I have run into a different kind of pattern in my reading this year. In that… I seem to be unable to finish a book. I get to the second half and I just start dragging the heck out of it. But oh well. Here’s to a 2018 new goal: READ MORE, WHINE LESS. These books are in no particular order. They’re just really high on my YOU-NEED-TO-READ-THIS list.
BOUNDARIES by HENRY CLOUD
This book has changed my life completely. It’s cheap, it’s old, it’s great. A biblical perspective on why and how Christians are wrong to confuse violating boundaries with “turning the other cheek.”
INFIDEL by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
I cried, I laughed, I got mad. It’s a great read. I’m sad of her final choice related to deism but this book is a great insight into the Somalian culture and its civil war.
DARING GREATLY by Brené Brown
Just like most TED Talk speakers I’ve heard so far, Brené Brown gives great insight on risk. She quotes Theodore Roosevelt when he said “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly” – must I need say more? Read it.
THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD by COLSON WHITEHEAD
This book… oh my heart! Good details. A bit explicit on the violence at times but… I wouldn’t expect anything less on such a heart wrenching topic. This book prompted me to buy a children’s book that explains slavery to young minds. This book is fictional but I have no doubt similar things happened in real life. Pulitzer Prize winner, National Book Award Winner, Obrah’s Book Club. Great read.
SIMPLY JESUS by N.T. WRIGHT
If you are looking for a deeper understanding of our Savior, read this book. Wright is like a C.S. Lewis of our age. He explains Jesus and the challenges He faced in His time, among rebels, men who tried to usurp the Son of God. Wright explains why he was different than the rest of the ones claiming to be the Redeemer of Israel with historical facts and writing that’s easy to understand even for a foreigner like me.
Books worth mentioning:
The Pastor’s Wife by Sabina Wurmbrand
(heart wrenching story about Christian Minister and his wife in Romania during the USSR era)
Sacred Parenting by Gary Thomas
(maybe it’s not all about us shaping the kids. What if God called us to parenting to shape us?)
One Face by Sarah McDugal
(my dear friend and client writes beautifully; read about how she managed to stay true to her values)
Having a Mary Spirit by Joanna Weaver
(good read on how to slow down in world that keeps spinning out of control)
Hamilton by Ron Chernow
(I could not go see the musical before I read the biography)
