Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Dec 26, 2011

Michelle rated it:

My favorite blogger has finally written a book! Her writing style is unusual but captivating, so full of description and passion. I devoured this book in about 12 hours the first time I read it, a child running along the beach picking up shell after shell, each one prettier than the last. Then I went back and savored it more slowly, turning over the beautiful truths one at a time to be carefully thought about and applied to my everyday living. Than also read and enjoyed it, to my suprise. H More...

0 comments like (12 people liked it)

Oct 19, 2011

Debby rated it:

Ann Voskamp is a professing Christian woman, Canadian pig farmer's wife and mother of 6 home wschooled kids. She has struggled for most of her life with insecurity, fears, panic attacks and deep questions about the goodness of God.
A friend challenged Ann to look for and write down 1000 (that's right, one thousand) gifts from God. Gifts seen in daily life; not just the undeniable good, big, bright and happy stuff, but also what is seen of God's handiwork in the midst of the mundane, the More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 09, 2012

Denise rated it:

Hard book to rate, even harder to describe. I appreciate the author's honesty. I enjoyed the glimpses into her everyday life. I do think I need daily to be conscious of God's blessings, both big and small. I do need to have more of an attitude of thankfulness and trust. Good points. There were parts of this that truly were beautiful and moving. But also, there were parts that I felt went on too long and I had to force myself through (the moon thing). I disagree with some of her assumptions, and More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jul 18, 2011

Rebecca rated it:

Wow...probably the MOST beautiful book I've ever read. It is a mix between poetry and memoir. It is very emotional writing, and (as another reviewer pointed out) she breaks a lot of literary rules...so that might bother some people. The writing is at times achingly poetic...I had to read so many parts to my husband just for their sheer beauty. It is written by a Christian woman and I found it so enlightening to read about faith, trial, hope, and many other gospel topics from a fresh perspect More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jan 03, 2012

Samantha rated it:

*A dare to live fully right where you are*

This book was sent to me courtesy of DaySpring.
I had a feeling that it would impact my life but I wasn't ready for the soul-shaking, eye-opening change it would produce.
I read through slowly, bit by bit, savoring each morsel of truth.
I found my self identifying with Ann even though my life's tragedies weren't identical with hers.

As I read, I prayed and God spoke to my heart. I slowly learned to slow down, enjoy the mome More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 06, 2011

Jill rated it:

I read this book as part of my Lent project this year. It's about living your life by giving thanks to God, and recognizing his presence/gifts in everything around you. It's about being grateful, even amidst the stress of every day life, and how that can change your perspective and bring you closer to God. It has a great message - found myself jotting certain phrases down while I was listening. Her writing is not great though, which is why this book only gets 3 stars. There were times when I tho More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Apr 13, 2011

Camille rated it:

One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are has gripped my heart and exposed the very struggles and thoughts that have been swimming around my head for years. What I thought would be yet another phoo-phoo feel-good Christian book is quite the opposite. It addresses so many of the thoughts, feelings and doubts so many of us have but unlike a lot of other Christian books, does not make you fell ashamed for possessing. I have not gotten very far but I have had to put it down sev More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 21, 2012

Alison rated it:

I don't know if I can even finish this book. I'm giving it two stars because the concept is good and there are some really nice points about being thankful and finding joy, but the writing is painful. The author seems to be trying so hard to be poetic that she kills her story. The melodramatic, overblown, self-conscious style of writing is so distracting that it's difficult to even understand what the writer is trying to say half the time.

Again, good points about thankfulness and joy a More...

0 comments like

Feb 18, 2012

Maggie rated it:

This is the book club pick for February.

I personally LOVE the ideas Ms. Voskamp puts forth. I am working on my own list as a result of her book. I also appreciate the fact that she didn't sugar coat how hard it can be to make sense of the truly heartbreaking events we encounter in life. Her treatment of harsh heart moments is refreshing, having had some hard to understand events in my own life, the honesty that she shared about being unsure of how to be grateful to God in the midst o More...

0 comments like

Feb 17, 2012

Lauriann rated it:

Sometimes books just come to us when we need them to come to us! This book came to me at a time when I really needed to count my blessings. I read this over a LONG period of time, reading 3 or 4 pages a night, almost as if it were a daily meditation. This seemed to be a rather ideal way to read the book because the content could have been construed as redundant otherwise. The author has a beautiful way of expressing the discovery of blessings in her life. At times my grammatical self rebell More...

