Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World

It’s not every author who puts his or her phone number in the front of a book, inviting readers to call if any ideas “ping” them. But judging by the breadth of experiences retailed in this volume of autobiographical stories, Goff, a successful lawyer and founder of the international child advocacy group Restore International, has charted his own optimistic and ebullient course for decades without veering anywhere near the beaten track. In a folksy and candid style that sometimes seems to beg for editorial ministrations, the writer spins some fascinating yarns, from the winsome sit-in that won him a place in law school to a family world tour prompted by questions his children sent global leaders after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Paired with reflections on God’s purposes and faithful living, the stories are engaging and often funny. However, a reader is left satiated, questioning whether perhaps a writer with a wider-angled lens and a tauter style could have tied the various strands together in a way that truly does this eccentric and apparently eternally hopeful man the justice he probably deserves. (May)