I loved this book! The reflections on scriptural verse by a variety of writers ranged from skepticism to inspiration but always showed a great deal of personal attachment and usually a good measure of soul-searching.

Tried reading this, but just got too bored to finish it. Some of the personal stories are interesting, but it was a little weird to read about people who grew up almost secular rhapsodizing about the Bible (and not always just because they think it a great piece of literature.) I only got about halfway through, but the first story that postulates that the Snake in the Garden if Eden was not an animal at all... but Adam's brother. That the Fall was a tale of familial strife. Kinda intriguing, I m...

The Good Book, otherwise known as the Holy Bible, forms the basis for an eclectic mix of authors to expound on its meaning [or lack thereof] in their personal lives. From the Bible, the best-selling book of all time, each author, according to the stated premise of the narrative, reflects on their favorite passages, presumably those that hold a particular meaning for each of them. And, occasionally, one of the discourses in “The Good Book” actually delivers on this promise.Unfortunately, the majo...

Some really wonderful essays, some mediocre essays, and some "meh" essays.

When I received this book from Goodreads, I expected a few superficial "feel good" stories. Instead this was a book of depth, of provocations, of faith, and yes, a book of disbelief. Excellent concept, well written and a book that shows whether or not we are believers, the (real!) Good Book impacts us all.

Nice idea but I was imagining a stronger assemblage of writers and more of a literary focus.

Good, diverse selection of authors and viewpoints. While some are polemical, others are touching. Full of thought-provoking passages.

Twenty-five writers comment on passages from the Bible that are meaningful to them, and another seven comment more generally on the Bible as a whole. It's an uneven collection; some of the selections I thought are especially insightful, others seemed pretty pedestrian. The writers represent individuals of all backgrounds, not necessarily religious - Jewish, Christians of all stripes, agnostics, doubters, and even a skeptical atheist are included. Some I had heard of (Al Sharpton, Kathleen Norris...

As with any collection of essays there are those that you would find wanting, but in the end I found it to be worth the effort.

I'm just padding my 2015 read=shelf. Like with State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America, there's only one piece in here I'm interested in. Robert Coover's "The Bad Book", all of which is/was available on the amazon pre=view. I totally disagree with Coover's reading of ta Biblia, but what are you going to do. He turned his Bible=reading into Gold with his two Brunist books.

The common threads that run through these writer's reflections on different aspects of the Hebrew and Christian Scripture is that they are writers and that they are reflecting on the Bible. The individual writers may or may not have faith in God. They may or may not have been raised in the faith. They have their own reasons for reflecting upon the particular Bible passages that they do. Avi Steinberg grew up in an Orthodox Jewish household and went to Orthodox Jewish schools for education. He is...

I really enjoyed this book. I learned quite a bit about some of the stories from the Bible. There was some humor that appealed to me as a questioning Christian. A few of the commentaries were more personal memories and were loosely tied to the passages. Overall, a great read.

This was a good book to read during this unique time of our sheltering in place. It gave me inspiration as I read each favorite passage and the author's reasons for their choices.

The essays are written by a very diverse group of authors/writers with religious leanings all over the map. The authors are agnostic, Jewish, Protestant, Catholic and even atheist. Most are thought-provoking whether one agrees with them or not. One highlight was the essay by Cokie and Steven Roberts. Cokie is Catholic and Steven is Jewish, and their views on how they have made their "mixed" marriage work by their mutual respect for each other's traditions should be an inspiration to any two peop...

This had a number of very interesting perspectives from some writers I was not too familiar with. The stories told connect to varying aspects of life and faith. An enjoyable book to keep picking up and reading from the chapters in any order.

This is a very interesting book as a whole! The collection contains the reflections 32 writers and thinkers on The Bible (Old and New Testament) from various religious and personal paths. Some Jews, some Protestants, some Catholics; some believers, some sceptics. Some deals with their heritage and families (interestingly, mostly with their fathers), some reflects on their life, some remembers the influential Bible-connected moments from their own life. Some reflections reads like thesis, some li...

Reading this was enjoyable and thought-provoking. I enjoyed the wide selection of authors, none of whom was a “religious” author.

A mixed bag, but I absolutely loved some of the essays in this collection. The last Coover piece, "The Bad Book" kind of ruined it for me. A dismissive and snooty criticism of the Bible as "mere literature of disputed quality" and a "bad book mostly."I don't necessarily think it shouldn't have played a part in this collection of otherwise beautifully honest and personal reflections, but why conclude on such a sour note? Felt like a trick played on the reader.

On the whole I liked reading the book, but three of the selections bothered me especially the last one as it is totally an atheistic voice. I suppose that was the point of this book, to learn how others are affected by the Bible

The reflections are written by both believers and non believers. It’s a good book and makes me want to read the Bible again—at least parts of it.