Books I Read in December (#25-27)

If the last two years are any indication, having a kid really does make it harder to find time to read. This is the second year in which I only made it halfway to my goal of reading one book a week. Having said that, I am very thankful I have still been able to average about one book every other week.

Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner was my 25th book to read this year. I actually read this book in 2008 after I saw it mentioned on the reality TV show Beauty and the Geek. I really enjoyed the book the first time (giving it 5 stars on Goodreads) and still found it interesting five years later. I find Levitt's way of thinking to be fascinating. At the time of reading this book, I also happened to be house hunting. I kept wishing that there was a formula I could use to determine what house was best suited to my family and what that house would be worth. If only house hunting was that easy...

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell was also a repeat book for me. I love the way Gladwell outlines his books and his quirky way of coming to conclusions for every day events. His writing and research has a lot of similarities to that of economist Steven D. Levitt. Three years ago I gave The Tipping Point 5 stars on Goodreads and that rating still holds for me.

Finally, over the course of the past year I have been reading the book, The Story. The congregation we worship with has been following this telling of many of the great Biblical stories through a series of year-long sermons that I have enjoyed immensely. Listening to these weekly sermons while simultaneously reading this book has been a great way to get back into the stories of the Bible that I have grown up knowing. I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads.

Books I Read in April (#9-10)

Here is a recap of the books that I read in the month of April.

First up was The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Typically speaking, for me books always trump movies. The Wizard of Oz is an outlier in that I love the 1939 movie more than the book. Maybe it is just because I grew up watching the movie and never got around to reading the book, but the book is really different and I felt like the screen did a better job of telling the story. I have not seen the recent remake, Oz the Great and Powerful so I can't say if it did the book (or original movie) justice. But this is one case in which I loved the movie more than the book. I gave this book a 3/5 on Goodreads.

My second book in the month of April was the third in the Chronicles of the Kings Series by Lynn Austin. The Strength of His Hand continues the story of King Hezekiah from the Bible. While it is a fictional account of history (my favorite genre), it did a great job of bringing to life the story of the kings and the prophets from this period. Even though I knew what was going to happen, I kept finding myself wanting to shake King Hezekiah and tell him that he is making the wrong decisions for his kingdom! I have really enjoyed this particular series and would recommend it to anyone who wants to gain more perspective of what it might have been like during this time period. I gave this book a 5/5 on Goodreads.

Our Life Group has started reading The Explicit Gospel by Matt Chandler. I will write a full review when we finish it.

And the congregation we worship with continues to work its way through The Story and I continue to enjoy reading the Bible in this format. Especially in conjunction with the corresponding sermons on Sundays – which I have looked forward to hearing every week.

Books I Read in March (#6-8)

Here are the books I read in March. It appears that my book choices have been predominantly religious this year.

Warrior Prayers by Brooke McGlothlin was an excellent read. As a new parent (of a boy) there are so many things to worry about. As a Christian (who would like to impart my faith on my son) there are ever more things that make me worry. 

I found this book to be an great source of comfort and direction on how I can pray for my son. The biggest thing I took away from this book is that I am not in control. There is nothing I can do to force my son (or anyone) to be who I want them to be, except pray. This is something I already believe, but it was a good reminder nonetheless. 

The book provides many prayers that are based on scripture to pray over your boys. I think the prayers are applicable to anyone and I have found peace in these prayers. Brooke also writes the blog, the MOB Society (mother of boys). She uses her site to encourage mothers of boys in their path to raising their children. I gave this book 5/5 stars on Goodreads.

You Lost Me is the follow up to the book, unChristian. Both are by David Kinnaman. While unChristian took a look at how nonChristians, or the unchurched view the church (based on surveys conducted by the Barna Group), You Lost Me takes a look at why so many young people who were raised in the church are leaving the church and/or walking away from religion completely. 

I am slightly outside of the age group that this book is talking about, but I have certainly had similar feelings or experiences about the church. I also identified with a lot of the concerns in the book unChristian as well. I thought both books were fascinating and I think it is important for believers to take a hard look at why young people don't want to be connected with the church. 

I recently read a blog post (And Then the Conference Uninvited Me to Speak by Jen Hatmaker) that I think sums up how young Christians are feeling about religion today. I gave this book 5/5 stars on Goodreads.

Yellow Star is the account of Syvia Perlmutter's experience as a child growing up in the Lodz ghetto during the Holocaust. It is written by Syvia's niece Jennifer Roy. 

Since middle school I have had a fascination with stories of Holocaust survivors. When I was young I would read these books and weep. While I did not cry during this book, I am glad that I took the time to read about this family's survival as told from the perspective of a young girl. 

230,000 Jews were sent to live in the ghetto in Lodz, Poland. Of that original number, only 800 survived. Twelve were children. Syvia and her sister, mother and father were four of the survivors.

I read a few reviews complaining about the style of writing this book uses. I enjoyed the style and appreciated the perspective of the story from Syvia as a child. Stories from the Holocaust always amaze me and this one was no different. It is hard to believe that such atrocities happened then and sadder still to know that genocide continues to happen around the world today. I gave this book 5/5 stars on Goodreads.

I am continuing to read The Story and have enjoyed reading the Bible in this format. If you are expecting an exact replication of the Bible, you won't like this book, but if you are interested in reading the Bible as a collective story, then this is an excellent read. 

