantha Irby for Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture, differentiated being judgmental and having an opinion for Role/Reboot, admitted to a bare knuckled brawl with a dude for The Nervous Breakdown, examined the phenomenon of "don't touch the bump" t-shirts for Babble, and explained what new moms have in common with teenage boys for The Hairpin.
     Her writing has been syndicated in the Sydney Morning Herald, iVillage Australia, Mamamia, and Alternet, and she's taken her work to the stage with The Moth, Happy Hour Story Experiment, Write Club, and Expressing Motherhood and spoken about parenting issues with APM's Marketplace, HuffPost Live, and on a panel at the 2013 LA Times Festival of Books. Her micro-memoir won a $2,500 prize from Reader's Digest and was anthologized in The Best Life Stories: 150 Real-life Tales of Resilience, Joy, and Hope-All 150 Words or Less!
     She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and her two children.


You can visit JJ Keith's Website, or follow her on Facebook or Twitter

Add Motherhood Smotherhood to your GoodReads list, or purchase it on Amazon




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