On the bookshelf in September
The first book I read was The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth. This was the book that was chosen for my mom’s book club that I started attending this summer. This book definitely needs to come with a trigger warning for suicide because it’s a huge part of the storyline & is referenced over & over. Amanda, Max’s wife, “completes suicide” on the cliff on the edge of Gabe & Pippa’s property. I put “completes suicide” in quotes because it’s kind of up for debate throughout the whole book & I don’t want to spoil anything. There are lots of twists & turns & Hepworth did a really great job writing the change that takes place within the characters themselves. This was definitely a page turner even though books involving suicide content isn’t high up on my list. I gave this book four out of five stars.
The second book I read was Family of Liars by E. Lockhart. My mom & one of my sisters read this book before me & told me that it would really mess with my mind. I’ll be honest, it was a strange read & I really didn’t get invested in it until the last fourth of the book when a huge plot twist happened. There was another huge surprise right at the end, but other than those two parts, I was honestly kind of bored with it. I don’t know if it’s my job as a middle school counselor or what, but it takes a lot to surprise me / mess with my thinking. I gave this book two out of five stars.
The third book I read was the sequel to the prior one I wrote about — We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. This book was about the next generation from the previous book. There were some areas that I predicted, but this one actually kept me on my toes a lot more than the first one did & there was a HUGE TWIST that totally shocked me. I liked the idea that it brought in another generation & you still got to read about the first one — almost like where are they now & how did the events from the first book impact their lives. Overall I liked this one more than the first. I gave this book three out of five stars.
The fourth book I read was The Wait: A Powerful Practice for Finding the Love of Your Life and the Life You Love by DeVon Franklin & Meagan Good.
I want to start off my review of this book by saying that I’m not trying to ruffle feathers, I’m just sharing my honest thoughts & opinions. Please keep that in mind as you continue reading! :)
This book isn’t totally applicable to my life right now since I’m single, but I decided to start going through my bookshelf at home & reading all of the physical books I own that I haven’t gotten to since I got my kindle a couple years ago. I almost always struggle with self-help books or books where someone preaches their opinion on a topic. I think it’s partially because I’m a counselor & I see every single day that the same tatics / way of living aren’t necessarily a “one size fits all”. Really, I’m talking about coping, time management, organization skills, etc. The same thing doesn’t work for every single person. We’re human! We should operate differently! Anyway, I’ll get off my soapbox now & get down to my actual review of this book. The Wait is the idea of setting boundaries & expectations for yourself so that you are consistently working on becoming the absolute best version of yourself so that you’re well prepared for whatever / whoever God brings into your life. I like that idea! However, just because this idea worked out in just a few months for Meagan & DeVon to find each other & get married, doesn’t mean it works for everyone. There was one sentence in the book about how this may take years. One. To me that didn’t really address how lonely & frustrating the process can actually be. It’s just difficult to read a book from the perspective of someone who got what they were looking for right away. This book talks about God & the Bible quite a bit, but I’ll be honest, I disagreed with some of their opinions on these topics as well. I feel like this is an area where being a Christ-follower can appear grey for outsiders looking in. In my opinion, there is only one truth — what the Bible says. Not what seems right to you or what you can justify to make it okay. I found myself frowning & shaking my head occassionally with this book. In the end, I gave this book two out of five stars which is quite lower than their average review.
Update: I just found out the authors of this book are divorced. Hmm!
Have you ever read the whole Bible? I’ve always wanted to & I’ve tried a few times but it’s hard. It’s just so hard to understand! I had heard several people talk about the Bible Recap: A One-Year Guide to Reading & Understanding the Entire Bible & wanted to give it a try. Tara-Leigh Cobble walks you through reading the Bible chronologically in one year & she has a podcast that goes along with it. While that all sounds great, I knew that truly reading it every single day was not attainable for me. Yes, I feel guilty saying that. After all, He has done for me, I should be able to spend that much time each day reading His word. However, I know myself & I know I wouldn’t & I also know that getting behind would stress me out & then I’d want to give up completely. Then she wrote a book & I knew this was the answer! I just read it when I can! I try to make it a priority but if it doesn’t happen that day, it’s okay. It’s not the end of the world. Her summary of what you read is absolutely amazing. I cannot believe how much I’ve learned already!! It’s designed to be read in a year, however if it takes me two, that’s okay! Because reading the entire Bible in two years is better than not at all. If I’m honest, I’ll probably start over once I finish because it’s that good & I’m sure I’ll learn something new each time, because He’s where the joy is!
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