A Year with G.K. Chesterton is my second book that I received from the program BookSneeze. I didn't read through the whole book, as this isn't the kind of book you read through in a week. But I read enough to review it sufficiently and intend to read it as it is supposed to be read in 2013.
G.K. Chesterton was a prolific Catholic writer and dubbed as "The Apostle of Common Sense." I always considered him to be a Catholic Mark Twain, as he had that same kind of wit Twain had. Some of his more well known books include Orthodoxy, Heretics, or the detective short stories with Father Brown as the lead character.
The tagline "365 Days of Wit, Wisdom, and Wonder" originally bummed me out, as it always irks me when people release these daily books and omit February 29th, but this book does not omit the leap day. So I think it would be more accurate to say "366 Days." That minor complaint aside, this is a very good book. Each day starts with a Scripture verse. You then get a quote from Chesterton. Some days also come with excerpts from his writing and/or facts about Chesterton's life on that specific day.
Overall, I would give this book a 4 out of 5 stars. It is definitely a meaty book that can teach you a lot about Chesterton and make you familiar with the basics of his writing. However, I would have liked to see more Scripture for the day than just a tiny verse. I also felt that on the days where you get a quote and a passage from a writing is a bit too much. You are bombarded with a lot of information to ponder and Chesterton's words, while poignant, overpower the short Scripture passage.
I'm not entirely sure what I will be reviewing next week. I directly contacted about a dozen publishers to see if they would send me books for free in exchange for reviews. I had about 7 different publishers agree to it, so it will either be one of those books I receive in the mail or one of my finds at the Little Sisters of the Lawn Party. Nine books for $4.05!! You can't beat that. Thanks for reading!
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