0 comments like

Dec 28, 2011

Kate rated it:

"When we find ourselves groping along, famished for more, we can choose. When we are despairing, we can choose to live as Israelites gathering manna. For forty long years, God's people daily eat manna--a substance whose name literally means 'What is it?' Hungry, they choose to gather up that which is baffling. . . . MOre than 14,600 days they take their daily nourishment from that which they don't comprehend. They find soul-filling in the inexplicable. They eat the mystery. They eat More...

0 comments like

Dec 27, 2011

Rachelle rated it:

I'm pretty sure I saw the trailer first.

Then I read that this woman who says no to "inspirational" non-fiction said yes to One Thousand Gifts.

And then I found my way to A Holy Experience.

And lastly I ended up at She Speaks, where I heard her speak, and I took notes and I laughed and I cried and at the end, I finally bought the book.

I'm oh-so-glad that I did.

There is More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 23, 2011

Kristi rated it:

This is one of the most beautiful things I’ve read in a long time. Maybe in my top 5 ever. In her unique, lyrical prose, Voscamp attacks some of the hardest questions in life: the reality of pain, the wearing of daily life, God’s place in all of this, and our response. Her fresh perspective made me feel like, with each page, I was slowly waking up from sleep. She charts her journey of gratitude over nearly two years, and with humility and vulnerable honesty Voscamp exhorts herself (and us, by ex More...

0 comments like

Aug 30, 2011

Carolyn rated it:

First of all: (spoiler alert!!) his name is Darryl. How many blog posts have I read and how many pictures have I seen? Finally, on the last page I stumbled across his name. Who is this Darryl? Ah, The Farmer has a name. Much closure . . .

Second: "Then sudden, thrum out of nothing, a ruby-jeweled hummingbird." Beautiful prose throughout this book. Voskamp is a gifted writer.

Third: My general impression of the book is positive. The power of gratitude in a life can More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 17, 2011

Pamelabyoung rated it:

Most touching and spiritually stimulating book I have read in a very long time. I love the style of Ann Voskamp. I read the first chapter aloud to my husband and realized what an amazing monologue this would be in a theatrical setting. I had to take the book very slowly because there were so many things to to think about on each page.

I think it is hilarious that my sister, the writer, felt bogged down in the verbiage while I, the performer, was elevated by the exact same words. Perhap More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 31, 2011

Melinda rated it:

When Ann Voskamp was 5 years old, her younger sister Aimee was hit by a delivery truck in front of their farm house. Aimee was chasing a cat and ran out into the road. The driver said he never saw her in the road. Her mother witnessed the accident. Ann has vivid memories of her mother sitting on the front porch rocking her little sister while the blood seeped through the quilt she was wrapped in. The description of the accident that caused Aimee's death begins the book "One Thousand Gi More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jul 27, 2011

M. rated it:

Oh, how I wish we could give separate stars for concept and execution. Honestly, the concept is not all that new: look around and find joy in all of the little things God has given us. But Ann Voskamp expanded on that and dared us to get a journal and write it down, every little thing we see that gives us joy- great idea. Unfortunately the execution of this book would not be #4 on my list.....authenticity.

Am I a prude? Maybe. But I can tell you her opening paragraphs alone are v More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 04, 2011

Lifeverse rated it:

One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp has reached the bookshelf of my heart! It’s a life-changing book I intend to gift to family and friends, an heirloom for the path of life. The book is perfect reading for Easter, Mother’s Day, Graduations and special occasions. It’s also applicable to someone living in the darkness of depression and defeat. Without doubt, this is now one my favorite books ever written.You’ve probably seen me using the hashtag #1000gifts on Twitter as I share some of my gratitude More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 30, 2011

Jen rated it:

I like the basic premise behind this book, but I admit I felt like the author was trying to be a little too poetic.
For example:

"His brother rages red and I'm sucker punched and it's toast, yes, but isn't it his heart and I shake the head stunned, losing words, and the child I ripened with, bore down and birthed from the heart, he turns on a Tuesday, tears out a few more of the pulsing chunks and where did I go so wrong?
Who cares about bring the beauty in when all the in More...

4 comments like (4 people liked it)

Apr 07, 2011

Maggie rated it:

well. it is a beautiful book. and practical spirituality is always a good part of life of which to be reminded. and the daily-thanksgiving-for-all-things is both an awesome part of life and a difficult remembering in any given moment of an uber-busy life. but sometimes me-thinks she does protest too much. it's almost a form of the old-time calvinist thought: prove you are saved ... try harder. *sigh* makes me glad to be rcc where i learned all these thoughts/ideas gradually and as i grew up and More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 31, 2011

Amydeanne rated it:

I giggled as soon as I realized I got this book! I’ve been waiting for this book! I love Ann! If you’ve never been to her blog, www.aholyexperience.com I highly suggest it. She is sweet, she is real and very much an inspiration to me. Isn’t that cover just beautiful? It totally got my attention with the details and sweetness of it.

