Monday, July 12, 2010


The Guilt-Ridden Pseudo-Book Review

This post is a bit different for me. I'd like to review and recommend a book to you, dear readers, for your consideration. I recently read Reflecting Beauty by Mrs. Valorie Quesenberry. OK, so I read it, liked it, loaned it out, finally got it back, lost it in my laundry room ;o), was asked to review it, searched diligently for it, found it and promptly loaned it out again. Mrs. V.Q. had kindly asked me to review it on my blog if I got a chance (MONTHS ago, I must admit), and I had agreed.

I believe a book review should be written with the treasured tome close at hand, well-worn with Post-its sticking out all over marking noteworthy passages. Hence the guilt. So here's what I think you should know about Reflecting Beauty:

1. Its message is crucial to Christian women. So many of us were raised to think of the pursuit/desire for beauty as semi-evil. It was all or nothing. Raise your daughter in beauty pageants from the age of 18 months, spend your budget on makeup, get a nose job or eschew all thoughts of beauty completely. As if frumpy-ness is related to godliness. V.Q. says that the desire for beauty is God-given, powerful, and should be recognized as such.

2. The book is balanced, Biblical, easy-to-read, thoughtful and broken into wonderful little segments to lead a young ladies' class through the topic. It would also be great for an individual exploration into a study of God's word and one's own beliefs.

3. The biggest reason for this pseudo-review is perhaps its best review: I CAN'T STOP LOANING IT OUT!!! I handed it to one girl, who teared up immediately and said, "This subject is painful for me. Every guy's who has told me I'm beautiful was lying." (As in, that wasn't enough to hold them in the relationship...) We desperately need to get God's view on our worth from His perspective in this biggie area. Thanks, Valorie, for such a great resource. I guess I need an extra no-loaner copy for my own bookshelf! :o)

1 comment:

Charity said...

My copy just arrived in the mail... now I'm thinking I should have ordered two!! Such an important message from a sweet lady!