"Eats, Shoots and Leaves" and "Sexual Abuse: Pastoral Responses"

Over the last three weeks I learned something important: never read two educational books at the same time. I must always balance a fun, frivolous fictional book with an educational read. Reading about punctuation and sexual abuse at the same time was too trying and dragged out the reading experience.

Both books are well written. "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" makes punctuation fun and has a sly, dry British wit. I appreciate what the author has attempted to do. She lays down the rules of punctuation, then says "But everyone has their own views and styles." Basically the book comes down to: know the rules so you know how to break them and why.

Would I read this again? No. But it'll be on my book shelve for reference and I have since caught some of my punctuation mistakes.

"Sexual Abuse: Pastoral Responses" is simple, honest and well-written. It does not shy from the truth or the issue, and uses scripture, in particular the Joseph narrative, to show how forgiving can be healing, moving one from being a victim, to becoming a survivor, from moving the abuse to being the defining moment of one's life, to becoming one of the important times of a person's life.

The book also gives good advice to what a church and church leaders should do in regards to sexual abuse policies and how healing it can be to be talked about from the pulpit.

Good book, I'd recommend it to be read.