July/August Reading

Growing up as one of six children, I never remember seeing my mom without a book.  When I got pregnant with my first son, people told me I would never read again, and that just bugged the heck out of me.  If my mom can do it - while homeschooling - then I can do it as the mother of three.  As a general goal/challenge for myself, I try to read at least 5 books a month (yes, I'm a fast reader).  So since I'm always on the lookout for a book recommendation, I thought I'd share with you all what I've read this summer.

Fiction
Busman's Honeymoon - Dorothy Sayers
The fourth part of the Sir Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane mysteries from 1937.  I read these mysteries back in high school (my mom loved them too), so I decided to re-read them. Well-written, hysterical characters, and a good mystery.  If you haven't read these and you like Agatha Christie, start with Whose Body? to introduce yourself to Lord Peter or skip ahead chronologically to meet Harriet in Strong Poison.  

The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkein
I've read this before too, but since the movie is coming out in December (soo excited!), I thought I needed a refresher.

The Man in the Queue - Josephine Tey
I found this on Goodreads as a recommendation for liking Dorothy Sayers.  Same genre, same time period.  It was a decent mystery with a somewhat memorable detective, but I definitely prefer the quirkiness of Lord Peter Wimsey.

The Forgotten Garden - Kate Morton
New York Times bestseller.  I picked this up at a yard sale a few months ago, and finally decided to read it.  I couldn't put it down.  It flips back and forth between three different time periods as one woman's granddaughter tries to solve the mystery of her grandmother's origins.  It was creative and reminiscent of The Secret Garden.

The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
Again, I've read this a long time ago, but after reading The Forgotten Garden, I was inspired to re-read it.  Such a sweet story!

The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton
I like classic literature in general, but the first time I picked this one up, I just couldn't get into it.  It was too depressing at the time.  It's the story of society man engaged to a very innocent young woman.  Although he is initially intent on following all the social rules, he becomes distracted and eventually somewhat obsessed with his fiancee's cousin, who has returned to New York after having left her abusive and very wealthy husband.  I found it very intriguing the second time around.

Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
Oh yes, The Hunger Games trilogy!!  I know that some Christians are very anti-Hunger Games, but I happen to think they are extremely well-written, perfectly paced and woven with deep themes that make for great thought and discussion.  I've read these before, but after (finally!) seeing the movie last week, I picked up the second book to re-read it and finished it in two days.  Love, love, love.

Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
Third book in the Hunger Games trilogy.  Not my favorite book out of the three, but it was still good.  And I was satisfied with the ending.  


Non-Fiction
Erasing Hell - Francis Chan
I also read Crazy Love earlier this summer, and honestly, I just wasn't all that thrilled with it, like I know so many people are.  I think I just disagreed with some of the central theology, so I couldn't connect with it.  But this one, I did like.  I thought it was going to be a tough read due to the topic, but it wasn't at all.  It was actually really easy to read and his perspective was so straightforward.

Healing Your  Marriage When Trust is Broken - Cindy Beall
My mother in law passed on this title to me (not having read it herself) as something that I might want to read for all of you.  Cindy writes of discovering that her pastor husband had had several affairs during their few years of marriage, and that one of the mistresses was pregnant.  Woven throughout their process of healing, she passes on very good counsel on how to grow through the devastation of the betrayal from an affair.  She tells it like it is, but her heart for others struggling through the same thing is evident.  Highly recommended if you and your spouse are struggling with infidelity or anything that has caused trust to be broken between the two of you. 

Grace-Based Parenting - Tim Kimmel
Much like Jenni wrote about on her blog this month, I just really cannot read too many parenting books.  As a rule-follower, I tend to get overwhelmed by the advice given and make myself feel like a failure as a parent if I'm not implementing all the strategies suggested.  So, this is the first one I've read in a while, and I appreciated it.  I identified with much of his philosophy on parenting and I liked his balanced approach.  He includes quite a few examples pertaining to teenagers which I would love to keep bookmarked for those years. 

7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess - Jen Hatmaker
I forget how I even heard about this one (a blog somewhere, maybe?) but it looked intriguing.  After getting fed up with the excess that her family was living in, she decided to take 7 areas of her life and focus on trimming down in each area one month at a time.  For example, for the first month, she only ate 7 foods.  For the second month, she only wore 7 items of clothing.  One month, they only used 7 items of media and another month, they only spent their money at 7 places.  Very convicting.  If you've read David Platt's Radical, I felt like this was the stay-at-home-mom-down-t0-earth-version.  

Relationships: A Mess Worth Making - Paul David Tripp/Tim Lane
I LOVE anything by Paul Tripp, so I expected to like this and I did.  The authors write about God's purpose for relationships and how He uses them to refine us.  They also take several areas of relationships - time, forgiveness, mercy, etc - and spend a chapter each discussing how to have a godly perspective on those areas in regards to our relationships.  This doesn't just apply to marriages; I actually found myself thinking through how to handle some other relationships in which I struggle to have patience and compassion.

Have you read any of these books?  What did you think?

What good books did you read this summer?

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