Category: What I’m Reading

There’s not much I love more than reading a good book, and 2017 proved to be a pretty good year on that front. All told, I read 55 books, and a lot of them were really good. (Some weren’t. I make notes on my phone about what I read, and some of the comments say things like, “Pretty dumb” and “Author tried too hard to be funny.” I might be brutally honest…)

Here are my favorites, in no particular order:

• Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle. The author is a Jesuit priest who works with gang members, providing them with jobs and helping them create a life apart from their gangs. I cannot tell you how many times I stopped, cried, and underlined his words. Absolutely stunning.
• Turtles All the Way Down. John Green (as in The Fault in Our Stars John Green) wrote this, and I have to admit being hesitant to read it. Commercial success can change authors, but this book was a great read. The main character is a teenage girl who suffers from severe anxiety, and it was fascinating to feel like I was inside her brain. It helped me understand the mentality of anxiety.
• The Power of Habit. I absolutely love to read books by brilliant people, especially when they help me understand human behavior (and ultimately myself). The part about Target and how they track our buying habits is fascinating – and slightly terrifying. So, so good.
• Braving the Wilderness. Brene Brown is a genius, a fabulous writer, and a woman all women should read. Buy this book.
• Introverts in the Church. The title sold me on this one because, well, I’m an introvert in the church. It examines the way modern churches operate, which is often geared towards extroverts and big personalities. It validated my God-given personality and helped me understand that I don’t need to change who I am to be useful in the Kingdom.
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I have never read anything quite like this book. It’s about a little boy, Oskar, who lost his dad on 9/11. He goes on a search throughout the book, and he meets all sorts of people. (It’s been made into a movie, which I haven’t seen.) If you’re looking for something unique, this one certainly is!

There you have it – some of the books I loved this year. What would you recommend?

**This post contains affiliate links.

If you’ve been around here a while, you know I love to read. Seriously.

So far in 2017, I’ve read 17 books, and I wanted to share the best of those with you in case you need some recommendations. Here are the nine I think are worth your money!

1. When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin. (Y’all, if you’ve never read anything by this man, start now. Love his writing!)
2. Essentialism by Greg McKeown. (If you are a person who feels overwhelmed with all you have going on in life, this book will remind you of the need to simplify, and it will help you with practical steps to do so.)
3. The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi. (Really interesting story about 2 generations of females in Afghanistan who have to disguise themselves as males.)
4. Irena’s Children by Tiler J. Mazzeo. (This is the true story of a woman who is best compared to a female Schindler. She saved 2500 Jewish children in Warsaw during WWII.)
5. Water From My Heart by Charles Martin. (I loved this one because it’s set in Nicaragua, where I’ve been twice. Beautiful redemption story.)
6. No More Faking Fine by Esther Fleece. (LOVED this one – will definitely be on my list of favorites for the year. It’s about learning the Biblical way to lament. So eye opening for me.)
7. The Plum Tree by Ellen Wiseman. (Another WWII story about a German and Jew who fall in love.)
8. Flight of the Sparrow by Amy Belding Brown. (Great story about a woman abducted by Native Americans.)
9. The Second Mrs. Hockaday by Susan Rivers. (The story of Mary, whose husband goes to war two days after they marry. In his absence, there’s a pregnancy, a death, and a lot of secrets. This one kept me up at night!)

Have you read any of these? Let me know what you think! Comment and give me your recommendations, too. I’m always looking for great titles! (You can also click here to receive my list of 20 books I think every woman should read.)

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Intrigued by the trailer for Martin Scorsese’s new film, Silence, I recently ordered the book it is based on by Shusaku Endo, a Japanese author. I won’t characterize it as a fun read by any stretch, but it was a book I couldn’t put down and that has kept me thinking.

The plot centers around a Portuguese priest who travels to Japan to spread Christianity, which is illegal and punishable by death at the time. After hiding successfully for a short time, the priest (Sebastian Rodrigues) is eventually arrested and imprisoned. From his captivity, he is forced to watch the brutal punishment and murder of other believers, and he is told that if he will only renounce his faith, the torture will stop.

I highly recommend that every American Christian read this novel, and here are five thoughts I can’t shake:

1. We know nothing of truly suffering for our faith. We have, in many ways, an easy Christianity, and this book reminded me of all I take for granted.
2. Faith isn’t true unless it is tested. Rodrigues himself struggles with this truth, and although he believes he will withstand the torture with faith unscathed, he doesn’t.
3. I don’t know what I would have done in his situation. He was told he could prevent the deaths of others through his renunciation. His own life wasn’t the only one being threatened – he was responsible for whether others lived or died. I cannot imagine the agony of decision-making in that situation.
4. Many of us struggle to share the gospel in safe places, so what would be do if called to go where it is dangerous? Rodrigues knew he was entering a hostile environment. Yet he went. Would we?
5. Persecution is a place of great growth for Christianity. In areas where it is illegal to profess Jesus, the numbers of believers are growing. Does this mean we need a little more resistance to our faith?

