I’ve got several books I’m reading right now and thought I’d share a few of them.
1) Multiply by Francis Chan. This is a great discipleship book for both the new believer and the long time believer looking to share his/her faith. Takes the fundamentals of the Christian faith and lays it out in an easy and direct way. I’m excited about starting up a group next week with a few women who are seeking God and desiring to grow.
2) Spiritual Misfit A Memoir of Uneasy Faith by Michelle DeRusha. I really enjoy Michelle’s writing and her book is wonderful.
3) Surprised by Motherhood by Lisa-Jo Baker. This is another memoir I’m reading which surprised me because I’m not usually a memoir genre type but I have really enjoyed this book. Lisa-Jo never saw herself as a Mom and she talks about “everything she never expected about being a Mom.”
4) Am I messing up my Kids?…and other questions every Mom asks by Lysa TerKeurst. We are reading this for a Mom’s book club that meets at the end of Summer and it is fabulous! I love it. She had me laughing out loud in the first chapter and almost everyone after. It is really great stuff. Easy read and has some great scripture at the end of each chapter to meditate on and really think about in regards to your own parenting. Revealing and convicting sometimes.
5) Petals on the Wind by V.C. Andrews. – Okay people I made a huge mistake by purchasing this book as my summer beach novel. I had no clue what I was getting into. I read the back of the book and thought to myself, “cool, an attic type ghost story. I’ll love this book.” Oh.My.Word. Nope! Not good. Don’t go there. Don’t buy this book. I’m going to confess that I am disappointed that I read this book in it’s entirety when I should have trashed it at the first objectionable scene. But I didn’t. I wanted to know the rest of the story so I skipped the “bad parts” and kept on reading. But the only way I knew they were bad was when I read the parts so I was already there reading stuff I shouldn’t be reading. I see how easy it is to get sucked into novels that are not wholesome all because of wanting to know the end of the story. And if we are honest with our fleshly selves we might even admit that there’s a part of us that might want to read the objectionable parts even though we know it shouldn’t be part of a growing believer’s reading diet. And so I say from failed experience and caution: be careful what you read and know that what enters our mind eventually works its way into our hearts which ultimately impacts our relationships. This can be a good thing or a very bad thing depending on what we’re reading.
So what are you reading this Summer?
Was this the first time you’d heard of VC Andrews? She was kinda like the Twilight books back when I was in high school. I remember seeing her books then – read Flowers in the Attic although back in that day, didn’t have the discipline to skip the “bad parts” and I’d say it is questionable if there were actually any good parts to that novel . It was God’s grace that I didn’t dive right into the next one. I’ve heard some say her rather gothic, tragic, explicit yet deeply romantic stories are as addicting for women as porn is for men – I’ve avoided her writing like the plague ever since and she is one of the few writers my girls have asked about but are forbidden to read. Hopefully it does not become like the forbidden fruit. Thanks for your transparency here… I can still recall that book, its story line and those parts I should have never read…
Right now, I’ve just finished/am reading several books: Lost in Translation by Nicole Mones (wouldn’t recommend), Now You See Me by Kathy Sanders (compelling story about forgiveness although writing is overbearing sometimes), Book Thief by Markus Zusak (creepy… so far), Fly a Little Higher by Laura Sobiech (loving it, a few chapters in), Preparing Your Teen for College by Alex Chediak (excellent things to be thinking about – at least for this parent in this stage of life…and who will be for several more years), Enduring Faith by Nivine Richie (Bible study on Hebrews, written by a dear friend – challenging, but I might be biased). Old Friends by Tracey Kidder (a documentary, of sorts, I think) is next on the list once these are finished.
I had never heard of VC Andrews before. I thought the author was a man until I read a bio when I was done with the book. Had no idea I was playing with fire when I purchased the book. Of course I had an idea when I got to the first few chapters and totally knew better. So disappointed in myself and hate that I allowed myself to keep reading. It gave me a new awareness though to how easy it can be for us to to keep reading and overlooking stuff just to get through the end. I’m a huge sucker for wanting to know the whole story. Oh well I have learned my lesson.
VC Andrews. I cannot believe you admitted to that one. Ha! People can say what they want about good ‘ol Virginia, but it was because of her that I would stay up sneaking two or three chapters in long after our house had gone to bed when I was in 6th grade! Racy, racy, but you know, she was one of the people who turned me into a reader. Me? Hmmm…I’ve always got a million books going. I just finished this book it was told in poetry about the murder of a young girl. So good. I would have sworn Kendal wrote it.
I know I can’t believe I admitted to it either but more and more people are coming out of the VC Andrews closet. Ha!