August Reads
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Books I Read in August
I’ve got a brand new stack of books to read for August! It’s halfway through the month, and I’m reading through the stack.
I focus on “plodding”, which I learned via the book “Ploductivity”. The main idea is that we read small chunks a day. Even if it’s 10 minutes.
I have 3 physical books here, and 2 more on my Kindle. I’ll go through each one and give my personal thoughts.
12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You
Confession: I’ve had this book sitting on my Kindle for over a year.
This was the first book I read in August. I’ve been contemplating over the last few months on scaling back my social media and phone usage. Since I’ve had my iPhone (we’re taking over a decade), it seems to have slowly become an extension of my arm. As my YouTube channel has grown, so has my social media usage.
I knew this book would be convicting, but I wasn’t expecting just how much it would change me.
This book is exactly what I needed. I like facts, analytics, and data. This book not only gave me that, but it made me realize 2 important things;
1. My phone has drastically altered my brain’s ability to read written words for longer periods of time (like a novel).
2. I have been using my phone as a distraction from my physical pain.
I’m on the road to recovery. I understand the “why” behind my phone addiction, and now I’m fixing it.
Highly recommend this book.
The Last Days According to Jesus
I’ll admit it, I’m a RC Sproul mega-fan. He’s my favorite theologian, and I miss him dearly. Over the course of his life, Sproul wrote dozens of books. I’ve been determined to read them all.
‘The Last Days…’ was very eye-opening to me as someone raised as a dispensationalist. I’ve been post-mil for about 3 years now, but I’ve still been trying to learn all I can. If I lost you in the terminology (so sorry!), I would say just GET THIS BOOK. It’s so helpful.
On the Ligonier app, Sproul has a 10-part video teaching on this entire book. It was really helpful!
The Christian Homemaker’s Handbook
The book’s format reminds me of the Bible in many ways. This is one large story, but each chapter (sometimes a few shorter chapters together) are all their own smaller stories. You really feel like you are there with them during these stories of their lives.
Through this book, you go through the coming of age journey of all the girls. When we open chapter 1, all 4 sisters are young girls. By the end of the book, they are adults with children. Most of the book they are in the younger to teen years, and we go with them through their many adventures.
My favorite character is definitely Marmee, their mother. Her words of wisdom, the way she cares for her daughters, and the way she mirrors Christ to her family, warmed my heart. Her words were the most important to me in the book. She is a gentle, but Biblically wise mother that we rarely see in modern books.
Marmee ministered to my soul, even though I’m nearly 40.
Criss Cross (Christian suspense novel)
sensitive topics covered below…
I really enjoy suspense novels, especially murder mysteries. Maybe it’s because I’m married to an investigator (military) and was raised by a police officer.
This novel took a few chapters for me to get into, but it starts off well! Once I was into the book, I devoured it in 2 days. I already downloaded book 2 on my Kindle for September (I may be 50% done with it already 😂).
This book is a suspenseful murder-mystery series. However, this is talk of very sensitive topics (done in a tasteful, roundabout way). There is talk of domestic violence, rape (again, not graphic, just alluding to the event), and obviously murder.
The author was very careful to avoid graphic images, even during scary/violent scenes.
Book 5 of this series is already set to drop soon, so I’m settled in for a nice series over the next few weeks/months.
That’s all for August! I’m putting together a stack of books for September soon!
Soli Deo Gloria,
Mandy
