Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore

You should read this book.  Seriously.  If you have not read it, you should put it on your "to-read" list.  Same Kind of Different as Me is the true story of a wealthy art dealer and a homeless man and the unlikely friendship they find.

The book alternates between Denver, a former plantation sharecropper who jumps a train to escape his bleak future and ends up living his life as a homeless man for years, and Ron, a wealthy art dealer whose wife convinces him to serve the community at a homeless shelter.  That homeless shelter is where their paths cross and God moves in both of their lives.

This story really did make me view homeless people and serving others differently.  If you really want to make a difference in someone's life it doesn't happen in a day. 

It was inspiring to watch how God worked in both of these men's lives to change them and each other.

The book is very well written and will suck you in.  It is open and honest and tells their imperfect and inspiring story beautifully.  Not only is it a good story, but it may change your life- read it!

I give this one 4.5 out of 5 stars.

It looks like it is in production to become a movie.

Here's a good interview with Ron and Denver about their story:

Finding It by Valerie Bertinelli

I got this audiobook on sale at Border's going out of business sale.  I read Valerie's first book Losing It and enjoyed it, so why not try this one?

Two things I learned from this book:

1. Almost all women struggle with body issues and we are very similar in this struggle.

2. Celebrities live a very different life.

In one sense listening to Valerie's book was like listening to myself or my best friend complain about weight frustrations.  On the other hand, she has Jillian Michael's trainer whipping her in to shape and her job was pretty much to get in shape for this commercial, so she had a lot more time than the everyday person has to devote to it.  She says she didn't and complains about her lack of time, but I doubt she understands what a "normal" person's life is like just how I don't understand what a "celebrity's" life is like.

But I do love how she focuses on how hard maintenance is and why it is important.  I'm glad she doesn't make it seem easy.  I'm glad to know she has a lot of the same struggles we all face.  Overall I enjoyed it.  It wasn't life changing or anything, but it was enjoyable.

I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Mommywood by Tori Spelling

I got Mommywood by Tori Spelling on CD at the Border's going out of business sale for like $3!  I am loving some audio-books right now. And to get one for that cheap was awesome!  I listened to it on my way to and from the beach Labor Day weekend and it made the drive just fly by!

I liked Tori's first book Storitelling.  This one was ok, but not as good as the first one in my opinion.  Tori just basically tells stories from her life as a (semi)famous mom.  There are some funny stories in there like the one about Liam pooping at the pool and her making a big mess while changing his diaper or how she got invited to P-Diddy's twin's birthday party and she totally got their age wrong. 

Tori is completely out of touch with reality and completely wrapped up in Hollywood life and this book solidifies that.  As much as she says she would like to be normal, she is completely fooling herself.  She talks about having to leave a $300 stroller (that she got for free) in a parking garage because she could not get it to fold up.  Seriously?  Who does that?

She is completely self-centered.  (But aren't we all at times?) She talks about her relationship with her mom a lot and how everything with her mom turned in to a competition and how she doesn't want to repeat that with Stella.  She is going to really have to work at that before Stella gets any older because I can so see her doing the same thing. 

Speaking of the relationship with her mom, she tries to act like the lack of relationship there is all her mom's fault.  She obviously has not forgiven her mom for a lot of things and continues to talk bad about her in her books.  I can't imagine the hurt she has caused her mom.  Obviously her mom isn't completely innocent in the whole situation either, but Tori needs to realize that neither is she.

I like Tori.  I really do.  I think she is witty and funny and it feels like she could be one of your best girl friends.  She is a good story telller too.  We all have our flaws and she is not immune to that.  But at times during this book you just wanted to say "Really girl?  you have no idea what the real world is like.  Take off your fame-goggles and get a grip."

I give this one 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Losing It by Valerie Bertinelli

I finished this book weeks ago, but never got around to posting a review about it. I really like Valerie Bertinelli. She is so cute and seems so sweet. I really didn’t think she looked that fat when she became a Jenny Craig spokeswoman. But isn’t that how most people are? Just overweight enough to feel not like yourself. Anyway I put her book on my wish list at paperbackswap.com and I was surprised when I got it so quickly. I thought it would be the perfect thing to inspire me to start the new year off right.

Well, this book is not really about weight loss. She mentions her weight issues a few times throughout the book and the last 2 or 3 chapters are about her Jenny Craig adventures. But the book is really just about her life. She does have an interesting life. From being a child TV star to marrying Eddie Van Halen, it does make for an interesting book. She is very open and honest throughout the book. It was interesting to see where her life took her from her teens through her twenties and thirties and then into her forties. It was comforting to see that you can still end up happy without living the ideal married with 2.5 kids in the suburbs kind of life.

I like memoirs and this was a pretty good one and even though I have a life far different from hers, I could relate to her thoughts and feelings throughout the book.

I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Churched by Matthew Paul Turner

If you've ever thought some Christians can be a little crazy, this book will have you laughing out loud. Churched: One Kid's Journey Towards God Despite a Holy Mess is the story of a young boy growing up in a fundamentalist Christian household.

I discovered this book through Matthew Paul Turner's blog. I don't remember how I discovered the blog. I think it was in my Google Reader recommendations. I read almost every post and liked his writing style and wit and saw that he had this new book out, so I put it on my wish list at Paperback Swap.

Here are a few random quotes from the book to give you an idea what it's like:

"When I got older, I decided that upon arriving in heaven, I would ask God to do me a favor and not put my mansion close to Ally's."

"I was going to the barbershop because Jesus hated little boys who had long hair."

"But not even the ingredients in my mother's travel-sized hairspray could keep me from passing out on the pew."

"By the end of the evening it seemed that everybody in the music industry either worshiped Satan, was a prostitute, or their brand of hairspay supported a woman's right to choose."

"My biggest fear about the end was that Jesus would come back before I had the chance to have sex."

He tells so many hilarious stories from Barbie burnings to the annual Pastor Nolan vs. Satan boxing match, that the look at the events through a child's eye make it all sound that much more absurd. After five baptisms and asking Jesus in to his heart more times than you can count, he does find God, just not in the way everyone else seemed to want him to.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Night by Elie Wiesel

As I discussed on my 30 Before 30 blog, I have become obsessed with the Holocaust. I saw this book discussed when it was featured as one of Oprah's book club picks. I knew it was about the Holocaust and Oprah liked it a lot so what did I have to lose?

Nightis a small book packed with emotion. It is Elie Wiesel's memoir of what he experienced during the Holocaust. His words really bring to life what the Jews in the concentration camps felt. I would almost shiver at his descriptions of the unbearable cold. My stomach would feel empty just reading about their starvation. I could feel their desperation and at times I was thinking there was no way I could have survived that. I would have just given up.

His driving force for staying alive is to be there for his father. Also they had made it so far, how could they just give in to death? Then it would have all been for nothing.

He also finds himself questioning his faith. How could God allow this to happen? I have those same questions. It seems unreal that this was something very real. Not some Hollywood plot line. These were real people that did this. Real people that had to experience it. There are no easy answers to those questions.

If you really want to understand what day to day life was like in the Nazi concentration camps, I highly reccommend this book. Even if you don't want to know, you should. So read it anyway. It will make you appreciate your life even more and instill in you a sense to watch out for evil like this in today's world.

I give it 5 out of 5 stars.