Christ and the New Covenant by Jeffrey R. Holland contains Elder Holland’s insights into the imperative role of Jesus Christ in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by reviewing Christ’s role throughout The Book of Mormon. Some chapters had a “devotional talk” feel (and in fact were expansions of Elder’s Holland’s previously given addresses) and other chapters felt more like his personal notes and understandings of the scriptures. In both cases, I enjoyed reading Elder Holland’s testimony of Christ and of The Book of Mormon, and his writing style was easy to read and absorb, as it normally is.
Elder Holland includes many extensive quotes from The Book of Mormon, and while he makes it clear that is not a substitute for personal scripture study, it was a nice book to read with my husband each evening (over the past six months).
Because it is written for a strictly Mormon audience, it probably holds little interest to those who are not Mormon. In fact, if you are not a believer of Mormonism, Christ and the New Covenant is probably not the place to start, only because Elder Holland’s purpose seems to be to inspire, more than to teach.
I debated whether or not I’d review this book for Rebecca Reads, since it is certainly out of my ordinarily scheduled reading. I finally decided to review it simply because it was a book that I would highly recommend to any LDS reader interested in a book of this nature. I enjoyed reading it, and I don’t want to forget that. (I’m now coveting the newly published illustrated edition, but my hardcover edition is quite pretty too.)
Do you review everything you read? Why or why not?
I honestly can’t remember if I have omitted any books from my reviews since I began blogging last May. For future reference, though, I probably will omit reviews if I didn’t like a book, if I don’t have anything to say about it, and/or I know there is very little interest.
Since my reviews go towards a book count, on a group blog, I try not to review anything below a certain age level. The youngest book I’ve reviewed is A Cricket in Times Square, and I only reviewed it because it was a classic children’s book. There were a few books last year that I didn’t review, but they were very young books I was rereading from my early childhood, and didn’t think anyone would really care. I also don’t review books I’ve already reviewed before. There are some books I read more frequently than others. But since our group values variety so much, I think those are about my only limitations. I enjoy reading about books other people have read even if they aren’t necessarily my taste, especially if I can learn something from the reviewer.
I skipped a few last year mostly from laziness. 🙂 Not too many though. This year I have a person goal to post at least a few thoughts on every book I read. Even if I didn’t care for a book, it may be of interest to someone out there.
Lezlie
I have struggled with this myself when trying to decide whether or not to review a book. I tend to avoid discussing politics and religion as a general rule simply because I don’t enjoy arguing with people. I have my beliefs and opinions and don’t feel the need to defend them or persuade others to my way of thinking. However, I’ve found that isn’t always the case with many people. So, I’ve found that avoiding these discussions works for me. I respect everyone’s rights and beliefs and don’t want to offend or step on any toes. I guess this is a long way of saying that I hesitate before reviewing books that deal with these topics. Maybe I shouldn’t because I honestly have never been offended when reading book reviews by others that deal with these topics even when they discuss their personal beliefs.
This looks like a good one. I always enjoy Holland’s talks for General Conference. I’m reading a church book for a book club right now and am not enjoying it. I’m not sure if it will be worth reviewing! I personally like to learn about different religions and points of view and book blogs can be a great way to do that. So I think it’s great that you reviewed a religious book and I like it when others do also.
Amanda, I found I wanted to review the picture books I read, simply because I’m reading so many of them these days and also because I want to read all the Caldecotts etc. for my personal projects. But I understand it when people don’t. And I imagine most people don’t care much for the picture book reviews. I like how 5-squared is so varied.
Lezlie, I guess that’s why I went ahead and reviewed this — someone will be interested! The world is large. (Besides, I was going to write a review for LibraryThing anyway.)
Lisa, I recently instituted a comment policy after someone turned a negative review of mine into an argument. I also hate hate hate argument. But this is my blog and if someone wants to be mean, I’ll just block them and ignore them. I’m not ever going to put up with that again. That said, I certainly intend to avoid sounding contentious, even if I do write a review of a political or religious book. Maybe that’s why you are never offended — people are rarely asking for an argument when they review those types of books.
Shelley, I guess that’s the thing too about church books. If I don’t like it, I certainly don’t want others being aware of it! But at the same time, I review other books I don’t like. I guess I just don’t know. But I really don’t read all that many church books (maybe two a year) so I don’t see it as a big deal. I hope all my picks are winners!