Sarah Anne’s Bookshelf – April 2019


Bookshelf

In April, I read 11 books, bringing my 2019 total to 40 books. I read two young adult books – one fantasy and one dystopian. I read one book about parenting, one about eating well and three about being more successful. I read some wonderful fiction books, too, including a bestseller. I also listened to a historical book about a murder being solved because of wireless radio technology.
Here is what I read this month:

She didn’t know anything different when she was little, but the townspeople called her family and those who lived near her, “Swamp Rats.” She had three older siblings and a mother and father, but there was always turmoil in the house. Her father was loud and abusive when he was drunk, so Kya learned her way around the marsh and how to hide when her father was on a tirade. Her mother finally reached her tipping point one day and walked away from the family. One by one, each sibling left until Kya enjoyed a few short months of peace with her father. Then, when she wasn’t even 12, he left her, too. Where the Crawdads Sing has been on the bestseller list for a while now and even though I don’t often read books that deal with crime, the fact that this book was on the list for so long got my curiosity piqued. 
Read the full review here.

Will Wilder gets himself into trouble at his brother’s birthday party acting like a normal 12-year-old boy – he thrusts his brother over a fence where he breaks his arm. For his punishment, he is sent to help a man at the local church with chores. He would rather work at the museum with his aunt, but a man who appears from the nearby river offers Will an interesting distraction. He wants Will to find the relic hidden away in the church so that he can heal his eye. Will senses an adventure and accepts the challenge in The Relic of Perilous Falls.

Is succeeding at something or failing at something all in your head? Your mindset can do a lot to push you in the right direction – if you have the correct mindset. The idea for Mindset: The New Psychology of Success comes from years of research by Carol S. Dweck into how having the right attitude toward obstacles in life can create a path for success. We all have innate abilities, but we can also learn and train ourselves to do, and succeed, at things we are not naturally talented to do. You can learn to draw, sing, run, play piano, set up a blog, write a book, sew a garment or anything you want – just don’t say you can’t.

Raising teenagers has always been a hard, but rewarding part of parenting. In today’s world, it’s even harder and scarier, but can be even more rewarding. Raising Successful Teens: How to Help Your Child Honor God and Live Wisely by Jeffrey Dean is a book that parents of teens can look to for guidance and support. The author raises current difficulties parents having raising teenagers and looks at how parents can not only address those from a Biblical perspective, but help the teenager develop a Biblical perspective about that topic in their lives.

In the early 1900s, the world is changing rapidly. Amidst the race to get wireless technology to transmit messages across the ocean, society is giving way to women who dye their hair and have lovers on the side without fear. Thunderstruck by Erik Larsen tells the true story of when a murder suspect was caught only by the means of the latest technology of the day finally working. Without that, he would have escaped by boat from Europe to Canada and lived happily with his mistress. Fans of great fiction, history and/or crime books, will enjoy Thunderstruck. Even if you don’t usually enjoy reading non-fiction, this book will captivate you and keep you wondering what will happen next. 

After her grandfather’s death, Nora McMahon hopes to continue living with her brother in peaceful County Clare, but their flock of sheep is murdered and they must seek a life elsewhere. Friends who had found work in the city also find a place for Nora that will be pivotal in their cause of fighting to have the Irish rule Ireland again. Across the sea, Edward Eldrige is preparing to fight for his country, but he first wants to convince his parents to allow him to marry the woman he loves. Elizabeth is not from the right station in life, nor from the right parentage (her mother is American). Nora and Edward’s stories are told back and forth in this first book in the trilogy. In White Dove, both characters hear that even if people survive wars, love may not survive – and both characters are in love at the end of the book. 
Complete review is on Reedsy.com.

How much time to you set aside to just think? How about to think about thinking? In today’s hurried world, not many of us carve out time to focus but find ourselves going from one activity to the next. However, successful people often do carve out time each week, month and year to just think – about life, about work and about relationships. But, how do these people go about thinking about such things? In How Successful People Think by John C. Maxwell, the author gives specific suggestions in how people can think better about a myriad of topics, but mostly about their own lives. 

The Giver by Lois Lowry is a captivating audiobook. I had never read this classic and saw it was available when I needed a book to listen to while painting. A community is set up in an idealistic way where everyone is assigned a role according to his or her gifts. When Jonas is chosen to be The Receiver, he starts to learn the memories of humans from before their community was established. At times, it seems too much to bear. Can he fulfill his role or should he change the way everyone lives?

Are you living your best life? If not, it’s time to shift your perspective and follow your dreams to find happiness. In From Drift to Shift: How Change Brings True Meaning and Happiness to Your Work and Life by Jody B. Miller, the author shows people how to start finding their own happiness in life by looking at eight different stories of how people shifted their lives and now live to their fullest potential.

Discovered by a talent agent singing outside a theater at the tender age of 11, Rosanne Cartwright is whisked into a Hollywood life full of glamour, movie roles and a darkness that no one will protect her from in A Hollywood Darling. She suffers through sexual abuse by her agent and other directors and while she wants to escape, she is the sole breadwinner for her family as her father is injured from World War I, her mother has no job and her younger brother has lived most of his life on the streets. Her life is not her own as her agent arranges her name, her roles, her housing and even her marriage. Everyone has a breaking point, though.
Complete review is on The US Review of Books.

Why We Get Fat is a quick read about the science behind weight loss. What makes this book interesting is how the author notes that science cannot find on specific formula that is proven to work on every body. Different people burn calories differently. This book does say the most effective way to lose weight it to limit carbs to 20 grams or less per day and/or watch the glycemic levels in food to keep a constant insulin levels.


What did you read in April? Share your favorites on the blog! I love to add good books to my to-read list!
Thanks for stopping by and checking out my April bookshelf!


About Sarah Anne Carter

Sarah Anne Carter is a writer and reader. She grew up all over the world as a military brat and is now putting down roots with her family in Ohio. Family life keeps her busy, but any spare moment is spent reading, writing or thinking about plots for novels.