Earlier this fall I bought three books to give one of my nieces for Christmas. (Before you gasp in horror, this is for one of the nieces who enjoys reading as much as I do.) Two of the books were based on recommendations from World Magazine. One of them I haven't finished and I'm quite appalled by it (I won't be gifting it); the other, Letters to a Young Progressive, I actually enjoyed reading and am happy to gift it.
The third book I picked up out of curiosity in a Christian bookstore. A college friend of mine works in Afghanistan, and has for the last 13 or so years, and several of my high school classmates have spent time serving with our military in Afghanistan. Needless to say, their viewpoints and experiences are very different. It has taken me a while to work through the book, but In the Land of Blue Burqas has to be one of the best Christian non-fiction books I have read in a very long time. So many times I interrupted Bobby's reading to share a passage with him, and I have repeatedly found myself thinking on passages of Scripture and thinking back to George W. Bush's autobiography where he talked about how the Bible's influences on our society and our lives are profound. Reading this book has made me appreciate my faith on a deeper level, as well as forced a new appreciation for how dramatically worldviews alter society.
So if you're looking for a graduation gift next spring, especially if that graduate is heading toward a secular university, Letters to a Young Progressive, written by a M.Adams, a UNC-W professor, will make an awesome gift. But if you're wanting to read to be enlightened, entertained, revived, and challenged, then I highly recommend Kate McCord (not her real name)'s In the Land of Blue Burqas. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
The third book I picked up out of curiosity in a Christian bookstore. A college friend of mine works in Afghanistan, and has for the last 13 or so years, and several of my high school classmates have spent time serving with our military in Afghanistan. Needless to say, their viewpoints and experiences are very different. It has taken me a while to work through the book, but In the Land of Blue Burqas has to be one of the best Christian non-fiction books I have read in a very long time. So many times I interrupted Bobby's reading to share a passage with him, and I have repeatedly found myself thinking on passages of Scripture and thinking back to George W. Bush's autobiography where he talked about how the Bible's influences on our society and our lives are profound. Reading this book has made me appreciate my faith on a deeper level, as well as forced a new appreciation for how dramatically worldviews alter society.
So if you're looking for a graduation gift next spring, especially if that graduate is heading toward a secular university, Letters to a Young Progressive, written by a M.Adams, a UNC-W professor, will make an awesome gift. But if you're wanting to read to be enlightened, entertained, revived, and challenged, then I highly recommend Kate McCord (not her real name)'s In the Land of Blue Burqas. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
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