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I Am Hutterite by Mary-Ann Kirkby is a coming of age memoir by a woman who grew up in an isolated religious community and grew up to become a news anchor. The book begins with a bit of an explanation of why the author decided to take this trip down memory lane, and then leads into how her parents grow up, got married, had children, and eventually reaches the point where her parents decided to take their many children and leave the Hutterite colony in which they had lived, and also how Mary Ann herself reinvented herself to become “English’, and eventually became Mrs. Kirkby and established herself in the news business.

I’m really not a memoir reader. I dislike most non-history non-fiction. For some reason, I keep choosing memoirs from Thomas Nelson’s Booksneeze program, and I’m not sure why (perhaps because there isn’t much fiction in my preferred genres). However, I loved I Am Hutterite. It read like a novel, and had very little of the “but that was to change all too soon” in it.

While I’m pretty familiar with Amish and Mennonites (I grew up in and live in Amish Country in south-central Pennsylvania), I’d never even heard of Hutterites until a few weeks ago. I’d heard them all grouped together and was intrigued, but assumed that it was simply another sect like the Amish. Within days I noticed I Am Hutterite appear on Thomas Nelson’s Booksneeze page and immediately grabbed it. I’m so glad I did. I read the whole thing through on my recent vacation to Walt Disney World (and those who know me know that I rarely have time for reading there), and have just passed it on to my mother for her vacation. I highly recommend it.

Links of interest:Thomas Nelson’s Product Page, Book Preview

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of I Am Hutterite by Mary Ann Kirkby from Thomas Nelson’s BookSneeze program for the purpose of reviewing it.

Well, St Patrick’s day is about to leave on the east coast, but as there are a few hours left for the rest of the country, I figure it’s safe for me to post up my ever-so-appropriate-to-this-holiday review of The Search For God and Guinness by Stephen Mansfield.

Now, I’m not used to reviewing non-fiction books, and so this might be a little shorter, or scattered than usual (and that’s saying something), but when I was offered the chance to review The Search For God and Guinness by BookSneeze, ThomasNelson’s book review blogger program, I jumped at it. Despite the fact that I don’t like most beers, I’ve always been fascinated by them. In fact, when I get a house of my own, I intend to learn how to brew.

I’m also extremely touchy on the subject of Christianity and booze. Look people, drinking is not a sin. It never has been, it never will be. Getting drunk may be a different matter, but yes, you can be a Christian and drink. All the apostles did, most of the church fathers did, Jesus not only did, but said that he would again when we’re all reunited. Ok, I digress.

I’m not a fan of non-fiction in general, but surprisingly, this book is changing that. I enjoyed The Search For God and Guinness: A Biography of the Beer That Changed the World so much that I’ve purchased 5 or 6 non-fiction titles since receiving it. The author, Stephen Mansfield, is the man that wrote The Faith of Barack Obama which was such a hot seller during the election. He’s written several other biographies, and if they’re as good as this one, I may pick up one or two later on.

Despite the title suggesting that the book is solely about the beer, it’s mostly about the Guinness family and how the beer company funded and their faith fueled their philanthropy. Much focus is put on Arthur Guinness (often referred to as “the first Arthur” throughout the book) and then subsequently the line of Guinnesses that ran the company after him. Mansfield does follow several of the Guinnesses who chose not to follow in their fathers’ footsteps, but these excursions are brief though interesting.

Towards the end is an entire section devoted to the Guinnesses For God- the many missionaries and preachers to come from the Guinness line. I found this section, and the section on Arthur Guinness (the first) to be the most interesting to me, possibly because they were the longest sections to have a single focus. Sadly, there was little discussion of the actual beer, but the author did include enough information that a reader who is totally unfamiliar with the process of brewing beer should be able to follow along without difficulty. These snippets were my favorite part, and I wish there had been more of the actual beer in the book.

In all honesty, I felt that there was not enough focus to be a biography of the Guinnesses, nor enough focus to be a biography of the beer. Not that the author wandered from his intent, but that the intent isn’t as clear to me as a reader as I would have liked. I found the story of the Guinnesses to be very interesting to read, but I chose the book because I thought the focus would be on the beer. Nonetheless, I found myself itching to pick it up, and missing it when I’d finished reading.

I joined Waterbrook’s (a division of Random House) book reviewer list to get free books a few months ago. I recently was offered a chance to review Andrew Peterson’s North! Or Be Eaten, book 2 of the Wingfeather Saga. I mentioned to the the lovely Staci Carmichael (person in charge of these books, and my new bff) that I hadn’t read book one, and she offered to send me book one along with book 2. Yay me! So, while I’m not going to do an in depth review of book one, I thought I’d write a little bit about it as a thank you to Staci for sending it to me.

In Andrew Peterson’s On The Edge of The Dark Sea of Darkness, Janner, Tink, and Leeli Igiby live under the oppression of the horrible Fangs of Dang- lizard-like creatures who delight in torturing humans, and in eating maggotloaf and other such culinary treats. These bad boys work for Gnag the Nameless, who (whom?) the book refers to as a nameless evil… Yeah, you can see why I liked it from the start.

Unfortunately, the Igiby children manage to draw an undue amount of attention to themselves, and in order to avoid death or enslavement, they, along with their one legged ex-pirate grandfather, and sensible mother, have to escape.

The book is interesting from the start, but mainly because of the humor, which is a cross between middle school boy humor (aka: booger jokes), and Terry Pratchett. It’s an odd mix, but I love it. The majority of the book is almost like back story, however, and doesn’t really pick up the pace until the final third of the book. It’s well worth the read, but is absolutely essential if you plan to read the much more active book 2. At the very least, the secondary characters and the humorous footnotes should keep you entertained until you reach the exciting bits.

This is a middle grade fantasy, so if you’re expecting Robert Jordan, give this a miss. If you like both Narnia and Terry Pratchett, this may be worth your while.