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A confession: I’ve been hearing about this book Blue Like Jazz for years now, and I’ve been told on a occasion that I would really enjoy it. And it’s not at all that I didn’t believe those people who recommended it, it’s just that I really didn’t like the title or the cover. Even though that’s not supposed to matter, it really does. I don’t like jazz music much at all, and the cover looked too much like the title for me to really want to make the commitment to read it.

It wasn’t until I finished reading Father Fiction a couple of weeks ago that I was delightfully introduced to Donald Miller’s writing. (A book, ironically enough, that I picked up off the bookshelf because both the cover and the title intrigued me.) I enjoyed his writing and his thoughts very much, and I wanted more. So last Monday Katie and I went down to the used book store and found a copy, and by Saturday—six days later—I finished it.

After having just read a few paragraphs, I noticed the writing style was quite a bit different than in his other book and this exact thought came to my mind: This book is the story about Holden Caulfield after he became a Christian. The similarities in style are unavoidable for those who have read J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher In The Rye, and so I was very relieved to find at least one reference to that work near the very end of this book. (And, just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming it, I did a quick search on Google and found that many others had made the same connection I had.)

I say that to say the writing style is pretty choppy and raw. If you can’t dive in an accept that it’s done on purpose and for a certain effect then you will constantly be distracted by it and continue to wonder how a book that reads in such a way ever got published. But if you can embrace it, I think you will find that the casualness is endearing, and the unorthodox story telling make Donald Miller’s narration feel more real; like we’re actually sitting with him and he’s just doing a bit of rambling about his life experiences as a Christian. It definitely works, and I liked it.

The book’s subtitle is “Nonreligious thoughts on Christian Spirituality” and that is exactly what it is. Miller is a guy who grew up going to church, but his early adult years were spent turning imposed religion into a living spirituality. This book has sold over a million copies, and I think it’s greatest appeal is that Miller doesn’t approach his audience to instruct them in all these different areas of life, but to confess his struggles, and to share the lessons he’s learned along the way. He speaks of struggling to believe and struggling to keep his faith from feeling like a sales pitch. He speaks of the struggle to love others, the struggle to love himself, and a myriad of other topics that just about every Christian can relate to. It’s real, and that’s why it’s so readable.

There were a few things that rubbed me the wrong way, but I enjoy that when I’m reading a book because it makes me step back and be challenged. Often times I’ll see areas of my life that need to change, and sometimes it’ll make me that much more convinced of the truths I already believe. I did struggle reading him at times when it felt like he was stressing that we just needed to love Jesus, but the “obeying my commands” part of what Jesus told us didn’t seem to be priority. At the same time, though, that was what the book was about: the author’s struggle in living his Christian walk.

I enjoyed this book very much and hope to read it again from time to time. I hope to remind myself of these “nonreligious thoughts on Christian spirituality” more frequently. Especially for someone who is in full-time ministry, getting real about these subjects keeps me grounded, and it reminds me that there are greater things in this world to be cared about.

CHECK IT OUT ON AMAZON.COM HERE