humor | unscripted

The book Stuff Christians Like is a collection of laugh-out-loud essays from Jonathan Acuff’s blog StuffChristiansLike.net. It was a free download on ChristianAudio.com a some months ago so I had the extreme pleasure of listening to the audiobook read by Acuff himself. I totally recommend the experience.

Sometimes Christians give off the vibe that we don’t laugh or have any fun. Oh, so not true! Christians are funny simply because people are funny! And it’s great to losen up every once in awhile and laugh at ourselves. Jonathan Acuff’s satire about different stereotypes and common church happenings had me cracking up! I think one of my favorite essays was about the 7 people you meet in a prayer circle – The Opener, The Almost-er, The Rambler, The Cave-In, The Gunslinger, The Shot Blocker, and The Closer. FU-NNY!!

I finished it in one day while cooking and baking last Friday. If you do end up listening to the audiobook, I must warn you not to listen to it while you’re doing something that requires you to pay attention to things like numbers or measurements. I totally quadrupled the amount of water required for the bread recipe I was only planning on doubling. Let’s just say that remedying that mistake totally threw off my entire day! But I had a few great laughs in the meantime!

A word about the negative reviews I saw on Goodreads and Amazon. I didn’t waste my time reading through all of them but from what I gathered, some people think he’s legalistic or the material is too specific or he’s being hypocritical. First of all, it’s satire. He’s being sarcastic about 75% of the time. While the book should make you think because much of it is so true, it’s not supposed to be a serious, comprehensive study on Christian behavior. Satire is the key word. Don’t take all his comments seriously. Secondly, he’s writing from his own background and experience so not every Christian is going to be able to relate to everything in the book. I certainly didn’t. I go to a small, hymn-singing church that doesn’t flash numbers on a big screen to tell parents their child is misbehaving in class. I’ve never been to youth camp and I didn’t ‘fall in love’ on the last mission trip I went on (which was also the only mission trip I went on). But while I couldn’t relate to some of the essays, I still found them funny cause I was familiar with stereotypes and culture and…it was funny! Some readers are going to be able to relate to every page in the book, other’s will pick, choose and leave the rest and that’s fine. I don’t think the author himself could ask for more than that!

So if you get a chance, check out the book. If you like Christian comedy, it’s totally worth a read (or a listen!).

Y’all stay blessed :)

. . .

Counts towards:

2013 Audiobook Challenge

I have mixed feelings about this book…

It was super funny in the beginning and I thought, ‘This is going to be great!’. I even felt defensive when I read one lady’s review on Goodreads about how she didn’t like the book and basically thought Ingraham was a whining narcissist. But about halfway through the book, I was beginning to feel a bit drained.

While I was completely in agreement with the premiss of the book, the style in which Ingraham rants about America’s cultural decline started to grate on my ears by the fourth chapter. And it’s too bad because muffin tops, screen addiction, high school reunions, spoiled pets, and the effects of emoticons, abbreviated conversations and poor grammar on the American vernacular are great things to discuss and make fun of! But too much sarcasm and too many snarky remarks strung along in one book had me completely bored and more than a bit put off by the time I finally finished the book.

I did agreed with many of the things she had to say…

Yes, I’m sick of seeing boxers under jeans.
Yes, overly abbreviated texts irk me.
Yes, I think that parents should give their kids decent names that they won’t get tortured for in grade school.
Yes, I think pop music with inane and filthy lyrics are a waste of time and morally degrading.

But good grief, other times, I felt like telling her to take a chill pill (her issue with flavored coffee creamers and rant on bad restaurants)!

I don’t really know much about Laura Ingraham. I know that her work and political views totally color her style and opinions and that’s perfectly fine. But there’s a way to poke fun at society and point out it’s flaws, mistakes, and goofs. A sarcastic, or sort of tongue-in-cheek comment now and again is even acceptable in such a piece. Satire, fine; I’m cool with that! However, a constant flow of criticism and rather choleric commentary about how Americans can’t seem to get their acts together is, in my opinion, tasteless and graceless.

So do I recommend the book? Eh, yes and no. Flip through it if you come across it. It’s not a complete waste of time, but I would borrow it from the library or buy it on the cheap or second hand. There are definitely some great observations and it’s good for a few laughs…if you can stand all the snark.

Y’all stay blessed!