Three Short Reviews

This summer, my work schedule has been lighter while Boomer's has increased. This has meant that I've been reading a ton this summer. Here are the three books that I read last week followed by three-sentence reviews.

Sous Chef: 24 Hours on the Line by Michael Gibney
Back in high school, I thought it would be neat to work as a line cook. Now I know that I could never stand the heat (and fast pace and stress) of a restaurant kitchen. This book walked me through 24 hours in the life of a sous chef, and definitely confirmed that I would never ever make it in a restaurant (in the back or front).

 

Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor
This is the third time I've read Leaving Church, and it still spoke to me. Barbara was a professional pastor until she burned out and left church. She writes, "I thought that being faithful was about becoming someone other than who I was...and it was not until this project failed that I began to wonder if my human wholeness might be more useful to God than my exhausting goodness."

 

Big Little Man: In Search of My Asian Self by Alex Tizon
I heard an interview with Tizon on NPR and was intrigued because I had never heard an Asian man talk in a public forum about what it's like to be an Asian man in America. The book jacket describes the book as "a searing, brave look at the experience and psyche of the Asian American male." I skimmed over some of the long history parts, and also skimmed over some of Tizon's TMI experiences, but I appreciated Tizon's growth in his own understanding of what Asian-American men have to offer and what obstacles still remain.