a few book recommendations

 

Give me ALL the books, please! I'm on a reading kick at the moment and finished my third book of the weekend today. I thought I'd share them with you on here, in case we're not friends on social media. (If we aren't, you should come find me on Instagram—my username there is JenLloydGoodwin. I love to share all things Jesus, books, inspirational and having to do with food.)

I tried to start off the year by doing a monthly "what I've read" post, but that just doesn't work for me. I'd prefer to just share randomly every so often all the books I'm loving. 

I purchased this book back in April while I was on a mountain writing retreat with the ladies on the writing team from my church. It came highly recommended and though I'm not consistent at reading every day's worth of readings, I do love all that I've read so far. There are devotions for your morning and for your evening. 

I purchased this from thriftbooks.com. That is my go-to website for purchasing books that I'm not sure about or that I need to fill in gaps of missing titles within the series books that I have.

I started AND finished this book on Saturday. I love Karen Kingsbury and this might just be the best she's ever written. I don't want to give anything away, but this is a stand alone title and it has to do with the sex and drug trafficking industry that is rampant all over the world. It'll make you cringe (though she was careful not to put images into your mind and she leaves out the gritty details) and think about a lot of what you've possibly seen over the years of your own life. If you've never read anything by her before, make sure and do your homework before jumping in. A lot of her books are books within a series, so this pays off. I should mention here that all of these books are Christian fiction/non-fiction.

I am currently re-reading one of my all time favorite series of books,  the Yada Yada Prayer Group books. This is the third book in the installment that I'll start today. There are seven books in this series, then another series that spins off this one and one last series that I've yet to read. I'll be investing in these over the summer so I can fill in the gaps I'm missing! A bonus about these books are that they inspire my prayer life. 

Please, please, please do yourself a favor and start reading books by my all time favorite author to have ever written a book, Robin Jones Gunn. I've read her books since I was a teenager, when she first started writing a young adult series of books called The Christy Miller series. She wasn't finished writing them by the time I was grown, so I bought them all as an adult and read every single one of them, plus every other book she's ever written. Other series of books of hers are the Sierra Jensen series, The College Years, The Married Years, The Baby Years. the Sisterchicks series, the Glenbrooke series and a few stand alone titles. This book pictured above is her memoir, of sorts and I started it and finished it yesterday. It was SO GOOD and I was brought to tears several times. I love reading memoirs about my favorite authors. She and I have had correspondence over the years and someone from her marketing team has sent me copies of her books to read and review on my blog. I feel like she's another mom to me, because throughout my life she has discipled me and inspired me in my personal walk with Jesus. Nobody paints a word picture quite like Robin Jones Gunn, in her lyrical and rhythmic way of writing.

Again, if you read her books, make sure you don't pick up with a book mid-series.

I love when Scripture is all throughout the book. 

Last but not least isn't a book I've read, but one I write in. This is my journal and church notes from Sunday. The message was titled Praying with Radical Faith and it was phenomenal. My Pastor hits them out of the ballpark week after week after week, and I am so grateful to be able to sit under such godly preaching. I really look up to him and value every word that comes from his mouth, because he is wholly guided by the Holy Spirit.

I recently finished a Wednesday night class he was teaching on the topic of prayer and he challenged us to start writing in a journal every time we read in the Bible. It slows our minds and brains down to be able to really comprehend what we're reading and it's one other tangible thing we can leave to our kids as a legacy someday. I don't do it every time I read the Bible, but I'm re-training myself to get in this habit and to really slow down. It takes time and patience to do this and combined with prayer, it means that I've been able to have extended quiet times each morning. Even if I don't always have this kind of time, I will at some point during my day. I'm also trying to be more disciplined to read books that are important and to not turn on the tv when I sit down during the day. (I can quickly get sucked into shows!) 

It's your turn—what are you reading right now? I'd love to hear from you! Do you have a summer reading pile yet? I can always give you recommendations if you're in need. Thanks for reading my blog! Love to all. 

P.s. I'm linking up with Erika for Tuesday Talk for this blog post.