Books I Read

Book Thoughts- January and February

/ Missi / Leave a comment

I’ve been reading a bunch lately and I figured I’d go back to recap my favorite parts of some books I’ve read recently.

Since I last wrote about reading here, I finished numbers 2, 3 and 4 from that list. For the love, Vagabonding and The Shack, respectively. My favorite of the three was, The Shack.

I loved the way that God belly laughed, cooked and didn’t take him/herself too seriously. The easy way that Jesus spoke often brought tears to my eyes because the words resonated and sounded so true. The Holy Spirit was represented in such a fascinating way, I loved reading it and wondering if parts of that were real.

Side note: I heard some people didn’t like that God was represented as a woman in the book (the reason why is revealed at the end of the book). It didn’t bother me for two reasons. First, I was reading it as fiction. Second, if both women and men are created in the image of God it doesn’t seem overreaching to me that God could appear to a person as either gender.

This is a book I picked up at a rummage sale for a quarter, but I will be happy to keep it and read it again.

In February I read Choose Joy by Sara Frankl and Mary Carver. It is primarily excerpts of Sara’s blog with pieces filled in by her friend Mary. Sara had an illness that kept her housebound and eventually took her life. She wrote to stay connected and found even more friends through her writing. She had an incredibly positive outlook on life despite the fact that she couldn’t leave her home and lived in chronic pain.

One thing Sara wrote that stuck with me was about being a woman without kids. She went on to say that all parents should have a childless friend to love their kids and be proud of their accomplishments too. She figured that friends who were parents could be happy for their friend’s kids but may hold back a little still thinking their kids are the greatest (as they should). A childless friend can be unbiased and unashamedly happy for and proud of your own kids.

I liked this part purely for selfish reasons because it affirmed the way I think about our nephews, nieces and all my friend’s kids. They’re all are amazing! Some are talented athletes and musicians. Some are sensitive with huge hearts. Some are hilarious, creative, and thoughtful. Some love to sing and dance. It’s fun to agree with family and friends that yes, their kid really is the best at xyz. Because it’s all true and I really mean it.

I also read Spark Joy: An illustrated master class on the art of organizing and tidying up by Kon Mari. This book was very similar to Kon Mari’s first book on purging excess belongings, with just more examples of how to put her method into practice. Great in theory, yet I have yet to get back to purging my way through the house.

A friend of mine found a free online checklist for the Kon Mari system and we had been working through it in our own homes. But I totally stopped over a month ago. I don’t even have a good reason. I was going to blame it on the fact that I lost the sheet. But I do remember seeing it when I was looking for a recipe the other day- so now I know right where it is.

Blerg.

Okay it’s a short list, but I have more books to share thoughts on for another day. To sum up, The Shack was my favorite of these…and yes, I am endorsing a book that came out 9 years ago that I just got around to reading this year.

What I’m not reading

/ Missi / 2 Comments

Andy and I went to a conference in 2013 where a speaker talked about his “Family Rules.” We loosely implemented a few of them in our home- primarily as a way to gently tease each other when we do something poorly.

One of the Family Rules is “Finish the job.” Whether the job is unloading the dishwasher, folding laundry, whatever, you keep going until it’s done. Logical? Yes. Easy for me? No. I’m a pretty lousy housekeeper. Just ask the friend who visited while Andy was out of town and upon taking two steps into the house had a receipt stick to her foot.

Anyway, I was reminded of this rule when I decided to see how many books I have started but not finished reading. This is what I found:

  1. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl. I started this book over a year ago and stopped when I was crying too much while reading it. I still have a bookmark in it for when I’m emotionally ready to read about the holocaust again. (who is ever ready for that!?!)
  2. For the Love by Jen Hatmaker. I started this book when it came out this past summer. And I stopped for no reason whatsoever. I have five-ish chapters left and should just stop this post to finish the book now.
  3. Vagabonding by Rolf Potts. This indulges my dream of travel and I have read it slowly because I’m adding little sticky notes throughout the book. I have about one chapter left, I made some progress on it this week.
  4. The Shack by William P. Young. I started this about a month ago and have been loving it. Again, just a few chapters left.
  5. Through the Eyes of a Lion: Facing impossible pain finding incredible power by Levi Lusko. Oof, this one is good and hard to read, which is probably why I put a temporary hold on it. The man writes of losing his daughter suddenly. My counselor recommended it and I said, “Oh, I own that one, just haven’t read it yet” (a related problem I have) so I picked it up but put it down again after some tears.
  6. Out of Sorts: Making peace with an Evolving Faith by Sarah Bessey. This one is really good but it’s due back at the library so I think I’ll need to re-check it out again. I regretfully didn’t get to it fast enough.
  7. The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown. This one I just started yesterday so I don’t feel bad about it not being finished yet, but it is already SO good. This was a gift from Andy this Christmas.

I’ll admit I was a little surprised to see the number so high- I thought I had four or five in process. In between starting books 2-5 I did read other books in their entirety. Maybe I’ll get to sharing about them on here. But for now, it looks like I should keep reading to get a few of these off my nightstand.