As an added bonus, here are five quotes from the book I loved:

1. “…on the face of it, believing and questioning are antithetical. Yet I believe that they go hand in hand. One nourishes the other.”
2. “Yet God bestows upon man a better fate than human knowledge could possibly think of or devise.”
3. “Our Lord himself entrusted his destiny to untrustworthy people.”
4. “I do not believe that God has given us this trial to no purpose. I know that the day will come when we will clearly understand why this persecution with all its sufferings has been bestowed upon us – for everything that Our Lord does is for our good.”
5. “Sin, he reflected, is not what it is usually thought to be; it is not to steal and tell lies. Sin is for one man to walk brutally over the life of another and to be quite oblivious of the wounds he has left behind.”

Each Friday, I’ll be writing a short post sharing five (and only five!) ideas with you. Today is one of my favorite topics – books! (This post contains affiliate links, which help pay for this site and its content.)

Here are five I want to read this year:

1. Water from My Heart by Charles Martin. I just finished another of Martin’s books, When Crickets Cry, and I LOVED it. I don’t know how I haven’t read him before! I discovered When Crickets Cry when Kindle had ebooks on sale over Christmas break. I paid just a couple of bucks for it, and I could not stop reading it. I stayed up past midnight and almost woke my husband up with my sobs. I won’t ruin it in case you want to read it, but good grief. SO. GOOD. Water from My Heart has a half-star higher rating on Amazon than When Crickets Cry, so I can’t wait to read it!
2. Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight. This might seem like an odd choice for me, but I love reading stories of people who been successful in their field, and I can’t think of a better example than the creator of Nike! This book has a 5 star rating. Andre Agassi said about it, “I’ve worn the gear, with pride, but I didn’t realize the remarkable saga of innovation and survival and triumph that stood behind every swoosh.” I think this is true for all of us!
3. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk. This topic interests me greatly because I’ve experienced an emotional trauma, and I’ve had to fight my way to healing and restoration. What I know is from my own experience, but I’d love to hear an expert’s take on the effects of trauma.
4. Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly. This is fiction, and it takes place during WWII. I have had an obsession with WWII historical fiction since I taught 7th grade and focused on Holocaust literature. I am always blown away by the stories based on truth from the time, and this book is inspired by a true story.
5. The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Last year, I learned more than I ever had about what it means (and takes) to live for Christ’s kingdom instead of yourself, and I have thought so much lately about how few sacrifices Christians in America must make for our faith. I don’t wish hardship or persecution on any of us, but I wonder if our faith is weak because it is easy. This book speaks to the necessity of personal sacrifice, and I believe it will challenge me in my walk. It might be difficult to hear, but I think it’s necessary for me.

Let me know if you’ve read any of these or have other suggestions!

Hey, everyone! I wanted to jump on here really quickly and let you know about two books that are currently a great price on Amazon.

The first is a new favorite of mine, Grace for the Good Girl by Emily P. Freeman. This ebook is on sale for only $1.99! If you haven’t read it, don’t let this great price pass you by. (And if you don’t have a Kindle or e-reader, don’t worry. You can download the free Kindle app on any device, including your computer, and read it from there. Super easy.)

Another one I wanted to tell you about is a new ebook by a new friend of mine! Cheryl Cannon has written a sweet little book called The Best Three Bucks You Will Spend This Christmas, and it’s all about how to make holiday gatherings with your family a little more meaningful. You’ll love Cheryl’s voice.

Great prices for these – let me know what you think of them!

Disclosure – affiliate links are included in this post.

I love to read, and while I typically choose nonfiction, I just read three fiction books in four days that I want to recommend to you. They’re all super entertaining, and I couldn’t put any of them down. I read them on my Amazon Kindle app (which you can download onto any device for completely free! If you have your phone, then you always have a book to read when you’re waiting somewhere).

1. The Good Girl by Mary Kubica. Oh. My. Goodness. If you liked Gone Girl and love thrillers, you’ve got to read this one. I could not put it down! Mia, the main character, returns home from being kidnapped with no memory of what happened and a new identity – she only knows herself as Chloe. Her well-known father, a judge, and her beautiful mother try to uncover what happened to Mia during the months she was gone, and throughout the discovery process, the book moves from one character’s perspective to another and back in forth in time. You will not see what’s coming – this I can promise you!
2. The Wonder by Emma Donoghue. (The author of Room, if you’ve read that one, too. Very good but completely different from The Wonder). The Wonder is about a young girl named Anna who seems to have survived for four months with no food. Everyone in her Irish village considers her a wonder, a miracle of God. To prove the miracle Anna is, a committee from her village brings in two women, a nurse and a nun, to watch her around the clock and prove there’s no deceit. The story is told from the perspective of Lib, the nurse, who was trained by Florence Nightingale.I stayed up well past midnight reading this one. I kept believing things I knew I shouldn’t believe, and I kept changing my mind about which characters I could trust. It was a page turner, a book I highly recommend if you need a mental escape that will challenge you.
3. The Two Family House by Lynda Cohen Loigman. Brothers Mort and Abe own a business together and share a house along with their families. Abe’s family lives upstairs and Mort’s downstairs, and although their wives begin the book as best friends, the years and a secret slowly pull them apart. In the book, you follow the family throughout their lives, and characters you think you know reveal truths you didn’t see coming. I loved this book and was slightly perturbed by the ending (although I understand completely why the author ended it as she did). Again, a great read!

Let me know if you read (or have read) any of these. I’d love to hear your recommendations, too!

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