Family Squeeze March 20, 2008

I enjoyed Phil Callaway’s Family Squeeze. It was a quick and (mostly) fun read. I felt like it was really a collection of stories for his family more than a book meant to be read by the world. My daughter is far from her teen years yet, so I couldn’t really relate to all of the teenage happenings in the book, but we have ill parents on both sides of our families, so I could relate to the progressive debilitating illness and Alzheimer’s portions of the book. I’ll likely pass this on to a girlfriend of mine, who is also in her early 30s with a young daughter, but I think she’ll find Mr. Callaway’s wittiness and knack for storytelling as enjoyable as I did.

Purchase Family Squeeze at Amazon.com.

The Next Level March 20, 2008

First of all, I would like to apologize for being late for this tour. I received the book in plenty of time to read it, but it somehow ended up under my Fundamentals of Nursing book where it lay smashed under the text’s 300 pound weight for some weeks.

I have read the book and I really enjoyed it. David Gregory’s The Next Level told the rather captivating tale of a man named Logan who quit his first job after college and is desperately trying to find a job that will please his father. He walks into a company where he is immediately interviewed and hired by the Director, sans resume or second interview. The company is set up in 5 different levels and it is Logan’s job to diagnose the problems in each. The employees in the first level spend their working days on personal business. They never get any work done. The second level is very rigid and employees are docked pay if they are inappropriately dressed. The third level has 5 managers who all have different ideas on how the company is run (it kind of reminded me of a yoga class I once took – lots of love and harmony). The fourth level, at first, seems to Logan like the very best one. Here he finds concerts, motivational speeches, cruises and studies of the Manual. The employees here seem very happy, but are they really happy?? The fifth level employees also claim happiness. They are the only level who earn a profit for the company. They scrub toilets and spend their afternoons reading novels. They are working because they want to please the Shareholder rather than for any selfish gain.

One of the things I liked best was that Logan’s friend at work was gay. It was mentioned briefly, but it was there and the character was accepted. I have gay friends and I don’t think God loves them any less than He does me, so thanks, David Gregory!

I would recommend this book to my friends. I would even go so far as to recommend it to my agnositic and atheist friends. I knew it was about how people live their lives and their relationship with God, but it wasn’t so “in your face” as other books I’ve read. Good job!

You can buy The Next Level at Amazon.com.