BOOK CLUB: Beer Drinking God Talking Girl - April

Beer Drinking God Talking Girl by L.M. Penner

Who is God?

What even is spirituality?

These are the questions being very gently explored in the short essays contained in this book.

Beer Drinking God Talking Girl opens with a death, and, in its way, ends with one, too, but the thoughts here are all about living. The spirituality being discovered here might have its roots and even its values tied to Christianity, but the author isn't exploring God from within the walls of any church. Maybe that's why the author claims, "I don’t understand God. Neither do you, even if you think you do. Our beliefs about God are shaped by the world we grew up in."

That's in Chapter One. Over the rest of the chapters, the author simply describes a way of living. While not overtly stated, the suggestion is implied that searching for answers to the question, who is God, will affect how life is lived. Everything else might be a matter of open-eyed observation, and living the life we were designed to live.

"I love the way birds are just… birds. They just do what they were designed to do. They never act out of character or deviate from being their truest selves."

The truth is, I didn't read this book. I listened to the audiobook version. And, I liked it. The narrator did her job well.

I found the ideas here authentic, heartfelt, and somehow elemental. The essays are written in first person, and although the author is seeking understanding, Penner is questioning reality just by walking out life on a daily basis. There is no big drama here, and yet there is all the drama life has to offer. The author experiences heartbreak, inspiration, awe, unease and more. She asks questions and makes observations, but overall, my experience of this book was sort of like I was joining the author on one of her walks through the woods, experiencing the world -- and God -- through her eyes.

If I had to sum up Beer Drinking God Talking Girl in one word, that word would be... gentle. It's an easy and soothing read. The ideas are presented calmly and unapologetically. This is the kind of book that will lift you up on a bad day, will calm your mind when it's worried, and will encourage you to view God from an experiential point of view.

Although there is a theme that runs through and unifies these chapters, you could easily read a single chapter at any time. Some days that one chapter might just set the mood -- or improve it -- all day long.