Skip to content ↓

A Quick and Captivating Contest

CaptivatingOne of the pleasures pains of my new site, Diet of Bookworms(Update: the site is no longer active), is that it is really only useful if it has reviews of the more popular Christian titles. One of the new books I am about to begin reading is Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul written by John and Stasi Eldredge.

I suspect this book may become one of Eldredge’s most popular, and it may even outsell his previous titles. Why, you ask? I am sure you would find that at least half of the men who read Wild at Heart did so with the “encouragement” of their wives. I know of many men who were given this book by wives, mothers or girlfriends. And now these women have a book targetted directly at them. Surely they will buy this book in record numbers.

Here is a review from Publishers Review:

John Eldredge became the Robert Bly of evangelicalism with his blockbuster Wild at Heart. Now he teams up with his wife, Stasi, to encourage women to connect with their deepest desires. To facilitate this, the Eldredges reveal in the first chapter what every woman’s three core desires are: to be romanced, to play a role in her own adventures and to display beauty. (This formula will be familiar to Eldredge’s fans, as Wild at Heart offered a similar tripartite model of men’s desires.) The rest of the book is an extended reflection on these three impulses. Drawing heavily on popular films to prove their points, the Eldredges warn that most women tend to become either controlling or needy. Godly women, in contrast, should see God as the ultimate lover, and look to Eve (and not, say, J. Lo) as their model. Also, women should form close, intimate friendships with one another, à la Ruth and Naomi or the ladies in Fried Green Tomatoes. These are all unoriginal themes, which evangelical women’s writers have been recycling for years. Christian readers who embrace a robust egalitarianism will not find the Eldredges’ perspective congenial. Regardless, the book is likely to fly off the shelves, purchased by all those women who gave Wild at Heart to their husbands, brothers and dads.

Before I dive into the book I thought I would begin a small contest. It is simple and based on one of the most frequent criticisms of Eldredge’s work – his reliance on movies. All you need to do is send me your best guess as to the number of movies the authors refer to within Captivating. By this I mean the total number of movies they reference, not the total number of references to movies. You can either use the feedback form or email your entries to [email protected]. I will count the movies and report back at the end. Whoever is closest to the real number will win a book from my prize-stash. If there are multiple winners, I will select one at random. If you already have the book, please do not count the movies and enter the contest.

The contest begins now and closes when I finish the last word of the book…


  • A Batch of New Books for Kids

    A Batch of New Books for Kids (and Teens)

    Every month I put together a roundup of new and notable books for grownup readers. But I also receive a lot of books for kids and like to put together the occasional roundup of these books as well. So today I bring you a whole big batch of new books for kids of all ages…

  • A La Carte Thursday 1

    A La Carte (March 28)

    A La Carte: The case against the abortion pill / What I’ve learned about grieving with hope / Heartbreaking deception: teen girls, social media, and body image / Could podcasts save the church from stupidity? / Count it all joy / and more.

  • What God Wants You To Forget

    What God Wants You To Forget

    We are never far from reminding God of our credentials, of providing him with a curriculum vitae that lays out all we are, all we have been through, and all we have accomplished for his sake. We are never far from making the subtle turn from grace to merit, from what is freely given to…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (March 27)

    A La Carte: New music / Millennials and GenZ / Scotland’s new hate crime law / Cate Blanchett, Easter is for you / Why the Reformed pray for revival / What truly happened to Jesus on the cross? / and more.

  • New and Notable Books

    New and Notable Christian Books for March 2024

    As you know, I like to do my best to sort through the new Christian books that are released each month to see what stands out as being not only new, but also particularly notable. I received quite a number of new titles in March and narrowed the list down to the ones below. I…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (March 26)

    A La Carte: God delivers from the suffering he ordains / The beautiful partnership of family and church / The end of religious liberty / On whales, menopause, and thanks to God / Ordinary women, extravagant gifts / and more.