Recent Reads

Early this year, I said to myself: Self, you need to make more time for reading. And you don't have to waste your time finishing a book if you aren't feelin' it. I've always forced myself to finish books. I could never just stop in the middle, even if I wasn't enjoying it. I felt like I had to finish what I had started. Well, these days I don't have time for that nonsense. So if 30ish pages in, I'm not into it, I get rid of it and move on to the next. That's the way I roll these days. So from now on, when I post any of my reads, know that they're good ones (in my opinion). If they weren't, I wouldn't have even made it to the halfway point. So some recent books I've read:This one was so great! It was a big one. I had my nose in it for months. Thought provoking, encouraging and convicting. I highly recommend it. It completely transformed some of my thoughts and feelings on prayer. Back when I made the purchase, it was a free download. So it cost me nothing. I only wish now that I had the hard copy. It's one of those that you would want to read, with a highlighter in hand, to refer back to things later. I'm sure I will be re-reading this one in the future. I think it would make for a great book club or group study.
Lauren told me how great this one was and loaned me her copy. I finished it in 2 or 3 days. Easy and interesting read. It reminded me alot of 90 minutes in Heaven, which I read several years ago.
This one I completed with a summer book club. It's probably my least favorite on this list. And to be honest, I still haven't finished the last chapter because I missed our last book club meeting. So I need to finish it up. It had some great ideas and great thoughts for motherhood and parenting. It just seemed a little . . . extreme. Like: Make sure you read classic stories to your kids. Make sure they can play an instrument. Make sure they have hobbies. Make sure they appreciate beautiful artwork. Here's how to organize your house. Okay, it wasn't worded so bluntly, but that's how it came across to me. It seemed to be heavily geared towards raising well-rounded, educated children than pointing them towards Jesus. They weren't bad ideas, just not the most important, in my opinion. But it did give me some good ideas in the area of family and raising my kiddos. And I've heard plenty of other mommas rave about this author and book. I just didn't love it. All that to say, you might have a completely different opinion.
I'm about 3/4 of my way through this one. It's so good! It will probably go on my list of all time faves. I'm determined to finish the book before we see the movie. And since we are typically Redboxers, that should be no problem at all. I should be finished with this one by the end of the weekend.
And some fun new books I recently added to the boys collection:
I got this one thinking Pax might need it before starting "school". I use that term loosely. It's really just 1 day a week of a Mother's Day Out program. I thought this little story would help Pax say goodbye to me every Thursday morning. But Pax didn't shed a single tear when I dropped him off last week. Oh well. Maybe it wasn't needed afterall. It's still a really cute book!
And this one is so sweet! I love that there is such a great selection of children's books that include adoption. I read it to both of the boys tonight before bedtime. They are my definitely my wish come true! :)

I need to finish The Help and then I have 3 more books piling up my nightstand that are just waiting to be read! I'm sure I'll be sharing those with you at a later date.