Any Day a Beautiful Change, by Katherine Willis Pershey

One could judge this book by how many chuckles it evokes. It is good in that department. One could also judge the book by its clever and at times provocative turns of phrases. It does well on that score, too. Both criteria would ignore the deeper narrative of this memoir by a young writer, wife, mother and pastor who grows in her acceptance of herself, including her body, as she matures in these roles. Pershey lets us see her vulnerabilities: her doubts about God, her anxieties, her (at one point) shaky marriage, her sense of inadequacy as a mother and pastor. Yet there’s never TMI (too much information). Through it all shines the probing spirit of a real-world practical theologian. Judge this book by whether you wish its author were your pastor.