2018 - Book 51

Pages 145

I read this to the boys for school in October. I cut out the bad language and summarized the lamb birthing scenes. Otherwise, they are cute stories and the few illustrations are beautiful.

2018 - Book 50

Pages 85

Five sermons by Dr. Maryin Lloyd-Jones about raising kids. I found this in the church library.  They were okay. Nothing groundbreaking.

2018 - Book 47

Pages 106

My MIL gave me this book years ago and I picked it up as I was recently planning a camping trip for the family.  It has all sorts of great tips for camping with kids (from travelling to cooking and activities).  I used it to jump start my lists for planning and to gather some good ideas to keep the kids busy and happy.

Happy Camper Principle Number 1
Camping happily requires what you need to camp happily.

AKA You need to decide what makes your family happy and will keep them happy.

For example: I would be perfectly happy sleeping in a tent on the ground. My husband - not so much.  But we don't need a giant camping trailer or a lodge. Normally, we would borrow my parent's pop-up camper and be perfectly content.  But this was a short, spur-of-the moment trip and we just decided that it was be simpler to rent a mini cabin at the state park. It was $20 more a night, but we didn't have to drag a camper along and there was electric.

Happy Camper Principle Number 3
Everything should be fun ... so make it so.

I think she also mentions making sure everyone is fed.  I learned in my 6 hour car ride (by myself with the boys) this summer that food is SUPER important.  So are trips to get out and stretch our legs.

2018 - Book 46

Pages 90

I love a book with questions at the end of the chapter.  I will probably read through this again soon and try to write more thorough responses to the questions.  This is would be great for a discussion group or just to study as a couple and think about your parenting methods.

You are about to see a whole mess of books about raising children come through.  I am on a parenting kick.

2018 - book 45

Pages 375

I used this for devotionals in the morning.  Piper takes all the words of Jesus and categorizes them into 50 groups. Then he writes a short devotional based off of each topic.  Future Grace is slightly better, but this one is also worth the read! If you want to borrow my copy, let me know.

2018 - Book 44

This books was excellent and I think that every pastor and Session member should be required to read it so that they would be better equipped to minister to hurting people.  I relied heavily on this book for my lesson on Grieving with those that Grieve for Sunday School this year. 

I cannot recommend this book more highly.  It is a must read. It is hard to say that a book on grief is the best book I read this year, but it is probably the most helpful (in ministering to other people).  But then the Gospel Comes With A House Key was also really good.  Read them both. 

2018 - Book 43

Pages: 71

Excellent little book! I am leaning heavily on it for the Sunday School.class I am teaching. The chapters are short, the questions great starting points, and the information is useful.

And if you live close to me and want a copy, I have one more left.  Let me know and I will give it to you.  I get these great deals from Westminster Theological Seminary's Bookstore and I can't pass them up.  This one was much cheaper if I bought a set of 5 (why would I need 5 copies?).  I don't know, but they were books and they were a good price and a great author and I bought them.  I buy a lot of books from them. So many books. I think 5 more arrived this last week.

2018 - Book 42

Finally Alive
John Piper

On Kindle

I liked the first five chapters.  It felt more like a bunch of essays that were put together than a book. There was good information in it.  But it was not one of my favorite Piper books.

2018 - Book 41

Pages: 179

This has a bunch of great questions at the end of each chapter that I look forward to using with my kids later in life.

2018 - book 39

Best Christmas Pageant ever

Audio book.
Length : 3 hours

2018 - Book 25

Pages: 150

This is the best Martha Peace book I have read this year (of 4). Each devotional is two to four pages long and is followed by a list of questions on the topic.  There are about 10-15 questions for each chapter.  It is a good conversation starter. My favorite part of the book is the two to three books that are suggested as resources on each topic.  I like that you could go do further research on them if you wanted.  I haven't seen that in many books and I always appreciate book suggestions.

2018 - Book 23

Pages: 230

I heard the author interviewed on Fresh Air last year and knew I wanted to read this book. He was discussing all these housing policies that I had never heard. Crazy stuff. Information that we should all know and struggle with. How could former generations have treated people so badly? And how do we do the same thing these days?   It is an excellent book (a bit dry - it is written by a lawyer after all). My children will be reading this book for school when they get older.

The book discusses how many administrations (since slavery was outlawed) have continued practices that have discriminated against people of color.  FDR was one of the worst.  The housing part is so interesting.
* Did you know that returning WWII veterans were denied housing loans by the VA if they were black?
* Did you know that many neighborhoods created covenants that banned the sale of a home to a black person in that neighborhood (and that many of these were sponsored by churches and colleges)?
* Did you know that the FHA would only loan money to developers that would build all white communities and promised to not sell to black people?
* Did you know that when FDR built many of the interstates in the country that they went through black communities and that the government did nothing to help them find alternative housing after they demolished their houses? This forced them to double and triple up in the areas that they were allowed to buy houses in.
* Did you know that projects used to be for middle-income people?
* Did you know that governments would either evict blacks that moved into a white community or allow people to harass them until they moved?

