I started the month with a quick road trip that allowed me to read a few books. I also had some easy Sundays that allowed some reading time. With the children getting back to school at the end of the month, our family settled into a routine – I had a bit more reading time each night after getting them to bed a bit earlier than in the summer. I enjoyed a wide range of books – books made into movies, religious inspirational books, good fiction and historical fiction. Here is my read bookshelf for the month with 11 books:
Breakthrough is the story of a miracle. A teenage boy falls through the ice into a lake and is submerged for 20 minutes. He has no heartbeat for an hour. Yet, less than a month after the accident, he walks out of the hospital with no signs of trauma anywhere on or in his body. His parents, family, friends, pastors and even doctors have no explanation other than they asked God to show up and heal him.
Cystic Fibrosis is not an easy thing to live with. Children and teens with this condition face long hospital stays for the smallest cold. Their lungs produce extra mucus and eventually their lungs stop functioning unless they get a lung transplant. In Five Feet Apart, Stella is missing her senior year trip for another hospital stay. She has rigid rules set for herself to maintain her current lung function at 35 percent. She doesn’t expect meeting someone who flaunts all the rules – Will. While he infuriates her at the beginning, a friendship develops, but since they both have cystic fibrosis, they must stay six feet apart at all times.
Gerry Brooks is an Internet sensation – in the education world. Many teachers, parents and administrators have come across his funny videos that often are very close to the truth about the world of education. There are videos about the pick up line, the school goody table and kindergarten lunch time. In a funny way he brings to light many issues that are actually serious in nature, too, such as testing, school supplies and creating a community. He uses the same humor in Go See the Principal, but the book allows him to go deeper into the topics.
In Last Christmas in Paris, when her brother heads off to war in the early 1900s, Evie starts writing letters both to him and his childhood friend, Tom Harding. They all expect the war to end in a few months before Christmas. However, the war goes on and the correspondence that goes on between these three give a clear view of how life is for both the soldiers and the people left behind in London. They share dreams, hopes and memories when life gets hard – including getting together to spend a Christmas in Paris.
A week hiking through the Himalayas was life-changing for David Platt. He saw things and met people and heard stories that would completely rock his faith. Invited by a friend who lives and works in the Himalayas, Platt packed a backpack with a week’s worth of supplies, said goodbye to his wife and children and flew by plane and helicopter to a remote area. He first discovers how poor the people are and how they make do with very little. He then learns how difficult it is to get medical care and many people die of cholera. But, the thing he learns that tears at his heart is the amount of young girls sold into sex slavery. He shares his story in Something Needs to Change.
In Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman is facing a personal crisis and he can’t see but one way out. He was promised a desk job toward the end of his career, but the people in charge have changed and they are putting him back on the road and working on commission. He can’t make ends meet as a salesman anymore because all of his connections have moved on. His wife needs to know when the bills will be paid. On top of that, his sons are back home and neither has made any significant mark in the world. He has no future and no legacy.
How did Western civilization become a place where there is a free exchange of ideas, people can chase their dreams and there is safety and stability? In The Right Side of History, Shapiro goes back and examines how philosophers influenced different time periods to shape the culture the West now enjoys. Mainly a history book, with a focus on how Judeo-Christian values influenced the founding of America, the book is meant to show how understanding the past can help us focus on creating a good future.
A Different Time by Michael K. Hill
In A Different Time, Keith Nolan is on a quest to find the last few comic books that will complete his X-men collection. His father started the collection and passed it along to him. However, his parents died in a car accident when he was 14 and the comic collection is one of his last ties to them. When he finds the last comic, he finds a small camcorder tape in the box and takes it home to see what is on it. Little does he know that his entire life’s focus will change once he views the tape.
The Lord’s Prayer is a foundational part of Christian prayer. It’s the prayer Jesus taught his disciples when they asked how to pray. In May It Be So: Forty Days With the Lord’s Prayer, the authors use the Lord’s Prayer as a foundation for daily meditation and devotion.
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Weirder War Two explores the strange, but true, stories from WWII that most people haven’t heard of before. It’s the second book by the author covering these types of stories. There’s the story of the German fighter that escorted an English plane back to England to safety. There’s the story of the atom bomb being shown in a cartoon before the public knew about it. There’s also the story of the murder spree that happened during the blackouts. Some of my favorite stories were about the dogs and how they helped people. With more than 90 stories, my only wish is that the stories had been grouped by topic rather than arranged in alphabetical order. I really enjoyed learning more about history through this book, though.
A friendship is tested when one friend’s brother comes to visit – just out of jail. The friends own a grocery story and the brother wants to take over the ownership with his sibling. When push comes to shove, the friend finds he has a choice to confront the brother or take the situation in his own hands. A short story and a mystery, Lemonade was easy to read and was interesting.
What did you read in August? Share with me on the blog – I’m always looking for good book recommendations!