I have heard people say that the movie, The Bible, on the History Channel has been pretty violent and moves quickly (perhaps too quickly). My take is that if you actually read the Old Testament, it is pretty violent stuff. As for the pace of the tv series or this particular book, there are certainly some things that get left out – probably due to the restraints of the format. At any rate, I have read up through the story of Ruth and have appreciated rereading these stories.

Books I Read in February (#3-5)

In the month of February, I finished three books and continued with my reading of The Story {which I am reading throughout the year in conjunction with our church}. Be sure to read the last section of this post as there is a BOOK GIVEAWAY that you might be interested in.

The first book I finished this month was Song of Redemption – the second book in the Chronicles of the Kings series by Lynn Austin. I find this series to be fascinating. It gives me new incite into what it might have been like for Hezekiah to become king in the time period that he did and how difficult it might have been for him to choose to follow God and remove all of the other worship of gods at this time. As I have said before, I love historical fiction and this really gave me a new perspective on a biblical event. I gave this book 4/5 stars on Goodreads.

The second book I read this month was another historical novel – The Contessa's Vendetta by Mirella Sichirollo Patzer. I read this book because it was a free Kindle download for Amazon prime readers. This story is a retelling of a classic novel Vendetta by Marie Corelli. In this novel, the Contessa is thought to die from a plague and is buried. But she is not actually dead... she escapes from her tomb to discover that she has been duped by her husband and best friend. The story is her first hand account of her revenge. It was an intriguing story that I enjoyed. I gave this book 4/5 stars on Goodreads.

"Marriages either grow or they regress; they never stand still." 

The third book I read is The 4 Seasons of Marriage: Secrets to a Lasting Marriage by Gary Chapman, author of The 5 Love Languages (this book was another FREE Kindle download). I read The 5 Love Languages when Daniel and I were engaged. It is a great tool for any relationship in helping you to understand how you are different from your spouse and how to relate to and understand each other's needs. The 4 Seasons of Marriage is a follow-up to this first book and talks about how every marriage goes through the seasons of Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Ideally we want to keep our relationships in the Spring and Summer phase, but inevitably, Fall and Winter will play a part in every relationship. The book offers advice on how to move out of these more difficult phases as well as how to maintain the good phases. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in bettering their relationship, regardless of what season you are currently experiencing. I gave this book 4/5 stars on Goodreads.

As I continue to read The Story I find that I am enjoying reading this particular format of the biblical stories that I have grown up with. I have read through Moses leading the Israelite's out of Egypt and they are currently wandering in the dessert. 

FREE GIVEAWAY

In conjunction to reading The Story, I am looking forward to watching the History Channel's new miniseries on the Bible that will begin airing on March 3rd in the 8:00-10:00pm time slot.

From Executive Producers Roma Downey and Mark Burnett comes The Bible — an epic 10-part miniseries retelling stories from the Scriptures for a whole new generation. Breathtaking in scope and scale, The Bible features powerful performances, exotic locales and dazzling visual effects that breathe spectacular life into the dramatic tales of faith and courage from Genesis through Revelation. This historic television event is sure to entertain and inspire the whole family!

I am participating in a giveaway through the History Channel to promote this miniseries. If you are interested in winning the companion book to the miniseries, A Story of God and All of Us, please leave your name and favorite Bible story in the comments section (anonymous comments won't be chose. One winner will be chosen at random on March 7.

Books I read in January (#1-2)

I think it may be a few years before I can commit to reading 52 books in a year again. Last year I made it to 28 and for the month of January of this year, I managed to read two. I guess I just have to wait and see how things pan out.

Our church is reading the book, The Story: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People this year. It is a chronological telling of the Bible using passages from the NIV. I have read the first "chapter" which starts with creation and goes through Noah and the flood. During the year, sermons and classes at church will follow the entire story of the Bible. I have read through the Bible several times, but I find this to be a fresh take and I am enjoying the discussions we have had in our class so far.

The first book I actually read this year was The Wander Year: One Couples Journey Around the World by Mike McIntyre. I have to be honest and say that since it is a travelogue, I had high hopes for this book. However I found it disappointing. 

Perhaps, because of all the travel blogs I read {or have read}, or maybe because it covers a world trip that Mike and his girlfriend took in the 90s, I just didn't get into it. I don't know. If you are looking for good travel stories, I would suggest you check out Erck.org about a newlywed couple that cycled around the world in 2006-2008 or Traveled Earth about a Canadian couple who quit their jobs in 2011 and are currently traveling the world for an undetermined amount of time. 

I guess I just relate to these blogs because they are written by people closer to my age? Whatever the reason, The Wander Year didn't do anything for me other than give me something to read before I drifted off to sleep at night. I gave it 3/5 stars on Goodreads.

The second book I read this month was Gods and Kings by Lynn Austin. It is the first in a series of 5 books. It is historical fiction {a favorite genre of mine} that follows the Biblical story of the rise of King Hezekiah as found in Kings and Chronicles in the Bible.

I started this book after a friend recommended it. I found it fascinating and it really gave a clear picture of what King Hezekiah might have felt like as a child growing up under King Ahaz and then becoming king at a relatively young age. I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the rest of the series. I gave it 4/5 stars on Goodreads.

What books are you reading this year? Any good recommendations?