On the Bookshelf -- March
Since I'm taking four graduate classes this semester (on top of working full time), I haven't done hardly any reading for fun lately. I've done plenty of reading if you consider all of my textbooks, but I'm guessing y'all wouldn't be too interested in those lol. Because of that, my parents picked up the slack for me & did this month's book review all by themselves! Keep scrolling to check out the latest books they've been reading & what they thought.
Sara's reviews...
Well the title of this one pretty much sums up the book. Waking up in Heaven is the real life story of Crysal McVea & what happened when she died & went to Heaven. The book bounces around between her growing up life & the day she went to Heaven. This was hard to follow at times, especially when I picked the book back up after a few days of not reading. I thought parts of her childhood were very difficult to read as it just broke my heart that any child would experience those things.
If I had written this review right after reading it, I would have said that it was okay. But then I went to book club (this was our February book of the month) & let me tell ya, the discussion surrounding it made me like it even more! Which so far, has happened with every book we've done, ha!
Overall, I would say it is a beautiful story about God's incredible love for us!
Have you read Love Does & Everybody Always by Bob Goff? If not, both of these should be on your list. For me, they were easy reads as each chapter is kind of a different short story written by Bob about events in his life. Bob does a great job of putting the Christian life really into action & making love a verb. Plus he challenges & encourages you as a reader to do the same. To me these are both books that I will keep & read again in life as refresher for how I want to live. While I might not feel called to make a difference in Uganda, I know that I can do that here in my own community & he inspires me to do so. These are definitely feel good books that give you hope for humanity!
I like to begin each year by reading a book on money. This year I chose Love Your Life Not Theirs by Rachel Cruze. While I thought it was a good book with a lot of information, I didn't really feel like I learned anything new here. Although it was definitely a good reminder of where I want my focus to be with our money!
Rachel is the daughter of Dave Ramsey, so if you've read any of his books then this is a pretty similar concept. I will say that I felt like Rachel focuses more on the emotional side of money than Dave does, so that part was interesting to me.
my Dad's reviews...
If you're like me then you can't help but love watching Bear Grylls & a celebrity guest get dropped off in a desolate area of some far off country & see how they use different survival skills for two days as they make their way back to civilization in the TV show "Running Wild with Bear Grylls".
In his book Mud, Sweat, & Tears, Bear writes about growing up in Northern Ireland & all of the adventures he had in his life that led to the making of his hit TV show. A large portion of the book chronicles Bear's life as he went through the grueling process of becoming a member of the elite British Special Air Services. This part of the book was super interesting to me as I have two brothers-in-law who have both served in the Air Force & have shared just a hint of the different kinds of training they went through. I personally cannot imagine the physical, mental, & emotional strength it takes to become a member of an elite group, but you get a pretty clear picture of what it's like in this book.
Bear also adds another notch to his belt of accomplishments by becoming the youngest Brit to climb Mt. Everest. He says in the book, "up at the summit, tears freeze before they hit the ground..." Oh, and not to mention the fact that he broke his back when his parachute didn't fully open while skydiving -- is there any wonder he now has a show titled "Running Wild..."?!
This book was easy to read & has his faith, sense of humor, & family values scattered throughout. I highly recommend this book & I absolutely love everything about Bear Grylls!
If you're into personal development for financial or business growth, then Darren Hardy is the guy for you! Darren Hardy is a New York Times best-selling author, keynote speaker, & today is a renowned Success Mentor. He has owned multiple companies, been a successful real estate broker, & was the publisher of SUCCESS magazine. He also authors "Darren Daily" which is a daily five minute video that I watch every day.
In his book The Compound Effect, Darren talks about how making one small change every day can compound into life changing results. Whether it's in your faith, your marriage or other relationships, or your business, every decision affects your future. One example he gives is deciding to make that one extra sales call at the end of each day. How easy is it to say, "I'll call that customer tomorrow because I'm ready to go home" when five o'clock rolls around? Well, according to Darren, if you consistently make that one extra call each day, that can compound into additional sales, increased income, & greater success at your job! He also reminds us that our choices can have a negative compounding effect as well. So eating that dessert every night after dinner can lead to a larger waistline, higher cholesterol, or maybe even worse things. This book somewhat points out the obvious, but it's a good reminder that if we choose to do positive things consistently, it can produce positive outcomes!
Have you ever heard of the "goodreads" app? It's a free app that lets you track your reading progress, rate books you've read, keep a list of your want-to-read books, set yearly reading goals & follow along with what your friends are reading as well! It even gives you suggestions based off of your ratings & the types of books you read. We both really like it. You should check it out!
past book reviews...
PS - this post contained affiliate links... thank you so much for reading & supporting our blog!