Blue Like Jazz
Donald Miller
number of voters: 9
percentage of voters who finished the book: 78
highest rating: 9.75
lowest rating: 7
average rating: 8.4167
number of readers who’s sisters have dated Tony the beat poet: 1
I’ve been wondering a lot lately about books and book groups and all the discussion that goes on. And it struck me, what exactly is a book anyway? Is it merely paper and ink and glue?
It was in the midst of these musings that I happened upon Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller—and by “happened upon” I mean “someone in book group chose it for their book.” As if on cue, this book answered my unspoken question. Is a book merely a compilation of its physical materials? No. It is so much more. It is thoughts and expressions and passions and it is a soul exposed.
So, like any good book group, we discussed. Miller’s exposed soul was like the Portland fresh air in smoggy SoCal—except that we were in ourselves in Oregon, but you get the idea. We loved his musings and his metaphors and his stories. We liked that it made us think about things in our own lives, that maybe by exposing a little of his soul Mr. Miller exposed some things in our souls.
Maybe we didn’t always love the writing or completely understand each point Miller wanted to make, but then again, maybe he didn’t either. He doesn’t purport to know everything—or much at all, in fact—but he is willing to say “I don’t know” about things and still have something to say about it.
A guy who isn’t much impressed with himself manages to impress us with his transformations, and a guy who admits to not always knowing which way he’s going manages to point us in the right direction.
Written in honesty and humility, Blue Like Jazz points to the Way to truth and to life. A book like that is certainly on the whole more than the sum of its parts.
No comments:
Post a Comment