When I first learned that we were going to have a common book selection, I didn’t pay too much attention. I assumed this was an activity primarily for freshman seminar, not necessarily something I needed to be involved in. Then I heard they were not just distributing copies of the book, but they also wanted us actually to read them. Mentally I rolled my eyes and thought, “Great. Another thing I have to read.” And that is my confession to you. I did not want to read this book at first. That may sound strange coming from a librarian. I love books and I enjoy reading for pleasure, but I like to read what I pick out. Reading for work is not like reading for pleasure, and I constantly have to read things professionally. Besides, much of what people recommend as “good-for-you-reading” are not books that I would choose to read on my own.
How surprised I was to find this book was different.
I started reading it half-heartedly just so I could say I read it. By the first chapter, I changed my mind. The words read easily and naturally as though the authors were talking in conversation. As I read about the background of these two men, I began to care about what happened to them. Most significantly, as they shared their thoughts, I could see how their attitudes were changing and I got to experience a part of that change with them.
The story is not preachy. It is not a social or political activist soapbox. It simply tells the story of redeeming love. I think we can all find ourselves somewhere along that path.
And so the authors’ journey became my own. They let me and you, the reader, see inside a piece of themselves and travel with them. That’s the mark of a good book. As Denver remarks near the end of the book, “We’re all just regular folks walking down the road God done set in front of us … in a way, we is all homeless — just working our way toward home.”
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