Ann, (my fellow Canadian) totally captured me from page one in this book through to the end. She has a very mesmerizing way of writing that just More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Feb 17, 2011

pri rated it:

i think this can be read however you see "god(s)". but to dare to be grateful and to alive in the life that you have. You can read this as purely religious or as connected with grace and life. it is strongly geared towards "God" with a capital G but I took a lot away from it in terms of grace and gratitude.

some quotes:
"and though you tremble and though you wonder and though the world is ugly, it is beautiful, and you can slow and you can trust and you can More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 01, 2011

Gail rated it:

I read this the other day, on my Kindle. I don't normally read Christian books, because after a while they are all the same, but this was recommended by a friend who is quite unique in her faith, and so I suspected it would be a bit different, and I was curious.

I'm not sure how to describe it. The actual premise of the book is nothing particularly new. The author had closed herself in, emotionally, because in her childhood she'd witnessed her 4-year-old sister's brutal death, which h More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 20, 2011

Ruthette rated it:

Imagist poetry/prose meets quasi-mystical devotion in this collection of spiritually-charged autobiographical anecdotes, all of which center on the concept of eucharisteo: thanksgiving practiced moment by moment. There is beauty here, and much truth. Emphasis on the universals (pain/loss, light, family, grace) forges multiple connections with the reader.

The reading has left me with ideas to ponder, especially as regards the passing of time, and how time can be used and experienced.
More...

0 comments like

Dec 09, 2010

Sonia rated it:

My dear Twitter/Bloggie/hopefully one day real life friend Michelle recommended this read for me.

What I read was the egalley/pre-published version of the book.

What follows is not so much a book review as it is my reaction to the words themselves.

From the very first words of the book I was drawn in. The beginning paragraph was captivating, engrossing, and so very poetic, I knew I wanted to read more.

By the end of the 1st chapter, I’m already in tears. B More...

6 comments like (5 people liked it)

May 17, 2011

Sarah rated it:

I enjoyed this book because it was written by Voskamp and I am in love with her beautiful narratives and pictures on her blog. In early 2010 I had come across her blog when God was solidifying His work of changing my heart from a complaining heart to a praising and thanking heart. And this book is ultimately about thanksgiving. It's about how Voskamp began to practice thanksgiving herself and how it changed her life and relationship with God. While the message of "give thanks in all thi More...

0 comments like

Feb 01, 2012

Amanda rated it:

Ok. I have a lot to say about this book.

I wanted to like it. I really, really did. In fact, for the first two chapters, I did. But then I started getting a headache.

First things first.

Things I liked about this book:

1. I like the premise - that gratitude is essential to a Christian life, and that when we become aware of how much we have to be thankful for, our perspective on day-to-day mundane and stressful activities shifts.

2. More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 05, 2012

Margaret rated it:

I wrote some comments about this book on my blog back in January 2011. At the time I thought it was pretty good. As time has gone on, my opinion of the book has changed a little; now I'd give it a two-star rating. But, here are my original thoughts on it, immediately after reading it.

Half (or more) of the Christian-mommy-blogosphere is talking about One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp, the well-known blogger of A Holy Experience. Her book, More...

0 comments like

Jun 03, 2011

Melanie rated it:

Ann's story begin with the tragic death of her 18 month old sister Aimee; "that hideous November day that branded our lives". She lived a childhood of distrust in God and His goodness, though a Christian in word, she was not fully alive in Him.
Now as a homeschool mom of 6 and wife to a farmer,(sound vaguely familiar!) Ann desires to live fully and see more of God. Jesus laid the foundation for Thanksgiving "Eucharisteo" in His communion with the disciples. "Thanksg More...

0 comments like

Jan 13, 2012

Deanna Annaed added it

I need to preface this review with the fact that I love her blog. But just because you are a successful blogger does not mean you should write a book. The book is like a 200+ page blog post... And I like blogs because they are short. On top of that, if you are going to write a book you should probably get it edited. I was frustrated with the random thought processes, bad grammar, and incomplete sentences. The use of hyphens, dashes, and etcetera dots abound. The paragraphing is weird too. She wr More...

0 comments like

reviews