February is the shortest months of the year; although, this year we got an extra day with it being a Leap Year! I read an assortment of books again this month – novels, short non-fiction stories, classics, biographical and marriage books. Here are the books I read last month:
The Way I Heard It could be read in a single setting or over several days or months. Each chapter is short and stands alone, although it would be good to read them in order as he ties some later stories to some earlier ones. I had heard many of the stories on the podcast, but really enjoyed reading his commentary about them. My favorite is of a woman who disappears and then they suspect her husband’s mistress and track her down, they find her impersonating the mistress but with no memory of who she really is … until she gets back home. Who is she? You’ll have to read the book and find out, but someone whose name you will recognize.
We all have things in our lives that we spend too much time thinking about. Whether it’s small decisions, big decisions, spending money or saying the right thing, we can get stuck thinking about that thing over and over and over. Anne Bogel admits to being a person who overthinks a lot in many areas and shares her tips for trying to get unstuck in Don’t Overthink It.
The Miltons own an island in The Guest Book. Among the well-to-do families of New York, this very fact sets them apart and almost above the others. Their wealth goes back to before the Great Depression and they somehow managed to do well during that period as well. Now, the grandchildren decades later have to face what to do with the island – keep up with the repairs for the sake of the past, their memories and their children or sell it and let the island go. One grandchild in particular, Evie, feels there is something she must know before she can let the island go – something about the mother who rarely revealed her true self to Evie.
A tale of four young girls growing up into four women is the general summary for this classic Little Women, but there is so much more to it. The book spans their story from being little girls until they are grown and have children of their own and the big lessons they learn along the way. Meg is the oldest and would love for them to have finer things even though they are considered poor. Jo is a writer and full of life. Beth is frail but loves to play piano. Amy is the youngest and can’t wait to enter the world and do what her sisters do. Their next-door-neighbor, Lorrie, becomes like a brother to them during most of their childhood; yet, the relationship must change as they all become adults.
In A Long Fatal Love Chase, Rosamond has lived a dull, dreary existence being the ward of her grandfather. Her only education and taste of romance has been through books. When she’s 18 years old, a stranger visits her grandfather for several days and befriends the young woman. He then wins her hand by gambling with her grandfather and while scared at first, she agrees to go away with him on his boat if they are married. Full of life and love, Rosamond thinks the world of Philip Tempest until she thinks him capable of murdering the young boy he has in his charge. She must flee and be free from him.
Could you fight through emotional and physical abuse every day at school just to make a difference? Nine students did this exact thing in 1957 when they integrated into Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. Melba was one of these students and she writes the bare bones truth about her experience in Warriors Don’t Cry. It gives a first-person perspective to a very important time in U.S. history.
What makes something catch on? Often it’s something small that tips the item, event or information into a larger audience. In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell examines some theories as to what or who can make something go from being a small thing into something huge. He looks at the people who influence, the stickiness of the thing and the context of the thing. He also dives into some case studies that make his case for why these are the ways ideas tend to catch on.
What if you could find out your specific love style and learn how that is affecting your relationships? The Yerkovichs have spent decades in counseling and have developed a system where by looking at how you were imprinted as a child, you have a certain way of relating with people. In How We Love, there’s the avoider who has learned to put emotions aside. There’s the pleaser who will look to appease. There’s the vacillator who loves the chase. There’s the victim who has not learned to stand up for himself or herself. There’s also the controller who needs to be in charge. Most people fall into one of these categories, but some do have a healthy view of love.
In The Secret Diary of Sarah Chamberlain, Em stumbles upon a Civil War diary when cleaning up a museum with her mother. While she knows she should tell her mother about it, she wants to read it first. There’s always been the rumor that some gold went missing from the South at the end of the war and Em wants to see if the diary mentions the gold. In the meantime, they find out that her aunt might lose her house without some financial help. The gold would help them so much.
The Sacred Enneagram focuses on how the Enneagram can help a person on his or her faith journey. He looks at each type and explores how that type can use silence, solitude or stillness. For Christians, this book is a tangible way to put the Enneagram into practice to get closer to God. There are chapters on each type, so the book could be read quickly if you only want to learn about your type. I found it very insightful.
The Path Between Us focuses on the relationships between the types of Enneagrams. If you wonder how you and your spouse, friend and/or children’s Enneagram types mesh with yours, this is the book to turn to. The book goes in-depth on each type to give a deep explanation of how that type acts and why. Then, it tells how that type relates to each of the other types. It shoes what the types can learn from each other. I think this would be a great reference book to have on a shelf next to The Road Back to You.
Joe Kissack was making his mark on the world moving up in the television industry. He had a big house, plenty of money, toys and a wife and two daughters. Yet, even as he walked the red carpet at the Emmys, there was something not complete in his life. He was still seeking approval from his abusive father and the lack of that led him to drinking and then prescription drug abuse. His wife and friends tried to reach out, but it wasn’t until someone showed up with a Bible that he started to find something that could fill the void. He shares his story in The Fourth Fisherman.
Neil has shared his story in many driving classes and wrote The House Always Wins to hopefully spread the message that driving is something to be taken seriously. Knowing this accident happened just 20 minutes from where I live makes it really hit home. I think this would be a great book for every driver and soon-to-be-driver to read. It also talks about forgiveness, which is a great message to hear.
Detective Sergeant Nathaniel Brannick recently lost his wife to consumption and is secretly fighting the disease himself. Then, a case comes across his desk that helps keep his mind off his pain during the day, but has him working with a partner that he can’t stand. A young woman is dead and while it appears she just passed away from consumption, too, some of the facts start pointing to a possible murder. Usually, Nathan can use his hidden talent of touching a person to see what their last memories were, but her body is buried before he can touch her. He calls this power “the echo” in Consumed.
Marriage That Works is a book that looks at giving couples an idea of what a Biblical-based marriage should look like, The chapters are mainly divided between what a husband should learn and what a wife should learn. He occasionally brings his wife into the book to tell the topic from her perspective. I think he should have done that more in the sections about wives. While it’s a good overall book, it doesn’t deal with the nitty gritty parts of marriage life. In the end, he describes how to tackle some of the hard parts of marriage, but it’s actually the hard seasons that every marriage will go through when they have children. The book lacked a lot of practical examples and advice and could have dug deeper about what to do during the times when marriage does get hard – bad communication, selfishness, infidelity, faith struggles, etc.
What books did you read last month? Share them with me in the comments below! I’m always looking for good books to read!
