Review: My Grape Christmas

My Grape Christmas My Grape Christmas by Laura Bradbury
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I chose this book because it was about Christmas and about France, and I love both of these. Plus it was Christmas-time!

There was no plot beyond "college Canadian living with her French boyfriend goes to visit his family in France for Christmas." She experiences cultural differences, insecurity, and jealousy. There is a happy ending, and this is not a spoiler since the happy ending was never in doubt.

The typos were annoying.

I do think some people would enjoy this book. The descriptions of French culture and the contrasts between Canadian culture were interesting.

View all my reviews

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

No Cure for Being Human by Kate Bowler

Image
Life is finite. We live . . . and then we die. There is no escaping this very human reality. We just don't think about it much. We don't want to think about it.  Until we have to.  Kate Bowler tells her story of facing death in  No Cure for Being Human: And Other Truths I Need to Hear . She begins with her colon cancer diagnosis in her mid-thirties, when her son is only a few months old, and the doctors tell her she is terminal. When they tell she has a small chance of survival, but survival just means an extra two years.  How does she make the most of this? How does she plan for the future, a future that probably doesn't include her? How does she fight for more?  This is Bowler's story of fighting for survival and thinking about what it means to be human, with all the joys . . . and disappointments. And Bowler is a fantastic storyteller who shares what she learns from facing death.  We all need to think about, at least some of the time, because not a one o...
Read more

Willard's Divine Conspirarcy: Reflections on Discipleship

Image
When I was a teenager, people who talked about discipleship focused on memorizing Scripture and understanding church doctrines. I did that, and honestly, I knew something was wrong. I was committed to serving in church, attending services, and following the rules, but I didn't love God, and I certainly wasn't interested in reading the Bible. I did it when I had to, but the idea of daily devotions or Bible reading times put me to sleep, literally. I almost quit attending church. Life was busy, and I just didn't see why it mattered all that much, and that's when I got scared. I believed Scripture cognitively, and I was afraid to walk away from that belief system. I talked Duane into attending a small non-traditional church near our home, one that met on Saturday night, one that didn't sing hymns, one where the pastor talked like a regular person, acknowledging his humanity and his need for God. Something inside me shifted, and my faith became less cognitive and...
Read more

Review: How to Stop Time

Image
How to Stop Time by Matt Haig My rating: 4 of 5 stars Next year I turn 60 years old. (Gasp!) I used to think that was so old, but now I'm not sure so sure. I have several friends who were born the same year as I was and even more who were born a few years before and a few years after. We grew up listening to the same music. We know the words and sing along. We remember the same events in history. We had similar experiences. I love having friends whose experiences are different, but there is something deeply satisfying about playing cards late into the evening, singing, reminiscing on old television shows or our memories of Disneyland. We share similar ailments too and if I complain about weight gain or menopause or the inability to see in dim light, my friends will understand. And that's the thing. We are aging. No one lives forever, and at some point, a few of us will be left. Our memories will seem irrelevant or ancient history, depending o...
Read more