Books

If you remember my last post, my goal this year is to read a book a month.  To be honest, I got a bit off track this summer, even though it looks like I've read a book a month I'm pretty sure I skipped June and read two in August. In the end it all works out, but I need to get it together and finish out the year.  That being said its already the 11th of September and I've started 3 books but not really interested in any of them... sigh.   Guess I better pick it up and finish one of them soon!

So here is an overview of what I read:

1. April: Tactics by Gregory Koukl
The church I attend had an apologetics conference this past March called "Defending the Faith."  It really challenged me to start defending what I believe instead of continuing to be passive and non confrontational on the subject. What this book does is give you different tactics and angles to play in conversation that will help you poke holes in theories to reveal the truth behind the statements.  If this kind of thing interests you I would definitely recommend this read.

2. May: START by Jon Acuff
Love, love, love this book!  Just the tagline itself is enough to get me excited.  Jon Acuff is a great writer and really hits the nail on the head, challenging you to move from just being average to being awesome, and getting started in doing what you love to do.  Very practical, very encouraging, if you need a boost in business or in life to get you on the path you want to be on, I highly recommend this book!

3. July: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
So I guess I technically read this in July, it was the last couple days of the month.  Its a short read but believe it or not, I've never read it before.  The new movie just came out with Leonardo DiCaprio and I wanted to read the book before seeing the movie.  I still haven't seen the movie yet but I really enjoyed the book.  It was shorter than I thought it would be and the story line definitely took a turn I wasn't expecting. All in all a good read!

4/5. August: Be Your Own Shrink by Dr. Kevin Leman & Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
 Both of these books are just ok.  I read them but I wouldn't say you can't live another day without having read them!  haha.  Be Your Own Shrink was given to me by a friend along with The Birth Order Book that I was inquiring about. (This is one of the ones I've started for September).  It gives a quick overview of personalities, birth order, early childhood memories & love languages, to help you understand why you are the way you are.  It is interesting but I didn't feel like it went into enough depth to really dig anything up.  I guess you would need a real shrink for that! 

Angels and Demons, I picked up while on vacation from the stash of books that were at the house and read it in two days.  It was a fun read, kept me interested, but overall wasn't anything out of the ordinary.  It's what you would expect from a Dan Brown book.


So thats a wrap! What have you been reading these days?  Any recommendations to add to my list for the last months of the year?


-Monica

*all images from amazon.com
 

Love Letters...

When I was in my senior year of college, my husband Matt was working on a dude ranch out in Wyoming.  He wasn't my husband then, we had met that summer and went on a date two weeks before he left.  I wasn't sure if I would hear from him while he was on the ranch, I was hoping I would, and sure enough I found a little postcard in my campus mailbox a couple weeks later!  That was the start of our correspondence via letters.  We didn't talk on the phone much at all that fall semester but we wrote back and forth pretty faithfully!  Back then I might have said I would've rather had him present and been able to talk face to face, but now I'm so thankful that we had that separation because now our story is documented!

This morning I happened upon this stack of letters and opened a few to relive the memories.  May 15th we are celebrating four years of marriage, it's so fun to be able to look back and remember what it was like back when it all started.  We've talked of compiling all the letters into a book at some point... I think I might start the process.  Keep in touch, you might hear more about this soon!

-Monica