Recent Reads: Unholy Night

This week I offer you just one review of Unholy Night by Seth Grahame-Smith.  

What the book's about: This book is a retelling of the Christmas story, featuring the wise men as it's central characters.

Why I read this book: Oddly enough, I read this book for research I'm doing for a master's project on Jesus. As part of this project, I'm studying what influences the Christology of teenagers. To better understand this, I read a variety of books about Jesus, some non-fiction, as well as some fiction; Some written by Bible scholars, others not.  

Thumbs up or thumbs down? Two thumbs up. I loved this book. Grahame-Smith is someone who does his homework and as a result, produces a well-researched finished product. Unholy Night is also just plain well-written. It's fast-paced and highly engaging. As a Christian, even though this book is irreverent in many ways, I found that reading the Christmas story from a fresh perspective breathed new life and imagination into a story that's critical to our faith. I also loved how Grahame-Smith incorporated scripture (usually not from the Gospels) into the start of every section.

Who I'd recommend this book for: Anyone who enjoys reading, regardless of your religion. The book is honestly that good.