Goodbye Hollywood Nobody by Lisa Sampson

You are going to need a map to follow this plot!

This is the fourth book in a series by Lisa Sampson and it clearly does not stand alone. It is about the querky advertures of Scotty Fitzgerald who desires to live a"Jesusy extraordinary" life. In the midst of trying to find this life, Scotty's journey includes trials of friendship, forgiveness, and faith.

But the struggle I had in reading the book was twofold. First, I had not read the previous books in the series and this author clearly does not give you enough information to surmise what has occurred in the first three books. Many times a character would pop up and I would think "wait, who is this?" Or there would be a reference to someone or an event that you were expected to know for the story to come together. Second, the book is written in a journal format. This format alone is difficult but couple it with my first point and you have a very hard book to read.

This book is written for teens. While I could see some younger teens enjoying Scotty's adventure, I felt like the themes of unwed pregnancy or the friend who needed to keep himself pure were too mature for that younger teen group.

Overall, I would give this book 3 stars.

I would only recommend it IF you were going to read all four books in the series.

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my fair and honest review.  As always, my opinions are my own. 

The Practice of Godliness- Small Group Curriculum Guide by Jerry Bridges

To compliment the book, The Practice of Godliness - "Godliness has value for all things", Jerry Bridges has developed a small group curriculum guide.   If you are familiar with Bridges, you know that he has a way of being straightforward, yet gracious in his writing.  In his book, The Pursuit of Holiness, Bridges focuses on our sin, the taking off of the "old self."  In this book, he focuses on Christian character, the putting on of the "new self."  Bridges puts forth that Godliness is developed first by increasing our devotion to God and then second, developing our Christian character.  He spends the first five chapters (or 3 study sessions) addressing our devotion/relationship with God.  We must have that relationship if we expect to grow in character.  The last 13 chapters (8 sessions) address character traits that you will want to grow in (like humility, patience, self-control, etc.).

As a Curriculum guide, this book is great.  First, in contains The Practice of Godliness in its entirety so you do not have to purchase a separate book nor do you have to fumble with two books while you are doing the study.  Second, it is printed with wide margins so you can take notes.  I love this part.  I found as I was doing the study I had plenty of room to annotate the book as I read.  Third, the study questions for each session are at the end of the chapters for that session.  There is plenty of room to write your answers should you choose to write in the book, too.  The book itself is the right size.  It is not too small nor is it too large or bulky.  It is easy to handle and carry around.

Who would you use this curriculum with?  This study could be done on your own (as I did to review it) or in a small group.  It is applicable for youth and up.  I would like to do it in our family (we have teenagers) as I can see that the content would be very beneficial for them.  The study is not overly theological in nature, meaning it doesn't get bogged down into deep theological truths.  Bridges stays on the practical...the here and now of how are you going to apply that Scripture to your life.

Overall, I would give this 5 stars.

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book from NavPress Blogger Review program  in exchange for my fair and honest review.