My Reading Pile: April

As you can see, I kinda sorta broke my goal of limiting myself to reading only 3 books a month.

There are just so many good books! And I have been keeping up with my Bible reading and prayer time! It just seemed to all work out this month, although I will continue to evaluate my time in this area.

So, here is what I read this month (with a couple still in progress) and a few brief reviews. A couple of books I plan on doing lengthier reviews very soon, because they were so good!

Do Hard Things Alex & Brett Harris

This book is written for teens, by teens, and I have heard lots of great things about it. Before handing it over to my daughter to read, I wanted to check it out myself. I thought I would be just making sure that it had appropriate themes and lined up with our values. What I didn’t expect was to be challenged myself to do hard things in my own life. This is another book worthy of its own blog post, which I plan to do in the near future. I am also looking forward to seeing what it does to my teens life when she is finished reading it! Awesome book, everyone young and old should read it!

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The Power of Less by Leo Babauta

Another book worthy of its own post. It is that good. If you are anything like me, with a to list and goals a mile long, you will love this book. I am trying to apply much of it to my life, with some resistance considering my over achieving personality, and what I have managed to apply has made a HUGE difference in my life. This book is fantastic, fabulous, and wonderful. Stay tuned for a more thorough review!

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Multiple Blessings by Kate and Jon Gosselin

I like to watch Jon and Kate occasionally, so when this book showed up at the library I picked it up. I am not quite done with it yet, but I will say it isn’t the most well written piece of literature I have read. That’s ok though, because those children are adorable! I have often found myself being judgemental of Kate and her disposition, but this book helped me to see just how hard having 8 children all at once can be. The first few months of the babies lives changed this family dramatically, and reading their story of trying to find their new “normal” has been touching. Kate seems to be very proud of her control freak, perfectionist personality, and instead of being humble and seeking to overcome this, she consistently brags on it. I found that annoying, quite honestly. Other than that, it gives a different view into their lives than you see on the show and you get to see inside Kate’s heart: a mother, a Christian, who is just trying to do her best just like the rest of us mothers. It definitely made me understand her more, and perhaps be more compassionate with her. And like I said, those children are adorable!

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Lord, Is It Warfare? by Kay Arthur

I have been on a personal endeavor to learn more about spiritual warfare, so when I saw this book on a friends bookshelf, I asked to borrow it. It is a devotional/Bible study type book and is a good book on the topic. The only thing I have found is that is more geared to newer Christians, those who may not understand the spiritual conflicts, who the enemy is, and why we come under spiritual attack. I am finding myself a little bored with it, but am determied to glean and finish with it. I haven’t had a lot of insight with the book itself, but have enjoyed digging through the Bible verses and have learned a lot just by using that as a springboard for prayer. I would recommend this for anyone new to the faith who doesn’t understand the whole subject of spiritual warfare.

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Frugal Families: Making the Most of Your Hard Earned Money Jonni McCoy

Since we are working on a bare bones budget, and I loved Miserly Moms, I picked up this book hoping that it would help me do just what it says: make the most of our hard earned money! If you are new to frugality, this book is great but I really didn’t find any new information in it, and much of it was outdated. That being said, I checked out Miserly Moms from the library again, which I have read a few times already. That is a great book on frugality!

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Tips For The Lazy Gardener by Linda Tilgner

I really liked this book, and put it on my Paperback Swap wish list (I borrowed this one) to have around. Lots of simple great gardening tips, whether you are a lazy gardener or not!

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Financial Peace by Dave Ramsey

What can I say!? This book is life changing, and anyone who has applied his financial principles to their lives will tell you the same. I have been a long time fan of Dave Ramsey, read the Total Money Makeover, and am actively working to win my husband over to him too! I love his financial principles, his style, humility and no nonsense approach to finances. If you have never read this book, you should!

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Sidetracked Home Executives by Pam Young and Peggy Jones

Don’t hate me, but I didn’t find much of this book helpful. I have worked hard to establish order, organization and routines to my home, so I just couldn’t relate much to these women . However, if you are not naturally organized, are living in chaos, or are in need of an effective organizational system for your home, you will love this book. It has a lot of good principles, and if I didn’t already have a good routine in place I would consider their system!

So that is my reading pile for April. Here is my pile for May: