Blog? Want Free Books? Let's Chat.

Great!

by Nick Thacker

August 15, 2012

@NickThacker

I’ll just put it out there: I liked Craig’s book. It was easy to read, concise, and the scriptural examples he used lined up perfectly with the message he was trying to get across. As a newlywed (just over a year), the advice and tips he included were refreshing, helpful, and funny at times. All in all, a great read.

I found myself nodding in agreement along with his words, chapter after chapter, liking the writing but not necessarily getting anything new out of it. Like I said, there was some great advice for a newlywed like myself, but it was generally based on information I’d heard before.

I thought by the end of the book I’d give it about 2 or 3 stars out of five. “Craig,” I’d write, “it was good, but it was stuff I’d heard before. I want something new.”

But I can’t do that–the book was very good, and there’s no reason to deny an author a star or two because their information wasn’t new to me. That’s just unfair.

But more importantly, I couldn’t give fewer than four stars because of something deeper; something not as apparent.

Groeschel’s a great writer, and I actually read the book far quicker than I would have if he was just an “average” nonfiction writer.

The reason?

Groeschel tells a story.

It’s a story about him, most of the time, dealing with one thing or another as a pastor, family man, husband, and human, but it’s a story about other people as well–all entertwined and spun together in a way that reads quite well.