I didn't know. I put it on the list of books that every one should read. It is in my top 5 for this year (I think I have more then 5 in my top 5 by now...)

Here is the author's webpage to read even more of his writing.
I found this article especially fascinating: Five Social Disadvantages That Depress Student Performance (Why Schools Alone Can't Close Achievement Gaps). 
The part about lead poisoning is interesting.

And again I am left with wondering what I can do about this...

2018 - book 20

Pages: 360

5 million people in Ukraine died in the 1932-1933 famine. It was one of several that the USSR used to purge Ukraine of its history, language, and leaders. This one was the worst. 

It was a little slow getting into this book. There was a lot of background information about Ukrainian and Russian relationships in the years leading up to the famine and of several earlier famines caused by Russia. But after that everything else is fascinating, tragic, and awful. Awful in a way that you can't stop reading and wish you could stop what is happening.  

Russia still denies the famine happened today. The last two chapters on the effects of the famine on future generations and politics today is some of the best information in the book.  It really helps frame some of the events that happen in the world today and makes them easier to understand. 

As a side note: This is also the second book this month (April) that I am reading that mentions FDR in a negative light... maybe I should read more about his presidency.  

2018 - book 19

Pages: 139

Read to the boys. 

Not a huge fan. 

How is this a classic?

2018 book 18

Pages: 220

My book loving friend, Caitlin sent me this book hot-off-the-presses. I was as excited as the pictures show and equally surprised. It is wonderful when a friend "gets you" and what you love! Thanks so much, Caitlin. 

This book was amazing and challenging.  I hope to put some of it into practice soon.  I am mulling over and praying about a bunch of ideas. It is exciting (and terrifying) to be on the brink of maybe starting something new. ESL feels like that right now too. 

This is one of my top five books this year.  You should go read it. I'd love to discuss it with you if you do.

I quickly went and purchase 5 more copies to give to friends. :) 

2018 book 17

Pages: 350

I read it to the boys. They loved it. We looked at the illustrations in both books. 

2018 - book 16

Pages: 336

I've got to start reading shorter books. :). But all the interesting ones are long. 

Easy read. 

Interesting story. 

Another good glimpse of people living in poverty and its effects. 

Also, did you know that it wasn't until 1975 that doctors had to explain procedures and side effects to people and have them sign a consent form?!? 

And that doctors were doing medical experiments on people without their permission throughout the 1950s and 1960s? And still some in the 70s? And that they probably were much later than that. Some of the experimenting was harmless and some of it was horrible. This book only touches on a few of those practices as things happen to side characters, but it was enough to surprise me. Wow. 

2018 - book 14

Pages: 180

The sermon series is better. I listened to them my year in graduate school while I was engaged. I re-listened to most of them this Fall. It is such a good series (As is the series on Unbelief, When I Don't Desire God, and on Job - in case you need some other suggestions).  If you have time, listen to the sermon series.  If you want a refresher course or do better with reading, read the book.  The book is edited.  So, you will miss some information from the sermon series. And you will miss the passion and wonder in John Piper's voice when he explains the glory of marriage as being a picture of Christ and His church.  

This is one of my top three marriage books because it describes what the ultimate purpose of marriage is. It isn't to make us happy. It is to display the glory of God in our marriages by showing the world a picture of Christ's love for His church.  

Here is the link to the first sermon in the series:

https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/staying-married-is-not-about-staying-in-love-part-1

The series is called, Marriage, Christ, and Covenant. 

There are 14 sermons. 

They are all excellent. 

I listened to them when I was engaged, a few years into marriage, and last year. 

2018 - book 13

Pages: 237

I read Cheaper By the Dozen two years ago and have had the sequel on my list for a while. It is a fast and easy read.  It is fun to read about a house that is run by an efficiency engineer. I kind of want to make my boys listen to a foreign languages while they bathe and set up daily charts for jobs (we already have a basic one that we follow). 

2018 - Book 12

Continuing on the trend of books that teach me about something I don't know much about and are from a different perspective than mine... 

This is my book of the year so far! The writing is suburb. I couldn't tear myself away. I felt the author's agony as his world crumbled. His devotion, love for truth, and love of God put me to shame. 

It reminded me of Secret Thoughts of An Unlikely Convert in some ways.  Mainly, how to relate to and walk with someone over many years as you share the gospel with them. Change is slow. Relationships are crucial. 

The author spends the first half of the book explaining how Islam works, how it is studied, what books they read, how important culture is, etc. I found that whole section extremely helpful in just thinking about how other people think about life. The discussion about the Eastern vs. Western way of thinking about life was fascinating (and also helpful for dealing with ESL students).

When the author talks about coming to the end of himself and surrendering, I cried. When he talked about knowing what the decision would do to his parents and then explained how their relationship changed afterwards, I cried.  It left me wanting to know Jesus more and to love him more.  

Pages: 287