Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books by Tony Reinke
Book Summary: “Learn how to better read, what to read, when to read, and why you should read…”
Who Is This Book For? Everyone! It’s for those who love reading, struggle with reading and everyone in between. I highly recommend it for those who have a love-hate relationship with reading but would like to grow in this area.
Improvements: There is not much I would change about this book. Everything would be preferential and nit-picky. But I do think some sections of the book are unnecessarily lengthy and wordy and could be shortened, but this is rare. The book itself is not long. It is also somewhat slow upfront but picks up the pace as you progress through it.
Strengths:
- It Is Well Organized, Easy to Navigate: You know exactly what you’re getting with this book.
- It Accomplishes Its Goal: It truly does encourage the non-reader and every type of reader to read.
- It Is Straight to the Point: Reinke, generally speaking, does a good job with getting his point across clearly and succinctly.
- It Is Practical: The examples and suggestions given were truly helpful and instantly applicable to life.
My Takeaways:
- I’m encouraged to read more books! (even though I view myself as a unnatural reader)
- I’m encouraged to establish a culture of reading in home and church (at home, we read at least one children’s book during dinner).
- I’m encouraged to refine and to apply the various “reading strategies” for different. books. Some books need to be savored like a steak and others need to be sampled like a cheese platter (113). We should not feeling guilty for not reading everything or moving onto another book.
- I’m encouraged to read more books that “grab” me, it helps keep focus and attention (132).
- I’m encouraged to improve my “annotation” approach (151). Like Reinke, I will use the book like a journal to capture my thoughts and meditations.
- I’m encouraged to slow down, work on linear thinking, ponder more, and focus less on distractions.
The Contenders 