Book Report: Scary Close by Donald Miller

I first heard of Donald Miller through the young adult group at National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. in the fall of 2005. Reading Blue Like Jazz, which takes place in PDX, while being so far from home was like a much needed hug from your grandma.

In the years that followed that DC internship, I read every single book Donald Miller wrote - including the book for men raised without fathers. Clearly the context didn't apply, but I enjoyed it all the same. His books were some of the last physical books I read before my current life of "audio only". Paul and I also found the film adaptation of Blue Like Jazz hilarious.

I don't know if it was divine inspiration or happenstance that Donald Miller popped back into my head a couple weeks ago.  Listening to his most recent non-business themed book, Scary Close,  gave me that same warm fuzzy feeling. In Scary Close, Donald Miller is no longer the lost university student at Reed. He gives the reader an honest look into how he got his life together to able to enter marriage as a whole person. It is especially encouraging to hear his experience with therapy as Paul and I recently started marriage therapy again after a ten-year hiatus.

I loved this book for all the reasons I love his other books - funny and thought provoking musings on faith and life. The other aspect I enjoyed is what I will call mini book reports or "Don notes" of some of the books he read during therapy. On one hand, it felt like he was trying to fill the pages by summarizing these books. However, the book summaries made me feel like I didn't just finish one book, but actually four. He even explained the entire plot of an Italian movie that sounds awesome, but I will likely never see because I spend most of my waking hours supervising this:

On that note, I better head to bed to BE ready for more of this tomorrow.