What I’m Reading: February 2016

{No books were harmed in obtaining this photo 🙂 }

The  Lord gave us books for these winter months, right?!?! I’ve been consuming copious amounts of hot tea while I enjoy a few more weeks of quite a bit of reading time before my second job begins. This month, I read quite a few bestsellers, classics, and highly recommended books as many library holds became available. I’m excited to continue to stave off the winter blues with more good reads. What are you currently reading?

Read This Month:

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr – A book that was highly recommended in which the writing definitely superseded even the hype; however, the setting of World War II and the evil that occurred was hard for me to handle. For a more detailed review, this was the Extraordinary Everyday Read of the week back at the end of January. (3.5/5)

The Wife, The Maid, and The Mistress by Ariel Lawton – First off, I’m admitting the embarrassing fact that I had no idea this was based on a true story until the appendix — oops. Even though knowing this important fact helped my complex feelings about this book improve a little bit, it wasn’t by much. The writing was excellent, the plot twists intriguing, I just could not get over how unlikable all the characters were — there was not even one I wanted to cheer for or relate to — it just left me feeling dirty and discouraged about men, politics, the secrets people keep, and the depth of evil contained in some hearts. (3/5)

Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist — beautifully written book of essays on living life around the table with good food, even better friends, and knowing the positive influence that community brings to each of our lives. The book included fairly simple, delicious sounding recipes too. This was the Extraordinary Everyday Read of the week last week. (4/5)

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner — a classic written in 1987, it’s a beautiful narrative following two couples bound by the deepest friendship imaginable. Even though it wasn’t a complex plot — Stegner is such an extremely gifted writer who has such insight into human feelings, relationships, and needs that he keeps you engaged long after you’ve turned the last page. (4/5)

Beautiful Tiny Things by Cheryl Strayed — this past summer I read Wild by Strayed, and it began my fascination with memoirs. I heard a lot of great things about this book by the same author — it’s the advice columns she first wrote anonymously compiled into book format, mostly old but some new. First off — a warning, there is a LOT of profanity in this book with many, many adult themes discussed. Although her writing is phenomenal and her insight into the human psyche commendable — to be honest, there was too much pain without true hope in these pages and too much crass language for me to truly enjoy it. (2/5)

Coming Clean by Seth Haines — Wow. This book. Please go get it ASAP and read it!!! A more detailed review is coming soon, but briefly, this is a poiginant account of a man’s first ninety days of sobriety. However, to say this is a book just about addiction to alcohol does it a severe injustice. It is a book for all of us because as the author says, we’re all addicted to something, we all use something to mask the pain in life. Beautifully written. I’m about to start rereading this one to fully grasp all the truth contained within. (5/5)

Still Life by Louise Penny — I’d heard great things about Inspector Armand Gamache, Penny’s formidable, clever hero, and because I love a good mystery, I wanted to read about him myself. I did enjoy this book and the specific and unique character development. It reminded me of Agatha Cristie’s Hercule Periot or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. Great mystery series to check out if you’re looking for your next read. (3/5)

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. This book broke my heart and ignited a fire within me to do my part to stand up for justice and build racial unity. Stevenson is the lawyer behind the Equal Justice Initiative, an organization which fights to overturn erroneous convictions in Alabama and throughout the south. This memoir/collection of stories which look at his life of fighting for justice and against bias for others when they are unable to do so themselves is a must read for everyone. I finished it a few days ago, but without an ounce of dramatic hyperbole, I do feel it will resonate for the rest of my life. (5/5)

Currently Reading:

Out of Sorts by Sarah Bessey — Just a few chapters into this book and I’m loving it! I reread her chapter on Jesus twice, and I’m going through this one slowly, piece by piece, to really reflect and let it soothe and challenge my soul.

The Canopy by Angela Hunt — If you read through the list above, there were some heavy books contained therein. I felt like I needed a brief break for the familiar. I’ve read Hunt before and enjoyed it, but never this one. Although I’m only halfway through, I’m intrigued by this medical saga set in the Amazon rainforest.

My One Word by Mike Ashcroft — An alternative to the New Year’s Resolution craze, our couples small group is reading through this book for the month of February. Although I posted about my word of the year in January, I’m excited to read an actual book on the art of picking a word as well as pick a word and Bible verse that represents us as a couple, not just me as an individual.

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton — this long awaited library hold just became available so I’ve barely started, but with all the good things I’ve heard about this author’s work, I have high expectations.

Bought this Month:

The Fringe Hours by Jessica N. Turner – This book with the tagline “making time for you” has been recommended to me before. When it was on sale this month for 99 cents, I scooped it up. Looking forward to reading it soon!

The Whole30: The 30 Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom by Melissa and Dallas Hartwig — many of you know I eat gluten free due to Celiac disease; however, lately, my stomach has just not been happy and my overall energy levels are very low. I’ve wondered for a while if I’m sensitive to other foods besides gluten, so I convinced my husband to join me the first week in March through April to do a Whole30. I bought the book to help guide us 🙂 Suggestions from Whole30 veterans welcome!

Up Next:

Besides prepping the meal plans for our Whole30 by reading that book, I have around fifteen books on hold at my online libraries — some of them I may not get this year since I’m so far down the list, but I’m hopeful some good ones will become available the rest of February/beginning of March. If not, I have a few others left from Christmas and some I bought in January to start reading.

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What are you reading right now? I’d love to hear in the comments! 

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Previous What I’m Reading Posts:

January 2016

List of all my Book Reviews for 2015-2016:

Read

Are you on GoodReads? I’d love to be friends!!

Jessica on GoodReads

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–>This is a link-up with Modern Mrs. Darcy. Check out her monthly quick lit post to see what fellow bloggers are reading this month. <–