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I like where they're coming from. They're talking about why we do stuff, and how you don't have to do something big to glorify God. I hope they take it further :)

Start Here by Alex and Brett Harris
Genre: Youth and Christian Living
Rating: 5

(From Goodreads)

You want to do hard things. But you don’t know where to start. You are changing the world around you. But you are tired and burned out. You feel called to do the extraordinary for God. But you feel stuck in the ordinary.

Do Hard Things inspired thousands of young people around the world to make the most of the teen years. Now Alex and Brett Harris are back and ready to tackle the questions that Do Hard Things inspired: How do I get started? What do I do when I get discouraged? What’s the best way to inspire others? Filled with stories and insights from Alex, Brett, and other real-life rebelutionaries, Start Here is a powerful and practical guide to doing hard things, right where you are. Are you ready to take the next step and blast past mediocrity for the glory of God? START HERE.

I found Start Here to be very inspirational. The Harris’ get down to the point quickly and concisely.

Start Here is a light easy read, but then how can a Christian living book be light? They talk about pride and sin and giving glory to God, they talk about peer pressure and stress and fears and the Father of Lies. But they also encourage teenagers to get out of the box that our society has put them in. It’s light and easy in that it’s an easily understood page-turner.

The Harris’ first book, Do Hard Things, was about encouraging teens to do just that—to do hard things—for God. In Start Here, they talk about how to go about doing those hard things, what to do when you encounter fear, press, or peer pressure, and answer all the tough questions.

One of the points that they make is that your hard thing may not be to sail around the world at age sixteen or to make a movie or to start a nonprofit organization or anything else big. Your hard thing might be what some people consider a small thing, and it may be something that nobody even knows about. But God wants you to do that hard thing because in the long run, it changes your heart for the better. At the back of Start Here is a list of 100 things that people have contributed too, and I want to share a few with you:

Sold all the clothes I didn’t need and gave the money to charity
worked up to 100 pushups in four weeks
saved my first kiss for my wedding day
read a book out loud to my younger siblings
let my brother win an argument
Babysat for a single mom who could not pay me much
Set a budget and stuck with it.
Maybe these people aren’t going to be front page news… but their hard things are pretty important.

Start Here will encourage, inspire, and help you through whatever it is that God has for you, whether you know about it right now or not. Consider it a handbook, and use it side by side with your main instruction manual (The Bible).

Recommendation: Ages 11+ Adults do hard things, too! They also will benefit from this book.

A true Gothic Tale.....The intricately woven story takes you along on a young boy’s quest to learn more about the author of a mysterious book. Zafon tells a totally captivating and exhilarating tale full of amazing, full-bodied characters and hair-raising moments. This is one of those “can’t-put-the-book-down reads”. Loved It!

This international novel (it has sold in more than 20 countries and been number one on the Spanish best-seller list), newly translated into English, has books and storytelling--and a single, physical book- as its topic. In post-World War II Barcelona, young Daniel is taken by his bookseller father to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a sanctuary where books are guarded from oblivion. Told to choose one book to protect, he selects The Shadow of the Wind, by Julian Carax. He reads it, loves it, and soon learns it is both very valuable and very much in danger because someone is determinedly burning every copy of every book written by Carax It is full of unusual characters, and strong in its sense of place. Daniel's initiation into the mysteries of adulthood is given the same weight as the mystery of the book-burner. Part detective story, part boy's adventure, part romance, fantasy, and gothic horror, the plot is urged on by foreshadowing and nail-nibbling tension, with a surprising outcome.

This book is writing at its best, even with such a dark subject matter. I would read this author again and again....

A friend raved about it. I read about a third of it, but didn't get into it. Wasn't a book I couldn't put down. Decided to stop reading.

This book was really awesome! I loved reading it, and I will probably have to re-read it at some point because I was interrupted by midterms and a busy schedule. I think Zafon writes really well, though I think that something is lost reading the book in translation(originally written in Spanish). For instance, sometimes the descriptions seemed a bit melodramatic or contrived. This book combines elements of magical realism with fantasy to create a very interesting novel about Spain during the Civil War and one boy's quest to find out the secret behind a mysterious author whose books keep being burned by a "fiery figure." The book was very honest especially about matters of friendship and love-not at all sentimental. I also thought Zafon's characterization was superb especially that of Fermin and Nuria Monfort. The only problem I had with the book was that it mostly "lived in the past." There was not much action in the present and much of it was uncovering the past. I suppose this was necessary given the plot but it still seemed a little it like a "sitting and thinking" book where the main characters sit around and talk or think about the past rather than action happening in the present. All in all, I recommend this book for those that are looking for something different, something mysterious and enjoy a bit of magic between the pages.

Almost unbearably good. I have never met anyone who did not love this book.

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Just finished reading the Golden Compass. The beginning was slow, the middle got interesting, and the end was full of total win. Started working on the Subtle Knife. Wa-hoo.

The Dark Materials trilogy is probably the grittiest, most imaginative and robust children's fantasy literature I have ever read. I was captivated with the sophistcated themes, complex characters and fantastically creative new ideas.

The book dares to have a child protagonist with human frailties. It also dares to put a real sense of danger in the adventure, something most children's literature is afraid to do.

Undoubtedly one of my favorite books ever.

I really liked this book.

My first reaction after reading two or three was, "What?" It was a confusing start with so many new ideas. After I got more into Lyra's story I got more hooked!

My favorite part was the armed bears. It made me wish I could know one.

I also felt like enough was explained in this book that I wasn't frustrated and overwhelmed with questions, but I still felt the urge to keep reading the next book because there were still loose ends that could be expanded on.