I have been inspired to increase how many books I read by several people in my life and online (Crystal Paine from moneysavingmom.com). This will be challenging for me as I have a family with three young kiddos, a blog, and also work on publishing other books. But, I have made up my mind to do it because I love to read and I want to make more time for it!
I thought I would share, from time to time, what I have been reading lately. I know that I love reading posts from bloggers and authors with suggestions and reviews about what they have read. I hope that you enjoy seeing what I have read and that you can possibly get some inspiration to read something new.
I will include links to the books which are my affiliate links on Amazon. I am including them so that you can see the covers and click through to get more information, if you want. If you end up making a purchase by clicking on these links, familiesformissions will earn a tiny commission that will cost you nothing extra. 😊 (Please do not feel obligated to purchase, though…I checked out several of these at my local library.)
I normally love reading historical fiction, but I am trying to broaden my reading interests and incorporate more nonfiction books as well this year. January was very heavily nonfiction for me, which is rare!
Thunder Dog: The True Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog, and the Triumph of Trust by Michael Hingson and Susy Flory was a great book about a blind man and his seeing eye dog. It discussed how they were able to escape from the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, but what I really enjoyed hearing was this man’s life story. I learned a lot about the struggles that a blind person faces while growing up, and I loved learning about how guide dogs are chosen and trained.
I was given Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story to read, and I found it to be a very easy read and very interesting. If you love stories about someone overcoming immense odds, I think you’ll find it a good read. I also enjoyed some of the medical cases he discussed and how he has been able to help very difficult and hopeless cases.
I heard about Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World by Max Lucado and decided that I could benefit from reading this since anxiety and worry are a struggle for me. This is also an easy read. I do not know that it contained any information that I did not already know, but it had many great reminders of God’s control and love for me. I’m so glad that I did take the time to read it.
I found the mention of Dog Tales: Inspirational Stories of Humor, Adventure, and Devotion by Susy Flory in the back of the Thunder Dog book and thought reading more inspirational stories about dogs might be fun (we just got a puppy). I have to say I was a little disappointed in this one, but if you like books about dogs you might give it a try. It contains unrelated short stories that feature dogs, but I found it difficult to see why a few of the stories were included.
One of my favorites was an audiobook I happened to walk past at my local library. It is called The Man Who Broke into Auschwitz: A True Story of World War II by Denis Avey with Rob Broomby. I listened to this book after dropping the kids off at school and running errands. It was a bit lengthy, and I’m sure that I could have read it myself much faster than listening to the audiobook but this is one way I can use the “dead” time that I am driving in the car and accomplishing nothing of substance. This story details the life history of a British soldier during WWII, and follows him as he is taken prisoner of war. I learned a lot that I did not know about WWII in locations other than Germany, France, and Great Britain. I loved hearing about people and locations from the wartime as he followed up on them years later. This man had an amazing story and life. There are interviews of him on YouTube as well as interviews of the man who swapped places with him from Auschwitz if you are interested in watching and hearing more. (I loaned this to my husband to listen to on the way to and from work, and he highly recommends it as well.)
I frequently like reading medical information, and I saw The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children by Ross W. Greene, Ph.D. at the local library and I checked it out. It has a wealth of information about dealing with inflexible and angry children that struggle when routines are changed and things do not go the way they expect. I think this could be very helpful to parents with children on the autism spectrum, such as Asperger’s syndrome, etc. I’m not sure how well the methods he recommends would work, but he offers many example conversations between parents/children, parents/therapist, or parents/therapist/child. Obviously, these families need to be in therapy and should not rely on reading this book alone for help.
What books have you read recently? I’d love some recommendations! I’m hoping to have a healthy mix of fiction and nonfiction in February, as I missed reading some great historical fiction this month.
